Rao Kehar

Rao Kehar (731 AD) was a Bhatti Chief. He was son of Majam Rao in the ancestry of Salivahana (S.72 = AD 16).

Genealogy of Rao Kehar

Hukum Singh Panwar has given the ancestry of Bharatpur rulers starting from 1. Yadu. Shini is at S.No. 38, Krishna at S.No. 43 and Vajra at S.No. 46. From Naba at S.No. 47 onward we follow James Tod who has based on records of Brahman Sukhdharma of Mathura.

1. Yadu → → → → 34. Andhaka → 35. Bhajmana → 36. Viduratha → 37. Shura → 38. Shini → 39. Bhoja → 40. Hardika → 41. Devamidha → 42. Vasudeva → 43. Krishna → 44. Pradyumna → 45. Aniruddha → 46. Vajra →

47. Naba → 48. Prithibahu → 49. Bahubal (w.Kamlavati Puar) → 50. Bahu → 51. Subahu → 52. Rijh → 53. Raja Gaj (founded Ghazni in Yudhishthira 3008= BC 93) → 54. Salivahana (S.72 = AD 16) → 55. Raja Baland → 56. Raja Bhatti → 57. Mangal Rao → 58. Majam Rao (Kullarsi, Moondraj, Seoraj, Phool, Kewala) → Rao Kehar → Rao Tano (Founded Tanot: S. 787 = 731 AD) → Biji Rai (Founded Bijnot: S. 813 = 756 AD, r.814-836) → Deoraj (Founded Deogarh or Deorawal: S. 909 = 853 AD) → Rawal Moond → Bachera → Dusaj (1043 AD) → Jaisal (Lodrawa - Jaisalmer:1155 AD) → Kailan and Salivahan II

History

For detailed History starting from Yadu you may see Raja Baland.

Raja Baland had seven sons : Raja Bhatti, Bhupati, Kullar, Jinj, Surmor, Bhynsrecha, Mangreo.

Mangal Rao succeeded Raja Bhatti, but his fortune was not equal to that of his fathers. Dhoondi, king of Ghazni, with a mighty force, invaded Lahore; nor did Mangal Rao oppose him, but with his eldest son fled into the wilds on the hanks of the river. The foe then invested Salivahanpura, where resided the family of the Raja ; but Masur Rao escaped and fled to the Lakhi Jungle. There being only a cultivating peasantry in this tract, he overcame them, and became master of the country.

This would almost imply that Lahore and Salivahanpura were one and the same place but from what follows, the intervening distance could not have been great between the two cities. There is a Sangala, south of Lahore, near the altars of Alexander, and a Sialkote in our modern maps. Salivahanpura or simply Salpura, may have been erected on the ruins of Kampilanagri. We may hope that researches in that yet untouched region, the Punjab, will afford much to the elucidation of ancient history.

Mangal Rao, the son of Raja Bhatti, and who abandoned his kingdom, had six sons : Mujum Rao, Kullursi, Moolraj, Seoraj, Phool, Kewala.

When Mangal Rao fled from the king, his children were secreted in the houses of his subjects. A Bhomia named Satidas, of the tribe of Tak, whose ancestors had been reduced from power and wealth by the ancestors of the Bhatti prince, determined to avenge himself, and informed the king that some of the children were concealed in the house of a banker (sahukar). The king sent the Tak with a party of troops, and surrounded the house of Sridhar, who was earned

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[p.204]: before the king, who swore he would put all his family to death if he did not produce the young princes of Salivahana. The alarmed banker protested he had no children of the Raja's, for that the infants who enjoyed his protection were the offspring of a Bhomia, who had fled, on the invasion, deeply in his debt But the king ordered him to produce them ; he demanded the name of their village, sent for the Bhomias belonging to it, and not only made the royal infants of Salivahana eat with them, but marry their daughters. The banker had no alternative to save their lives but to consent: they were brought forth in the peasant's garb, ate with the husbandmen (Juts), and were married to their daughters.

Thus the offspring of Kullar-rai became the Kularia Jats.

Those of Moondraj and Seoraj, the Moonda and Seora Jats.

The younger boys, Phool and Kewala, who were passed off as a barber (nai), and a potter (kumhar), fell into that class.

Mangal Rao, who found shelter in the wilds of the Garah, crossed that stream and subjugated a new territory. At this period, the tribe of Baraha inhabited the banks of the river; beyond them were the Boota Rajpoots of Bootaban. In Poogul dwelt the Pramara. Poogul from the most remote times has been inhabited by the Pramar race. It is one of the No-Koti Maroo-ca, the nine castles of the desert. In Dhat in habit the Soda race. The Sodas of Amarkot have inhabited the desert from time immemorial, and are in all probability the Sogdi of Alexander. The Lodra Rajputs lived in Lodorva. See Vol. I, p. 85.

Mangal Rao found security, and with the sanction of the Soda prince, he fixed his future abode in the centre of the lands of the Lodras, the Barahas, and the Sodas.

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Mention of Tak - James Tod writes that This incidental mention of the race of Tak in Annals of Jaisalmer, and of its being in great consideration on the settlement of the Yadus in the Punjab, is very important. I have given a sketch of this tribe (Vol. I, p. 93), but since I wrote it, I have discovered the capital of the Tak, and on the very spot where I should have expected the site of Taxila, the capital of Taxiles, the friend of Alexander. In that sketch I hesitated not to say, that the name was not personal, but arose from his being the head of the Takshac or Naga tribe, which is confirmed. It is to Babar, or rather to his translator, that I am indebted for this discovery. In describing the limits of Banu, Babar thus mentions it : "And on the west is Desht, which is also called Bazar and Tak ;" to which the erudite translator adds, "Tak is said long to have been the capital of Damān." In Mr. Elphinstone's map, Bazar, which Baber makes identical with Tak, is a few miles north of the city of Attoc. There is no question that both the river and city were named after the race of Tak or Takshac, the Nagas, Nagavansi, or 'snake race', who spread over India. Indeed, I would assume that the name of Omphis, which young Taxiles had on his father's death, is Ophis, the Greek version of Tak, the 'serpent' The Taks appear to have been established in the same region at the earliest period. The Mahabharata describes the wars between Janamejaya and the Takshacs, to revenge on their king the death of his father Parikshita, emperor of Indraprastha, or Dehli.

Mention of Jats - James Tod writes, Thus it is that the most extensive agricultural races spread all over India, called Jats or Jits, have a tradition that they are descended from the Yadu race, (qu. Yuti?) and that their original country is Kandahar. Such was stated to be the origin of the Jats of Bayana and Bharatpur. Why the descendants of Saran assumed the name of Juts is not stated.

Majam Rao leaves Salivahanpura

On the death of Mangal Rao, he was succeeded by Majam Rao, who escaped from Salivahanpura with his father. He was recognized by all the neighbouring princes, who sent the usual presents on his accession, and the Soda prince of Amarkot made an offer of his daughter in marriage, which was accepted, and the nuptials were solemnized at Amarkot.

Majam Rao had three sons, Rao Kehar, Moolraj, and Gogli.

Rao Kehar had five sons; viz., Tunno, Ooti-rao, Chunnur, Kafrio, Thaem.

Moolraj had three sons, Raj Pal, Lohwa, and Choobar. The elder son had two sons, Ranno and Geegoh ; the first of whom had five sons, Dhookur. Pohor, Bood, Koolroo, Jeipal, all of whom had issue, and became heads of clans. The descendants of Geegoh bore the name of Khengar (qu. chiefs of Girnar ?) The annals of all these states abound with similar minute genealogical details, which to the Rajpoots are of the highest importance in enabling them to trace the affinities of families, but which it is imperative to omit, as they possess no interest for the European reader. I have extracted the names of the issue of Moolraj to shew this. The Khengars were famed in the peninsula of Saurashtra — nine of them ruled in Junagarh Girnar ; and but for this incidental relation, their origin must have ever remained concealed from the archaeologist, as the race has long been extinct.

Rao Kehar became renowned for his exploits. Hearing of a caravan (kafila) of five hundred horses going from Arore to Multan, he pursued them with a chosen band disguised as camel-merchants, and came up with his prey across the Punjnud, where he attacked and captured it, and returned to his abode. By such exploits he became known, and the coco-nut (naryal) was sent to Majam Rao, and his two elder sons, by Allansi Deora, of Jalore. The nuptials were celebrated with great splendour, and on their return, Rao Kehar laid the foundation of a castle, which he named Tanot in honour of Tunno-devi. Ere it was completed, Rao Majam died.

Rao Kehur succeeded Majam Rao. On his accession, Tanot was attacked by Jasrath, chief of the Barahas, because it was erected on the bounds of his tribe ; but Moolraj defended it, and the Barahas were compelled to retire.

Tanot founded

On Mangalwar (Tuesday), the full moon of Mah, S. 787 (A.D.731), the fortress of Tunnote was completed, and a temple erected to Tunno-Mata. Shortly after a treaty of peace was formed with the Barahas, which was concluded by the nuptials of their chief with the daughter of Moolraj.

James Tod notes that There are but six descents given from Salivahan, the leader of the Yadu colony from Zabulistan into the Punjab, and Kehur, the founder of their frst settlement in the desert of India. The period of the first is S.72, of the other S.787. Either names are wanting, or the period of Salivahan is erroneous. Kehur's period, viz., S.787, appears a landmark, and is borne out by numerous subsequent most valuable synchronisms. Were we to admit one hundred years to have elapsed between Salivahan and Kehur, it would make the period of expulsion from Zabulistan about S.687.

Rao Kehar

Rao Kehar, a name highly respected in the history of the Bhatti race, and whose exploit has been already recorded, must have been the contemporary of the celebrated Khalif Al Walid, the first whose arms extended to the plains of India, and one of whose earliest conquests and chief positions was Arore, the capital of Upper Sinde.

Rao Kehar had five sons; viz., Rao Tano, Ooti-rao, Chunnur, Kafrio, Thaem.

All of them had offspring, who became the heads of clans, retaining the patronymic. All were soldiers of fortune, and they conquered the lands of the Channa Rajpoots; (The tribe of Channa is now extinct) but the latter revenged themselves upon Kehur, whom they attacked and slew as he was hunting.

Rao Tano

Rao Tano succeeded Rao Kehar. He laid waste the lands of the Barahas, and those of the Langaha of Multan. But Husein Shah advanced with the Langaha Pathans, clothed in armour with iron helms, with the men of Doodi, of Kheechee; the Khokur ; the Mogul, Johya, the Jadu, and Syed, all mounted on horses, to the number of ten thousand men, to attack the Jadoo.

James Tod notes that Babar in his valuable Autobiography, gives us the names of all the tribes he met in his passage into India, and this enumeration goes far to improve the authenticity of the early annals of the Bhattis. Babar does not mention "the men of Doodi"

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[p.210]: They reached the territory of the Barahas, who joined them, and there they encamped. Tunno collected his brethren around him, and prepared for defence. During four days they defended the castle ; and on the fifth the Rao ordered the gates to be thrown open, and with his son, Beeji Rae, sallied out sword in hand, and attacked the besiegers. The Barahas were the first to fly, and they were soon followed by the rest of the Asuras. The victors carried the spoils of the field into Tunnote. As soon as the armies of Multan and Langaha were driven off, the coco-nut came from Jeejoo, chief of the Bootas of Bootaban, and an alliance offensive and defensive was formed against the prince of Multan.

Rao Tano had five sons, Beeji Rai, Makar, Jeytung, Allan, and Rakecho.

The second son, Makar, had issue Maipah, who had two sons, Mohola and Decao, the latter of whom excavated the lake known by his name. His issue became carpenters (sootar), and are to this day known as the Makur sootar.

The third son, Jaitang, had two sons, Rattansi and Chohar. The first repaired the ruined city of Bikampur. Chohir had two sons, Kola and Gir-raj, who founded the towns of Kolasar and Girajsar. These towns and lakes are well known, but have been seized by Bikaner.

The fourth son, Allan, had four sons, Deosi, Tirpal, Bhaoni, and Rakecho. The descendants of Deosi became Rebarris (who rear camels), and the issue of Rakecho became merchants (baniah), and are now classed amongst the Oswal tribe. The Oswal is the richest and most numerous of the eighty-four mercantile tribes of India, and is said to amount to one hundred thousand families. They are called ' Oswal' from their first settlement the town of Ossi. They are all of pure Rajpoot birth, of no single tribe, but chiefly Puars, Solankis, and Bhattis. All profess the Jain tenets, and it is a curious fact, though little.

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[p. 211]: Tanno having, by the interposition of the goddess Beejasenni, discovered a hidden treasure, erected a fortress, which he named Beejnote ; and in this he placed a statue of the goddess, on the 13th, the enlightened part of the month Megsir, the Rohini Nikhitra, S. 813 (A.D. 757). He died after ruling eighty years.

Beeji had succeeded in S. 870 (A.D. 814). He commenced his reign with the teeka-dour against his old enemies, the Barahas, whom be defeated and plundered. In S. 892, he had a son by the Boota queen, who was called Deoraj. The Barahas and Langahas once more united to attack the Bhatti prince ; but they were defeated and put to flight. Finding that they could not succeed by open warfare, they had recourse to treachery. Having, under pretence of terminating this long feud, invited young Deoraj to marry the daughter of the Baraha chief, the Bhattis attended, when Beeji Rai and eight hundred of his kin and clan were massacred. Deoraj escaped to the house of the Purohit (of the Barahas, it is presumed), whither he was pursued. There being no hope of escape, the Brahmin threw the Brahminical thread round the neck of the young prince, and in order to convince his pursuers that they were deceived as to the object of their search, he sat down to eat with him from the same dish. Tunnote was invested and taken, and nearly every soul in it put to the sword, so that the very name of Bhatti was for a while extinct.

References

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