Sawai Jai Singh
| Sawai Raja Jai Singh II | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saramad-e-Raja-e-Hindustan Raj-Rajeshwar Raj-Rajendra Shri Maharajadhiraj Maharaja Sawai Bahadur Shri | |||||||||
Sawai Jai Singh's portrait (1725) from British Museum | |||||||||
| 30th Raja of Amber | |||||||||
| Reign | 5 March 1699 – 18 November 1727 | ||||||||
| Coronation | 5 March 1699 (first) 25 January 1700 (second) | ||||||||
| Predecessor | Bishan Singh | ||||||||
| Successor | Ishwari Singh of Jaipur | ||||||||
| 1st Raja of Jaipur | |||||||||
| Reign | 18 November 1727 – 21 September 1743 | ||||||||
| Successor | Ishwari Singh | ||||||||
| Subahdar of Malwa | |||||||||
| Reign | 25 October 1732 – 24 December 1737 | ||||||||
| Emperor | Muhammad Shah | ||||||||
| Predecessor | Muhammad Khan Bangash | ||||||||
| Successor | Nizam-ul-Mulk, Asaf Jah I | ||||||||
| Born | Kunwar Vijay Singh 3 November 1688 Kharwa, Ajmer Subah, Mughal Empire | ||||||||
| Died | 21 September 1743 (aged 54) Jaipur, Jaipur State, Rajputana | ||||||||
| Burial | |||||||||
| Spouse |
| ||||||||
| Issue | Sons
| ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Dynasty | Kachhwaha | ||||||||
| Father | Bishan Singh | ||||||||
| Mother | Rathorji Indra Kanwarji d. of Rao Kesari Singh of Kharwa in Ajmer | ||||||||
| Religion | Hinduism | ||||||||
Sawai Jai Singh II (3 November 1688 – 21 September 1743), was the 30th Kachwaha Rajput ruler of the Kingdom of Amber, who later founded the fortified city of Jaipur and made it his capital. He became the ruler of Amber at the age of 11, after the untimely death of his father Mirza Raja Bishan Singh on 31 December 1699.
Initially, Raja Jai Singh served as a vassal of the Mughal Empire. He was given the title of "Sawai" by Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb before the siege of Khelna Fort in Deccan."Sawai" means one and a quarter times superior to his contemporaries. He received the title of "Maharaja Sawai, Raj Rajeshwar, Shri Rajadhiraj " in the year 1723 which happened to be the reign of later Mughals under emperor Muhammad Shah; this was in addition to the title of "Saramad-i-Raja-i-Hindustan", conferred on him on 21 April 1721.
In the later part of his life Sawai Jai Singh broke free from Mughal hegemony, and to assert his sovereignty, performed the Ashvamedha sacrifice, an ancient rite that had been abandoned for several centuries. He moved his kingdom's capital from the town of Amber to the newly established walled city of Jaipur in 1727 and performed two Ashwamedha sacrifices, one in 1734, and again in 1741.
Sawai Jai Singh II other than administration and state craftship had a profound interest in the fields of Mathematics, Architecture, Astronomy, Astrology and Literature. He commissioned the Jantar Mantar observatories at multiple places in India, including his capital Jaipur. He had Euclid's "Elements of Geometry" translated into Sanskrit.