Historical Period14c CE
11th–14th c. CE; continuous worship since
📷 Shakti Singh Shekhawat · [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · source
Deities
Tejaji
Tejājī — 11th-century Jat folk-hero
Tejājī — 11th-century Jat folk-hero
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Tejaji (Veer Tejaji) is an 11th-century Jāṭ folk-hero of Rajasthan. On his wedding day he discovered his father-in-law's cattle had been stolen; Tejaji pursued and recovered them, but was mortally bitten by a snake en route. He kept his word to return the cattle and then died. Worshipped especially by the Jat community as a snake-bite healer.
The Rajasthani folk-hero cults of Baba Ramdev, Pabuji, Gogaji, Tejaji, and Meḥājī represent a living non-Brahminical religious stratum centred on ethics of honour (parcā), promise-keeping, cattle-protection, and the oath-bound warrior. These deities are worshipped primarily by Jāṭ, Rājput, and Mer communities, but also by Dalit groups (Meghwal) and Muslim Rajasthanis. Their epics — Pābūjī-kī-Paṛ, Rāmdev-Rāsā, Gogājī-ke-jhālle — are sung through the night by itinerant Bhopa priests, using painted scrolls (paṛ), single-stringed rāvaṇahatthā, tambourines.
Their shrines rarely have Brahmin priests; the rituals are conducted by community elders. Offerings are cooked food (especially rōṭ and millet breads), coconut, turmeric, red cloth, and cash pledges.
