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RAJPUT

Posted in Vasudevum Katumbukam- GlobeFLATvillage by Dr.Bhushan Sood on the June 8th, 2007

sood-rajputs.jpg Soods are the descendants of the Kashatrias and in particular King Parmar whose second son was named Sood. They are Agnikul Rajputs. At the time of Ashoka, Buddhist influence spread all over India. Soods helped to re-establish the Vedic Dharam in one part of India. For eight generations thereafter the capital of Sood dynasty was Patten in Sindh and later shifted to Amar Kot.Rajput (from the Sanskrit tatpurusha compound r?japutra, “son of a king”) is a Caste among Hindus in India, Pakistan,Bangladesh and Nepal. They claim descent from the ancient royal warrior dynasties of Kshatriyas in India and have roots to Rajputana, now known as Rajasthan in independent

India. They are numerous in Uttar Pradesh (UP), Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Delhi in India. Within the Hindu caste system, present day Rajputs constitute one of the principal groups belonging to the Kshatriya varna. The Rajputs ruled more than four hundred out of six hundred estimated number of princely states at the time of independence of India and

Pakistan. Out of many princely states 117 were saluted states in India and 4 in

Pakistan total states 121. (Salute states). Rajputs ruled 81 states in

India out of 121 states in 1947[citation needed]. The Rajputs have always been martial. The Mughal and the British Government also accepted it and recruited them heavily in their armies.

Composition

The Rajputs were designated by the British as a “Martial Race“. The martial race was a designation created by officials of British India to describe “races” (peoples) that were thought to be naturally warlike and aggressive in battle and to possess qualities like courage, loyalty, self sufficiency, physical strength, resilience, orderliness, hard working, fighting tenacity and military strategy. The British recruited heavily from these “martial races” for service in the colonial army.[1]The 1931 census of British India was the last to record caste affiliation in a manner that provides reliable information on Rajput demographics. Any present-day estimates are speculative; they also vary widely. These figures are of interest as they denote the approximate spread and composition of the Rajput community.The 1931 census reported a total of 12.8 million people self-describing as Rajput. The United Provinces (being approximately present-day Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand combined) reported the largest population of Rajputs, at 3,756,936. The (then united) province of Bihar & Orissa, corrosponding to the present-day states of

Bihar, Orissa and Jharkhand, reported a Rajput population of 1,412,440. Rajputana, which was almost co-terminus with the present-day state of Rajasthan, reported a figure of 669,516. The Central Provinces and Berar reported a figure of 506,087, the princely state of Gwalior of 393,076, the Central India Agency of 388,942, the Bombay Presidency of 352,016, the princely state of Jammu & Kashmir of 256,020, and the Western India States Agency of 227,137 Rajputs. The undivided

province of Bengal (including present-day Bangladesh reported a figure of 156,978 Rajputs. The princely states of Baroda and Hyderabad reported figures of 94,893 and 88,434 respectively. The Rajput population is relatively low in number because of their destruction during ages in wars.

Rajputs typically speak whatever languages are spoken by the general population of the areas they live in. Hindi and Urdu are the primary languages, as most are situated in the “Hindi-speaking states” and Pakistan, but Gujarati and Punjabi are also spoken among Rajputs residing in Punjab region, Jammu and Kashmir and Gujarat in India and Pakistan.The mainstream Rajput community is comprised of Hindus belonging to the Kshatriya

varna and to a specific set of 36 clans. Several other communities identify themselves as being Rajput, typically claiming to be of partial Rajput descent. They are found both in the Hindu community and in other religious groups.

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