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{{Infobox royalty
| name = Anup Singh
| title = Maharaja
| image = File:Scuola di bikaner, il maharaja anup singh, 1852.jpg
| caption = An 1852 painting of Anup Singh
| succession = Ruler of [[Bikaner State]]
| reign = c. 1669-1698
| predecessor = Karan Singh
| successor = Sarup Singh
| birth_date = 1638
| death_date = 1698
| death_place = [[Adoni]]
| issue = Sarup Singh, Sujan Singh
| native_lang1 =
| native_lang1_name1 =
| father = Karan Singh
| religion =
}}
'''Anup Singh''' ([[IAST]]: Anūpa-siṃha, 1638–1698) served as the ruler of [[Bikaner State]] during 1669–1698. Like his father, he was a vassal of the [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] emperor [[Aurangzeb]], and participated in several Mughal campaigns in the [[Deccan]] region. He led the Mughal charge that led to the fall of the [[Golconda Sultanate]], for which Aurangzeb conferred the title of ''[[Maharaja]]'' upon him. Anup Singh was a patron of scholars and painters. He collected several manuscripts and established the Anup Sanskrit Library.

== Early life ==

Anup Singh was a son of his predecessor Karan Singh, a Mughal vassal. In July 1667, while Karan Singh was still alive, the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb conferred on Anup Singh the right to rule Bikaner after his father's death. In 1669, Karan Singh died in [[Aurangabad]] during the Mughal campaign in the [[Deccan]] region, and Anup Singh succeeded him on the throne of Bikaner.<ref name="RH">{{cite book |author=Rima Hooja |title=A History of Rajasthan |year=2006 |publisher=Rupa |isbn=9788129108906 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_History_of_Rajasthan/tosMAQAAMAAJ |pages=606–607 }}</ref>

== Military career ==

Anup Singh was an absentee ruler, and spent much of his life at the Mughal court or in Mughal campaigns away from Bikaner. He participated in the Mughal campaign against the [[Maratha Empire|Maratha]] king [[Shivaji]], as a subordinate of the Mughal general Mahabat Khan.<ref name="RH"/> As a general of Aurangzeb, Anup Singh led several campaigns in the Deccan region during the 1680s and the 1690s.<ref name="DGA"/> In 1687, he led the Mughal army to capture the [[Golconda Sultanate]], for which Aurangzeb granted him the title ''[[Maharaja]]''.<ref>{{cite book |editor1=Antonio Martinelli |editor2=George Michell |title=Palaces of Rajasthan |year=2004 |publisher=India Books House |isbn=9788175083875 |page=218 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Palaces_of_Rajasthan/NQTqAAAAMAAJ }}</ref> Aurangzeb also granted him the royal honour of ''Mara Maratib'', and raised his [[mansabdar]] rank, first to 3500, and then to 5000.<ref name="RH"/>

After the Mughal army captured [[Bijapur Sultanate]] in the mid-1680s, [[Siddi Masud]] - the Bijapuri governor of [[Adoni]] - ruled the Adoni area independently. A Mughal army led by Anup Singh captured Adoni in 1689, and Aurangzeb appointed him the governor of Adoni. Anup Singh held this post until his death in 1698.<ref name="DGA">{{cite book |author=David Geoffrey Alexander |title=Islamic Arms and Armor in the Metropolitan Museum of Art |year=2015 |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |isbn=9781588395702 |page=46 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Islamic_Arms_and_Armor_in_The_Metropolit/QS-pCwAAQBAJ?pg=PA46 }}</ref> [[Bellary]] was also placed under his charge.<ref name="RH"/>

== Rebellions ==

In the 1670s, while Anup Singh was away in Deccan, the Bhatis of Kharbara and Raimalwali rebelled against his administration. They established their base at Churaia (a fort to the north of Bikaner), where the local Johiyas joined them. Mukund Singh, a ''mahajan'' (merchant class) official of Anup Singh, suppressed the rebellion. Later, the fort of Churaia was demolished, and in 1678, it was replaced by a larger fort named [[Anupgarh]] after Anup Singh.<ref name="RH"/>

In 1678, Anup Singh's half-brother Banmali, who was Karan Singh's son by a concubine, claimed half of Bikaner State on the basis of a ''firman'' issued by the Mughal emperor. Banmali's wife, who was a slave-girl, apparently poisoned him to death at the instructions of Anup Singh, who made the emperor believe that Banmali had died of natural causes.<ref name="RH"/>

== Death and succession ==

Anup Singh died in 1689 at Adoni.<ref name="RH"/> Several women from his harem committed sati (suicide by immolation), including 2 queens (''ranis''), 9 [[common law]] wives, and 7 maids.<ref>{{cite book |author=Satish Chandra |title=Medieval India: From Sultanat to the Mughals - Part II: Mughal Empire (1526-1748) |year=2005 |publisher=Har-Anand |isbn=9788124110669 |page=372 |url=https://books.google.co.in/books?id=0Rm9MC4DDrcC&pg=PA372 }}</ref>

Anup Singh's eldest son Sarup Singh (r. 1698–1700), who was nine-year old at the time, succeeded him on the throne. He died of chicken pox at Adoni. Anup Singh's younger son Sujan Singh (r. 1700–1735) then became the ruler of Bikaner.<ref name="RH"/>

== Cultural activities ==

Anup Singh was a Sanskrit scholar, mathematician and astronomer.<ref name="RH"/> He collected a large number of Sanskrit-language manuscripts during his time in Deccan, and established the Anup Sanskrit Library.<ref>{{cite book |editor1=Anil Relia |editor2=Sonika Soni |title=The Indian Portrait |volume=8 |year=2010 |isbn=9788193171806 |page=57 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Indian_Portrait_8/VLaOCwAAQBAJ }}</ref> He also patronized many Sanskrit writers including Manirama Dikshita, Vidyanatha, and Joshiraya (apparently same as Virasimha Ganaka). The authorship of Josiraya's ''Anupa-karana'' is falsely attributed to him (as Anūpasiṃha).<ref name="CESS1">{{cite book |editor=David Pingree |editor-link=David Pingree |title=Census of the Exact Sciences in Sanskrit Series A |volume=1 |publisher=American Philosophical Society |year=1970 |url=https://archive.org/details/PingreeCESS/Pingree_CESS_A1_1970/ |pages=43–44 }}</ref>

During his years as a Mughal general in Deccan, Anup Singh set up a court there, and employed several painters. His finest artist was Ruknuddin, who had already been in Bikaner's service since the 1660s; several of his relatives also joined the Bikaner service. During this period, the [[Mughal painting|Mughal style]] influenced the [[Bikaner style of painting]].<ref name="SK_1997">{{cite book |author=Steven Kossak |title=Indian Court Painting, 16th-19th Century |year=1997 |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |isbn=9780870997822 |page=17|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Indian_Court_Painting_16th_19th_Century/26hwuIqcJHgC?pg=PA17 }}</ref>

Besides the construction of [[Anupgarh]],<ref name="RH"/> Anup Singh made several additions to the [[Junagarh Fort]]. He added decoration to the Karan Mahal, which was built by his father as the public audience hall (''diwan-i-aam''). In 1690, he commissioned the Anup Mahal as the private audience hall (''diwan-i-khas''); the later ruler Surat Singh added much of the structure's interior decor.<ref>{{cite book |editor1=Paul E. Schellinger |editor2=Robert M. Salkin |title=International Dictionary of Historic Places: Asia and Oceania |volume=5 |year=2012 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=9781136639791 |page=132 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Asia_and_Oceania/voerPYsAB5wC }}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Maharajas of Bikaner]]
[[Category:1638 births]]
[[Category:1698 deaths]]
[[Category:Mughal generals]]
[[Category:17th-century Indian monarchs]]

Anup Singh of Bikaner - Revision history

Bot at 23:03, 19 December 2022