What is "paner"

Paner is a village in Ajmer district in Rajasthan. This village is associated with the folk-deity Tejaji, as it was his sasural. Tejaji was married to Pemal, daughter of Raimal of Jhanjhar gotra. Raimal was the chieftain of this village and popularly known as Mehta or Mutha. The historical Paner village is now abandoned and the present Paner village is situated 1 km south of it.

There is a temple of Tejaji at Paner in which three statues are placed. People believe that a statue of Tejaji came out from the ground on its own at site of Raimal's house. The magical powers of Tejaji had spread all around. Maharaja Abhay Singh of Jodhpur wanted to shift this statue to his state Jodhpur. He got it dug out the statue for many days but could not take out this. It is believed that Maharaja Jodhpur at last saw Tejaji in dream who guided him that statue can not be taken out from here but it can be installed at border of Nagaur district. Later Jodhpur Maharaja got constructed a temple of Tejaji at Parbatsar and installed a statue of Tejaji here. The temple of Paner bears inscription of samvat 1885 and name of Pithaji. The pooja of this temple is done by a Kumhar/ Prajapati and not by brahman. This temple is situated near famous Sambhar lake. There is a big pond here built by Jhanjhar gotra Jaats known as Jinjardab or Jhanjhardab.

It is believed that when Tejaji died in fighting with enemies, Pemal decided to commit sati and cursed the village Paner that

"Paner could not protect my suhag, Paner would be abandoned and Jhanjhar clan would not survive in Paner. Dholi could not beat the drum, Mali did not offer flower to Tejaji and Gurjars did not cooperate with Tejaji, all these clans would not survive in Paner."

All the four clans Jhanjhar, Mali, Dholi and Gurjars are not found in the village even today. It is said that they tried to settle many times but could not prosper here. Jhanjhar gotra Jats presently live in Bhilwara and visit this place occasionally.