Suraj Mal - The Jat Attack On Farrukhnagar

The Jat Attack On Farrukhnagar

Towards the end of 1763, arose a quarrel between the Jats and the Baloch. The expansionist ambitions of the former and the latter’s unfriendly policy towards the Jats formed the general background of this event.

Maharaja Jawahar Singh directed his attack upon Farrukhnagar, held by a powerful Baloch chief, Musavi Khan. But he having failed to capture it, Suraj Mal himself came and laid siege to strong fort of Farrukhnagar in October, 1763, with all his forces and big artillery. Two months passed away and Musavi Khan being hard pressed, consented to surrender it if Suraj Mal would take an oath on the Ganges water not to hinder his departure. But the Jat on this occasion made the same unscrupulous use of the sanctity of the Ganges as that of the Quran by some Muslim rulers. The Baloch chief was made a prisoner and sent to Bharatpur. Thus, after a siege of two months, the fort of Farrukhnagar, along with all its effects came in the Jat possession on about 12 December 1763.

Garhi Harsaru, Rewari and Rohtak had already fallen into the hands of Suraj Mal. He now turned his arms against Bahadurgarh, about 12 kos to the west of Delhi, the strong-hold of another powerful Baloch chief Bahadur Khan. In his distress, the Baloch chief appealed for help to Najib-ud-daula, who however judged it inexpedient to provoke a war with Suraj Mal, before the arrival of the Abdali.

By the year 1763, the Jat power under Suraj Mal had reached such a glorious height, as had never been attained before. Owner of a spacious kingdom, of the richest and overflowing treasury, and of the most formidable and gallant troops unrivalled in contemporary India, as Suraj Mal was, little wonder that needy persons like Mir Qasim of Bengal, turned their eyes for help to him.