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This article is an extract from
THE CASTES AND TRIBES
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H. E. H. THE NIZAM'S D..."

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This article is an extract from 

THE CASTES AND TRIBES 

OF 

H. E. H. THE NIZAM'S DOMINIONS 

BY 

SYED SIRAJ UL HASSAN 

Of Merton College, Oxford, Trinity College, Dublin, and 

Middle Temple, London. 

One of the Judges of H. E. H. the Nizam's High Court 

of Judicature : Lately Director of Public Instruction. 

BOMBAY 

THE TlMES PRESS 

1920 
***** 
''Indpaedia is an archive. It neither agrees nor disagrees '' 
''with the contents of this article.'' 
''Secondly, this has been scanned from a book. You can help by '' 
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the Facebook page, [http://www.facebook.com/Indpaedia Indpaedia.com]. ''All information used will be duly acknowledged.''
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[[Category:India|R]]
[[Category:Communities|R]]

Rajput, Pardeshi, Kshatriya— a fighting, landholding and culti-
vating caste found in all .parts' of the Dominions, but especially
numerous in the districts of Aupngabad, Gulbarga and Raichur and
in the Hyderabad city. Th' members of the caste claim descent
from the r.ncient Solar and Lunar dynasties, who once ruled India,
and form themselves into Smy^aoanshi (solar) and Chandmvanshi
(lunar) races. There is also a race styled Agnikula- from having
sprung from the sacred fire (Agni) which was kindled on Mount Abu
by Agastya. Their traditions say that they came into the Deccan
from Upper India, and the earliest settlers are supposed to have been
soldiers with the Mohamedan armies that overran the Deccan between
the thirteenth .and seventeenth centuries. It is known from inscrip-
tions that a Rajput. family of the Chalukya tribe reigned at Kalyani,
west of Bidar, on the borders of the Carnatic and Maharashtra,
from the end of the 10th to the end of the 12th century. According
to Sir Walter Elliot the Rajputs once possessed the whole of
Maharashtra to the Narbada. Professor Wilson thinks they were
also superior lords of the west of Telingana. Another branch of the
tribe of Chalukhyas ruled over Kalinga, which is the eastern portion
of Telingana, extending along the sea to Orissa. Their dynasty
certainly lasted through the whole of the 12th and 1 3th centuries
and perhaps began two centuries earlier.

==Internal Structure==

The Rajputs, as has been already said,
are divided into two endogamous divisions, Smyabami and Chandra-
hansi, the members of which do not interdine nor intermarry.

In addition to these the Rajputs use Brahmanical gotras, of which
the following are given as specimens : — Haridwar, Sandilya, Bharad-
waj, Kasyapa, Kausika and Parashar.

Where the original sections are held to govern intermarriage,
the rule is that a man may not marry a woman who belongs to the
same section as his father or his mother. A man may marry two
sisters, but he must take them in the order of age and he cannot marry
the elder sister if he is already married to the younger.

==Marriage==

Rajputs marry their daughters both as infants and
as adults, usually between the ages of eight and eighteen. Polygamy
is allowed without any restriction being laid on the number of wives.
In actual life, however, it is unusual to find a man with more than
two or three wives.

The preliminary negotiations leading to marriage are opened
by the father or guardian of the bridegroom. If the father of the
girl agrees to the match and it is found that the parties do not belong
to the same section, an astrologer is asked to fix an auspicious day
for the celebration of the wedding and preparations are made accord-
ingly. A few days before the wedding, departed ancestors are
propitiated with oblations and invoked in order to procure their
blessing on the couple. After Dengan Barola has taken place, two
earthen pots filled with parched rice and hung from the end of a
bamboo pole are sent to the bride's house. Two days before the
wedding, a mango post is planted in the courtyard of the house of
the bride and an earthen vessel, filled with wheat and crowned with
a burning lamp, is tied to the top of the post (Bohori). On the next
day, or the day before the wedding, the bridegroom is smeared with
turmeric and oil and offerings are made to Ganpathi, the deity
presiding over success in, life. A part of the turmeric prepared for
the bridegroom is sent for ^the use of the bride and the same cere-
mon consisting of Ganesh worship, is gone through in her
house. On the wedding night the bridegroom goes in pro-
cession to the bride's house where, on arrival, he is received
by the bride's brother and conducted to a seat under the wedding
canopy. After his feet have been washed by the bride's brother,
he is invested with the sacred thread by the officiating priest. The
Brahman kindles the sacred fire (hom) near the wedding post and the
bride entering, wqlks six times round the fire. At this stage the
bridegroom, joins her at the request of the guests. On the consent
of the bride's parents being obtained, the bridal pair take the seventh
round, Brahmans reciting appropriate mantras in the meanwhile,
after which the bridegroom ties the Mangal Sutra (auspicious string)
round the bride's neck. This is deemed to be the binding portion
of the ritual. Kanyddar^, or the gift of the bride to the bridegroom
and his acceptance of her, and Kankanbandhan, or the tying of the
thread bracelets on the wrists of the wedded couple, follow and the
ceremony ends with a feast to the members of the caste.

==Widow-Marriage==

The re-marriage of widows is strictly pro-
hibited among the Rajputs. Divorce is also forbidden and if a woman
is taken in adultery she is expelled from the caste. In certain cases,
however, where a married couple find themselves unable to live in
harmony together, a separation is arrived at by mutual consent. In
such cases the wife returns to her father's house and the husband
marries again.

==Religion==

Rajputs are orthodox Hindus and worship all the
Hindu divinities of the locality in which they happen to have settled.
Special reverence is, however, paid by them to Durga, and Maha-
laxmi, whose effigy, as seated on an elephant, they worship with a

variety of offerings in the month of BhadrapasJ (September).
Brahmans are employed on religious and ceremonial occasions. If
an epidemic of cholera or small-pox breaks out in the'family, the
house-holders make offerings of goats to Mari Ai or Sitala.

==Disposal of the Dead==

The dead are burned in a lying
posture with the head pointing to the south and the ashes are collected
on the third day and thrown into the Ganges. Under the guidance
of the family priest, Smdha is performad on the eleventh day after
death, when oblations of rice are offered for the benefit of tHe soul
of the deceased. On the 13th day a feast is given to the members
of the caste. Sradha is also performed on the first anniversary of
the death, when pindas (oblations of rice) are offered to the deceased,
while the Brahmans recite mantras. On the last day of Bhadrapad,
offerings of water are made to all deceased ancestors. Children
under three years of age are buried.

==Social Status==
In point of social standing .the Rajputs profess
to rank immediately below Brahmans and cannot take kachi, that is,
food cooked with water from any one but a Brahman. In respect
of diet, the members of the caste eat the flesh of the goat, deer, hare,
pigeon and quail. Fish is lawful. Wine is supposed to be forbidden.

==Occupation==

The Rajputs regard Government service and the
profession of arms as their proper occupations. Many have, however,
taken to tillage and are holders of various land tenures.

Rajput: Deccan - Revision history

Pdewan: Created page with "=Rajput= {| class="wikitable" |- |colspan="0"| This article is an extract from THE CASTES AND TRIBES OF H. E. H. THE NIZAM'S D..."

Pdewan: Created page with "=Rajput= {| class="wikitable" |- |colspan="0"|
This article is an extract from
THE CASTES AND TRIBES
OF
H. E. H. THE NIZAM'S D..."