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The Rajputs
The Aryan fighting caste, the kshatriyas, had
been decimated through constant
warfare. On the other hand, the invading hordes that came into India settled
down, intermingled and were absorbed.
Certain fighting clans that arose from the inter-marriage of foreign and local
warriors claimed direct descent from the ancient Aryan kshatriyas. They went
further back and traced their descent from divinity and royalty. The
Suryavansh or solar race, claimed Rama, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, as
their ancestor. The Chandravansh or lunar race, traced their line from the god
Krishna-a later incarnation. A third group called themselves the Agnicula, the
fireborn, created by the sage Vashist from the sacred fire-pit (agnikund) at
Mount Abu. This possibly denotes a ceremony of purification by which these
martial races, now called Rajputs, were accepted into the folds of the Hindu
caste system, as kshatriyas.
The most important of these clans who established kingdoms and gave Rajasthan
its name and character were:
The Solar descendants: Guhilots or the Sisodias of Mewar (Udaipur): Rathores
of Marwar (Jodhpur); Kuchhwahas of Amber-Jaipur,
The Lunar descendants were the Bhattis of Jaisalmer.
The Agnicula descendants were: the Chauhans of Delhi-Ajmer; the Harachauhans
of BundiKotah: and the Deoras of Sirohi.
[Bikaner]
[Rao Jodha]
[Raja Jai Singh]
[Rana Lakha]
[Rana Sanga]
[Rana Udai Singh]
[Rajasthan history]
[Rajasthan early history]
[Harachauhans of Bundi-Kotah]
[Imperial Guptas]
[Colonel James Tod]
[Rajasthan]
[Rana Kumbha]
[Muslim Invasions]
[The Mauryans]
[Sisodias of Mewar]
[Rana Pratap]
[Post-Mogul history]
[Chauhans of Delhi-Ajmer]
[Kuchchwahas of Amber-Jaipur]
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