Monday 26 September 2011

Storie Of Legends

Teelu Rauteli




Long ago, the Katyura King, Dham Shahi, attacked the Garhwal kingdom. The King of Garhwal, Man Shahi, was brutally defeated and Khairagarh, a famous territory of Garhwal, came under the custody of Dham Shahi. Dham Shahi was a very cruel king who levied unreasonable taxes and violently oppressed the people. Obviously, the Garhwalis, especially the leaders in the region, were extremely unhappy with the arrangement. Quickly, a revolt against the Katyura kingdom began to gain momentum. Bhupu Gorala, one of the leaders of the revolutionary group that formed, was killed in the war. He had two sons who, after the death of their father, took up arms as part of the revolt, but they also lost their lives fighting for Garhwal.
Bhupu Gorala also had a daughter, Teelu, who was fifteen years old when her father and two brothers were defeated in battle. The place where Teelu's brothers were killed, Kanda, was a festival ground where the traditional fair, Thaul, was held annually. Teelu told her mother that she wanted to attend the Thaul and play with her friends. Her mother reminded her that her father and brothers had been killed by the enemy. On top of that, her brothers had died where the Thaul is held, the place where she was proposing to frolic with her friends. Teelu's mother told her that if she wanted to play, she should do it on the battleground and play like the warriors there.
Teelu took the advice to heart. Quelling her desires to go to the fair, she decided to take revenge for the death of her father and brothers. She swore to herself that she would release the kingdom from the enemies. She began by building an army out of her friends, the young boys from the village, and anyone else who was willing to fight. One day this army attacked the Khairagarh and successfully won it back. Her army started vanquishing the enemy and freeing the other territories one by one, and eventually it reached Saraikhet where Teelu's father had been killed in battle. In Saraikhet, there was a terrible battle, but Teelu was victorious in the end. She was happy to have finally avenged her father's death.
While Teelu was winning the other territories back, the Katyura came back to attack Khairagarh. As soon as Teelu heard the news, she returned to Khairagarh with her army and won it once again. After that battle, Teelu went to Kandagarh, another Garhwali territory, to have some well-deserved rest. On the way there, she decided to take a bath in the Nayar River. While she was bathing, a Katyur soldier saw her unprotected and unarmed. When Teelu arrived at the bank of the river, the soldier took advantage of her vulnerability and killed her. This brave woman became a martyr at the age of only 22.

People of Garhwal still sing songs about Teelu:

You are a Goddess.
You put your name where it cannot be erased
And now you are alive in our stories and memories.
You showed us the way
And you will never die.

Saturday 24 September 2011

Rawat Fort

Rawat Fort

Building inside Rawat Fort
Rawat Fort is located in Pothohar Pakistan. The fort was built in early 16th century by Gakhars, a tribe of the Pothohar plateau. It is 17 km east of Rawalpindi on Grand Trunk Road.
The fort was the scene of a battle between the Gakhar chief Sultan Sarang Khan and Sher Shah Suri in 1546 AD.
Main Gate of the Fort
The fort is almost in square form and has two gates. It contains a mosque made up of three big dome shaped rooms. There is also a quadrangular building with a dome. Along the wall there are additional small rooms. In the center of the fort there are many graves. Among them is the tomb of Sultan Sarang Khan. His 16 sons, who died there fighting, are also buried inside the fort.
Mankiala stupa can be seen from the roof of the mosque as it is few kilometers from here.

History of Rawat Rajputs

Rawat Rajputs

Rawat Rajputs are a group of people who reside in Ajmer, Ballabgarh, Faridabad, Palwal Rajsamand, Bhilwara, Chittorgarh and Pali districts of Rajasthan, the area known as Magra-Merwara and the Kumaon division and Garhwal Divisions of Uttarakhand, India. The Rawat Rajputs of Magra (Rajasthan) claim their descent from warriors of the Chauhan dynasty. Rawat Gotra is also found in Meenas and bhils in Rajasthan which is not to be confused with the Rawat Rajputs as the Rawat Rajputs have distinct Rajput surnames as chauhan, Panwar, bhati etc. Rawat Rajputs of Magra Merwara traditionally marry only among other Rawat Rajputs of the same region.
According to historian Robert Vane Russell, Rawat, a corruption of Rajputra or "princeling", is the name borne by the Ahir caste in Chhattisgarh and Maharastra.

Contents

 History

The word Rajput is claimed to be a corruption of Rajputra. Rawat Rajputs are believed to be descendants of Chauhans.[4] Some historians believe that Rawat Rajputs are direct descendants of Prithviraj III's brother Hariraj, who escaped to hilly and dense forest areas after the fall of the Chauhan empire in 1191. Some based on accounts of the records kept by the local bard like tribe called the Bhats are of the opinion that Rawat Rajputs of Ajmer, Rajsamand and Pali districts are the descendants of the Rao Lakhansi of the Nadole Branch of the Chauhans. The term 'Rawat' came to be associated with these Rajputs as some of their ancestors were awarded the title of Rawat by the Ranas of Udaipur for showing extra ordinary bravery in battle. Their descendants then started using the title with their names. The areas in Ajmer that these Rajputs resided were hilly and forest areas. After 22 generations from Hariraj Chauhan these Chauhan Rajputs had established a few separate sub-clans among themselves such as Saidot, Ghodawat, Aapawat etc, with two major branches, one represented by Rao Karansi and the other represented by Rawat Bhim singh. Due to socio-political and geo-political circumstances at this point of time, in a meeting it was decided to allow marital alliances among these sub-clans of the Chauhan Rawat Rajputs against the widely accepted norm of the rajputs of not marrying within the same major clan or Kul, "Chauhan" in this case. The first marriage of this kind was between the daughter of Rao Karan singh Chauhan (the establisher of clan of the Rawats) and the son of Rawat Bhim singh. Gradually with more frequent marital alliances within the subclans of the Rawats, a new race called Rawat-Rajputs emerged. With time some subclans of the Rathore, Panwar, Bhati, Gahlot, Sisodiya, also became part of the community of Rawat Rajputs. The Rawats of Ajmer held 10 thikanas from Narwar to Diver, with the seat of Diver to be in the Udaipur darbaar. The major thikanas were Narvar, Shyamgarh, Diver, Athungarh etc and some minor Thikanas like Borwa, Sendra etc.

 Merwara, Rajasthan

In the 13th generation of Chauhan clan was born a king Named Vakpatiraj, ruler of Sambhar. He had three sons named Singhraj, Vatsaraj and Laxman. After the king's death the kingdom was divided among the three brothers and the smallest share was given to the youngest prince Laxman. Being a valiant Rajput, he considered it to be against his dignity and left Sambhar and became a minister in the court of Raja Samant Singh Chawda, the ruler of nadole. After the death of Samant singh , Rao Laxman, being a valiant warrior, managed to establish his own kingdom in Nadole and gradually became the sole lord of Nadole. Rao Laxman had six sons 1) Anhal Rao 2) Anoop Rao 3) Aasal 4) Shobhitraj 5) Vigrahpal 6) Ajeetsingh. Rao Anhal and Rao Anoop in the year 998 A.D., set on a military expedition and defeated the Chandel Gurjars ruling in Chaang and Cheta villages.

 Distribution

Villages of Rawat Rajputs are also found in the Tehri Garhwal and Pauri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and some villages are also found in the Shivpuri and Datia districts of Madhya Pradesh. Some if not all of the Rawat Rajputs are believed to have migrated from the Indian plains during the Middle Ages. They still retain the name of their areas of origin: for instance, the 'Udaipur Patti' in Garhwal is a group of villages inhabited by people believed to have migrated from Udaipur in present-day Rajasthan.


History and Origin

History and Origin

It is possible that people who came from Garhwal adopted their gotra based on it. Garhwal is a region and administrative division of Uttarakhand state, India, lying in the Himalayas. It is believed that Garhwal was named so because it had 52 Garhs of 52 petty chieftainships, each chief with his own independent fortress (garh). Nearly 500 years ago, one of these chiefs, Ajai Pal, reduced all the minor principalities under his own sway, and founded the Garhwal Kingdom. According to Thakur Deshraj, during the period of Anangpal they were the rulers of Garhmukteshwar. One ancestor of Rajpal was Jat chieftain named Mukta Singh, who constructed the Garhmukteshwar fort. When Prithvi Raj became the ruler of Delhi he attacked Garhmukteshwar. There was a severe war and Garhwals were able to repel the army of Prithvi Raj Chauhan but the circumstances of that time forced them to move out from there and migrated to Rajasthan.
At Talawdi when there was war between Muhammad Ghori and Prithvi Raj, Jats attacked the army of Mughals but they did not support Prithvi Raj because he had occupied their state. One Jat warrior Puran Singh became General of the Army of Malkhan. Malkhan had become popular due to support of Puran Singh.
When Garhwals lost Garhmukteshwar, they came to Rajasthan and occupied ker, bhatiwar, Chhawsari etc near Jhunjhunu in 13th century. As per their bards when these people came to this place, Johiya, Mohiya Jats were the rulers of this area. Bhats have mentioned them as Tomars. When Muslim influence increased in this area they had wars with them as a result they moved from here to there. One of these groups moved to ‘Kuloth’, which was ruled by Chauhans. After a war they occupied Kuloth. Sardar Kurdaram who was a descendant of Garhwals of Kuloth had been tehsildar of Nawalgarh.
It is also said that due to war from inside of the fort they were called Garhwals. Those who fought war from out side the fort were called ‘Bahrola’ or ‘Barola’. Those who fought on the gate were called ‘Falsa’ (local name for gate). It shows that this gotra is title based.
It is also possible that they were Panduvanshi or Kuntals. Bhats have mentioned them as Tomars and Tomars were also Panduvansi. Garhmukteshwar has also been mentioned in the Bhagavata Purana and the Mahabharata. It is said that it was a part of the ancient city of Hastinapur (the capital of the Kauravas). There was an ancient fort here, which was repaired by a Maratha leader named Mir Bhawan. The name of the place is derived from the great temple of Mukteshwar Mahadeva, dedicated to the goddess Ganga who is worshipped here in four temples, two situated on a high cliff and two blow it.

[edit] Garhwali Rajput Clans

Here are some as said Garhwali Rajputs:

Friday 23 September 2011

History Of Grahwal

Traditionally the region finds mention in various Hindu scriptures as Kedarkhand being home to the Garhwali people. Garhwal kingdom was dominated by Kshatriyas. The Kuninda Kingdom also flourished around 2nd century BC. Later this region came under the rule of Katyuri Kings, who ruled unified Kumaon and Garhwal regions from Katyur Valley, Baijnath, Uttarakhand, starting 6th century AD and eventually fading by the 11th century AD, when they were replaced by Chand Kings in Kumaon, while Garhwal was fragmented into several small principalities. Huen Tsang, the Chinese traveller, who visited the region around 629 AD, mentions a kingdom of Brahampura in the region.
Garhwal state founded in 823 AD, when Kanakpal, the prince of Malwa, on his visit to the Badrinath Temple, met the King Bhanu Pratap, a chieftain of Chandpur Garhi. The King later married his only daughter to the prince and subsequently handed over his kingdom, the fortress town. Kanakpal and his descendants of Panwar Shah dynasty, gradually conquered all the independent fortresses (Garhs) belonging to its 52 small chieftains, and ruled the whole of Garhwal Kingdom for the next 915 years, up to 1803 AD.
In 1358, the 37th ruler, Ajay Pal, brought all the minor principalities for the Garhwal region, under his own rule, and founded the Garhwal kingdom, with Dewalgarh as its capital, which he later shifted to Srinagar. Balbhadra Shah (r. 1575-1591), was the first Raja of Garhwal to use the title Shah. The capital was shifted to Srinagar, Uttarakhand by Mahipat Shah who ascended to the throne in 1622, and further consolidated his rule over most parts of Garhwal, though he died early in 1631, though his seven year old son, Prithvi Shah ascended to the throne after him, the Kingdom was ruled by his Mahipat Shah's wife, Rani Karnavati for many years to come, during which she successfully defend the kingdom against invaders and repelled an attack of Mughal army led by Najabat Khan in 1640, and in time received the nickname of 'Nakti Rani' as she used to chop off the noses of any invader to the kingdom, as the Mughal invaders of the period realized. Monuments erected by her still exist in Dehradun district at Nawada.
Next important ruler was Fateh Shah, remained the King of Garhwal from 1684 to 1716, and is most known for taking part in the Battle of Bhangani on September 18, 1688, where combined forces of many Rajas of the Sivalik Hills (Pahari rajas) fought with Gobind Singh's army, and lost. During his reign, Sikh Guru and the ex-communicated eldest son of Har Rai, Ram Rai settled here, upon recommendations of Aurangzeb, which eventually led to the establishment of modern town of Dehradun. Fateh Shah died in 1716, and his son Upendra Shah died within a year of ascending to the throne in 1717, subsequently Pradip Shah ascended and his ruled led to rising fortunes of the Kingdom, this in turn attracted invaders, like Najib-ud-daula Governor of Saharanpur, who invaded in 1757 along with his Rohilla Army and captured Dehradun.
Other descendants ruled over Garhwal and the adjacent state of Tehri, in an uninterrupted line till 1803, when the Gurkhas invaded Kumaon and Garhwal, Garhwal forces suffered heavy defeat and King Pradyuman Shah first escaped from Srinagar to Dehradun and then to Saharanpur, to organize forces but was eventually killed in the Battle of Khurbura (Dehradun), in January 1804; while his brother, Pritam Shah, was taken in captivity to Nepal by the Gurkhas, and the Garhwal chiefs were driven into the plains, as Gurkhas began their 12-year long tyrannical rule. Sudarshan Shah son of the later King, spent the next decade at Jwalapur, near Haridwar under British protection.