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Bikaner
Bikaner
Walled desert city founded in 1488 by Rao Bika; capital of Bikaner State until 1947.
Sujjan Singh
Twelfth ruler of Bikaner, 1700–1735. Acceded as a child of ten and reigned thirty-five years through the collapse of Mughal authority, repelling attacks from Jodhpur and Nagaur.
p>Sujan Singh came to the gadi on 15 December 1700, aged about ten, on the death of his elder brother Swarup Singh. He was the second son of Anup Singh, and he held Bikaner for thirty-five years — through the death of Aurangzeb in 1707 and the disintegration of Mughal authority that followed.</p><p>That disintegration changed what Bikaner was. For a century and a half the state's security had rested on the imperial guarantee obtained at Nagaur in 1570: serve the emperor, and the emperor stands behind your watan. After 1707 there was no reliable guarantor. The pressure that had been contained by Mughal arbitration — principally from Jodhpur, the parent Rathore house that had annexed Bikaner outright in the 1540s — returned.</p><p>Sujan Singh's reign is recorded chiefly as successful defence. He repelled attacking forces from Jodhpur and from Nagaur and kept the territory intact.</p>
p>The one detailed episode preserved from the reign is a family one. In 1733 relations between Sujan Singh and his son and heir Zorawar Singh broke down badly enough that armed confrontation was expected.</p><p>The Maharaja's advisers urged him not to fight the crown prince, and a reconciliation was brokered instead. Two of Sujan Singh's queens went to Zorawar and negotiated with him directly; Zorawar agreed to pay homage to his father, and his position and powers were restored.</p><p>It is a small thing, but it says something about how these states actually worked. A succession crisis was headed off by the intervention of two women of the household acting as negotiators, and the record preserves the fact without treating it as remarkable.</p>
p>Wikipedia, 'Bikaner State' regnal list (15 December 1700 – 16 December 1735; b. 1690, d. 1735) and 'Zorawar Singh of Bikaner' for the 1733 quarrel and reconciliation, citing Powlett; the Bikaner genealogical tables, which give birth as 7 August 1690, reign 1700–1736 and death on 27 December 1735; RAS/RajRAS for the reign dates 1700–1735.</p><p><strong>Dating conflict.</strong> The date of death is given as 16 December 1735 in the regnal list and 27 December 1735 in the genealogical tables, which also extend the reign to 1736. The regnal list has been followed for the ruler chain, with year-level approximation on the death date. The birth date of 7 August 1690 comes from the genealogy and is recorded with year-level approximation.</p><p><strong>QID note.</strong> No Wikidata item confirmed; local QID minted pending verification.</p>
Significance · REGIONAL
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