Kohad

(Not to be confused with Kuhad)

Kohad (कोहाड) Kohar (कोहाड) Kohadia (कोहाड़िया) Kawhad (कव्हाड) Kohaad (कोहाड) Kohar (कोहर) is a gotra of Jats found in Punjab, Haryana and Maharashtra. Kohar (कोहाड) Jat clan Kavhad (कव्हाड़) is found in Amritsar.

History

B S Dahiya writes: They are the descendants of Kohada. Vamsa Brahmana mentions a person, Mitra Vinda Kohada. Shravana Datta is also called a Kohada whereas Gobhila Grihasutra speaks of a tradition of the Kohadas. The Kohadas are now a Jat clan.

Nagil, Gora and Kulharia they all belong to the Nagavansh association. Nagil, Kohad and Kulaharia never marry in their clans.

According to H.A. Rose writes that the Bagri Jats have certain sections which might appear totemistic, but very rarely is any reverence paid to the totem. Such are :— Kohar, a hatchet, in tahsil Hansi, Hisar, Haryana.

---

The Journal of Royal Asiatic Society, 1912 writes....[p.122]:Ganeshra Inscription of Kshaharāta Ghaṭāka mentions that a mound at Ganeshra near Mathura produced twenty-four inscribed bricks and brickbats. Two of them are complete (13-1/2 by 10-1/4 by 3 inches), and contain the legend: Rōhadevasa Kōhaḍa(sa). Rohadeva Kohaḍa was the minister (amātya) of Gōmita or Gōmitra, and, as it follows that the latter was in all probability a local ruler, it is very tempting to identify him with the Gomita or Gomitra whose coins have been found at Mathura. The date of [p.123]: the inscribed bricks must be the third or second century BC.

Ganeshra Inscription of Kshaharāta Ghaṭāka

The Journal of Royal Asiatic Society, 1912 mentions....[p.120]: Under the supervision of Pandit Radha Krishna some trial excavations were carried out on various ancient sites round Mathura out of funds provided by the Government of India. These sites include 1. Mora, 2. Ganeshra, and 3. Jaisinghpura.

[p.121]: The second site examined was that of Ganeshra, a village situated some three miles west of Mathura city, to the north of, the road to Govardhan. It was here that Dr. Fuhrer discovered a very fine Bodhisattva statue, now preserved in the Lucknow Museum¹, This statue, I may remark in passing, is especially interesting on account of its evident relationship to the Bodhisattva type of Gandhara.

The site of Ganeshra comprises three distinct mounds. The mound nearest the village yielded numerous red sandstone fragments, which must have belonged to a small-sized railing. One of these fragments bears an incomplete inscription in one line which I read Bhagavaprasādā. The character is Brahmi of the third or second century B.C.

Another incomplete inscription in two lines on a rounded piece of red sandstone (Pl II, Fig. 2) found in the second Ganeshra mound reads as follows

(1) . . . sa Kshaharātasa Ghaṭākasa . . . ,

(2) ... ye thupa pati . . .

Notwithstanding its very fragmentary state this short record is of interest for two reasons. First of all there can be little doubt that it records the constitution of a stūpa (Prakrit thūpa). The word following thupa may be safely restored as patiṭhāpita (पतिठापित) (Sanskrit pratishṭhāpitah प्रतिष्ठापित:). We may add that the monument in question was in all probability Buddhist. A stone parasol which was found lying at the foot of the mound, and which had previously been taken to the Museum, perhaps once surmounted the referred to in the inscription.

The second point of interest is the word Kshaharāta (क्षहरात), which occurs in the first line. This term is well known from some of the Western Cave inscriptions which mention the Kshaharata king and Satrap Nahapana. The Kshaharata clan, according to Mr. V. A. Smith,

---

1. It is figured in V. A. Smith, The Jain Stupa of Mathura, pl. lxxxvii ; cf. also my Mathura Catalogue, p. 39.

---

[p.122]: probably a branch of the Sakas, held sway in Western India in the end of the first and in the beginning of the second century of our era. It is of some interest to find a Kshaharata mentioned here in an inscription from Mathura. Unfortunately the epigraph is too fragmentary to allow our drawing any certain conclusions from it.

It may, however, be assumed that the word immediately preceding Kshaharatasa was Kshatrapasa, if we may judge from what remains of the missing letters.

The syllable ye preceding the word thupa would seem to indicate that the stupa was not founded by the Kshaharata satrap Ghaṭāka himself, but by one of his female relations. The name of Ghaṭāka does not seem to occur on coins or in any other epigraphical documents. The character of the inscription agrees closely with the Brahmi used in the records of the reign of Kanishka; it may even be earlier.

The same mound produced twenty-four inscribed bricks and brickbats. Two of them are complete (13-1/2 by 10-1/4 by 3 inches), and contain the following legend: Rōhadevasa Kōhaḍa(sa) (PI. II, Fig. 3). Portions of the same word, sometimes in reversed order, occur on several of the brickbats. On some of the broken bricks we find the name Gōmita (Sanskrit Gōmitra) or the compound Gōmitāmacha (Sanskrit Gōmitrāmātya), usually in the instrumental case, the word kāritam following (Pl II, Fig. 4). In one case we have Gōmitasa amach[ena], and in another . . . chena Kohaḍe[na], which I propose to complete as Gomitādmachena Kohadena kāritam. We may infer that Rohadeva Kohaḍa ( = Kohala ?) was the minister (amātya) of Gōmita or Gōmitra, and, as it follows that the latter was in all probability a local ruler, it is very tempting to identify him with the Gomita or Gomitra whose coins have been found at Mathura.¹ The date of

---

1. Cf. V. A. Smith, Catalogue, pp. 190, 194.

---

[p.123]: the inscribed bricks must be the third or second century BC.

Sub sections of Bhatti

According to H.A. Rose Jat clans derived from Bhatti are: Lahar, Sara, Bharon, Makar, Mond, Kohar, Saharan, Isharwal, Khetalan, Jatai, Khodma, Bloda, Batho and Dhokia.

Distribution in Punjab

Villages in Gurdaspur district

Kohar named village is in Gurdaspur tahsil of Gurdaspur district in Punjab, India.

Villages in Patiala district

Koharia population is 2,370 in Patiala district.

Villages in Nawanshahr district

• Kohar is village in Balachaur tahsil in Nawanshahr district in Punjab.

Distribution in Haryana

In Distt. Sonepat a village Chitana has main 5 JAT gotra namely- Kohad, Johal , Kohadia, Kotak, Kuhar. These are brave people & are very much intelligent. This village is 12 Km. from Sonepat & some Kohad family is in Hullaheri also.

Village in Mewat district

Tauru,

Villages in Hisar district

Mayyar, Rajpura, puthi,

Distribution in Maharashtra

Villages in Dhule district

Kulthe,

Distribution in Rajasthan

Kohariyon Ki Basti (t.Sheo)

Notable persons

• Rohadeva Kohaḍa was the minister (amātya) of Gōmita or Gōmitra, and, as it follows that the latter was in all probability a local ruler, it is very tempting to identify him with the Gomita or Gomitra whose coins have been found at Mathura. The date of [p.123]: the inscribed bricks must be the third or second century BC.

• Mr. R. S. Kohar - Govt. Service, Inspector Delhi Police 226, Sector-27, Gurgaon Haryana, 0124-5565864, NCR (PP-476)

• Mr vivek kohad b.Tech from iit roorkee.
• Mr ravi kohad b. Tech from iit delhi. Author of banko ka mayajal.
• Chaudhry bhale ram kohad fought for india's freedom in the Azad Hind foj created by subash chandra bose. He was a great freedom fighter.

References

---

Back to Jat Gotras