HISTORY OF PARAJIYA PATTNI SONI

History
The family,community or nation that is not acquainted with its own history has no place in this world. The society records its history in terms of the achievements (not failures) made by their forefathers. It is their deeds and accomplishments that form the basis of principles, customs and way of life of the present day society. We at the Rajkot Mahamandal have tried to chart the history of Parajiya Pattni Soni Gnati Samaj with the help from our Barots ( Family Historian), various historical reference materials like artifacts, literatures and other historical records.   The first reference to the word Parajiya Soni (Gold Smith of Parajiya Caste) is in the year 145 AD. This is believed to be the time when Shree Hinglaj Mataji blessed the Parajiya Kshatriya's with the art and skill of the Suvarnkar (goldsmith). It is believed that the profession of gold smith originated at this time and it was taken up by the followers and descendants of Shree Hakam Sinh Parmar alias Hakami Banda. Today this art of creating exquisite Gold Jewellery has taken the Prarajiya Soni community all over the world; where they have been successful in establishing themselves in business environments totally alien to them. They also have contributed significantly towards the socio-economic development of these countries. Parajiya Soni's are the descendants of the warrior class also known as the Kshatriyas .They were ruling the Parajav region of the Indus valley (currently In Pakistan) These Kshatriyas of Parajav region were also known as Parajiyas. Forever ready to fight & to die for ! rather than to run away from the sense of duty that is the Parajiya warrior   In the yr 145 AD the descendants of Rajvanshi Kshatriya's of Sapt (seven) Sindhu (rivers) area (Presently in Pakistan) resettled in Songadh (Saharanpur in Punjab) and thus were also known Songadha Kshatriyas with passage of time some of the Songadha Kshatriyas resettled in Parjav region of the Indus Valley (Patiyala in Punjab) and also came to be known as Songadha Parjiya Kshatriya's. In Songadh they built a magnificent temple for Shree Mahakali Mataji…………   In ancient Bharat (India) traditionally the elder son of the king was the heir to the throne and the younger sons were given a few villages, towns as their inheritance.   These younger sons who were given part of the wealth or property in form of small villages were known as Garasiyas or Rajput (Garas in Gujarati means a small part) with passage of time these small villages were further divided amongst their heirs.These Descendants had no other means of livelihood and were solely dependent on their inheritance. Due to lack of education and skills, jobs were hard to get & slowly their honorable status declined completely. Even in these times of troubles they kept their faith in the history of their ancestors and their way of life, family values, rituals and religion, etc. but in order to survive, they had to unwillingly choose different occupations.   A few of the Garasiya's ( Rajputs) however choose not to adopt the occupation of other communities. Therefore due to their misplaced ego's and also in order to maintain their livelihood they became dacoits and took to robbing and looting. But even in these bad times there were a few good religious people, one of them being Shree Hukamsinh Parmar alias Hakmi Banda. When he saw that the evil was eating into the society, he realized that if his people continued on this path they would be lost forever.   He was inspired to guide his people to the righteous path of living. He decided to put his family fortunes to persuade the younger generation to abandon robbing & looting & return to the mainstream and the good ways of earning a living. Shree Hakami Bandaji told them that this was the only way to repay the dept of the elders and build a fulfilled and active life for themselves & their future generations.   To realize these intentions he invited his community elders & religious heads for a feast. He asked for their advice & blessings to put his thoughts into  action. The elders keeping their faith in Shree Jagdama Mataji advised the community to go on a pilgrimage to the Temple of Shree Hinglaj Mataji (now in Baluchistan in Pakistan) on the top of the Kohla hill.   The legend has it that the community on reaching there prayed to the Mataji for her blessings. Mataji blessed the community with the art and skill to practice the profession of Goldsmith Shree Hinglaj Mataji gave them three Tools for creating gold ornaments namely.   Mataji gave them the guiding values and principles for their new profession.   Never earn through cheating              Never cheat your customers Never take what is not yours Work by which your customers will be satisfied Donate fourth part of your profits for the benefit of your society   By doing so they would keep on reaping the fruits of their labor. Thus Hukamsinh Parmar became to be known as the first gold smith of Songadha Parajiya Kshatriya Samaj. He handed over this legacy to the younger generation along with the guiding values and principles of  Mataj. Gradually the rest of the Kshatriyas began joining the profession and thus the Parajiya Soni Samaj came into existence. The idealism, Virtuosity & Sincerity of Shree Hukamsinh Parmar became a way of life.   In Year 1152 of Vikram Savant in the Hindu calendar or near the end of the 10th century AD. Songadha region faced a terrible famine & drought infamously known as the Valvaliya famine. This famine forced the Parajiya Kshatriya's to resettle themselves elsewhere. The leading Parajiya's of that time were...   Shree Narvir Nandaji Chavda Shree Gangaji Chouhan  Shree Damaji Barad Shree Vir Dada Jasraj Barad   They led the community to the kingdom of Siddhraj Jaisinh Dev in the princely state of Siddhpur Pattan (Gujarat). The goldsmith's of the state were of Gurjar caste, they did not like to share their profession with the Parajiya's. Therefore they attacked the parajiyas but lost the battle miserably,   The Barot of Parajiya's "Shree Kalyan Rao" mediated between the warring parties and advised them to make an appeal to the King for a just solution.   The King advised them that the best way to prove their right was by showing their skills as Goldsmiths. Therefore to prove their skills the King gave each of them 25 Kilograms of gold to work with and gave them a fixed period of time in which to prove their skills.   The Gurjar Soni's created the image of a Fish which could swim in the water from their part of the allotted gold. They did this by cleverly filling the mould of the fish with live flies. Whereas the Parajiya Soni's having had come from outside; had no financial strength to even feed themselves. Therefore They sold all their gold bit by bit to sustain their families.    By the time to show their skills had also come they realized that only one gram of gold was left; In desperation the entire community prayed to Shree Hinglaj Mataji for help the legend says that Mataji appeared and instructed them to cover the gram of gold with a vessel and take it to the king.   She told them that they should uncover the gold only in front of the King. When the vessel was uncovered They found that the gram of gold had turned in to a live and beautiful golden swan.   The swan and the Fish were kept in the water before the entire royal court for everyone to see and judge. The swan, divinely blessed by Mataji, attacked the fish and split it into two. Upon which the flies came out of the Fish and attacked everyone present in the court.   This enraged the King very much. He thought even the Parajiyas must have also played some trick with their part of the gold. So thinking he pierced the Swan with his royal sword. Upon which the swan started bleeding. Seeing this every one was shocked and they realized that the Parajiyas were divinely blessed.   As a token of appreciation the king gave the Parajiya's the right to rule the kingdom of Siddhpur Pattan for a period of three and half days. Shree Nandaji Chavda became the king of Gujarat and Shree Gangaji Chauhan become his prime minister for a period of three and half days.   During this time a Royal Coin was issued in the name of Shree Nandaji Chavda. As the king he gave lot charity to the poor and the needy. He also granted the farmers freedom from that year's tax. He also reduced the octroi for the Businessmen and made many more changes which were helpful to the subjects of  the kingdom.   He appreciated the work of the Royal office bearers for doing a fine job of implementing the Royal decree. He released all the beggars and eunuch's kept in the jails. It is said that since that day no beggar or eunuch has the right to accept or ask for alms from the people of Parajiya Soni Samaj.   On the Third day of ruling Shree Nandaji Chavda honored the King Siddhraj and offerred him his most beloved Black Stallion in gift and returned the kingdom . As a remembrance of this event the King Siddhraj proclaimed that henceforth the descendants of Shree Nandaji Chavda shall be known as the Patels (elders) of Parajiya Soni Samaj. Shree Gangaji Chavda and his descendants were given the degree of Patlaiyee ( Lordship of particular territories) their descendants ,i.e., the Patt's , Dhorda's, Bhindi's and the Lodhiya's are also known as Patels. Since then the Parajiya's started practicing their craft of goldsmith along with the Gurjar Soni's. They were also accepted as warriors, craftsmen, advisors, wise-men, faithful, loyal and sincere people by the society.   In the year 1101 AD that is in the sixth year of coming into Siddhpur Pattan some of the Parajiyas decided to resettle themselves in the Sorath / Khatiyawar area of the Gujarat. But due to enemity between the two kings of that time they were not permitted to cross the border. But the persistent and clever Parajiyas managed to achieve what they set out to do and settled themselves in Kathiyawar.   Some of the Parajiyas settled themselves in Gharana village and hence came to be also known as Gharana Soni's or Girnara Soni's. They kept spreading themselves all over the Khatiyawar and slowly created & merged into new communities. Their kept their memory of their origin alive and kept the purity of their blood by avoiding inter caste marriages and kept following their traditions and rituals. Thus they ended up being Independent communities and came to be known as Girnara Parajiya Soni.   After the death of King Siddhraj the prince Paadraj took over the rule. The Jains were favored by the new King therefore the Jains gradually became to be more influential and powerful. These lead to lost of mistrust and the parajiyas settled there decided to migrate to Kutch area of Gujarat. At that time the people of the Kutch region were being harassed by dacoits. The brave Parajiyas solved the problem with their might and acumen and resettled themselves as Parajiya Soni 's and developed their business.   The wealthy among the community offered the Parajiyas money and right to protect the community from the problem of the Dacoits and Looting. When this word reached the King of the Kutch, he welcomed the parajiya's with pomp & splendor. He gave them twelve villages as a token of appreciation.   The Parajiyas revived the ancient culture of these villages and set up three more villages viz. Parjav, Devaiya and Happa In Naliya Taluka of todays Gujarat The Kshatriyas of Songadha came to be known as Parajiya Sonis. When they settled in other regions they came to be known by distinctive names viz. Parajiya Pattni Soni, Garana Soni, Kutchi Soni & Sindhi Parajiya Soni.   These communites of Parajiya Soni's have been goldsmiths in Gujarat for the last 1500 years. The last 800 yrs they have made Saurashtra & Kutch as their new homeland and have been living with complete peace & harmony since then Today there are approximately 51 sub - castes of the above mentioned first three Soni Castes. The total population of Parajiya Soni's is estimated to be around 1,30,000 settled all over the world.   For the information provided above we have been assisted by helpful contributions made by Shree Sagarkumar Ranabhai Barot and Shree Natubhai Bhimjibhai Barot. We hope the person going through this information is enlightened and made more aware of the illustrious history of the Parajiya Soni's.   We appeal to the elders of our community to come forward and assist us in making this website more richer in content by their valuable contributions. We have tried to be true to the history as far as possible.