Man Singh I

Man Singh (Man Singh I) (December 21, 1550 – July 6, 1614) was the Rajput Raja of Amber, a state later known as Jaipur in Rajputana. He was a trusted general of the Mughal emperor Akbar, who included him among the Navaratnas, or the 9(nava) gems(ratna) of the royal court.

Early life of Man Singh I

He was the son of Raja Bhagwant Das and Rani Sa Bhagawati Ji Sahiba of Amber. He was born on Sunday, December 21, 1550. He was about eight years younger than Mughal Emperor Akbar who was born on October 14, 1542 and about ten years younger than Rana Pratap who was born on May 9, 1540, These three great personalities, of the same generation, had a great impact on sixteenth century India's polity, society, and history. They are remembered with reverence in India, although Rana Pratap fought unrelenting wars with both of them. Raja Bharmal, the first Rajput ruler to marry his daughter to a Mughal, was Man Singh I's grandfather.

Initially known as Kunwar (prince), Man Singh received the title of Mirza Raja and the mansab (rank) of 5000 after the death of his father on December 10, 1589 from Akbar. On August 26, 1605, Man Singh became a mansabdar of 7,000, i.e., a commander of 7,000 cavalry in the Mughal forces, which was the maximum command for anyone other than a son of the Mughal emperor and the guardian of Khusrau, the eldest son of Jahangir.Akbar called him Farzand (son). He fought many important campaigns for Akbar. Kunwar Man Singh led the Mughal Army in the well-known battle of Haldighati fought in 1576 between the Mughal Empire and Maha Rana Pratap.

Man Singh (dacoit)

Man Singh, (died 1955) known as "Daku Man Singh", meaning Dacoit Maan Singh, was a notorious dacoit, or bandit, born in Agra to a Rajput Family.

Biography

Daku Man Singh Rathore was popularly known as "Thakur Man Singh". His ancestors were famous Rathore Rajput kings of the late 15th century. Singh lived in the village of Khera Rathore in the Chambal region of India, where a maze of deep ravines and scrub forests had hidden generations of outlaws since the 13th century.

Between 1939 and 1955, Singh is credited with 1,112 robberies and 185 murders, including the killing of 32 police officers. Man Singh headed a gang of 17, most of them his sons, brother Nabab Singh, and nephews, who were unchallenged in the Chambal Valley. The police registered over a hundred cases against him, ranging from kidnapping to murder, until he and his son, Subedar Singh, were shot dead by Gurkha troops in 1955 while sitting under a banyan tree in Kakekapura or Bhind, Madhya Pradesh.

S.N. Subba Rao heard Singh speak on stage in 1953 at a public function in Chambal: “I was surprised to hear him speak. He was totally unlike what I had read about him in the papers. Though at the peak of his popularity or notoriety, he was respectful and humble. I was impressed with the contradiction he presented. The government wanted him dead with a big inam (reward) on his head and here he was, standing before the adoring public." A Robin Hood figure who once performed essential social services in hard times and adjudicated local issues, today Singh has a temple in his honor in Khera Rathore. According to Dipankar, a Chambal resident who said that he regularly came to worship at the Man Singh temple, "they were men who fought for the family honour. They are bagis [or rebels]. There is no difference between a bagi and a sadhu".