| Sawai Raja Jai Singh II
| |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saramad-e-Raja-e-Hindustan Raj-Rajeshwar Raj-Rajendra Shri Maharajadhiraj Maharaja Sawai Shri Jai Singh II Bahadur[1] Shri [2] | |||||||||
 Sawai Jai Singh's portrait (1725) from British Museum | |||||||||
| 30th Raja of Amber | |||||||||
| Reign | 5 March 1699 – 18 November 1727 | ||||||||
| Coronation | 5 March 1699 (first) 25 January 1700 (second) | ||||||||
| Predecessor | Bishan Singh | ||||||||
| 1st Raja of Jaipur | |||||||||
| Reign | 18 November 1727 – 21 September 1743 | ||||||||
| Successor | Ishwari Singh | ||||||||
| Subahdar of Malwa | |||||||||
| Reign | 25 October 1732 – 24 December 1737 | ||||||||
| Emperor | Muhammad Shah | ||||||||
| Predecessor | Muhammad Khan Bangash | ||||||||
| Successor | Position abolished | ||||||||
| Born | Kunwar Vijay Singh 3 November 1688 Kharwa, Ajmer Subah, Mughal Empire (present day: Ajmer, Rajasthan, India) | ||||||||
| Died | 21 September 1743 (aged 54) Jaipur, Jaipur State, Rajputana (present day: Jaipur, Rajasthan, India) | ||||||||
| Spouse |
| ||||||||
| Issue | Sons
| ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Dynasty | Kachhwaha | ||||||||
| Father | Bishan Singh | ||||||||
| Mother | Rathorji Indra Kanwarji d. of Rao Kesari Singh of Kharwa in Ajmer[3] | ||||||||
| Religion | Hinduism | ||||||||
Sawai Jai Singh II (3 November 1688 – 21 September 1743), was the 29th Kachwaha Rajput ruler of the Kingdom of Amber, who later founded the fortified city of Jaipur and made it his capital. He became the ruler of Amber at the age of 11, after the untimely death of his father, Mirza Raja Bishan Singh, on 31 December 1699.[4]
Initially, Raja Jai Singh served as a vassal of the Mughal Empire. He was given the title of "Sawai" by Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb before the siege of Khelna Fort in Deccan."Sawai" means one and a quarter times superior to his contemporaries. He received the title of Maharaja Sawai, Raj Rajeshwar, Shri Rajadhiraj in the year 1723; this was in addition to the title of Saramad-i-Raja-i-Hindustan, conferred on him on 21 April 1721.[1][5]
In the later part of his life, Jai Singh broke free from Mughal hegemony, and to assert his sovereignty, performed the Ashvamedha sacrifice, an ancient rite that had been abandoned for several centuries.[6][7] He moved his kingdom's capital from the town of Amber to the newly established walled city of Jaipur in 1727, and performed two Ashwamedha sacrifices, one in 1734, and again in 1741.[8]
Sawai Jai Singh II had a profound interest in mathematics, architecture and astronomy. He commissioned the Jantar Mantar observatories at multiple places in India, including his capital Jaipur.[9] He had Euclid's "Elements of Geometry" translated into Sanskrit.[10]
- ^ a b Sarkar, Jadunath (1994) A History of Jaipur, New Delhi: Orient Blackswan, ISBN 81-250-0333-9, pp. 171, 173
- ^ Sarkar, Jadunath (1984, reprint 1994) A History of Jaipur, New Delhi: Orient Longman, ISBN 81-250-0333-9, p. 171
- ^ Harnath Singh, Jaipur and its Environs (1970), p. 9
- ^ Andrew Topsfield (2000). Court Painting in Rajasthan. Marg. p. 50. ISBN 978-81-85026-47-3.
- ^ Prahlad Singh; Kalyan Dutt Sharma (1978). Stone observatories in India, erected by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh of Jaipur. Bharata Manisha. p. 57.
- ^ Ajay Verghese (2016). The Colonial Origins of Ethnic Violence in India. Stanford University Press. p. 64. ISBN 978-0-8047-9817-4.
- ^ Yamini Narayanan (2014). Religion, Heritage and the Sustainable City: Hinduism and urbanisation in Jaipur. Routledge. p. 106. ISBN 978-1-135-01269-4.
- ^ Catherine B Asher (2008). "Excavating Communalism: Kachhwaha Rajadharma and Mughal Sovereignty". In Rajat Datta (ed.). Rethinking a Millennium: Perspectives on Indian History from the Eighth to the Eighteenth Century : Essays for Harbans Mukhia. Aakar Books. p. 232. ISBN 978-81-89833-36-7.
- ^ Virendra Nath Sharma (1995). Sawai Jai Singh and His Astronomy. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. pp. 2, 98. ISBN 978-81-208-1256-7.
- ^ Chandara, Bipan. History of Modern India. Orient Black Swan.