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History
Definition
(räj´poots)
[Sanskrit,=son of a king], dominant people of Rajputana, an historic re gion now
almost coextensive with the state of Rajasthan, NW India. The Rajputs are mainly Hindus of the warrior caste;
traditionally they have put great value on etiquette and the military
virtues and take great pride in their ancestry. Of these exogamous clans,
the major ones were Rathor, Kachchwaha,
Chauhan, and Sisodiya.
Their power in Rajputana grew in the 7th cent.,
but by 1616 all the major clans had submitted to the Mughals. With the
decline of Mughal power in the early 18th cent., the Rajputs
expanded through most of the plains of central India, but by the early 19th
cent. they had been driven back by the Marathas,
Sikhs, and British. Under the British, many of the Rajput princes
maintained independent states within Rajputana,
but they were gradually deprived of power after India attained independence
in 1947.
See S. M. Rameshwar,
Resurgent Rajasthan (1962); L. Minturn, The Rajputs
of Kahlpur (1966); D. Sharma, Lectures on
Rajput History and Culture (1970).
History
According to the Hindu Mythology, the Rajputs of Rajasthan were the descendants of the Kshatriyas
or warriors of Vedic India. The emergence of the Rajput warrior clans was
in the 6th and 7th centuries. Rajputs ancestry
can be divided into two: the "solar" or suryavanshi-those
descended from Rama, the hero of the epic Ramayana, and the
"lunar" or chandravanshi, who
claimed descent from Krishana, the hero of
the epic Mahabharata. Later a third clan was added, the agnikula or fire-born, said to have emerged from
the flames of a sacrificial fire on Mt Abu. It has been accepted that the Rajputs were divided into thirty-six races and twenty-one
kingdoms. The Rajput clans gave rise to dynasties like Sisodias
of Mewar (Udaipur), the Kachwahas
of Amber (Jaipur), the Rathors of Marwar (Jodhpur & Bikaner), the Harsa
of Kota & Bundi, the Bhattis
of Jaisalmer and the Chauhans
of Ajmer.
Early History
Rajasthan is the north-western region of
India, and has remain independent from the great
empires. Buddhism failed to make substantial inroad here; the Mauryan empire (321-184 BC), whose most renowned
emperor, Ashoka, Converted to Buddhism in 261 BC,
had minimal impact in Rajasthan, However, there are Buddhist caves and stupas (Buddhist Shrines) at Jhalawar,
in Southern Rajasthan.
Ancient Hindu scriptural epics make
reference to sites in present-day Rajasthan. The Holy Pilgrimage site of Pushkar is mentioned in both the Mahabharata and
Ramayana.
Emergence of the Rajputs
The fall of the Gupta Empire, which held dominance in northern India for
nearly 300 years until the early 5th Century, was followed by a period of
instability as various local chieftains sought to gain supremacy. Power
rose and fell in northern India. Stability was only restored with the
emergence of the Gurjara Partiharas,
the earliest of the Rajput (from 'Rajputra', or Sons
of Princes) dynasties which were later to hold the balance of power
throughout Rajasthan.
Whatever their actual origins, the Rajputs have evolved a complexmythological
genealogy. This ancestry can be divided into two main branches: the Suryavansa, or Race of the Sun (Solar Race), which
claims direct  descent from Rama; and the Induvansa,
or Race of the Moon (Lunar race), which claims descent from Krishna, Later
a third branch was added, the Agnikula, or 'Fire
Born'. These people claim they were manifested from the flames of a
sacrificial fire on Mt.Abu From these three
Principal races emerged the 36 Rajput clans.
The Rajput clans gave rise to dynasties such
as the Chauhans, Sisodias,
Kachhwahas and Rathores.
Chauhans of the Agnikula
Race emerged in the 12th century and were renowned for their valour. Their
territories included the Sapadalksha kingdom,
which encompassed a vast area including present- day Jaipur, Ranthambhore, part of Mewar,
the western portion of Bundi district, Ajmer Kishangarh and even, at one time, Delhi. Branches of
the Chauhans also ruled territories know as Ananta (in
present-day Shekhawati) and Saptasatabhumi.
The Sisodias of
the Suryavansa Race, Originally from Gujarat,
migrated to Rajasthan in the mid-7th Century and reigned over Mewar, which encompassed Udaipur and Chittorgarh.
The Kachhwahas,
originally from Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh, travelled west in the 12th
century. They built the massive fort at Amber, and later shifted the
capital to Jaipur. Like the Sisodias, they
belonged to the Suryavansa Race.
Also belonging to the Suryavansa
Race, the Rathore (earlier known as Rastrakutas) traveled from Kanauj, in Uttar Pradesh. Initially they settled in Pali, south of present-day Jodhpur, but later moved to Mandore in 1381 and ruled over Marwar
(Jodhpur). Later they started building the stunning Meherangarh
(fort) at Jodhpur.
The Bhattis, who
belong to the Induvansa Race, driven from their
homeland in the Punjab by the Turks, installed themselves at Jaisalmer in 1156. They remained more of less
entrenched in their desert Kingdom untill they
were integrated into the state of Rajasthan following Independence.
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