Bagad Region

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Bagad (बागड़) Bagadadesha (बागड़देश) was a region situated in Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan. Its ancient name was Vargata (बार्गट).

Origin of name

  • Bagri signifies the Bagar lands, the deserts of Rajasthan and Thar.[1]
  • Bagar is a term meaning 'dry country' in common parlance.

Variants of name

Jat Gotras

  • Bagri Jats - is a term applied to any Hindu Jat from the Bagar (बागड़) or prairies of Bikaner, which lie to the south and west of Hissar in contradistinction to Deswala.
  • Bagaroiya (बागड़ोइया) gotra of Jats, is said to be originated after the place name Bagar. [6]
  • Bagri (बागड़ी) - Bagri (बागड़ी) term is applied to any Hindu Rajput or Jat from the Bagar (बागड़) or prairies of Bikaner, which lie to the South and West of Hissar in contradiction to Deswala. [7]

History

Kanyanayana (कन्यानयन) (Northern Bagad) was a famous shvetambar tirtha probably situated near Delhi. Its history can be traced from 12th century, when an icon of Mahavira was installed in the existing Chaityalaya, of this place, in V.1233 by the Kharatara acharya Jinapati. That work includes this tirtha in Bagadadesha probably in eastern Rajasthan. The Mahavira temple of this place was quite popular with Kharatara acharyas. This tirtyha was destroyed by Muslims in V.S. 1385. Afterwards Jinaprabha repaired with the help of Muhammad Bin Tughlak.[8]


Vyaghrapura (व्याघ्रपुर) is a place mentioned by Dasharatha Sharma in Southern Bagad. [9]


Mohils of Janglu - Janglu area was ruled by Mohil Chauhans, who were samants of Chauhan Samrat. Rana Lakha was contemporary of Prithviraj. There were many jagirs of Mohils in Bagad area. These chieftains had to face wars in Nagaur in which many were killed. As per an inscription of 25 April 1183 (Baisakh sudi 2 v.s. 1239) in village Ganedi district Sikar Rajasthan, Mohil Jhala and his son Lakhan were killed in this war. (Devi Singh Mandawa,pp.68,132)


Undaunted by these difficulties, Jinavallabha made Chitrakuta his headquarters and, by his complete mastery of the different Indian systems of Indian philosophical thought, astrology, astronomy and poetics, and even more by a life of absolute simplicity, sincerity and complete adherence to the words of the Jina, won over to his way of thinking many followers, lay as well as clerical, who soon made his teachings well known in Rajasthan and Malwa especially in that part of the former of which is known as Bagad. Reformed temples (vidhichaityas) were established at Marukotta, Narwar, Nagor and Chitor and perhaps at other places also, and each one of these bore the same inscription. [10]


Alexander Cunningham[11] writes that .....[p.246]: I will now examine the different names of the people who made their submission to Alexander during his halt at the confluence of the Panjab rivers. According to Curtius they were called Sambracae or Sabracae ; 1 according to Orosius Sabagrae ; and according to Diodorus, who placed them to the east of the river, Sambastae. 2 They were a powerful nation, second to none in India for courage and numbers. Their forces consisted of 60,000 foot, 6000 horse, and 500 chariots. The military reputation of the clan suggests the probability that the Greek name may be descriptive of their warlike character, just as Yaudheya means " warrior or soldier." I think, therefore, that the true Greek name may have been Sambagrae, for the Sanskrit Samvagri, that is, the "united warriors," which, as they were formed of three allied tribes, would have been an appropriate appellation. In confirmation of this suggestion, I may note the fact that


1 Vita Alex., ix. 8. "Inde Sabracas adiit, Talidam Indiae gentem, qua' populi, non regum, imperio regebatur." 2 Hist., xvii. 10.


[p.247]: the country of which Bikaner is now the capital was originally called Bagar-des, or the land of the Bagri, or " Warriors," whose leader was Bagri Rao. 1 Bhati also means " warrior or soldier." We thus find three tribes at the present day, all calling themselves " warriors," who form a large proportion of the population in the countries to the east of the Satlej ; namely, Johiyas or Yaudheyas along the river, Bagris in Bikaner, and Bhatis in Jesalmer. All three are of acknowledged Lunar descent ; and if my suggested interpretation of Sambagri be correct, it is possible that the name might have been applied to these three clans, and not to the three tribes of the Yaudheyas. I think, how-ever, that the Yaudheyas have a superior claim, both on account of their position along the banks of the Satlej, and of their undoubted antiquity. To them I would attribute the foundation of the town of Ajudhan, or Ayodhanam, the " battle-field," which is evidently connected with their own name of Yaudheya, or Ajudhiya, the " warriors." The latter form of the name is most probably preserved in the Ossadii of Arrian, a free people, who tendered their allegiance to Alexander at the confluence of the Panjab rivers. The Ossadii of Arrian would therefore correspond with the Sambastae of Diodorus and the Sambracae of Curtius, who made their submission to Alexander at the same place. Now Ossadioi or Assodioi is as close a rendering of Ajudhiya as could be made in Greek characters. We have thus a double correspondence both of name and


1 This information I obtained at the famous fortress of Bhatner in the Bikaner territory. The name is certainly as old as the time of Jahangir, as Chaplain Terry describes ' Bikaneer ' as the chief city of ' Bakar.' See 'A Voyage to East India,' p. 86.


[p.248]: position in favour of my identification of the Sabagrae or Sambracae with the Johiyas of the present day.

Jat History

In Rohtak (situated west of the Yamuna), the Deswali Jats settled some seven or eight hundred years ago while the Dhe Jats, probably the descendants of immigrants from Bagar, a tract just beyond the border of Bikaner, moved into the western parts of the Hissar district around 1783 and took up the land abandoned after the terrible Chalisa famine of that year. Some of them came from Bikaner and Nabha in the early nineteenth century. The areas adjoining Bikaner and to the west of Bhiwani, such as Hissar and Fatehabad were called Bagar, a term meaning 'dry country' in common parlance. The term 'Bagri' was applied to a Hindu Rajput or Jat from the Bagar region. The Godaras and Punias, too, considered themselves to be Bagri Jats.

While the Bagri Jats forged cultural links and matrimonial alliances with the Jats living in Rajasthan, the Deswali Jats did the same with their counterparts in western UP living on the other side of the Yamuna.

इतिहास

डॉ गोपीनाथ शर्मा [12] लिखते हैं कि हर्षनाथ के मंदिर की प्रशस्ति 973 ई. - शेखावाटी के प्रसिद्द हर्षनाथ के मंदिर की वि.सं. 1030 आषाढ़ सुदी 15 की है. उक्त मंदिर का निर्माण अल्लट द्वारा किया गया था. यह प्रशस्ति साम्भर के चौहान राजा विग्रहराज के समय की है. इससे चौहानों के वंशक्रम तथा उनकी उपलब्धियों पर प्रकाश पड़ता है. इस वंश के शासकों के नाम इस प्रकार हैं - • गुवक प्रथम, • चन्द्रराज, • गुवक द्वितीय, • चन्दन, • वाक्पतिराज, • सिंहराज और • विह्राहराज.

इसमें बागड़ के लिए बार्गट शब्द का प्रयोग किया गया है.

L-23:दीक्षेष्टतमलब्ध: सविस्फ़ुर[*न्मंत्रपे]वल: ।

प्रशस्ताख्योअभवच्छिष्यस्तस्य पाशुपत: कृती ॥.... २९
भुवि रक्तोभवतस्य शिष्योद्वि नामतो अल्लट: ।
वार्गाटिकान्वयोद्भूतसद्दिप्रकुलसंभव: ।.... ३०
हर्षस्यासन्नतो ग्राम: प्रसिद्धो राणपल्लिका

डॉ. गोपीनाथ शर्मा[13] लिखते हैं कि कुम्भलगढ़ की प्रशस्ति 1460 ई. से उस समय के मेवाड़ के चार विभागों का पता चलता है जो चित्तोड़, आघाट, मेवाड़ और बागड़ थे.

References

  1. Hukum Singh Panwar (Pauria): The Jats:Their Origin, Antiquity and Migrations/Jat-Its variants, p. 382, fn. 258.
  2. Alexander Cunningham: The Ancient Geography of India, p. 247
  3. James Tod: Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, Volume III, pp.1639-1640
  4. An Inquiry Into the Ethnography of Afghanistan By H. W. Bellew, 1891, p.128
  5. Mahendra Singh Arya et al: Adhunik Jat Itihas, p. 266
  6. Mahendra Singh Arya et al: Adhunik Jat Itihas, p.266
  7. A glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province By H.A. Rose Vol II/B , p.33
  8. Encyclopaedia of Jainism, Volume-1 By Indo-European Jain Research Foundation p.5524
  9. Towns and Villages of Chauhan Dominions, S.no. 264, Early Chauhān dynasties: Dasharatha Sharma, p.255.
  10. Early Chauhān dynasties: Dasharatha Sharma, p.252
  11. The Ancient Geography of India, p. 246-247
  12. डॉ गोपीनाथ शर्मा: 'राजस्थान के इतिहास के स्त्रोत', 1983, पृ. 66
  13. डॉ. गोपीनाथ शर्मा: राजस्थान के इतिहास के स्त्रोत, 1983, पृ. 148-150

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