Sambhar
From Jatland Wiki
Sambhar (officially known as Sambhar Lake Town) is a city and a municipality in Jaipur district in Rajasthan. It is headquarter of Phulera tahsil.
Contents |
Geography
Sambhar ( officially known as Sambhar Lake Town) is located at coord|26.92|N|75.2|E|[1]. It has an average elevation of 367 metres (1204 foot . Its importance is primarily because of it is situated along the Sambhar Lake, the largest saline lake in India.
Demographics
As of 2001 India census, Sambhar had a population of 22,293. Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%. Sambhar has an average literacy rate of 64%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 74%, and female literacy is 53%. In Sambhar, 15% of the population is under 6 years of age.
History
Epic Mahabharata mentions this place as part of kingdom of the demon king Brishparva, as the place where his priest Sukracharya lived, and as the place where the marriage between his daughter Devayani and king Yayati took place. A temple dedicated to Devayani can be seen near the lake.
According to a Hindu tradition, Shakambhari Devi, the tutelary goddess of Chauhans, converted the forest to a plain of precious metals. People worried about potential feuds for wealth and felt it to be a curse rather than a blessing. They requested her to retract her favor, so she converted the silver to salt. This place still has a temple dedicated to Shakambhari Devi. According to a legend, the lake was gifted to the people of the area some 2,500 years ago by the Goddess Shakambhari. A small glimmering white temple in her honour stands under a rocky outcrop jutting into the lake. [2]
Dalip Singh Ahlawat writes that Yayati was the ruler of Jambudwipa (Asia). The traces of Yayati rule are present historically. There is a place called Jajpur about 10 km from Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, where one finds ruins of ancient fort known as "Yayati ke Kot" means the forts of Yayati. Similarly there is a well near Sambhar lake in Rajasthan known by the name of Devyani ka Kuan in which Devyani was pushed into the well due to enmity and Yayati had rescued her from that dry well.[3]
Thakur Deshraj has given an analysis of Jat population in Rajasthan as on 1931. After that census was not by castes. As per 1931 census the population of Jats in Rajasthan in Jaipur state was highest i.e. 313609[4] In Jaipur state also the highest Jat density areas, according to Thakur Deshraj in the earstwhile Jaipur state were – Malpura, Sambhar, Shekhawati, Torawati, Khetri and Sikar. [5]
Sevaral jat clans are associated with Sambhar as rulers. Some of them are:
Balhara
Sir Henry Eliot has mentioned that after defeat of Jat Raja Sahasi Rai II, Raja Matta of Shivistan attacked Alore (the capital of Chach) with brother of Raja of Kannauj and his army. The Jat Raja Ranmal was the ruler of Kannauj at that time. He was famous as Rana. After that the other Jat rulers were eliminated except the Balharas. The Balharas were strong rulers from Khambhat to Sambhar. There are seven tanks of Balharas, Banka tank in the name of Banka Balhara and Lalani tank in name of Lalaji. [6]
Bhukar
Bhukar is a Sanskrit word comprising of 'Bhu' (land) and 'Kar' (tax), which means land-tax. Bhukars were initially settled at Sambhar in Rajasthan. They were the rulers in this area and their ruling method was that of 'Bhomia-chor'. Later on they started collecting tax on land.
A group of Chahuman descendents came to Sambhar in 9th century. The newly formed Chauhans forced them to move away from this area. Earlier Bhukars and Chauhans were same prior to their consecration of new Hindu religion at Mount Abu. Bhukar people came to Sambhar under the leadership of two brothers Khem Singh and Som Singh. Khem Singh founded the town named 'Hiras' and started increasing his influence in the area. Som Singh went to Jangladesh and founded town named 'Bhukaredi'. After many generations some of these people moved towards Panipat in Haryana.
After the fall of Chauhans at Ajmer and Delhi one of Bhukar warriors named Uday Singh was appointed as 'Bakshi'. Uday Singh was expert in land-tax collection. Uday Singh's son Kaula Singh was appointed Tehsildar of Ajmer.
Dudi
Dudi Jats had ruled in Rajasthan. The Dudis are considered to be originated from Pushkar in Ajmer and ruled Didwana, Sambhar Lake, Nagaur area for 30 generations before the rule of Muslims and Rajputs. Raja Dharmpal Dudi ruled Didwana 25 generations ago in Dudi Nagavansh. Dudis founded the town Didwana in Nagaur district of Rajasthan and it was their capital. Dudis also founded Dhundhar and Dudiya Khera towns in Jaipur region. There are number of villages of Dudis in Nagaur, Bikaner, Barmer, Jaisalmer, Hanumangarh and Chittorgarh in Rajasthan. After the Jat kingdom of Rajasthan was taken over by the Rajputs, Some Dudis moved to Haryana and settled in villages around Bhiwani, Jhajjar and Hisar districts.
Some Dudi Jats came to village Kusumdesar, according to local tradition, from Garh Sambhar. Their kuldevi is at the Randesar Pahadi. Dudi families spread from this village to villages Sitsar (200), Maihnsar (1), Chhabri Meethi (1), Hukasar (1), Rajiasar (2), Bahmani (7), Ratangarh (2), Khadyalo, Shehla (1) and Surjansar in Churu district and Bhodesar (10) in Sikar district in Rajasthan.
Ahlawat
Seria (सेरिया) known as the Dada gaam of Ahlawat Gotra and established by Dada Shera. This Village is situated in District Jhajjar (Haryana) at a Distance of 14 km from Jhajjar city and 28 km from Rohtak city. Dada Shera were 4 brothers and he is the eldest one in all. The Village was established 1100 years back when some of the families from Dadrela (Jaisalmer – Rajasthan) came here by following the path of Gadkot (Sambhar Lake) to Kala Bad Aala (Bhiwani – Rajasthan) to Seria. They all came from the "Dadrela" village in "Jangladesh" near Sambhar Lake near Tonk District of Rajasthan...
Sambharwal
Sambharwal (साम्भरवाल) Sanbharwal (सांभरवाल) gotra of Jats originated from place name Sambhar (सांभर) lake in Rajasthan. [7] They were branch of Chauhans.
Jhanjhar
Jhanjhar Jats have been associated with jat folk-deity Tejaji. Tejaji was married in Jhanjhar gotra jats of Paner (पनेर) village in Ajmer district in Rajasthan. Tejaji was married to Pemal, daughter of Raimal of Jhanjhar (झांझर) gotra of Paner. Raimal was the chieftain of this village and popularly known as Mehtaji or Muthaji. The historical Paner village is now abondoned and the present Paner village is situated 1 km south of it.
There is a temple of Tejaji at Paner in which three statues are placed. People believe that a statue of Tejaji came out from the ground on its own at site of Raimal's house. The magical powers of Tejaji had spread all around. Maharaja Abhay Singh of Jodhpur wanted to shift this statue to to his state Jodhpur. He got it dug out the statue for many days but could not take out this. It is believed that Maharaja Jodhpur at last saw Tejaji in dream who guided him that statue can not be taken out from here but it can be installed at boarder of Nagaur district. Later Jodhpur Maharaja got constructed a temple of Tejaji at Parbatsar and installed a statue of Tejaji here. The temple of Paner bears inscription of samvat 1885 and name of Pithaji. The pooja of this temple is done by a kumhar and not by brahman. This temple is situated near famous Sambhar lake. There is a big pond here built by Jhanjhar gotra Jats known as Jinjardab or Jhanjhardab.
Sambharia village
Sambharia (सांभारिया) is a village in Bassi tahsil in Jaipur district in Rajasthan. The Jat Gotras in the village are: Bhadala (1), Bhuri (1), Punia (3).
Sambhar Salt Lake
Sambhar Salt Lake, India's largest salt lake, sits 96 km south west of the city of Jaipur (Northwest India) and 64 km north east of Ajmer along the National highway 8 in Rajasthan.
The lake is actually an extensive saline wetland, with water depths fluctuating from just a few centimeters as 60 cm (1 inch = 2.54 centimeters) during the dry season to about 3 meters (10 ft) after the monsoon season. It occupies an area of 190 to 230 square kilometers, based on the season. It is an elliptically shaped lake 35.5 km long with a breadth varying between 3 km and 11 km. It is located in Nagaur and Jaipur districts and it also borders the Ajmer district. The circumference of the lake is 96 km, surrounded on all sides by the Aravali hiils.
The Sambhar lake basin is divided by a 5.1 km long dam made of sand stone. After salt water reaches a certain concentration, it will be released from the west side to the eastern side by lifting dam gates. To the east of the dam are salt evaporation ponds where salt has been farmed for a thousand years. This eastern area is 80 km². and comprises salt reservoirs, canals and salt pans separated by narrow widges. To the east of the dam is a railroad, built by the British (before India’s independence) to provide access from Sambhar Lake City to the salt works.
Nearest airport is Sanganer and nearest railway station is Sambhar. The water is fed to lake from streams from rivers Mendha, Runpangarh, Khandel and Karian. Mendha and Rupangarh are main streams. Mendha flows from south to north and Rupangarh flows from north to south.
Temperature reaches 40 Celsius in summer and stays about 11 Celsius in winter.
Economical importance
It is India's largest saline lake and made the Rajasthan, the third largest salt producing state in India. It produces 196,000 tonnes of clean Salt every year, which equals 8.7% of India's Salt production. Its salt production is done by evaporation process of brine and is majorly managed by Shambar Salts Ltd.(SSL), a joint venture of the Hindustan Salts Ltd. and the state government. SSL owns 3% of the eastern lake.
There are 38 clusters of villages surrounding the lake and the major settlements are Sambhar, Gudha, Jabdinagar, Nawa, Jhak, Korsina, Jhapok, Kanseda, Kuni, Tyoda, Govindi, Nandha, Sinodiya, Arwik ki Dhani, Khanadja, Khakharki, Kerwa ki Dhani, Rajas, Jalwali ki Dhani, Devaji ki Dhani, Aau, Dudna and Ulana.
Ecological importance
Sambhar has been designated as a Ramsar site (recognized wetland of international importance) because the wetland is a key wintering area for tens of thousands of flamingos and other birds that migrate from northern Asia. The specialized algae and bacteria growing in the lake provide striking water colours and support the lake ecology that, in turn, sustains the migrating waterfowl.
External links
Back to Jat Villages
