Labels

Rajput - A Complete Overview

Rajput


[The following article is based mainly on Colonel Tod’s classical Annals and Antiquities of Rājasthān, 2nd ed., Madras, Higginbotham, 1873, and Mr. Crooke’s articles on the Rājpūt clans in his Tribes and Castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh. Much information as to the origin of the Rājpūt 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 Rājpūt caste, on however limited a scale, and has therefore been included. In four cases, Panwār, Jādum, Rāghuvansi and Daharia, the original Rājpūt clans have now developed into separate cultivating castes, ranking well below the Rājpūts; separate articles have been written on these as for independent castes.]

List of Paragraphs

1. Introductory notice

Rājpūt, Kshatriya, Chhatri, Thākur.—The Rājpūts are the representatives of the old Kshatriya or warrior class, the second of the four main castes or orders of classical 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of Kshatriya is still commonly used in the Hindi form Chhatri, but the designation Rājpūt, or son of a king, has now superseded it as the standard name of the caste. Thākur, or lord, is the common Rājpūt title, and that by which they are generally addressed. The total number of persons returned as Rājpūts in the Province in 1911 was about 440,000. India has about nine million Rājpūts in all, and they are most numerous in the Punjab, the United Provinces, and Bihār and Orissa, Rājputāna returning under 700,000 and Central India about 800,000.
The bulk of the Rājpūts in the Central Provinces are of very impure blood. Several groups, such as the Panwārs of the Wainganga Valley, the Rāghuvansis of Chhindwāra and Nāgpur, the Jādams of Hoshangābād and the Daharias of Chhattīsgarh, have developed into separate castes and marry among themselves, though a true Rājpūt 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 Sūrajvansi, Gaur or Gorai, Chauhān, and Bāgri 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 Rājpūt in all parts of India. If the definition of a proper Rājpūt 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 Dhākar, also shown as a Rājpūt clan, is applied to a person of illegitimate birth, like Vidūr. Over 100,000 persons, or nearly a quarter of the total, did not return the name of any clan in 1911, and [412]these are all of mixed or illegitimate descent. They are numerous in Nimār, and are there known as chhoti-tur or low-class Rājpūts. The Bāgri Rājpūts of Seoni and the Sūrajvansis of Betal marry among themselves, while the Bundelas of Saugor intermarry with two other local groups, the Panwār and Dhundhele, all the three being of impure blood. In Jubbulpore a small clan of persons known as Pāik or foot-soldier return themselves as Rājpūts, but are no doubt a mixed low-caste group. Again, some landholding sections of the primitive tribes have assumed the names of Rājpūt clans. Thus the zamīndārs of Bilāspur, who originally belonged to the Kawar tribe, call themselves Tuar or Tomara Rājpūts, and the landholding section of the Mundas in Chota Nāgpur say that they are of the Nāgvansi clan. Other names are returned which are not those of Rājpūt clans or their offshoots at all. If these subdivisions, which cannot be considered as proper Rājpūts, and all those who have returned no clan be deducted, there remain not more than 100,000 who might be admitted to be pure Rājpūts in Rājputāna. But a close local scrutiny even of these would no doubt result in the detection of many persons who have assumed and returned the names of good clans without being entitled to them. And many more would come away as being the descendants of remarried widows. A Rājpūt 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 Rājpūts 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 Sūrajvansi.
  • 2. Indu, Somvansi or Chandravansi.
  • 3. Gahlot or Sesodia (Rāghuvansi).
  • 4. Yādu (Bhatti, Jareja, Jādon, Banāphar).
  • 5. Tuar or Tomara.
  • 6. Rāthor.
  • 7. Kachhwāha (Cutchwāha).
  • 8. Prāmara or Panwār (Mori).
  • 9. Chauhān (Hāra, Khichi, Nikumbh, Bhadauria).
  • 10. Chalukya or Solankhi (Baghel).
  • 11. Parihār.
  • 12. Chawara or Chaura.
  • 13. Tāk or Takshac (Nāgvansi, Mori).[413]
  • 14. Jit or Gete.
  • 15. Hūna.
  • 16. Kāthi.
  • 17. Balla.
  • 18. Jhalla.
  • 19. Jaitwa or Kamari.
  • 20. Gohil.
  • 21. Sarweya.
  • 22. Silar.
  • 23. Dhābi.
  • 24. Gaur.
  • 25. Doda or Dor.
  • 26. Gherwāl or Gaharwār (Bundela).
  • 27. Badgūjar.
  • 28. Sengar.
  • 29. Sikarwāl.
  • 30. Bais.
  • 31. Dahia.
  • 32. Johia.
  • 33. Mohil.
  • 34. Nikumbh.
  • 35. Rājpali.
  • 36. Dahima.

And two extra, Hul and Daharia.
Several of the above races are extinct or nearly so, and on the other hand some very important modern clans, as the Gautam, Dikhit and Bisen, and such historically important ones as the Chandel and Haihaya, are not included in the thirty-six royal races at all. Practically all the clans should belong either to the solar and lunar branch, that is, should be descended from the sun or moon, but the division, if it ever existed, is not fully given by Colonel Tod. Two special clans, the Sūrajvansi and Chandra or Somvansi, are named after the sun and moon respectively; and a few others, as the Sesodia, Kachhwāha, Gohil, Bais and Badgūjar, are recorded as being of the solar race, descended from Vishnu through his incarnation as Rāma. The Rāthors also claimed solar lineage, but this was not wholly conceded by the Bhāts, and the Dikhits are assigned to the solar branch by their legends. The great clan of the Yādavas, of whom the present Jādon or Jādum and Bhatti Rājpūts are representatives, was of the lunar race, tracing their descent from Krishna, though, as a matter of fact, Krishna was also an incarnation of Vishnu or the sun; and the Tuar or Tomara, as well as the Jit or Gete, the Rājpūt section of the modern Jāts, who were considered to be branches of the Yādavas, would also be of the moon division, The Gautam and Bisen clans, who are not included in the thirty-six royal races, now claim lunar descent. Four clans, the Panwār, Chauhān, Chalukya or Solankhi, and Parihār, had a different origin, being held to have been born through the agency of the gods from a firepit on the summit of Mount Abu. They are hence known as Agnikula or the fire races. Several clans, such as the [414]Tāk or Takshac, the Hūna and the Chaura, were considered by Colonel Tod to be the representatives of the Huns or Scythians, that is, the nomad invading tribes from Central Asia, whose principal incursions took place during the first five centuries of the Christian era.
At least six of the thirty-six royal races, the Sarweya, Silar, Doda or Dor, Dahia, Johia and Mohil, were extinct in Colonel Tod’s time, and others were represented only by small settlements in Rājputāna and Surat. On the other hand, there are now a large number of new clans, whose connection with the thirty-six is doubtful, though in many cases they are probably branches of the old clans who have obtained a new name on settling in a different locality.

3. The origin of the Rājpūts

It was for long the custom to regard the Rājpūts as the direct descendants and representatives of the old Kshatriya or warrior class of the Indian Aryans, as described in the Vedas and the great epics. Even Colonel Tod by no means held this view in its entirety, and modern epigraphic research has caused its partial or complete abandonment Mr. V.A. Smith indeed says:1 “The main points to remember are that the Kshatriya or Rājpūt caste is essentially an occupational caste, composed of all clans following the Hindu ritual who actually undertook the act of government; that consequently people of most diverse races were and are lumped together as Rājpūts, and that most of the great clans now in existence are descended either from foreign immigrants of the fifth or sixth century A.D. or from indigenous races such as the Gonds and Bhars.” Colonel Tod held three clans, the Tāk or Takshac, the Hūna and the Chaura, to be descended from Scythian or nomad Central Asian immigrants, and the same origin has been given for the Haihaya. The Hūna clan actually retains the name of the White Huns, from whose conquests in the fifth century it probably dates its existence. The principal clan of the lunar race, the Yādavas, are said to have first settled in Delhi and at Dwārka in Gujarāt. But on the death of Krishna, who was their prince, they were expelled from [415]these places, and retired across the Indus, settling in Afghānistan. Again, for some reason which the account does not clearly explain, they came at a later period to India and settled first in the Punjab and afterwards in Rājputāna. The Jit or Jāt and the Tomara clans were branches of the Yādavas, and it is supposed that the Jits or Jāts were also descended from the nomad invading tribes, possibly from the Yueh-chi tribe who conquered and occupied the Punjab during the first and second centuries.2 The legend of the Yādavas, who lived in Gujarāt with their chief Krishna, but after his defeat and death retired to Central Asia, and at a later date returned to India, would appear to correspond fairly well with the Sāka invasion of the second century B.C. which penetrated to Kāthiāwār and founded a dynasty there. In A.D. 124 the second Sāka king was defeated by the Andhra king Vilivāyakura II. and his kingdom destroyed.3 But at about the same period, the close of the first century, a fresh horde of the Sākas came to Gujarāt from Central Asia and founded another kingdom, which lasted until it was subverted by Chandragupta Vikramaditya about A.D. 390.4 The historical facts about the Sākas, as given on the authority of Mr. V.A. Smith, thus correspond fairly closely with the Yādava legend. And the later Yueh-chi immigrants might well be connected by the Bhāts with the Sāka hordes who had come at an earlier date from the same direction, and so the Jāts5 might be held to be an offshoot of the Yādavas. This connection of the Yādava and Jāt legends with the facts of the immigration of the Sākas and Yueh-chi appears a plausible one, but may be contradicted by historical arguments of which the writer is ignorant. If it were correct we should be justified in identifying the lunar clans of Rājpūts with the early Scythian immigrants of the first and second centuries. Another point is that Buddha is said to be the progenitor [416]of the whole Indu or lunar race.6 It is obvious that Buddha had no real connection with these Central Asian tribes, as he died some centuries before their appearance in India. But the Yueh-chi or Kushān kings of the Punjab in the first and second centuries A.D. were fervent Buddhists and established that religion in the Punjab. Hence we can easily understand how, if the Yādus or Jāts and other lunar clans were descended from the Sāka and Yueh-chi immigrants, the legend of their descent from Buddha, who was himself a Kshatriya, might be devised for them by their bards when they were subsequently converted from Buddhism to Hinduism. The Sākas of western India, on the other hand, who it is suggested may be represented by the Yādavas, were not Buddhists in the beginning, whether or not they became so afterwards. But as has been seen, though Buddha was their first progenitor, Krishna was also their king while they were in Gujarāt, so that at this time they must have been supposed to be Hindus. The legend of descent from Buddha arising with the Yueh-chi or Kushāns might have been extended to them. Again, the four Agnikula or fire-born clans, the Parihār, Chalukya or Solankhi, Panwār and Chauhān, are considered to be the descendants of the White Hun and Gūjar invaders of the fifth and sixth centuries. These clans were said to have been created by the gods from a firepit on the summit of Mount Abu for the re-birth of the Kshatriya caste after it had been exterminated by the slaughter of Parasurāma the Brāhman. And it has been suggested that this legend refers to the cruel massacres of the Huns, by which the bulk of the old aristocracy, then mainly Buddhist, was wiped out; while the Huns and Gūjars, one at least of whose leaders was a fervent adherent of Brāhmanism and slaughtered the Buddhists of the Punjab, became the new fire-born clans on being absorbed into Hinduism.7 The name of the Huns is still retained in the Hūna clan, now almost extinct. There remain the clans descended from the sun through Rāma, and it would be [417]tempting to suppose that these are the representatives of the old Aryan Kshatriyas. But Mr. Bhandarkar has shown8 that the Sesodias, the premier clan of the solar race and of all Rājpūts, are probably sprung from Nāgar Brāhmans of Gujarāt, and hence from the Gūjar tribes; and it must therefore be supposed that the story of solar origin and divine ancestry was devised because they were once Brāhmans, and hence, in the view of the bards, of more honourable origin than the other clans. Similarly the Badgūjar clan, also of solar descent, is shown by its name of bara or great Gūjar to have been simply an aristocratic section of the Gūjars; while the pedigree of the Rāthors, another solar clan, and one of those who have shed most lustre on the Rājpūt name, was held to be somewhat doubtful by the Bhāts, and their solar origin was not fully admitted. Mr. Smith gives two great clans as very probably of aboriginal or Dravidian origin, the Gaharwār or Gherwāl, from whom the Bundelas are derived, and the Chandel, who ruled Bundelkhand from the ninth to the twelfth centuries, and built the fine temples at Mahoba, Kālanjar and Khajarāho as well as making many great tanks. This corresponds with Colonel Tod’s account, which gives no place to the Chandels among the thirty-six royal races, and states that the Gherwāl Rājpūt is scarcely known to his brethren in Rājasthān, who will not admit his contaminated blood to mix with theirs, though as a brave warrior he is entitled to their fellowship.9 Similarly the Kāthi clan may be derived from the indigenous Kāthi tribe who gave their name to Kāthiāwār. And the Sūrajvansi, Somvansi and Nāgvansi clans, or descendants of the sun, moon and snake, which are scarcely known in Rājputāna, may represent landholding sections of lower castes or non-Aryan tribes who have been admitted to Rājpūt rank. But even though it be found that the majority of the Rājpūt clans cannot boast a pedigree dating farther back than the first five centuries of our era, this is at any rate an antiquity to which few if any of the greatest European houses can lay claim.

4. Subdivisions of the clans

Many of the great clans are now split up into a number [418]of branches. The most important of these were according to locality, the different sachae or branches being groups settled in separate areas. Thus the Chalukya or Solankhi had sixteen branches, of which the Baghels of Rewah or Baghelkhand were the most important. The Panwārs had thirty-five branches, of which the Mori and the Dhunda, now perhaps the Dhundele of Saugor, are the best known. The Gahlot had twenty-four branches, of which one, the Sesodia, became so important that it has given its name to the whole clan. The Chamār-Gaur section of the Gaur clan now claim a higher rank than the other Gaurs, though the name would apparently indicate the appearance of a Chamār in their family tree; while the Tilokchandi Bais form an aristocratic section of the Bais clan, named after a well-known king, Tilokchand, who reigned in upper India about the twelfth century and is presumably claimed by them as an ancestor. Besides this the Rājpūts have gotras, named after eponymous saints exactly like the Brāhman gotras, and probably adopted in imitation of the Brāhmans. Since, theoretically, marriage is prohibited in the whole clan, the gotra divisions would appear to be useless, but Sir H. Risley states that persons of the same clan but with different gotras have begun to intermarry. Similarly it would appear that the different branches of the great clans mentioned above must intermarry in some cases; while in the Central Provinces, as already stated, several clans have become regular castes and form endogamous and not exogamous groups. In northern India, however, Mr. Crooke’s accounts of the different clans indicate that marriage within the clan is as a rule not permitted. The clans themselves and their branches have different degrees of rank for purposes of marriage, according to the purity of their descent, while in each clan or subclan there is an inferior section formed of the descendants of remarried widows, or even the offspring of women of another caste, who have probably in the course of generations not infrequently got back into their father’s clan. Thus many groups of varying status arise, and one of the principal rules of a Rājpūt’s life was that he must marry his daughter, sometimes into a clan of equal, or sometimes into one of higher rank than his own. Hence arose great [419]difficulty in arranging the marriages of girls and sometimes the payment of a price to the bridegroom; while in order to retain the favour of the Bhāts and avoid their sarcasm, lavish expenditure had to be incurred by the bride’s father on presents to these rapacious mendicants.10 Thus a daughter became in a Rājpūt’s eyes a long step on the road to ruin, and female infanticide was extensively practised. This crime has never been at all common in the Central Provinces, where the rule of marrying a daughter into an equal or higher clan has not been enforced with the same strictness as in northern India. But occasional instances formerly occurred in which the child’s neck was placed under one leg of its mother’s cot, or it was poisoned with opium or by placing the juice of the ākra or swallow-wort plant on the mother’s nipple.

5. Marriage customs

Properly the proposal for a Rājpūt marriage should emanate from the bride’s side, and the customary method of making it was to send a cocoanut to the bridegroom. ‘The cocoanut came,’ was the phrase used to intimate that a proposal of marriage had been made.11 It is possible that the bride’s initiative was a relic of the Swayamwāra or maiden’s choice, when a king’s daughter placed a garland on the neck of the youth she preferred among the competitors in a tournament, and among some Rājpūts the Jāyamāla or garland of victory is still hung round the bridegroom’s neck in memory of this custom; but it may also have been due to the fact that the bride had to pay the dowry. One tenth of this was paid as earnest when the match had been arranged, and the boy’s party could not then recede from it. At the entrance of the marriage-shed was hung the toran, a triangle of three wooden bars, having the apex crowned with the effigy of a peacock. The bridegroom on horseback, lance in hand, proceeded to break the toran, which was defended by the damsels of the bride. They assailed him with missiles of various kinds, and especially with red powder made from the flowers of the palās12 tree, at the same time singing songs full of immoral allusions. At length the [420]toran was broken amid the shouts of the retainers, and the fair defenders retired. If the bridegroom could not attend in person his sword was sent to represent him, and was carried round the marriage-post, with the bride, this being considered a proper and valid marriage. At the rite of hātleva or joining the hands of the couple it was customary that any request made by the bridegroom to the bride’s father should meet with compliance, and this usage has led to many fatal results in history. Another now obsolete custom was that the bride’s father should present an elephant to his son-in-law as part of the dowry, but when a man could not afford a real elephant a small golden image of the animal might be substituted. In noble families the bride was often accompanied to her husband’s house by a number of maidens belonging to the servant and menial castes. These were called Devadhari or lamp-bearers, and became inmates of the harem, their offspring being golas or slaves. In time of famine many of the poor had also perforce to sell themselves as slaves in order to obtain subsistence, and a chiefs household would thus contain a large number of them. They were still adorned in Mewār, Colonel Tod states, like the Saxon slaves of old, with a silver ring round the left ankle instead of the neck. They were well treated, and were often among the best of the military retainers; they took rank among themselves according to the quality of the mothers, and often held confidential places about the ruler’s person. A former chief of Deogarh would appear at court with three hundred golas or slaves on horseback in his train, men whose lives were his own.13 These special customs have now generally been abandoned by the Rājpūts of the Central Provinces, and their weddings conform to the usual Hindu type as described in the article on Kurmi. The remarriage of widows is now recognised in the southern Districts, though not in the north; but even here widows frequently do marry and their offspring are received into the caste, though with a lower status than those who do not permit this custom. Among the Baghels a full Rājpūt will allow a relative born of a remarried widow to cook his food for him, but not to add the salt nor to eat it with him. [421]Those who permit the second marriage of widows also allow a divorced woman to remain in the caste and to marry again. But among proper Rājpūts, as with Brāhmans, a wife who goes wrong is simply put away and expelled from the society. Polygamy is permitted and was formerly common among the chiefs. Each wife was maintained in a separate suite of rooms, and the chief dined and spent the evening alternately with each of them in her own quarters. The lady with her attendants would prepare dinner for him and wait upon him while he ate it, waving the punkah or fan behind him and entertaining him with her remarks, which, according to report, frequently constituted a pretty severe curtain lecture.

6. Funeral rites

The dead are burnt, except infants, whose bodies are buried. Mourning is observed for thirteen days for a man, nine days for a woman, and three days for a child. The shrāddh ceremony or offering of sacrificial cakes to the spirit is performed either during the usual period in the month of Kunwār (September), or on the anniversary day of the death. It was formerly held that if a Kshatriya died on the battlefield it was unnecessary to perform his funeral rites because his spirit went straight to heaven, and thus the end to which the ceremonies were directed was already attained without them. It was also said that the wife of a man dying such a death should not regard herself as a widow nor undergo the privations imposed on widowhood. But this did not apply so far as self-immolation was concerned, since the wives of warriors dying in battle very frequently became sati. In the case of chiefs also it was sometimes the custom, probably for political reasons, that the heir should not observe mourning; because if he did so he would be incapable of appearing in an assembly for thirteen days, or of taking the public action which might be requisite to safeguard his succession. The body of the late chief would be carried out by the back door of the house, and as soon as it left his successor would take his seat on the gaddi or cushion and begin to discharge the public business of government.

7. Religion

The principal deity of the Rājpūts is the goddess Devi or Durga in her more terrible form as the goddess of war. Their swords were sacred to her, and at the Dasahra festival [422]they worshipped their swords and other weapons of war and their horses. The dreadful goddess also protected the virtue of the Rājpūt women and caused to be enacted the terrible holocausts, not infrequent in Rājpūt history, when some stronghold was besieged and could hold out no longer. A great furnace was then kindled in the citadel and into this the women, young and old, threw themselves, or else died by their husbands’ swords, while the men, drunk with bhāng and wearing saffron-coloured robes, sallied out to sell their lives to the enemy as dearly as possible. It is related that on one occasion Akbar desired to attempt the virtue of a queen of the Sesodia clan, and for that purpose caused her to lose herself in one of the mazes of his palace. The emperor appeared before her suddenly as she was alone, but the lady, drawing a dagger, threatened to plunge it into her breast if he did not respect her, and at the same time the goddess of her house appeared riding on a tiger. The baffled emperor gave way and retired, and her life and virtue were saved.
The Rājpūts also worship the sun, whom many of them look upon as their first ancestor. They revere the animals and trees sacred to the Hindus, and some clans show special veneration to a particular tree, never cutting or breaking the branches or leaves. In this manner the Bundelas revere the kadamb tree, the Panwārs the nīm14 tree, the Rāthors the pīpal15 tree, and so on. This seems to be a relic of totemistic usage. In former times each clan had also a tribal god, who was its protector and leader and watched over the destinies of the clan. Sometimes it accompanied the clan into battle. “Every royal house has its palladium, which is frequently borne to battle at the saddle-bow of the prince. Rao Bhima Hāra of Kotah lost his life and protecting deity together. The celebrated Khīchi (Chauhān) leader Jai Singh never took the field without the god before him. ‘Victory to Bujrung’ was his signal for the charge so dreaded by the Marātha, and often has the deity been sprinkled with his blood and that of the foe.”16 It is said that a Rājpūt should always kill a snake if he sees one, because the snake, though a prince among Rājpūts, is an enemy, [423]and he should not let it live. If he does not kill it, the snake will curse him and bring ill-luck upon him. The same rule applies, though with less binding force, to a tiger.

8. Food

The Rājpūts eat the flesh of clean animals, but not pigs or fowls. They are, however, fond of the sport of pig-sticking, and many clans, as the Bundelas and others, will eat the flesh of the wild pig. This custom was perhaps formerly universal. Some of them eat of male animals only and not of females, either because they fear that the latter would render them effeminate or that they consider the sin to be less. Some only eat animals killed by the method of jatka or severing the head with one stroke of the sword or knife. They will not eat animals killed in the Muhammadan fashion by cutting the throat. They abstain from the flesh of the nīlgai or blue bull as being an animal of the cow tribe. Among the Brāhmans and Rājpūts food cooked with water must not be placed in bamboo baskets, nor must anything made of bamboo be brought into the rasoya or cooking-place, or the chauka, the space cleaned and marked out for meals. A special brush of date-palm fibre is kept solely for sweeping these parts of the house. At a Rājpūt banquet it was the custom for the prince to send a little food from his own plate or from the dish before him to any guest whom he especially wished to honour, and to receive this was considered a very high distinction. In Mewār the test of legitimacy in a prince of the royal house was the permission to eat from the chief’s plate. The grant of this privilege conferred a recognised position, while its denial excluded the member in question from the right to the succession.17 This custom indicates the importance attached to the taking of food together as a covenant or sacrament.

9. Opium

The Rājpūts abstain from alcoholic liquor, though some of the lower class, as the Bundelas, drink it. In classical times there is no doubt that they drank freely, but have had to conform to the prohibition of liquor imposed by the Brāhmans on high-caste Hindus. In lieu of liquor they became much addicted to the noxious drugs, opium and gānja or Indian hemp, drinking the latter in the form of the intoxicating liquid known as bhāngs, which is prepared [424]from its leaves. Bhāng was as a rule drunk by the Rājpūts before battle, and especially as a preparation for those last sallies from a besieged fortress in which the defenders threw away their lives. There is little reason to doubt that they considered the frenzy and carelessness of death produced by the liquor as a form of divine possession. Opium has contributed much to the degeneration of the Rājpūts, and their relapse to an idle, sensuous life when their energies were no longer maintained by the need of continuous fighting for the protection of their country. The following account by Forbes of a Rājpūt’s daily life well illustrates the slothful effeminacy caused by the drug:18 “In times of peace and ease the Rājpūt leads an indolent and monotonous life. It is usually some time after sunrise before he bestirs himself and begins to call for his hookah; after smoking he enjoys the luxury of tea or coffee, and commences his toilet and ablutions, which dispose of a considerable part of the morning. It is soon breakfast-time, and after breakfast the hookah is again in requisition, with but few intervals of conversation until noon. The time has now arrived for a siesta, which lasts till about three in the afternoon. At this hour the chief gets up again, washes his hands and face, and prepares for the great business of the day, the distribution of the red cup, kusumba or opium. He calls together his friends into the public hall, or perhaps retires with them to a garden-house. Opium is produced, which is pounded in a brass vessel and mixed with water; it is then strained into a dish with a spout, from which it is poured into the chief’s hand. One after the other the guests now come up, each protesting that kusumba is wholly repugnant to his taste and very injurious to his health, but after a little pressing first one and then another touches the chief’s hand in two or three places, muttering the names of Deos (gods), friends or others, and drains the draught. Each after drinking washes the chief’s hand in a dish of water which a servant offers, and after wiping it dry with his own scarf makes way for his neighbour. After this refreshment the chief and his guests sit down in the public hall, and amuse themselves with chess, draughts or games of chance, or perhaps dancing-girls are called in to [425]exhibit their monotonous measures, or musicians and singers, or the never-failing favourites, the Bhāts and Chārans. At sunset the torch-bearers appear and supply the chamber with light, upon which all those who are seated therein rise and make obeisance towards the chief’s cushion. They resume their seats, and playing, singing, dancing, story-telling go on as before. At about eight the chief rises to retire to his dinner and his hookah, and the party is broken up.” There is little reason to doubt that the Rājpūts ascribed a divine character to opium and the mental exaltation produced by it, as suggested in the article on Kalār in reference to the Hindus generally. Opium was commonly offered at the shrines of deified Rājpūt heroes. Colonel Tod states: “Umul lār khāna, to eat opium together, is the most inviolable, pledge, and an agreement ratified by this ceremony is stronger than any adjuration.”19 The account given by Forbes of the manner in which the drug was distributed by the chief from his own hand to all his clansmen indicates that the drinking of it was the renewal of a kind of pledge or covenant between them, analogous to the custom of pledging one another with wine, and a substitute for the covenant made by taking food together, which originated from the sacrificial meal. It has already been seen that the Rājpūts attached the most solemn meaning and virtue to the act of partaking of the chief’s food, and it is legitimate to infer that they regarded the drinking of a sacred drug like opium from his hand in the same light. The following account20 of the drinking of healths in a Highland clan had, it may be suggested, originally the same significance as the distribution of opium by the Rājpūt chief: “Lord Lovat was wont in the hall before dinner to have a kind of herald proclaiming his pedigree, which reached almost up to Noah, and showed each man present to be a cadet of his family, whilst after dinner he drank to every one of his cousins by name, each of them in return pledging him—the better sort in French claret, the lower class in husky (whisky).” Here also the drinking of wine together perhaps implied the renewal of a pledge of fealty and protection between the chief and his clansmen, [426]all of whom were held to be of his kin. The belief in the kinship of the whole clan existed among the Rājpūts exactly as in the Scotch clans. In speaking of the Rāthors Colonel Tod states that they brought into the field fifty thousand men, Ek bāp ka beta, the sons of one father, to combat with the emperor of Delhi; and remarks: “What a sensation does it not excite when we know that a sentiment of kindred pervades every individual of this immense affiliated body, who can point out in the great tree the branch of his origin, of which not one is too remote from the main stem to forget his pristine connection with it.”21
The taking of opium and wine together, as already described, thus appear to be ceremonies of the same character, both symbolising the renewal of a covenant between kinsmen.

10. Improved training of Rājpūt chiefs

The temptations to a life of idleness and debauchery to which Rājpūt gentlemen were exposed by the cessation of war have happily been largely met and overcome by the careful education and training which their sons now receive in the different chiefs’ colleges and schools, and by the fostering of their taste for polo and other games. There is every reason to hope that a Rājpūt prince’s life will now be much like that of an English country gentleman, spent largely in public business and the service of his country, with sport and games as relaxation. Nor are the Rājpūts slow to avail themselves of the opportunities for the harder calling of arms afforded by the wars of the British Empire, in which they are usually the first to proffer their single-hearted and unselfish assistance.

11. Dress

The most distinctive feature of a Rājpūt’s dress was formerly his turban; the more voluminous and heavy this was, the greater distinction attached to the bearer. The cloth was wound in many folds above the head, or cocked over one ear as a special mark of pride. An English gentleman once remarked to the minister of the Rao of Cutch on the size and weight of his turban, when the latter replied, ‘Oh, this is nothing, it only weighs fifteen pounds.’22 A considerable reverence attached to the turban, probably because it was the covering of the head, the seat of life, and [427]the exchanging of turbans was the mark of the closest friendship. On one occasion Shāh Jahān, before he came to the throne of Delhi, changed turbans with the Rāna of Mewār as a mark of amity. Shāh Jahān’s turban was still preserved at Udaipur, and seen there by Colonel Tod in 1820. They also wore the beard and moustaches very long and full, the moustache either drooping far below the chin, or being twisted out stiffly on each side to impart an aspect of fierceness. Many Rājpūts considered it a disgrace to have grey beards or moustaches, and these were accustomed to dye them with a preparation of indigo. Thus dyed, however, after a few days the beard and moustache assumed a purple tint, and finally faded to a pale plum colour, far from being either deceptive or ornamental. The process of dyeing was said to be tedious, and the artist compelled his patient to sit many hours under the indigo treatment with his head wrapped up in plantain leaves.23 During the Muhammadan wars, however, the Rājpūts gave up their custom of wearing beards in order to be distinguished from Moslems, and now, as a rule, do not retain them, while most of them have also discarded the long moustaches and large turbans. In battle, especially when they expected to die, the Rājpūts wore saffron-coloured robes as at a wedding. At the same time their wives frequently performed sati, and the idea was perhaps that they looked on their deaths as the occasion of a fresh bridal in the warrior’s Valhalla. Women wear skirts and shoulder-cloths, and in Rājputāna they have bangles of ivory or bone instead of the ordinary glass, sometimes covering the arm from the shoulders to the wrist. Their other ornaments should be of gold if possible, but the rule is not strictly observed, and silver and baser metals are worn.

12. Social customs

The Rājpūts wear the sacred thread, but many of them have abandoned the proper upanayana or thread ceremony, and simply invest boys with it at their marriage. In former times, when a boy became fit to bear arms, the ceremony of kharg bandai, or binding on of the sword, was performed, and considered to mark his attainment of manhood. The king himself had his sword thus bound on by the first of his vassals. The Rājpūts take food cooked with water (katchi) [428]only from Brāhmans, and that cooked without water (pakki) from Banias, and sometimes from Lodhis and Dhīmars. Brāhmans will take pakki food from Rājpūts, and Nais and Dhīmars katchi food. When a man is ill, however, he may take food from members of such castes as Kurmi and Lodhi as a matter of convenience without incurring caste penalties. The large turbans and long moustaches and beards no longer characterise their appearance, and the only point which distinguishes a Rājpūt is that his name ends with Singh (lion). But this suffix has also been adopted by others, especially the Sikhs, and by such castes as the Lodhis and Rāj-Gonds who aspire to rank as Rājpūts. A Rājpūt is usually addressed as Thākur or lord, a title which properly applies only to a Rājpūt landholder, but has now come into general use. The head of a state has the designation of Rāja or Rāna, and those of the leading states of Mahārāja or Mahārāna, that is, great king. Mahārāna, which appears to be a Gujarāti form, is used by the Sesodia family of Udaipur. The sons of a Rāja are called Kunwar or prince. The title Rao appears to be a Marāthi form of Rāj or Rāja; it is retained by one or two chiefs, but has now been generally adopted as an honorific suffix by Marātha Brāhmans. Rawat appears to have been originally equivalent to Rājpūt, being simply a diminutive of Rājpūtra, the Sanskrit form of the latter. It is the name of a clan of Rājpūts in the Punjab, and is used as an honorific designation by Ahīrs, Saonrs, Kols and others.

13. Seclusion of women

Women are strictly secluded by the Rājpūts, especially in Upper India, but this practice does not appear to have been customary in ancient times, and it would be interesting to know whether it has been copied from the Muhammadans. It is said that a good Rājpūt in the Central Provinces must not drive the plough, his wife must not use the rehnta or spinning-wheel, and his household may not have the kathri or gudri, the mattress made of old pieces of cloth or rag sewn one on top of the other, which is common in the poorer Hindu households.

14. Traditional character of the Rājpūts

The Rājpūts as depicted by Colonel Tod resembled the knights of the age of chivalry. Courage, strength and endurance were the virtues most highly prized. One of the [429]Rājpūt trials of strength, it is recorded, was to gallop at full speed under the horizontal branch of a tree and cling to it while the horse passed on. This feat appears to have been a common amusement, and it is related in the annals of Mewār that the chief of Bunera broke his spine in the attempt; and there were few who came off without bruises and falls, in which consisted the sport. Of their martial spirit Colonel Tod writes: “The Rājpūt mother claims her full share in the glory of her son, who imbibes at the maternal fount his first rudiments of chivalry; and the importance of this parental instruction cannot be better illustrated than in the ever-recurring simile, ‘Make thy mother’s milk resplendent.’ One need not reason on the intensity of sentiment thus implanted in the infant Rājpūt, of whom we may say without metaphor the shield is his cradle and daggers his playthings, and with whom the first commandment is ‘Avenge thy father’s feud.’24 A Rājpūt yet loves to talk of the days of chivalry, when three things alone occupied him, his horse, his lance and his mistress; for she is but third in his estimation after all, and to the first two he owed her.”25 And of their desire for fame: “This sacrifice (of the Johar) accomplished, their sole thought was to secure a niche in that immortal temple of fame, which the Rājpūt bard, as well as the great minstrel of the West peoples ‘with youths who died to be by poets sung.’ For this the Rājpūt’s anxiety has in all ages been so great as often to defeat even the purpose of revenge, his object being to die gloriously rather than to inflict death; assured that his name would never perish, but, preserved in immortal rhyme by the bard, would serve as the incentive to similar deeds.”26 He sums up their character in the following terms: “High courage, patriotism, loyalty, honour, hospitality and simplicity are qualities which must at once be conceded to them; and if we cannot vindicate them from charges to which human nature in every clime is obnoxious; if we are compelled to admit the deterioration of moral dignity from continual inroads of, and their consequent collision with rapacious conquerors; we must yet admire the quantum of virtue [430]which even oppression and bad example have failed to banish. The meaner vices of deceit and falsehood, which the delineators of national character attach to the Asiatic without distinction, I deny to be universal with the Rājpūts, though some tribes may have been obliged from position to use these shields of the weak against continuous oppression.”27 The women prized martial courage no less than the men: they would hear with equanimity of the death of their sons or husbands in the battlefield, while they heaped scorn and contumely on those who returned after defeat. They were constantly ready to sacrifice themselves to the flames rather than fall into the hands of a conqueror; and the Johar, the final act of a besieged garrison, when the women threw themselves into the furnace, while the men sallied forth to die in battle against the enemy, is recorded again and again in Rājpūt annals. Three times was this tragedy enacted at the fall of Chitor, formerly the capital fortress of the Sesodia clan; and the following vivid account is given by Colonel Tod of a similar deed at Jaisalmer, when the town fell to the Muhammadans:28 “The chiefs were assembled; all were unanimous to make Jaisalmer resplendent by their deeds and preserve the honour of the Yādu race. Muhāj thus addressed them: ‘You are of a warlike race and strong are your arms in the cause of your prince; what heroes excel you who thus tread in the Chhatri’s path? For the maintenance of my honour the sword is in your hands; let Jaisalmer be illumined by its blows upon the foe.’ Having thus inspired the chiefs and men, Muhāj and Ratan repaired to the palace of their queens. They told them to take the sohāg29 and prepare to meet in heaven, while they gave up their lives in defence of their honour and their faith. Smiling the Rāni replied, ‘This night we shall prepare, and by the morning’s light we shall be inhabitants of heaven’; and thus it was with all the chiefs and their wives. The night was passed together for the last time in preparation for the awful morn. It came; ablutions and prayers were finished and at the royal gate were convened children, wives and [431]mothers. They bade a last farewell to all their kin; the Johar commenced, and twenty-four thousand females, from infancy to old age, surrendered their lives, some by the sword, others in the volcano of fire. Blood flowed in torrents, while the smoke of the pyre ascended to the heavens: not one feared to die, and every valuable was consumed with them, so that not the worth of a straw was preserved for the foe. The work done, the brothers looked upon the spectacle with horror. Life was now a burden and they prepared to quit it They purified themselves with water, paid adoration to the divinity, made gifts to the poor, placed a branch of the tulsi30 in their casques, the sāligrām31 round their neck; and having cased themselves in armour and put on the saffron robe, they bound the marriage crown around their heads and embraced each other for the last time. Thus they awaited the hour of battle. Three thousand eight hundred warriors, their faces red with wrath, prepared to die with their chiefs.” In this account the preparation for the Johar as if for a wedding is clearly brought out, and it seems likely that husbands and wives looked on it as a bridal preparatory to the resumption of their life together in heaven.
Colonel Tod gives the following account of a Rājpūt’s arms:32 “No prince or chief is without his silla-khāna or armoury, where he passes hours in viewing and arranging his arms. Every favourite weapon, whether sword, dagger, spear, matchlock or bow, has a distinctive epithet. The keeper of the armoury is one of the most confidential officers about the person of the prince. These arms are beautiful and costly. The sirohi or slightly curved blade is formed like that of Damascus, and is the greatest favourite of all the variety of weapons throughout Rājputāna. The long cut-and-thrust sword is not uncommon, and also the khanda or double-edged sword. The matchlocks, both of Lahore and the country, are often highly finished and inlaid with mother-of-pearl and gold; those of Boondi are the best. The shield of the rhinoceros-hide offers the best resistance, and is often ornamented with animals beautifully painted [432]and enamelled in gold and silver. The bow is of buffalo-horn, and the arrows of reed, which are barbed in a variety of fashions, as the crescent, the trident, the snake’s tongue, and other fanciful forms.” It is probable that the forms were in reality by no means fanciful, but were copied from sacred or divine objects; and similarly the animals painted on the shields may have been originally the totem animals of the clan.

15. Occupation

The traditional occupation of a Rājpūt was that of a warrior and landholder. Their high-flown titles, Bhupāl (Protector of the earth), Bhupati (Lord of the earth), Bhusur (God of the earth), Bahuja (Born from the arms), indicate, Sir H. Risley says,33 the exalted claims of the tribe. The notion that the trade of arms was their proper vocation clung to them for a very long time, and has retarded their education, so that they have perhaps lost status relatively to other castes under British supremacy. The rule that a Rājpūt must not touch the plough was until recently very strictly observed in the more conservative centres, and the poorer Rājpūts were reduced by it to pathetic straits for a livelihood, as is excellently shown by Mr. Barnes in the Kāngra Settlement Report:34 “A Miān or well-known Rājpūt, to preserve his name and honour unsullied, must scrupulously observe four fundamental maxims: first, he must never drive the plough; second, he must never give his daughter in marriage to an inferior nor marry himself much below his rank; thirdly, he must never accept money in exchange for the betrothal of his daughter; and lastly, his female household must observe strict seclusion. The prejudice against the plough is perhaps the most inveterate of all; that step can never be recalled; the offender at once loses the privileged salutation; he is reduced to the second grade of Rājpūts; no man will marry his daughter, and he must go a step lower in the social scale to get a wife for himself. In every occupation of life he is made to feel his degraded position. In meetings of the tribe and at marriages the Rājpūts undefiled by the plough will refuse to sit at meals with the Hal Bāh or plough-driver as he is [433]contemptuously styled; and many to avoid the indignity of exclusion never appear at public assemblies.... It is melancholy to see with what devoted tenacity the Rājpūt clings to these deep-rooted prejudices. Their emaciated looks and coarse clothes attest the vicissitudes they have undergone to maintain their fancied purity. In the quantity of waste land which abounds in the hills, a ready livelihood is offered to those who will cultivate the soil for their daily bread; but this alternative involves a forfeiture of their dearest rights, and they would rather follow any precarious pursuit than submit to the disgrace. Some lounge away their time on the tops of the mountains, spreading nets for the capture of hawks; many a day they watch in vain, subsisting on berries and on game accidentally entangled in their nets; at last, when fortune grants them success, they despatch the prize to their friends below, who tame and instruct the bird for the purpose of sale. Others will stay at home and pass their time in sporting, either with a hawk or, if they can afford it, with a gun; one Rājpūt beats the bushes and the other carries the hawk ready to be sprung after any quarry that rises to the view. At the close of the day if they have been successful they exchange the game for a little meal and thus prolong existence over another span. The marksman armed with a gun will sit up for wild pig returning from the fields, and in the same manner barter their flesh for other necessaries of life. However, the prospect of starvation has already driven many to take the plough, and the number of seceders daily increases. Our administration, though just and liberal, has a levelling tendency; service is no longer to be procured, and to many the stern alternative has arrived of taking to agriculture and securing comparative comfort, or enduring the pangs of hunger and death. So long as any resource remains the fatal step will be postponed, but it is easy to foresee that the struggle cannot be long protracted; necessity is a hard task-master, and sooner or later the pressure of want will overcome the scruples of the most bigoted.” The objection to ploughing appears happily to have been quite overcome in the Central Provinces, as at the last census nine-tenths of the whole caste were shown as employed [434]in pasture and agriculture, one-tenth of the Rājpūts being landholders, three-fifths actual cultivators, and one-fifth labourers and woodcutters. The bulk of the remaining tenth are probably in the police or other branches of Government service.
1Early History of India (Oxford, Clarendon Press), 3rd edition, p. 414.
2Early History of India, pp. 252, 254.
3Ibidem, p. 210.
4Ibidem, p. 227.
5Colonel Tod states that, the proper name of the caste was Jit or Jat, and was changed to Jāt by a section of them who also adopted Muhammadanism. Colonel Tod also identifies the Jats or Jits with the Yueh-chi as suggested in the text (Rājasthān, i. p. 97).
6Rājasthān, i. p. 42. Mr. Crooke points out that the Buddha here referred to is probably the planet Mercury. But it is possible that he may have been identified with the religious reformer as the names seem to have a common origin.
7See also separate articles on Panwār, Rājpūt and Gūjar.
8J.A.S.B., 1909, p. 167, Guhilots. See also annexed article on Rājpūt Sesodia.
9Ibidem, i. p. 105.
10See also article Bhāt.
11Rājasthān, i. pp. 231, 232.
12Butea frondosa. This powder is also used at the Holi festival and has some sexual significance.
13Rājasthān, i. p. 159.
14Melia indica.
15Ficus R.
16Rājasthān, i. p. 123.
17Rājasthān, i. pp. 267, 268.
18Rāsmāla, ii. p. 261.
19Rājasthān, i. p. 553.
20Reminiscences of Lady Dorothy Nevill, Nelson’s edition, p. 367.
21Rājasthān, ii. p. 3.
22Mrs. Postans, Cutch, p. 35.
23Mrs. Postans, Cutch, p. 138.
24Rājasthān, i. pp. 543, 544.
25Ibidem, i. p. 125.
26Ibidem, ii. p. 52.
27Rājasthān, i. p. 552.
28Vol. ii. p. 227.
29A ceremony of smearing vermilion on the bride before a wedding, which is believed to bring good fortune.
30The basil plant, sacred to Vishnu.
31A round black stone, considered to be a form of Vishnu.
32Rājasthān, i. p. 555.
33Tribes and Castes of Bengal. art. Rājpūt.
34Quoted in Sir D. Ibbetson’s Punjab Census Report (1881), para. 456.
Labels:

Popular Posts

Bisen Rajput