Guardians of the Gate: Military History of the Mohyal: Fighting Brahmins

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This is the Military History of the Mohyals – an Indian clan of fighting Brahmins. They are Saraswat Brahmins who dwelt on the banks of the ancient river Saraswati – that once flowed from the Himalayas to the Arabian Sea. As such they came in the path of each and every invader who came to loot or subjugate India. The warrior sage, Parshuram, had militarised them in the early epic period. From priests these Brahmins had morphed into Mohyal fighting Brahmins, brave and tenacious fighters with a great tradition of soldiering. After Alexanders invasion, Chanakya recruited the Maurayan Army from this region. They became the Bhumiar Brahmins who later settled in Bihar and UP, and helped unify India for the Maurayan empire. Surprisingly, a Mohyal clan fought in Iraq on the side of the Shias’ in the famous Karbala war. The Mohyal Shahi rulers of Afghanistan stopped the world conquering Arab armies on the Hindu Kush and gave them their first taste of defeat and held them off for 300 years. They fought the Arab invasions of Sindh, Mehmood Ghaznavi and Muhammad Ghori. When the Mughal empire turned tyrannical under Aurangzeb, they flocked to the banner of the Sikh Gurus to overthrow this evil tyranny. Baba Paraga, Bhai Mati Das and Banda Bairagi were great soldier saints of the Sikh military tradition. They were all Mohyals who played a major role in the Indian military revival that took place with the Sikhs and the Marathas. This book is an invaluable record of all the military invasions of India from the third century B.C. onwards. The soldiers and scholars of History will find it an invaluable document about Indian Military History per se – right from the Vedic times to the present era. These fighting Brahmins have maintained their military traditions. Post-independence, 2/Lt Puneet Datt won the Ashok Chakra – the highest gallantry award in the land. Four Mohyal officers won the Mahavir Chakra and other four, the Vir Chakra. Six Mohyals have risen to the rank of Army Commander and equivalent in the Indian Army and Air Force, and three became the governor of states. 10 became Lt Generals and 15 Maj Generals – all from a miniscule community – just 6 lakh strong. They are like the Samurai of Japan – great patriots, scholar-warriors and erstwhile feudal lords who have made enormous sacrifices for their country. They have been the guardians of it’s gates.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR G D Bakshi

Brigadier G D Bakshi, VSM is a graduate of the National Defence Academy. He did his early schooling from St. Aloysius School Jabalpur. He holds a Masters degree in Defence Science and an M.Phil in Defence and Strategic Studies from the University of Madras. He taught for three years each at the Indian Military Academy Dehradun, and the prestigious Defence Services Staff College at Wellington. He is an Associate Member of the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis and is a prolific writer on matters military. He has authored six books and written several papers for prestigious defence journals which include the Strategic Analysis and Indian Defence Review. He has done two tenures at the prestigious Directorate General of Military Operations at New Delhi. He commanded his unit in Kargil and was awarded the Vishist Seva Medal in 1991. Currently, he is commanding a Rashtriya Rifles Sector in J&K. In this book he brings to bear his thirty years of military study and experience to an analysis of the military content of the Mahabharata Epic. The central theme of this book is the assertion that there is an historic Indian Strategic Culture and today we need to rediscover these historical roots of our military inheritance.