Veer Durgadas Rathore is celebrated for protecting which infant prince of Marwar from Aurangzeb?

Explanation

After Maharaja Jaswant Singh died in 1678, the Marwar throne fell vacant and Aurangzeb increased pressure on the kingdom. Two infant sons were born to Jaswant Singh's widowed queens; one died, leaving Ajit Singh as the surviving infant heir. Rathor ministers asked Aurangzeb to recognise Ajit Singh's succession, but he placed the family under imperial guard and offered terms that threatened the child's autonomy and faith. The Rathors saw this as a question of Marwar's independence and loyalty to their state. Durgadas and his companions planned the escape of Ajit Singh and his mother from Delhi and attacked the imperial guards so they could get away. Durgadas then protected Ajit Singh during the long guerrilla struggle against Aurangzeb and eventually restored him to Marwar's throne.

Why the other options are wrong

• (A) Man Singh was a Kachwaha ruler. He was neither the Rathor infant heir in the Marwar succession crisis after Jaswant Singh's death nor the prince Durgadas protected from Aurangzeb.
• (B) Bakht Singh belonged to a later generation of Marwar. He was not the infant prince Durgadas rescued from Aurangzeb's custody soon after Jaswant Singh's death.
• (C) Jaswant Singh was the deceased Maharaja of Marwar and Ajit Singh's father. His death caused the succession crisis; he was not the infant prince Durgadas protected.

Concept

This question tests your understanding of Marwar's resistance to Aurangzeb and the role of Rathor nobles in safeguarding regional sovereignty during a succession crisis. RAS revisits this theme because questions about named warriors in Rajasthan history also require an understanding of Mughal policy, loyalty, succession disputes and the formation of regional states.

Source

• Heroes Who Made History, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

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