In the Quest for the roots: History of Paliwal

Paliwal is a surname in India that many families have adopted from their place of origin: Pali. Pali was for many years a centre of trade and commerce, located in the current state of Rajasthan in India. Although these people practised many religions and belonged to different Hindu castes, most of them were Brahmins and Rajputs. A lot of them belong to Jain community too, who call themselves Digamber Paliwal Jains having surnames Lodaya, Khedikar etc.

Etymology and use

The origin of the surname Paliwal is Pali wale (a person from Pali). Most of the inhabitants of Pali were called Paliwal.

Origins

There are no exact answers to the question of origin; in fact, there are two major views on this topic. One view says that Paliwal come from Pali which was a small kingdom in the Thar Desert of India and the inhabitants turned into an oasis. At some point in the 13th century, unhappy with what they saw as tyrannical behaviour by the King of Pali, they migrated to the area of Kuldhara in the then state of Jaisalmer. Their origin was identified by the appellation Paliwal. It is said that each new Paliwal family was welcomed into the 84 villages around Kuldhara with a brick and a gold coin from every other family in the village. The brick was used in the building of a house and the gold to start a business or farm. As the community's prosperity was rebuilt, it became the target of Mughal invasions. Apparently, in the 18th century, there was a raid which resulted in the wells being poisoned by animal carcasses, and which caused this community to migrate away again from the Kuldhara area.

From the perusal of the above facts, it is clear that “Paliwal” is a geographical identity. It includes several castes such as Brahmins, Rajput, Vaishya etc. The Rajput community of Paliwals migrated to eastern and western UP. Some of the families migrated to north Bihar.

Paliwals are Chandravansis and it is believed that Paliwal Rajputs are the descendants of Pandavas. Paliwal Rajputs have Vyagrapath gotra. 

The term “Paliwal” is uttered differently in different places. It is pronounced by different names in different places and by different people depending upon their understanding such as “Palwal”; “Paliwar” AND “Pariwal” etc.

Paliwals Rajputs belong to the Chandrawansh and being the ancestor of King Bharat and Pandwas some Rajputs mentioned themselves as Bharatvanshi. Palwal Rajputs are the great fighters in their own times. 

They belong to Vyaghra Gotra with the honest prayer of the Devata Nag.

There are some sacred-text available in the royal library of Mewar (private library and belongs to the royal family of Udaipur) at Udaipur about the history of Paliwal.

There is another view of historians about the history of Paliwal’s. According to them, Paliwal Rajputs are basically Solanki Rajputs. Some say that they are descendants of Pandavas and they are "Tomar" Rajputs.

Some believe that Kuldevi of the Palwal Rajputs is Kshemkari (Khimji) Mata in Janore, Pali, Rajasthan.

As Solanki Rajputs dynasty vanishes after 1100 BC and Wadhelas of Gujrat carry the same in the future this Rajputs are known by the Raja Pal (last King of Solanki Dynasty) Whose 4th Grandfather was Raja Vyahgradeo. Further, they started writing the Vyhaghra Gotra as their dynasty.

Paliwal’s in Gorakhpur, UP

In Gorakhpur District of Uttar Pradesh, there is the presence of Paliwal’s. In some of the villages such as Hundara, Khalanga, Gagaha, there is a huge presence of this community. It is said that when these people migrated from Rajasthan and in search of some other safe place they came to the then kingdom of Badhayapaar. Badhayapaar is a small kingdom in the present district of Gorakhpur. The then king of Badhyapaar was having a very bad time in dealing with Pindaris. Pindaris were basically a tribe and their main occupation was to loot villages and towns. They were merciless people and used to destroy the villages and towns after looting it. These people (Paliwal’s) have heard that the king is in trouble and hence they extended their help to the king and next time when the Pindaris attacked the kingdom, they defeated them and destroyed them ruthlessly so that they never dared to look towards this kingdom again.

When the king of Badhyapaar came to know that these people were migrants then he offered three villages to them to reside and since then Paliwal’s had rooted themselves in these three villages. Later on, one village was taken back by the king. The Paliwal’s have converted these villages into livable place which at one point in time were forests.

Compiled by

Dr Ranjit Singh

Source:

1. Paliwal Sansar. (2012). History of the World's Largest Family Tree, retrieved from http://gauravp.byethost15.com/paliwalsansar/aboutus.php

2.        http://www.paliwalsangh.org.in/history.php

3.  https://hi.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%AA%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B2%E0%A5%80%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B2