Translations:Rajput/101/en
Gradually, the term Rajput came to denote a social class, which was formed when the various tribal and nomadic groups became landed aristocrats, and transformed into the ruling class.[1] These groups assumed the title "Rajput" as part of their claim to higher social positions and ranks.[2] The early medieval literature suggests that this newly formed Rajput class comprised people from multiple castes.[3] Thus, the Rajput identity is not the result of a shared ancestry. Rather, it emerged when different social groups of medieval India sought to legitimise their newly acquired political power by claiming Kshatriya status. These groups started identifying as Rajput at different times, in different ways. Thus, modern scholars summarise that Rajputs were a "group of open status" since the eighth century, mostly illiterate warriors who claimed to be reincarnates of ancient Indian Kshatriyas – a claim that had no historical basis. Moreover, this unfounded Kshatriya status claim showed a sharp contrast to the classical varna of Kshatriyas as depicted in Hindu literature in which Kshatriyas are depicted as an educated and urbanite clan.[4][5][6][7][8] Historian Thomas R. Metcalf mentions the opinion of Indian scholar K. M. Panikkar who also considers the famous Rajput dynasties of medieval India to have come from non-Kshatriya castes.[9]
- ↑ Tanuja Kothiyal 2016, p. 8.
- ↑ Richard Gabriel Fox 1971, p. 16.
- ↑ Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya 1994, p. 60.
- ↑ André Wink (2002). Al-Hind, the Making of the Indo-Islamic World: Early Medieval India and the Expansion of Islam 7Th-11th Centuries. BRILL. p. 282. ISBN 0-391-04173-8.
In short, a process of development occurred which after several centuries culminated in the formation of new groups with the identity of 'Rajputs'. The predecessors of the Rajputs, from about the eighth century, rose to politico-military prominence as an open status group or estate of largely illiterate warriors who wished to consider themselves as the reincarnates of the ancient Indian Kshatriyas. The claim of Kshatriyas was, of course, historically completely unfounded. The Rajputs as well as other autochthonous Indian gentry groups who claimed Kshatriya status by way of putative Rajput descent, differed widely from the classical varna of Kshatriyas which, as depicted in literature, was made of aristocratic, urbanite and educated clans...
- ↑ Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya 1994, p. 59.
- ↑ Norman Ziegler 1976, p. 150: Rajputs were, with some exceptions, almost totally illiterate as a caste group
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedBendix1998 - ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedFarris2013 - ↑ Thomas R. Metcalf (1990). Modern India: An Interpretive Anthology. Sterling Publishers. p. 90. ISBN 9788120709003.
Since then every known royal family has come from a non - Kshatriya caste , including the famous Rajput dynasties of medieval India . Panikkar also points out that “ the Shudras seem to have produced an unusually large number of royal families even in more recent times"