01-27-2007, 10:31 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Promotion of Krishnaism in Periods Of Jat Dominance in Braj: A Glance at Some Sources
Author: Farhat Nasreen
[This paper was presented at the annual Jat history conference held by the Surajmal Institute.
It was published as part of the book," The Jats: Their Role and Social Contribution to the Socio Economic Life and Polity of North and north West India- Vol 2.
ISBN- 81 88629-52-9
Published by Originals, New Delhi, available from the Surajmal Institute, New Delhi and DK Publishers, Darya Ganj, New Delhi www.dkpd.com]
In the 17th century, the Braj Mandal one of the prominent regions of Jat dominance was an important center of religion and culture in Northern India. The Braj Mandal comprises of the districts of Mathura, Bharatpur and adjacent parts of other districts, including towns of
Aligarh, Agra, Hathras and Alwar. The largest land-owners and the most important cultivators of this region were the Jats. The heaviest concentration of Jat population was in Mathura.
In the 16th-17th Centuries the Braj Mandal saw the growth of two parallel phenomenon. Firstly, it saw the rise of Jats and their assertion in the political and military arena, as a brave and indomitable group who was not ready to bow its head before any authority that it considered oppressive.
Secondly, the Braj region saw a spectacular, iridescent and ingenious cultural and religious energy, which in turn acted as catalyst for the burgeoning of a super charged socio-cultural accretion. This combination of developments was unique for its times and unique even today. In context of the History of Jats and their contribution towards enrichment of the socio-cultural life of India a
study of this period in the mentioned time frame is of great importance.
The Jats themselves were faced with two situations of change in their lives. The first was in their professional life where they were face to face with the challenge of putting off Mughal domination and continue with the scheme of self assertion, which was initiated by Raja Ram; this required a tuff mental set up and a determined attitude to fight back enemies and rivals in the face of death. It was a physical and military challenge.
The other one was a psychological one because in the land of the Jats a great religious revolution had taken place in the form of Brajmaie Krishnaism, inspired by the Bhagavata Parana. Their popular deity was Krishna the perfect, who was the ultimate God of Love, who personified the cause of Humanism in many ways. So together with a die-hard spirit to fight back violence with violence,
the Jats had to adjust themselves to the principles of Krishnaism, which had love as its base. Both as bhaktas ( devotees) and as warriors, the Jats balanced their role very well.
They probably drew inspiration for both their roles from Krishna himself. As a warrior the Krishna of Mahabharata inspired them, reference to his Aishwarya form. as the king of Dwarka could strike awe in anyone's heart and as a bhakta they drew inspiration from Brajiya Krishna of the Bhagavata Purana who in Madhuriya form was such a loving deity that, that he presented the perfect role
model of a son, friend and lover. Just as Krishna personified kaleidoscopical spectrums of perfection, allured by his magnetism, the Jats also excelled in every compartment of life, be it war or be it bhakti, contradictory they may seem, but the blending was perfect.
It was between 1685 and 1688 AD that the Jats living to the west of Yamuna began asserting dominance under the leadership of Raja Ram; son of the zammindar of Sinsini. (25 kilometers north west of Bharatpur). He united his own clan with those of Soghars (6 kilometers west of Bharatpur).
Aurangzeb's grandson Bedar Bakht was posted in the northern region of the empire and he enlisted support of Bishan Singh the Raja of Amber and in 1688 appointed him as the military commander at Mathura. After Raja Ram another campaign of resistance of Mughal authorities was begun by Churaman. In 1704, he managed to recover hold on Sinsini and after Aurangzeb's death he was further able to consolidate his position, so much so that Bahadur Shah was obliged to recognize him as the un-official ruler of the area west of Yamuna and Churaman was free to cooperate with the emperor or loot his armies.
Farrukh Siyar (Shah Jahan-II) received him formally in Delhi in 1713. Later Badan Singh became the leader of Jats who eventually was awarded the title of `Raja' and thus became the first mortal to be acknowledged as the king of Braj, `Braj Raj'. Though he generally preferred to use the more modest title of Thakur. In Badan Singh's life time itself Suraj Mal was given the responsibility of commanding his forces. Later the power was fully transferred to him. Maharaja Suraj Mal controlled the territory between Delhi and Agra uptill 1763. Thus for obvious reasons we can safely say that the period of 17th century in the Braj Mandal was one of political turmoil. This led to decentralization and commercialization of power, yet it goes to the credit of the Jat rulers and the dominant Jat political lobbies that, in the area which was the center of this political turmoil and anxiety they maintained such socio-religious conditions that the growth and flourish, of Brajmaie Krishnaism continued unhampered. In the midst of warfare and military activities they protected and nurtured and participated in the cult of the God of love. It is remarkable and note worthy that in periods of Jat dominance Braj Yatra resurfaced with renewed enthusiasm, to be noted is the fact that before this time the report of last major yatra came from Bhakta Maheshwari of Bikaner from the year 1656.
Another instance which shows the efficient compartmentalization of militarism and religiosity in the heart of the Jats comes from the account of Atmaram who reports that while Sawai Jai Singh was engaged in a campaign against Churaman, he bathed in Radha Kund on the full moon of Karttik, went to Mathura in the month of Shravan 1724, where he performed the marriage of his daughter to Abhai Singh on Janamashtami. Later he under took Braj yatra, then visited Soron and on his return from there he visited religious places in Mathura and Vrindavan once again, founded religious establishments there and celebrated Holi. In 1727 he made another visit to Braj, then he offered his weight in gold at Vishram ghat in Mathura. The point to be noted here is that despite the military tension in the region religious activities were continuing in full swing in a conducive atmosphere, and this was possible, because there was a sentimental, emotional and sensitive Krishna bhakta in the heart of the apparently tuff and unrelenting Jats and this bhakta element in the Jat psyche was as strong as the fighter element, which made him a winner all the way.
Here I want to draw attention towards some sources, which wereproduced in the period of Jat political and military dominance inBraj. These sources confirm the maintenance of a delicate balance and paradoxical coexistence of warfare and peaceful or peace giving conditions.
The first work that I have chosen comes from the court of Raja Suraj Mal; The Sujan Charitra. This was compiled by Sudan, a court poet in the year 1754 at the behest of the Maharaja himself. It primarily comprises of the account of the battles fought by the Maharaja between 1745 and 1754, but in the first part of the last section of this text are mentioned the sacred places of Braj and incidents from the life of Krishna associated with those places. Construction of the sacred geography of Braj by citing places and their association with Krishna Ulas is an essential part of the schemes of Braj Yatra and Ras lila anukarana, the sacred theatre of Braj, both of which were the life line of the medieval Indian Krishnaite revolution. For unknown reason the author has not attempted to present the places in the order in which they are visited in the conventional pilgrimage circuit. It might have been so to avoid restricting the work to an itinerary kind of attempt and instead to present a general account of the sacred character of the land.
The second source is the Tirthananda of Raja Nagridas (1699-1764), the ruler of Rupnagar who spent the last years of his life at Vrindavan. Tirthananda was written at Vrindavan in the year 1753, it describes the places visited and the festivals attended by Nagridas in the Braj Mandal. He describes in detail the celebration of Janamashtami at Nandagaon, births of Radha and Lalita sakhi at Barsana and Karahia respectively. He also mentions great festivity at Radha Kund on the Karttik bath, Divali and Annakut at Goverdhan and Gopa ashtami at Nandagaon. All these festivities are described as being well attended and celebrated with a lot of grandeur. This yet again speaks of the patronization of Krishnaism by the Jats. This point is reinforced by another work of Nagridas himself, Vanjan Prashansa, in which he praises the flora and fauna of Braj and the character of the various castes who reside here.
Next are the Vraj Vastu Vaman and Vraj Gram Vaman of Jagatananda. In the opening verses Jagatananda refers to Vallabha VanshavaU and Vitthal Van Yatra (they arc dated as being composed in 1724), indicating that the work was written after 1724.
The Vraj Vastu Vaman gives a classified enumeration in verse of a large number of deities and sacred sites. The Vraj Gram Vaman is a sequence of verses about some villages, beginning with Gokul and its environs followed by Mathura, Vrindavan, and then various other places at random, including some which have no significance in the current circuit of Braj Yatra. The feel of the text reveals an atmosphere of religious growth and peace, mention of places over and above those in the present itinerary indicates that the Krishnaite revolution reached and flourished down to the grass root level in the period of the Jat Rajas.
The last source that I have revisited here is the Braj Mandal Kamlakar Bhavna. This work was composed after 1695 because it refers to a circumambulation of Braj by Vallabhji a son of Yadunath in that year; however reference to some other events reveals that it was not composed later than 1733. The colophon refers to the work as a fifty-six petal Braj Yatra (chappan pankhri ki braj yatra), since the places mentioned are assigned to petals of a lotus consisting of three concentric rings of eight, sixteen, and thirty-two petals. Unlike the Yogapitha texts, there is no detailed visionary description and no attempt to make the distribution of the places on the petals correspond to their geographical location. Instead they are listed in the order of the clockwise circumambulation of Braj, the first eight (Mathura to Mukhrai) being assigned to petals of the inner most ring, the next sixteen (places around Goverdhan) to those of the middle ring and the rest (Bilchukund to Thakurani Ghat) to those of the outer ring. The baithak shrines and the presiding sakhis are mentioned together with the list of appropriate dishes to be offered at various places.
The colorful and lively accounts of Braj Mandal and Braj Yatra- the continued and systematic efforts towards the promotion of the notion of pilgrimage to Mathura as a tour of places associated with Krishna, celebration of festivals, elaborate listing of deities, sacred places and shrines, goes to prove that despite the political turmoil and military activity that was going on in the area the local rulers of the region the Jats in this case gave protection and support to the Brajmaie Krishna revolution in their land. They sheltered it from all trials and challenges at whatever cost.
I conclude that the contribution of Jats towards the growth and sustainance of Krishna bhakti and specially Brajmaie Madhuriya Krishna bhakti is great and it reveals an unexplored, beautifully emotional and mysteriously delicate side of the tuff and brave Jats.
Acknowledgement of the contribution of Jats towards promotion of Krishnaism is as inescapable as fate<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Author: Farhat Nasreen
[This paper was presented at the annual Jat history conference held by the Surajmal Institute.
It was published as part of the book," The Jats: Their Role and Social Contribution to the Socio Economic Life and Polity of North and north West India- Vol 2.
ISBN- 81 88629-52-9
Published by Originals, New Delhi, available from the Surajmal Institute, New Delhi and DK Publishers, Darya Ganj, New Delhi www.dkpd.com]
In the 17th century, the Braj Mandal one of the prominent regions of Jat dominance was an important center of religion and culture in Northern India. The Braj Mandal comprises of the districts of Mathura, Bharatpur and adjacent parts of other districts, including towns of
Aligarh, Agra, Hathras and Alwar. The largest land-owners and the most important cultivators of this region were the Jats. The heaviest concentration of Jat population was in Mathura.
In the 16th-17th Centuries the Braj Mandal saw the growth of two parallel phenomenon. Firstly, it saw the rise of Jats and their assertion in the political and military arena, as a brave and indomitable group who was not ready to bow its head before any authority that it considered oppressive.
Secondly, the Braj region saw a spectacular, iridescent and ingenious cultural and religious energy, which in turn acted as catalyst for the burgeoning of a super charged socio-cultural accretion. This combination of developments was unique for its times and unique even today. In context of the History of Jats and their contribution towards enrichment of the socio-cultural life of India a
study of this period in the mentioned time frame is of great importance.
The Jats themselves were faced with two situations of change in their lives. The first was in their professional life where they were face to face with the challenge of putting off Mughal domination and continue with the scheme of self assertion, which was initiated by Raja Ram; this required a tuff mental set up and a determined attitude to fight back enemies and rivals in the face of death. It was a physical and military challenge.
The other one was a psychological one because in the land of the Jats a great religious revolution had taken place in the form of Brajmaie Krishnaism, inspired by the Bhagavata Parana. Their popular deity was Krishna the perfect, who was the ultimate God of Love, who personified the cause of Humanism in many ways. So together with a die-hard spirit to fight back violence with violence,
the Jats had to adjust themselves to the principles of Krishnaism, which had love as its base. Both as bhaktas ( devotees) and as warriors, the Jats balanced their role very well.
They probably drew inspiration for both their roles from Krishna himself. As a warrior the Krishna of Mahabharata inspired them, reference to his Aishwarya form. as the king of Dwarka could strike awe in anyone's heart and as a bhakta they drew inspiration from Brajiya Krishna of the Bhagavata Purana who in Madhuriya form was such a loving deity that, that he presented the perfect role
model of a son, friend and lover. Just as Krishna personified kaleidoscopical spectrums of perfection, allured by his magnetism, the Jats also excelled in every compartment of life, be it war or be it bhakti, contradictory they may seem, but the blending was perfect.
It was between 1685 and 1688 AD that the Jats living to the west of Yamuna began asserting dominance under the leadership of Raja Ram; son of the zammindar of Sinsini. (25 kilometers north west of Bharatpur). He united his own clan with those of Soghars (6 kilometers west of Bharatpur).
Aurangzeb's grandson Bedar Bakht was posted in the northern region of the empire and he enlisted support of Bishan Singh the Raja of Amber and in 1688 appointed him as the military commander at Mathura. After Raja Ram another campaign of resistance of Mughal authorities was begun by Churaman. In 1704, he managed to recover hold on Sinsini and after Aurangzeb's death he was further able to consolidate his position, so much so that Bahadur Shah was obliged to recognize him as the un-official ruler of the area west of Yamuna and Churaman was free to cooperate with the emperor or loot his armies.
Farrukh Siyar (Shah Jahan-II) received him formally in Delhi in 1713. Later Badan Singh became the leader of Jats who eventually was awarded the title of `Raja' and thus became the first mortal to be acknowledged as the king of Braj, `Braj Raj'. Though he generally preferred to use the more modest title of Thakur. In Badan Singh's life time itself Suraj Mal was given the responsibility of commanding his forces. Later the power was fully transferred to him. Maharaja Suraj Mal controlled the territory between Delhi and Agra uptill 1763. Thus for obvious reasons we can safely say that the period of 17th century in the Braj Mandal was one of political turmoil. This led to decentralization and commercialization of power, yet it goes to the credit of the Jat rulers and the dominant Jat political lobbies that, in the area which was the center of this political turmoil and anxiety they maintained such socio-religious conditions that the growth and flourish, of Brajmaie Krishnaism continued unhampered. In the midst of warfare and military activities they protected and nurtured and participated in the cult of the God of love. It is remarkable and note worthy that in periods of Jat dominance Braj Yatra resurfaced with renewed enthusiasm, to be noted is the fact that before this time the report of last major yatra came from Bhakta Maheshwari of Bikaner from the year 1656.
Another instance which shows the efficient compartmentalization of militarism and religiosity in the heart of the Jats comes from the account of Atmaram who reports that while Sawai Jai Singh was engaged in a campaign against Churaman, he bathed in Radha Kund on the full moon of Karttik, went to Mathura in the month of Shravan 1724, where he performed the marriage of his daughter to Abhai Singh on Janamashtami. Later he under took Braj yatra, then visited Soron and on his return from there he visited religious places in Mathura and Vrindavan once again, founded religious establishments there and celebrated Holi. In 1727 he made another visit to Braj, then he offered his weight in gold at Vishram ghat in Mathura. The point to be noted here is that despite the military tension in the region religious activities were continuing in full swing in a conducive atmosphere, and this was possible, because there was a sentimental, emotional and sensitive Krishna bhakta in the heart of the apparently tuff and unrelenting Jats and this bhakta element in the Jat psyche was as strong as the fighter element, which made him a winner all the way.
Here I want to draw attention towards some sources, which wereproduced in the period of Jat political and military dominance inBraj. These sources confirm the maintenance of a delicate balance and paradoxical coexistence of warfare and peaceful or peace giving conditions.
The first work that I have chosen comes from the court of Raja Suraj Mal; The Sujan Charitra. This was compiled by Sudan, a court poet in the year 1754 at the behest of the Maharaja himself. It primarily comprises of the account of the battles fought by the Maharaja between 1745 and 1754, but in the first part of the last section of this text are mentioned the sacred places of Braj and incidents from the life of Krishna associated with those places. Construction of the sacred geography of Braj by citing places and their association with Krishna Ulas is an essential part of the schemes of Braj Yatra and Ras lila anukarana, the sacred theatre of Braj, both of which were the life line of the medieval Indian Krishnaite revolution. For unknown reason the author has not attempted to present the places in the order in which they are visited in the conventional pilgrimage circuit. It might have been so to avoid restricting the work to an itinerary kind of attempt and instead to present a general account of the sacred character of the land.
The second source is the Tirthananda of Raja Nagridas (1699-1764), the ruler of Rupnagar who spent the last years of his life at Vrindavan. Tirthananda was written at Vrindavan in the year 1753, it describes the places visited and the festivals attended by Nagridas in the Braj Mandal. He describes in detail the celebration of Janamashtami at Nandagaon, births of Radha and Lalita sakhi at Barsana and Karahia respectively. He also mentions great festivity at Radha Kund on the Karttik bath, Divali and Annakut at Goverdhan and Gopa ashtami at Nandagaon. All these festivities are described as being well attended and celebrated with a lot of grandeur. This yet again speaks of the patronization of Krishnaism by the Jats. This point is reinforced by another work of Nagridas himself, Vanjan Prashansa, in which he praises the flora and fauna of Braj and the character of the various castes who reside here.
Next are the Vraj Vastu Vaman and Vraj Gram Vaman of Jagatananda. In the opening verses Jagatananda refers to Vallabha VanshavaU and Vitthal Van Yatra (they arc dated as being composed in 1724), indicating that the work was written after 1724.
The Vraj Vastu Vaman gives a classified enumeration in verse of a large number of deities and sacred sites. The Vraj Gram Vaman is a sequence of verses about some villages, beginning with Gokul and its environs followed by Mathura, Vrindavan, and then various other places at random, including some which have no significance in the current circuit of Braj Yatra. The feel of the text reveals an atmosphere of religious growth and peace, mention of places over and above those in the present itinerary indicates that the Krishnaite revolution reached and flourished down to the grass root level in the period of the Jat Rajas.
The last source that I have revisited here is the Braj Mandal Kamlakar Bhavna. This work was composed after 1695 because it refers to a circumambulation of Braj by Vallabhji a son of Yadunath in that year; however reference to some other events reveals that it was not composed later than 1733. The colophon refers to the work as a fifty-six petal Braj Yatra (chappan pankhri ki braj yatra), since the places mentioned are assigned to petals of a lotus consisting of three concentric rings of eight, sixteen, and thirty-two petals. Unlike the Yogapitha texts, there is no detailed visionary description and no attempt to make the distribution of the places on the petals correspond to their geographical location. Instead they are listed in the order of the clockwise circumambulation of Braj, the first eight (Mathura to Mukhrai) being assigned to petals of the inner most ring, the next sixteen (places around Goverdhan) to those of the middle ring and the rest (Bilchukund to Thakurani Ghat) to those of the outer ring. The baithak shrines and the presiding sakhis are mentioned together with the list of appropriate dishes to be offered at various places.
The colorful and lively accounts of Braj Mandal and Braj Yatra- the continued and systematic efforts towards the promotion of the notion of pilgrimage to Mathura as a tour of places associated with Krishna, celebration of festivals, elaborate listing of deities, sacred places and shrines, goes to prove that despite the political turmoil and military activity that was going on in the area the local rulers of the region the Jats in this case gave protection and support to the Brajmaie Krishna revolution in their land. They sheltered it from all trials and challenges at whatever cost.
I conclude that the contribution of Jats towards the growth and sustainance of Krishna bhakti and specially Brajmaie Madhuriya Krishna bhakti is great and it reveals an unexplored, beautifully emotional and mysteriously delicate side of the tuff and brave Jats.
Acknowledgement of the contribution of Jats towards promotion of Krishnaism is as inescapable as fate<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->