https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Man_Singh_TomarMan Singh Tomar - Revision history2026-07-31T09:51:36ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Man_Singh_Tomar&diff=458215&oldid=prevBethIlf498848137 at 06:25, 20 January 20262026-01-20T06:25:27Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Maharaja of Gwalior from 1486 to 1516}}<br />
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{{Infobox monarch <br />
| name = Man Singh Tomar <br />
| title = [[Maharaja]]<br />
| image = Maharaja Mansingh Tomar Gwalior 2014-07-13 18-32.jpg<br />
| succession = [[Tomaras of Gwalior|Maharaja of Gwalior]]<br />
| reign = 1486–1516<br />
| religion = [[Hinduism]]<br />
| predecessor = Kalyanmal Tomar<br />
| successor = Vikramaditya Tomar<br />
| spouse = Queen Mrignayani <br />
| issue = Vikramaditya Tomar and many others<br />
| royal house = [[Tomaras of Gwalior|Tomar/Tanwar dynasty]]<br />
| father = Raja Kalyanmal Tomar<br />
| birth_date = <br />
| birth_place = [[Gwalior]]<br />
| death_date = 1516<br />
| death_place = Gwalior<br />
}}<br />
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'''Man Singh Tomar''' ([[IAST]]: Mānasiṃha; reigned 1486–1516) was a [[Tomaras of Gwalior|Tomar]] ruler of [[Gwalior]] from 1486 until his death in 1516.<ref>Chob Singh Verma, The glory of Gwalior, p. 68.</ref><ref>[[Matthew Atmore Sherring]], ''Hindu Tribes and Castes'', Volume 1, p. 139.</ref><ref>Sir Alexander Cunningham, Archaeological Survey of India, Four reports made during the years, 1862–1865, Volume 2, p. 387.</ref><br />
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== Biography ==<br />
Maharaja Man Singh Tomar was born to Raja Kalyanmall, the [[Tomaras of Gwalior|Tomar Rajput]] ruler of Gwalior.<ref>{{Cite book|author=Romila Thapar|author-link=Romila Thapar|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HqmyEbLScZ4C&q=Rajput|title=The Penguin History of Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300|date=2003|publisher=Penguin Books Limited|isbn=978-0-14-193742-7|language=en|page=179|quote=Other claiming to be Rajput and descent from Solar and lunar lines established themselves as local kings in Western and Central India. Among these were the Chandelas present in 12th century in Bundelkhand, the Tomaras also subject to the earlier Pratiharas ruling in Haryana region near Dhilaka, now Delhi, around 736 AD and later established themselves in Gwalior region}}</ref> He ruled for over 30 years. In his years the Tomar sometimes feuded with and were sometimes allies with the sultans of Delhi. <br />
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Amongst other women, he married a Gurjar called Mrignayani. Tomar built [[Gujari Mahal Archeological Museum|Gujari Mahal]] as a palace for her, as a monument of love for Mrignayani.<ref>{{cite book |title=Islamization in Modern South Asia: Deobandi Reform and the Gujjar Response |first=David Emmanuel |last=Singh |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |year=2012 |isbn=9781614511854 |page=55 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oscmJoix2IAC&pg=PA55}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.freepressjournal.in/gorgeous-gwalior/ |title=GORGEOUS GWALIOR &#124; Freepress Journal |access-date=2015-09-20 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306065927/http://www.freepressjournal.in/gorgeous-gwalior |archive-date=6 March 2016 |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.patrika.com/news/gwalior/gurjari-mahal-of-gwalior-is-a-symbol-of-king-mansingh-tomar-mrignayni-love-story-1078203/|title = हिंदी खबर, Latest News in Hindi, हिंदी समाचार, ताजा खबर}}</ref><br />
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Tomar was a great warrior and great patron of music. One of the nine gems of his court was the Hindustani classical musician [[Tansen]].<ref>Girīśa Caturvedī, Sarala Jag Mohan, Tansen, page 20</ref> He was patron of [[Dhrupad]] genre from [[Hindustani_classical_music|Hindustani Classical Music]].<ref>Ritwik Sanyal, Richard Widdess, Dhrupad: tradition and performance in Indian music, page 48</ref><br />
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=== Conflict with Sikandar Lodi ===<br />
The newly crowned Man Singh Tomar was not prepared for an invasion from [[Delhi]], and decided to avoid a war by paying [[Bahlul Lodi]] a tribute of 800,000 ''tanka''s (coins).{{sfn|Kishori Saran Lal|1963|p=155}} In 1489, [[Sikandar Lodi]] succeeded Bahlul Lodi as the Sultan of Delhi. In 1500, Man Singh provided asylum to some rebels from Delhi, and who had been involved in a plot to overthrow [[Sikandar Lodi|Sikander Lodi]]. The Sultan, wanting to punish Man Singh, and to expand his territory, launched a punitive expedition against [[Gwalior]]. In 1501, he captured [[Dholpur]], a dependency of Gwalior, whose ruler Vinayaka-Deva fled to Gwalior.{{sfn|Kishori Saran Lal|1963|p=174}}<br />
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Sikander Lodi then marched towards Gwalior, but after crossing the [[Chambal River]], and an epidemic outbreak in his camp forced him to halt his march. Man Singh used this opportunity to reconcile with [[Ibrahim Lodi|Lodi]], and sent his son Vikramaditya to the Lodi camp with gifts for the Sultan. He promised to expel the rebels from [[Delhi]], on the condition that Dholpur be restored to Vinayaka-deva. Sikander Lodi agreed to these terms, and left. Historian [[Kishori Saran Lal]] theorizes that Vinayaka Deva hadn't lost Dholpur at all: this narrative was created by the Delhi chroniclers to flatter the Sultan.{{sfn|Kishori Saran Lal|1963|p=175}}<br />
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[[File:Gwalior 1.JPG|thumb|upright=2|The "Man Mandir" palace at [[Gwalior Fort]] was built by Man Singh Tomar between 1486 and 1517.]]<br />
In 1504, Sikander Lodi resumed his war against the Tomaras. First, he captured the [[Mandrayal]] fort, located to the east of Gwalior.{{sfn|Kishori Saran Lal|1963|p=175}} He ransacked the area around Mandrayal, but many of his soldiers lost their lives in a subsequent epidemic outbreak, forcing him to return to Delhi.{{sfn|Kishori Saran Lal|1963|p=176}} Sometime later, Lodi moved his base to the newly established city of [[Agra]], which was located closer to Gwalior. He captured [[Dholpur]], and then marched against Gwalior, characterizing the expedition as a ''[[jihad]]''. From September 1505 to May 1506, Lodi managed to ransack the rural areas around Gwalior, but was unable to capture the Gwalior Fort because of Man Singhs's hit-and-run tactics. A scarcity of food resulting from Lodi's destruction of crops forced Lodi to give up the siege. During his return to Agra, Man Singh ambushed his army near Jatwar<!-- modern Jatwar Ka Pura -->, inflicting heavy casualties on the invaders.{{sfn|Kishori Saran Lal|1963|p=177}}<br />
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Having failed in capturing the Gwalior Fort, Lodi decided to capture the smaller forts surrounding Gwalior. Dholpur and Mandrayal were already in his control by this time. In February 1507, he captured the Uditnagar (Utgir or Avantgarh) fort lying on the [[Narwar]]-Gwalior route.{{sfn|Kishori Saran Lal|1963|pp=177-178}} In September 1507, he marched against [[Narwar]], whose ruler (a member of the Tomara clan) fluctuated his allegiance between the Tomaras of Gwalior and the [[Malwa Sultanate]]. He captured the fort after a year-long siege.{{sfn|Kishori Saran Lal|1963|p=179}} In December 1508, Lodi placed Narwar in charge of Raj Singh Kachchwaha, and marched to Lahar (Lahayer) located to the south-east of Gwalior. He stayed at Lahar for a few months, during which he cleared its neighbourhood of rebels.{{sfn|Kishori Saran Lal|1963|p=179}} Over the next few years, Lodi remained busy in other conflicts. In 1516, he made a plan to capture Gwalior, but an illness prevented him from doing so. Man Singh died in 1516, and [[Sikandar Lodi|Sikander Lodi's]] illness also led to his death in November 1517.{{sfn|Kishori Saran Lal|1963|p=184}}<br />
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== Palaces ==<br />
[[File:Gujari Mahal Museum Gwalior - panoramio (1).jpg|thumb|The [[Gujari Mahal Archaeological Museum|Gujari Mahal]] at Gwalior Fort was built by Man Singh Tomar.]]<br />
The 15th century [[Gujari Mahal Archaeological Museum|Gujari Mahal]] is a monument of love by Raja Man Singh Tomar for his queen, Mrignayani. Due to the friction between Mrignayani and his other wives as Mrignayani was of lower caste, Raja Man Singh built the separate palace for her below the Gwalior fortress. Mrignayani demanded a separate palace with a constant water supply from the River Rai, she demanded to be always with the king in war. The outer structure of the Gujari Mahal has survived in an almost total state of preservation, the interior has been now converted into an archaeological museum.<br />
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Within Gwalior Fort, also built by Man Singh Tomar, is the [[Man Mandir Palace]],<ref>[[R. Nath]], Islamic architecture and culture in India, page 63</ref> built between 1486 CE and 1517 CE. The tiles that once adorned its exterior have not survived, but at the entrance, traces of these still remain. Vast chambers with fine stone screens were once the music halls, and behind these screens, the royal ladies would learn music from the great masters of those times.<br />
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== References ==<br />
{{Reflist}}<br />
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=== Bibliography ===<br />
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{{ref begin}}<br />
* {{cite book |author=Kishori Saran Lal |title=Twilight of the Sultanate |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E8QeAAAAMAAJ |year=1963 |publisher=Asia Publishing House |oclc=500687579 }}<br />
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[[Category:15th-century Indian monarchs]]<br />
[[Category:16th-century Indian monarchs]]<br />
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]<br />
[[Category:1516 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:Maharajas of Gwalior]]</div>BethIlf498848137