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RAJPUT

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 866 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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RAJPUT , a See also:

race of See also:India, not confined to See also:Rajputana, but spread over the N. of the See also:country. According to the See also:census of 1901 there were 9,712,156 Rajputs in all India, of whom only 620,229 lived in Rajputana. The See also:great See also:majority adhere to the See also:Hindu See also:religion, but 1,875,387 are entered as Mahommedans. The Rajputs See also:form the fighting, landowning and ruling See also:caste. They claim to be the See also:modern representatives of the Kshatriyas of See also:ancient tradition; but their See also:early See also:history is obscure, and See also:recent See also:research supports the view that they include descendants of more than one See also:wave of immigrant invaders. Linguistic See also:evidence supports tradition in proving that their unity was broken up by the See also:Mahommedan See also:conquest, for the inhabitants of the Himalayan valleys still speak a See also:language akin to those of Rajputana proper, though separated from them by the wide Gangetic valley. The Rajputs are See also:fine, brave men, and retain the feudal See also:instinct strongly See also:developed. See also:Pride of See also:blood is their See also:chief characteristic, and they are most punctilious on all points of See also:etiquette. The tradition of See also:common ancestry permits a poor Rajput See also:yeoman to consider himself as well See also:born as any powerful landholder of his See also:clan, and See also:superior to any high See also:official of the professional classes. No race in India can boast of finer feats of arms or brighter deeds of See also:chivalry, and they form one of the See also:main recruiting See also:fields for the See also:Indian See also:army of to-See also:day. They consider any occupation other than that of arms or See also:government derogatory to their dignity, and consequently during the See also:long See also:period of See also:peace which has followed the See also:establishment of the See also:British See also:rule in India they have been content to stay idle at See also:home instead of taking up any of the other professions in which they might have come to the front. Those who are not zamindars have, therefore, rather dropped behind in the modern struggle for existence.

As cultivators they are lazy and indifferent, and they prefer See also:

pastoral to agricultural pursuits. Looking upon all See also:manual labour as humiliating, none but the poorest class of Rajput will himself hold the plough. Is Within the limits of Rajputana the Rajputs form a vast See also:body of kindred, and any Rajput can marry any Rajput woman who does not belong to his own clan. The most numerous of the clans is the Rahtor, to which the chiefs of Marwar, See also:Bikanir and See also:Kishangarh belong. Its strength in roof was 122,160. Next comes the Kachwaha clan, which is strong in See also:Jaipur and See also:Alwar, both chiefs belonging to its members. It See also:numbers 100,186. The Chauhan follows with an aggregate of 86,460, among whom are the chiefs of See also:Bundi, See also:Kotah and See also:Sirohi. The Jadu or Jadon, which includes in its ranks the chiefs of See also:Karauli and See also:Jaisalmer, numbers 94,666. The Sisodhyias, who include the ancient and illustrious See also:house of See also:Udaipur, number 51,366. The Ponwar clan, to which See also:Vikramaditya, the celebrated See also:king of See also:Ujjain, from whom the Hindu Era is named, is said to have belonged, numbers 43,435• The Solanki and Parihar clans, once powerful, are now only 18,949 and 9448 respectively.

End of Article: RAJPUT

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