Maharaja Suraj Mal (February 1707–25 December 1763) or Sujan Singh was ruler of Bharatpur in Rajasthan, India. He has been described by a contemporary historian as "the Plato of the Jat people" and by a modern writer as the "Jat Odysseus", because of his political sagacity, steady intellect and clear vision. In 1750, after defeating the Mughal army, he forced the signing of a treaty whereby the Mughals agree to pay a handsome fee as war compensation, plus promising not to desecrate Hindu temples in Jat territory.
The Bravery and Chivalry of this great King is well documented but his humanitarian efforts in giving shelter to defeated Maratha Men,Women and Children after 1971 battle of Panipat by coalition of Ahmed Abdali and other Indian muslim rulers is worth noting.Eventhough Marathas constantly raided Jat lands earlier for Tributes.
After total defeat in Panipat mass of surrendered Maratha soldiers were handcuffed and then murdered, their heads chopped off by Afghans. The Afghan cavalry and pikemen ran wild through the streets of Panipat, killing tens of thousands of Maratha soldiers and civilians.The women and children seeking refuge in streets of Panipat were hounded back in Afghan camps as slaves. Children over 14 were beheaded before their own mothers and sisters. Afghan officers who had lost their kin in battle were permitted to carry out massacres of 'infidel' Hindus the next day also, in Panipat and the surrounding area. They arranged victory mounds of severed heads outside their camps. According to the single best eye-witness chronicle- the bakhar by Shuja-ud-Daula's Diwan Kashi Raj, about 40,000 Maratha prisoners were slaughtered in cold blood the day after the battle.According to Mr. Hamilton of Bombay Gazette about half a million Marathi people were present there in Panipat town and he gives a figure of 70,000 prisoners as executed by Afghans. Many of the fleeing Maratha women jumped into the Panipat wells rather than risk rape and dishonour.
Abdali's soldiers took about 22,000 Hindu women and young children and brought them to their camps. The women were raped in the camp, many committed suicide because of constant rapes perpetrated on them. All of the prisoners were exchanged or sold as sex slaves in Afghanistan, transported on bullock carts, camels and elephants in bamboo cages.
Siyar-ut-Mutakhirin says :
“ The unhappy prisoners were paraded in long lines, given a little parched grain and a drink of water, and beheaded... and the women and children who survived were driven off as slaves - twenty-two thousand, many of them of the highest rank in the land.
After the fearful wreck of the magnificent Maratha army at in third Battle of Panipat (14 January 1761), the survivors fled southwards. In their hour of misfortune, the very peasants stripped them of their arms, property and clothes. Naked and destitute the Maratha soldiers entered the country of the Jats, who welcomed them to their hospitable doors and provided medicine, clothes and food for their relief. If Suraj Mal had not befriended the Marathas in their hour of adversity, very few of them would have crossed the Narmada to tell the woeful tale of Panipat to the Peshwa. And this he did at the imminent risk of incurring the enmity of the Abdali staking his life and fortune at the impulse of a pious and noble sentiment which would have done honour to the stoutest heart of Rajputana in her heroic days. All Muslim writers, extol the generosity of Suraj Mal: The Maratha writers also acknowledge this. At Mathura they entered the territory of the Jats. Suraj Mal, impelled by the Hindu religious sentiment sent out his troops to protect them, and relieved their distress in every way by distributing food and clothes to them. At Bharatpur was the Jat queen Maharani Kishori, who showed much charity to the fugitives. Thirty to forty thousand men were fed here for eight days; the Brahmans being given milk, peda, and other sweetmeats. For eight days all were entertained in great comfort. A proclamation was made to the citizens that quarters and food were to be given to the fugitives in the manner most convenient to each. None was to be put to trouble. In this way the Jat spent altogether ten Lakhs of Rupees. Many men were thus saved. Shamsher Bahadur came wounded to the fort of Kumher; Suraj Mal tended him with the utmost care; but he died in grief for Bhausaheb. After relieving their distress, and pacifying their hearts, Suraj Mal gave one Rupee in cash, a piece of cloth and one seer of grain to every ordinary man (common soldier and camp followers), and sent them to Gwalior,
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