Whose Prithviraj is he anyway? From the very day—September 19, 2019, to be actual—that the Akshay Kumar-starrer and Yash Raj Motion pictures manufacturing used to be introduced to the day it used to be launched in theatres—on June 3—a struggle royale used to be on over the mythical twelfth century king of the Chamhana or Chauhan dynasty, whose defeat by the hands of Muhammad Ghori in 1192 CE at the second one struggle of Tarain is assumed to have introduced the curtains down on Hindu rule in a lot of the subcontinent. Celebrated as a lot for his valour as for his bold in driving away with the enemy’s daughter—Sanyogita, daughter of Jaichand of Kannauj—the warrior king’s depiction within the Chandraprakash Dwivedi-directed movie, Samrat Prithviraj, has exercised sections of the Rajput and Gurjar communities, and for more than a few causes.
Whose Prithviraj is he anyway? From the very day—September 19, 2019, to be actual—that the Akshay Kumar-starrer and Yash Raj Motion pictures manufacturing used to be introduced to the day it used to be launched in theatres—on June 3—a struggle royale used to be on over the mythical twelfth century king of the Chamhana or Chauhan dynasty, whose defeat by the hands of Muhammad Ghori in 1192 CE at the second one struggle of Tarain is assumed to have introduced the curtains down on Hindu rule in a lot of the subcontinent. Celebrated as a lot for his valour as for his bold in driving away with the enemy’s daughter—Sanyogita, daughter of Jaichand of Kannauj—the warrior king’s depiction within the Chandraprakash Dwivedi-directed movie, Samrat Prithviraj, has exercised sections of the Rajput and Gurjar communities, and for more than a few causes.
Akshay Kumar in ‘Samrat Prithviraj’ (2022)
The Shri Rajput Karni Sena, self-proclaimed custodians of all issues Rajput, have been the primary to take umbrage, now not simply with the nature of the movie—a saga of romance greater than valour—but in addition its very title. Simple Prithviraj used to be an affront, Samrat Prithviraj, because the film used to be therefore renamed, used to be extra befitting in their icon’s stature. That they had made the makers of Jodha Akbar and Padmaavat bend to Rajput will; in March 2020, led via nationwide president Mahipal Singh Makrana, the Sena as soon as once more took up cudgels for the Rajput motive and marched in opposition to Jamwa Ramgarh, the place the capturing of the movie had commenced. As soon as there, a well-known script performed out: uproar, sloganeering and vandalism.
The retaliation, regardless that, got here from every other quarter. It gave the impression surreptitiously on Twitter someday—Would possibly 7, 2021, to be actual—within the guise of a hashtag, #GurjaremperorPrithviraj Chauhan. The go back of fireside got here only some hours later, hashtagged #RajputemperorPrithvirajChauhan. And thus a brand new battleground spread out on social media—Gurjars as opposed to the Rajputs.
Lengthy burnished in Indian historical past textual content books as a courageous Rajput warrior whose mythical exploits become the stuff of epic poetry, be it Kashmiri poet-historian Jayanaka’s Sanskrit paintings Prithvirajvijayammahakavyam or Chand Bardai’s Prithviraj Raso penned within the Brajbhasha, what has triggered the Gurjars to stake this belated declare, a number of centuries later, at the heritage of the ‘closing nice Hindu emperor’ in Colonel James Tod’s reckoning, the vastness of whose kingdom used to be contained in its very title—Sapadalaksha or one and 1 / 4 lakh villages? Schooling, if one is to head via Gujjar historian Jitesh Gujjar, who’s related to the Veer Gurjar Mahasabha and is main the struggle to reclaim the legacy of Rai Pithora, as Prithviraj III used to be also known as. “When a commharmony begins studying and instructing itself,” he says, “it realises its previous used to be very wonderful however used to be distorted or now not offered appropriately. The neighborhood then begins announcing itself to rectify the improper portrayal, which is what the Gurjars are doing now.”
To buttress his declare, Jitesh invokes Jayanaka’s epic, written possibly between the primary and 2nd battles of Tarain, which makes use of the phrase Gurjaradhipati for Prithviraj’s father Someshwar. If the daddy used to be a Gurjar, would the son now not be a Gurjar too? He additionally refers to Bardai’s Raso, mentioning the verse ‘Gurjar ahir as jati doi, tin lil lok sake na koi’ to claim that the poet is the use of Gurjar right here for caste relatively than a space the neighborhood is alleged to constitute.
Raso, whose historicity and scholarship stay unsure and which is assumed to had been written 500 years after Prithviraj’s exact reign, as Cynthia Talbot, professor of historical past on the College of Texas, Austin, outlines in her 2016 ebook, The Remaining Hindu Emperor, depicts the Chauhans as one of the crucial 4 Rajput Agnivanshi clans—the opposite 3 being the Pratiharas, Parmars and Chalukyas—born of sacrificial hearth. It’s a view echoed in later texts. On the other hand, in Jayanaka’s telling of the legend of Prithviraj, the Chauhans have been Sooryavanshis, or descendants of the Solar. On the other hand, the circle of relatives tree drawn within the early twelfth century inscriptions at Sewari point out no hyperlink between Chauhans and the Sooryavansh; relatively they’re proven to be the kids of Indra.
A 3rd view portrays the Chamhanas as Brahmins. Veteran historian Dr Dashrath Sharma in his seminal 1959 ebook, The Early Chauhan Dynasties, refers back to the 1170 CE Bijolia inscription of ‘Chahmano’, which talks of ‘Vipra Shreevatsagotrebhuta’, suggesting a Brahmin starting place. A department of the Chauhans, the Kayamkhani, are stated to be Islamic converts. The past due seventeenth century textual content Kayam Khan Raso via Niamat Khan Kayamkhani, additionally talks of Chauhans as Brahmins. However there’s little else to verify the declare.
The starting place tale of the Chauhans takes an altogether other flip in Col. Tod’s Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan. In step with him, Chauhans have been Scythians who got here to India from Central Asia. However then, Col. Tod’s compulsions have been totally other. Portraying all of Rajasthan’s Kshatriya dynasties as international invaders used to be a story that suited the undertaking of British colonialism.
However what of the twenty first century struggle over Prithviraj Chauhan? Responding to Jitesh Gujjar’s declare that Prithviraj used to be a Gujjar as a result of his father used to be referred to as Gurjaradhipati, Virendra Singh Rathore, an IT skilled from Rajasthan who has written Prithviraj Chauhan: A Mild at the Mist in Historical past, says: “Someshwar’s maternal grandmother used to be in Patan, Gujarat. The phrase Gurjareshwar or Gurjaradhipati is used for Jaisingh Siddharaj, Someshwar’s maternal grandfather.”
“The phrase Gurjar,” insists Mahavir Singh Sarwadi, convenor of the Kshatriya Yuvak Sangh, “used to be used for a selected position. Ravana used to be referred to as Lankadhipati, nevertheless it does now not imply his caste used to be Lanka. Southern Rajasthan and northerly Gujarat have been then referred to as Gurjara Desh or Gurjarat, and Gurjaradhipati used to be the time period for the king of that land. The castes that got here out from those portions comparable to Gurjar Gaur Brahmins or Gurjar Pratihar Rajputs nonetheless use Gurjar with their title.” Now not letting nuance are available in the best way of his argument, Jitesh Gujjar maintains, “It used to be a practice until medieval instances to call puts after the ruling dynasties. As an example, Rajasthan used to be initially referred to as Rajputana as it used to be dominated via the Rajputs. Accordingly, Gujarat used to be referred to as Gujjar nation as it used to be dominated via the Gujjars.” And the Chauhans are stated to had been Pratihara vassals who moved from Gujarat to Rajasthan who therefore won in territory and affect.
In the meantime, there’s little consensus in regards to the origins of the Gujjars themselves. Colonial historian Vincent Arthur Smith in his The Early Historical past of India ascribes a blood relation with the Huns. Others consider them to be the population of Georgia who blazed a path throughout central Asia, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and the Khyber Go to achieve Gujarat circa the fifth and sixth centuries. But others consider them to be indigenous to the subcontinent. Some went on to assert a Brahmin lineage, others a Kshatriya or Rajput one thru a strategy of Sanskritisation. There are Gujjars amongst India’s Muslims, Sikhs, Christians and, in all probability Buddhists, too. Within the provide day, they’re most commonly concentrated in north India, in Jammu and Kashmir and within the states of Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra. They may be able to be higher caste in a single area, and OBC in every other.
On the other hand, whether or not a Gujjar or Rajput raja, Prithviraj Chauhan stays an interesting persona of Indian historical past and a outstanding determine within the nationwide iconography along such greats as Rana Pratap and Shivaji. Samrat Prithviraj, regardless that, turns out to have run into a place of hassle on the field place of work. After a disappointing opening, on day 5, stories say, some presentations of the movie even needed to be cancelled for loss of an target audience.
DISPUTED LEGACIES
Different historic personalities who’re claimed via multiple neighborhood
EMPEROR ASHOKA | Kshatriya or Kushwaha?
At the delivery anniversary of the third century BCE ruler, the BJP assigned the accountability of setting up a grand birthday party at his birthplace in Pataliputra, modern day Patna, to Kushwaha chief Samrat Chaudhury. Uttar Pradesh deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya used to be a different invitee as, except being a Kushwaha, he additionally has Maurya in his title. Some other Maurya chief, Keshav Dev, too, celebrated the instance with nice gusto in UP. “Ashoka used to be a king, so he used to be referred to as Kshatriya,” he says. “However we’re from the similar lineage. Our position within the varna gadget modified once we took to farming”
RAJA SUHAIL DEV | Pasis vs the Rajbhars
The Maharaja Suhail Dev Seva Samiti claimed that the raja used to be a Pasi in 2001. Rajbhars, alternatively, cite the Mirat-e-Masoodi, Abdur Rahman Chishti’s biography of Mahmud Ghazni, to assert that Suhail Dev used to be from the Bhartharu neighborhood. A statue, a postage stamp after which the root stone of a scientific faculty named after the warrior, the BJP is doing all of it to draw the Pasi and Rajbhar votes
RANA PUNJA | Rajput or Bhil?
The Bhils say he used to be born in Merpur, close to fashionable Udaipur, in Rajasthan. Rajputs say Rana Punja, who fought along Maharana Pratap, is descended from the Bhojawat Solanki Rajputs. Prior to now few years, a statue conflict has erupted in southern Rajasthan, with the Bharatiya Tribal Celebration, the political entrance of the Bhil Parivar, insisting that any connection with the raja say Rana Punja Bhil