Rohilla Rajputs

Rohilla
Rohilla or Rohela
Regions with significant populations
 India
Languages
Hindi • Khari Boli
Religion
Hindu
Related ethnic groups
Chauhan • Pundir

sources of the history of hindu rohillas https://sites.google.com/site/rajputrohilla/sourcesofthehistoryofhindurohillas

The term Rohillas refers to either Muslim highlander tribes Rohilla-Afgans or Rohillas[1] or Hindu Rajputs of Rohilla(Hindi: रोहिल्ला) clan. (Roh stands for mountains and Aditya Rohilla (Hindi: आदित्य रोहिल्ला) literally means mountaineer).

Origin

Taank empire in 565 AD

According to a British General Cunningham and a king Shri Jai Chand's accounts, the land from where the Rohillas migrated into India was present Afghanistan which was called " Ruh Desh" in the Middle Ages. Kabul's history dates back more than 3,500 years. It was once the center of Zoroastrianism and subsequently also a home for Buddhists and Hindus kings. Arab Muslims invaded the area in the 7th century by introducing Islam but was slowly taken back by the Hindu Shahi's of Kabul.[2] It was again invaded by the Saffarids and Samanids in the 9th century followed by Mahmud of Ghazni]] in the 11th century, when the Hindu Shahi King Jay Pala committed suicide. When Ruh Desh turned Muslim, the Hindus living there left their motherland and came to India about the 9th or 10th century AD. On Page 3 of the "Kshatriya Vartman", a book written by Thakur Ajit Singh Parhiar, along with the inscription from a Shiv Temple in Gujarat (Kathiwar) clearly establish "Rohillas". Some of the clans of Rohilla Rajput in Rajasthan and Gujarat (Pipa Vanshi) chiefly belong to saint Pipa Ji or Bhagat Pipa, a Rohilla Rajput king from Rajasthan, who later became a saint, devoted himself to Lord Krishna, and spent the last years of his life in Gujarat. His vani is also mentioned in Holy book Guru Granth Sahib. Pipa's birth name was Pratap Rao, who took birth at Gagaron, in present-day Jhalawar district of Rajasthan in a Khichi Chauhan Rajput family. [2]

Some of the clans are sometimes referred as "Taank Rajput" or "Rohilla Taank".[3][4] They constitute one of the societies of the Rajput clans which is either referred as Tak, Tank or Taank whose ancestors fought a battle against Muhammad Gauri or "Ghauri" and his later descendants. When the Rajputs lost everything in the wars, they had to turn their livelihood to agriculture so that they could escape conversion of religion and preserve the honour of their women.

Rohillas of the Jaura Gotra Descendants of Guga Chohan

James Tod, in his book "Annals of Rajasthan" writes that Gugo Chohan viz. Gogaji was the heir of Vacha Raja, a name of same celebrity. His empire had all the land including forests from Sutlej to Haryana. He made his capital as Mehra, or as pronounced Goga-Ca-Mari or Gogamedi, was on the Sutlej.[5] Another book by Sir Henry Miers Elliot also mentions about his territory.[6][7]

Rohilla Rajputs of Takshak Clan

Tod, in his book “Annals of Rajasthan” published in Volume I writes: “I have given a sketch of this tribe, but since I worte 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." The posterity of Takshaks were later called as Tak, Tank, etc due to change in names owing to passage of time and its effects on names.[8] The other clans include Kokcha and Kushanwal Rohillas and others.

Worship and deity

The Rohilla Rajput kshatriya clan is religious and they worship the goddess Durga or Jagdamba, as their Kul-Devi.[9] According to a Hindu tradition, Shakumbhri Devi – a tutelary goddess of Pundir,[10][11] Chauhan and Rohilla Rajputs – transformed forest into a plain area of precious metals. When the worried people felt it as a bane rather than a boon and plead her to recant the favor, the silver metal was transformed into salt by her, which is supposed as to be excavated from the Sambhar Lake,[12] Rajasthan. The Shakumbari Devi temple is near to the lake, 90 kilometers far from Jaipur, Rajasthan. This temple is ancient and is estimated of having the age at about 1,300 years. A more similar and ancient temple also exists in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh which was later maintained by the Pundirs Rajputs under Rana Bahadur Singh Pundir who represented Pundir and their chief Rana Pitambar Singh Pundir of Jasmour.[13]

Another saint named Namdev who took birth in Maharashtra also belonged to the sub-clan of Rohilla Rajputs who was later given an epithet as Namdev Vanshi Tank Kshatriya. He worshipped Lord Rama, known as Vitthal in Maharashtra. The vani/verses of saint Namdev are there in 64 pages in holy book Guru Granth Sahib Ji. Namdev is mainly followed in Rohilla Tank and related clans.[14]

Kingdom

A road way board in Dehradun named after Raja Ranveer Singh Rohilla. Extent of the empire under him was from Uttarakhand to northern Uttar Pradesh

Bareilly city, Uttar Pradesh state is situated on the banks of the river Ramganga . Today, it is an Indian district which is famous for its transportation, cotton trading and sugar-refining. The city acted as the capital during 1707 to 1720 for a period of 13 years. while it was 1657 when the Hindu Rajput Rohilla Kingdom was founded. In 1801, it was surrendered to United Kingdom.[15]

Raja Saharan Of Thanesar, a Tank or Tak Rajput

Regarding Tak Sharan, the “Mirat Secundari” gives the ancestory of the apostate for 23 generations, the last of whom was Sehes, the same who introduced the Nag Vansh seven centuries before the Chrisitan era into India. Tod writes "Saharan, the Wajeool mulk concealed both his origin and tribe. His son Zafar Khan, was raised by his patron Feroz, to the Government of Gujarat, about the period when Timur invaded India."[16]

Raja Ranveer Singh Rohilla

Ranveer Singh Rohilla was a king whose territory included parts of Dehradun, northern Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh. When Naurang Dev, another king, was the ruler, the state was intruded by the Muslims. Their first attempt proved as a failure, but after some years, during the rule of the king Ranvir Singh, there came a Muslims attack again. The battle was intense and Rohilla soldiers lost in the end.[17]

Customs and practices

Even today these people uniquely practice the old carols of valor and hymns which are sung by women on auspicious occasions like marriages, navami (hindu calendar), Makar Sankranti, teej and other important festivals. Kheer sheera, churma are one of the famous local traditional desserts(pudding) which is prepared on such occasions.[18]

Regions with significant populations

A very small population of Hindu Rohilla (or Rohila, Ruhela, Rohela) Rajputs at present are residing in western part of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and other parts of India.[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ A Gazetteer of Moradabad District by H Neville page 78
  2. 1 2 Sehrai, Fidaullah (1979). Hund: The Forgotten City of Gandhara, p. 2. Peshawar Museum Publications New Series, Peshawar.
  3. 1 2 People of India: Rajasthan, edited by K. S. Singh
  4. ↑ "History of Rohilla's". rohillataank.com. Retrieved 2015-09-28.
  5. ↑ Tod, James (1832-01-01). Annales and antiquities of Rajasthan, or the central and western Rajpoot states of Indian. Smith.
  6. ↑ Sir Henry Miers Elliot (1869). Memoirs on the history, folk-lore, and distribution of the races of the North Western Provinces of India: being an amplified edition of the original supplemental glossary of Indian terms. Trübner & co. pp. 256–. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
  7. ↑ http://www.muzaffarnagar.nic.in/CHAPTER%20III.htm
  8. ↑ Tod, James (1832-01-01). Annales and antiquities of Rajasthan, or the central and western Rajpoot states of Indian. Smith.
  9. ↑ People of India 1998, pp. 946–50.
  10. ↑ The Calcutta Review. University of Calcutta. 1874-01-01.
  11. ↑ "Wiki: Shakumbhri Devi - upcScavenger". www.upcscavenger.com. Retrieved 2015-09-28.
  12. ↑ The Calcutta Review. University of Calcutta. 1874-01-01.
  13. ↑ The Calcutta Review. University of Calcutta. 1874-01-01.
  14. ↑ People of India, p 141; by Anthropological Survey of India, 1994
  15. ↑ "Bareilly".
  16. ↑ Tod, James (1920-01-01). Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan: Or The Central and Western Rajput States of India. H. Milford, Oxford University Press.
  17. ↑ "Mahesh Singh Kathayat: Relation of Kateheria (Katheriya) Rajput and Rohilla Rajputs". mskathayat.blogspot.in. Retrieved 2015-09-28.
  18. ↑ "Food Dance and Language of States of India | SaralStudy.com". www.saralstudy.com. Retrieved 2015-11-02.

External links

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