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Bikaner
Bikaner
Walled desert city founded in 1488 by Rao Bika; capital of Bikaner State until 1947.
Raja Sur Singh
Eighth ruler of Bikaner, 1613–1631. Installed by Jahangir after his brother Dalpat's deposition; served the Mughals against the rebellions of Prince Khurram, Jujhar Singh Bundela and Khan-i-Jahan Lodi.
p>Sur Singh was the third son of Raja Rai Singh and had served alongside him — he accompanied his father to Burhanpur when Rai Singh was sent back to govern there under Jahangir. He came to the throne in 1613 because the emperor put him on it, after Dalpat Singh refused an imperial posting and was removed.</p><p>Whether Sur Singh was the instrument of his brother's death or merely its beneficiary is not settled. The regnal list states plainly that he revolted against Dalpat and killed him along with his guards, with Jahangir's consent. Other accounts place the killing elsewhere — an execution at Ajmer, or the work of an unnamed noble. What is certain is that Sur Singh was installed by the empire and that the succession thereafter ran through his line, which is why his brother is barely remembered.</p>
p>Whatever the circumstances of his accession, Sur Singh proved exactly the kind of vassal the Mughals valued: available, competent and reliably on the winning side of a rebellion.</p><p>In 1622 Prince Khurram — the future Shah Jahan — rose against his father Jahangir, and Sur Singh acted against him. That this did him no harm when Khurram became emperor five years later says something about how the system worked: service to the reigning emperor was the obligation, and it was understood as such.</p><p>Under Shah Jahan he was used against two more revolts. In 1628 he helped suppress Jujhar Singh Bundela of Orchha, and in 1629–30 he took part in crushing Khan-i-Jahan Lodi, the Afghan noble whose defection was the most serious internal threat of the new reign. The pattern of Bikaner's Mughal service — established under Rai Singh in the field, continued here in counter-insurgency — held steady for a further century.</p><p>At home his ministry was in Bachhawat hands as before: Mehta Bhag Chand and Mehta Lakshmi Chand, both of the Bothra Bachhawat family, appear as dewans in 1619–20.</p>
p>Wikipedia, 'Bikaner State' regnal list and dewan list; the Bikaner genealogical tables (b. 1594, d. 1631, r. 1613–1631); RAS/RajRAS, 'Bikaner and Kishangarh Rathores', for the 1622, 1628 and 1629–30 campaigns.</p><p><strong>Dating note.</strong> The genealogical birth year of 1594 would make Sur Singh about nineteen at his accession in 1613, which is possible but sits awkwardly with accounts of him campaigning alongside his father before 1612. Recorded here 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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