Jawahar Singh - War With Madho Singh

War With Madho Singh

Jawahar Singh made the big mistake of leaving Pratap Singh the rebel of Jaipur, for the defence of Bharatpur. He considered Partap Singh to be a reliable man, but in this he was deceived.

When Pratap Singh came to know about the Pushkar. He left Bharatpur undefended, and joined the camp of Madho Singh. Pratap Singh instigated Madho Singh against Jawahar Singh. All the Rajput rulers assembled at Pushkar and held a conference in which no Jat rulers were invited. Raja Madho Singh said in this conference that the Jat ruler had injured the vanity of all the Rajputs. It was here that a witty Marwari, Raja Vijay Singh pointed out that after all the Jats were also Hindus and if they donated liberally on this auspicious occasion according to their financial position, it must not be taken as humiliation by Rajputs. Madho Singh, however, rejected this advice and appealed for war. The decision of this conference soon reached Jawahar Singh. He was expecting it.

Madho Singh laid on ambush in a valley to intercept Jawahar Singh on his return. Jawahar Singh had anticipated this and took the alternative route via Tanwarawati, near the present day Neem-ka-Thana, Maonda and Mandholi villages, this area was a bottleneck surrounded by hills. The column of troops with cavalry and artillery was marching under the leadership of Captain Samru.

The palanquins of the Ranis were escorted by Jawahar Singh in the rear of the column. All of a sudden Rajputs attacked them from three sides. It was a fierce battle, in which the Rajputs suffered great losses. In the battle, it was found that only 11 tender aged members were left in the family of Raja Madho Singh. The rest lost their lives.

It is said that 25,000 casualties occurred in the Battle of Maonda and Mandholi. Jawahar Singh reached Bharatpur. Both the Jats and Rajputs claimed themselves victorious in this battle, but apparently the loss did not have not much of a repercussion on the strength of Jats, whereas Madho Singh had to suffer such a severe blow that his power never recovered. Rajputs claimed that Jawahir Singh ran from the field and hence they claimed themselves victorious in spite of heavy losses whereas Jats claimed that anyhow they were returning to their own territory and successfully repulsed the attack of Rajputs in their own territory rather giving a death blow to their pride and any further ambitions.

Some unknown person (popular perception holding it that it was none other than one of his own bodyguard who attacked him with stealth) killed later Jawahar Singh in 1768 while he was out on hunting. His successor was Maharaja Ratan Singh.