Bhatti

Yadava-Bhatti dynasty of Jaisalmer — the Varahas’ enduring desert rival

The Bhatti dynasty — Yadava by gotra, ruling Jaisalmer and the Bhatner-Pugal desert frontier — is the Varaha clan’s most enduring rival. The relationship is older than either family’s medieval phase: Hari Singh Bhatti‘s Pugal ka Itihaads (1989) traces the feud back to the eighth century CE, when the Bhattis under Vijay Rai moved into territory long held by the Varahas.

The wedding-massacre tradition

The most famous episode in the Bhatti–Varaha feud is the wedding-massacre of c. 800 CE, in which Vijay Rai Bhatti was killed at a Varaha wedding by Varaha kinsmen who feared the marriage was a pretext for Bhatti annexation. The story is preserved in the Pugal ki Khyat and recounted in detail by Bhatti (1989). The killing fixed the two clans on opposite sides of the Bhatinda-Bhatner axis for the next four centuries.

Bhatinda Fort, 1130 CE

By the early twelfth century the Varahas were holding Bhatinda Fort under Raja Vinaypal; the Bhattis were operating from Jaisalmer and Pugal. Muhammad Ghori‘s 1130 CE assault on Bhatinda Fort is one of the last engagements at which both lineages are visible. After Ghori’s victory the Bhatti star rises and the Varaha star falls.

Sources

• Bhatti, H. S., Pugal ka Itihaads (1989)
• Tod, Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan
• Festing, From the Land of Princes (2010)