Rajput: Rathop, Rathaur
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From The Tribes And Castes Of The Central Provinces Of India
By R. V. Russell
Of The Indian Civil Service
Superintendent Of Ethnography, Central Provinces
Assisted By Rai Bahadur Hira Lal, Extra Assistant Commissioner
Macmillan And Co., Limited, London, 1916.
NOTE 1: The 'Central Provinces' have since been renamed Madhya Pradesh.
NOTE 2: While reading please keep in mind that all articles in this series have been scanned from a book. During scanning some errors are bound to occur. Some letters get garbled. Footnotes get inserted into the main text of the article, interrupting the flow. Readers who spot errors might like to correct them, and shift footnotes gone astray to their rightful place.
Rajput:Rathop, Rathaur
The Rathor of Jodhpur or Marwar is one of the most famous clans of Rajputs, and that which is most widely dominant at the present time, including as it does the Rajas of Jodhpur, Bikaner, Ratlam, Kishengarh and Idar, as well as several smaller states. The ' Early History of India, 3rd edi- * Ibidem, tion, p. 390. '^ Ihidciii, pp. 378, 379. ^ Mr. Crooke's Tribes and Castes, •^ RCtjasthdn, i. p. 91. art. Parihar.
origin of the Rfithor clan is uncertain. Colonel Tod states
that they claim to be of the solar race, but by the bards of
the race are denied this honour ; and though descended
from Kash, the second son of Ivama, are held to be the offspring
of one of his progeny, Kashyap, by the daughter of a
Dait (Titan).
The view was formerly held that the dynasty which wrested Kanauj from the descendants of Harsha Vardhana, and held it from A.D. 8io to 1090, until subverted by the Gaharvvars, were Rathors, but proof has now been obtained that they were really Parihar-Gujars. Mr. Smith suggests that after the destruction of Kanauj by the Muhammadans under Shihab-ud-Din Ghori in A.D. 1193 the Gaharwar clan, whose kings had conquered it in 1090 and reigned there for a century, migrated to the deserts of Marwar in Rajputana, where they settled and became known as Rathors.^
It has also been generally held that the Rashtrakuta dynasty of Nasik and Malkhed in the Deccan which reigned from A.D. 753 to 973, and built the Kailasa temples at Ellora were Rathors, but Mr. Smith states that there is no evidence of any social connection between the Rashtrakutas and Rathors." At any rate Siahji, the grandson or nephew of Jai Chand, the last king of Kanauj, who had been drowned in the Ganges while attempting to escape, accomplished with about 200 followers—the wreck of his vassalage—the pilgrimage to Dwarka in Gujarat.
He then sought in the sands and deserts of Rajputana a second line of defence against the advancing wave of Muhammadan invasion, and planted the standard of the Rathors among the sandhills of the Luni in I 2 I 2. This, however, was not the first settlement of the Rathors in Rajputana, for an inscription, dated A.D. 997, among the ruins of the ancient city of Hathundi or Hastikiandi, near Bali in Jodhpur State, tells of five Rathor Rajas who ruled there early in the tenth century, and this fact shows that the name Rathor is really much older than the date of the fall of Kanauj.^
In 1 38 1 Siahji's tenth successor, Rao Chonda, took
Mundore from a I'arihar chief, and made his possession
secure by marrying the latter's daughter. A subsequent
1 Early History of India, 3rd edition, p. 389. - Ibidem, p. 413.
^ Imperial Gazetteer, art. Bali.
chief, Rao Jodha, laid the foundation of Jodhpur in 1459, and transferred thither the seat of government. The site of Jodhpur was selected on a peak known as Joda-gir, or the hill of strife, four miles distant from Mundore on a crest of the range overlooking the expanse of the desert plains of Marvvar. The position for the new city was chosen at the bidding of a forest ascetic, and was excellently adapted for defence, but had no good water-supply.^ Joda had fourteen sons, of whom the sixth, Bika, was the founder of the Bikaner state. Raja Sur Singh (1595— 1620) was one of Akbar's greatest generals, and the emperor Jahanglr buckled the sword on to his son Gaj Singh with his own hands.
Gaj Singh, the next Raja (1620— 1635), was appointed viceroy of the Deccan, as was his successor, Jaswant Singh, under Aurangzeb. The Mughal Emperors, Colonel Tod remarks, were indebted for half their conquests to the Lakh Tulwar Rahtoran, the hundred thousand swords which the Rahtors boasted that they could muster.^ On another occasion, when Jahanglr successfully appealed to the Rajputs for support against his rebel son Khusru, he was so pleased with the zeal of the Rathor prince. Raja Gaj Singh, that he not only took the latter's hand, but kissed it,^ perhaps an unprecedented honour.
But the constant absence from his home on service in distant parts of the empire was so distasteful to Raja Sur Singh that, when dying in the Deccan, he ordered a pillar to be erected on his grave containing his curse upon any of his race who should cross the Nerbudda. The pomp of imperial greatness or the sunshine of court favour was as nothing with the Rathor chiefs, Colonel Tod says, when weighed against the exercise of their influence within their own cherished patrimony.
The simple fare of the desert was dearer to the Rathor than all the luxuries of the imperial banquet, which he turned from in disgust to the recollection of the green pulse of Mundore, or his favourite rabi or maize porridge, the prime dish of the Rathor."^ The Rathor princes have been not less ready in placing themselves and the forces of their States at the disposal of the British Government, and the latest and perhaps most
- Rajaslhan, ii. pp. i6, 17. "^ Il>ide?n, ii. p. 37.
2 Ibidem, i. p. Si. * Ibidem, ii. p. 35.
brilliant example of their loyalty occurred duriri':^ IQM. when the veteran Sir Partap Singh of Idar insisted on proceeding to the front against Germany, though over seventy years of age, and was accompanied by his nephew, a boy of sixteen. The Ratlam State was founded by Ratan Singh, a grandson of Raja Udai Singh of Jodhpur, who was born about 1 6 1 8, and obtained it as a grant for good service against the Usbegs at Kandahar and the Persians in Khorasan about 1651 — 52.
Kishangarh was founded by Kishan Singh, a son of the same Raja Udai Singh, who obtained a grant of territory from Akbar about 16 1 i. Idar State in Gujarat has, according to its traditions, been held by Rathor princes from a very early period. Jodhpur State is the largest in Rajputana, with an area of 35,000 square miles, and a population of two million.
The Maharaja is entitled to a salute of twenty-one guns. A great part of the State is a sandy desert, and its older name of Marwar is, according to Colonel Tod, a corruption of Marusthan, or the region of death. In the Central Provinces the Rathor Rajputs number about 6000 persons, and are found mainly in the Saugor, Jubbulpore, Narsinghpur and Hoshangabad Districts. The census statistics include about 5000 persons enumerated in Mandla and Bilaspur, nearly all of whom are really Rathor Telis.
Rajput, Sesodia, Gahlot, Aharia. — The Gahlot or
Sesodia is generally admitted to be the premier Rajput clan.
Their chief is described by the bards as " The Suryavansi
Rana, of royal race, Lord of Chitor, the ornament of the
thirty-six royal races." The Sesodias claim descent from
the sun, through Loh, the eldest son of the divine Rama of
Ajodhia. In token of their ancestry the royal banner of
Mewar consisted of a golden sun on a crimson field.
Loh is supposed to have founded Lahore. His descendants migrated to Saurashtra or Kathiawar, where they settled at Vidurbha or Balabhi, the capital of the Valabhi dynasty. The last king of Valabhi was Siladitya, who was killed by an invasion of barbarians, and his posthumous son, Gohaditya, ruled in Idar and the hilly country in the south-west
of Mcwar. From him the clan took its name of Gohelot or Gahlot. Mr. D. R. Bhandarkar, however, from a detailed examination of the inscriptions relating to the Sesodias, arrives at the conclusion that the founders of the line were Nagar Brahmans from Vadnagar in Gujarat, the first of the line being one Guhadatta, from which the clan takes its name of Gahlot.-^
The family were also connected with the ruling princes of Valabhi. Mr. Bhandarkar thinks that the Valabhi princes, and also the Nagar Brahmans, belonged to the Maitraka tribe, who, like the Gujars, were allied to the Huns, and entered India in the fifth or sixth century. Mr. Bhandarkar's account really agrees quite closely with the traditions of the Sesodia bards themselves, except that he considers Guhadatta to have been a Nagar Brahman of Valabhi, and descended from the Maitrakas, a race allied to the Huns, while the bards say that he was a descendant of the Aryan Kshatriyas of Ajodhia, who migrated to Surat and established the Valabhi kingdom.
The earliest prince of the Gahlot dynasty for whom a date has been obtained is Slla, A.D. 646, and he was fifth in descent from Guhadatta, who may therefore be placed in the first part of the sixth century. Bapa, the founder of the Gahlot clan in Mewar, was, according to tradition, sixth in descent from Gohaditya, and he had his capital at Nagda, a few miles to the north of Udaipur city.^ A tradition quoted by Mr. Bhandarkar states that Bapa was the son of Grahadata.
He succeeded in propitiating the god Siva. One day the king of Chitor died and left no heir to his throne. It was decided that whoever would be garlanded by a certain elephant would be placed on the throne. Bapa was present on the occasion, and the elephant put the garland round his neck not only once, but thrice. Bapa was thus seated on the throne. One day he was suffering from some eye-disease.
A physician mixed a certain medicine in alcoholic liquor and applied it to his eyes, which were speedily cured. Bapa afterwards inquired what the medicine was, and learnt the truth. He trembled like a reed and said, " I am a Brahman, and you have given me medicine mixed in liquor. I have lost my caste." So saying he drank molten lead {slsd), and forthwith
- J.A.S.B. (1909), vol. V. p. 167. 2 Imperial Gazetteer, loc. cit.
died, and hence arose the family name Scsodia.^ This story, current in Rajputfina, supports Mr. l^handarkar's view of the Brahman origin of the clan. According to tradition Bapa went to Chitor, then held by the Mori or Pramara Rajputs, to seek his fortune, and was appointed to lead the Chitor forces against the Muhammadans on their first invasion of India.^ After defeating and expelling them he ousted the Mori ruler and established himself at Chitor, which has since been the capital of the Sesodias. The name Sesodia is really derived from Sesoda, the residence of a subsequent chief Rahup, who captured Mundore and was the first to bear the title of Rana of Mewar. Similarly Aharia is another local name from Ahar, a place in Mewar, which was given to the clan. They were also known as Raghuvansi, or of the race of king Raghu, the ancestor of the divine Rama.
The Raghuvansis of the Central Provinces, an impure caste of Rajput origin, are treated in a separate article, but it is not known whether they were derived from the Sesodias. From the fourteenth century the chronicles of the Sesodias contain many instances of Rajput courage and devotion. Chitor was sacked three times before the capital was removed to Udaipur, first by Ala-ul-Din Khilji in 1303, next by Bahadur Shah, the Muhammadan king of Gujarat in 1534, and lastly by Akbar in 1567. These events were known as Saka or massacres of the clan. On each occasion the women of the garrison performed the Johar or general immolation by fire, while the men sallied forth, clad in their saffron-coloured robes and inspired by bhang, to die sword in hand against the foe.
At the first sack the goddess of the clan appeared in a dream to the Rana and demanded the lives of twelve of its chiefs as a condition of its preservation. His eleven sons were in their turn crowned as chief, each ruling for three days, while on the fourth he sallied out and fell in battle.^ Lastly, the Rana devoted himself in order that his favourite son Ajeysi might be spared and might perpetuate the clan. At the second sack 32,000 were slain, and at the third 30,000. Finally Aurangzeb destroyed the ^ Bhandarkar, loc. cit. p. i8o. from the article on Udaipur State in
- The following extracts from the the Imperial Gazetteer.
history of the clan arc mainly taken ^ Rajastkan, i. pp. 222, 223.
temples and idols at Chitor, and only its ruins remain. Udaipur city was founded in 1559. The Sesodias resisted the Muhammadans for long, and several times defeated them. Udai Singhj the founder of Udaipur, abandoned his capital and fled to the hills, whence he caused his own territory to be laid waste, with the object of impeding the imperial forces. Of this period it is recorded that the Ranas were from father to son in outlawry against the emperor, and that sovereign had carried away the doors of the gate of Chitor, and had set them up in Delhi.
Fifty-two rajas and chiefs had perished in the struggle, and the Rana in his trouble lay at nights on a counterpane spread on the ground, and neither slept in his bed nor shaved his hair ; and if he perchance broke his fast, had nothing better with which to satisfy it than beans baked in an earthen pot. For this reason it is that certain practices are to this day observed at Udaipur.
A counterpane is spread below the Rana's bed, and his head remains unshaven and baked beans are daily laid upon his plate.^ A custom of perhaps somewhat similar origin is that in this clan man and wife take food together, and the wife does not wait till her husband has finished. It is said that the Sesodia Rajputs are the only caste in India among whom this rule prevails, and it may have been due to the fact that they had to eat together in haste when occasion offered during this period of guerilla warfare.
In 1614 Rana Amar Singh, recognising that further opposition was hopeless, made his submission to the emperor, on the condition that he should never have to present himself in person but might send his two sons in his place. This stipulation being accepted, the heir-apparent Karan Singh proceeded to Ajmer where he was magnanimously treated by Jahanglr and shortly afterwards the imperial troops were withdrawn from Chitor.
It is the pride of the Udaipur house that it never gave a daughter in marriage to any of the Musalman emperors, and for many years ceased to intermarry with other Rajput families who had formed such alliances. But Amar Singh II. (1698-17 10) made a league with the Maharajas of Jodhpur and Jaipur for mutual protection against the Muhammadans ; and it ^ Forbes, lidsmala, i. p. 400.
was one of the conditions of the compact that the latter
chiefs should retrain the privilege of marriage with the
Udaipur family which had been suspended since they had
given daughters in marriage to the emperors. Ikit the Rana
unfortunately added a proviso that the son of an Udaipur
princess should succeed to the Jodhpur or Jaipur States in
preference to any elder son by another mother. The quarrels
to which this stipulation gave rise led to the conquest of
the country by the Marathas, at whose hands Mewar suffered
more cruel devastation than it had ever been subjected to
by the IMuhammadans.
Ruinous war also ensued between Jodhpur and Jaipur for the hand of the famous Udaipur princess Kishen Kumari at the time when Rajputana was being devastated by the Marathas and Pindaris ; and the quarrel was only settled by the voluntary death of the object of contention, who, after the kinsman sent to slay her had recoiled before her young beauty and innocence, willingly drank the draught of opium four times administered before the fatal result could be produced.^
The Maharana of Udaipur is entitled to a salute of
nineteen guns. The Udaipur State has an area of nearly
1 3,000 square miles and a population of about a million
persons. Besides Udaipur three minor states, Partabgarh,
Dungarpur and Banswara, are held by members of the
Sesodia clan. In the Central Provinces the Sesodias
numbered nearly 2000 persons in 191 1, being mainly
found in the districts of the Nerbudda Division.
