Ramsingh I

Raja Ram Singh I was the elder son Mirza Raja Jai Singh I and was ruler of Amber, and head of the Kachwaha Rajput clan, from 1667 to 1688.

Career as prince

Kunwar Ram Singh had served in the campaigns of his great father Jai Singh I and by 1654 had acquired a rank of commander of 3000 (cavalry) in the Mughal nobility. His first independent campaign was in 1660, after the accession of Aurangzeb as emperor, when he led an army against the hill-state of Srinagar(Uttarakhand). Jai Singh took his younger son Kirat Singh on his last campaign to the Deccan (1664-67) leaving Ram Singh to be his representative at the Mughal court. When Jai Singh sent the Maratha hero Shivaji to meet Aurangzeb (1666), he took an oath to be responsible for his safety at the Mughal court, and made Ram Singh Shivaji's caretaker.

Shivaji and Ram Singh

Shivaji, accomapanied by his son Sambhaji and other officials and servants, was received by Kanvar Ram Singh at his military camp in the suburbs of Agra city (12 May 1666). Ram Singh escorted them to meet the emperor at the "Diwan-e-khas" (hall of special audience) in Agra fort. Here they gave a customary present ("nazara") of 1,500 gold pieces ("mohurs") at which, Aurangzeb cried out, "Come up Shivaji Raja!"

Shivaji was led to the foot of the throne where he bowed thrice ("a salaam"), after which he was taken to his place among the nobles who stood in two parallel columns in front of the throne. To his surprise Shivaji had not received any gift or honor from the emperor nor had there been any serious negotiations for his position. In fact a high post of viceroy of the Deccan, and some other material gains, was the reason Shivaji had made this perilious journey to the enemy's court.

It happened to be the emperor's birthday and robes of honor were given to the high ranked nobles like the prime minister Jafer Khan and "Maharaja Jaswant Singh" of Jodhpur (commander of 6000. But the "highest" ranking Mughal noble was Raja Jai Singh I, a commander of 7000). All this while Shivaji had been forgotten and was inwardly fretting in the back row of nobles.When he learned that he had been made a commander of 5000 Shivaji cried out, "What! My little son was made a commander of 5000 (after the treaty of Purandar with Raja Jai Singh) without coming to court...am I after all these services (aiding in the invasion of Bijapur), and coming all the way to court, to get the same rank?"

On further enquiry he learned that the noble in front of him was Rai Singh, also a commander of 5000 but of a higher grade, Shivaji exclaimed, "Rai Singh! A mere subordinate of Raja Jai Singh! Am I to be considered equal only to him?"

His loud voice and angry gestures caused a minor commotion...Ram Singh came to him and tried to calm him down but the Maratha king wrenched his hand away and began walking away. Due to his agitated state he finally sat down near a pillar....when Aurangzeb enquired as to the cause Ram Singh diplomatically replied, "The tiger is a wild beast of the forest and feels oppressed by the heat in a place like this and has taken ill." Aurangzeb allowed him to be taken away to Ram Singh's camp.

For the next three days Shivaji refused to appear in court, returned the rank of nobility, and accused the Mughals of being faithless. Aurangzeb decided to kill or at least imprison him——whereupon Ram Singh told the emperor to first kill him and his Rajput soldiers, who were honor-bound by his father's oath to Shivaji, before even a hair of the Maratha's head was touched. Aurangzeb allowed Ram Singh to keep him in his care but only after the Rajput prince signed a bond (15 May) taking full responsibility for the Maratha king.

For the next few months Shivaji lived in Ram Singh's camp, guarded by Rajput warriors, but also regularly watched by Mughal soldiers. When further negotiations proved futile Shivaji decided on escape——in August he feigned illness and began sending out baskets of sweets as charity. On August 17, 1666 Shivaji and his son hid themselves in such baskets and escaped from Agra.

Ram Singh in Assam and the decree of 1669

Since Shivaji had escaped from the midst of Ram Singh's camp, Aurangzeb's suspicion naturally fell on Ram Singh for the feat. Some Maratha Brahmins confessed under torture that Ram Singh had connived at Shivaji's escape to honor the oath taken by his father. Ram Singh's rank was reduced by 1000, his estates were taken away, and he was banished from the Mughal court. Nearly a year later the Kachwaha prince was permitted to enter the court and his estates were restored (March 1667).

Meanwhile, in the south, his father Jai Singh was also harshly punished for the failure of his Bijapur invasion——unlike the Muslim generals who had also failed but were always in Aurangzeb's favor. Weighed down by these losses and the removal of his son from an influential post, Raja Jai Singh breathed his last in August 1667. Ram Singh became the next Raja of Amber (10 September) with Aurangzeb putting the "tika" (paint mark) on his forehead. (This was the last occasion that this ceremony, started by the great Akbar as a means of honoring the leading Hindu Rajas, was performed. Aurangzeb eventually stopped this ceremony as a Hindu practice in his Islamic state.)

Within a few months, Raja Ram Singh was sent to fight in the Battle of Saraighat. At the head of a massive force, that was vastly superior to the Assam forces, Ram Singh pursued the Assam forces from the western western boundary to Guwahati where he laid siege. The Assam forces, under Lachit Borphukan, unable to match the Mughals on land, were able to win a decisive battle on the Brahmaputra river. In fact, with the removal of the influential Jai Singh, Aurangzeb had decided not to appoint Rajputs to any administrative post——and the reason soon became clear.

With the leading Rajput chiefs away on military campaigns, Aurangzeb in 1669 ordered the provincial Muslim governors to destroy newly-built temples and places of religious instruction of the "infidel" Hindus.

Ram Singh and the Rajput War

When in 1676 Ram Singh returned to Agra as commander of 5000, Aurangzeb was engrossed in the frontier wars with the Pashtun tribes. But on the petering out of that conflict a bigger storm arose, which was destined to overthrow the Mughal Empire. In 1679, taking advantage of Maharaja Jaswant Singh's death in Afghanistan, Aurangzeb occupied his Kingdom of Marwar and simultaneously imposed the jaziya tax on the non-Muslims. The earlier decree of 1669 on temple destruction was now openly enforced and extended into the Rajput territories like Marwar, Mewar, Shekhawati, Bundelkhand, and Malwa.

However an alliance of the Rajput clans, and the desertion of Aurangzeb's son Sultan Muhammad Akbar to the Rajputs and Marathas, completely altered the situation. The insurrection spread among the Bhatis, Hadas, Gaurs, and there was a danger that the Amber Kachwahas could join their subordinate clansmen the Shekhawats. So before leaving for the Deccan in 1681 Aurangzeb appointed Ram Singh and his clansmen to a military outpost in Afghanistan so that they couldn't influence events in Rajputana.

In any case Ram Singh did not have the forceful personality, military ability, or even influence among the Mughal nobility that the accomplished Jai Singh had always commanded. Any progress in his career had been marred by the machinations of the bigoted Aurangzeb who had first punished him unjustly and then denied him the full resources to fight in Assam. With such a weak ruler at the helm, Amber state had to stay loyal to the Mughals and attempt to regain its influential position through military service. But even this did not happen in the reign of Ram Singh or his immediate successor.

Ram Singh in Afghanistan

The Kachawaha chief was posted at Jamrud to keep the frontier roads open and to subdue the Pashtun tribes through force and the payment of subsidies. But Aurangzeb took away his only son Kunwar Kishan Singh to serve in the Deccan Wars, where the unfortunate prince met the fate of other Rajput chiefs who had been removed by poison and intrigue by Aurangzeb. Kishan Singh was killed in 1682, ostensibly in the course of a quarrel with his Afghan servant.

Barely had Ram Singh recovered from this shock when Aurangzeb now demanded that his grandson Bishan Singh be sent to the Deccan. Ram Singh, remembering the fate of his son and other Hindu princes, evaded this order for years. The angry Aurangzeb deprived him of his post in 1686, demoted him in rank, and sent him to Kohat where he died (April 1688) mourning for the fate of his dynasty at the hands of the bigoted Mughal emperor.

He was succeeded on the Amber throne by his grandson Bishan Singh.

References

*A history of Jaipur by Sir Jadunath Sarkar.