Ballabhgarh and the Jat kingdom of Bharatpur grew powerful in the mid-18th century under the Jat ruler:

The Jat kingdom of Bharatpur, including areas such as Ballabhgarh, grew powerful in the mid-18th century under the Jat ruler Suraj Mal (ruled 1755-1763).

About Suraj Mal:

• He was born in 1707, the son of Badan Singh, who founded the Jat kingdom with its capital at Deeg.
• He built the fort of Bharatpur (the Lohagarh fort), one of the strongest forts in India, which the British failed to capture in 1805.
• He expanded the Jat kingdom to include Agra, Mathura, Mewat, Rohtak, Gurgaon and parts of present-day Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
• He captured Agra in 1761.
• He was an able administrator, diplomat and soldier, and is sometimes called the "Plato of the Jat tribe" or the "Jat Ulysses".
• He built palaces and gardens at Deeg, which are famous for their fountains.

NCERT on the Jats:

• NCERT notes that the Jats consolidated their power during the late 17th and 18th centuries.
• Under their leader, Churaman, they acquired control over territories situated to the west of the city of Delhi, and by the 1680s they had begun dominating the region between the two imperial cities of Delhi and Agra.
• NCERT notes that under Suraj Mal, the kingdom of Bharatpur emerged as a strong state.
• When Nadir Shah sacked Delhi in 1739, many of the city's notables took refuge there.

Ballabhgarh:

Ballabhgarh (in present-day Faridabad district, Haryana) was a Jat stronghold, ruled by a Jat family allied with Suraj Mal; it grew into a trading centre.

The Third Battle of Panipat (1761):

Suraj Mal joined the Maratha camp before the battle, but left after disagreements with the Maratha commander; after the battle, he gave shelter to the retreating Marathas.

His death:

• He was killed in 1763 in a battle against the Rohilla chief Najib-ud-Daula, near Delhi.
• His son, Jawahir Singh, succeeded him.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Churaman and Gokula were earlier Jat leaders.
• ✗Jawahir Singh was his son.