RAS question
The Jat rebellion against Aurangzeb in the Bharatpur region was led by:
Correct answer: (A) Gokula and Raja Ram.
The Jat rebellion against Aurangzeb in the Bharatpur region was led in its early phase by Gokula and then carried forward by Raja Ram Jat.
Explanation
The question tests the early leadership of the Jat rebellion that later fed into the Bharatpur tradition. The first major revolt came under Gokula in 1669 in the Mathura-Agra region, with Raja Ram continuing the struggle afterwards. The School of Distance Education, University of Calicut gives the same sequence: the Jat rebellion properly dates from Gokla Jat, the zamindar of Talpat near Mathura, who gathered Jat soldiers and other villagers, and after he was killed in 1669, leadership passed to Raja Ram Jat and then to Churaman Jat. This is why the correct pair is Gokula and Raja Ram, not the later Bharatpur figures Badan Singh or Suraj Mal.
Why the other options are wrong
- (B) Badan Singh belongs to the later phase associated with the Bharatpur Jat state, not to the initial anti-Aurangzeb rebellion led by Gokula and then Raja Ram.
- (C) Churaman came after Gokula and Raja Ram in the leadership sequence, so he does not represent the first correct pair for the early rebellion.
- (D) Suraj Mal was a later Bharatpur ruler in the tradition built on these earlier rebellions, not an initial leader of the 1669-era Jat revolt.
Concept
This tests Mughal-period agrarian and zamindar resistance in Rajasthan's historical neighbourhood, especially the roots of Bharatpur's Jat power. It recurs in RAS because regional state formation is often examined through the earlier revolts that made it possible.