Jadeja Rajput

Jadejais the name of a major clan of Yadav Yaduvanshi or Chandravanshi Rajputs. The Chandravanshi, claiming descent from Chandra, the Hindu Moon-god, in English known as the Lunar Dynasty. They ruled huge parts of Kathiawar peninsula and Kutch as kings and princes for several centuries.jadeja's spread hug dynasty in kutch and saurastra. jamnagar,dhrol, rajkot, gondal,morabi had ruled by jadeja's since 450 years above.

Jam Lakho Jadani reigned in Kutch between AD 1147–1175 and had one heir to the gaddi (throne) Jam
Kutchi and he was so called because he used to tie a red cloth across his turban to prevent it from dislodging during battles.
Jam Rato Raydhan had four sons namely, Jam Othaji, Dedaji, Hothiji and Gajanji and they were given the territories of Lakhirviro, Kanthkot, Gajod and Bara respectively in Kutch.
As Othaji was the eldest, he ascended to the throne and the rest became a part of Bhayyat or the Brotherhood,
( Bhayyat is the term used for all the descendants of the royal family who own and control their own domains passed through the generations, with their own revenue system,and adhere to the feudal system.Over the years, there were constant skirmishes due to jealousy that marred within these houses, and clan-warfare  was bitter with pillage,debauchery, killings and revenge  within their fiefs common place throughout the history of  Jadejas until late 1800s) there were regular skirmishes and fights between these branches until they merged in two groups of Othaji and Gajanji.

The first incident among these which changed the history of kutch is the murder of Jam Lakhaji of Bara,(The following version differs for both states, ie; Kutch & Jamnagar, As most of the Historical records were maintained by the Barots of respective Royal houses, the Barots or Royal Bards would invariably glorify the houses they were part of and represented ) Jam Lakhaji, 11th from the line of Gajanji was a famous warrior, and  Mahmud Begada, the  Governor of Gujarat appointed by Delhi Sultanate,found it prudent to have support of such a fighter, he was attracted by his skills in arms and valor and bestowed upon him estates of Amran and Gondal to give him chance and prove himself,these estates were occupied by chiefs who resisted the authority of Sultan,and thereby he had a vested interest in enlisting a stout fighter against his own adversaries.

 Lakhaji after hard fighting with Sanghers won and consolidated  both the fiefs in to an estate which he named HALAR, after the son of Gajanji of Bara and his forefather Halaji, however in doing so , he had invited a lot of bad blood within the newly claimed territory,and on one occasion, was followed by Sanghers on his visit to his paternal place of Bara in Kutch, while passing through Lakhiarviro, he had doubts about the hospitality of Hammerji and decided to pass the night in the village on the outskirts, where he was murdered by the posse that had followed him.  Jam Rawal , son of Lakhaji lay the blame on Hameerji , as his father  was killed within the territory of Lakhiarviro, and was intent on revenging his fathers death,  over the time,on  pretense of resolving the dispute between the two branches,Rawal started developing amicable relations with Hameerji, with intention to one day avenge the murder of his father, on one such visit to Lakhiarviro,  he invited Jam Hameerji to Bara, and took a fake oath of MaaAashapura,( In order to show good intentions and confidence it is believed that Jam Rawal hid a sparrow under his shawl, and put a hand on the sparrow and took an oath of not hurting Jam Hameerji during his visit to Bara) the supreme deity of Jadejas, Jam  Hamirji  saw a chance to settle the dispute and decided to accept the invitation, however the Women of the house sensed a bad premonition and held the young princes back, instead Jam Hameeji visited with his trusted aide, after the meal, alone and surrounded by Jam Raawals men, he and the aide were both hacked to death by Jam Raawal.

During this time Alioji and Khengarji, two princes  of Hamirji were concealed and sent to Ahmedabad and escaped the complete destruction of the Royal family perpetuated by Jam Rawal,thereafter, Jam Rawal usurped the throne of Kutch and reigned with supreme authority.
Khengarji was 15 years old when his father was murdered, he enlisted in to the army of Mahmud Begada, during one Royal Hunting party, Khengar killed a lion and saved the life of Sultan for which he was asked to name his reward, the prime ambition of Khengar was to regain Kutch and hence he asked for support to fight Jam Raawal, whereby, he was given 1000 soldiers , complete access to Morvi and  a title of Rao by the sultan Mohamad of Ahmedabad.

Rao Khengar with the support of well wishers within Kutch and Morvi fought with Jam Raawal and slowly started gaining the territories of Rapar and nearby villages, as Khengar was the rightful heir to the throne he was welcomed and dissent towards Jam Raawal grew within the state of Kutch.

Jam Raawal was ardent devotee of Maa Ashapura,it is believed that the Goddess indicated Jam Rawal to leave Kutch and establish himself at Halar (Saurashtra), and that she will support him in this venture.Jam Rawal set out for Saurashtra and established himself at Nawanagar.

This is where first  jadeja branch that originated from the house of kutch,

Khengar became the 1st Rao of Kutch in AD 1549 and established Bhuj as Capital.
The first four Raos of Kutch ascended the throne in regular succession according to primogeniture, however after Rao Khengarji II died, there was a break in succession, and in order to prevent the throne being given to Khengarjis son by a Muslim mistress, the Bhayyat instated Tamachiji who was the second son of Rao Khengarjis younger brother.


After the demise of Rao Raydhunji this regularity of succession was again deviated, Raydhunji had three sons, Ravaji,Nagulji and Pragji.Ravaji the eldest son was murdered by Sodha rajputs, his second brother Nagulji had died of natural causes before, both the brothers,however had left sons, who by right were entitled to succeed the throne of kutch, but as they were young, Pragji eventually usurped the throne of Kutch and became Maharoa Pragmulji. Kayanji, the eldest son of murdered Ravaji was given Morvi, from where he unsuccessfully tried many a times to regain his rightful throne of Kutch. The descendants of Kanyoji  Jadeja settled in Morvi and were called Kanyani. Thus The State of Morvi and the second branch of Jadejas that descended from kutch was formed .

Jam Rawal was the founder of Nawanagar in AD 1540, his descendants branched out and formed the state of Rajkot,and Dhrol,The descendants of Royal family of Rajkot formed Princely state of Gondal. This Genealogy is still maintained today, by the Barots of respective Jadeja Branches,and every single person in Jadeja clan can trace their ancestry through to Jam Rato Raydhun.
Rato Raydhan, Rato means Red in