Raja Goja Chand (راجہ گوجا چند), also called Gorpal or Gopal Chand and remembered as “Goja Pir”, was the Hindu raja of Bhimber whose four sons founded the main branches of the Chib clan: Shadip Chand, who became Raja Shadab Khan (Baba Shadi Shaheed); Dal Khan; Chhel Khan, ancestor of the Chibs of Chahi and Pothi Jang Khan; and Dom Khan, founder of the Domal of Poonch. According to the 1997 Chib history by Raja Muhammad Iftikhar Ali Khan, he ruled from Chowki Bandi near Samahni, in today’s Azad Jammu and Kashmir, where his samadh is still revered.
At a glance
- Names
- Gorpal, Gopal or Goja Chand; Raja Goja Khan; Goja (or Gaja) Pir
- Father
- Raja Shanti Chand, also called Sasi Chand
- Place in the line
- Sixth raja after Raja Chib Chand, founder of the Chib dynasty
- Capital
- Chowki Bandi, three miles west of Samahni, District Bhimber
- Works
- Rock-cut baolis (step-wells), palaces and three highways
- Memorials
- Samadh at Chowki on the Samahni–Mirpur road; a second samadh at Watala
- Sons
- Shadip Chand (Baba Shadi Shaheed), Bel (Dal) Chand, Chhel Chand, Thom (Dom) Chand
Six rajas after Chib Chand
After Raja Chib Chand, the Katoch prince who founded the Chib dynasty of Bhimber, five rajas sat on the throne in turn: Kalas Chand, Rupal Chand, Rajan Chand, Pheri Chand and Shanti Chand, who is also called Sasi Chand (reading uncertain). Shanti Chand’s son Gorpal Chand succeeded him, and the book calls him the sixth raja of Bhimber, counting from the founder’s successors; he belonged to the sixth generation after Chib Chand and was the seventh ruler of the line if the founder is included (pp. 68, 81, 388).
The book gives no dates for these reigns. It places Chib Chand’s accession early in the fifteenth century, however, and makes Goja Chand’s eldest son a contemporary of Sultan Ibrahim Lodi of Delhi (r. 1517–1526), so Goja Chand presumably ruled in the later fifteenth or early sixteenth century. Every branch of the Chib Rajputs, Muslim and Hindu, descends from one or other of his sons.
Sources differ
The book spells his name in several ways: Gorpal Chand (pp. 68, 81), Gopal Chand (pp. 70, 97, 116) and, on the family-tree chart, Goharpal Chand (p. 388, reading uncertain). Among the people he was known as Raja Goja Khan, and his shrine as Goja Pir or Gaja Pir. His sons’ names vary too: Shadip, Sandip or Shadeb Chand for the eldest, whom Thakur Major Singh calls Dharam Chand; Bel or Dal Chand; Chhel or Chhail Chand; Thom or Dom Chand. Pages 81–82 of the book, set in an older typeface, repeat this chapter with small differences.
Raja Goja Chand at Chowki Bandi
Raja Goja Chand made his capital at Chowki Bandi, a pleasant and healthy spot three miles west of Samahni, in today’s Tehsil Samahni of District Bhimber. The book remembers him as a ruler who cared for the welfare of ordinary people. At his capital he had solid rock cut away to build masonry baolis, or step-wells, which the book calls fine examples of building and stone-carving, and he built palaces that have since fallen into ruin. He also laid out three highways across his state: one running west from Chowki to Puna, a second running east towards Khawlian (reading uncertain), and a third running north to Naushera from the place later known as Sa’dabad. The roads, the book says, made travel and transport much easier for his subjects (p. 68).
Maulvi Zain-ul-Abidin of Samahni, whose manuscript history the book quotes, puts it a little differently. In his account the seat of Gopal Chand and of his son Shadab Khan remained Bhimber, but the scorching heat of the plains drove them to make the cool Samahni valley their summer capital, and a building in the style of a samadh, known as Goja Khan Dhara, still stands at Chowki (pp. 117–118). For the rulers who came after him, see The Rajas of Bhimber.
The samadh of Goja Pir
Raja Goja Chand died at Chowki Bandi, and his samadh, the memorial built where a Hindu ruler was cremated, still stands in the village of Chowki, Tehsil Samahni. Local people held it in such reverence that the samadh itself came to be called Goja Pir, “Goja the saint” (pp. 68, 81). The book’s photograph shows a tall stone structure with a pointed, pyramid-like top, dark against the sky, beside the Samahni–Mirpur road, with hills behind it (p. 97).
A second memorial grew up elsewhere. After a long time, the book relates, the Chib Rajputs of Watala built a samadh for their ancestor in their own village, because Chowki was distant and hard to reach. This shrine stood a furlong south of Mohra Dhok, and when livestock went missing people made offerings there (p. 68). Watala is the home of the Hindu Chibs who descend from Baba Shadi Shaheed’s grandson Raja Ghaggi Khan, described in The Hindu Chibs of Dewa Vatala.
Four sons, four lines
Before he died, Raja Goja Chand told his heir, his eldest son Shadip Chand, to give each of his brothers a share of the state. When Goja Chand died, Shadip Chand became ruler of Bhimber and, as his father had asked, divided portions of the state among his brothers (p. 69). From these four brothers descend the main lines of the clan.
Shadip Chand: Raja Shadab Khan
The eldest son, Shadip Chand, became the most famous of all. As Raja Shadab Khan, and after his death as Baba Shadi Shaheed, he is honoured as the common ancestor of the Chibhal, a great raja and, to his devotees, a saint (p. 81). The compiler holds that he had already embraced Islam in his father’s lifetime, on the advice of his spiritual guide Hazrat Piro Shah, but kept it secret until he himself became raja (p. 114). His sons Raja Bhom Khan, Raja Mal Khan and Raja Rupo Khan founded the Chib lines of Bhimber, of Khari Kariali and of Barhang (p. 389).
Bel Chand: Raja Dal Khan
The second son, Bel Chand, known as Raja Dal Khan, received Beri Pattan and the country around it as his jagir. His relations with his elder brother grew steadily worse until they came to open war, and in one battle Dal Khan was killed at Raluh, near Samahni, where his memorial still stands; the older pages of the book call it “Dal Khan’s Chihani”, his cremation ground. He left no children, so his jagir was taken back into the state of Bhimber (pp. 69, 82). Elsewhere the compiler explains the quarrel: Dal Khan remained a Hindu and bitterly resented his brother’s conversion (p. 115). The spot where he fell, a great rock venerated as Thal Pir, is the subject of Thal Pir: a War Between Brothers.
Chhel Chand: Raja Chhel Khan
The third son, Chhel Chand or Raja Chhel Khan, inherited Chahi, Pothi and other villages about fourteen miles north of Bhimber, and stayed on good terms with his eldest brother. He had two sons, Ismail Khan, known as Samlu Khan, and Pahlwan Khan, whose descendants live at Chahi and at Pothi Jang Khan (pp. 69, 82, 389). Their story is told in Pothi Jang Khan and Chahi.
Thom Chand: Raja Dom Khan
The youngest, Thom Chand, known as Raja Dom Khan, was given the country east of Samahni but was not content with it. After several battles with his eldest brother he was defeated and left his homeland for Parawa Thakiala in Poonch, where he put down two rebellious local tribes, set up his own small state with its seat at a place he called Rajdhani, and embraced Islam at the hand of a dervish, Pir Fazil Shah. From him the Domal tribe arose, whose leaders in the twentieth century included Sardar Fateh Muhammad Khan Karelvi and Sardar Sikandar Hayat Khan (pp. 70, 82); see The Domal of Poonch.
Sources differ
The book tells Dom Khan’s departure in two ways. Its chapter on Goja Chand’s sons has him driven out by Shadab Khan during the latter’s reign (p. 70). Its chapters on Bhimber and on Raja Bhom Khan say that after Shadab Khan’s death Dom Khan came down from the hills, joined the old Thakial and Badhan ruling families in backing a rival claimant, and fled to Poonch only when the emperor in Delhi intervened (pp. 37, 119).
Frequently asked questions
Who was Raja Goja Chand?
He was a Hindu raja of Bhimber, also called Gorpal or Gopal Chand and remembered as Goja Pir. The 1997 Chib history makes him the sixth raja after Raja Chib Chand and the father of Raja Shadab Khan, Baba Shadi Shaheed. He ruled from Chowki Bandi near Samahni, in today’s Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
Why is Raja Goja Chand called Goja Pir?
His samadh, the memorial at his cremation place in Chowki near Samahni, came to be held in such reverence by local people that the shrine itself is known as Goja Pir. The Chibs of Watala later built a second samadh for him in their own village, where offerings were made when livestock went missing.
Who were the sons of Raja Goja Chand?
He had four sons: Shadip Chand, who became Raja Shadab Khan (Baba Shadi Shaheed); Bel Chand, known as Raja Dal Khan; Chhel Chand, or Raja Chhel Khan; and Thom Chand, known as Raja Dom Khan. The Chibs of Bhimber, the Chibs of Chahi and Pothi Jang Khan, and the Domal tribe of Poonch descend from them; Dal Khan left no heirs.
Where is the samadh of Goja Pir?
It stands in the village of Chowki, Tehsil Samahni, District Bhimber, in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, beside the Samahni–Mirpur road. The book’s photograph shows a tall stone structure with a pointed, pyramid-like top. Chowki Bandi, his capital, lies about three miles west of Samahni.
What did Raja Goja Chand build?
According to the book, he built masonry step-wells (baolis) cut into solid rock and palaces at his capital, Chowki Bandi, which are now in ruins. He also laid out three highways: west from Chowki to Puna, east towards Khawlian, and north to Naushera.
Sources
- Raja Muhammad Iftikhar Ali Khan, Raja Shadab Khan alias Hazrat Baba Shadi Shaheed (Urdu, Barhang/Karachi, 1997), pp. 67–70, 81–82, 388–389; see also pp. 37, 97, 112–119.
- Maulvi Zain-ul-Abidin Kohi Samahnavi, unpublished manuscript history of Chibhal, as quoted in the book.
- Thakur Major Singh of Dewa Vatala, Tarikh-e-Chibhal (1983 Bikrami, c. 1926), as quoted in the book.
This article is part of our series based on the 1997 Chib history; see the book, chapter by chapter. Spellings of names follow the book.
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