Battle of Jajau

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Battle of Jajau
Part of
Mughal war of succession (1707)
Date20 June 1707
Location
Jajau, Mughal Empire (present day Uttar Pradesh
, India)
Result

Bahadur Shah I's Victory.

  • Crowns himself as the
    Mughal emperor
Belligerents

Mughals under Bahadur Shah I

Supported by
Khalsa (Sikhs)[1][2]
Azam Shah
Commanders and leaders

Isa Khan Main

Supported by

Bhai Dharam Singh[5]
Kuldeep Singh [6]
Jai Singh II
Rao Dalpat Bundela  †
Ram Singh Hada  †
Mirza Sadr-ud-din Muhammad Khan
Tarbiyat Khan  †
Mutallib Khan
Salabat Khan  †
Aqil Khan  †
Safawi Khan Bakhshi  †
Shujat Khan  †
Ibrahim Khan Tabrizi
Usman Khan
Matlab Khan  (WIA)
Khudabanda Khan  (WIA)
Muhammad Bakir  †
Mir Atash  †
Muhammad Ishaq  †
Ibrahim Khan  †
Ahmad Khan  †
Darya Khan  †
Sayyid Abdullah  †
Sherani Khan  †
Abdullah Beg  †
Hazrat Quli Sistani  †
Dilawar Khan  †
Ibrahim Beg Babari  †
Ismail Khan  †
Sher Afkan Khan  †
Mast Ali Khan  †
Mir Nayaz  †
Janbaz Khan  †
Tari Khan  †
Strength
170,000 horsemen[7]195,000 infantry 90,000 horsemen[8]
40,000 infantry[8]
Casualties and losses
10,000 soldiers[9] 10,000 soldiers[9]
12,000 horsemen[9]
Azam Shah and his 3 sons were buried in Humayun's Tomb, Delhi

The Battle of Jajau was fought between the two Mughal princes and brothers

Mughal emperor
on 19 June 1707 at the age of 63.

Background and preparations

Azam was appointed as the

Satluj. He had built bridges and improved the roads between Lahore and Peshawar. He was also successful in persuading Rao Budh Singh (the king of Bundi) and Bijai Singh of Kachhwa to send their soldiers to him.[11][unreliable source?
]

After a 49-year reign, the

Daulatabad.[12] With the distance between Jamrud and Agra being 715 miles and the distance between Ahmednagar and Agra being 700 miles, whoever reached the capital city of Agra first would capture the Mughal throne.[13][unreliable source?
]

On 20 May Bahadur Shah called upon Guru Gobind Singh to join him in the battle. The Guru agreed and sent Kuldeep Singh as a liaison officer. The Guru further sent 200 - 300 men under Bhai Dharam Singh.[14]

With his children,

Nizamuddin Dargah and the shrine of Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki. From the Red Fort, he took 30 lakh rupees, and on 3 June, he resumed his journey.[15] By 12 June, he had reached Agra and camped in Poyah Ghat on the outskirts of the city. Baqi Khan Qul, commandant of the Agra Fort, surrendered the fort to Munim Khan, who subsequently sealed the treasury.[13][unreliable source?
]

Bahadur Shah sent a letter to Azam Shah asking him to be content with Southern India, the part of India which had been willed to him by their father Aurangzeb. He also wrote that, if he was not happy with his part, then he was ready to give him the territories of

Gujarat and Ajmer. He added that, if Azam Shah was not satisfied with this offer, he would have to use the "sword to decide" the monarch of the empire.[7] In his reply, Azam wrote:

My share is from the floor to the roof of the house. Yours is from the roof to the firmament.[16]

[unreliable source?

]

Conflict

Realising that a battle could not be avoided, Bahadur Shah I marched towards Agra, having decided to fight a battle at Dholpur (34 miles from the city). Under his command, prince Azim-ush-Shan was dispatched with 80,000 horsemen, with 11 crore rupees that he had collected from Bengal, where he was the governor. He was ordered to capture the forts in Chambal (one mile from Dholpur).[8]

As soon as Azam Shah heard that Bahadur Shah I had started preparing for a march towards Agra, he left the fort of

Gwalior in charge of the wazir, Asad Khan. He crossed the Chambal at the Kamthra crossing and made for Dholpur. He made his son, Bidar Bakht, the commander of the vanguard of the troops. Leading 25,000 horsemen, he was accompanied by his brother, Mirza Wala-Jah, and other Rajput chiefs.[8] When they neared Dholpur, Azam Shah made Bakht the commander of a further 65,000 horsemen and 40,000 infantry. The army was divided into four branches commanded by Bidar Bakht, Azam Shah himself, and his sons Ali Tabar and Wala Jah. Though the army did not have "large cannons" and "mortars", it possessed camel-guns and elephant-guns. Azam Shah was of the opinion that "an artillery fight was a stripling's pastime and the only real weapon was the sword".[17]

On 17 June, Azam Shah and his battalion reached Mania near Dholpur.[17] After this intelligence reached him, Bahadur Shah I reached Jajau and camped four miles from the city on 18 June. Taking advice from astrologers, he decided to strike on 20 June.[16][unreliable source?]

To collect water, on 20 June, Bidar Bakht and his men headed towards Jajau without knowing that Bahadur Shah was camped there.[18] He came across a village where he found a flowing stream of water. To inform Azam Shah, he sent his messenger, Iradat Khan, to him with the message. When he returned, he informed Bidar Bakht that he had seen Bahadur Shah's advance tents. Khan Alam Dakhvini and Munavvar Khan, who were in charge of the central wing of the troops, were dispatched to attack the tents. Azim-ush-Shan's 500 elephants failed to mount a resistance against the invading forces. The attackers looted the tents and then set them on fire.[19][unreliable source?][20]

Unable to put up a strong fight, Azim-ush-Shan wrote to Bahadur Shah for reinforcements. He responded by sending Munim Khan and Jahandar Shah. Meanwhile, Zulfiqar Khan, who was in charge of the left wing of Azam Shah's army, advised him to wait until the next day to start a full-fledged battle. However, Shah paid no heed.[19][unreliable source?] Seeing 50,000 horsemen approaching, Iradat Khan informed Azam Shah about their advance. In reply, he said that he was "coming to his son".[20]

Bidar Bakht found it difficult to mobilise all of his men to fight since they were "scattered to plunder camp". The attacking force started raining arrows on them and discharging rockets at them. Khan Alam Dakhini charged Bahadur Shah's army with three hundred soldiers.[21] He threw a spear towards Azim-ush-Shan seated in the howdah of the elephant. It missed him and instead hit his attendant, Jalal Khan. Dakhini was killed by an arrow as he attempted to jump on the prince's howdah. Jalal Khan boarded a separate elephant, and after he inflicted an injury on Munavvar Khan, Munavvar Khan's soldiers fled. This exposed the wing of Prince Wala-Jah. Seeing this, Amanullah Khan, who was in charge of a separate wing, hastened to render assistance. But his elephant was set on fire, and his troops fled, thinking that their leader was dead. This made Wala-Jah retreat from the battle.[21]

After this confrontation, Bahadur Shah's

Isa Khan Main, a zamindar who belonged to the Lakhi Jangal of Subah Lahore and was at the point of time serving with the troops of Prince Muizz-ud-din had killed Azam Shah.[23]Sikh accounts state that Guru Gobind Singh killed Azam Shah with an arrow.[24]

As soon as Bahadur Shah learned of his brother's death, he sent men to retrieve the corpse. They were attacked by Wala-Jah, but Wala-Jah fainted and died. Around 8 o'clock in the evening, Bahadur Shah's aide, Rustam Dil Khan, mounted the dead prince's elephant, beheaded the prince, and made his way to Bahadur Shah. However, instead of praises, he received reproaches for his action. His elephant was followed by two other elephants; the first one contained the dead body of Ali Tabar, the other one carried the dead prince's women, who were assured protection by Bahadur Shah.[9]

Aftermath

The Ibratnama estimates that 12,000 horsemen of Azam Shah lay dead on the battlefield. It further estimates that at least 10,000 infantry soldiers from both sides were dead. Khan Zaman and Khan Alam Dakhini's bodies were sent to Gwalior for burial. Ram Singh Hada and Rao Dalpat Bundela's bodies were sent to Nurabad for cremation. Azam Shah and his three dead sons[9] were buried at Humayun's Tomb in Delhi.[9]

Notes

  1. ^ Macauliffe, Max (1909). The Sikh religion, its gurus, sacred writings, and authors Volume 5. p. 230.
  2. ISBN 9781442236011
    .
  3. ^ Irvine, p. 89.
  4. ^ Macauliffe, Max (1909). The Sikh religion, its gurus, sacred writings, and authors Volume 5. p. 230.
  5. ISBN 9781442236011
    .
  6. ISBN 8172053061
    .
  7. ^ a b Irvine, p. 22.
  8. ^ a b c d Irvine, p. 23.
  9. ^ a b c d e f Irvine, p. 34.
  10. ^ Sir Jadunath Sarkar (1925). Anecdotes of Aurangzib. M.C. Sarkar & Sons. p. 21.
  11. ^ Khafi Khan, p. 573.
  12. ISBN 9780141001432
    .
  13. ^ a b Khafi Khan, p. 577.
  14. ISBN 8172053061
    .
  15. ^ Irvine, p. 20.
  16. ^ a b Khafi Khan, p. 587.
  17. ^ a b Irvine, p. 24.
  18. ^ Irvine, p. 26.
  19. ^ a b Khafi Khan, p. 589.
  20. ^ a b Irvine, p. 28.
  21. ^ a b Irvine, p. 29.
  22. ^ Irvine, p. 30.
  23. ^ Irvine, p. 33.
  24. ^ A Historian's Approach to Guru Gobind Singh. p. 324.

References

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