80 Questions to Understand India by Murad Ali Baig

Author:Murad Ali Baig [Baig, Murad Ali]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mobilism
Publisher: Jaico Books
Published: 2013-02-04T00:00:00+00:00

51. WERE THE RAJPUTS ORIGINALLY HUN OR JAT TRIBES?

The word Rajput is virtually unknown to Indian history or literature till the 7th century AD. It may have been derived from an old Persian word Vishpuhr meaning the son of a king. It is recorded that, in the 7 th century, there was a huge fire sacrifice or yagna conducted at Gaumukh near Mount Abu in Rajasthan by a celebrated Brahmin sage who called himself Vishwamitra. (More than thirty other sages had earlier also called themselves Vishwamitra). At this purification ceremony four previously casteless Jat or Hun tribes were raised to the rank of Kshatriya (probably derived from the Avestan word Ratheshwar meaning charioteer) with new genealogical links with mythical ancestors linked to the sun or the moon (Suryavanshi and Chandravanshi). The Huns were not of Mongolian stock and the white Huns were fair, tall and with long noses. These new 'fire born' tribes were elevated to a new caste that people were made to believe were superior to the trading and working classes.

Kshatriyas, who as a caste, had virtually died out during the thousand-year Buddhist period were now virtually reinvented. From now on, the Brahmin priests gradually took complete control of many Jat clans who they raised to a new class of Rajputs and managed their religion and customs. It was a symbiotic relationship that gave the Brahmin priests protection, wealth, power and enormous prestige in exchange for exalted status for Rajputs. The clans to first convert were the Parmars, Parihars, Chauhans and Chalukyas (Chulik/Sulik). Many other clans soon followed as being a Rajput was so much more respectable than being a casteless local chief.

These new Rajputs soon developed an elaborate new code of chivalry and military pride. They were sometimes also called Brahma Kshatras at this time. Many other Jat clans gradually followed their example and were raised one by one to high Kshatriya status. Some other Jat tribes remained unconverted and casteless until some of them adopted Sikhism, which also abhorred the excesses of the Brahmanical caste system and Brahmin religious and social dominance.

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