The Natrayat Rajput is a Hindu caste directly descended from the Rajputs who took up the practice of widow remarriage and eventually developed into a separate caste. [1] [2] They are mainly found in the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat in India. [3] [4]
The community derives its name from the word nata, which means widow remarriage in Hindi. This practice, initially adopted by a group of Chauhan Rajputs changing their surnames from Chouhan To Chadana in Marwar, Rajasthan, and this led to their separation from the wider Rajput community, which disallows widow remarriage. [5] The community also include a small number Panwar, Parihar and Rathore. The Natrayat are distributed in the transitional zone between Mewar and Marwar, occupying several villages in this hilly region. [6] [7] [8]
The community is endogamous, and divided into exogamous gotras such as Chadana, Unthed, Solanki, Rathore, Sisodiya, Parmar (Pawar), Mundawat, Tomar (Tanwar), etc. They are mainly a community of small peasants farmers. [9] [10] [11]
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