Rajput

A Rajput (possibly from Sanskrit rāja-putra, "son of a king") is a member of a prominent caste who live throughout northern and central India, primarily in the northwestern state of Rajasthan. They are thought to number about 12 million. The Rajputs believe themselves to be descendants of the ancient warrior caste, the Kshatriyas, but Rajputs vary in profession from aristocrats and warriors to farmers. Most Rajputs are Hindu, although a minority are Muslim; most of the Muslim Rajputs presently live in Pakistan.

Rajasthan is located in northwestern India, near the Khyber Pass route used by most foreign invasions of India, including the Arabs, Afghans, Turks, Mughals, and other Islamic invaders of the Middle Ages. The Rajputs are traditionally martial in spirit, fiercely proud and carry a long history of lineage and tradition. Rajputs are known for their sense of honour, chivalry and love of tradition and revelry. They celebrate weddings, festivals and feasts to the Gods with great enthusiasm, customs which are now fading against the scenario of Indian culture which is now being rapidly urbanised and modernised.

Rajput origins are obscure, but some historians think that they are in part the descendants of Huns, who invaded India at the end of the fifth century, and ruled northwestern India until their defeat by the Gupta emperors of northern India in 542. The Huns and their allies may have assimiliated with the local population, as well as remnant populations of earlier invaders like the Scythians (Shaka in Sanskrit) giving rise to the Rajputs. It has been argued that because many Rajputs are tall, relatively fairer-skinned than the other communities and have sharp grecian/mediterranean/caucasian features, they are likely descended from invaders from the northwest.

The Rajputs are divided into 36 clans, claiming three basic lineages: the Surya Vansi (Solar Race), the Chandra Vansi (Lunar Race), and the Agni kula (Fire Born). One version of the story of Agni kula origins is that four warriors, Agnikul, Yadaukul, Suryakul and Odak, whose names are given to the Rajput clans, sprang from the sacred fire in a ceremony performed by Sage Vashishtha near Mount Abu. Historically the Rajputs refused to accept the spiritual authority of Brahmin priestly caste, and some scions of their noble families even officiate as priests in their Hindu temples; for example, the regent of the House of Mewar is also the high priest of his clan deity, the form of Shiva known as "Ekling ji”.

The Rajputs rose to prominence in Indian history in the ninth and tenth centuries. The four Agni kula clans, the Pratiharas (Pariharas), Chauhans (Chahamanas), Solkanis (Chaulukyas), and Paramaras (Pamars), rose to prominence first. The Pratiharas established the first Rajput kingdom in southern Rajasthan, with the Chauhans at Ajmer in eastern Rajasthan, the Solkanis in Kathiawar, and the Paramaras in Malwa. The Pratiharas rebuffed the Arab invasion of the ninth century. Clans claiming descent from the Solar and Lunar races, who were originally vassals of the other clans, later established independent states. The Chandela clan ruled from the city of Khajuraho in the tenth century, building the famous temples there. The Tomaras established a state in Haryana, founding the city of Dhiliki (later Delhi) in 736. The Guhilas established the state of Mewar (later Udaipur), and the Kachwaha clan came to rule Amber (later Jaipur). The Rajputs fought each other in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, but managed to pull together to resist the incursion of the Turks, who later established the Delhi Sultanate in the early part of the thirteenth century.

The Rajputs were ultimately conquered by the Delhi Sultanate. When the sultanate weakened in the early fifteenth century, the Rajputs reestablished their independence, and the Rajput states were established as far east as Bengal and north into the Panjab. Most of the Rajput states lost their independence to the Mughal empire in the sixteenth century, but many Rajput rulers retained local control of their states, and Rajput generals often led Mughal armies. When the Mughal empire declined in the early 18th century, the Rajputs again reestablished their independence, but by the mid-eighteenth century they were under pressure from the Maratha empire. The Rajput princes asked for British protection from the Marathas during the Third Anglo-Maratha War of 1817-1818, and the fifteen Rajput states in the region of Rajputana became princely states in the British Raj. Rajput rulers of Rajputana and elsewhere in India acceded to newly-independent India after 1947, and Rajputana, renamed Rajasthan, became an Indian state in 1950.