It is hard to believe now that the present day Pugal had been the capital of Bhatis for over a (1000) Thousand years. But that is a historical fact. The small area which Pugal today exhibits cannot visualize the share mamothness and grandeur of the Bhati Kingdom called Pugal for over thousand two hundred years. Pugal as we know was constructed in the middle of Ninth Century (857 AD). Pugal state at its zenith and glory was ruling over and area spread in 32000 sq mile spreading between Thar Desert and western part of Sindhu River.
The best reason why Pugal was not attacked many times by the army’s of other enemies is the impregnable and torturous physical conditions prevailed at that time which were in favour of Pugal. It was lying in the heart of Thar Desert. There was an immense shortage of drinking water, huge availability of sand dunes; absence of any useful flora and fauna, any other grazing material for Elephants, Horses and other cattle; no proper roads or mettle ways to travel ; These factors only made things too difficult for human beings ; For Armies consisting of horses and elephants etc to travel to Pugal from a distance and to even think of attacking Pugal by surrounding it for months together was an uphill task. No army could survive for long time in these conditions so as to wait and try to defeat Pugal fort for a long time; also eight other states like Bhatner, Maroth, Derawar, Kehror, Duniyapur, Mumanvahan, Beejnot, Bikampur and Barsalpur were also helping fully to Pugal by extending always a solid helping hand; enimies almost never dared to come anywhere near Pugal to attack it.
(Read More)
This throne has been in the possession of the Bhatis for last 2000 years. Bhatis as we know ruled Ghazni for many years and they only left when their King Gajsen after getting defeated from Jalaluddin left Ghazni. He brought this great throne with him (This is made of wood with Astha Chackra). Wherever Bhatis remained, this throne was used by them as the sign of their rule of Kingdom. This throne has travelled to Ghazni to Lahore to Bhatner to Muman Vahan to Maroth to Tannot to Derawar to Ludarva to Jaisalmer (in 1156 AD) and finally reached Pugal. Rawal Poonmal when he was removed from his seat in Jaisalmer, he brought this throne with him to Pugal. Later his son Rao Ranak Dev put this throne in the fort of Pugal and since then this throne has been with their ancestors.
Mr. Hermann Goetz in his book ‘Art and Architecture of Bikaner State’ wrote (Page No. 163)…… ‘The “Gazani Throne” of the Rajas of Pugal, said to have been brought from Afghanistan, and thus is the oldest piece of Indian furniture’.
(Read More)
Another characteristic of Pugal has been the original Trishul being made available by none other than Goddess Karni herself. She is supposed to have visited Pugal in 16th century. There is a temple of Goddess Karni inside Pugal fort. Trishul can be seen even to-day in the temple. Thousands of people visit this temple every year and have great faith in her.
(Read More)
The family goddess of Bhatis has been Maa Karni. She is supposed to have been born in 1387 AD. She was like a sister to Rao Shekha of Pugal. She was a great admirer of his great chivalry and bravery. At that time Pugal was facing a lot of problems from its enemies and Rao Shekha was not in a position to take care of Pugal’s security. At that time goddess Karni advised Rao Shekha to take help of Bikaner to establish himself, she advised him to marry off his daughter Ran Kanwar to Bikaner Prince called ‘Bika’. But at that time Pugal was comparatively in a better position and Bikaner was not as bigger as Pugal; so initially Rana Shekha refused. But finally he buckled and marriage took place at the behest of goddess Karni.
The goddess Karni had helped Rao Shekha in establishing his kingdom firmly and had travelled with him to Multan, Kehror, Muman Vahan, Mehrot, etc. When goddess Karni abdicated her physical life, Rao Shekha reached Pugal and he rested her body at the very gate of Pugal Fort and established her own Trishul there which is still in the temple which was constructed in recognition and memory of her. She has been worshipped since then. It is believed that the temple of goddess Karni was built in between 1468-69 AD in Pugal. This temple attracts lakhs of devoteas round the year.
More about Goddess Mother Karni
She was a Dynamic and Courageous lady and had tremendous farsightedness. She had godly powers in herself. She was of the opinion that the rulers of Bikaner and Pugal should live in peace and should not fight among themselves. She was basically a shepherd and used to provide invaluable advice by moving around. Today she has her worshipping place in 'Deshnok' in Bikaner.[ 30 Km. from Bikaner on the way to Jodhpur] She was of the opinion that the rulers of Jangalu, Pugal, Bikaner etc should work in tandem and should marry their daughters among each other. In her time there were three rulers from Pugal. These were Rao Barsal, Rao Shekha and Rao Hara; from Jodhpur Rao Jodha and from Bikaner Rao Bika and Loonkaran.
Rao Shekha was quite influenced by Goddess Karni. He used to worship her and used to consider her as his sister. She was a cosmopolitan Goddess, not only Bhatis, Rathods and Sankhlas used to worship her but even Muslims used to have faith in her. She only advised Rao Shekha to marry his daughter Ran Kanwar to Rao Bika of Bikaner. Once it is said that Rao Shekha was made a prisoner by Hussain Khan of Multan at that time, Goddess Karni is supposed to have gone Multan and by using her Godly powers she got Rao Shekha released. Her persuasive powers were so great that only once she talked to the religious head of Multan (Pir Baba); he considered her as his own sister and he is supposed to have directed Hussain Khan to release Rao Shekha. Not only that , he sent five of his followers for the safety of Goddess Karni and Rao Shekha till they reached Pugal. In Pugal these five followers were given a great welcome and a lot of respect. These five followers of Pir Baba of Multan stayed back in Pugal and never returned back to Multan. They even died in Pugal, and a Mosque was constructed in their respect. It is still situated in Pugal. It is at that time that she came along with Rao Shekha to Pugal and she rested just outside the main gate of the Pugal Fort. There she firmly established her trishul by saying that till the time the trishul was here the Bhatis were going to rule Pugal. This Trishul is still established in the same place even today where an important temple is also constructed. This temple has become a great devotion symbol. She was of the opinion that only by making marital relation with Bikaner, Pugal could strengthen its position.
She is supposed to have gone into Samadhi in 1538 A.D.
(Read More)
The Pugal is also famous due to extra ordinary beautiful lady called Padmani, who was married to Raja Ratan Singh of Chittorgarh in 14th century. Padmani was extremely beautiful. She was the daughter of Rawal Poonpal. Bhatis had ruled at and around Ghazni. Their kingdom used to consist of today’s Uzbekistan (Bokhara) Iran and towards Indian side Kashmir, Mathura and Punjab. They married their daughters into the families of Uzbeks, Afghans, Pathans, Kashmiris, Iranians, Punjabis, etc. Due to these factors Bhati girls had to be extremely beautiful as they were also having unique features due to the reasons mentioned above. Cold but nice climate played a vital role in moulding the personalities of girls of Bhatis as their ancestors were from comparatively cooler places.
The great poet Malik Mohammad Jaisi has written at length about the great beauty of Princess Padmini. There is still today a Padmini Mahal (Palace) in Chittor fort. Also there are Chatrees of Gora Badal even today at Chittor fort. This only confirms the marriage of Padmini with Rana Ratan Singh. Even the grat book ‘Ain-E-Akbari’ also mentions the historical truth of Padmini and Rana Ratan Singh. It may be noted here that thare have been more than one Padmini’s in Pugal Dyantesty. Even there was a Padmini earlierthan to the Padmini we are talking about here and also there had been girls with the names of Padmini in later years also. It so happened that with the great beauty of the Padmini about whome we are talking above; all the beautiful girls of later years used to be called as Padmini.
Though there are several stories about princess Padmani, most reliable is that she was married to Rana Ratan Singh of Mewar. At that time Jalauddin Khilji was ruling at the Indian territory and he was trying to attack Jaisalmer and Mewar with the help of his nephew Allauddin Khilji. Marriage between Rana Ratan Singh and Padmaini took place in 1300 AD. Allauddin Khilji got the knowledge about the beauty of Padmani and desired to take possession of her.
Some of the officers and men who were not happy with Rana Ratan Singh and whom Allauddin Khilji had promised to give away certain prizes informed Allauddin Khilji about the whereabouts of Princess Padmini inside the fort. They also let Khilji knew about the description of the great beauty of the Princess. They only helped Khilji to open the gate from inside.
There was a fight between the forces of Allauddin Khilji and Rana Ratan Singh. Rana Ratan Singh was killed in the battle and Padamini alongwith other Rajput ladies ended her life on 26th of August 1303 AD by doing Johar at Chittorgarh fort. Padmani is said to have been born in 1285 AD. The marriages among Bhatis and rulers of Mewar had been taken place earlier also from the time of Vijaya Rao Lancha [1122 AD].
It was her bad luck that though she had been born and brought up in Pugal in a dessert area 300 miles away but the destiny brought her in the Arawalli hills where she had to die to save her pride.
(Read More)
Marwan(Maru) was daughter of Panwar King pingal (Panwars used to rule Pugal before Bhatis). She used to be called Maru also. She was extremely beautiful since her childhood. There was a prince from Narwargarh called Salha kumar who used to be called Dhola from his childhood. There was a severe draught in Pugal and the King of Pugal had to migrate near Puskar with his supporters and cattle. It is here in Pushkar Dhola and Maru met each other. Here Prince Dhola proposed to marry Maru ; initially father of Maru did not agree, but later he agreed. At that time both Dhola and Maru were minors. With the start of rainy season King Pingal brought her daughter to Pugal and Dhola also went back to Narwargarh.
Prince Dhola due to his minor age forgot about this marriage and his parents married him again at the age of 16 with another princess belonging to Malwa. She was also very beautiful and used to be called Malwani (belonging to Malwa). Obviously the parents of Dhola did not mention about the first marriage to the parents of Malwani. At the same time Maru also entered in Adolescent age and she also turned out to be extremely beautiful. Her parents told her her about her marriage with Dhola which took place many years ago.
Relationship between Malwani and her mother-in-law Devyani was far from satisfactory. Out of anger one day she told Malwani that Dhola had already been married to Maru years ago. Malwani Princess ensured that Dhola should not know about his first marriage as he had already forgotten about it. Also she ensured that no body from Pugal should come to this side to even mention about his first marriage to Prince Dhola.
The Parents of Maru were really purturbed while seeing the pathetic condition of their daughter who was all the time thinking about her childhood husband i.e. Dhola. They persuaded some Dhabadhis (trustworthy aids) to go to Narwargarh : get into the fort by deceipt and let Dhola knew about his fist marriage with Maru without Malwani coming to know about it. Dhabadhis got succeeded to get into Narwargarh Fort and told Dhola about his marriage to Maru and also handed over him some heartfelt poems written by Maru for Dhola. Dhola was stunned to know these details and immediately set for his journey to Pugal. Malwani tried her best to stop Dhola by using all methods but of no avail. Dhola reached Pugal and met Maru. They were very happy after their reunion. Dhola was given a great reception at Pugal. Dhola stayed back for quite a considerable time in Pugal. After some time he started for Narwargarh with Maru. It is written at length in books that, they had to face a lot of difficulties on their way to Narwargarh. When the second wife malwani saw Maru’s exquisite beauty, she also had to accept the stark reality and she finally accepted Maru. Thereafter all three remained happily at Narwargarh.