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Rājpūt, Kachhwāha

Rājpūt, Kachhwāha, Cutchwāha—A celebrated clan of Rājpūts included among the thirty-six royal races, to which the Mahārājas of the important states of Amber or Jaipur and Alwar belong. They are of the solar race and claim descent from Kash, the second son of the great king Rāma of Ajodhia, the incarnation of Vishnu. Their original seat, according to tradition, was Rohtās on the Son river, and another of their famous progenitors was Rāja Nal, who migrated from Rohtās and founded Narwar.⁵⁴² The town of Damoh in the Central Provinces is supposed to be named after Damyanti, Rāja Nal’s wife. According to General Cunningham the name Kachhwāha is an abbreviation of Kachhaha-ghāta or tortoise-killer. The earliest appearance of the Kachhwāha Rājpūts in authentic history is in the tenth century, when a chief of the clan captured Gwalior from the Parihār-Gūjar kings of Kanauj and established himself there. His dynasty had an independent existence till A.D. 1128, when it became tributary to the Chandel kings of Mahoba.⁵⁴³ The last prince of Gwalior was Tejkaran, called Dūlha Rai or the bridegroom prince, and he received from his father-in-law the district of Daora in the present Jaipur State, where he settled. In 1150 one of his successors wrested Amber from the Mīnas and made it his capital. The Amber State from the first acknowledged the supremacy of the Mughal emperors, and the chief of the period gave his daughter in marriage to Akbar. This chief’s son, Bhagwān Dās, is said to have saved Akbar’s life at the battle of Sarnāl. Bhagwān Dās gave a daughter to Jahāngīr, and his adopted son, Mān Singh, the next chief, was one of the most conspicuous of the Mughal Generals, and at different periods was governor of Kābul, Bengal, Bihār and the Deccan. The next chief of note, Jai Singh I., appears in all the wars of Aurāngzeb in the Deccan. He was commander of 6000 horse, and captured Sivaji, the celebrated founder of the Marātha power. The present city of Jaipur was founded by a subsequent chief, Jai Singh II., in 1728. During the Mutiny the Mahārāja of Jaipur placed all his military power at the disposal of the Political Agent, and in every way assisted the British Government. At the Durbar of 1877 his salute was raised to 21 guns. Jaipur, one of the largest states in Rājputāna, has an area of nearly 16,000 square miles, and a population of 2½ million persons. The Alwar State was founded about 1776 by Pratāp Singh, a descendant of a prince of the Jaipur house, who had separated from it three centuries before. It has an area of 3000 square miles and a population of nearly a million.⁵⁴⁴ In Colonel Tod’s time the Kachhwāha chiefs in memory of their descent from Rāma, the incarnation of the sun, celebrated with great solemnity the annual feast of the sun. On this occasion a stately car called the chariot of the sun was brought from Rāma’s temple, and the Mahārāja ascending into it perambulated his capital. The images of Rāma and Siva were carried with the army both in Alwar and Jaipur. The banner of Amber was always called the Pānchranga or five-coloured flag, and is frequently mentioned in the traditions of the Rājpūt bards. But it does not seem to be stated what the five colours were. Some of the finest soldiers in the old Sepoy army were Kachhwāha Rājpūts. The Kachhwāhas are fairly numerous in the United Provinces and rank with the highest Rājpūt clans.⁵⁴⁵ In the Central Provinces they are found principally in the Saugor, Hoshangābād and Nimār Districts.

Rājpūt, Nāgvansi

Rājpūt, Nāgvansi.—This clan are considered to be the descendants of the Tāk or Takshac, which is one of the thirty-six royal races, and was considered by Colonel Tod to be of Scythian origin. The Takshac were also snake-worshippers. “Nāga and Takshac are synonymous appellations in Sanskrit for the snake, and the Takshac is the celebrated Nāgvansa of the early heroic history of India. The Mahābhārat describes in its usual allegorical style the war between the Pāndus of Indraprestha and the Takshacs of the north. Parikhīta, a prince on the Pāndu side, was assassinated by the Takshac, and his son and successor, Janamejaya, avenged his death and made a bonfire of 20,000 snakes.”⁵⁴⁶ This allegory is supposed to have represented the warfare of the Aryan races against the Sākas or Scythians. The Tāk or Takshac would be one of the clans held to be derived from the earlier invading tribes from Central Asia, and of the lunar race. The Tāk are scarcely known in authentic history, but the poet Chand mentions the Tāk from Aser or Asīrgarh as one of the princes who assembled at the summons of Prithwi Rāj of Delhi to fight against the Muhammadans. In another place he is called Chatto the Tāk. Nothing more is known of the Tāk clan unless the cultivating Tāga caste of northern India is derived from them. But the Nāgvansi clan of Rājpūts, who profess to be descended from them, is fairly numerous. Most of the Nāgvansis, however, are probably in reality descended from landholders of the indigenous tribes who have adopted the name of this clan, when they wished to claim rank as Rājpūts. The change is rendered more easy by the fact that many of these tribes have legends of their own, showing the descent of their ruling families from snakes, the snake and tiger, owing to their deadly character, being the two animals most commonly worshipped. Thus the landholding section of the Kols or Mundas of Chota Nāgpur have a long legend⁵⁴⁷ of their descent from a princess who married a snake in human form, and hence call themselves Nāgvansi Rājpūts; and Dr. Buchanan states that the Nāgvansi clan of Gorakhpur is similarly derived from the Chero tribe.⁵⁴⁸ In the Central Provinces the Nāgvansi Rājpūts number about 400 persons, nearly all of whom are found in the Chhattīsgarh Districts and Feudatory States, and are probably descendants of Kol or Munda landholding families.

Rājpūt, Nikumbh

Rājpūt, Nikumbh.—The Nikumbh is given as one of the thirty-six royal races, but it is also the name of a branch of the Chauhāns, and it seems that, as suggested by Sherring,⁵⁴⁹ it may be an offshoot from the great Chauhān clan. The Nikumbh are said to have been given the title of Sirnet by an emperor of Delhi, because they would not bow their heads on entering his presence, and when he fixed a sword at the door some of them allowed their necks to be cut through by the sword rather than bend the head. The term Sirnet is supposed to mean headless. A Chauhān column with an inscription of Rāja Bisal Deo was erected at Nigumbode, a place of pilgrimage on the Jumna, a few miles below Delhi, and it seems a possible conjecture that the Nikumbhs may have obtained their name from this place.⁵⁵⁰ Mr. Crooke, however, takes the Nikumbh to be a separate clan. The foundation of most of the old forts and cities in Alwar and northern Jaipur is ascribed to them, and two of their inscriptions of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries have been discovered in Khāndesh. In northern India some of them are now known as Rāghuvansi.⁵⁵¹ They are chiefly found in the Hoshangābād and Nimār Districts, and may be connected with the Rāghuvansi or Rāghwi caste of these Provinces.

Rājpūt, Pāik

Rājpūt, Pāik.—This term means a foot-soldier, and is returned from the northern Districts. It belongs to a class of men formerly maintained as a militia by zamīndārs and landholders for the purpose of collecting their revenue and maintaining order. They were probably employed in much the same manner in the Central Provinces as in Bengal, where Buchanan thus describes them:⁵⁵² “In order to protect the money of landowners and convey it from place to place, and also, as it is alleged, to enforce orders, two kinds of guards are kept. One body called Burkandāz, commanded by Duffadārs and Jemādārs, seems to be a more recent establishment The other called Pāik, commanded by Mīrdhas and Sirdārs, are the remains of the militia of the Bengal kingdom. Both seem to have constituted the foot-soldiers whose number makes such a formidable appearance in the Ain-i-Akbari. These unwieldy establishments seem to have been formed when the Government collected rent immediately from the farmer and cultivator, and when the same persons managed not only the collections but the police and a great part of the judicial department. This vast number of armed men, more especially the latter, formed the infantry of the Mughal Government, and were continued under the zamīndārs, who were anxious to have as many armed men as possible to support them in their depredations. And these establishments formed no charge, as they lived on lands which the zamīndār did not bring to account.” The Pāiks are thus a small caste formed from military service like the Khandaits or swordsmen of Orissa, and are no doubt recruited from all sections of the population. They have no claim to be considered as Rājpūts.

Rājpūt, Parihār

Rājpūt, Parihār.—This clan was one of the four Agnikulas or fire-born. Their founder was the first to issue from the fire-fountain, but he had not a warrior’s mien. The Brāhmans placed him as guardian of the gate, and hence his name, Prithi-ha-dwāra of which Parihār is supposed to be a corruption⁵⁵³. Like the Chauhāns and Solankis the Parihār clan is held to have originated from the Gurjara or Gūjar invaders who came with the white Huns in the fifth and sixth centuries, and they were one of the first of the Gūjar Rājpūt clans to emerge into prominence. They were dominant in Bundelkhand before the Chandels, their last chieftain having been overthrown by a Chandel prince in A.D. 831⁵⁵⁴. A Parihār-Gūjar chieftain, whose capital was at Bhinmāl in Rājputāna, conquered the king of Kanauj, the ruler of what remained of the dominions of the great Harsha Vārdhana, and established himself there about A.D. 816⁵⁵⁵. Kanauj was then held by Gūjar-Parihār kings till about 1090, when it was seized by Chandradeva of the Gaharwār Rājpūt clan. The Parihār rulers were thus subverted by the Gaharwārs and Chandels, both of whom are thought to be derived from the Bhars or other aboriginal tribes, and these events appear to have been in the nature of a rising of the aristocratic section of the indigenous residents against the Gūjar rulers, by whom they had been conquered and perhaps taught the trade of arms. After this period the Parihārs are of little importance. They appear to have retired to Rājputāna, as Colonel Tod states that Mundore, five miles north of Jodhpur, was their headquarters until it was taken by the Rāhtors. The walls of the ruined fortress of Mundore are built of enormous square masses of stone without cement, and attest both its antiquity and its former strength⁵⁵⁶. The Parihārs are scattered over Rājputāna, and a colony of them on the Chambal was characterised as the most notorious body of thieves in the annals of Thug history⁵⁵⁷. Similarly in Etāwah they are said to be a peculiarly lawless and desperate community⁵⁵⁸. The Parihār Rājpūts rank with the leading clans and intermarry with them. In the Central Provinces they are found principally in Saugor, Damoh and Jubbulpore.

Rājpūt, Rāthor

Rājpūt, Rāthor, Rāthaur.—The Rāthor of Jodhpur or Mārwār is one of the most famous clans of Rājpūts, and that which is most widely dominant at the present time, including as it does the Rājas of Jodhpur, Bikaner, Ratlām, Kishengarh and Idar, as well as several smaller states. The origin of the Rāthor clan is uncertain. Colonel Tod states that they claim to be of the solar race, but by the bards of the race are denied this honour; and though descended from Kash, the second son of Rāma, are held to be the offspring of one of his progeny, Kashyap, by the daughter of a Dait (Titan). The view was formerly held that the dynasty which wrested Kanauj from the descendants of Harsha Vārdhana, and held it from A.D. 810 to 1090, until subverted by the Gaharwārs, were Rāthors, but proof has now been obtained that they were really Parihār-Gūjars. Mr. Smith suggests that after the destruction of Kanauj by the Muhammadans under Shihāb-ud-Dīn Ghori in A.D. 1193 the Gaharwār clan, whose kings had conquered it in 1090 and reigned there for a century, migrated to the deserts of Mārwār in Rājputāna, where they settled and became known as Rāthors.⁵⁵⁹ It has also been generally held that the Rāshtrakūta dynasty of Nāsik and Mālkhed in the Deccan which reigned from A.D. 753 to 973, and built the Kailāsa temples at Ellora were Rāthors, but Mr. Smith states that there is no evidence of any social connection between the Rāshtrakūtas and Rāthors.⁵⁶⁰ At any rate Siāhji, the grandson or nephew of Jai Chand, the last king of Kanauj, who had been drowned in the Ganges while attempting to escape, accomplished with about 200 followers—the wreck of his vassalage—the pilgrimage to Dwārka in Gujarāt. He then sought in the sands and deserts of Rājputāna a second line of defence against the advancing wave of Muhammadan invasion, and planted the standard of the Rāthors among the sandhills of the Luni in 1212. This, however, was not the first settlement of the Rāthors in Rājputāna, for an inscription, dated A.D. 997, among the ruins of the ancient city of Hathūndi or Hastikūndi, near Bāli in Jodhpur State, tells of five Rāthor Rājas who ruled there early in the tenth century, and this fact shows that the name Rāthor is really much older than the date of the fall of Kanauj.⁵⁶¹

In 1381 Siāhji’s tenth successor, Rao Chonda, took Mundore from a Parihār chief, and made his possession secure by marrying the latter’s daughter. A subsequent chief, Rao Jodha, laid the foundation of Jodhpur in 1459, and transferred thither the seat of government. The site of Jodhpur was selected on a peak known as Joda-gīr, or the hill of strife, four miles distant from Mundore on a crest of the range overlooking the expanse of the desert plains of Mārwār. The position for the new city was chosen at the bidding of a forest ascetic, and was excellently adapted for defence, but had no good water-supply.⁵⁶² Joda had fourteen sons, of whom the sixth, Bīka, was the founder of the Bikaner state. Rāja Sur Singh (1595–1620) was one of Akbar’s greatest generals, and the emperor Jahāngīr buckled the sword on to his son Gaj Singh with his own hands. Gaj Singh, the next Rāja (1620–1635), was appointed viceroy of the Deccan, as was his successor, Jaswant Singh, under Aurāngzeb. The Mughal Emperors, Colonel Tod remarks, were indebted for half their conquests to the Lākh Tulwār Rāhtorān, the hundred thousand swords which the Rāthors boasted that they could muster.⁵⁶³ On another occasion, when Jahāngīr successfully appealed to the Rājpūts for support against his rebel son Khusru, he was so pleased with the zeal of the Rāthor prince, Rāja Gaj Singh, that he not only took the latter’s hand, but kissed it,⁵⁶⁴ perhaps an unprecedented honour. But the constant absence from his home on service in distant parts of the empire was so distasteful to Rāja Sur Singh that, when dying in the Deccan, he ordered a pillar to be erected on his grave containing his curse upon any of his race who should cross the Nerbudda. The pomp of imperial greatness or the sunshine of court favour was as nothing with the Rāthor chiefs, Colonel Tod says, when weighed against the exercise of their influence within their own cherished patrimony. The simple fare of the desert was dearer to the Rāthor than all the luxuries of the imperial banquet, which he turned from in disgust to the recollection of the green pulse of Mundore, or his favourite rabi or maize porridge, the prime dish of the Rāthor.⁵⁶⁵ The Rāthor princes have been not less ready in placing themselves and the forces of their States at the disposal of the British Government, and the latest and perhaps most brilliant example of their loyalty occurred during 1914, when the veteran Sir Partāp Singh of Idar insisted on proceeding to the front against Germany, though over seventy years of age, and was accompanied by his nephew, a boy of sixteen.

The Ratlām State was founded by Ratan Singh, a grandson of Rāja Udai Singh of Jodhpur, who was born about 1618, and obtained it as a grant for good service against the Usbegs at Kandahār and the Persians in Khorasān about 1651–52. Kishangarh was founded by Kishan Singh, a son of the same Rāja Udai Singh, who obtained a grant of territory from Akbar about 1611. Idar State in Gujarāt has, according to its traditions, been held by Rāthor princes from a very early period. Jodhpur State is the largest in Rājputāna, with an area of 35,000 square miles, and a population of two million. The Mahārāja is entitled to a salute of twenty-one guns. A great part of the State is a sandy desert, and its older name of Mārwār is, according to Colonel Tod, a corruption of Mārusthān, or the region of death. In the Central Provinces the Rāthor Rājpūts number about 6000 persons, and are found mainly in the Saugor, Jubbulpore, Narsinghpur and Hoshangābād Districts. The census statistics include about 5000 persons enumerated in Mandla and Bilaspur, nearly all of whom are really Rāthor Telis.

Rājpūt, Sesodia

Rājpūt, Sesodia, Gahlot, Ahāria.—The Gahlot or Sesodia is generally admitted to be the premier Rājpūt clan. Their chief is described by the bards as “The Sūryavānsi Rāna, of royal race, Lord of Chitor, the ornament of the thirty-six royal races.” The Sesodias claim descent from the sun, through Loh, the eldest son of the divine Rāma of Ajodhia. In token of their ancestry the royal banner of Mewār consisted of a golden sun on a crimson field. Loh is supposed to have founded Lahore. His descendants migrated to Saurāshtra or Kāthiāwār, where they settled at Vidurbha or Balabhi, the capital of the Valabhi dynasty. The last king of Valabhi was Silāditya, who was killed by an invasion of barbarians, and his posthumous son, Gohāditya, ruled in Idar and the hilly country in the south-west of Mewār. From him the clan took its name of Gohelot or Gahlot. Mr. D.R. Bhandarkar, however, from a detailed examination of the inscriptions relating to the Sesodias, arrives at the conclusion that the founders of the line were Nāgar Brāhmans from Vadnagar in Gujarāt, the first of the line being one Guhadatta, from which the clan takes its name of Gahlot⁵⁶⁶ The family were also connected with the ruling princes of Valabhi. Mr. Bhandarkar thinks that the Valabhi princes, and also the Nāgar Brāhmans, belonged to the Maitraka tribe, who, like the Gūjars, were allied to the Huns, and entered India in the fifth or sixth century. Mr. Bhandarkar’s account really agrees quite closely with the traditions of the Sesodia bards themselves, except that he considers Guhadatta to have been a Nāgar Brāhman of Valabhi, and descended from the Maitrakas, a race allied to the Huns, while the bards say that he was a descendant of the Aryan Kshatriyas of Ajodhia, who migrated to Surat and established the Valabhi kingdom. The earliest prince of the Gahlot dynasty for whom a date has been obtained is Sīla, A.D. 646, and he was fifth in descent from Guhadatta, who may therefore be placed in the first part of the sixth century. Bāpa, the founder of the Gahlot clan in Mewār, was, according to tradition, sixth in descent from Gohāditya, and he had his capital at Nāgda, a few miles to the north of Udaipur city.⁵⁶⁷ A tradition quoted by Mr. Bhandarkar states that Bāpa was the son of Grahadāta. He succeeded in propitiating the god Siva. One day the king of Chitor died and left no heir to his throne. It was decided that whoever would be garlanded by a certain elephant would be placed on the throne. Bāpa was present on the occasion, and the elephant put the garland round his neck not only once, but thrice. Bāpa was thus seated on the throne. One day he was suffering from some eye-disease. A physician mixed a certain medicine in alcoholic liquor and applied it to his eyes, which were speedily cured. Bāpa afterwards inquired what the medicine was, and learnt the truth. He trembled like a reed and said, “I am a Brāhman, and you have given me medicine mixed in liquor. I have lost my caste,” So saying he drank molten lead (sīsa), and forthwith died, and hence arose the family name Sesodia.⁵⁶⁸ This story, current in Rājputāna, supports Mr. Bhandarkar’s view of the Brāhman origin of the clan. According to tradition Bāpa went to Chitor, then held by the Mori or Prāmara Rājpūts, to seek his fortune, and was appointed to lead the Chitor forces against the Muhammadans on their first invasion of India.⁵⁶⁹ After defeating and expelling them he ousted the Mori ruler and established himself at Chitor, which has since been the capital of the Sesodias. The name Sesodia is really derived from Sesoda, the residence of a subsequent chief Rāhup, who captured Mundore and was the first to bear the title of Rāna of Mewār. Similarly Ahāria is another local name from Ahār, a place in Mewār, which was given to the clan. They were also known as Rāghuvansi, or of the race of king Rāghu, the ancestor of the divine Rāma. The Rāghuvansis of the Central Provinces, an impure caste of Rājpūt origin, are treated in a separate article, but it is not known whether they were derived from the Sesodias. From the fourteenth century the chronicles of the Sesodias contain many instances of Rājpūt courage and devotion. Chitor was sacked three times before the capital was removed to Udaipur, first by Ala-ul-Din Khilji in 1303, next by Bahādur Shāh, the Muhammadan king of Gujarāt in 1534, and lastly by Akbar in 1567. These events were known as Sāka or massacres of the clan. On each occasion the women of the garrison performed the Johar or general immolation by fire, while the men sallied forth, clad in their saffron-coloured robes and inspired by bhāng, to die sword in hand against the foe. At the first sack the goddess of the clan appeared in a dream to the Rāna and demanded the lives of twelve of its chiefs as a condition of its preservation. His eleven sons were in their turn crowned as chief, each ruling for three days, while on the fourth he sallied out and fell in battle.⁵⁷⁰ Lastly, the Rāna devoted himself in order that his favourite son Ajeysi might be spared and might perpetuate the clan. At the second sack 32,000 were slain, and at the third 30,000. Finally Aurāngzeb destroyed the temples and idols at Chitor, and only its ruins remain. Udaipur city was founded in 1559. The Sesodias resisted the Muhammadans for long, and several times defeated them. Udai Singh, the founder of Udaipur, abandoned his capital and fled to the hills, whence he caused his own territory to be laid waste, with the object of impeding the imperial forces. Of this period it is recorded that the Rānas were from father to son in outlawry against the emperor, and that sovereign had carried away the doors of the gate of Chitor, and had set them up in Delhi. Fifty-two rājas and chiefs had perished in the struggle, and the Rāna in his trouble lay at nights on a counterpane spread on the ground, and neither slept in his bed nor shaved his hair; and if he perchance broke his fast, had nothing better with which to satisfy it than beans baked in an earthen pot. For this reason it is that certain practices are to this day observed at Udaipur. A counterpane is spread below the Rāna’s bed, and his head remains unshaven and baked beans are daily laid upon his plate.⁵⁷¹ A custom of perhaps somewhat similar origin is that in this clan man and wife take food together, and the wife does not wait till her husband has finished. It is said that the Sesodia Rājpūts are the only caste in India among whom this rule prevails, and it may have been due to the fact that they had to eat together in haste when occasion offered during this period of guerilla warfare.

In 1614 Rāna Amar Singh, recognising that further opposition was hopeless, made his submission to the emperor, on the condition that he should never have to present himself in person but might send his two sons in his place. This stipulation being accepted, the heir-apparent Karan Singh proceeded to Ajmer where he was magnanimously treated by Jahāngīr and shortly afterwards the imperial troops were withdrawn from Chitor. It is the pride of the Udaipur house that it never gave a daughter in marriage to any of the Musalmān emperors, and for many years ceased to intermarry with other Rājpūt families who had formed such alliances. But Amar Singh II. (1698–1710) made a league with the Mahārājas of Jodhpur and Jaipur for mutual protection against the Muhammadans; and it was one of the conditions of the compact that the latter chiefs should regain the privilege of marriage with the Udaipur family which had been suspended since they had given daughters in marriage to the emperors. But the Rāna unfortunately added a proviso that the son of an Udaipur princess should succeed to the Jodhpur or Jaipur States in preference to any elder son by another mother. The quarrels to which this stipulation gave rise led to the conquest of the country by the Marāthas, at whose hands Mewār suffered more cruel devastation than it had ever been subjected to by the Muhammadans. Ruinous war also ensued between Jodhpur and Jaipur for the hand of the famous Udaipur princess Kishen Kumāri at the time when Rājputāna was being devastated by the Marāthas and Pindāris; and the quarrel was only settled by the voluntary death of the object of contention, who, after the kinsman sent to slay her had recoiled before her young beauty and innocence, willingly drank the draught of opium four times administered before the fatal result could be produced.⁵⁷²

The Mahārāna of Udaipur is entitled to a salute of nineteen guns. The Udaipur State has an area of nearly 13,000 square miles and a population of about a million persons. Besides Udaipur three minor states, Partābgarh, Dungarpur and Banswāra, are held by members of the Sesodia clan. In the Central Provinces the Sesodias numbered nearly 2000 persons in 1911, being mainly found in the districts of the Nerbudda Division.