Bhadrajun is a village in the

Jalore district Jalore District is a district of Rajasthan state in western India. The city of Jalore is the administrative headquarters of the district. The district has an area of (3.11 percent of Rajasthan's area), and a population of 1,828,730 (2011 censu ...

of the western part of

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 s ...

, India, dating back to ancient times of the ''

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the '' Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the K ...

'' epic. It gets its name from

Subhadra Subhadra ( sa, सुभद्रा, Subhadrā) is a Hindu goddess mentioned in ancient Hindu scriptures like the ''Mahabharata'' and the ''Bhagavata Purana''. She is described as the favourite child of Vasudeva and the younger sister of de ...

and her husband

Arjuna Arjuna (Sanskrit: अर्जुन, ), also known as Partha and Dhananjaya, is a character in several ancient Hindu texts, and specifically one of the major characters of the Indian epic Mahabharata. In the epic, he is the third among Pand ...

from

Dvapara Yuga ''Dvapara Yuga'' ( Dwapara Yuga), in Hinduism, is the third and third best of the four '' yugas'' (world ages) in a '' Yuga Cycle'', preceded by '' Treta Yuga'' and followed by '' Kali Yuga''. ''Dvapara Yuga'' lasts for 864,000 years (2,400 divi ...

. However, in recent centuries, it was the scene of warfare between the rulers of the Marwar dynasty and of the

Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the ...

. In the 16th century, a fort known as the Bhadrajun Fort was built at Bhadrajun by the

Rathore The Rathore is a Rajput clan found in Northern India. Subclans Jodhana, Vadhel, Jaitawat, Kumpawat, Champawat, Meratiya, Udawat, Karamsot etc. are the branches or subclans of Rathore Rajputs. Coverage This article discusses the "Kanauj ...

kings of

Marwar Marwar (also called Jodhpur region) is a region of western Rajasthan state in North Western India. It lies partly in the Thar Desert. The word 'maru' is Sanskrit for desert. In Rajasthani languages, "wad" means a particular area. English tran ...

. Today the fort is owned by Raja Shri Karanveer Singhji, the sixteenth descendant of Marwar Maharajas, who ruled from Jodhpur. It is now run as a heritage hotel. The fort has a significant collection of goods from its long past.

Geography

Bhadarjun is located in Jalore district within the

Luni River The Luni is the largest river in the Thar Desert of northwest India. It originates in the Pushkar valley of the Aravalli Range, near Ajmer, passes through the southeastern portion of the Thar Desert, and ends in the marshy lands of Rann of Kut ...

basin. It is situated in a

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

and

semi-tropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical and climate zones to the north and south of the tropics. Geographically part of the temperate zones of both hemispheres, they cover the middle latitudes from to approximately 35° north and ...

climatic zone. The average annual and daily temperatures are high, with annual rainfall of . January is the coldest month, with temperatures recorded between . Summer is very hot, recording an average daily temperature in the range of . The highest temperature recorded was on a few days. According to the 2001 census, the population of Bhadrajun was 4,499, with 2,358 males and 2,141 females.

History

Legend

The word ''Bhadrajun'' is directly linked to the ''

'' epic. Bhadrajun is made up of two words, the name of '

', sister of

Lord Krishna Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is one ...

, plus '

', the third among the five

Pandava The Pandavas ( Sanskrit: पाण्डव, IAST: Pāṇḍava) refers to the five legendary brothers— Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva—who are the central characters of the Hindu epic '' Mahabharata''. They are acknowle ...

brothers of Mahabharata. Initially, it was called "Subhdr-arjun" but over the years it was changed to the colloquial usage of the single word "Bhadrajun". The legend linked to this name is a story of romance. According to the ''Mahabharata'' legend, when

was in the last stage of his exile, he came to Dwarka. While roaming with

during a festival, he beheld Shubhada, the heavenly daughter of

Vasudeva According to Hindu scriptures, Vasudeva (Sanskrit: वसुदेव, IAST: ''Vasudeva''), also called Anakadundubhi, (''anakas'' and ''dundubhis'' both refer to ''drums'', after the musicians who played these instruments at the time of his ...

and fell for her instantly. On seeing his friend’s condition

Krishna Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is on ...

advised Partha to escape with his dear sister. The reason for Krishna's advice was, if a Swayamvara was held nobody could predict whom the Yadava princess would’ve chosen. Also, none of the Yadavas would agree to this marriage if Krishna proposed it in front of them, as Arjuna was already married thrice and they wouldn't want their beloved princess to be someone’s fourth wife. However, Arjuna, who was disguised as a saint, was desperate to have the daughter of

(maternal uncle of Arjuna),

as his wife. Before eloping with Chitra (Subhadra), Partha took permission from both

Yudhishthira ''Yudhishthira'' (Sanskrit: युधिष्ठिर, IAST: ''Yudhiṣṭhira'') is the eldest among the five Pandava brothers. He is mentioned in the ancient epic Mahabharata. He was sired by King Pandu of the Kuru Dynasty and his first ...

and

, who wished nothing but the best for his little sister. Arjuna, in disguise of a saint, fled from Dwarka with Subhadra in a chariot, in full view of Krishna and Vasudeva and the family members. After an arduous journey of three days and two nights, through mostly uninhabited forest area, they reached the valley near Bhadrajun where they decided to get married, before proceeding to

Indraprastha Indraprastha (lit. "Plain of Indra" or "City of Indra") is mentioned in ancient Indian literature as a city of the Kuru Kingdom. It was the capital of the kingdom led by the Pandavas mentioned in ''Mahabharata'' . Under the Pali form of its nam ...

, their capital. The marriage was conducted by a local

Brahmin Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests ( purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers ( ...

priest. Indra with

Sachi Indrani (Sanskrit: इन्द्राणी, IAST: ''Indrāṇī, lit.'' Indra's queen), also known as Shachi (Sanskrit: शची, IAST: ''Śacī''), is the queen of the devas in Hinduism. Described as tantalisingly beautiful, proud and ...

came down to perform the wedding rituals. The Brahmin priest was given an

earring An earring is a piece of jewelry attached to the ear via a Body piercing, piercing in the earlobe or another external part of the ear (except in the case of clip earrings, which clip onto the lobe). Earrings have been worn by people in different c ...

(''vali'' in local language) by Subhadra and a

conch-shell Conch () is a common name of a number of different medium-to-large-sized sea snails. Conch shells typically have a high spire and a noticeable siphonal canal (in other words, the shell comes to a noticeable point at both ends). In North Am ...

by Arjuna as fee for performing their marriage. The village of the Brahmin was named thereafter as

Sankhwali Sankhwali is a village in the Ahore tehsil of Jalore district of Indian state Rajasthan. Mithari river, the tributary river of Luni vanishes near this village after entering the Jalore district from Pali district. History It is an ancient vill ...

(in the word "sankavali", ‘sankh’ means ‘conch-shell’ and ‘vali’ means "ear ring"). It is also said that Balarama, though furious initially with Arjuna did not chase him to stop the marriage. He was persuaded by Krishna and Vasudeva to forgive Arjuna and Subhadra, given that they were in love with each other. Convinced of this fact, Balarama later sent gifts to his sister - gifts of jewellery, elephants, chariots, horses, servants and maidservants. Following this blessed marriage, Bhadrajun grew in population. A small temple in the name of Subhadra, popularly known as the "Dhumbda Mata", exists even now in a nearby mountain.

Early history

While the mythological history of Bhadrajun is traced to Arjuna and Subhadra who lived in the

, one of the four Hindu

era An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Com ...

s of ''Mahabharata''; the history of Bhadrajun and the Marwar rulers of Jodhpur can only be traced from the 16th century. Several historic wars took place in Bhadrajun, initially against the

Suri dynasty The Sur Empire ( ps, د سرو امپراتورۍ, dë sru amparāturəi; fa, امپراطوری سور, emperâturi sur) was an Afghan dynasty which ruled a large territory in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent for nearly 16 yea ...

and later against the

Mughal dynasty The Mughal dynasty ( fa, ; ''Dudmân-e Mughal'') comprised the members of the imperial House of Babur ( fa, ; ''Khāndān-e-Āl-e-Bābur''), also known as the Gurkanis ( fa, ; ''Gūrkāniyān''), who ruled the Mughal Empire from to 1857. Th ...

rulers. The earliest ruler who occupied Bhadrajun was Thakur Rattan Singh, fifth son of Rao Maldeo, the

Maharaja of Jodhpur Kingdom of Marwar, also known as the Jodhpur State under the British, was a kingdom in the Marwar region from 1226 to 1818 and a princely state under British rule from 1818 to 1947. It was established in Pali by Rao Siha, possibly a m ...

in 1549. It was a feudal land under the Jodhpur kingdom, which had ten land lords who were called ''Rajas'' or ''Thikanas'', out of a total of 1,891 land lords. These ten Rajas were known as ''Sirayats'' in the State of "Jodhpur Marwar". They held high positions in the court of Jodhpur. The Bhadrajun feudatory was also one of the ten feudatories which received special privileges in the court. In the seating arrangement in the Jodhpur court, the Raja of Bhadrajun was always seated to the right of the king, since he belonged to the king's lineage. Sixteen generations of Marwars ruled from Bhadrajun.

Lineage and wars

The first to rule from Bhadrajun was Raja Ratan Singh, son of

Rao Maldeo __NOTOC__ Rao may refer to: Geography * Rao, West Sumatra, one of the districts of West Sumatra, Indonesia * Råö, a locality in Kungsbacka Municipality, Halland County, Sweden Transport * Dr. Leite Lopes–Ribeirão Preto State Airport , IA ...

(also known as Chandra Sen). Maldeo of Jodhpur (also known as Maldeo Rathore), father of Ratan Singh, soon after becoming King of

, launched war campaigns and successfully defeated the Sindhals and annexed Bhadrajun. In 1543, Ratan Singh fought at Giri-Sumel against the invading army of

Sher Shah Suri Sher Shah Suri ( ps, شیرشاه سوری) (1472, or 1486 – 22 May 1545), born Farīd Khān ( ps, فرید خان) , was the founder of the Sur Empire in India, with its capital in Sasaram in modern-day Bihar. He standardized the silver coin ...

(the first ruler of Suri Dynasty), the then Emperor of India. He also fought a second battle at Merata, when he suffered injuries and was subsequently defeated by Viram Deo. In 1563–64, the Rathores lost their capital city of Jhodpur to

Pathan Malik Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically ...

, a commander of the

Mughal Emperor The Mughal emperors ( fa, , Pādishāhān) were the supreme heads of state of the Mughal Empire on the Indian subcontinent, mainly corresponding to the modern countries of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The Mughal rulers styled ...

Akbar Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar (25 October 1542 – 27 October 1605), popularly known as Akbar the Great ( fa, ), and also as Akbar I (), was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, H ...

, but they retained their territory around Bhadrajun.Ratnawat p.177 During this war, they could not sustain their army's needs as adequate provisions were not available inside the fort. Also, there was no help forthcoming from outside powers.

Maldev Rathore Rao Maldeo Rathore (5 December 1511 – 7 November 1562) was a king of the Marwar from the Rathore dynasty, who ruled the kingdom of Marwar in present day state of Rajasthan. Maldeo ascended the throne in 1531 CE, inheriting a small ancestral p ...

abandoned the fort and reached Bhadarajun and remained there for seven years. In 1651, Mukan Dasji of Bhadrajun fought against Raja Sawai Sur Singhji of Jodhpur in the battle against the Mughals at Mandavgarh. His bravery was duly rewarded with recognition of Bhadarajun as his ''

jagir A jagir ( fa, , translit=Jāgir), also spelled as jageer, was a type of feudal land grant in the Indian subcontinent at the foundation of its Jagirdar (Zamindar) system. It developed during the Islamic rule era of the Indian subcontinent, start ...

'' (estate) with a due '' patta'' (document). When Emperor

Aurangzeb Muhi al-Din Muhammad (; – 3 March 1707), commonly known as ( fa, , lit=Ornament of the Throne) and by his regnal title Alamgir ( fa, , translit=ʿĀlamgīr, lit=Conqueror of the World), was the sixth emperor of the Mughal Empire, ruling ...

's army attacked Jodhpur, Udai Bhanji of Bhadrajun fought for Maharaja Jaswant Singh and saved the Maharaja's life. As a reward, he married the niece of the Maharaja. Subsequently, he went to

Peshawar Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...

to fight war against the

Pathan Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...

’s. But in 1785, in the battle against the Mughal Emperor of India, he was killed. His wife, Jas Kanwar of Dodiali, committed

Sati Sati or SATI may refer to: Entertainment * ''Sati'' (film), a 1989 Bengali film by Aparna Sen and starring Shabana Azmi * ''Sati'' (novel), a 1990 novel by Christopher Pike *Sati (singer) (born 1976), Lithuanian singer *Sati, a character in ''Th ...

('sati' was an act of self-immolation undertaken by the wife on the pyre of her husband, a practice prevalent then in many parts of India). Subsequent rulers of Bhadrajun were also involved in several battles with the kingdom of Jodhpur and with other feudatories in the region. Finally, Bhadrajun merged with the Union of India, after India became independent in August 1947. The last scion of the dynasty, Raja Gopal Singh, now owns the estate and manages it as a heritage hotel.

Monuments

There are a number of historic monuments in and around the village Bhadrajun. The best known is the Bhadrajun fort due to its history and status as a heritage hotel.

Bhadrajun fort

The fort is constructed on top of the hill and although small, it was built as a strong hill fort. It is also strategically located in the village of Bhadrajun, which is also securely protected since it is enclosed in a horse shoe shape valley with one entry from the east. The fort walls are high, built at strategical locations around the village with a uniform width of . Bastions, known as

burjis The Burji or Circassian Mamluk ( ar, المماليك الشركس) dynasty of Circassian origin, ruled Egypt from 1382 until 1517, during the Mamluk Sultanate. The Circassian community in Cairo especially flourished during this time. Political ...

, were built to erect canons and to eject arrows against invaders. The average elevation of the place is above m.s.l. The fort is built on rugged hills with forest vegetation consisting of trees,

cacti A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Gree ...

bushes A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

and rocks. The forest around the fort is inhabited by wildlife such as

jackal Jackals are medium-sized canids native to Africa and Eurasia. While the word "jackal" has historically been used for many canines of the subtribe canina, in modern use it most commonly refers to three species: the closely related black-backe ...

wild cat Felidae () is the family of mammals in the order Carnivora colloquially referred to as cats, and constitutes a clade. A member of this family is also called a felid (). The term "cat" refers both to felids in general and specifically to the d ...

blue bull The nilgai (''Boselaphus tragocamelus'') (, literally meaning "blue cow") is the largest Asian antelope and is ubiquitous across the northern Indian subcontinent. It is the sole member of the genus ''Boselaphus'' and was described by Peter Sim ...

hedgehog A hedgehog is a spiny mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in the eulipotyphlan family Erinaceidae. There are seventeen species of hedgehog in five genera found throughout parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in New Zealand by introduct ...

s and

fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...

es. The fort has been converted into a luxury hotel, with 14 furnished rooms, all with a bathroom ensuite.

Visitor information

Bhadrajun is from Jodhpur. Jodhpur is well connected by road, rail and air links with rest of the country. By road, Bhadrajun is away from

Jalore Jalore () (ISO 15919 : ''Jālora'' ), also known as ''Granite City'', is a city in the western Indian state of Rajasthan. It is the administrative headquarters of Jalore District. It has a river known as Jawai Nadi. Jalore lies to south of Su ...

, the district headquarters, on the Jalore-Jodhpur state highway, from

Udaipur Udaipur () (ISO 15919: ''Udayapura''), historically named as Udayapura, is a city and Municipal corporation (India), municipal corporation in Udaipur district of the state of Rajasthan, India. It is the administrative headquarter of Udaipur dis ...

, from

Jaipur Jaipur (; Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had a population of 3.1 million, making it the tenth most populous city in the country. Jaipur is also known as ...

and from

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders wi ...

Pali Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist '' Pāli Canon'' or '' Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of '' Theravāda'' Bud ...

is the nearest railway station on the

broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS ...

line. The nearest airport is at Jodhpur, away.

References

External links

{{Jalore district Villages in Jalore district Tourist attractions in Jalore district