Singh, Jai
(d. 1667), military leader for Mughul rulers. Jai Singh rose to prominence during the later part of the reign of the Mughul emperor Shah Jahan (1592–1666). Jai Singh was chief of the heavily fortified city of Amber, near Jaipur in northwestern India. When Shah Jahan became terminally ill, a war of succession broke out among his sons. Jai Singh was then sent on a military expedition against Prince Shuja, whom he pursued all the way to Bengal (now encompassing parts of India and Bangladesh). Then Jai Singh was sent against Prince Dara, whom he defeated at the battle of Deorai and pursued westward into Sind (now in Pakistan).
As Shah Jahan weakened, his third son, Aurangzeb (1618–1707), continued to employ Jai Singh to conduct a campaign in the Deccan (in southern India) against the state of Bijapur. He failed to capture this city, but was more successful against the Maratha warlord Shivaji. The latter was obliged to conclude a treaty with the Mughul emperor in 1665, acknowledging his suzerainty and ceding twenty-three fortresses to him. Jai Singh also persuaded the independent-minded warlord to go to Agra and visit the Mughul court in 1666. Despite all these successes, Jai Singh's failure to capture Bijapur rankled with the future emperor Alamgir, who recalled him from his Deccan campaigns in 1667. On the way back to Delhi, Jai Singh died.
Further Reading
Gascoigne, Bamber. (1971) The Great Moghuls. New York: Harper & Row.
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