Genealogy, Archive, Image by Jayasinhji Jhala

Author:Jayasinhji Jhala
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: De Gruyter Open
Published: 2018-03-09T16:00:00+00:00

Figure 4.6: Before 14 July 1591, near the battlefield of Bhucharmori, Jhallesvar Raj Chandrasinhji negotiates peace between the forces of the Mughals and the Sultan Muzaffar III and his Muslim, Jadeja and Kathi allies. He was brother-in-law of Mughal crown Prince Salim and his sister was married to the Jadeja Jam Sataji.

Sultan of Gujarat Muzaffar III, called Muzaffar Gujarati by the Mughals, continued to be a thorn in the side of the Mughals and in 1591 was instigated by the Jam to rise again against them, as was Daulatkhan Ghori of Junagadh. The confrontation took place at Bhûchar Morî on 18 July 1591. Chandrasinh’s role has largely gone unnoticed, even by Watson, though Abu Fazl mentions it, as does the Nawanagar Rajkavi.66 At the outset he had interceded with the viceroy, Mirza Aziz Kokaltash (‘Kokâ’ ) to avert the war, meeting him at Viramgam, an outpost of Jhalavad. The viceroy entertained Chandrasinh’s proposals and dispatched three imperial grandees to the enemy, encamped beyond Morvi, to negotiate peace, but the overture was spurned. The Ghori taunted and insulted Chandrasinh (according to the Halvad version) and the mission failed.

At Bhûchar Morî three armies on each side faced each other. On one side, Muzaffar commanded the centre, supported by the Lon¸ a Kathis, and with Ghori’s Junagadh contingent as his right wing and the Jam’s Navanagar contingent on his left. On the Mughal side, Koka commanded the centre. The Halvad version puts Chandrasinh and his sena in the centre with the viceroy, but Abul Fazl, (who gives him little importance) places him in the left wing (opposite Junagadh). It rained incessantly for two days and two nights. Then, without sounding the ‘ Be prepared’ on trumpets and war-drums, a customary etiquette in Rajput warfare, the Junagadh advance guard suddenly thrust forward. The imperial left wing, caught unprepared, fell back. Seeing a gap open in the enemy ranks Chandrasinh led a headlong cavalry charge straight at Daulat Khan.67 The Ghori was unhorsed, fatally wounded, and carried away and the Junagadh forces dispersed. Finding their right wing disappearing, the Kathis started fleeing while the viceroy advanced. Both Muzaffar and the Jam fled and, observing that it was over and his part done, Chandrasinh reined in his horse, and the Makhavân Siddhasenâ left the field. Then all at once the Jam’s heir Ajoji and his vazir Jesoji Ladak arrived and joined the fray, rallying the Jadejas. Most were killed, though heroism on that day cannot be denied.

Chandrasinh continued to rule earning a reputation as a great administrator and governor. He took an interest in the affairs of his subjects, particularly in agriculture, and constructed both the Chandrasar tank and the bund across the Maha Nadi near Than. In 1628 he was deposed by his heir Askaranji and retired to a quieter life of cultivating his flower garden and orchard before he died in 1636.

The narrative now leaps forward briefly to the mid-seventeenth century to consider a significant event during the rule of Meghraj II. At this

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