Gahlot
Encyclopedia
Gujjar
Gujjar
The Gurjar are an ethnic group in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Alternative spellings include Gurjara, Gujar, Gurjjara and Gūrjara. The spelling Gurjara or Gurjar is preferable to the rest....

 & Rajput
Rajput
A Rajput is a member of one of the patrilineal clans of western, central, northern India and in some parts of Pakistan. Rajputs are descendants of one of the major ruling warrior classes in the Indian subcontinent, particularly North India...

 Clan
Gahlot
Claim Descent from Suryavansha
Suryavansha
The Sooryavamsham or Suryavansh or Suryavamsa or Sun Dynasty or Solar Dynasty was one of the most prominent dynasties in the mythical history of India, along with the "Chandra-vaṃśa" or Lunar Dynasty.-Introduction:...

Descended from: Koshal
Koshal
Koshal/ Kaushals are descendants of Raja Hawaha and Kachwaha because of their equestrian prowess they came to be known as ghorewaha Rajputs.Being a martial race they had a flair of riding and breeding warrior horses...

Ruled in Mathura, Kosi
Kosi
Kosi, also known as Kosi Kalan, is a small town in the Mathura district of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. Located on the Agra-Delhi highway, it is at a distance of about 100 km from Delhi and about the same from the city of Agra. Kosi is an economic and industrial hub of Uttar Pradesh with...

, Mainpuri
Mainpuri
Mainpuri is a city and a municipal board in Mainpuri district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is the administrative headquarters of the Mainpuri district and is situated to the north-east of Agra.-Geography:...

, Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...

, Agra
Agra
Agra a.k.a. Akbarabad is a city on the banks of the river Yamuna in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India, west of state capital, Lucknow and south from national capital New Delhi. With a population of 1,686,976 , it is one of the most populous cities in Uttar Pradesh and the 19th most...

, Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...

, Hariyana, Rajasthan
Rajasthan
Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...

, Gujarat
Princely states: Ayodhya, Awadh
Awadh
Awadh , also known in various British historical texts as Oudh or Oude derived from Ayodhya, is a region in the centre of the modern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, which was before independence known as the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh...

, Koshal
Koshal
Koshal/ Kaushals are descendants of Raja Hawaha and Kachwaha because of their equestrian prowess they came to be known as ghorewaha Rajputs.Being a martial race they had a flair of riding and breeding warrior horses...

, Rajputana
Rajputana
Rājputāna was the pre-1949 name of the present-day Indian state of Rājasthān, the largest state of the Republic of India in terms of area. George Thomas was the first in 1800 A.D., to term this region as Rajputana...

Population Location: India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...

 and Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

Languages: Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...

, Haryanvi, Rajasthani
Rajasthani language
Rajasthani Rajasthani Rajasthani (Devanagari: , Perso-Arabic: is a language of the Indo-Aryan languages family. It is spoken by 50 million people in Rajasthan and other states of India and in some areas of Pakistan. The number of speakers may be up to 80 million worldwide...

, Braj Bhasa, Awadhi


Gahlot is a Rajput
Rajput
A Rajput is a member of one of the patrilineal clans of western, central, northern India and in some parts of Pakistan. Rajputs are descendants of one of the major ruling warrior classes in the Indian subcontinent, particularly North India...

 clan in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, which traces its ancestry to the Suryavanshi Kshatriya
Kshatriya
*For the Bollywood film of the same name see Kshatriya Kshatriya or Kashtriya, meaning warrior, is one of the four varnas in Hinduism...

s. The variations of the name include Gehlot, Guhila, Gohil
Gohil
Gohils are Suryavanshi Rajputs who have descended from the Guhilots of Mewar. As per the Sikarwar Khyat, Prince Shiladitya was born on Jesth Sudhi Chaturdashi of V.S 543 . He was the son of Emperor Aditya Sen and Queen Subhaga Devi. Though born at Chitor he was educated at Vallabhi...

or Guhilote. As a clan name, Gahlot and its variations are found among a number of communities which includes the Rajput
Rajput
A Rajput is a member of one of the patrilineal clans of western, central, northern India and in some parts of Pakistan. Rajputs are descendants of one of the major ruling warrior classes in the Indian subcontinent, particularly North India...

s,& Gurjars

The royal Gahlots formerly ruled a number of kingdoms and princely state
Princely state
A Princely State was a nominally sovereign entitity of British rule in India that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule such as suzerainty or paramountcy.-British relationship with the Princely States:India under the British Raj ...

s. The Gahlot population and the former Rajput states are found spread through much the subcontinent, particularly in North India
North India
North India, known natively as Uttar Bhārat or Shumālī Hindustān , is a loosely defined region in the northern part of India. The exact meaning of the term varies by usage...

 and central India. Their kuldevta
Kuldevta
Kuladevata or Kuladevi, also known as Kuladev and Kŭladaiwat, stands for "family deity, that is either a god or a goddess" within Hinduism, as distinct from personal ishta-devata and village deities...

(family deity) is Lord Rama
Rama
Rama or full name Ramachandra is considered to be the seventh avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism, and a king of Ayodhya in ancient Indian...

 and their kuldevi (goddess) is Sita
SITA
SITA is a multinational information technology company specialising in providing IT and telecommunication services to the air transport industry...

.

Origin of Gahlot

Historian such as sir J. campbell was of the opinion that Guhilas along with Sisodia
Sisodia
The Sisodia are Chattari Rajputs of the Suryavanshi lineage who ruled the kingdom of Mewar in Rajasthan. Prior to Rana Hamir the clan was known as Gehlot or Guhilot. In 1303 CE Alla-ud-din Khilji attacked Chittor...

s were originally Gurjars.Gahlots claim descendant from King Luv, the younger son of Lord Rama
Rama
Rama or full name Ramachandra is considered to be the seventh avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism, and a king of Ayodhya in ancient Indian...

of Suryavansha
Suryavansha
The Sooryavamsham or Suryavansh or Suryavamsa or Sun Dynasty or Solar Dynasty was one of the most prominent dynasties in the mythical history of India, along with the "Chandra-vaṃśa" or Lunar Dynasty.-Introduction:...

.Some Brahmin scholars such as Dasrath sharma assign them Brahmin
Brahmin
Brahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...

 origin.

It is mentioned that Balvanshi Bhattarak King saved the Gupta kings by re-strengthening their power. Bhattarak ruled from 512 to 525 Vikram Samvat. According to "Corpus Inscription Antiquary" Page 169, based on a rock inscription inscribed in 569 Vikram. Bhattark Gupta Balvanshi had four sons-Dharsen, Dronasen, Dhruwasen and Dharpatsen. Each one of them succeeded to the throne one after another, and they were given titles of Maha Samant, Mahapratihar, Mahakartak and Maharaj.

Gohasen son of Dharpatsen was a follower of Vaishnavism
Vaishnavism
Vaishnavism is a tradition of Hinduism, distinguished from other schools by its worship of Vishnu, or his associated Avatars such as Rama and Krishna, as the original and supreme God....

, but he had faith in Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...

 too. His descendants are called Gahlawat. Several legends are very well known about Doha
Doha
Doha is the capital city of the state of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf, it had a population of 998,651 in 2008, and is also one of the municipalities of Qatar...

 and Bappa Rawal
Bappa Rawal
Bappa Rawal , eighth ruler of the Guhilot Rajput Dynasty and founder of the Mewar Dynasty in present-day Rajasthan, India...

. The dynasty is supposed to have migrated from Balabhipur.

In India Gahlot are found in states like Rajasthan,Uttar pradesh,Haryana and New Delhi. one of the famous village of Gahlot is Mitrau and Nawada near by dwarka which is close to Delhi and other village is Humayun Pur in south delhi where Gahlot lives.

First Jauhar of Chittor

Jauhar of 1303: Ala-ud-din Khilji, Sultan of Delhi, sent a marauding army across India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 at the turn of the 13th century; this army, commanded by Malik Kafur
Malik Kafur
Malik Kafur, General , or Chand Ram as his name was originally, was a slave who became a head general in the army of Alauddin Khilji, ruler of the Delhi sultanate from 1296 to 1316 AD. He was originally seized by Alauddin's army after the army conquered the city of Khambhat...

, soundly defeated the Guhilot rulers of Mewar in 1303. The impending fall of Chittorgarh
Chittorgarh
Chittorgarh is a city and a municipality in Rajasthan state of western India. It lies on the Berach River, a tributary of the Banas, and is the administrative headquarters of Chittorgharh District and a former capital of the Sisodia clans of Rajputs of Mewar...

, the main bastion of the Guhilots, occasioned the famous Jauhar of 1303 AD., when the womenfolk, led by Rani Padmini
Rani Padmini
Rani Padmini was the queen of Chittor and the wife of King Rawal Ratan Singh. She features in Padmavat, an epic poem written by Malik Muhammad Jayasi in 1540.- Jauhar :...

, collectively committed suicide rather than risk personal dishonor at the hands of the victorious invading army. The brave men wore saffron turbans as a mark of performing saka, of running into battle with no hope of coming back. The injured and surviving Guhilot menfolk and their retainers are said to have subsequently taken refuge in the nearby hills.

The Gehlots settled in Ahar, where they were known as Aharya. They maintained this title until they relocated to Sisoda. Sisoda was used as a name when a prince of Chittor built the town right where he had killed a hare (Susso). Since then the clan has retained the title of Sisodia. However, another version says that the dynasty was so named from the word Sisa or lead. It is said that a prince of the dynasty was accidentally made to eat a medication with pigeon blood when he had given up meat-eating. The Sisodias are staunch followers of the Hindu faith where being a Satvik is very serious business. When the prince realized his folly he chose to atone for his blunder by swallowing molten lead (sisa).

Guhils of Khergarh

A second branch of Gohils who also were the descendants of Bappa Rawal ruled Khergarh in Marwar. They were displaced by the combined forces of the Rathores and Sodhas and were forced to migrate to present day Gujarat under the leadership of Sejakji. After building various alliances with the local Solanki and Raijada rulers and displacing some of the local Kathi and Mer rulers.

Sejakji established a kingdom in eastern Kathiawar. Sejakji's descendants managed to hold a precarious hold over their newly acquired territory under constant pressure from the local Kathis and the Muslim Sultanate of Gujrat initially. During later years they had to also face hostilities from the Nawab of Junagadh and the Marathas which resulted in many armed conflicts. Many of these descendants of Sejakji perished in the almost constant state of warfare that existed in the turbulent and violent Eastern Kathiawar of those days.They had to frequently shift capitals starting from Sejakpur to Ranpur, Ghogha, Shihor and finally Bhavnagar due to land constantly changing hands during hostilities. However in spite of the tremendous odds stacked against them they kept expanding by conquering Kathi territories and gained wealth and prominence by raiding the territories of the Sultanate of Gujrat. They frequently plundered the ships of the Delhi Sultans that plied the Gulf of Khambat.

Sejakji's grandson Mokhdaji became famous as a plunderer of Mohammad Tugluq's fleet. The Gohils eventually founded the State of Bhavnagar also known as Gohilwar. One of Mokhdaji's sons inherited Rajpipla
Rajpipla
Rajpipla is a city and a municipality in the Narmada district in the Indian state of Gujarat.It was the capital of the former Kingdom of Rajpipla.-Geography:Rajpipla is located at . It has an average elevation of 148 metres ....

 from his maternal Grandfather who ruled the area and had no other heir and so the Gohils also gained Rajpipla in Eastern Gujrat. The Gohil Rulers of Bhavnagar and their immediate brethren (up to six generation distant) are titled Raol. H.H. Maharaja Raol Shree KrishnakumarSinghji Gohil of Bhavnagar was the first Indian Ruler to voluntarily accede to the Indian Union in 1947. In addition to Bhavnagar two of Sejakji's younger sons each founded the smaller states of Palitana and Lathi
Lathi, Gujarat
Lathi is a city and a municipality in Amreli district in the Indian state of Gujarat.-Geography:Lathi is located at . It has an average elevation of 141 metres .-Demographics:...

 in Kathiawar. Other branch of Gohils from Khergarh (Marwar) settled at Naroli in the present day Banaskantha District and made Naroli their capital. They were eventually displaced by the Chauhans.

Gehlot rulers of Mewar

Guhil was the first person of this clan, after whom the clan was named Guhilot or Gehlot. Son of Guhil was Bhoj and his son was Mahendra. Son of Mahendra was Nagaditya and his son was Shiladitya (646AD). Son of Shiladitya was Aparajit (661AD). Son of Aparajit was Mahendra II and his son was Kalbhoj. Kalbhoj is also known by his title Bappa Rawal
Bappa Rawal
Bappa Rawal , eighth ruler of the Guhilot Rajput Dynasty and founder of the Mewar Dynasty in present-day Rajasthan, India...

. He established rule over Chittor in 734 AD.
Rulers from Medipata (Idar)
  • Guhaditya s/o Shiladitya
  • Bhoja
  • Mahendra I

Rulers from Nagda
  • Nagaditya
  • Siladitya (646 AD)
  • Aparajita
  • Mahendra II

Rulers from Chittor
  • Bappa Rawal
    Bappa Rawal
    Bappa Rawal , eighth ruler of the Guhilot Rajput Dynasty and founder of the Mewar Dynasty in present-day Rajasthan, India...

     or Kalbhoj.(734- 53 AD)
  • Khuman
  • Matatt
  • Bhartribhatt I
  • Singha
  • Khuman II
  • Mahoyak
  • Khuman III
  • Bhartribhatt II (942 AD)---- married Rashtrakuta Mahalakshmi
  • Allat (951 AD) ---- married Huna Hariyadevi
  • Narwahana (971 AD) ---- married Sakambhari Chauhan Jejaya's daughter
  • Shalivahana (ancestor of Junagadh branch of Ghuilot)
  • Shakti Kumar (977 AD) - fought Pratihars lost Chittor
  • Amba Prasad s/o Shakti Kumar
  • Shuchi Varma s/o Shakti Kumar
  • Narvarma s/o Shakti Kumar
  • Kirtivarma s/o Shakti Kumar
  • Yograj s/o Kirtivarma
  • Vairath
  • Hanspal
  • Bair Singh (1108 AD)
  • Hanspal II
  • Amar Singh s/o Bair Singh
  • Kod Singh s/o Bair Singh
  • Vikram Singh s/o Bair Singh
  • Karan Singh or Ran Singh s/o Vikram Singh
    • Mahup
    • Rahup
  • Kshem Singh
  • Samant Singh
  • Kumar Singh
  • Manthan Singh
  • Padma Singh
  • Jaitra Singh (1213–1253)
  • Tej Singh (1253–1273)
  • Samar Singh (1273–1302)
  • Rawal Ratan Singh
    Rawal Ratan Singh
    Rawal Ratan Singh was the 42nd ruler of Mewar, a state that then covered part of the present-day Indian state of Rajasthan. He ruled from 1302-03 AD. Singh was a rajput belonging to the Guhilot clan.-Wars:...

    (1302–1303)
  • INTERREGUM - Sanchori Rulers at Chittor under Alauddin Khilji (1303–1326)
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