Suraj Mal

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Maharaja Suraj Mal (13 February 1707 – 25 December 1763), simply known as Suraj Mal, was a ruler of Bharatpur State in Rajputana. Under him, Bharatpur State, an independent state, covered the present-day districts of Agra, Alwar, Aligarh, Bharatpur, Dholpur, Etawa, Hathras, Mainpuri, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Mathura, and Rohtak, Sonipat, Jhajjar, Nuh, Palwal, Faridabad, Kasganj, Mainpuri, Firozabad, Bulandshahr. A contemporary historian had described him as "the Plato of the Jat tribe" and by a modern writer as similar to the "Jat Ulysses", because of his "political sagacity, steady intellect and clear vision." The people, under Suraj Mal, overran the Mughal garrison at Agra. In addition to the troops stationed at his forts, he had an army of more than 75,000 infantry and more than 38,000 cavalry. Lohagarh Fort is one of the well-known forts located in Bharatpur city of Rajasthan which was built by Maharaja Suraj Mal in 1732 on an artificial island and took eight years to complete. He is famous for building other such forts and palaces in his kingdom. It needed large number of manpower and significant amount of wealth to build such impregnable fort, as the name of the fort itself says-- "Lohagarh", which means, Iron fort (Loha means Iron and Garh means fort). Lohagarh Fort is considered as one of the strongest fort as British forces led by Lord Lake could not capture it in spite of several attacks during the Siege of Bharatpur. Lord Lake made a siege of the fort in 1805 for six weeks but in spite of so many attacks he couldn't annex it. Later between December 1825 and January 1826, British troops under Lord Combermere initially surrounded the state's capital until on 18 January 1826 its fortress was stormed and captured. After this siege, Bharatpur became princely state under British Raj...