Auwa is a village in the

Marwar Junction Marwar Junction is a census town and tehsil headquarter in Pali district in the Indian state of Rajasthan. This is an important railway junction on Ahemdabad - Delhi mainline in Pali district . Ajmer-Ahmedabad meter gauge opened in 1881 under Ra ...

tehsil of

Pali district Pali district is a district in Rajasthan, India. The city of Pali is its administrative headquarters. History In 120 AD, during the Kushana Age, King Kanishka conquered the Rohat and Jaitaran areas, parts of today's Pali district. Until the ...

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 ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. The village is situated 13 km from

railway station. Auwa has an ancient temple of Lord Shiva (Kameshwar Mahadev) on its outskirts, which is believed to have been constructed in the 11th century AD.

History

Dharna by Charans

In 1586 AD (V.S. 1643), on the 13th day of

Shukla paksha Paksha (also known as ''pakṣa''; sa, पक्ष, Nepal Bhasa: ''thwa'' and ''gа̄''; ) refers to a fortnight or a lunar phase in a month of the Hindu lunar calendar. Literally meaning "side", a paksha is the period either side of the Ful ...

Chaitra Chaitra (Hindi: चैत्र) is a month of the Hindu calendar. In the standard Hindu calendar and India's national civil calendar, Chaitra is the first month of the year. It is the last month in the Bengali calendar, where it is called Ch ...

month, following the death of the King

Maldev Rathore Rao Maldeo Rathore (5 December 1511 – 7 November 1562) was a king of the Marwar from the Rathore dynasty, who ruled the kingdom of Marwar in present day state of Rajasthan. Maldeo ascended the throne in 1531 CE, inheriting a small ancestral p ...

Jodhpur State Kingdom of Marwar, also known as the Jodhpur State under the British, was a kingdom in the Marwar region from 1226 to 1818 and a princely state under British rule from 1818 to 1947. It was established in Pali by Rao Siha, possibly a m ...

, his eldest son

Chandrasen Rathore Rao Chandrasen Rathore () was a Rathore ruler of Marwar (in the present day Rajasthan state of India). He was a younger son of Rao Maldev Rathore. Chandrasen followed his father's policy and stayed hostile to the ruling foreign powers in I ...

became king. But Chandrasen's younger brother usurped him with the help of the Mughal emperor

Akbar Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar (25 October 1542 – 27 October 1605), popularly known as Akbar the Great ( fa, ), and also as Akbar I (), was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Hum ...

Charan Charan ( IAST: Cāraṇ; Sanskrit: चारण; Gujarati: ચારણ; Urdu: ارڈ; IPA: cɑːrəɳə) is a caste in South Asia natively residing in the Rajasthan and Gujarat states of India, as well as the Sindh and Balochistan provinces ...

s opposed him. For staging a '' dharna'' against the king they were going to

Mewar Mewar or Mewad is a region in the south-central part of Rajasthan state of India. It includes the present-day districts of Bhilwara, Chittorgarh, Pratapgarh, Rajsamand, Udaipur, Pirawa Tehsil of Jhalawar District of Rajasthan, Neemuch and ...

; the Auwa Jagirdar Gopal Das Champawat supported them and suggested that they stage the '' dharna'' in his village. The Charans selected the land on the bank of the

Sukri Sukri river flows from the western slopes of Aravalli Range near Desuri in Pali District and flows through Guda Endla, Rani and Chanod. Its total length in the Pali district is 103 km. Another river of the same name originates from Aravali ...

river, in front of Kajleshwar Mahadev Temple to stage their ''dharna''. They started the ''dharna'' on the 13th and fasted until the full moon. From the third day they started taking their lives by performing Taaga (Dhaaga) and Teliya. The King's trusted Charan friend, Akha Barahath, and his trumpeter () Govind Ji Damami came there to stop them but Akhaji Barahath himself joined his Charan brethren and was killed with other Charans even though Govind Ji Damami sacrificed his life so as to prevent the Charans from killing themselves.

1857 Revolt

The village is known for the siege of the Auwa fort by British forces in 1857 when various

Rajputs 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 ...

Pali Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or '' Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of '' Theravāda'' Buddh ...

region under the stewardship of Thakur Kushal Singh Rathore of Auwa confronted the British. Auwa fort was surrounded by the British army and the conflict lasted many days. The fort and village still carry the scars of that siege. Captain Mason was shot dead for insulting the Thakur and his severed head was hung at the fort gate. The British destroyed the fort and the palace. Even temples and their idols were not spared. The statue of the goddess Mahakali brought to

Ajmer Ajmer is one of the major and oldest cities in the Indian state of Rajasthan and the centre of the eponymous Ajmer District. It is located at the centre of Rajasthan. It is also known as heart of Rajasthan. The city was established as "' ...

is still kept in the Ajmer Museum. A still existent cenotaph was raised for Mason by the British. The fort has today been converted into a hotel.

Demographics

The population of Auwa was 4,202 according to the 2001 census, 2,104 males and 2,098 females. The place is surrounded by small villages by name Deoli, Jojawar, Kherwa, Ranawas etc

References

Auwa VILLAGE population
{{Pali district Villages in Pali district Charan