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District. |Number.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~
Mathura | 264
Cawnpur | 1
+~~~~~~~
Total | 265
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Bhatti—(Sanskrit, bhâtta, “lord”).—A Râjput sept. Of the Panjâb branch
Mr. Ibbetson [45] writes:—“Bhatti, the Panjâb form of the Râjputâna
word Bhâti, is the title of the great modern representatives of the
ancient Yaduvansi Royal Râjput family, descendants of Krishna, and
therefore of Lunar race. Their traditions tell that in very ancient
times they were driven across the Indus; but that, returning, they
dispossessed the Langah, Joya, and others of the country south of the
Lower Sutlej, some seven centuries ago, and founded Jaysalmer. This
State they still hold, though their territory has been greatly
circumscribed since the advent of the Râthaur; but they still form a
large proportion of the Râjput subjects of the Râthaur Râjas of
Bikâner. At one time their possessions in those parts included the
whole of Sirsa and the adjoining portions of Hissâr and the tract still
known as Bhatiyâna. The story current in Hissâr is that Bhatti, the
leader under whom the Bhattis recrossed the Indus, had two sons, Dûsal
and Jaysal, of whom the latter founded Jaysalmer, while the former
settled in Bhatiyâna. From Dûsal sprang the Sidhu and Barâr Jât tribes,
while his grandson Rajpâl was the ancestor of the Wattu. According to
General Cunningham the Bhattis originally held the Salt Range Tract and
Kashmîr, their capital being Gajnipur, or the site of the modern
Râwalpindi, but about the second century before Christ they were driven
across the Jahlam by the Indo-Scythians, and their leader, the Râja
Rasâlu, of Panjâb tradition, founded Siâlkot. The invaders, however,
followed them up, and dispersed them and drove them to take refuge in
the country south of the Satlaj, though their rule in the Kashmîr
valley remained unbroken till 1339 A.D.
2. “The Bhatti is still by far the largest and most widely distributed
of the Râjput tribes of the Panjâb. It is found in immense numbers
along the lower Satlaj and Indus, though on the former often, and on
the latter always classed as Jât. It is hardly less numerous on the
Chanâb, the Upper Satlaj, and on the Biyâs; it is naturally strong in
Bhatiyâna; there is a large colony in the Delhi District, while it is
perhaps most numerous of all in the seats of its ancient power—in
Siâlkot, Gujarât, and the Salt Range country. And if we reckon as
Bhatti the Sidhu and Barar Jâts of the Mâlwa, we shall leave no portion
of the Panjâb in which a large Bhatti population is not to be found.
3. “Yet it is strange if the Bhatti did hold so large a portion of the
Panjâb, as General Cunningham alleges, how almost universally they
trace their origin to Bhatner in Bhatiyâna, or at least to its
neighbourhood. Either they were expelled wholly from the Upper Panjâb,
and have since returned to their ancient seats, or else the glory of
their later has overshadowed that of their earlier dynasties, and
Bhatner and Bhatiyâna have become the city and country of the Bhatti
from which all good Bhatti trace their origin. The subject population
of Bikâner is largely composed of Bhatti, while Jaysalmer is a Bhatti
State; and it seems impossible that if the Bhatti of the higher Satlaj
are immigrants, and not the descendants of the old Bhatti who escaped
expulsion, they should not have come largely from both these States,
and moreover, should not have followed the river valleys in their
advance. Yet the tradition almost always skips all intermediate steps,
and carries as straight back to that ancient city of Bhatner on the
banks of the long, dry Ghaggar, in the Bikâner territory bordering on
Sirsa. The Wattu Bhatti of Montgomery, while tracing their origin from
Râja Sâlivâhana, the father of Râja Rasâlu of Siâlkot, say that their
more immediate ancestors came from Bhatner; the Nûn Bhatti of Multân
trace their origin to the Delhi country, while the Bhatti of
Muzaffargarh, Jhang, Gujrânwâla, Siâlkot, Jahlam, and Pindi, all look
back to Bhatner as the home of their ancestors. It is possible either
that Bhatner is used merely as a traditional expression, or that when
the Ghaggar dried up or the Râthaur conquered Bikâner, the Bhatti were
driven to find new homes in the plains of the Punjâb. Indeed, Mr.
Wilson states that in Sirsa or the old Bhatiyâna, the term Bhatti is
commonly applied to any Musalmân Jât or Râjput from the direction of
the Satlaj as a generic term almost synonymous with Rath or Pachhâda.”
[Bhattis of these Provinces.] 4. In these Provinces [46] they are also
known as Jaiswâr. They claim to be Jâdons who returned from beyond the
Indus in the seventh or eighth century. A large number of them became
Muhammadans in the time of Qutb-ud-dîn and Ala-ud-dîn. They say they
came to Bulandshahr under Kansal, or as others say, Deo and Kârê, in
the time of Prithivi Râja, having ejected the Meos. They are divided
into two clans—Bhatti and Jaiswâr. The former is the superior of the
two, the latter having intermarried with spurious Râjputs. A majority
of the clan are now reckoned as Gûjars. Another story is that they are
descended from Râja Dalîp, son of Jaswant Râo of Nâna Mau, near Bithûr.
He had two sons, Bhatti and Rânghar; their descendants settled in
Bhatiyâna; the branch converted to Islâm was called Rânghar. The
national dress is not trousers and waist cloth, but a broad sheet of
coarse cloth, plain or checked, which reaches from the neck to the
ankle and is tied at the waist. The wife of Tuglaq Shâh and mother of
Fîroz Shâh was a Bhatti woman. The Muhammadan Bhattis along the Kâli
Nadi in the Etah District are a turbulent, idle set, much dreaded by
their neighbours.
5. In the Upper Duâb they are reported to give brides to the Chauhân,
Gahlot, Tomar, Panwâr, Kachhwâha, and other high class Râjputs, and to
marry their sons in the Bargûjar, Chauhân, Kachhwâha, Pundîr, and other
high and middle class septs.