Aphariya

Aphariya (Aphrya) also spelt as Affariya, Afariya or Phariya) is a clan of Yaduvanshi or Jadubansi Ahir / Aheer or Yadavs and claims the lineage from Lord Krishna. Aphariyas ruled the Rewari state. Rajputana gazetteer mentions that "Ahir Raos of Rewari formerly an important chief to the north, belong to Aphrya division of the Yadu clan/branch"

History

Aphariyas belonged to Yaduvanshi Ahir/Aheer clans, who on the basis of their military power and cultivable land holdings proved to be dominant. By 793 A.D. Charu Rao had established a local feudal state in Tijara with Tijara as its capital, many Yaduvanshi Ahirs also founded small Jagirs in its vicinity, and Rewari was one of them. All the Jagirdar were under the dominant leader Charu Rao and 18 generations of Aphariya ruled the Ahirwal region of present-day southern Haryana and North-Eastern Rajasthan. Rao Nand Ram from the Aphariya clan was the governor of Rewari during the reign of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. His eldest son Rao Bal Kishan who got killed at Karnal in 1739, fighting for Mughals against Nadir Shah. In recognition of his services, his brother Rao Gujar Mal was made Governer of Hissar along with Rewari and given the mansabdari of 5000 zat and shortly afterward set up a semi-independent principality at Gokulgharh by building forts and issuing his own coin. His descendants fought against Jats, Marathas, Afghans and Rajputs alternatively, and their political history was practically identical to that of the former leaders of the clan. Rao Tula Ram was the famous last noble from the clan and was one of the leaders of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 in Haryana. After the Rebellions were crushed by Britisher, he left India and went to Iran and Afganistan to raise the army but at age of 38 died due to infection.

In the Mughal period, The Aphariya, the Kausaliya, and the Kosa were the major Ahir aristocratic clans who had direct contact with the Mughal state representatives. They were conceived as Yaduvanshi-Kshatriya in the region. The term Yaduvanshi derives from Yadu, one of the ancestors of god Krishna. The royal clans represented the Rewari kingdom as part of the mythical ‘Yadava Hindu State’ and they portrayed themselves as descendants of Krishna. They claimed to originate from Mathura town: Krishna’s birthplace They named Rewari’s fort Gokulgarh and their coins Gokul Sikka, in honor of the village of Gokul where Krishna spent part of his childhood, ‘they took the name of Krishna in marching against their enemies’