Rajput

Member of a Hindu people, predominantly soldiers and landowners, widespread over northern India. The Rajput states of northwestern India are now merged in Rajasthan. The Rana family (ruling aristocracy of Nepal until 1951) was also Rajput. Rajastani languages belong to the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European family.

Most are Hindu; a minority are Muslim. Traditionally they are warriors, but they have a hierarchy of classes, ranging from princes to peasants. Women marry up the hierarchy to men of higher status. Today the Rajput are mainly landowners.

History Rajput clans are descended from 5th-7th-century warrior tribes of central Asia. By the 9th century they controlled much of the arid region of Rajasthan in western central India and later migrated east into Haryana and the upper Ganges Valley, pressed by Muslim incursions from the northwest. During the early medieval period, numbers of Rajput clans challenged for supremacy in central and northern India, resulting in incessant local warfare. Prithviraja briefly secured unity, but was defeated at Tarain by the Muslim invaders. The subsequent Delhi sultanate and Mogul periods of Muslim rule witnessed periodic Rajput rebellions. During this time Rajput chiefs retained considerable authority at the local level and participated in central and provincial administration. This continued during the British period, when many Rajput princely states in Rajasthan retained nominal independence.