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Origin Of Maheshwaries

Once upon a time there was a king called Khadaksen who ruled Village Khandela. The kingdom was well administered under the able and efficient administration of King Khadaksen, people of Khandela loved their King very much & lived in peace and harmony.

King had 24 wives. He had every thing which he wanted except a son who could take over his thrown when he grew older. King worshipped saints and to get their blessings he organized a big Yagya. Being impressed saints & holymen blessed the king with a son but warned him that the son should not go towards northern side till his age of 16.

Shortly one beautiful day his 5th wife Queen Champavati gave birth to a beautiful boy. The child was given the name of Sujan Kuvar. The whole kingdom of Khandela celebrated the birth of Rajkumar Sujan Kuvar. He grew with the training of Administration & Weaponary.

Some years later young Sujan came in religious touch with Jain Religion. He was so much impressed that he decided to promote Jainism. He had lost his faith in Hindu God & Goddess he not only destroyed Hindu Temple but also build Jain Temple on that place.

One Day while he was on his way for hunting with his 72 man (Umraos- Rajputs) he came across Sadhus (holyman) at Surya Kund who were performing Yagya. He ordered his man to destroy the yagya immediately. On this Act the Sadhus became so much angry that they gave shrapa and converted the rajputs along with Rajkumar Sujan into Stones.

This news when came to King Khadaksen took his life. Kingdom lost their king. 16 queens become sati and gave away their life for the king.

Chandravati wife of Sujan Kumar along with the wife of 72 Rajputs went crying to holy saints to forgive their husbands. Saints gave these wives a Akshay Mantra by which they could impress God Shiva & Goddess Parvati. All wives went into the holy caves and started chanting mantras. Finally lord Shiva & goddess Parvati were impressed by their devotion & love for their husbands and gave life back to Rajkumar Sujan & 72 Rajputs. At once all came to life as if they were awakening from a long sleep. Getting their life back all of them went to lord Shiva and prayed to forgive their sin. Lord Shiva asked these men to convert themselves from Rajputs to Vishanavas i.e. leave there weapons & convert into businessmen. He blessed these men to form a community with his name as Maheshwari. He declared Maheshwari will have my blessings higher growth prospects in business & trade.

However these soldiers were hesitant to accept their wives since they still belonged to the Kshatriya caste. At this point Parvati Mata said "All of you take four parikramas around me whoever are wife and husband; their gathbandhan will be joined auto-magically". At this everyone did so and they re-joined as husbands and wives. Due to this four feras (parikramas) are done outside during the Maheshwari weddings as a reminder of our origin. Lord Shiva gave this blessing to the new seventy-two Vaishyas on the 9 th day of Jyesth Shukla Paksh in the year 9 of Yudhisthira Sanvat. On this day newlywed brides and grooms are appointed to do Lord Shiva and Mata Parvati's puja so that they can also be blessed with children and live a happy and joyous life eternally.

While the seventy-two soldiers were bathing in the pond their bows and arrows were melted and after this the pond was named "Loh-Garl". Due to the incident in this story new seventy-two Maheshwari khanp (Last) names were created. After this additional five Kshatriya last names were also added to the original seventy-two last names