Battle of Kama
| Battle of Kama | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Jaipur state |
 Bharatpur State | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Madho Singh |
Jawahar Singh Madec Dan Sahi | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 16,000 Rajputs[1] |
10,000 Sikhs[1] Unknown number of Sepoys under Madec[1] | ||||||
The Battle of Kama was fought due to the consequences of Battle of Maonda, Madho Singh followed up his victory and advanced towards Bharatpur territory with 16,000 men.[5][4]
Battle
After the Battle of Maonda and Mandholi Madho Singh of Jaipur decided to invade the Jat kingdom of Bharatpur. He entered the Jat territories with 60,000 soldiers and ravaged them. Nawab Musavi Khan Baloch of Farrukhnagar and the Ruhelas were ready to co-operate with the Rajputs. The Emperor Shah Alam Il was invited by Madho Singh either to come in person, or if that was not possible, to send some English commander with a battalion of European troops to reinforce him. Every one counselled Jawahar Singh to make a compromise with the Rajputs; but the Jat rajah preferred breaking to bending and to abide by the chances of a war than to sue for terms from his victorious enemy. He decided to carry on war by buying over the Sikhs. He paid them 7 lakhs of Rupees to keep them away from plundering his territory, and opened negotiation with them to enlist into his service 20,000 of them. His general René Madec, got an increase of Rs. 5,000 to his monthly allowance for increasing his corps.
At this critical moment the attitude of the Bengal Government became the decisive factor. Leaving active hostility out of account, if the English had even secretly countenanced this scheme, the Emperor, Shuja-ud-daulah, Najib Khan and all the Ruhelas would have been in full march against Jawahir Singh whom even the Sikhs could not have saved. But the Bengal Government, with an integrity and firmness rare in the politics of the eighteenth century, stood true to their alliance with Jawahir, and vigorously checkmated all the hostile designs of his enemies. The Emperor and Shuja-ud-daulah dared not move without the consent of the Governor of Bengal. When Madho Singh found no response to his appeal from any quarter and saw the Sikhs coming to the assistance of Jawahir Singh, he made peace with the Jats and retired to his own country before the arrival of the dreaded cavalry of the Panjab.
Aftermath
Soon afterwards, the Jat rajah captured a fort through Madec where another Rajput clan was entrenched. In a month and a half Madec succeeded in climbing one of the bastions, but the assault failed on account of his being abandoned by the Indian troops who were frightened by the terrible fire of the defenders. He clung to the foot of the breach for making a second attack. The garrison in fear capitulated. But soon the stormy career of Jawahar Singh came to an inappropriately tragic end, when in July 1768, he was assassinated by his favourite soldier.
References
- ^ a b c d Fall of the Mughal Empire vol-2, page-286, by Jadunath Sarkar, publisher-Orient Black Swan, ISBN 9788125032458
- ^ A History of Rajasthan, by Rima Hooja, Rupa Publication, page-681, ISBN 8129108909
- ^ Rajasthan District Gazetteers Jaipur by Gupta Savitri [1] p.51
- ^ a b Rajasthan Through the Ages, page-208, by R.K. Gupta and S.R. Bakshi, publisher-Sarup and Sons, ISBN 978-81-7625-841-8 (set)
- ^ Sarkar, Jadunath (1994). A History of Jaipur: C. 1503-1938. p. 256. ISBN 9788125003335.