Related Research Articles
Singh is a title, middle name, or surname that means "lion" in various South Asian and Southeast Asian communities. Traditionally used by the Hindu Kshatriya community, it was later mandated in the late 17th century by Guru Gobind Singh for all male Sikhs as well, in part as a rejection of caste-based prejudice and to emulate Rajput naming conventions. As a surname or a middle name, it is now found throughout the world across communities and religious groups, becoming more of a generic, caste-neutral, decorative name.
Rajput, also called Thakur, is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Rajput covers various patrilineal clans historically associated with warriorhood: several clans claim Rajput status, although not all claims are universally accepted. According to modern scholars, almost all Rajput clans originated from peasant or pastoral communities.
Meo are an ethnic group originating from the Mewat region of north-western India.
Bappa Rawal was a king of the Mewar kingdom in Rajasthan, India. The chronicles describe him as a member of the Guhila Clan, and some of them consider him to be the founder of the Guhila dynasty. He is credited with repelling the Arab invasion of India. He was renowned with the name "Maharaja Kaalbhoj", which meant a praise for his extremely powerful arms. He is identified as the ruler of the Guhila dynasty, and called by the names Kalabhoja, Shiladitya, and Khumana.
Muslim Rajputs or Musalman Rajpoots are the descendants of Rajputs in the northern regions of the Indian subcontinent who generally are followers of Islam. Reportedly, they converted from Hinduism to Islam from the medieval period onwards, creating various dynasties and states while retaining Hindu surnames such as Chauhan. Today, Muslim Rajputs can be found mostly in present-day Northern India and Pakistan. They are further divided into different clans.
Jadeja is a Rajput clan that inhabits the Indian state of Gujarat and the Tharparkar district of Sindh, Pakistan. They originated from Sammas of Sindh, a pastoral group, and laid a claim on the Rajput identity after marriages with Sodha Rajput women by adopting a process called Rajputisation.
Kashmiris are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group speaking the Kashmiri language and originating from the Kashmir Valley, which is today located in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir.
The Nayak, or Naik is a historic Indian title conferred on military captains and governors of feudal states in the Middle Ages. Today it is also a surname. Nayaks are mostly Hindu and few Sikhs, who follow Hinduism and Sikhism respectively.
Rājputana, meaning Land of the Rajputs, was a region in the Indian subcontinent that included mainly the present-day Indian state of Rajasthan, as well as parts of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, and some adjoining areas of Sindh in modern-day southern Pakistan.
Muslim communities in South Asia have a system of social stratification arising from concepts other than "pure" and "impure", which are integral to the caste system in India. It developed as a result of relations among foreign conquerors, local upper-caste Hindus convert to Islam and local lower-caste converts (ajlaf), as well as the continuation of the Indian caste system by converts. Non-ashrafs are backward-caste converts. The concept of "pasmanda" includes ajlaf and arzal Muslims; ajlaf status is defined by descent from converts to Islam and by pesha (profession). These terms are not part of the sociological vocabulary in regions such as Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh, and say little about the functioning of Muslim society.
The history of human settlement in the western Indian state of Rajasthan dates back to about 100,000 years ago. Around 5000 to 2000 BCE many regions of Rajasthan belonged as the site of the Indus Valley Civilization. Kalibangan is the main Indus site of Rajasthan, here fire altars have been discovered, similar to those found at Lothal.
Bhumihar, also locally called Bhuinhar and Babhan, is a Hindu caste mainly found in Bihar, the Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, the Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh, and Nepal.
Charan is a caste in South Asia natively residing in the Rajasthan and Gujarat states of India, as well as the Sindh and Balochistan provinces of Pakistan. Historically, Charans have been engaged in diverse occupations like bards, poets, historians, pastoralists, agriculturalists and also administrators, jagirdars and warriors and some even as traders.
The Muslim Kayastha, also known as Siddiqui, are a community of Muslims, are related to the Kayastha of northern India, mainly modern Uttar Pradesh, who converted to Islam during the rule of the Islamic empires in India.
Thakur is a historical feudal title of the Indian subcontinent. It is also used as a surname in the present day. The female variant of the title is Thakurani or Thakurain, and is also used to describe the wife of a Thakur.
Ahir is a caste found in the Indian subcontinent, mainly modern-day India, Nepal and Pakistan. The Ahir clans are spread almost all over country. Historians such as P. M. Chandorkar, using both literary and epigraphic sources has argued that the modern Ahirs should be identified with the Yadavas of the classical Sanskrit texts.
The Jat people are a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, many Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in late medieval times, and subsequently into the Delhi Territory, northeastern Rajputana, and the western Gangetic Plain in the 17th and 18th centuries. Of Hindu, Muslim and Sikh faiths, they are now found mostly in the Indian states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan and the Pakistani provinces of Sindh and Punjab.
Modern historians agree that Rajputs consisted of a mix of various different social groups and different varnas. Rajputisation explains the process by which such diverse communities coalesced into the Rajput community.
Rawal is a surname of various Indian and Nepali communities. It is found among the Punjabi Khatri, Gurjars, Rajputs and Chhetri Nepali Hindus. It also sometimes use as given name. A variant is Raval (surname).
References
- ↑ Lindsey Harlan (1992). Religion and Rajput Women: The Ethic of Protection in Contemporary Narratives. University of California Press. p. 28. ISBN 978-0-520-07339-5.
- ↑ A. N. Bharadwaj (1994). History and culture of Himalayan Gujjars. Jay Kay Book House.
- ↑ Naravane, M. S. (1999). The Rajputs of Rajputana: A Glimpse of Medieval Rajasthan. APH Publishing. ISBN 978-81-7648-118-2.
- ↑ SANJAY, RAJENDRA (1 April 1971). Bappa Rawal. Amar Chitra Katha Pvt Ltd. ISBN 978-81-89999-95-7.
- ↑ James G. Lochtefeld (2002). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: A-M . The Rosen Publishing Group. p. 78. ISBN 978-0-8239-3179-8.
- ↑ J. P. Singh Rana (1997). Himalayan Heritage. M.D. Publications Pvt. Ltd. p. 8. ISBN 978-81-7533-026-9.
- ↑ S. P. Agrawal; J. C. Aggarwal (1991). Educational and Social Uplift of Backward Classes: At what Cost and How? : Mandal Commission and After. Concept Publishing Company. p. 227. ISBN 978-81-7022-339-9.
- ↑ T. N. Madan (1 July 1995). Muslim communities of South Asia: culture, society, and power. Manohar in association with the Book Review Literary Trust. p. 132. ISBN 978-81-7304-090-0.
- ↑ The Ranking of Brotherhoods: The Dialectics of Muslim Caste among Oversees Pakistanis by Pnina Werbner pages 103 to 145 in Muslim Communities of South Asia by T N Madam Manohar publications 1995 page 127