Bhadrod

Bhadrod is a village in Mahuva Taluka of Bhavnagar district, Gujarat, India. It is situated four miles north east of Mahuva and fifty-one miles south-west of Bhavnagar. It is built on the western bank of the Bhadrodi river.

History

Bhadrod is associated with Rukmi, brother of Rukmini. It is a place where he overtook Krishna when he was carrying off that lady, and a battle was fought, in which Rukmi was defeated and taken prisoner, and only released after Krishna had contemptuously caused his moustache and whiskers and the hair of his head shaved off. As Rukmi had solemnly sworn never to return to Kundinapuri unless victorious and unless he should in prison Krishna and bring back his sister Rukmini, he was much perplexed how to act now that he had been not only defeated but disgraced. He finally resolved to reside on the battle-field, and established there a small temple of Mahadev, which he named Bhadreshvar. By degrees a village sprung up, first called Bhadranagar which has by degrees been corrupted into Bhadrod.

When the Valas were forced to leave Talaja by the Muslims in the time of Selait Vala (about 1544), they retired to Bhadrod and remained here for some time. During their rule, Gundala, between Nikol and Kalsar, was the port of Bhadrod. It is now waste, and there stands only a deserted temple of Hanuman on the old site. This temple is still called the Gandalio Hanuman. The Khasias under Vijo and Misri Khasia conquered Mahuva and Bhadrod in about 1744 from the Valas, and Misri Khasia established himself at Bhadrod, while Vijo Khasia resided at Mahuva. Here the Khasias remained till 1784, when they were conquered by Thakor Vakhatsinghji of Bhavnagar State. Since then Bhadrod was under Bhavnagar.

When the Valas reigned at Talaja, Bhadrod belonged to them. Uga Vala of this line is a favourite local hero, and is said to have rescued Ra Kavat of Junagadh when confined in a cage at the Shial Island by Anant Chavdo. As Vala Uga, who was Ra Kuvat's sister's son, had boasted at Junagadh that he could clap hands with one palm, a metaphor meaning that he was not dependant on Junagadh for assistance, therefore, when Ra Kavat was in confinement in the Shial Island, he sent the following two verses to Vala Uga:

Take your bow in your hand,

So that the crow may not sit on the branch;
If you cannot clap hands with one palm,
Then clap hands, O Uga, with both palms.
The days pass with difficulty,
And an hour seems like a month,
Waiting for you, the Vala,

I have wept out my eyes, O Uga.

Afterwards Vala Uga went to the Shial Island , and slew the garrison and delivered Ra Kavat. It is said that when he forced his way to the Chavda's palace seeking Anant, that Anant's wife met him and besought him to spare her husband's life in the following stanza:

You have slain seven hundred heroes,

And killed five hundred Pathans ;
But if you slay Anant, who alone remains, O Uga,

Then let there be Ebhal Vala's oath on you.

Thus adjured, Vala Uga spared Anant's life, but released all the kings whom he had imprisoned. He subsequently was slain by Ra Kavat in revenge for a fancied insult at the time of the later's liberation.

Four silver coins of the Indo-Greek monarch Apollodotus I were found at Bhadrod and one was found at Dhank, another ancient Vala settlement.

Notes and references

References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency: Kathiawar. Vol. VIII. Printed at the Government Central Press, Bombay. 1884. pp. 380–381.