Raja Madat Khan

Raja Madat Khan the son of Shaheed Raja Qadir Baksh Khan was the tribal chief of Bratla and the founder of the village of Koi. The name Koi is derived from the Pohari word for 'snatched' and refers to the circumstances under which the land now known as Koi was seized from a rival clan by the mangral men of Bratla under the leadership of Raja Madat Khan. A dispute had arisen as to where the boundary of Bratla lay with reference to the river Mool. Raja Madat Khan claimed that the boundary lay to the opposite side of the Mool whereas the rival clan claimed that in fact their boundary lay on the Bratla side of the river. The importance lay in the fact that the location of the boundary decided who had control of the river which was of course an important asset. The dispute resulted in hostilities and a battle in which the rival clan was driven from the land and the captured land now known as 'Koi' was controlled by Raja Madat Khan.

Under the leadership of Raja Madat Khan, Bratla saw great prosperity. It is reported that during the time of Raja Madat Khan such was the abundance that the men of Bratla took to putting milk in their hooka's (shisha pipe's) rather than the customary water.

Raja Madat Khan had a reputation for being a fierce fighter and fought many battles which extended the boundaries of Bratla. In one particular battle in Bratla the Dogras brought one of their biggest and strongest men to fight Raja Madat Khan. However, during the fighting this man hid in a tall tree at the top of Bratla village. Raja Madat Khan shot him in the eye with an arrow. It was only when he fell out of the tree stone dead that the men of Bratla could appreciate the size of him. He was close to 7ft tall and the largest man they had ever seen.

It is reported that Raja Madat Khan typically had a bodyguard of 50-70 men on horseback that accompanied him.

Village Koi, District Kotli

Waterfalls on the river Mhool running through Village Koi, Near Bratla in District Kotli, Azad Kashmir.

This is close to where the famous battle of Dabrian took place. A few heavily armed Dogra soldiers managed to escape to Jammu by following the path of the river Mhool.

HE IT IS who has made the earth a cradle for you, and has traced out for you ways of livelihood thereon, and who sends down waters from the sky: and by this means We bring forth various kinds of plants. Eat, then, of this produce of the soil, and pasture your cattle thereon.

In all this, behold, there are messages indeed for those who are endowed with reason: out of this earth have We created you, and into it shall We return you, and out of it shall We bring you forth once again.''

(From the Message of the Quran translated and Explained by Muhammad Asad Pakistan's first Ambassador to the United Nations and a Jewish convert to Islam)''