Janjua: Encyclopedia II - Janjua - Origins

Janjua - Origins

The Janjua Rajput is a branch of the ancient Vedic Aryans of India belonging to the Lunar Race or Chandra Vansh. They gain descendancy primarily from Kuru clan, a descendant of the the Puru Dynasty. Arjuna, the Pandava Kshatriya hero of the Mahabharata epic is the father of this dynasty. Another famous patriarch king within this branch is Raja Janamejaya who was the great grandson of Arjuna Pandava (through his father Raja Parikshit, son of Raja Abhimanyu son of Arjun Pandav.) [1]

After the Mahabharata, this branch of the Puru/Pauravas dynasty was recognised through this ancestor, King Janamejaya, and therefore from then on was known essentially as the Janamejayan Puru Dynasty. They have also been historically been referred to as Chandravashi, the Kuru[2] Dynasty and also Purus'. Puru was the originator of this Dynasty, then later this branched out through King Kuru, a famous noble and saintly King descendant of King Bharat [3]descendant of King Puru. [4] The famed landmark in India Kurukshetra still stands today and was originally named after him. [5] [6] Likewise Hastinapur was also an ancestral home of this line, being named after King Hastin, the son of King Bharat.

The descendants of Raja Janamejaya (also known as the 'Serpent Killer' after the famous mass revenge killing of all snakes and the 'Nagas' people - people possibly of Tibetan origin who were rulers of a nearby state responsible for the assassination of his father Raja Parikshit)[7] have always been known as Janamejayan by the historians of this dynasty. Historically they have also been referred to as the Pandava Dynasty, the Pururava Dynasty and the Pauravas. (It must be noted here that although the Janjua were also Pandavas, the known Jarral Rajput, a famous powerful Rajput dynasty who ruled Rajaur for for well over 600 years were also Pandavas by origin through Nanak Rao, the brother of 'Maharaja of the Kurus' Janamejaya.[8])

A known scion of the Pandava dynasty through Janamejaya became a very well known and recognised warrior king in his time. His name was Rai Janjua Paal. He was famous for his conquests and warlike temperament. He named his branch as Janjua henceforth and this name has now since remained in his dynasty.

Other Janjua descendants include Ranial/Dhamial Rajputs, Tanoli Rajputs (also spelt Tanaulis/ Tanawalis), Pulowal Rajputs, Hind-wal Rajputs and Khakha Rajputs who are essentially the descendants of Raja Bhir Janjua, Raja Tanoli Janjua and Raja Khakha Janjua respectively. Raja Bhir, Tanoli, Khakha, Jodh and Kala are all sons of the famous Janjua chief, Raja Mal Janjua.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Origins", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki