Junawas
| Author: Laxman Burdak, IFS (R) |
Junawas is a village in Bhilwara tahsil and Bhilwara district in Rajasthan.
Location
Origin
History
It is believed that when Arjuna went to Dwarika with all Gopis during Mahabharata period, he was passing through the present Bhilwara region. There was a war of Arjuna with Bhils. Local tradition reveals that it came to be known as Bhilwara because it was mostly inhabited by Bhil tribes in old days. These Bhils were eventually driven away towards the hilly tracts and interior places of less importance by the ancestors of the peasant settlers. It is said to have come up in the middle of the 11th century when a Bhil tribal, supposedly one of the first settlers, built a Shiva temple on the site of the existing Jataun ka Mandir. This is in the area called Junawas, the oldest part of the town. And if we are to believe this, the town is more than 900 years old.[1]Ironically enough, now very few Bhils live in this area.