The Etymology of “Rajput”
Understanding the origins of any identity requires a glimpse into the etymology of the self-identifying term. We cannot study the origin of Turkic or Mongolic without etymological roots of these ethnonyms in the Göktürks or Mengwu Shiwei respectively. Similarly, the study of the origins of the Rajput identity lay in its evolution from the royal designation “rajaputra” i.e. “sons of kings” to a gradual usage as an appellation for all Kshatriya clan-kinsmen, irrespective of the social station from the 3rd century BCE Pali text Khuddaka Nikaya of Sutta Pitaka onwards.
न ब्राह्मणो नोम्हि न राजपुत्तो,
न वेस्सायनो उद कोचि नोम्हि।
गोत्तं परिञ्ञाय पुथुज्जनानं,
अकिञ्चनो मन्त चरामि लोके॥
(Source: the verse number 457 under Sutta Nipata (its section 3.4 called Sundarika Bharadvaja Sutta) of the Khuddaka Nikaya)
What is a Rajput?
The Adivaraha 1 coinage of the Pratihara ruler Bhoja I alias MIhirbhoj who is known by the same title, 850-900 CE.
From the Buddhist period itself, the lineage term “Rajput” began to gradually gain some currency as a synonym for Kshatriya, indicating a move from social-class to a lineage-based closed group.
Thus the word “Rajput” is an ethnicity of various lineage-kinship networks of various Kshatriya clans ( kuls ) and their subclans ( khaaps ). From Kumarpala Prabandh of 1435 AD, there has been a tendency to enumerate these clans to 36; although the actual number of these clans is slightly higher than this, however, there has always been an abundance of their sub-lineages ie Khaaps. The smallest Kshatriya sociopolitical unit was the Khaap (sub-lineage) headed by a coparcenary chief in a quasi-republican system variously called bhaibants, bhayats or bhaicharas . However, the formation of Khaap was a direct result of the allocation of lands or migration for conquest. The Rajput Khaap took either a patronym (usually from the sub-lineage’s founder) or demonym (usually the land). The term “Khaap” often invoked in the case of modern Jat Caste-panchayats, had its origins in Rajputs for the smallest sociopolitical tribal unit.
Thus Kahluria is a Chandel from Kahlur State (present-day Bilaspur District, Himachal), a distinct branch from Girdhaura Chandel of southern Bihar’s Jamui district . Rohtak in Haryana was founded by & named after Raja Rohtas, a chief of Mephawat Parmar while Bhojpur was established by Raja Bhojraj, a chief of Ujjainiya Parmar . Mewar, pre-13th century, was ruled by the Ahada Guhilot royalty and from circa 1340, came to be ruled by royals from Sisodia-Guhilots (the word Gehlot is a prakrit form of Guhilot). The former took their identity from Ahada village in Udaipur district while the latter from the Sisoda village of Rajsamand district.
