Rohilla Rajputs

Rohilla

Rohilla or Rohela
Regions with significant populations
India
Languages
Hindi • Khari Boli
Religion
Hindu
sources of the history of hindu rohillas https://sites.google.com/site/rajputrohilla/sourcesofthehistoryofhindurohillas

Rohillas can refer to either Muslim highlander tribes Rohillas^[1] and Hindu Rajputs ( Roh stands for mountains and Aditya Rohilla literally means mountaineer).

Origin

According to General Cunningham and Shri Jai Chand, 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. It was re-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 Book, stanzas of two poems as extracted from the "Kshatriya Vartman" by Thakur Ajit Singh Parhiar and the inscription on a Shiv Temple in Gujarat (Kathiwar) clearly establish "Rohillas". 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 Guru Granth Sahib. Pipa was born, as Pratap Rao, at Gagaron, in present-day Jhalawar district of Rajasthan in a Khichi Chauhan Rajput family.

Worship and Deity

The Rohilla Rajput kshatriya clan is highly religious and worship Goddess Durga/Jagdamba, as their Kul-Devi. According to a Hindu tradition, Shakumbhri Devi - a tutelary Goddess of Pundir, Chauhan and Rohilla Rajputs- converted forest to a plain of precious metals. When people worried and felt it as curse rather than blessing, and requested her to retract her favor, she converted the silver to salt, now found in the Sambhar Lake, Rajasthan. The temple of Shakumbari Devi is near the famous Sambhar Lake, 90 kilometers west of Jaipur, Rajasthan. This temple is quite ancient and popular estimates put the age of this temple at 1300 years or more. A similar temple also exists on the site of the ruins of a more ancient temple in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh and was constructed by the Pundir Rajputs under Rana Bahadur Singh Pundir who was the representative of the Pundir chief Rana Pitambar Singh Pundir of Jasmour.^[2] Another saint named Namdev was born in Maharashtra, who belonged to the sub-clan of Rohilla Rajputs, later known as Namdev Vanshi Tank Kshatriya. Saint Namdev worshipped Lord Rama, known as Vitthal in Maharashtra. The vani/verses of saint Namdev are covered in 64 pages in Holy Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji. The aarti of Lord Sri Rama recited by saint Namdev, is part of the holy aarti recited in prayers in Sikh gurudwaras, and Namdev Temples. Namdev is mainly followed in Rohilla Tank and related clans.

Kingdom

Bareilly (burā'lē), city (1991 pop. 617,350), Uttar Pradesh state, North central India, on the Ramganga River. It is a district administrative headquarters, a transportation, and a sugar-refining and cotton-trading center. Founded in 1657, Bareilly was the capital (1707–20) of the Hindu Rohilla Kingdom. It was ceded to Great Britain in 1801.

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 seera is one of the famous local traditional dessert(pudding) which is prepared on such occasions.

Regions with significant populations

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

References