The Jats - Their Role in the Mughal Empire/Appendix B
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Appendix-B: Paternity of Suraj Mal
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Some controversy exists with regard to the paternity of this great Jat luminary. Accepting Wendel's testimony with approbation, Sir Jadunath Sarkar,1 and following him Prof. H.R. Gupta2 states that Suraj Mal was the adopted, and in no way the real son of Badan Singh. Keeping the above view in his mind, Dr. Pande conjectures that Badan Singh's brother, Rup Singh, was the father of Suraj Mal, whom Badan Singh, after the death of his brother, adopted as his son.3 Professor Qanungo, disregards Wendel's testimony as based on hearsay and takes Suraj Mal to have been the offspring of Badan Singh.4 But he cites no authority for it nor does he specifically mention his reasons for rejecting Wendel.
Wendel being involved in all the three views, referred to above, his version merits a closer attention. The French missionary claims that Suraj Mal was born of a beautiful woman (somebody else's wife) of an unknown caste, who, during a visit to her sister (one of the inmates of Jat Raja's harem) with the newly born, Suraj Mal in her lap, caught the fancy of Badan Singh. This lady, though not willing from the heart of her hearts, discovered the futility of resisting her lover. One positive consideration with her was that her sister was already well-established in Badan Singh's seraglio. She, thus, stayed on in his harem (serail) to become her new husband's most favourite queen and in the process her son got "all the fortune".5
The un authenticity of this fanciful story is evident from more than one point. First, though Wendel does not specify it, the mention of "serail" reveals that Badan Singh, growing resourceful, had started keeping this royal institution well before the said episode, if at all it
1. Sarkar Fall, II, 433.
2. Gupta, Panipat, 44.
3. Pande, Bharatpur, 46.
5. Memoires des Jats (Fr. Ms.), 28.
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occurred. At an earlier place, he points out that the maintenance of the harem demonstrated Badan Singh's "affluence" and "grandeur",6 which Obviously could be possible only after his assuming the leadership of the Jats in 1723. Its logical inference would be that the alleged woman With the newly born baby in her lap, entered the Jat harem well after 1723. Thus, according to this version, Suraj Mal should have been born in or after 1723 and that his age at his death (1763) would have approximated to 40 years. But, this is contradicted by Wendel himself. In stating Suraj Mal to have been 55 year old at his death7 (in 1763), he places his birth and the entrance of his alleged mother into Badan's harem in or about 1708. But by no stretch of imagination can Badan Singh be believed to have been affluent, great or a proud owner of a harem in 1708 or even in the following decade. This inconsistency in Wendel, somehow missed by the scholars, belies his completely unsupported account about Suraj Mal's paternity. Whether or not an alleged woman became Badan Singh's consort we cannot say, but certainly she could not be Suraj Mal's mother. In all probability Wendel based his story on a mischievous rumour spread by Suraj Mal's opponents. One has only to turn the pages of his account to see that with all his qualities, Wendel was prone to mentioning approvingly such malicious gossip about the private affairs of the important Jat personage. He disputes the descent8 of one distinguished Jat person, brands the other as devoid of filial love9 and condemns yet another as a contemptible patricide.10
Stretching forward Wendel's notion, Dr, Pande propounds the view that Suraj Mal was the son of Badan Singh's brother, Rup Singh, from his wife "Deoki" and that after Rup Singh's death (which he places in or before 1722), his widow repaired to Badan Singh's harem along with the infant Suraj Mal in her arms.11 In his support he cites the Jat practice
6. Ibid., 23.
7. Memoires des Jats, (Fr. Ms.), 63.
8. Thus, he asserts (Memoires des Jats, 46) that Jawahar Singh was not the son of Suraj Mal as the latter was not that of Badan Singh.
9. For instance, he paints (Memoires des Jats) Suraj Mal as a heartless father, who instead of expressing his grief or arranging for medical relief for his severely wounded son, Jawahar Singh, repeatedly made greedy enquiries from him about the buried treasures.
10. Thus he accuses (Memoires des Jats, 1 footnote) Muhkam Singh of having murdered his father Churaman, even though we know that the latter had committed suicide.
11. Here he does not specifically mention about the baby or his approximate age. But thIis omission, If studied along with his acceptance of Wendel's story (see Pande, Bharatpur, 45) leads us to conclude that following that authority, he too believes Suraj Mal to have beer an infant at this stage.
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of "Dharenja" (marrying brother's wife) and the naming of one of the four tanks in Deeg's "Rup Sagar".12 The details about Suraj Mal's parentages as conjectured by Dr. Pande are unsubstantiated and are contrary to the irrefutable contemporary evidence.
Sujan Charitra contains a relevant passage wherein Safdar Jang unequivocably calls Rup Singh to be the "uncle"13 and not the father of Suraj Mal. This decisive statement made by Suraj Mal's intimate friend and recorded with approval by his close companion and a native of Brij (Sudan) explodes the hypothetical reconstruction made by Dr. Pande. He puts Rup Singh's death in 1722, and thus, according to him, Suraj Mal was born in that year or a little earlier. But at the same time he agrees with Wendel that Suraj Mal was 55 years 0ldl4 in 1763, without caring to resolve the inherent improbabilities of calculation. The two arguments advanced by him are not imperative.
Rup Singh was the real brother of Badan Singh and their relations were by no means bad. Hence, Rup Singh, in his own right, deserved to be commemorated after his death by his family members. Such respectful dedication does not necessitate his being the father of Suraj Mal.
Likewise, it is no doubt true that most of the Jat clans adhere to the practice of widow marriage or "Karewa". But Dr. Pande forgets that the proud Sinsinwars, to prove their superiority over others, do not generally observe such customs.15 It is to be noted that to maintain the high social dignity of his family, Badan Singh could go to the extent of killing all his daughters.16 Such a dignity conscious man had perhaps an added reason to refrain personally from the infamy of marrying a widow.
All the authorities other than Wendel, do not express any doubt whatsoever about the parentage of Suraj Mal. They clearly mention him as the son of Badan Singh. Sudan 17 and Somnath,18 who had personal acquaintance with the Jat affairs, mention him as the eldest son of Badan Singh. Several other independent sources also confirm it. Thus, the author Of Tariih-i-Ahmad Shahi also a contemporary of Suraj Mal,19 mentions Badan Singh as the father of Suraj Mal. Giving full details, Fransoo, an authority weightier than Wendel, tells us that Suraj Mal was Badan Singh's
12. Pande, Bharatpur, 46.
13. Sujan, 60 also 54. Dr. Pande does not take note of this reference.
14. Pande, Bharatpur.
15. Ganga Singh, op.cit. 30-31.
16. See Appendix C.
17. Sujan, 4 and 6.
18. Dirgh (Hindi Ms.), 4; Ras Peeushnidhi and Madhav Vinod in Somnath, 4 and 318.
19. TAH. (Pers. Ms.), 43b.
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eldest son of Rani Devki of a Jat family from Kama. 20 Ghulam Ali also describes Suraj Mal as his eldest son.21 . Tarikh-i-Bharatpur22 and Majma-ul-Akhbar23 are among the other sources, corroborating our view.
20. Tawarikh-i-Hunud (Pers. Ms.), 20a
21. Imad (Pers. Ms.), 84. It is to be noted that Ghulam Ali records a scandalous story of the birth of Jawahar Singh. But he is totally silent about the version of Wandel regarding Suraj Mal's paternity.
22. Tarikh-i-Bharatpur (Pers. Ms.), 4b
23. Majma-ul-Akhbar in Elliot, VIII, 362