Veer Teja Ji or Tejaji is a

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern ...

i folk deity. He is considered one of the major eleven incarnations of

Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one o ...

and worshipped as a deity in whole (Rural & Urban) Rajasthan. Veer Teja was born around 1074 in Khadnal, Rajasthan, India. His parents, Ramkunwari and Tahar, were

Jats The Jat people ((), ()) are a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in late medieval times, and su ...

. Legend has it that Teja died in 1103. The story says that he died because of snake bite, he allowed a snake to bite his tongue, that being the only unwounded area of his body. In return, the snake promised that no person or animal would die from a snakebite if they sought the blessings of Teja. People in Rajasthan particularly call upon this promise on Shukla tenth of the month of Bhadrapada, a day that is set aside for marking his death. Anthropologists say the Tejaji following sect is protagonist that includes an element of protest against the caste system. Tejaji Temple Kharnal.JPG, Teja temple at Kharnal in

Nagaur Nagaur is a city and municipal council in Nagaur district of the state of Rajasthan in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Nagaur District. The Nagaur city lies about midway between Jodhpur and Bikaner. Nagaur is famous for spices ...

Tejaji's marriage.JPG, Painting depicting Tejaji's marriage at

Pushkar Pushkar is a city and headquarters of Pushkar tehsil in the Ajmer district in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is situated about northwest of Ajmer and about southwest of Jaipur.Sursura

Ajmer Ajmer is one of the major and oldest cities in the Indian state of Rajasthan and the centre of the eponymous Ajmer District. It is located at the centre of Rajasthan. It is also known as heart of Rajasthan. The city was established as "' ...

Teja Dham, where Tejaji died Tejaji Temple at palot

Commemoration

In September 2011,

India Post India Post is a government-operated postal system in India, part of the Department of Post under the Ministry of Communications. Generally known as the Post Office, it is the most widely distributed postal system in the world. Warren Hastings ...

released a commemorative stamp depicting Tejaji.Rajasthan Voice: Thursday, September 8, 2011, Special postage stamp released on Folk deity Veer Teja
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Rajasthani language Rajasthani (Devanagari: ) refers to a group of Indo-Aryan languages and dialects spoken primarily in the state of Rajasthan and adjacent areas of Haryana, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh in India. There are also speakers in the Pakistani provinces ...

movie titled ''Veer Tejaji'', based on the life of Tejaji was made in the 1980s.

See also

Commemoration

References

Further reading