| Bhati House of Jaisalmer | |
|---|---|
 Coat of arms | |
 Flag of the Kingdom of Jaisalmer | |
| Country | Kingdom of Jaisalmer |
| Founded | 3rd century |
| Founder | Rao Bhati |
| Current head | Chaitanya Raj Singh |
| Final ruler | Maharawal Girdhar Singh |
| Titles | Rawal (later Maharawal) ofJaisalmer |
Bhati (alsoromanised asBhattī) is aRajput clan.[1] The Bhati clan historically ruled over several cities in present-dayIndia andPakistan with their final capital and kingdom beingJaisalmer, India.[2][3]
The Bhatis ofJaisalmer belonged to theYadava clan of Rajputs.[4][5] They reportedly originated inMathura through a common ancestor namedRao Bhati, who claimed descent fromPradyumna, aHindu mythological figure.[6][7] According to the seventeenth-centuryNainsi ri Khyat, the Bhatis after losing Mathura moved toBhatner in Lakhi Jungle, and from there to other locations in western and northwestern India includingPunjab. Rao Bhati conquered and annexed territories from 14 princes in Punjab, including the area of modern-dayLahore.[8][9] He is also credited with establishing the modern town ofBathinda in theLakhi jungle area in the 3rd century.[6] The Bhatis also claim descent through Rao Bhati fromRaja Sálbán, the legendary founder ofSialkot.
The Bhati ruler ofTanot, Rao Tannu-ji, utilized his long reign (until 814 AD) to consolidate the Bhatis' expanding strength in westernRajasthan and the easternCholistan desert area. He is credited with defeating and destroying the domains of theVarya Rajputs andLangas of Multan. A unified attack against the Tanot Bhatis by thePathans led by Hussain Shah, together with tribes such as the Langas,Khichis, Khokars (Ghakkars),Johiyas, and others, was successfully driven back under Tannu-ji's leadership.[10] In the 10th century, the Bhati rulers nearMultan as well as the Muslim Emir of Multan were eager to assistJayapala, theHindu Shahi ruler of Afghanistan, because of the slave incursions into their territories by the rulers of Ghazni. However, Jayapala was unable to conquer Ghazni, and the alliance he had formed quickly fell apart.[11] By the 12th-century,Rohri andSukkur in the present-day Sindh, Pakistan as well asPugal andChohtan in Rajasthan had been incorporated into the dominion of the Bhati Rajputs.[12] The Muslim chiefs ofSindh and Multan, as well as other Rajput clans likePanwar,Solanki, andSodhas, were all at strife with the Bhati rulers by this time.[12] Jaisalmer had a dynasty with a successful line of rulers and this became their center. Bhatner, Pugal, Bikrampur, Barsalpur,Deravar,Marot,Kehror, Aasnikot, Tanot,Lodhruva and Mamanvahan were some of the fortified settlements that were historically ruled by the Bhati clan or subclans. The Bhati rulerVijayrao Lanjo ruled a vast empire, He was known as the 'uttara disi bhad kivaad' (the sentinel of the north direction), due to his control over forts and settlements that extended fromGhazni toGujarat, leading to several conflicts with the invading Muslim tribes.[5] According to epigraphic evidence, Vijayarao Lanjo took the large title ofParambhattaraka Maharajadhiraja Parameshwara (the paramount sovereign, great king of kings, the supreme reality).[10] He was succeeded by his son, Bhojde in 1143.[13] However, Bhojde's uncleRawalJaisal Singh colluded with theGhaznavid chiefs, and Bhojde was killed in the resulting combat. Following Bhojde's death, Jaisal Singh became the head of Bhatis.[14] In general, the Bhatis' interactions with Islamic powers were not entirely harmonious. They had defeated multiple Islamic attacks by theQaramithas, Ghaznavids, andGhurids before the end of the 12th century.[15]
Timur invaded India in 1398, when he held a vast empire in the Middle East and Central Asia. He suffered tough resistance in India only from the Bhati ruler, Rai Dul Chand of Bhatner. Rajputs and Muslims fought together against Timur under him but theBhatner fort was ultimately sacked with the city burnt and laid waste.[16][17] TheRathores, theBalochs, theDehli Sultans, and eventually theMughals had all clashed with the Bhati kings.[14] The cities ofKapurthala,Ambala andBatala in Punjab are said to be founded by the Bhati Rajputs.Rana Kapur, an immigrant from Jaisalmer founded Kapurthala in the early 11th-century,[18]Raja Amba ofTaoni subclan founded Ambala in the 14th century,[19] whereasRai Ram Deo founded Batala in 1465.[20] By the same 15th-century, Rao Kelana, a powerful Bhati Rajput ruler of Pugal had expanded his territories up to Bhatinda andAbohar, and was responsible for the death of Rathore rulerChunda of Marwar. Rao Kelana invadedDera Ghazi Khan and defeated the Balochs. As part of the peace settlement that followed, Zubeida, the daughter of the Baloch chief Jam Ismail Khan (founder ofDera Ismail Khan), was married to the Bhati ruler.[10] In 1613,Raja Kishan Singh, a Rathore ruler and the founder ofKishangarh State complained his brother-in-lawJahangir, theMughal emperor, about a Bhati sardar, Govind Das Bhati, for killing his brother, and thereafter, the Raja, along with his followers, executed the Bhatisardar as per the direction of Jahangir. As Govind Das Bhati was a noble affiliated with the Rathore rulerSur Singh, as a consequence his son,Gaj Singh of Marwar, killed Raja Kishan Singh.[21]
The historianAndré Wink states that prior to the Bhatis' expulsion from the country ofZabulistan, they reportedly inhabited as far asSamarkand in Uzbekistan.[22] The Bhatis claim to be the ancestors of theChughtaiMughals. The historian Tanuja Kothiyal notes that a part of such claims may well be justified.[5] ThePhulkian dynasty claimed direct descent from Rawal Jaisal Singh, the Bhati Rajput founder of theKingdom of Jaisalmer.[23][24]
The greeting used by Bhati Rajputs isJai Shri Kishan ("victory to LordKrishna") as opposed to the general Rajput greetingJai Mata Jiri ("victory of the Mother Goddess").[25]
Dulla Bhatti was a Punjabi landlord who led a revolt againstAkbar, the Mughal emperor.[26] He remains Punjab'sfolk hero and is made the centrepiece of allLohri songs.[27]
Mehta Kalu, the father of Guru Nanak, was an employee ofRai Bular Bhatti. Bhatti was among the first few people who viewed Nanak as someone who was specially gifted by God. The 757 murabas (approx. 18,750 acres) of land he donated to Guru Nanak is now under the control ofEvacuee Trust Property Board of Pakistan.[28]
While theKingdom of Mewar came to symbolize Rajput resistance in the nineteenth century—primarily due to its steadfast opposition to Mughal expansion and its inward-looking emphasis on clan orthodoxy—contemporary chroniclers such as Muhnot Nainsi identified Jaisalmer as the true heart of the Rajput world. Unlike Mewar, which defined Rajput identity through rigid genealogical purity and martial defiance, Jaisalmer embodied a more expansive and networked conception of Rajputness. Through its extensive web of alliances with various clans across regions, Jaisalmer played a central role in articulating a broader Rajput political and cultural sphere, where opposition to the Mughals or Turks was just one among many expressions of Rajput identity.[5]
Like the Bhatis of Jaisalmer, the chiefs of Karauli also belonged to the Yadava clan of Rajputs.
the various Hindu Rajput Bhati sub-clans, like Saran, Moodna, Seora as well as Muslim groups like Bhatti, Bhutto...and the trading community of Bhatiya, all link their origins to the Bhatis
