Rawatsar is a city, a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

, and one of the seven

tehsil A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administr ...

s in

Hanumangarh district Hanumangarh district is a district in the state of Rajasthan in India. The city of Hanumangarh is the district headquarters and its largest city. District profile The district is located in the extreme north of Rajasthan. It has an area of 12 ...

in the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...

. It is divided into 35 wards for which elections are held every five years.

History

Establishment by Raghodas

Rawatsar establishment by Rawat Raghodas

Rawatsar was established in 1584 by Raghodas through conquest. It was formerly called Sihagoti, as it was ruled by the Siyaag Jaats and some parts were also ruled by

Guhilot Gahlot is a clan of Rajputs Guhilot Rajputs ruled number of Kingdom's including Mewar, Banswara, Dungarpur, Pratapgarh, Shahpura, Bhavnagar, Palitana, Lathi and Vala, The variations of the name include Gehlot, Guhila, Gohil or Guhilot. Hist ...

Rajput Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...

s. They had a common oppressor, the

Nawab Nawab (Balochi language, Balochi: نواب; ar, نواب; bn, নবাব/নওয়াব; hi, नवाब; Punjabi language, Punjabi : ਨਵਾਬ; Persian language, Persian, Punjabi language, Punjabi , Sindhi language, Sindhi, Urd ...

of Rania, who raided and pillaged the area. Raghodas defeated him, and he established the ''

thikana Thakur is a historical feudal title of the Indian subcontinent. It is also used as a surname in the present day. The female variant of the title is Thakurani or Thakurain, and is also used to describe the wife of a Thakur. There are varying ...

'' of Rawatsar. He earned the title of Rawat, which carries prestige along with the headseat of the Kandhalot clan (descendants of Rawat Kandhal) for contributions in battles in the

Deccan The large Deccan Plateau in South India, southern India is located between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, and is loosely defined as the peninsular region between these ranges that is south of the Narmada river. To the north, it is bou ...

South India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territo ...

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

and Sultanpur. The headseat of the clan shifted to Rawatsar from Jaitpur. Raghodas also constructed the Khetarpal ji Temple. Rawatsar later on became a ''sirayat'' from a ''thikana'', which made it one of the four major ''thikanas'' of

Bikaner Bikaner () is a city in the northwest of the state of Rajasthan, India. It is located northwest of the state capital, Jaipur. Bikaner city is the administrative headquarters of Bikaner District and Bikaner division. Formerly the capital of ...

Bahadur Singh of Rawatsar

The

Bhatner fort The Bhatner fort is at Hanumangarh in Rajasthan, India, about 419 km northwest of Jaipur along the old Multan-Delhi route and 230 km north-east of Bikaner. The old name of Hanumangarh was Bhatner, which means "fortress of the Bhati". ...

is 24 miles from Rawatsar, and the Rawats were involved in its annexation. In 1799, the Maharaja Surat Singh of Bikaner sent a force of 2,000 under the leadership of Bahadur Singh (the fourth son of Rawat Anand Singh) to reclaim

Bhatner Hanumangarh is a city in the Indian state of Rajasthan, situated on the banks of the river Ghaggar also identified as Ancient Sarasvati river, located about 400 km from Delhi. It is the administrative seat of Hanumangarh District. The ci ...

, which had been occupied by

Bhatti Bhatti () is a clan of Rajputs and Jats found in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Bhattis along with Bhuttos and Bhatias claim to have originated from the Hindu Bhati Rajputs. In the years preceding the Indian rebellion of 1857 the British ...

Muslims, Thakur Madan Singh of Bhukarka, and Rawat Padam Singh of Jaitpur. The Bhattis led by Ahmad Khan were defeated at Dabli and the Bikaner Forces erected a fortification known as Fatehgarh. The Bikaner forces lost against George Thomas of Hissar, who took Fatehgarh in 1799 with the Bhatti. Bahadur Singh temporarily recaptured it in a blitz attack, but Fatehgarh was seized again and Bahadur Singh was killed.

Geography

Rawatsar is located at . It has an elevation of 176 meters (577 feet).

Demographics

As of the

2001 Census of India The 2001 Census of India was the 14th in a series of censuses held in India every decade since 1871. The population of India was counted as 1,028,737,436 consisting of 532,223,090 males and 496,514,346 females. Total population increased by 18 ...

, Rawatsar had a population of 35,102. Males constituted 18,308 (52%) of the population and females 16,794 (48%). Rawatsar had an average literacy rate of 69.16%, higher than the state average of 66.11%: male literacy is around 78.91%, and female literacy is 58.66%.

Language

Bagri, a dialect of the

Rajasthani language Rajasthani (Devanagari: ) refers to a group of Indo-Aryan languages and dialects spoken primarily in the state of Rajasthan and adjacent areas of Haryana, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh in India. There are also speakers in the Pakistani provinces ...

, is spoken by a majority of the population.

Khetapal Ji temple and fair

When Raghodas went to Burhapur, the army's supplies of food and water had depleted due to a drought. Due to the pressure he faced, he thought it was better to kill himself rather than to fail his followers. While he was trying to kill himself, it is said that

Bhairava Bhairava (Sanskrit: भैरव ) or Kala Bhairava is a Shaivite and Vajrayāna deity worshiped by Hindus and Buddhists. In Shaivism, he is a powerful manifestation, or avatar, of Shiva associated with annihilation. In Trika system ''Bhairava ...

appeared in front of him and guided him to go to a certain place where he would find rations for the entire army and an idol. He did so and this idol was placed in the Khetarpal ji Temple. Every year, a large fair is held here. It is known as Ramdevji and KhetarPalji Mela. In the temple, devotees make a ''darshan'' of Baba Ramdev Ji and Baba Khetarpal Ji. In Rawtsar tehsil, Kinkriya is another fair that is held every year several times for Kesranath ji, who is considered a deity for treatment of snake bites. Rawatsar Ramdevji Mela

References

{{Hanumangarh district Cities and towns in Hanumangarh district