Famous Personalities of Rajasthan: Exam Notes

Questions on the famous people of Rajasthan appear in every RPSC, RSMSSB, Rajasthan Police and patwari paper, and in the state general knowledge portion of SSC and Railway papers as well. They are almost always pair questions: a person and the movement they led, a person and the book they wrote, a person and the district they came from, or a person and the title by which the state remembers them. This note arranges the names in four groups, the rulers and warriors, the saints and writers, the freedom fighters, and the builders, soldiers and achievers of the modern state, and closes with the titles that are asked on their own.

Rulers and warriors of the Rajput states

Prithviraj Chauhan ruled from Ajmer and Delhi, defeated Muhammad Ghori at the first battle of Tarain in 1191 and was defeated by him at the second battle of Tarain in 1192; his court poet Chand Bardai wrote the Prithviraj Raso. In Mewar, Rana Kumbha built the fort of Kumbhalgarh, raised the Vijay Stambh at Chittorgarh after his victory over Mahmud Khilji, and was himself a scholar who wrote the Sangeet Raj. His descendant Rana Sanga, or Sangram Singh, fought Babur at Khanwa in 1527. Maharana Pratap, born at Kumbhalgarh in 1540, fought the Mughal army at Haldighati in 1576 on his horse Chetak and died in 1597 without accepting Mughal service. His treasury was replenished by Bhamashah, the Mewar minister whose name has become a byword for giving.

Marwar remembers Rao Jodha, who founded Jodhpur in 1459, and Rao Chandrasen, the son of Rao Maldev who refused Mughal submission and is called the Pratap of Marwar. Rao Bika founded Bikaner in 1488, and Sawai Jai Singh II founded Jaipur in 1727 and built the Jantar Mantar observatories. Among the women of these courts, Panna Dhai saved the infant Udai Singh from Banbir at the cost of her own son, Rani Padmini is remembered in the jauhar of Chittorgarh, and Hadi Rani of Salumbar sent her severed head to her husband so that nothing would hold him back from battle.

Saints, poets and writers

Meera Bai, born at Kudki near Merta, married into the house of Mewar and left it for the worship of Krishna; her padas are sung across north India. Guru Jambheshwar, or Jambhoji, born at Pipasar in 1451, founded the Bishnoi sect in 1485 and laid down its twenty-nine rules, several of which protect trees and animals. Dadu Dayal founded the Dadu Panth and his seat is at Naraina. Sant Pipa of Gagron, a ruler who became a disciple of Ramanand, and Sant Ramcharan of the Ramsnehi sect at Shahpura complete the saint tradition.

In letters, Suryamal Mishran of Bundi wrote the Vansh Bhaskar, Kanhaiya Lal Sethia wrote the poem Dharti Dhoran Ri that the state treats as an anthem of the desert, and Vijaydan Detha of Borunda collected and retold Rajasthani folk tales in Bataan ri Phulwari. Detha founded the Rupayan Sansthan at Borunda with the folklorist Komal Kothari, whose work on the Langa and Manganiyar musicians took Rajasthani folk music abroad. Allah Jilai Bai of Bikaner is the voice most associated with the Maand style and with the song Kesariya Balam, and Kripal Singh Shekhawat is credited with reviving the blue pottery of Jaipur.

Freedom fighters and the Praja Mandal leaders

The freedom struggle in Rajasthan ran along two tracks: resistance to British rule and agitation against the princely administrations through the Praja Mandals. Kesari Singh Barhath wrote the thirteen sorthas called Chetawani ra Chungatya to dissuade Maharana Fateh Singh from attending the Delhi Durbar of 1903; his son Pratap Singh Barhath and brother Jorawar Singh Barhath carried the family into the revolutionary movement. Arjun Lal Sethi worked from Jaipur, Vijay Singh Pathik, whose original name was Bhoop Singh, led the Bijolia peasant movement, and Manikya Lal Verma founded the Mewar Praja Mandal. Among the tribal movements, Govind Guru led the Bhagat reform among the Bhils and is remembered for the firing at Mangarh hill on 17 November 1913, while Motilal Tejawat led the Eki movement of the Bhils from 1921. Sagarmal Gopa of Jaisalmer died in detention in 1946, Jai Narayan Vyas led the movement in Marwar, and Gokul Bhai Bhatt of Sirohi is called the Gandhi of Rajasthan. Long before all of them, Amrita Devi Bishnoi died at Khejarli in 1730 resisting the felling of khejri trees, and the state wildlife protection award carries her name.

Builders of the modern state, soldiers and achievers

Titles the state remembers them by