History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c33.s3.1

v3.c33.s3.1

(1) The Bahawalpur Gazetteer looks upon Bhatinda as Bhatia (p. 32) and states "In 1004 A. D. Mahmud was engaged in the reduction of Bhatinda whose governor Raja Bijai Rai had revolted against the suzerain Anandapāla and had molested Mahmud’s deputies," "In the next campaign Mahmud advanced on Multan by way of Bhatinda." Both these statements do not seem to be probable from what Utbi has stated about the march of Mahmud. (2) The Imperial Gazetteer under Bhatnair (Hanumāngarh) Bikaner states states that it is believed that that was the place Mahmud attacked in 1004 A. D. but adds that this is doubtful. (3) The Bikaner Gazetteer makes the same remark and adds that the fort was taken by Timur from a Bhati chief named Raja Dulchand and was described as an extremely strong and fortified place "renowned throughout Hindustan" (p. 397). (4) The Jaisalmer Gazetteer gives the ancient tradition of the Bhatis as follows:—"They were descended from Jadu and after the dispersion of the Yādavas from Mathurā they went beyond the Indus and a king named Gaj founded the city of Gazni. They were subsequently defeated by a Khorasan chief and they recrossed the Indus and settled in the Panjab. They regained Ghazni but in the time of Baland, they were driven out of Ghazni. Baland’s son Bhati conquered many of the neighbouring chiefs. He was succeeded by his son Mangalrao, whose fortune was not equal to that of his father; and who on being attacked by the king of Ghazni abandoned his kingdom and fled across the Sutlej and found refuge in the Indian desert which has been ever since the home of his descendants." This tradition supports to some extent the existence of a town of Bhatis somewhere between the Indus and the Sutlej which was destroyed by the Turks and the Bhatis then crossed the Sutlej and entering the desert settled in Jaisalmere.