Saharan (gotra)

Saharan or Saran is a gotra of jats in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh , Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh in India. They belong to Hindu as well as Sikh religions.As per local traditions they were rulers in Jangladesh. Jangladesh coincided with the princely state of Bikaner in Rajasthan. Megasthenes described them as Syrieni, a powerful warrior race in his book Indica.

Rathores under the leadership of Bika and Kandal were spreading their rule in Jangladesh. At that time Saharan Jat, though numerically far fewer in number, were ruling in about 300 towns and villages in Jangledesh. Prooloji was their king and their capital was at Bhadang town. Kaijar, Fokh, Boochawas, Sabai, Badina and Sarsel were other famous towns in their state.

Prooloji had war with Rathores and made them retreat on many occasions but subsequently the Godara Jats aligned with Rathores and due to the sudden deceit and betrayl by the Godaras ,Saharans who otherwise were about to win had to ultimately face a defeat. The reason of it being that The chieftain of Godaras, Pandu , the patriarchal head of the Godaras;whose residence was at Shekhsiri, had eyes on and consequently abducted the wife of Adhiswar of Saharans that made Godaras the enemy of all other Jat rulers. Godaras were the numerically largest among the Jats of Jangladesh. Once the Saharans were gone, The lack of harmony and coordination among other Jat rulers and their consequent internal strife led to the subjugation of Jat states in Jangladesh and established the Rathore Kingdom who in turn could subsequently sustain it due to their alliance with the muslim rulers of various lineages.Subsequently select bands of Saharans once again reared their head in being behind the emergence of almost all Jat kingdoms to one extent or the other in later medieval era including the mighty kingdoms of Punjab on both sides of Satluj through their gallant military actions.The Sukerchakia misl forces particularly had a large number of them. Incidentally, the armies of the sukerchakia misl initially consisted of only about two thousand people (with majority being of Sansi(Jat) gotra), numerically one of the weakest ,but the dedicated bonding and military valour present in the misl led it to rule the mightiest kingdom of Northern India at that time under Maharaja Ranjit Singh whose won over areas included previous Mughal, Afgan as well as Rajput principalities. Previously Saharan Gotra warriors had also actively and significantly contributed as Faujdars in the conquest of present day Haryana region by Jats under Maharaja Jawahar Singh During the period 1762-64.

ee also

* Races as described by Megasthenes

References

*Thakur Deshraj: Jat Itihas (Hindi), Maharaja Suraj Mal Smarak Shiksha Sansthan, Delhi, 1934.
*James Tod: Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan (1829)

Gotras of Jats Sarao