Rao Pato Ji

Confirmed lineage

Rao Pato Ji was one of the sons of Rao Ranmal, Rathore ruler of Marwar (r. 1428–1438). He received the village of Karnu and is recognized as the ancestor of the Patawat clan — one of the branch families descended from the Rathore rulers of Marwar.

Sources: Ranmal — Wikipedia · History of Rathores — indianrajputs.com

What’s still being researched

Source conflict — noted, not hidden

The founding grant and Pata’s sons

The published clan history (Patawaton ka Itihas) records that Pata Ridmalot — son of Rao Ridmal (Ranmal) — received the village of Karnu in Samvat 1532 (1475 CE) from his brother Rao Jodha, together with Chotila, Ridmalsar and other villages, as a brother’s share (bhai-bant) — just as Rupa received Panchori, Punasar, Chadi and Bhednad. From that time the Patawats and Rupawats lived side by side in Phalodi pargana and kept guard over the Phalodi thana.

Three sons, five branches

Three sons of Rao Pato Ji are known to the records — Hamir, Lumbha and Jagath — and from them descend the branches (nakh) of the clan:

• Jaimalot — from Jaimal, son of Ratansingh Hamirot; holders of Kailansar; the largest branch.
• Kalawat — the second-largest branch.
• Pithawat — from Pitha, son of Lumbha.
• Malawat — from Mala, son of Ratansingh, dhani of Chotila.
• Gangawat — from Gangadas, son of Hamir.

Jagath’s village was Khariya Patawatan, near Ghantiyali. Kilandas (Kalyan Das), son of Ratansingh, held Karnu, and his line went on to hold Aau — whose generation line runs unbroken for fourteen generations down to Thakur Hari Singh. The full branch-by-branch record is on the Genealogy page.

Sources: Patawaton ka Itihas (published clan history, p.156); Patawatan ri Khyat — khyat of Thikana Aau (manuscript); thikana records — digitised July 2026, under History Committee review. See Documents & Archives.

The night at Chittor — the family's own account

The Rathore timeline records that Rao Ranmal was assassinated at Chittor Fort in 1438. A sheet in the Patawat khyat gives the family's own memory of that night — and places Rao Pato Ji at the centre of it.

As the khyat has it: a quarrel arose at Chitod, where Jodhaji was. When Ridmalji was slain and the news came, it was Pataji who went at that hour to tell Jodhaji. Those about him were senseless with drink and would not wake; when Jodhoji went and looked upon the body, it was truly as Pataji had said. A fight broke out; men died on both sides, and there Pataji took wounds before they got away.

Jodhoji, grieving, went to Jangalu and brought an army back over Marwar, but the quarrel would not settle. Then Harbhuji Sankhla — a famed reader of omens, and maternal cousin of Ramdevji — had a dish of majith lapsi prepared and fed to him, with the words: "In your belly shall be the feast; where your fortune is, there victory." Jodhoji rose and went out. A marginal note in the same sheet adds that Hamir belongs in this account too, for he was with Pataji at that time.

This passage is from a worn manuscript page in difficult old Marwari; several words are uncertain and the text breaks off mid-sentence. It is published here as the family record says it, marked under review, rather than smoothed into a finished story. The khyat itself closes the note with the words "according to the khyat of the Patawat Rathores."

Source: Patawatan ri Khyat, Thikana Aau — handwritten sheet 42, with the manuscript original photocopied alongside; English translation July 2026. See Documents & Archives. Can you settle a point marked Under Review? Send your proof →

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