SANGHVI DAYAL DAS

SANGHVI DAYAL DAS
Sanghvi Dayal Das was the brave and courageous Prime Minister and a very able army commander of Rana Rai Singh of Mewar (Udaipur). A fire always burnt in his heart to take revenge from the enemies who were source of misery to the people of Rajasthan. With a battalion of horsemen he had plundered the province of Malwa which then extended from river Narmada to Betwa. He defeated the Mughal armies at Sarangpur, Dewas, Sironje, Mandu, Ujjain and Chanderi etc. and enriched the Mewar treasure by wealth from there. He had become a terror among the Mughals. Fighting under prince Jai Singh at Chittor he had compelled the army of prince Azam to flee to Ranthambore.

The Sisodia Rajput ancestors of Dayal Das were inducted into Jainism as Oswal Jains. They were known as Sanghvis because of their religious deeds. Dayal Das was the fourth and youngest son of his parents Sahghvi Rajaji and Smt. Rayande.

He had started his career with a service with a Brahmin priest in Udaipur. The relatives of Rana Dayal Das of Udaipur were planning a conspiracy against him. Having come to know of that Sanghvi Dayal Das disclosed it to the Rana. Pleased with that he had appointed Dayal Das under him where with his intelligence and bravery he became his trusted Chief.

He built the huge fort like looking four faced nine storeyed marble Jain temple near Rajasamand Lake near Udaipur at a cost of rupees ten lakhs. Inspired by him and a Jain saint, Rana Raj Singh had issued an order in 1693 to the authorities in ten thousand villages under Mewar State banning slaughter of animals near Jain temples and granting their proper management and protection. The order bore the signature of Sanghvi Dayal Das. After the death of Raj Singh he served as Prime Minister of Rana Jai Singh and fought a severe battle with the Mughals.