Battle of Merta (1754)

01A Rathore succession

Marwar had been torn by a quarrel between Ram Singh, son of Maharaja Abhay Singh, and his uncle Bakht Singh. Bakht Singh won Jodhpur, and when he died in 1752 his son Bijay Singh succeeded. Ram Singh turned to the Marathas. Jayappa Scindia, who held the Scindia share of the north, agreed to restore him in return for money and land, and led his army into Marwar in 1754.

02Merta and Nagaur

Bijay Singh met the Marathas near Merta in September 1754 with the Rathore horse and was beaten after hard fighting. He shut himself up in Nagaur and Jayappa besieged it. The siege dragged on for months. In July 1755, during talks, two men of Bijay Singh’s side stabbed Jayappa to death in his camp. His brother Dattaji pressed the war until Bijay Singh agreed to give up Ajmer and part of Marwar to Ram Singh and the Marathas.

Dynasty · 13th century–1949 CERathores of MarwarRao Siha’s clan came into the desert in the thirteenth century; Rao Jodha built Mehrangarh in 1459. In the war after 1679 the Rathores, led by Durgadas, saved their infant king from Aurangzeb and fought for him for nearly thirty years.Read →