Seminar highlights Maharaja Surajmal’s battles and reign in Bharatpur

The Jat Sabha Panchkula, Chandigarh on Thursday organised a havan and seminar to mark martyrdom day of the Jat warrior Maharaja Surajmal. The event was held under the chairmanship of M S Malik, former director general of police, Haryana, at Jat Bhawan, Sector 6, Panchkula.

The programme began with a havan yajna performed by Arya Samaj Acharya Punit Deswal and Acharya Nirmala Virmani. Thereafter, all the dignitaries present highlighted the life of Maharaja Surajmal, his great works during his reign, and the wars he fought against the British and the Mughals.

Son of Jat chieftain Badan Singh, Surajmal was born in 1707 in the kingdom of Bharatpur, Rajasthan. He ruled in the 18th century and was described as “a strong leader who harried the Mughal empire in the anarchic period of its decline, consolidated the kingdom with its capital at Bharatpur and used the resources gained to build forts and palaces, the most famous being the palace at Deeg and the Bharatpur Fort” in an account published in the British Library’s online gallery.