Rani Bhatiyani

What it is

Rani Bhatiyani sa is a Hindu folk goddess whose following sits in western Rajasthan and stretches to Kashmir and, across the border, to Sindh in Pakistan. Believers hold that she was once a living woman: a princess of the Bhati Rajputs, born at Jogidas in Jaisalmer district, who died on a pyre. Misfortune was said to haunt her husband's house afterwards, so a shrine was raised at Jasol to give her spirit rest, and from then on she is regarded as a kindly, motherly power. Devotees call her Majisa, which means mother, while at her birthplace she answers to Bhuasa. Her chief temples stand at Jasol in Barmer District and Jogidas in Jaisalmer, and her praise is carried above all by hereditary singers.

Where it comes from

Her tale is told as legend, in several versions. She was born Swarup, a princess of the little realm of Jogidas, in Jaisalmer district; her father Jograj Singhji belonged to the Bhati clan of Rajputs, which gives her the name Bhatiyani. Kalyan Singh, a prince of Jasol of the Rathore clan, took her as his wife. The accounts of her death part ways. In one, Devri, Kalyan Singh's senior wife, jealous of her, poisons her son Lal Singh. In another, false word of her husband's death in battle is put about by Kalyan Singh himself, wanting her gone so he could wed again, though the man truly dead is her brother-in-law Sawai Singh. Learning her husband lives, she keeps her resolve and gives her life on Sawai Singh's pyre.

How it is done

Devotion reaches her chiefly through the voice. Bards of the Merasi Manganiyar community sing pieces for her, and among the Dholi, a community of singers, it is the women who perform the Ghoomar songs in her praise, hailing her as Jaisalmer's princess. The tradition holds that the first sight of the goddess was granted to a dholi, one of the singers, which binds her worship closely to the households that carry her songs. At Jasol and Jogidas she is revered in her temples as a goddess in her own right.

Tools and materials

The means her accounts name are spare. Her praise lives in song: the Ghoomar repertoire of the Dholi women and the pieces sung for her by Manganiyar bards. Her presence is marked by temples and by an idol, an image of the goddess set up for veneration; the shrine built at Jasol was itself the deed that settled her spirit, and a temple in Tharparkar district, Pakistan, is dedicated to her. Names serve as signs too: Majisa addresses her as mother, Bhuasa ties her to her birthplace, Bhatiyani carries her father's clan.

What it is for

Devotees turn to her as a mother. She is called Majisa, the mother, and is held to be kindly: after her spirit was settled at Jasol, she is said to have turned from a source of trouble in Kalyan Singh's household into a gentle guardian. She is also credited with showing herself to her own: her first vision, the songs say, came to a dholi singer. Those who seek her are the bard and singer communities of the region and ordinary worshippers in western Rajasthan, Kashmir and Sindh, who honour her with song at her temples.

Who does it

Her service rests with two hereditary communities. The Merasi Manganiyar, a bard community of the region, sing in her honour and keep her story alive in performance. Among the Dholi, singers by community, it is the women who perform the Ghoomar songs for her, and to one of their number the goddess is said to have shown her first vision, which ties them closely to her story. Beyond the singers, Hindus of western Rajasthan, Kashmir and Sindh revere her at her temples, honouring her as Majisa, the mother.

Peoples and places

Her heartland is western Rajasthan, where her two chief temples stand: Jasol in Barmer District, and Jogidas in Jaisalmer district, the place legend gives as her birth and where she is known as Bhuasa rather than Majisa. Her worship reaches Kashmir and crosses the border into Sindh in Pakistan, where a Hindu temple in Tharparkar district is dedicated to her. The communities most bound to her are the Merasi Manganiyar bards and the Dholi singers. Rajput history frames her story: her father Jograj Singhji was of the Bhati clan, and her husband Kalyan Singh of the Rathores of Jasol.

What people believe

The ideas behind her turn on what becomes of a woman who dies as she did. In her tale, death on the pyre leaves a spirit with grievances, and the misfortune that strikes her husband's house is read as her unrest until a shrine gives her honour and rest. Once settled, the same presence turns benevolent, a guardian mother rather than a haunt. Her cult also holds that she reveals herself: the first vision granted to a dholi singer marks the beginning of her worship. Her names carry her parts, as mother, as birthland's daughter, as clan princess.

Compare and confuse

One figure answers to several names: Rani Bhatiyani sa, Mata Rani Bhatiyani, Majisa the mother, and Bhuasa at Jogidas. Her tale is attached to sati, the practice in which a woman gives her life on her husband's pyre, though her own story bends the pattern, since the pyre she mounted was her brother-in-law's.

Today

Her worship is alive on both sides of the India-Pakistan border. The temples at Jasol and Jogidas serve devotees in western Rajasthan, and in Pakistan a Hindu temple in Tharparkar district is dedicated to her. In 2020 that temple was attacked by miscreants, who damaged the goddess's idol and burned the holy books. Her praise continues in performance, through the songs of the Manganiyar bards and the Ghoomar singing of Dholi women.

Questions people ask about Rani Bhatiyani

Good reading and sources

• Rani Bhatiyani on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data