Jodhpur Hukumat Ri Bahi (An Old and Rare Book)

The Jodhpur Hukumat-ri-Bahi is undoubtedly the earliest and most authentic account in Rajasthani of the events following the death of Maharaja Jaswant Singh at Peshawar in 1678. The scholarly world, however, had little firsthand knowledge of the work though Dr. Raghubir Sinh had a transcript copy of it made in 1960 for his collection at Sitamau, and Dr. V. S. Bhargava had referred to it in his book Marwar and the Mughals (1966). In order to make up this lacuna, it was decided to publish the manuscript on behalf of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, under our joint editorship. However, the work of editing the text has been carried out mainly by Dr. Raghubir Sinh and Dr. G. D. Sharma. The English summary has been prepared by Dr. G. D. Sharma. My major task is to critically evaluate the historical value of the work, in the light of contemporary and later Persian and Rajasthani sources. I have also added a date chart of the events leading to the outbreak of the Rathor War which I hope will be found useful.

The copy of the Hukumat-ri-Bahi in possession of Dr. Raghubir Sinh being a copy of a transcript of the original manuscript, a diligent search was made to trace the latter. But the search was of no avail. It seems that the original manuscript which was already brittle when Thakur Keshari Singh copied it down in 1940 is irretrievably lost. The present work has been prepared on the basis of the transcript copy of Thakur Keshari Singh who was kind enough to lend it for the purpose. It is difficult to say what portions of the original manuscript, which had been damaged, were left out in Thakur Keshari Singh's transcript. However, the portions that are available to us are of undoubted historical significance. Nor can there be any doubt about its historical authenticity since it corroborates and supplements in a remarkable manner the information supplied by the Waqai Sarkar Ajmer wa Ranthambhor the most authentic and cotemporary account of the Rathor War in Persian. These two works together take precedence over and displace all the other accounts of the Rathor War which have formed the basis of the writings of such eminent historians as Sir Jadunath Sarkar.

For purpose of convenience, the text bas been rearranged in the present work by the editors in order to bring together scattered bits of information and to avoid unnecessary repetition. The principle of which this has been done is explained by Dr. Raghubir Sinh in his preface to the text.

The original manuscript of the 'Jodhpur Hukumat ri Bahi' belonged to Pancholi Brijlal, an officer in the rest-while Jodhpur State till after 1940 A. D., and the head of one of the old hereditary Kayastha families, which had for generations been serving the Rathor Ruling House of Jodhpur during past many centuries. Like all such noteworthy important old families, serving the former Indian States, this family too had its own family archives, containing good many important state papers or copies thereof, and the Bahis (Record Books), which came into the possession of some of their ancestors, when they held some important offices in the State and which happened to remain with them even after their relinquishment or removal from them. All these documents or copies thereof and any such Bahis relating to the affairs of the State during those periods naturally formed an important worthwhile authentic source of information, especially when records relating to that particular period were wanting in the State Archives. Jodhpur remained under the Mughal occupation for over a quarter of century (1679-1708 A. D.) following the death of Maharaja Jaswant Singh at Peshawar on November 28, 1678 A. D., and as such any authentic records prior to the final reoccupation of Jodhpur by Maharaja Ajit Singh on July 4, 1708, are naturally no longer extant in the Jodhpur State Archives. Therefore, any authentic information and requisite details relating to any happenings during or before the 17th century A. D. were naturally sought for from such persons having these old authentic documents or records relating to the events during that period.

Sometime in late thirties of this century when Thakur Keshari Singh of Khimsar (Nagaur District) contacted Pancholi Brijlal in Jodhpur in connec tion with some such historical information or details, he came to know from him about the original manuscript of this Jodhpur Hukumat ri Bahi', preserved in his family archives. Thakur Keshari Singh found that due to age the paper of that manuscript had become brittle, and many of its pages had already broken into bits.

**Contents and Sample Pages**