The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India Volume IV Part 37

Rajput

[The following article is based mainly on Colonel Tod's cla.s.sical _Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan_, 2nd ed., Madras, Higginbotham, 1873, and Mr. Crooke's articles on the Rajput clans in his _Tribes and Castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh_. Much information as to the origin of the Rajput clans has been obtained from inscriptions and worked up mainly by the late Mr. A.M.T. Jackson and Messrs. B.G. and D.R. Bhandarkar; this has been set out with additions and suggestions in Mr. V.A. Smith's _Early History of India_, 3rd ed., and has been reproduced in the subordinate articles on the different clans. Though many of the leading clans are very weakly represented in the Central Provinces, some notice of them is really essential in an article treating generally of the Rajput caste, on however limited a scale, and has therefore been included. In four cases, Panwar, Jadum, Raghuvansi and Daharia, the original Rajput clans have now developed into separate cultivating castes, ranking well below the Rajputs; separate articles have been written on these as for independent castes.]

List of Paragraphs

1. _Introductory notice_.

2. _The thirty-six royal races_.

3. _The origin of the Rajputs_.

4. _Subdivisions of the clans_.

5. _Marriage customs_.

6. _Funeral rites_.

7. _Religion_.

8. _Food_.

9. _Opium_.

10. _Improved training of Rajput chiefs_.

11. _Dress_.

12. _Social customs_.

13. _Seclusion of women_.

14. _Traditional character of the Rajputs_.

15. _Occupation_.

List of Subordinate Articles

1. Baghel.

2. Bagri.

3. Bais.

4. Baksaria.

5. Banaphar.

6. Bhadauria.

7. Bisen.

8. Bundela.

9. Chandel.

10. Chauhan.

11. Dhakar.

12. Gaharwar, Gherwal.

13. Gaur, Chamar-Gaur.

14. Haihaya, Haihaivansi, Kalachuri.

15. Huna, Hoon.

16. Kachhwaha, Cutchwaha.

17. Nagvansi.

18. Nik.u.mbh.

19. Paik.

20. Parihar.

21. Rathor, Rathaur.

22. Sesodia, Gahlot, Aharia.

23. Solankhi, Solanki, Chalukya.

24. Somvansi, Chandravansi.

25. Surajvansi.

26. Tomara, Tuar, Tunwar.

27. Yadu, Yadava, Yadu-Bhatti, Jadon.

1. Introductory notice

_Rajput, Kshatriya, Chhatri, Thakur._--The Rajputs are the representatives of the old Kshatriya or warrior cla.s.s, the second of the four main castes or orders of cla.s.sical Hinduism, and were supposed to have been made originally from the arms of Brahma. The old name of Kshatriya is still commonly used in the Hindi form Chhatri, but the designation Rajput, or son of a king, has now superseded it as the standard name of the caste. Thakur, or lord, is the common Rajput t.i.tle, and that by which they are generally addressed. The total number of persons returned as Rajputs in the Province in 1911 was about 440,000. India has about nine million Rajputs in all, and they are most numerous in the Punjab, the United Provinces, and Bihar and Orissa, Rajputana returning under 700,000 and Central India about 800,000.

The bulk of the Rajputs in the Central Provinces are of very impure blood. Several groups, such as the Panwars of the Wainganga Valley, the Raghuvansis of Chhindwara and Nagpur, the Jadams of Hoshangabad and the Daharias of Chhattisgarh, have developed into separate castes and marry among themselves, though a true Rajput must not marry in his own clan. Some of them have abandoned the sacred thread and now rank with the good cultivating castes below Banias. Reference may be made to the separate articles on these castes. Similarly the Surajvansi, Gaur or Gorai, Chauhan, and Bagri clans marry among themselves in the Central Provinces, and it is probable that detailed research would establish the same of many clans or parts of clans bearing the name of Rajput in all parts of India. If the definition of a proper Rajput were taken, as it should be correctly, as one whose family intermarried with clans of good standing, the caste would be reduced to comparatively small dimensions. The name Dhakar, also shown as a Rajput clan, is applied to a person of illegitimate birth, like Vidur. Over 100,000 persons, or nearly a quarter of the total, did not return the name of any clan in 1911, and these are all of mixed or illegitimate descent. They are numerous in Nimar, and are there known as _chhoti-tur_ or low-cla.s.s Rajputs. The Bagri Rajputs of Seoni and the Surajvansis of Betal marry among themselves, while the Bundelas of Saugor intermarry with two other local groups, the Panwar and Dhundhele, all the three being of impure blood. In Jubbulpore a small clan of persons known as Paik or foot-soldier return themselves as Rajputs, but are no doubt a mixed low-caste group. Again, some landholding sections of the primitive tribes have a.s.sumed the names of Rajput clans. Thus the zamindars of Bilaspur, who originally belonged to the Kawar tribe, call themselves Tuar or Tomara Rajputs, and the landholding section of the Mundas in Chota Nagpur say that they are of the Nagvansi clan. Other names are returned which are not those of Rajput clans or their offshoots at all. If these subdivisions, which cannot be considered as proper Rajputs, and all those who have returned no clan be deducted, there remain not more than 100,000 who might be admitted to be pure Rajputs in Rajputana. But a close local scrutiny even of these would no doubt result in the detection of many persons who have a.s.sumed and returned the names of good clans without being ent.i.tled to them. And many more would come away as being the descendants of remarried widows. A Rajput of really pure family and descent is in fact a person of some consideration in most parts of the Central Provinces.

2. The thirty-six royal races

Traditionally the Rajputs are divided into thirty-six great clans or races, of which Colonel Tod gives a list compiled from different authorities as follows (alternative names by which the clan or important branches of it are known are shown in brackets):

1. Ikshwaka or Surajvansi.

2. Indu, Somvansi or Chandravansi.

3. Gahlot or Sesodia (Raghuvansi).

4. Yadu (Bhatti, Jareja, Jadon, Banaphar).

5. Tuar or Tomara.

6. Rathor.

7. Kachhwaha (Cutchwaha).

8. Pramara or Panwar (Mori).

9. Chauhan (Hara, Khichi, Nik.u.mbh, Bhadauria).

10. Chalukya or Solankhi (Baghel).

11. Parihar.

12. Chawara or Chaura.

13. Tak or Takshac (Nagvansi, Mori).

14. Jit or Gete.

15. Huna.

16. Kathi.

17. Balla.

18. Jhalla.

19. Jaitwa or Kamari.

20. Gohil.

21. Sarweya.

22. Silar.

23. Dhabi.

24. Gaur.

25. Doda or Dor.

26. Gherwal or Gaharwar (Bundela).