The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c29.s2.91

v3.c29.s2.91

North-west of Mewār, the region in which the Gahlots bore sway, lay the desert tract of Mārwār, at this time ruled by the Pratihāras, who were afterwards expelled by the Rāhtors, the tribe to which the present Mahārāja of Jodhpur belongs. West of Mārwār lies the present State of Jaisalmer, held by the Jādons, whose home, according to their own traditions, had in ancient times been Zābulistān, between Sīstān and Qandahār. Long before the rise of Islam they had been driven thence into the Punjab, where they domiciled for some time, and one branch of the tribe, the leader of which had retired in the eighth century into the desert of western Rājfontāna, acquired from an ancestor the name of Bhātī. A branch of the Bhātīs settled in the north of the modern State of Bikaner, and gave to the town now known as Hanūmāngarh² its original name, Bhatner, which in 1398 was taken by Tīmūr from a Bhātī chief named Dul Chand. This clan, as well as those branches of the Jādons which remained in the Punjab, accepted Islam. The main body of the tribe, however, travelling westward, had founded the fortress of Tanot, in the extreme north-western corner of what is now the Jaisalmer State. They afterwards made Ladorva their capital, and in 1156 Rāwal Jaisal founded the town of Jaisalmer. In Mārwār communities of Gohels, Chauhāns, and Pawārs disputed the authority of the Pratihāras or Parihārs.