The Bhimwals

The Bhimwals are the least in number - they are just 3.5% of the entire Mohyal population. The patriarch saint of this clan was Rishi Kausalya and they get their Koshal gotra from his name.

According to Mohyal historian Rattan Chand Vaid, author of Islah-e-Mohyal, the founder of the Bhimwal family was Raja Nand. The crumbling ruins of his Nandana fort are still there in the Baganwala village in Tehsil Pind Dadan Khan, distt. Jhelum. When Mahmud Ghazni raided Nandana fort he plundered it. In the killings that followed the Bhimwals were annihilated and the few who survived migrated to the town of Makhiala, in the nearby salt ranges. With the passage of time, this town became a flourishing center of the Bhimwals and they were the ruling aristocracy there. In the book Garjak Nama by Parma Nand Bali, it is stated that members of the Janjua tribe made a blistering attack on Makhiala and ousted the Bhimwals from their homeland. The place was razed to cinders and untold numbers of Bhimwals were killed.

After the misfortunes of over a century, the scene shifted to Mathura, the haven of Mohyals in distress. When Kutab-ud-din Aibak attacked Mathura in 1195 he expelled the ruling family headed by Raja Dhrupet When the royal family went into exile, they had in their entourage two Mohyal noblemen-Rai Trilok Nath Bali and Rai Bam Dev Bhimwal. Some Mohyal scholars say that it was Bam Dev who was the real forefather of the Bhimwal sect, the founder of Makhiala town and the bestower of Bhimwal surname on them..