Kota History

Kota has a versatile history, but what is constant are the battles fought for its possession. Kota’s early history is shrouded in valour – in fact, its very existence owes to a battle-hardened 14 year old Rajput called Rao Madho Singh, the son of Rao Ratan, the ruler of Bundi.


¤ Madho Singh- A Teenage Warrior Proves Himself

Born in 1565AD, Madho Singh went to war against Aurangzeb who was hell bent upon taking the throne of Delhi from his father Shah Jahan. A fierce battle was fought near Bundi on behalf of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in which Ratan Singh lost five of his six sons. Madho Singh survived, a glorious hero of the skirmish. This happened in 1579, and Shah Jahan was so fascinated by Madho Singh’s valour that he bestowed the kigdom of Kota upon him. Kota at this time was a united fiefdom ruled by the Bhil tribe, but the emperor’s royal farman (dictat) said otherwise. Kota was handed over to Madho Singh.

When Madho Singh breathed his last in 1651 after expanding his kingdom, he left behind five sons who ruled together in smaller sections of Kota. Mukund Singh, the eldest was made the chief of Kota for the time being, and eventually he convinced his brothers that since he was the eldest he should be allowed to rule.


¤ The Inevitable Mughal Alliance

Raja Mukund was one of the loyal types, and he never did forget that he owed his kingdom to Shah Jahan. When Aurangzeb really got going to dethrone Shah Jahan, nearly all of Rajputana rallied around the old emperor, with the Hara Chauhanas being the most prominent of them all. Mukund’s brothers too were not far behind, and all of them led their vassals and chiefs into battle clad in saffron. In the encounter near Ujjain in 1658AD against Aurangzeb’s army, the five brothers fell in battle. However, the youngest Kishore Singh was dragged off from the field and recovered, later serving Aurangzeb in the Deccan and becoming famous for his suicidal siege of Bijapur.


¤ Kishore Singh Ruled The Kingdom

With Kishore Singh out of action, Mukund’s son Jagat was put on the throne, serving Aurangzeb in the Deccan with his army of 2,000 men. When he died in 1670 he left behind a kingdom without an heir. Kuniram’s (the fourth of Madho Singh’s sons) son was put on the throne for lack of anyone better, and after all he did represent the royal family. But he was supposedly `brainless’ and had no idea of how to rule a kingdom. Six months was all he lasted before he was given the boot by his own council of ministers. Kishore Singh had by now recovered from his wounds which he got while fighting Aurangzeb, and he ascended the throne.

But there arose a problem. Aurangzeb had already overthrown Shah Jahan, and something in Kishore Singh reminded him that he had previously been loyal to the Mughals, never mind which one. So he made an alliance with his once enemy and now Emperor and was sent away to the Deccan to fight battles on Aurangzeb’s behalf. On his death in 1686 in the battle for Arcot it is said that 50 battle wounds were counted on Kishore Singh’s body.

Kota then passed on to Ram Singh, Kishore’s son who had watched his father die in battle. He too jumped into the war of succession for the Mughal empire and was consequently killed in the Deccan in 1708, one year after Aurangzeb’s death.


¤ Bhim Singh-The Warrior King

Bhim Singh, the successor, was ambitious and had eyes on neighbouring Bundi. On Bahadur Shah I’s death and the rise of the Sayyid brothers (of whom Muhammad Shah ascended the Delhi throne in 1719), Bhim Singh struck an alliance with the Sayyids and the king of Amber. Bhim Singh then enlarged his kingdom in three directions – to Bhilwara in the west, Gagron in the south and Baran in the east.

Bhim Singh liked to be in the middle of wars. When Khilij Khan (aka Asaf Jah, later the Nizam of Hyderabad) deserted the Delhi court and set out for the Deccan, Raja Jai Singh of Amber led his forces and those of Bhim Singh to stop Khilij Khan. The future Nizam stood his ground and when the Rajputs approached his artillery opened up with a battery of guns. Elephants, men, horses all perished, but for Bhim Singh. He was to die in 1720 in Kota, only after he had reigned for 15 years and left an empire which was to stand fast for many years to come.


¤ Bhim Singh was Bestowed The Title of Maha Rao or the Great King.

Bhim Singh was the first Rajput ruler to have the title of punj hazari (leader of 5,000 men) bestowed upon him. He was also the first king of his dynasty who was titled Maha Rao or the Great King. When he died, the eldest of his three sons Arjun Singh became king and married Madho Singh’s sister. Arjun Singh ruled for three years and died without leaving an heir to the throne, which led to a power struggle for the throne of Kota. The second son of Madho Singh, Shyam Singh, was put to death, and it was the youngest of the three who eventually succeeded. Durjan Singh’s accession in 1724 was recognised by Muhammad Shah, the Timur king of Delhi.


¤ Marathas & Rajputs

Perhaps the most important phase of Durjan Singh’s rule was the forging of the first alliance of the Rajputs and the Maratha power from south of Rajasthan. It was during his reign that the Marathas under Baji Rao first invaded Rajasthan, not with the intention of annexing Rajput territories but to form an alliance with them. Baji Rao first took Nahargarh fort in 1739, held by a Muslim chief, and presented it to Durjan Singh, making Nahargarh a part of the Kota region. Baji Rao had earlier defeated the Nizam of Hyderabad in 1728 and seven years later in 1735 took Malwa, being accepted as its ruler. Durjan Singh was a military man, and he added territories to the Kota kingdom by taking areas as far as Shivpuri in the east. When the Kachwahas attacked Bundi in 1754, it was left to Umed Singh to defend the region. Three years later in 1757, Durjan Singh breathed his last.

Then in 1761 Ahmad Shah Abdali invaded Hindustan for the second time and met the united Maratha power in the third battle of Panipat. As he moved on to Delhi, the Rajputs were left to themselves. Now began the infighting all over again. The ruler of Amber decided it was the right time to march into Kota, and he did. A fierce battle was fought, and it was in this skirmish that Zalim Singh took the Kota army to victory. All of 21 years of age, the brave warrior jumped into the fray first on horseback and then, sword in hand, fought on foot.


¤ To Come of Age

In 1766, Goman Singh was the one who sat on the Kota throne, but did not rule for long. He fell ill and on his deathbed in 1771 passed on the throne to his ten year old son Umed with Zalim Singh as the virtual ruler. Zalim Singh was quick to seize control even while the titular `king’ ruled officially. of course, there were the odd relatives of Goman Singh who wanted to rule themselves, but Zalim dealt with them diplomatically. Akiram, a foujdar (officer) and the regent of Madho Singh in days of yore, was finished off first. A foster brother of the prince was also killed, presumably by Zalim Singh, and another was exiled. Disappointed with the way Zalim was handling affairs, court nobles decided to desert Kota. Zalim Singh granted them free access to the kingdom, allowing them to go wherever they wanted to. But with the Marathas close on their heels they were never able to forge an alliance to overthrow Zalim Singh.


¤ An Era of Diplomacy

By this time Malhar Holkar, the Maratha chief, had eyes on Kota. Zalim’s diplomacy came into play here. He met the Maratha, bribed him with six lakh rupees and sent him away. The next threat came from Deo Singh who fortified his fort and was joined by all the disgruntled nobles who had been chucked out by Zalim Singh. This was quite a formidable opposition, and excursions were made from this fort into Zalim’s territory. Finally, Zalim laid siege to the fort which held out for a few months only to surrender at last. Deo Singh was forgiven and banished, and he died in exile. The surviving nobles went back to doing what they had been doing – some were admitted back into Kota to and stripped of their nobility, and the rest continued wandering about all over Rajasthan.

Numerous attempts were made on Zalim Singh’s life, and he countered them each time with his spies who found out about the plots and warned him well in advance. Then there was this chieftain called Bahadur Singh who made a final try on Zalim’s life. His associates included all the petty chiefs who had been deemed landless by Zalim, and it was planned that the assassination would occur as Zalim proceeded to his court. But that was not to be. Zalim’s spies were well informed and the plot was unravelled in the nick of time. Bahadur Singh fled after losing most of his men and took refuge in a temple, believing that its sanctity would provide him shelter from his tormentor. But Zalim Singh dragged him out of the temple and did what anyone else would have done in such a situation – killed Bahadur Singh.


¤ The Visionary

Zalim was a futuristic ruler, and he introduced land reforms and a taxation system by which everyone flourished – the kingdom, the farmers and peasants, the traders and the nobility. However, there was a dark side to the system as well. Zalim Singh spared no one, going to the extent of heavily taxing widows who remarried.

Finally, in 1817 when the British under Lord Hastings declared war on the Rajput states, Zalim Singh was the first to accept the foreign dominion, knowing well that fighting the better equipped foreign forces would be suicidal. Kota was the first to be brought under British rule, and the rest of Rajputana soon followed. As a subject of the British empire Kota was required to assist the firangs (foreigners) in every possible way. Towards this Zalim Singh contributed with 1500 armed men, infantry and cavalry with four cannons, marching under Sir John Malcolm.

However, discontent was brewing within the Maratha and Rajput camps regarding Zalim’s alliance with the British. The British power behind him was his guiding force and Zalim was tactful – whenever there would be whispers of strife within his camp he would deal with it directly, breaking up unions of nobles with promises and force. All this went on till November 1819 when the Maharao of Bundi Umed Singh died.

Zalim rushed back to Bundi from Gagron on hearing of the Maharao’s death. and then began the struggle for the seat of power between the sons of Zalim Singh and Umed Singh. Kishore Singh, the Maharao’s son, was made the ruler, much to the dislike of the other contenders. Pirthi Singh sat on the throne finally, and in 1838 Zalim Singh (who was still around) carved out the new kingdom of Jhalawar for his descendents. Here again Zalim’s diplomacy came into play, for this feat would not have been achieved without the help of a higher power, namely the British. Jhalawar went to Zalim Singh and his sons who served the British till 1857, when the entire country revolted against the British rule.