RAS question
Durgadas Rathore is famous for protecting which infant prince of Marwar from Aurangzeb and restoring him to the throne?
Correct answer: (C) Maharaja Ajit Singh.
Durgadas Rathore protected the infant Ajit Singh of Marwar from Aurangzeb and helped restore him to the throne of Marwar in 1707.
Explanation
Durgadas Rathore is remembered for safeguarding Ajit Singh, the infant heir of Marwar, after Maharaja Jaswant Singh died in 1678. Aurangzeb intervened in Marwar, had the infant Ajit Singh brought to Delhi, and kept him under house arrest at Noorgarh. Durgadas and other Marwar nobles then rescued Ajit Singh and the widowed ranis of Jaswant Singh, after which a long struggle with Aurangzeb began. Durgadas carried on guerrilla resistance against Mughal outposts, and Ajit Singh and Durgadas used the disturbances after Aurangzeb's death in 1707 to seize Jodhpur, evict the Mughal force, and proclaim Ajit Singh Maharaja of Jodhpur.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Maharaja Man Singh was not the infant heir protected by Durgadas; Ajit Singh was the prince rescued from Aurangzeb's control and later restored in Marwar.
- (B) Maharaja Jaswant Singh was Ajit Singh's father whose death created the succession crisis, not the infant prince whom Durgadas protected.
- (D) Maharaja Abhay Singh was not the child rescued and restored in this Marwar succession episode; Durgadas's protection centered on Ajit Singh of Marwar.
Concept
This tests the Marwar succession crisis under Aurangzeb and the Rathore resistance led by Durgadas Rathore. It recurs in RAS because it connects Rajasthan's regional polity with Mughal imperial policy and Rajput resistance.