Battle of Maonda and Mandholi

The Battle of Maonda and Mandholi was fought between the Jat rulers of Bharatpur and the Rajput rulers of Amer Jaipur in 1767.^[1] Maharaj Jawahar Singh of Bharatpur was leading an army on his way back from Pushkar when the forces of Sawai Raja Madho Singhji of Jaipur met them near Maonda and Mandholi villages close to present day Neem ka Thana.^[2] The Jat forces under Jawahar Singh were defeated and Madho Singh I followed up his victory by invading Bharatpur at the head of 16,000 men where he defeated Jawahar Singh again on 29 February 1768.^[3][4]

Background

On 6 November 1767, the Rathore and Jat Raja's met together on the banks of the sacred lake, exchanged turbans and sat down side by side on the same carpet like full brothers, and sent an invitation to Madho Singh I to come and join them. The proud Kachwaha, long the foremost Rajput feudatory of the Delhi empire, was provoked beyond endurance by this insult. He sharply reprimanded Bijay Singh for having degraded his Rathore ancestry by admitting a peasants son and a mere servant of the Jaipur state as his brother and political equal. The letter roused Jawahar Singh to fury. He set out on his return wantonly looting the Jaipur villages on his way and molesting their inhabitants.^[5]

The Battle

The Jat Raja with his immense force and ponderous artillery and baggage train had almost reached his own country, when at Maonda, only 23 miles south-west of Narnaul. The Kachwaha army which had been following him, delivered the attack (14 December). Here a narrow defile lay before the Jats; They sent their baggage ahead, covering it with the troops in the rear. The first attack of the Rajput horse in the open was repulsed by the Jats making a counter march against them as the Kachwaha artillery and infantry were still lagging behind. The Jats took advantage of this initial success to enter the defile, hoping thus to escape. But the Jaipur cavalry overtook them in the middle of the pass; The Jats made a half-turn and offered battle. The Kachwaha horsemen, after firmly standing a devastating fire from Jawahar Singh's guns for some time, threw themselves sword in hand on the enemy, who fled at the first shock, crying out that all was lost and abandoning their artillery, baggage, and king himself.^[6]

Aftermath

The Rajputs immediately dispersed for plunder, and an indescribable scene of confusion followed, during which the French led trained Jat sepoys of Samru and Madec kept their heads, and with equal coolness and daring maintained the battle, fighting with their backs to the rocky walls till nightfall. they saved Jawahar Singh and enabled him to make an unmolested retreat, though the rest of his army had dispersed in flight long before. But all his artillery- 70 pieces of different calibres, tents and baggage including his royal umbrella, had to be abandoned on the field. The total loss on the two sides together was about 5000 men. The Rajput lost 2000 to 3000 mostly because of artillery fire, before which they stood with astonishing firmness; But most of the principal chiefs fell on the field; There was hardly a noble family in jaipur that did not sacrifice a son or two on that day. Dalil singh the commander-in-chief of the Jaipur army, fell in the fight with three generations of his descendants, and none but the boys of ten remained to represent the baronical houses of Jaipur.^[7]

Warriors who fought^[8][9]

On the jaipur side almost all the Kacchawa and Shekhawat thikana had representation.

• Thakur of Mandholi and Maonda - Tanwar Rajputs
• Rao of Patan - Tanwar Rajput
• Hanut Singh of Dundlodh - Kacchawa
• Nawal Singh of Nawalgarh - Kacchawa ^[10]
• Amar Singhji Rajawat of Dhula^[11]
• Nawal Singh Rajawat of Lasadya
• Dulah singh Kacchawa of Chawaldeeda - Raipur
• Shambhu Singh Kacchawa of Rasulpura
• Sanwal Singh Kacchawa of Mangalwara
• Awaj Singh Kacchawa of Tehtara

References

Coordinates: 27°46′N 75°48′E / 27.767°N 75.800°E / 27.767; 75.800