Gogaji (गोगाजी) also known as Jahar Veer Gogga is a folk deity of Rajasthan state in India. He is an eminent warrior-hero of the region. He is also venerated as a saint and even as 'snake-god'.
Contents |
Gugga or Jahar Pir is supposed to be the greatest of the snake-kings. His kingdom is said to be somewhere near Ganganagar. He was originally a Chauhan Rajput named Jahar but later embraced Islam. Gugga is worshipped in Bhadra all over Haryana and Punjab. The 9th and the 15th of Bhadra, especially the former, considered as Gugga Naumi and dedicated to this Pir and generally the 9th of any month and usually Mondays are regarded as his days. His shrine usually consists of a small one-room building with a minaret on each corner and a grave inside. It is called a mari and is marked by a long bamboo with peacock plumes, a coconut, some colored threads and some handpankhas with a blue flag on the top. On the 9th of Bhadra, the people worship his symbol, a black snake painted on a wall and the worshippers take a fly-flap, known as chhari, round the village to the sound of deroos and the devotees salute it and offer churmas. The Balmikis sing devotional songs known as ‘Pir ke Solle’ in his honour to the accompaniment of deroos. Beating of deroos is the exclusive priviege of the Balmiki community; others may take part in singing, dancing or simply offering charhawa. Usually, I didn't see any jats taking part in singing and dancing, at least in areas surrounding Delhi or even Rewari. It is believed that the spirit of Gugga temporarily takes abode in the devotee dancer who proves this fact by beating himself occasionally with a bunch of iron chains. He is known as Goga among the Hindus. Gogaji is popular as a snake-god and almost every village in Rajasthan has a Than (sacred place) dedicated to him.Rabari community in Gujarat and Rajasthan is great believer in Gogaji. The devotees of Gogaji can be found in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana. In Haryana in kaithal, kurukshtra, ambala,and every village where rajput living very devotional to goga ji chauhan Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh . In Gujarat, an annual procession is taken out in honor of the great warrior.
Many Bachal Rajputs are said to get the name from queen Bachal, who was mother of famous folk-deity Jaharveer Gogaji.[1] Gogaji according to legend was son of a Chauhan Rajput Ruler named Vacha or Juar, whose wife Bachal was from Tuar clan. Gogaji was born upon blessings given to Queen Bachal by Guru Gorakhnathji.[2] Population of Bachal Rajputs, who worship him as Kuldevta can be found distributed among the States of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, etc.
A grand fair is held at Gogamedi, which is 359 km from Jaipur, in Hanumangarh district of Rajasthan in August in memory of Gogaji. It is believed that Gogaji went into samādhi at Gogamedi. Thousands of devotees gather to pay homage at this memorial annually in the month of Bhadrapada during the Gogaji fair, which lasts for 3 days. The fair is held from the ninth day of the dark half of Bhadrapada (Goga Navami) to the eleventh day of the dark half of the same month. The inscription in Persian at the main entrance describes Mahmud of Ghazni's regard for Gogaji. It is quite a sight to see people singing and dancing to the beats of drums and gongs with multicolored flags called nishans in their hands. the songs and bhajans on the life history of Gogaji and along with play the music with traditional instruments like Damru, Chimta, etc.
Goga ji was born in Dadrewa in Churu district in Rajasthan. Early days of Gogaji were spent at village Dadrewa, situated on Hissar-Bikaner Highway in the Churu district. He was born in Chauhan clan to Chauhan Vacha and queen Bahcal[3] and were rulers of this area during that period - around 900 AD. A fair is simultaneously held here too in his memory. His desandants adopted the name Bachal Rajput after name of Gogaji's mother.
Gogaji was born by the blessing of Guru gorkhnath ji. Gogaji's mother, Rani Bachal worshipped her guru Gorkhnath for 12 years to receive a boon of a child. Gogaji's wife was Siriyal and his father was Raja Jewar Singh of Bhagar Desh.
There is another popular story behind the 12-year worship of the mother of Jahar Peer (Bachal).
While Rani Bachal was worshiping Guru Gorakhnath, she had a twin-sister Rani Kachal who decided to usurp the blessings from Guru Gorakhnath. In the middle of night, she wore the clothes of her sister and deceived the Guru into giving her the blessing fruit. When Rani Bachal came to know about it, she rushed to Guru Gorakhnath and said that she had not received anything. To this, Guruji replied that he had already given his blessings and said that her sister was trying to deceive her. After much persistence from Rani Bachal, the Guru relented and gave her two Gugal candies (Gugal is a herb which is prescribed even till today under Ayurveda to treat people of infertility), and hence the name Gogaji. She distributed these candies to the ladies having no child, including the 'Blue mare' who was pregnant at that time. The horse borne to the mare the 'Blue Horse' that Gogaji rode.
When Guru Gorkhnath gave the blessing to Rani Bachal, he foretold that her son would become very powerful and would also rule over both the sons of Rani Kachal. Gogaji had the company of his blue horse, Nar Singh Peer and Bohriwala. He finally killed both the sons of Rani Kachal and informed his mother. Gogaji's mother on hearing this became very angry and decided not even to see her son's face ever. However, every evening Gogaji met his wife in hiding. One day Rani Bachal came to know about it and thought of apologizing for her mistake. Being previously ordered by his mother of not ever showing his face to her, Gogaji sought for help from Guru Gorkhnath. Guruji with his Chimta (holy tongs) from Gorkhtilla slid the land causing Gogaji and his horse to take samadhi.
In the books bijal ke chauhan written by Ratanlal Mishra there is a story of Chauhan and chakravati's in which there is a story of gogaji and his life such as of fight with mughals history of chamanas,chauhan on himalaya,worship of bramha vishnu mahesh etc.and related with storys of gogaji and chauhan vansh.