Maharani Kishori

Maharani ('great queen') Kishori () lived in the 16th century, the wife of Jat Maharaja Suraj Mal of Bharatpur in Rajasthan, India. She came from Hodal, a town situated in the Faridabad district of Haryana (on National Highway No.2), near Mathura and Bharatpur.

Marriage to the Maharaja

Kishori Devi was the daughter of Chaudhary Kashi Ram Sorot, sister of Buj Lal and Guman Singh.

Legend has it that one day the Raja was passing Hodal on his stately elephant when he noticed an unusual incident. An agitated bull was roaming angrily and frightening the people when Kishori Devi and her friends were returning from a well, water pitchers on their heads. Kishori stood on the bull's lead-rope, thereby restraining him.

Suraj Mal was greatly impressed by Kishori Devi's bravery, steadfastness and beauty. After a time he sent his purohit with a proposal of marriage. Her father is said to have agreed to the union, but wished that his status were on a par with that of the renowned Raja. Upon hearing this Maharaja Suraj Mal granted him the title of Chaudhary, with authority to collect revenue from the parganah of Hodal. The marriage was solemnised sometime around 1730, though according to the poet Sudan, Maharajah Suraj Mal married Maharani Kishori on 21 March 1750 (falgun sudi pandrah).

Maharaja Suraj Mal appointed Kashi Ram as manager of village Tawdu (Parganah Nooh), so that through the marriage with Maharani Kishori he strengthened his position in Mewat.

According to some historians,...
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