Bharatpur is today known as the country's finest bird sanctuary, but before independence its fame was more generic. Bharatpur was the premier Jat state in Rajasthan, Dholpur being the other one. In a sense Bharatpur is the legacy of Churaman, a Jat overlord whose forces were a source of constant irritation to the Mughals in the late 17th century. The Mughals retaliated by destroying Jat villages. The Jats later regrouped under Badan singh who firmly entrenched himself in a belt along the river Jamuna between Delhi and Agra.