History
Raja Chahar Dev ruler of Narwar fort in Gwalior region at the end of 13th century. It is said that the name of the Chahar Jat clan comes from this king. Coins of Chahar Dev are found in the region with "Asawar Sri Samant Dev" marked on one side and the figure of a king riding a horse on the other side.
Later Chahar Dev was defeated and killed by Muslim invaders. After this, his descendents moved to Brij Bhumi (i.e. Agra-Mathura) region of Uttar Pradesh. Many of the Chahar jats are still found in this region, see below. After some more years, one group of his descendents moved to Matsya region of Rajasthan and another group moved to Jangladesh region, also of Rajasthan. Till today this is the geographic configuration and distribution of the Chahar Jat population.
In all these areas (that is Agra/Mathura, Matsya and Jangladesh) the Chahar Jats became important among the peasant communities and were Choudharies or village headmen. They often served as the important assistants, darbaris and officers of the big Rajput rulers and the Muslim and British overlords. There are many stories of the loyalty and courage of the Chahar village headmen. The Muslim rulers of north India would award the office of Faujdar to people who had responsibility of protecting some territory. Chahar Jats have served as Faujdars in the past, just like some other clans including Sinsinwar, Sogarwar and Kuntal.
Maldev, father of Somadevi, is an important figure and all Chahars are proud of him. Sometime in the 15th century, Maldev was the Chaudhary (village headman) of Sidhmukh village in Jangladesh (the area around Bikaner). He was a vassal of the Bhati Rajput ruler of Jaisalmer. He gave a tough fight to a Muslim army which was returning to Delhi after plundering Jaisalmer. The chief of the Muslim army wanted to take away Maldeo's daughter, Somadevi, as a booty of war. Maldeo refused to surrender his daughter to the Muslim invader. He gave tough fight but was killed and Somadevi was forcibly taken away. Remaining members of Maldeo's family migrated to the Jhunjhawati region.
Read more about this topic: Chahar Clan
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