History of Tijara Fort, Tijara, Rajasthan
The Tijara Fort hotel is a beautiful heritage property restored and run by the Neemrana Hotels Company. As given on their website, , the construction of the fort was started by Balwant Singh, the local king, in 1835 but could not be completed because of his untimely death in 1845. The fort fell into ruin and was restored by the Neemrana Hotels Company and opened as a heritage hotel in 2016.
Image Source: https://www.neemranahotels.com/tijara-fort-palace-alwar-rajasthan/
A visit to this wonderfully restored and maintained heritage hotel piqued my interest in its history. At a first glance, the structure and style of the fort does not support the belief that it was built in the 19th century. I could see old parts that have stood the test of time and have architectural elements which were distinct to forts dating back to 17th or 18th century or even older. One can argue that forts in Rajasthan constructed across centuries have largely remained same in design and style. However, construction elements such as use of mortar and its constitution reveal a lot about the period of the fort’s construction history and that spurred me to take a deeper dive into the history of this handsome fort.
Image Copyright: nuggetsofindianhistory.com
Image Copyright: nuggetsofindianhistory.com
There are several sources which provide some information about the fort but we also need to understand the meaning of capture and occupation of a territory. What has to be captured in a conquered territory to allow the pronouncement of ownership of that territory by the advancing army? The obvious answer is the forts and fortresses. Forts and fortresses were the hubs and bastions of political power as well as administrative control of the territories surrounding them. An invading army had to take control of these forts to be able to lay claim to the territories around them. With this in mind, let me now try to narrate the history of the Tijara territory and the fort that is situated there.
Alexander Cunningham mentions in his account of 1882-83 that Tej Pala, a descendant of Jadon Raja Tahan Pala, founded the town of Tijara[1] sometime in the 12th century. Cunningham states that Tej Pala escaped from Tahangarh fort (now Timangarh Fort) to Sarhata (now Sarhheta) when Mohammad Ghori captured Tahangarh and then went on to found the town of Tijara. Since Mohammad Ghori made his expeditions to India in the 12th century, we can conclude that Tijara was founded in the 12th century.
For next two hundred years, we do not find any mention of Tijara until the end of the 14th century when, according to Cunningham, one Malik Alauddin, called the head of the family of Tijara, ruled the area.[2]
Tijara soon became a place of prominence with its name mentioned frequently in the annals of the region. It’s proximity to Delhi, the centre of power in north India since the medieval ages, often made Tijara a target of invading armies.
In 1411, Khizr Khan, the Governor of Multan[3], who went on to establish the rule of the Sayyids in Delhi, attacked the Mewat region and plundered the towns of Tijara along with Sarhheta, Kharol etc.[4] Khizr Khan’s successor, his son, Mubarak Shah, made several expeditions into the Mewat territory to rein in the renegade Mewat chiefs.[5] Cunningham states that Mubarak Shah planned an attack on Tijara in 1432 to subdue Jalal Khan, a disaffected Mewat leader. Mubarak Shah plundered vast areas of the Mewat territory and encamped at Tijara where Jalal Khan, worried by further devastation and capture,[6] submitted to Mubarak Shah and agreed to pay the requisite tribute.[7]
In 1452, Bahlol Lodi invaded Mewat and forced the then ruler, Ahmed Khan Mewati to give up Tijara and six other parganas to him. Not much is known about Ahmed Khan Mewati or how he became the ruler of the Tijara territory. Bahlol Lodi placed Tartar Khan, one of the 44 officers of distrinction during his reign, as the governor of the region. Post accession of Sikander Lodi in 1488[8], his brother Alauddin Alam Shah was made the Governor of Tijara in 1494 and was so for a long time.[9] Undoubtedly, during the Lodi dynasty, Tijara was a significant centre of administrative power as the kings only appointed close and trusted officers, if not family members, as governors of the place.
After the Lodis, Tijara is mentioned in 1527 when Babar was in the process of consolidating his rule over north India. Babar took control of the Mewat region after defeating a confederation of Rajput armies and Hasan Khan Mewati[10] in the battle of Khanwa. In Tuzuk-i-Babari, Babur mentions that before Alwar, Tijara which was the capital of Mewat[11] under the ancestors of Hasan Khan Mewati.[12] This fact consolidates the evidence for Tijara to have been a fort of some stature.
Babar appointed Sultan Khan as governor of Tijara.[13] In another account his name is given as Chin Timur Sultan.[14] Under Akbar’s strong rule, various petty chiefs of the Mewat region, who were thorns on the side of the rulers of Delhi for several centuries, were subdued and peace was brought upon the land. Mewat was divided into two Sarkars – Alwar and Tijara – under the Subah of Agra,[15] which signifies the continued importance of Tijara under the Mughals. As per Ain-i-Akbari, the Sarkar[16]of Tijara was made up of 18 Mahals[17] while Alwar had 43 Mahals. However, Tijara yielded over five times more revenue than Alwar[18] for the Mughals.
The Mahals under Tijara: [19]
Tijara, Indor, Pur, Bambohra (Now Bambora, near Kishengarh), Ghar Ka Thana (Now Thana Ghora), Ujina, Umra Umri (Two towns close to each other in present day Haryana), Pinagwan (Now Pinangwan), Jhamrawat (Now Jhimrawat), Khanpur, Sakras, Santhawari, Firozpur Jhir (Firozpur Jhirka), Tatahpur (could not identify which Tatarpur it is), Kotla, Kharera (Karhera Ferozpur), Besuru (now Bisru), and Nagina
Next we hear of Tijara is in 1720 when Muhammad Shah was in power in Delhi. Churaman, a well-known Jat chieftain plundered the country in and around Tijara. The Mughals post Aurangzeb’s death in 1717, became weak because of internecine conflict and court intrigues as fights for the throne between various groups of nobility left the territories beyond Delhi up for conquest and control by local chiefs. Between 1724 and 1763, the Jats under Suraj Mal, grand nephew of Churaman, ruled the area. After his death, the Sikhs plundered the area without taking charge of the territory. Soon after, the Jats were ousted by Najaf Kuli Khan, a jagirdar of Rewari and who was in the service of the imperial commander-in-chief Najaf Khan. The Marathas, in the meantime, had taken control of Delhi and, to consolidate their rule, they sent Ismail Beg to supersede Najaf Kuli Khan. However, Ismail Beg rebelled against the Marathas and had Tijara under his rule until the Marathas defeated him at Patan and occupied Tijara. The Jats took control of Tijara from the Marathas again and it stayed with them till 1805.[20]
It was during this tumultuous period that a British mercenary George Thomas appeared on the scene and took control of Tijara for a short period before making Hansi the capital of his territory. George Thomas, a native of Rosscrea in Tipperary, arrived in Madras (now Chennai) in 1782 as a quartermaster in a ship. He left the fleet and vanished for a few years in the hinterlands of south India; some believe he was with the poligars.[21] In 1787, he is found in the employment in the army of Sardhana, a territory belonging to Begum Sumro. After falling out with Sumro due to her favouring a French commander called Levassoult over him, he heads to Anupshahar where he meets with the British Frontier Force which was created and maintained under the treaty of alliance between the British and the Nawab of Awadh. Here he offers his services to the nobility of the region and solicits employment. Soon Appa Khandi Rao, a Maratha soldier who had been dismissed by Scindia, took Thomas into his service. Appa Rao was wanting to build his own army and gain territory to rule over. He instructed Thomas to create a cavalry of hundred horses and foot army of 1000 men for which Appa Rao gave him three parganas in the district of Alwar though Appa Rao himself did not own these parganas.[22] The three parganas were Tijara, Tapukara, and Firozpur Jhirka.[23]
Despite facing strong resistance from the Mewatis who occupied the territories in and around Alwar, Thomas managed to take control of Jhajjar and Tijara during 1794[24] for a short duration. Soon, he conquered Jhajhar and later Hansi which he made his capital till about 1802 when he died. Tijara was the chief place of the eponymous district and since forts were the centres of power and political and administrative control of their region, taking charge of the citadel – the fort – was akin to taking control of the region.
The Second Anglo-Maratha War saw a decline in the territories and influence of the Marathas. In 1805, Tijara was given to Bakhtawar Singh of Alwar by the British. Later, the Maharao Raja (ruler of Alwar) placed Tijara in the hands of a slave called Jahaz and after him one Nawab Ahmad Baksh Khan, a famous vakil had charge of Tijara. In 1826, Balwant Singh, the illegitimate child of Bakhtawar Singh was conferred with the territory of Tijara. Balwant Singh died issueless in 1845, when Tijara reverted to Alwar.[25]
From the accounts above, it is evident that Tijara was a town and pargana of importance and has been so since the 12th century. Over the centuries, men close to the kings of Delhi were given charge of the pargana e.g. Sikander Lodi’s “full-brother”[26] Alauddin Alam Shah who was appointed governor. Strangely, nowhere has it been mentioned that there was a fort at Tijara but considering all the evidence discussed, above a fort had to exist at Tijara for it to acquire such significance. During the Mughal period, the term governor actually meant a fort commandant[27] which indicates that Tijara had a fort which required defence. Also, it must be considered that all important towns and parganas had forts in the olden days. Forts were symbols of ownership of a place or region and the bigger and grander the fort, the greater the importance of town or district. All neighbouring towns and parganas of Tijara mentioned above had forts. So as the capital of the Tijara pargana and with important men assigned as governors, it can be inferred that Tijara would have a fort and the only high enough hilltop near Tijara town is the one where the fort is found today.
It is evident that a fort would have been erected to mark the place as the centre of power since at least the 15th century, if not earlier. Further incontrovertible evidence of the existence of the Tijara fort before 1830 is found in the Walter Hamilton’s account dated 1820 where he mentions that the fort at Tijara is of “some strength” and “is kept in repair to check the depredations of the Mewatis.”[28]
This photograph was taken in 1888. The building in the picture is called the Zenana.
Source of Image: T. Holbein Hendley, Ulwar and Its Art Treasures (London: W. Griggs, 1888), Plate XVIII.
[1] Alexander Cunnigham, Report of A Tour in Eastern Rajputana in 1882-83, Vol xx (Calcutta: Government Press, 1885), 10.
[2] Ibid., 16.
[3] Mahomed Kasim Ferishta, John Briggs, trans., History of the Rise of the Mahomedan Power in India till the Year 1612, Vol 1 (London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, 1829), 481-482.
[4] Cunnigham, Report of A Tour in Eastern Rajputana in 1882-83, Vol xx, 17. Sarhheta is mentioned as Saratha. Kharol is unidentified.
[5] P. W Powlett, Gazetteer of Ulwur (London: Trubner & Co., 1878), 4-5.
[6] John Dowson, ed., The History of India as Told by its Own Historians: The Muhammadan Period, The Posthumus Papers of Sir H. M Elliot (Calcutta: Susil Gupta (India) Private LTD, 1958),148.
[7] Cunnigham, Report of A Tour in Eastern Rajputana in 1882-83, Vol xx, 18.
[8] Cunnigham, Report of A Tour in Eastern Rajputana in 1882-83, Vol xx, 19.
[9] Cunnigham, Report of A Tour in Eastern Rajputana in 1882-83, Vol xx, 115.
[10] As per Cunningham, Hasan Khan Mewati was a descendant of Khanzada Bahadur Khan who was one of the two sons of Lakhan Pal who adopted the Muslim faith. His Hindu name was Sambhar Pal. See Alexander Cunnigham, Report of A Tour in Eastern Rajputana in 1882-83, Vol xx (Calcutta: Government Press, 1885), 213-17.
[11] Walter Hamilton, A Geographical, Statistical, and Historical Description of Hindostan and the Adjacent Countries, Vol 1 (London: John Murray, 1820), 394; Alexander Cunningham too calls it the old capital in his account, see fn 1 preface. Further in The History of India as Told by Its Historians, Vol 4, 273, Babur’s account titled Tuzuk-i-Babari mentions this.
[12] Powlett, Gazetteer of Ulwur, 6.
[13] Cunnigham, Report of A Tour in Eastern Rajputana in 1882-83, Vol xx, 20.
[14] Powlett, Gazetteer of Ulwur, 6.
[15] Cunnigham, Report of A Tour in Eastern Rajputana in 1882-83, Vol xx, 21.
[16] An administrative unit under the larger one called Subah and every Sarkar had smaller units called Mahals or parganas.
[17] Powlett, Gazetteer of Ulwur, 9.
[18] The Rajputana Gazetteer, Vol III (Simla: Government Press, 18180), 174-176.
[19] Powlett, Gazetteer of Ulwur, 9.
[20] The Rajputana Gazetteer, Vol III, 176-177.
[21] Poligars were petty chiefs in southern India. See, J. A. Dubois, Description of the Characters, Manners and Customs of the People of India; and their Institutions, Religious and Civil (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1817), 589.
[22] “George Thomas: An Episode of the Great Anarchy,” The Calcutta Review, no. cxl, 597-618.
[23] William Francklin, Military Memoirs of Mr George Thomas (London: 1805), 22.
[24] Herbert Compton, comp., A Particular Account of the European Military Adventurers of Hindustan, From 1784-1803 (London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1893), 116.
[25] The Rajputana Gazetteer, Vol III, 258-261
[26] Cunnigham, Report of A Tour in Eastern Rajputana in 1882-83, Vol xx, 20.
[27] Powlett, Gazetteer of Ulwur, 6.
[28] Walter Hamilton, A Geographical, Statistical, and Historical Description of Hindostan and the Adjacent Countries, Vol 1 (London: John Murray, 1820), 394.
