WHO ARE RAJPUTS? (A thread)

Rajput (from Sanskrit raja-putra, “son of a king”) is a member of one of the patrilineal clans of western, central, northern India and some parts of Pakistan.

The Rajputs trace their descent from the ancient Emperors and rulers of Bharatvarsha.

The Rajputs, true to their descent are born warriors and no family of the human race ever possessed so liberal a portion of that essense of reckless daring, called chivalry by poets and romacers, as the Rajputs.

Chivalry and heroism are as much a part of their blood as honour and pride. The Rajput code of honour calls for a very high standard of character.

The Rajputs both in their lives and aspirations remained true to their traditions of their race, and are characterized in all their ways, as their ancestors before them, by the pride and dignity that betoken men of destiny.

The sacred lore as well as the laws of Bharat admit only those as Rajputs who are descended from the 36 royal Kshatriya Clans mentioned in the sacred books, the Puranas and in the two great epics Ramayana and Mahabharata.

Alfred Lyall, in his famous work, "Asiatic Studies, Religious and social" speaks of the Rajputs as "the most ancient families of the purest clans".

As to the distinction between self-styled chief and hereditary king of the royal blood, Alfred writes:

"No ordinary reader would suspect a radical difference of constitution b/w the Marathas and the Rajputs.

But there is a difference, Maratha King is the representative of the single family, which came into existence few centuries back, while the Rajput chief is the head of a clan which has for many centuries been lords of the soil which now makes up the territory of Rajputana."

And this distinction of origin represents a vast distinction in the whole constitution and political classification of the two states.

Marathas like Scindia are the despot of the ordinary Asiatic species, but Rajputs are the part of Bharatvarsha's oldest regime.

A Rajput chieftain is a very different personage, of a much rarer and more instructive type politically and socially.

The 36 royal clans of Rajputs are :