Vaids

General Mohyal Sabha - Members of Mohyals

Sajan Pal was a staunch votary of Buddhism. A king turned saint. he had no heart for the affairs of the state. His apathy led to the dismemberment of the kingdom which his forefathers had consolidated Upto the river Jhelum, the territory beyond that river being under the suzerainty of Persia. After his death, his son Bodh Pal popularly known as Raja Porus who fought an epochal war with Alexander the Great. ascended to the throne. He ruled over the geographical area called Chaj Doab (between rivers Jhelum and Chenab) and a part of Doaba Sind Sagar flanking to the west of Jhelum. It had 300 towns.

The question is posed whether Porus was really a Mohyal. The query has assumed a pertinent significance because recently articles have appeared in the vernacular press and speeches made by prominent leaders, in which he has been claimed as a patriarch of the Khukhrian. Both the Vaids and the Datts are offsprings of the turbulent era of the Mahabharata. Both castes are regarded as the descendants of Field Marshal Dronacharya and have shared the family cradle. Amar Bhavan the son of Ashvathama and grandson of Dronacharya is deemed as the god\' father of the Vaid family. Notwithstanding the controversy raging in the past over Bharadvaj being the common gotra of both Datts and Vaids, marriages between the two castes are not considered profane and are consummated freely. According to Rz. Rattan Chand Vaid, author of Islah-e-Mohyoli. alliances between these two castes were sanctified in the Rajsu Yajna (Royal Feast) of Raja Jai Chand held in 1191 which was attended by the top elite of the Mohyals. This subject was also discussed, incon community. To have a prognostic appreciation of the contentious propostion, the following points are worth consideration: i. Porus or Poros was the Greek name of the monarch and his real name was Paurva. He is believed to be a descendant of the Puru clan who took part in the famous Battle of the Ten Kings, described in the Rigveda. Presumbly, he was a chip of the Aryan stock. ii. Porus was a magnificant giant 6/2 ft. in height, he was an instinctive warrior and challenged the mighty Alexander when he stormed into his territory at the head of a 90,000 strong army. These traits define him as a likely Mohyal. iii. His second name was Bodh Pal, son of Sajan Pal, preceded by ancestors named Got Pal and Kanwar Pal. His successors were a line of distinguished Vaid rulers, mostly with the title of Pal with their names viz., Bachan Pal, Prithvi Pal, Jai Pal, Anand Pal and so on. It was a remarkabale lineage.All this fits squarely in the Mohyal slot. Alexander (son of Philip II, the king of Macedonia) crossed the Indus at Ohind (abOut 4 miles above the confluence of Indus and river Kabul) in 326 BC and came whistling down the land with the ambition of conquering the whole of India. But his high dream turned sour because he got a bloody nose in the very first encounter with Raja Hasti, who ruled over the land between Khyber and river Attock, called Gandharva with Pushkalavati (modem Charsadda in district Peshawar) as his capital. Hasti was killed during the siege of his palace which lasted for 30 days and Alexander scraped throught with a smack of victory. Proceeding futher he had an easy walkover of Taxila whose monarch Ambhi not only surredered without offering any resistance but evern joined hands with Alexander to fight against his old adversary, Porus. Another ruler, Shashi Gupat, who at first offered stout opposition to Alexander but later caved in, also made a common cause with the Greek invader and placed his forces at his disposal to buttress his future conquests. How we sometime over-subscribe to euphoria and create our heroes is illustrated by the following telling examples: (i) Raja Dahir of Sind mortgaged his kingdom to the Arabs, albeit, his forces outnumbered those of his foe by five to one: he offered no fight and instead kept on fidgeting in his private retreat hoping for the victory to fall in his lap from heavens as prophesied by his astrologers. He was so unpopular that even his relatives and trusted ministers deserted him in the hour of peril and joined the enemy. The Buddhist community, to a mall, rose against him and not a single ruler from amongst ,the neighouring republics came to his SUCCOuf. (ii) The same sordid scenario was reenacted when Porus suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Alexander. He was totally isolated and none of the rulers from the adjacent kingdoms came to his rescue. In fact. his two compatriotS, Ambhi and Shashi Gupat, fought fiercely against him. In his own tUrn Porus himself, after savouring defeat and on restoration of his kingd(lIn,became a satarp of Alexander and played a despicable role by aligning his forces with him for fighting against the fellow ruler of Kath state. Yet, we have extolled and idolised both Dahir and Porus, as incandescent patriots and legendary heroes. Coming to the scene of the battle at Hydaspes (Greek name of river Jhelum), between Alexander and Porus, their armies faced each other menacingly while arrayed on the opposite banks of river Jhelum and the river itself made unassailable due to the fury of the monsoon. In a stratagic move, during night, Alexander marched his troops 15 miles upstream and crossed the river near Khadi (Mangla) where there was a raised piece of land in the midstream. On reaching the other bank, his army surreptitiously attacked the garrison of Porus and pounded them. Not only the striking force of Alexander was double than that of Porus, his soldiers also moved with lightning speed on the horses, piercing the sluggish elephants of Porus with spikes and arrows, disabling them. Moreover, the soldiers of Porus welted under the weight of their heavy arm our and their bows failed to freely deliver their missiles. Porus lost the war but his brave spirit won the heart of Alexander. He was led to Alexander with 9 wounds in his body. The dialogue which transpired between the victor and the vanquished, has become a pait of the textbook dictum. Alexander was so much impressed by his gallantry that, as a tribute, he returned the entire conquered land back to Porus. The story goes that during fighting Porus had an opportunity of killing Alexander when he saw him falling from horse and lying on the ground. He even took his javeline and was going to strike on him but stopped becauses he recollected that the wife of Alexander had tied \'Rakhi\' on his wrist and so he was honour bound to protect the life of her spouse. Bottomline : In a research article published in the Indian Express dated 21.4.90, the noted scholar Dr. Balraj Sharma of Chandigarh has discredited the myth of Alexander\'s victory over Porus. He states that it was a part of the designs of the Western historians who have misinterpreted history to our disadvantage. His views are supported by eminent authors and historians like Dr. H.c. Seth, Dr. S. Chattopadhyaya and Dr. Buddha Prakash. They claim that Alexander was defeated by Porus and forced to sue for peace in view of the heavy losses suffered by his army. Porus did not make any overtures for peace, it was Alexander who rode forward in front of his line to meet Porus. He beheld with admiration the handsome and majestic stature of Porus, paid him obeisance and was first to speak. Alexander was pleased with his answer for according a royal treatment to him and asked him for whatever boon he wished to have. Alexander appointed Porus to govern not only his original territory but added to it still more area. To commemorate his war with Porus, Alexander founded two town ships at the spot where he crossed the Jhelum river. One of these was named after his horse Bucephalus, on the west bank, where he died and was buried. The second place was named Nicaea, meaning victory. The ruins of Bucephalus have been traced near the modern town of Jalalpur and Nicaea has been identified with the present Mong village. Porus was \'treacherously slain in 317 BC while sleeping by a Greek commander who had stayed behind after the departure of Alexander from India. His two sons had already been killed in the war so the reins of the government passed on to his brother Manak Rao. Manak Rao ruled just for two years. He proved an ineffectual ruler and due to his ineptitude lost the kingdom to Raja Bijai Singh of Jammu. However, he left an abiding mark by building a new city at Manakyala near Rawalpindi where the mortal remains of Porus were cremated. The relics of a Buddhist stupa (80 ft. high and 320 ft. circumference) can still be seen there. The excavations carried out at Manakyala during the reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh by Ventura in 1830 and by Alexander Cunningham in 1864, have yielded a corpus of coins, copper and brass vessels and shilakekhs. Gold and silver coins with inscriptions dating from the Kanishka period (120-162 AD) have also been unearthed. These excavations have laid bare the plinths of houses, layout of streets and edifices of big temples which eloquently speak of a thriving life in the goneby era. Manak Rao fled to Sirhind in Malwa and his progenies probably adopted that region as their future home. After the exit of Manak Rao, the time stands still. Nearly eleven centuries whiz by and we don\'t know what happens to the family of the Vaids. There are no kavits and no dossiers in the archives to tell the story of the benighted millennium. It was in the ninth century that a new generation of Vaid rulers rose phoenix like from the ashes of their redoubtable ancestors: Kidar Sharma and Raja Porus. The foremost in the line was Raja Bachan Pal who ruled for half a century (815866) with his capital probably at Ohind. His empire touched the bounds of\' Afghanistan which was also under the sway of a Mohyal ruler in those days. Bachan Pal was succeeded by Raja Ram Singh whose reign of 25 years. from 866 to 891 AD, was rather uneventful. Then followed Raja Bir Singh (891 to 936) who was a contemporary of Raja Bhim Shahi, the noted Datt king of Kabul. Next man in the line was Raja Prithvi Pal who held the throne for 15 years from 936 to 951. He annexed the territory of Raja Bhim Shahi of Afghanistan when the latter demised without leaving a successor. Then came Raja Jai Pal who ruled from 951 to 1002 AD and was among the three most distinguished kings in the ruling hierarchy of the Vaids, the other two being Anand Pal and Gorakh Rai. He had the seat of his government at Ohind and his writ ran all over the northern India, from Kashmir to Multan. In 977 AD, Nasir Uldin Subkutgin, the slave king of Ghazni, stormed into India and after conquering Sind and ransacking Multan, advanced to Lahore. He was challenged by Jai Pal who drove him back to Ghazni and forced him to take refuge in the fort there. Jai Pal had to beat retreat due to severe cold and snow fall in Ghazni. To avenge his defeat Subkutgin mounted a second attack on Raja Jai Pal, deploying this time a very big force. Raja Jai Pal suffered an ignominious defeat inspite of the reinforcements provided by the friendly rulers of Kannauj, Kalinjar and Ajmer. Subkutgin posted a governor in Peshawar to look after the conquered territory between Attock and Jamrood and himself departed to Ghazni to lay the foundation of a dynastic rule which lasted for 200 years. In the war, Sultan Mahmud Ghazni, the elder son of Subkutgin who was still a minor, also took part and displayed his uncanny fighting instincts. After the death of Subkutgin in 997, Mahmud Ghazni made his first independent assault on Jai Pal in 1001 AD. A pitched battle took place near Peshawar in which nearly 15,000 Hindu soldiers of Jai Pal were killed and he along with 15 members of the royal family including the crown prince Anand Pal, were taken prisoners. They were later set free on payment of a ransom of 2Y2 lakh Dinars. An aged and confuted Jai Pal, feeling disgraced by successive defeats and considering himself disqualified to rule, abdicated the throne in favour of his son Anand Pal (also referred as Anang Pal), and after having mounted a funeral pile, which he had himself raised, sacrificed himself to his gods. Mahmud Ghazni (born 971 AD) was ruthless war monger, fired with the ambition to conquer the whole world a La Alexander the Great. He earned a place for himself in the parlour of history with his image of a savage buccaneer. True to his grains, after the death of his father, he first blinded and then imprisoned his brother Amir Ismail, to usurp the throne of Ghazni, Balakh and Khorsan. For his dauntless bravery he was honoured by the Caliph. He led 17 frenzied expeditions into India between 1000 to 1026 AD. He made these incursions not for conquering any territory but to loot the maximum wealth for his Central Asian Empire, that is why his targets were rich cities and big temples. He exploited the military weakness and disunity prevailing among the Indian rulers. His notable invasions were: (i) Nagarkot (present Kangra, in 1009, he plundered the temples and carried home cartloads of gold and jewellery (ii) Thaneswar (1014) demolished its majestic temple, removed the fabled idol of Jog Som from its precincts along with jewellery of the sanctum sanctorum (Hi) Kannauj (1018), when Mahmud attacked, the city was defended by 7 forts and had 10,000 temples. The brahmin ruler, Kora by name, was forced to embrace Islam (iv) Somnath 0025-26), dashed on the famous temple town and after siege of many days entered the Shiva Temple. The idol of Somnath was 15 ft. high, 6 ft. underground and 9 ft. on surface. Two thousand brahmins were always in attendance and 300 barbers in service to shave the heads of the devotees. At the time of solar and lunar eclipse, the temple attracted over 2 lac worshippers. Ghazni deployed 30,000 camels to carry rinking water for his troops. 50,000 Hindus died to save Somnath, the marauders plundered booty worth two crore Dinars. The idol was smashed and its fragments taken to Ghazni to pave steps of the Jama Masjid and to decorate the royal courtyard. The door panels inlaid with gold and precious stones were removed to be used for his palace in Ghazni. The timid ruler Raja Bhim Sain Solanki ran away to Kutch to save his skin. This highway bandit of history died in 1030, having fallen prey to the cursed disease of T.B. The new Vaid king, Raja Anand Pal, inherited the throne as well as the war of retribution with Mahmud Ghazni from his father in 1002. He was a perspicacious man and called a convention of the leading Hindu rulers of Kannauj, Kalinjar, Gwalior, Ujjain and Ajmer and urged them to forge an alliance against the common foe. His campaign roused so much patriotic fervour against the enemy amongst the people at large that men volunteered themselves for recruitment in the fighing forces while women openly donated their gold ornaments to help the cause. To quote the noted historian Dr. Ishwari Prasad: \'The forces of race, religion and patriotism were arrayed against Mahmud like never before for the preservation of Hindu culture and civilization\'. With a powerful army at his command and helped by a crack force of the Gakhars, a spirited Anand Pal lost no time to launch a blistering attack on Mahmud at Ohind in 1009. He pushed the tyrant beyond river Sind and recovered all territory that his father had lost. However, this triumph proved elusive because at a crucial moment the elephant of Anand Pal, having been severely wounded in the proboscis by a poisonous arrow, became delirious and ran away from the battle arena. His soldiers thought that the king was retreating so they threw down their weapons. With the fortunes reversed, a weird Mahmud virtually snatched the victory from the hands of Anand Pal and pushed him cringing back to the wall. After having lost the war, Anand Pal escaped to Jammu and was given a hot chase by Mahmud who in his devilish march blasted and plundered many more towns. The monumental temple of Nagarkot was his special target: he reduced it to shambles and also looted the wealth of the adjoining Bhim Fort. Anand Pal had shifted his imperial capital to Nandana at Balnath but did not live to see its glory and was succeeded by his son Tirlochan Pal (also known as JaiPal II). The next king Tirlochan Pal was a real trail blazer. Throughout his reign, he was up in arms against the marauder Mahmud. He fought three wars with him in 1013, 1014 and 1019 AD. The Rajatarangini and the records left by AI-Biruni, the profound Arab scholar who accompanied Mahmud to India, have paid glowing tributes to his valour and sagacity.An unseemly episode took place around this time. Tirlochan Pal had a tiff with Raja Chander Rai of Sharwa state with whose daughter he had engaged his son Bhim Pal. When the wedding party reached the host town in November, 1018, they were all treacherously made prisoners by Chander Rai. Tirlochan Pal himself escaped from being trapped as he had stayed behind in Lahore, guarding his capital against a possible invasion of Mahmud. It so happened that instead of invading Lahore, Mahmud directed his fury on Chander Rai, devasated his state and made him flee to the jungles. In the ensuing confusion, Bhim Pal was set free. In 1019, Tirlochan Pal declared a war on Mahmud on the mountainous terrain of Poonch and this time he had the backing of the Mohyal ruler of Kashmir also. The fort of Lohar Kot was the scene of the running battle. Tirlochan Pal and his men were held in siege for nearly a month. Even while entrenched in the fort, they made repeated strikes on Mahmud\'s garrison posted outside the fort, decimating it every time, till Mahmud and his band were totally fazed and compelled to quit and run to Ghazni. Iii their dash, they lost their way in the jungle and were overtaken by a severe snow storm which further crippled them. In retaliation, Mahmud attacked Balnath and its fort Nandana where the midget force of Tirlochan Pal was no match for his brute numbers, so the disaster was inevitable. There was terrible massacre of countless men while women in their hundreds immolated themselves by jumping into the sacrificial fire. The episode is known as the carnage of Pir Tapak in the vicinity of Bagan Wala in Tehsil Pind Dadan Khan. The place was sanctified by building a memorial in honour of \' the dead. In the wake of his victory, Mahmud returned to Ghazni leaving behind a Turkish governor. The commander of Kashmir forces who fought along with Tirlochan Pal at Lohar Kot was Tung, a veteran of the Khash family. Hailing from Poonch, he was formerly the commander of Raja Sangram Raj of Kashmir_ A mere shepherd, he was catapulted to the exalted position due to the kindness of queen Dida, the widow of Sangram Raj, who was fascinated by his looks and bearing. This grand lady herself occupied the throne from 980 to 1013 and appointed Tung as her prime minister. When Tung successfully put down an insurgency in Rajouri, he was made the commander of the army. Earlier, he too had a brush with Mahmud and was licked by him; so Tung was nursing a rancour in his heart against the free booter. Bhim Pal was coronated as the next ruler in 1021. symbolically in the fort of Lohar Kot from whose ramparts his father had delivered deadly blows to the brigand of Ghazni. This fort was still under _ontinuous assaults of the same monster. Bhim Pal was able to pay back In the same coin in the earlier stage but ultimately his resistance crumbled down. He lost the city of Lahore as well as the state of Punjab, a territory which his forefathers had held for 13 generations. Overwhelmed with grief on the turn of fate,. he met with a premature death in 1026. This marked the end of the ruling brahmin dynasty of Shahiyas who are regarded as the original version of the Vaid sect. After the passing away of Bhim Pal, his wife with her two sons Rudra Pal and Dwar Pal sought asylum in Kashmir whose ruler Anant Dev looked after their needs. After some time the queen also died. The two princes continued to draw stipends \'from their benefactor Raja Anant Dev but they fell prey to delinquent ways and diverse vices. To wean away Rudra Pal from his vagrant life, Anant Dev arranged his marriage with Asumati, the charming daughter of Raja Indu Chand Datt of Doaba Bist Jalandhar. She was a very pious lady and soon transformed Rudra Pal into a new man. Later, the younger sister of Asumati was married to the Kashmir ruler Anant Dev and this alliance brought the two families still closer. Moreover, impressed by the daring and fighting prowess of Rudra Pal, Anant Dev made him the general of his army. Whenver Rudra Pal would return from a military expedition or conquest, Anant Dev would step down from the royal throne to receive him.Both Rudra Pal and Dwar Pal had short spans of life and died at an early age. Their well-wisher Raja Anant Dev also passed away in 1063 AD. This created a power vacuum in the state leading to anarchy and ultimately led to the liquidation of the kingdom. Faced with adversity, Asumati along with her infant child, Jyesht Pal, migrated to her parental home in Jalandhar. But there too she had no relief as her father was soon after killed in a coup engineered by his muslim antagonist. When Basal Dev Chauhan, the kind-hearted ruler of Ajmer, came to know about the plight of the exiled prince and his mother, he offered them refuge in his state. In consideration of their blue blood, he also bestowed on them the jagir of Bhatner. Basal Dev was later involved in a bloody feud with his enemies in 1096 and in the rumpus his trusted deputy Uday Datt Parmar was killed. Uday Datt has been immortalized in the legend inscribed on an iron pillar which stands in Delhi. When Anang Pal the son of Jyesht Pal grew of age, he consolidated his power in Bhatner. He was the fifteenth ruler in the line of succession. He was a great exponent of Ayuerveda and according to a kavit he once cured Maharaja Prithviraj Chauhan (Raja Pithora) when the latter was suffering from a deadly ailment. As a reward Prithviraj gifted to him yet more land in Bhatner. The swing in fortune fuelled the urge in Anang Pal to take up arms and make a bid to recover his ancestral kingdom from the usurpers. He mobilised a large froce and attacked Lahore in 1179, laid siege of the fort, and from its precincts carried on a fierce war for six months till he captured the crown city. The bloodshed witnessed on this occasion was made immortal in the shape of Shahid Ganj monument in Lahore. According to P. N. Oak, a noted modem time historian and research scholar, the famous Red Fort of Delhi was originally built by Raja Anang Pal in the 12th century, that is at least 400 years before the advent of Shah Jahan (The Tribune, dated 2 May, 1983). When Anang Pal died in 1180, weighed down with age and weary from fighting long wars, Lahore was recaptured by the muslim militants. The kins of Anang Pal took his minor son Gorakh Rai to their ancestral state in Bhatnar. Gorakh Rai was crowned as the next ruler of Bhatner in 1181. He later became a leading light in the court Rai Pithora (Prithviraj Chauhan), the king of Delhi and Ajmer. Raja Jai Chand convened his famous Rajsu Yajna at Kannauj in 1191 with the object of expelling the muslims from India. Prithviraj was a special invitee to this function which was attended by many ruling chiefs of the period. The Mohyal community was represented by its seven eminent men, one from each caste of its constellation. They were: Gorakh Rai Vaid, Rai Tirlok Nath Bali, Rai Midder Dev Datt, Rai Narsing Dev Chhibber, Rai Takhan Dev Mohan, Rai Inder Sain Lau and Rai Kailash Dev Bhimwal. However, the ill-fated historical convention failed to achieve its goal due to the clash of two giants, Prithviraj and Jai Chand, whose old rivalries came to surface over-riding the national interests. Prithviraj had abducted Sanyogta, the pretty damsel of Jai Chand, from a crowded Swyambar session in 1175. When Prithviraj Chauhan ascended to throne of Delhi, Jai Chand refused to recognise him as sovereign and made a rival claim. This breach occurred at a crucial time when a series of invasions of Mohammed Ghori were looming on the horizon. Ghori had captured the empire of Sultan Mahmud Ghazni after his death and was now poised with same devilish designs to conquer India. Ghori made his first strike at Sirhind in 1191 in what is kn\'own as the First battle ot Tarain or Taravri (situated \'15 miles from Thanesar) where Prithiviraj inflicted a crushing defeat on Ghori and pushed him back by 40 miles in a severely wounded condition, his life having been saved by a Khilji soldier. After the victory, Prithviraj started leading a luxurious life and lost his grip over the administration of his state. After full one year\'s concerted preparations in Ghazni; Ghori made his second assault in 1192, again at Tarain, with a frightening 1,20,000 cavalry in his toe. The native army was disoriented and disjointed, Prithviraj himself in the midst of battle dismounted from his elephant and ran away on a horse. He was hounded and killed near Sirsa on the bank of Sarasvati. Ghori occcupied Delhi and also captured Kannauj, Benaras, Gwalior and Ajmer. This marked the commencement of permanent muslim rule in India. In the war with Ghori, the valiant Gorakh Rai who had fought hand in hand with Prithviraj, was also killed. The next invasion of Ghori in 1194 was directed at Kannauj which In those days was regarded as the de facto capital of India. An aged and debilitated Jai Chand Rathore fought determinedly but being a lone defender against a formidable foe, he was beaten and done to death. The great valour of Prithviraj Chauhan has been eulogised in the book \'Prithivraj Raso\' written by Chander Vardai, a noted poet in his court. It comprises about 1,25,000 verses. The historians have mostly perpetuated the myth of Prithviraj by paying him fulsome tributes for being great patriot and a gallant warrior and have ridiculed Jai Chand for being a traitor. But this is not all true. In fact, Prithviraj was a head-swollen and intemperate person. He was responsible for the debacle of the convention called in Kannauj. Jai Chand, on the other hand, not only refused to join Ghori when he tried to entice him along with other rulers after his defeat in the first war of Tarain; he fought all the way when war was forced on him and died heroically in the battle field at Chanderi in 1194. It may be recorded that both Prithviraj and Jai Chand were kins of Raja Anang Pal. Anang Pal had married Tuar\'s daughter and begot Prithviraj while Jai Chand was the son of Vijay Pal from a second daughter of Tuar. After the death of Gorakh Rai, his two minor sons, Ganesh Dev and Brahm Dev, fled to safe retreats. The former went to east and his descendants established the state of Bettiah in Bihar and founded the dynasty known as Jaitheriyas, a sect of Bhumihars. Brahm Dev along with his mother and other relatives moved to north and settled in the hilly tract of Simla and one of his heirs named Shiv Datt, who lived in Jammu, later resurrected the lost glory of the Vaid clan. In 1398, when Timur after plundering Delhi and carrying cartloads of booty and hundreds of Hindu prisoners, marched past Jammu on his way to Samarkand, he was intercepted by Raja Maldev of Jammu and forced to set free all Hindus in his custody. In his fight with Timor, Shiv Datt displayed unusual gallantry and a pleased Maldev made him the governor of Samba. Eventually, Samba became the imperial capital of the Vaids a la Bhera and Karyala of Chhibbers and Khadi of Balis. The Vaids belonging to Samba were considered a classy lot in the past. Shiv Datt had four sons, namely, Ganpati, Ram. Chhattar and Ganga Ram. After the death of Shiv Datt he was sue ceded by Ganpati. Then followed a long line of successors led by Jawahar, Rishi Dev, Raja Hari, Atma, Chaturbhuj and Raja Bhim. They were all mediocre men and made no mark in their times. Then came a real illustrious man Raja Auo Dev, son of Bhim, who earned lot of fame and laurels. He was an outstanding exponent of Ayurveda in the tradition of his ancestor Anang Pal and the founder of his pedigree, the legendary Dhanvantarl. He was appointed as Raj Vaidya in the court of the Maharaja of Jammu. When Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Jammu assumed power in 1725,. He called a meeting of the chiefs of all states falling in his jurisdictIon.Auo Dev was also invited to this convention as a gesture of honour. In view of the new status enjoyed by him, Auo Dev shifted his residence to Jammu while his son Morar Das looked after the state in Samba. The following incident from the life of. Auo Dev is widely quoted: he once donated a docile cow to his purohit but the latter sold it to a mercenary muslim. On learning about this transfer Auo Dev exploded with rage and beat him mercilessly with a burning faggot lifted from the nearby hearth, till the purohit died of burns. Later, Auo Dev appointed a new purohit belonging to Partal caste whose descendants continued to serve the Vaids of Samba till the beginning of this century. The last incumbent of this office was Duni Chand who died without leaving any issue. Samba was also merged with Jammu after the death of Morar Das and his property annexed to the state. Some offsprings of Auo Dev left Jammu and moved to Mirpur and the exodus was led by Lakha Singh Vaid. A progeny of Lakha Singh, Jawala Singh Vaid, died at the gray age of 95 in 1893. He was known for having killed a notorious dacoit of Gujranwala. He also saved the life of Maharaja Gulab Singh when Sultan Khan of Rajouri made an obnoxious attack on him. The members of same family viz., Bhan Singh and his younger brother Ishar Dass, moved from Mirpur and settled in Sukho on Mandra-Bhaun chord line. Rz. Hari Chand Vaid, the noted author of Gulshan-e-Mohyali (published in 1923), was a scion of the same family stock. To keep efflorescent the memory of Auo Dev, four distinct family lines (i.e. Thammas) were established known as: Auo Ana (named after Auo Dev), Samyala (after his native place), Ratnagiri (after his mother) and Dharekadiye (ancestral residence in district Gujrat). These were feudal trappings and have blown away with the winds of time. Rajouri (old name Rajpuri) in Jammu State was a citadel of the Vaids in the past. A fabled king Prithvi Pal built there many forts, the most famous being on the hilltop of Preet Pal whose ruins are still visible. His son Madan Pal conquered the outlying areas of the Punjab. The last King named Auna Pal was murdered in sleep by the ruffian Sher Afghan. a non muslim converted to Islam by Mohammed Ghori in 1194. Many Vaids were massacred in the battle. After this episode, the sun set on this bastion of power of the Vaids. Many muslims living in this region and known as Jaral were originally Vaids. The Gulab Nama (chronicle of Jammu) gives a vivid description of the rise and fall of many royal dynasties in that idyllic state. Kalyan Rai Vaid and his son Rai Singh both held gubernatorial posts In the reign of Emperor Akbar which was because of their close connections with sage Beram Shah Datt of Mirpur who was held in high esteem by the Mughal titan. Ch. Chuni Lal Datt in his History of Mohyals (page 159) has alluded to great king Harsha Vardhana as being a Vaid. He has concluded this from the marriage of his daughter with Dhruv Bhat, the crown prince of Vallabhipur, presumably a Bali. We have discussed this point in the chapter on Balis. The supposition is utterly wrong because Harsha was a Vaish and he devoted the penultimate years of his life, in uprooting brahminism. Some scribes of Mohyal history including Russell Starcey have tried to find a tenuous relationship between Mohyal Vaids and the Baidya rulers of Bengal (990 to 1200 AD). The postulation is to be accepted with a hint of fanciful philosophy because its veracity is yet to be proved. Brief background: It was a remarkable show of grit and strong-arm by Ban Raj, a northemer, to have attacked and ousted the Buddhist king Pal of Bengal in 986 AD. However, he died soon without enjoying the fruits of his conquests. He was followed by his son Veer Sain (or Veer Singh) who ruled for only 3 years, 986 to 989. But he packed this period with momentous achievements: He founded a new capital at Vikram Pur. He launched a crusade for the revival of Hinduism and to banish Buddhism which was still deeply entrenched in Bengal .and Bihar. Thousands of Buddhists were converted to Hinduism while a large number of them fled to Burma and Tibet. He invited five leamed brahmins and five members of the Vaish community from Kannauj (see under Sign Posts) for propagating Sanatan Dharma and to boost up the trade. After his spectacular rule, his son Raja Balal Sain ascended to the throne. He had a long spell of rule but without any noteworthy achievement to his credit, except of shifting his capital from Vikram Pur to Lakhnauti. Balal Sain was succeeded by Lakhan Sain (who ruled for 7 years), Madho Sain (ruled for 10 years), Kesho Sain (ruled 15 years), Sada Sain (ruled 18 years) and lastly Tocha Sain who held sway for 3 years. Tocha Sain died without leaving a successor so taking advantage of the situation, his relation Lakshman Sain, a cranky old man, installed himself in the chair. In 1198, Mohammed Bin Bakhtyar Khilji, a commander of Ghori, just with 20 cavalry men raided the cowardly ruler and in no time conquered the entire area of Bengal and Bihar. The gutless Lakshman Sain sneaked away from the back door of his palace, carrying his rosary and prayer mat, to seek asylum in the Jagannath Temple at Puri. Some descendants of the Baidya kings migrated to north and established their states in Mandi and Suket. They continued to use the suffix of Sain with their name till the present century. Mandi was founded by Raja Ajer Sain in 1527 AD who was the grandson of Raja Nihal Singh. Nihal Singh had three sons: Narain Dass (fahter of Ajer Sain) who later migrated to Bengal, Nathu Ram who settled down in Jammu, arid Devi Sahai. The names and dates have been culled from Urdu histories and their accuracy cannot be warranted.Raizada Mool Raj Vaid was a commanding officer of the Maharaja of Jammu. He was equally renowned for his proficiency as a physician. He cured the wife of Gakhar chief Sultan Lashkari Khan at Takhat Pari. The Sultan had a soft heart for the Mohyals and was conscious of the old bonds that existed between their two communities. He requisitioned the services of Mool Raj from the Maharaja and offered him a jagir of 25 villages as reward for having treated his wife. After the demise of Mool Raj, his grandson Mani Ram became the owner of this jagir and he too had very close relations with the Sultan\'s family. Lashkari Khan died in 1706 and even after his death the Vaid family continued to live in Takhat Pari. Mani Ram had no son; he invoked the blessings of Hazrat Shah Latif and was rewarded with a son. The child was named Dargahi Malon the suggestion of the muslim saint. Shiv Datt son of Dargahi Mal was a ferocious warrior and fought five successful battles with Ahmed Shah Abdali. However, in the final encouter he was killed near Hasan Abdal (Taxila). His son Ram Sahai built a samadhi on that spot. During the Sikh rule, Ram Sahai held a distinguished position and was conferred a jagir which he continued to hold till the time of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. After his death the estate was passed on to his son named Daulat Rai but it did not last long as the British rule had commenced and all jagirs were confiscated. But he still held the ancestral land in village Sarja in Distirct Rawalpindi which too was attached by the British govemment after his death in 1886. In UP, the Ghazipur and Benaras connection of Vaids goes back to the closing years of the 18th century. The times were out of joint; there was great turmoil in Punjab due to confrontation between the Muslim and Sikh desperadoes; people were leaving their hearths and homes to seek new havens of peace. It was in this cataclysmic climate that two sons of Tabu Ram Vaid, Dayal Singh and Sukh Basi Ram, bade goodbye to their native Sialkot and set out on a long odyssey, in search of a new home. Their first call was at Jammu, the fortress of the Vaids, but finding no peace there too, they set their sails to the east. Enroute, they stopped at Sambal near Moradabad, then went to Kanpur and finally landed in Benaras. There Sukh Basi Ram got a break as pleader in the district court while Dayal Singh landed a job in the firm of Rao Shiv Nath and Baij Nath Nagar. This was around the year 1795. As time passed, good luck smiled on them and they jointly bought a house in MahalIa Samarkand near Mahadev Temple. Dayal Singh died issueless in 1801. Sukh Basi Ram also followed suit leaving behind two sons, _unshi Kanhiya Lal and Benarasi Dass. Benarasi Dass established his 1I1dependent business and achieved roaring success in same. Munshi Kanihya Lal had stints of service as Tehsildar of BalIia and revenue officer in Benaras and finally joined his brother in his business. The two brothers died one after the other in 1846 and 1847. Benarasi Dass was survived by his only son named Lachmi Narain Singh who too died at a young age. Munshi Kanhiya Lal had two sons, Babu Shivnath Singh and Babu Bishennath Singh, who became the flag carriers of the family. Babu Shivnath Singh earned spurs by his distinguished public services. He established a trust for the brahmins and offered scholarships for study of Sanskrit. He purchased large real estate in Benaras, Ghazipur, Ballia and Mirzapur. He was in the good books of the British government for rendering help during Indian Mutiny of 1857. There were honours galore for him: he was president of Local Board, vice-president of the Municipal Board and District Board, Magistrate of Ghazipur and so on. The two brothers benignly looked after the children of their sister and took care of their orphaned nephew Ram Chand and arranged for them property in Ghazipur which yielded regular income to their families. The story is told that the marriage of Babu Shivnath Singh\'s own son and that of Ganpat Singh (Datt) his sister\'s son, fell on same day, and the good samaritan participated in the marriage of Ganpat rather than that of his son. Babu Bishennath Singh died on 9 January, 1897. After his death, his three sons Jawala Prasad, Roop Narain and Madan Mohan were involved in long litigation over the property which brought a bad name to the illustrious family. Similarly, bickerings erupted amongst the brood of Babu Shivnath Singh-three sons from his first wife and two from his late-age second spouse, which sullied the name of the house. In the slanging feud, their ultramarine factory was also liquidated. Rai Bahadur Jawahar Lal Sinha (Vaid) MBE was a mercurial personality. He was regarded as the first citizen of Ghazipur. When he died on 9 August, 1939, all shops and government offices were closed and a condolence meeting was held in the Town Hall to pay homage to him. His memory was also perpetuated by the District Co-operative Bank and two Ladies Clubs which were founded by him. As he had no issue, his entire wealth was invested in charitable trusts and the chief beneficiaries were the General Mohyal Sabha, the Rama Krishna Mission of Benaras and Shivnath Singh Anglo Vernacular School (named after his father). It goes to the abiding credit of the Vaids of Benaras and Ghazipur that albeit separated from their ancient family habitats by more than a thousand miles, over the past two centuries, they have sedulously maintained the amorous links. They continued to visit Lahore, Pindi and Jammu, time and again, to perform marriages of their children in the fraternal fold of the Mohyal community. Some of them have adopted the surname of Sinha (pseudonym for Singh) with their names. Dera Bakhshian in District Rawalpindi had the distinction of producing the following Vaid galaxies who brought glory to the Mohyal community as a whole: Bakhshi Jawahar Mal Vaid was a governor duing the Sikh period. He suffered tribulations at the advent of the British administration as he refused to part with old revenue records which were in his possession. Being deeply religious man, he chose to shed his mortal bondage in the holy city of Benaras. Risaldar Major Bakshi Prem Singh Vaid (1822-1892), Sardar Bahadur OBI, O.M., was an epitome of beatitude and religiosity. It was said of him that no power on earth could disturb him when he was engrossed in his daily prayers. He distinguished himself equally in his army career, spanning 36 years, and was awarded 22 squares of land at Sangla Hill in the fertile Bar area. He played a prominent part in the siege of Delhi in 1857. When he died, the regimental flag was flown at half mast as a tribute to his valorous memory. His son, Risaldar Major Hony. Captain Tirath Ram Vaid, 1857-1924, O.B.I., O.B:E, Sardar Bahadur upheld the tradition of his father and won laurels in the army. He presided over the Mohyal Conference held in Rawalpindi in 1919. After retirement, he became a sanyasi and donated whole of his wealth to charitable causes. He too was recipient of 9 squares of land which was consolidated at Sangla Hill and renamed Prem Kot, after his illustrious father. Before becoming sanyasi, he was a staunch supporter of the Congress and did not allow any of his 5 sons to join the army. Raizda Maharaj Kishan Vaid of Lyallpur (1866-1937) was one of the founding fathers of the General Mohyal Sabha. The Arya Samaj remained his burning passion throughout the life. He established Arya Samaj temples in Hoti Mardan, Lyallpur and Patiala. He was instrumental in opening educational institutions under the banner of the Arya Samaj viz., DA V High School Rawalpindi, Dhanpat Mal High School Lyallpur and Arya Putri Pathshala Gujranwala. He contributed to the cost of one room each in the DA V College and the Mohyal Ashram of Lahore. He served with great distinction in the Govt. Irrigation Department and after retirement was re-employed by the Maharaja of Jodhpur to man the construction of the canal system in his state. Mehta Kal1shi Ram Vaid of Chakki Vaidan Distt. Campbellpur was a well-known farmer. At the time of harvest he would freely distribute grains to the poor. His eldest son Mehta Kundan Lal, a leading business man of Lahore, was killed in the communal riots at the time of partition. His second and third sons are leading booksellers in Delhi and Owners of Mehta Bros. Booksellers and Lahore Book Depot. The youngest son, Mehta Harbans Lal Vaid who died a few years ago, was managing director of Nirman Finai1ce (India) Ltd. and a leader of RSS and Jan Sangh of national fame.