Rajput (from

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

. The term Rajput covers various

patrilineal Patrilineality, also known as the male line, the spear side or agnatic kinship, is a common kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is recorded through their father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritanc ...

clans historically associated with

warrior A warrior is a guardian specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal society, tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracy, social class, class, or caste. History ...

hood: several clans claim Rajput status, although not all claims are universally accepted. According to modern scholars, almost all Rajputs clans originated from peasant or pastoral communities.

Lineages

Genealogies of the Rajput clans were fabricated by

pastoral The pastoral genre of literature, art, or music depicts an idealised form of the shepherd's lifestyle – herding livestock around open areas of land according to the seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. The target au ...

nomad Nomads are communities without fixed habitation who regularly move to and from areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the population of nomadic pa ...

ic tribes when they became sedentary. In a process called Rajputization, after acquiring political power, they employed bards to fabricate these lineages which also disassociated them from their original ancestry of cattle-herding or cattle-rustling communities and acquired the name 'Rajput'. There are three basic lineages (''vanshas'' or ''vamshas'') among Rajputs. Each of these lineages is divided into several clans (kula) (total of 36 clans). Suryavanshi denotes descent from the solar deity

Surya Surya ( ; , ) is the Sun#Dalal, Dalal, p. 399 as well as the solar deity in Hinduism. He is traditionally one of the major five deities in the Smarta tradition, Smarta tradition, all of whom are considered as equivalent deities in the Panchaya ...

Chandravanshi The Lunar dynasty (IAST: Candravaṃśa) is a legendary principal house of the Kshatriyas varna, or warrior–ruling varna (Social Class) mentioned in the ancient Indian texts. This legendary dynasty was said to be descended from moon-relate ...

( Somavanshi) from the lunar deity

Chandra Chandra (), also known as Soma (), is the Hindu god of the Moon, and is associated with the night, plants and vegetation. He is one of the Navagraha (nine planets of Hinduism) and Dikpala (guardians of the directions). Etymology and other ...

, and Agnivanshi from the fire deity

Agni Agni ( ) is the Deva (Hinduism), Hindu god of fire. As the Guardians of the directions#Aṣṭa-Dikpāla ("Guardians of Eight Directions"), guardian deity of the southeast direction, he is typically found in southeast corners of Hindu temples. ...

. The Agnivanshi clans include Parmar, Chaulukya ( Solanki), Parihar and Chauhan. Lesser-noted ''vansh'' include Udayvanshi, Rajvanshi, and Rishivanshi. The histories of the various ''vansh''s were later recorded in documents known as ''vamshāavalīis''; André Wink counts these among the "status-legitimizing texts". Beneath the ''vansh'' division are smaller and smaller subdivisions: ''kul'', ''shakh'' ("branch"), ''khamp'' or ''khanp'' ("twig"), and ''nak'' ("twig tip"). Marriages within a ''kul'' are generally disallowed (with some flexibility for kul-mates of different ''gotra'' lineages). The ''kul'' serves as the primary identity for many of the Rajput clans, and each ''kul'' is protected by a family goddess, the '' kuldevi''. Lindsey Harlan notes that in some cases, ''shakh''s have become powerful enough to be functionally ''kul''s in their own right.

Suryavanshi lineage

The Suryavanshi lineage (also known as the Raghuvanshies or Solar Dynasty) are clans who claim descent from Surya, the Hindu Sun-god. *

Kachhwaha The Kachhwaha is a Rajput clan found primarily in India. They claim descent from the Suryavanshi (Solar) dynasty. Etymology According to Cynthia Talbot, the meaning of word ''Kachhwaha'' is tortoise. Origin There are numerous theories on ...

** Shekhawat ** Naruka ** Bandhalgoti * Rathore ** Vadhel * Guhila or Gohil ** Sisodia or Sisodiya *** Chundawat * Gahadavala * Bargujar

Chandravansh lineage

The

lineage ( Somavanshi or

Lunar Dynasty The Lunar dynasty (IAST: Candravaṃśa) is a legendary principal house of the Kshatriyas varna, or warrior–ruling varna (Social Class) mentioned in the ancient Indian texts. This legendary dynasty was said to be descended from moon-related ...

) claims descent from

, The lineage is further divided into Yaduvansh dynasty descendants of King

Yadu This is a list of ancient Indo-Aryan peoples and tribes that are mentioned in the literature of Indian religions. From the second or first millennium BCE, ancient Indo-Aryan peoples and tribes turned into most of the population in the north ...

and Puruvansh dynasty descendants of King Puru.

Chandravanshi Clans

* Tomar or Tanwar ** Pathania * Chandel or Chandela *

Katoch Katoch is a Chandravanshi Rajput clan. Their areas of residence are mainly in the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, and Uttarakhand, and the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Traditionally resided in Kangra Fort, Trigarta King ...

Yaduvanshi Clans

* Bhati/

Bhatti Bhatti is a Punjabis, Punjabi and Sindhis, Sindhi caste of Rajputs. They are linked to the Bhatia caste, Bhatias and Bhutto (clan), Bhuttos, all of whom claim to originate from the Hindus, Hindu Bhati Rajputs. They claim descent from the Lun ...

* Jadaun * Raksel * Samma ** Chudasama **

Jadeja Jadeja ( Gujarati, Sindhi: , or ''Jāṛejā'') is a Samma Rajput clan that inhabits the Indian state of Gujarat and the Tharparkar district of Sindh, Pakistan. They originated from Sammas of Sindh, a pastoral group, and laid a claim on the ...

Agnivanshi lineage

The Agnivanshi lineage claim descent from

, the

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

god of fire.

Agnivanshi Clans

* Parihar * Parmar ** Pawar ** Panwar **

Mori Mori is a Japanese and Italian surname. It is also the name of two clans in Japan, and one clan in India. Italian surname * Camilo Mori, Chilean painter * Cesare Mori, Italian "Iron Prefect" * Claudia Mori, Italian actress, singer, televisio ...

** Sodha ** Ujjainiya * Chauhan ** Hada ** Deora **Khichi ** Bhadauria ** Negi * Solanki

Battalion (Regiment) Clans

In medieval Indian history, Rajputs made several regiments, special battalions and mercenaries specially during Rajput Era to fight against foreign invaders which consisted of Rajput soldiers from some or all Rajput clans. Their descendents still use those regiment Rajput surnames

Regiment Clans

* Purbia Purbiya (or Purabia) are

Rajput Rājpūt (, from Sanskrit ''rājaputra'' meaning "son of a king"), also called Thākur (), is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating fro ...

led mercenaries and soldiers from the eastern Gangetic Plain – areas corresponding to present-day western

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

and eastern

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

Other Clans

* Bais * Bundela *

Gaur The gaur (''Bos gaurus''; ) is a large bovine native to the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia, and has been listed as Vulnerable species, Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1986. The global population was estimated at a maximum of 21,000 ...

* Gautam * Jamwal * Pundir * Minhas * Jhala * Sengar * Banaphar * Dor * Jethwa

36 royal races

The 36 royal races (''Chathis Rajkula'') is a listing of Indian social groups purported to be the royal (ruling) clans of several states and Janapads of the northern Indian subcontinent. Among the historical attempts at creating a comprehensive listing of the 36 are the ''Kumarapala Prabandha'' of

Acharya In Indian religions and society, an ''acharya'' (Sanskrit: आचार्य, IAST: ; Pali: ''ācariya'') is a religious teacher in Hinduism and Buddhism and a spiritual guide to Hindus and Buddhists. The designation has different meanings i ...

Jinamandan Gani of 1435 AD, '' Prithviraj Raso'' of uncertain date, and British officer

James Tod Lieutenant-Colonel James Tod (20 March 1782 – 18 November 1835) was an officer of the British East India Company and an Orientalism, Oriental scholar. He combined his official role and his amateur interests to create a series of works ...

's 1829 ''Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan''.

''Kumarapala Prabandha'' list

The '' Kumarpal Prabandha'' (about the reign of Kumarapala Solanki of Chaulukya dynasty r. 1143-1172 CE) list provides 36 clans starting with dynasties mentioned in the classics,

and its

Ikshvaku Ikshvaku (Sanskrit ; Pāli: ) is a legendary king in Indian religions, particularly Hindu and Jain scriptures Jain literature () refers to the literature of the Jain religion. It is a vast and ancient literary tradition, which was initi ...

sub-branch,

and its

(

Yadava The Yadava (), not to be confused with Yadav, were an ancient Indian people who believed to have descended from Yadu (legendary king), Yadu, a legendary king of Chandravamsha lineage. The community was formed of various clans, being the #T ...

) branch. It also mentions some of the later famous clans: Parmar, Chauhan,

Chaulukya The Chaulukya dynasty (), also Solanki dynasty, was a dynasty that ruled parts of what are now Gujarat and Rajasthan in north-western India, between and . Their capital was located at Anahilavada (modern Patan). At times, their rule extended ...

(Solanki), Pratihara

Ratt Ratt (stylized as RATT) was an American glam metal band that had significant commercial success in the 1980s, with their albums having been certified as gold, platinum and multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, RIAA. ...

, Chandela. It also mentions other Deccani dynasties like

Shilahara Shilahara was a royal dynasty that established itself in northern and southern Konkan in 8th century CE, present-day Mumbai and Southern Maharashtra ( Kolhapur) during the Rashtrakuta period. The founder of the Shilahara dynasty, Sanaphulla, ...

, Chapotkata, Nikumbh etc. Many of the names are less known. Notably, it includes the Mourya. ''Kumarpal Prabandha'' was consulted by Tod, and he refers to it as Kumarpal Charit.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * {{citation, last=Zimmer, first=Heinrich, author-link=Heinrich Zimmer, title=Philosophies of India, year=1952, editor=Joseph Campbell, publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd, location=London, url=https://archive.org/details/Philosophy.of.India.by.Heinrich.Zimmer, isbn=978-81-208-0739-6

External links

Rajasthan and the Rajputs
at Kipling.org