opened up for local tradesmen to make their mark across northern India. Aurangzeb briefly sequestrated the state (circa 1679) after the death of Maharaja Jaswant Singh, but the prior ruler Maharaja Ajit Singh was restored to the throne by Veer Durgadas Rathore after Aurangzeb died in 1707 and a great struggle of 30 years. The Mughal empire declined gradually after 1707, but the Jodhpur court was beset by intrigue; rather than benefiting from circumstances, Marwar descended into strife and invited the intervention of the Marathas, who soon supplanted the Mughals as overlords of the region. This did not make for stability or peace, however; 50 years of wars and treaties dissipated the wealth of the state, which sought the help of the British and entered into a subsidiary alliance with them. A major revolt occurred in 1857 by some Rathore nobles of Pali led by Thakur Kushal Singh of Auwa, but the rebels were defeated by the British Army under Colonel Holmes and peace was restored.Political Awakening and Indian Freedom Movement with Special Reference to Rajasthan pg 28-35 British colonial period During the British Raj, the state of Jodhpur had the largest land area of any in the Rajputana. The land area of the state was its population in 1901 was 44,73,759. It enjoyed an estimated revenue of £3,529,000. Its merchants, the Marwaris, flourished and came to occupy a position of dominance in trade across India. After independence In 1947, when India became independent, the state merged into the union and Jodhpur became the second-largest city of Rajasthan. At the time of division, the ruler of Jodhpur, Hanwant Singh, did not want to join India, but finally, due to the effective persuasion of Vallabhbhai Patel at the time, the state of Jodhpur was included in the Indian Republic. Later after the State Reorganisation Act, 1956, it was included within the state of Rajasthan. Demographics As per provisional reports of Census India, Jodhpur had a population of 1,033,918 in 2011, consisting of approximately 52.62% males and approximately 47.38% females. The average literacy rate is 80.56 percent, approximately 88.42 percent for males and 73.93 percent for females. Approximately 12.24 percent of the population is under six years of age. Jodhpur city is governed by a Municipal Corporation which comes under Jodhpur Urban Agglomeration. The Jodhpur Urban/Metropolitan area includes Jodhpur, Kuri Bhagtasani, Mandore Industrial Area, Nandri, Pal Village and Sangariya. Its urban/metropolitan population