War over icons: The battle for Prithviraj Chauhan
7 min readWhose Prithviraj is he anyway? From the very day—September 19, 2019, to be exact—that the Akshay Kumar-starrer and Yash Raj Films manufacturing was introduced to the day it was launched in theatres—on June 3—a battle royale was on over the legendary twelfth century king of the Chamhana or Chauhan dynasty, whose defeat by the hands of Muhammad Ghori in 1192 CE on the second battle of Tarain is believed 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 daring 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 numerous causes.
Whose Prithviraj is he anyway? From the very day—September 19, 2019, to be exact—that the Akshay Kumar-starrer and Yash Raj Films manufacturing was introduced to the day it was launched in theatres—on June 3—a battle royale was on over the legendary twelfth century king of the Chamhana or Chauhan dynasty, whose defeat by the hands of Muhammad Ghori in 1192 CE on the second battle of Tarain is believed 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 daring 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 numerous causes.
Akshay Kumar in ‘Samrat Prithviraj’ (2022)
The Shri Rajput Karni Sena, self-proclaimed custodians of all issues Rajput, had been the primary to take umbrage, not simply with the character of the movie—a saga of romance greater than valour—but in addition its very identify. Plain Prithviraj was an affront, Samrat Prithviraj, because the film was subsequently renamed, was extra befitting of their icon’s stature. They had made the makers of Jodha Akbar and Padmaavat bend to Rajput will; in March 2020, led by nationwide president Mahipal Singh Makrana, the Sena as soon as once more took up cudgels for the Rajput trigger and marched in the direction of Jamwa Ramgarh, the place the taking pictures of the movie had commenced. Once there, a well-known script performed out: uproar, sloganeering and vandalism.
The retaliation, although, got here from one other quarter. It appeared surreptitiously on Twitter in the future—May 7, 2021, to be exact—within the guise of a hashtag, #GurjaremperorPrithviraj Chauhan. The return of fireplace got here only some hours later, hashtagged #RajputemperorPrithvirajChauhan. And thus a brand new battleground opened up on social media—Gurjars versus the Rajputs.
Long burnished in Indian historical past textual content books as a courageous Rajput warrior whose legendary exploits grew to become the stuff of epic poetry, be it Kashmiri poet-historian Jayanaka’s Sanskrit work Prithvirajvijayammahakavyam or Chand Bardai’s Prithviraj Raso penned within the Brajbhasha, what has prompted the Gurjars to stake this belated declare, a number of centuries later, on the heritage of the ‘last great Hindu emperor’ in Colonel James Tod’s reckoning, the vastness of whose kingdom was contained in its very identify—Sapadalaksha or one and 1 / 4 lakh villages? Education, if one is to go by Gujjar historian Jitesh Gujjar, who’s related to the Veer Gurjar Mahasabha and is main the battle to reclaim the legacy of Rai Pithora, as Prithviraj III was additionally referred to as. “When a community starts reading and educating itself,” he says, “it realises its past was very glorious but was distorted or not presented accurately. The community then starts asserting itself to rectify the wrong portrayal, which is what the Gurjars are doing now.”
To buttress his declare, Jitesh invokes Jayanaka’s epic, written probably between the primary and second battles of Tarain, which makes use of the phrase Gurjaradhipati for Prithviraj’s father Someshwar. If the daddy was a Gurjar, would the son not be a Gurjar too? He additionally refers to Bardai’s Raso, citing the verse ‘Gurjar ahir as jati doi, tin lil lok sake na koi’ to claim that the poet is utilizing Gurjar right here for caste somewhat than an space the group is claimed to characterize.
Raso, whose historicity and scholarship stay unsure and which is believed to have been written 500 years after Prithviraj’s precise reign, as Cynthia Talbot, professor of historical past on the University of Texas, Austin, outlines in her 2016 guide, The Last Hindu Emperor, depicts the Chauhans as one of many 4 Rajput Agnivanshi clans—the opposite three being the Pratiharas, Parmars and Chalukyas—born of sacrificial hearth. It’s a view echoed in later texts. However, in Jayanaka’s telling of the legend of Prithviraj, the Chauhans had been Sooryavanshis, or descendants of the Sun. However, the household tree drawn within the early twelfth century inscriptions at Sewari point out no hyperlink between Chauhans and the Sooryavansh; somewhat they’re proven to be the youngsters of Indra.
A 3rd view portrays the Chamhanas as Brahmins. Veteran historian Dr Dashrath Sharma in his seminal 1959 guide, The Early Chauhan Dynasties, refers back to the 1170 CE Bijolia inscription of ‘Chahmano’, which talks of ‘Vipra Shreevatsagotrebhuta’, suggesting a Brahmin origin. A department of the Chauhans, the Kayamkhani, are mentioned to be Islamic converts. The late seventeenth century textual content Kayam Khan Raso by Niamat Khan Kayamkhani, additionally talks of Chauhans as Brahmins. But there’s little else to substantiate the declare.
The origin story of the Chauhans takes an altogether totally different flip in Col. Tod’s Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan. According to him, Chauhans had been Scythians who got here to India from Central Asia. But then, Col. Tod’s compulsions had been utterly totally different. Portraying all of Rajasthan’s Kshatriya dynasties as overseas invaders was a story that suited the undertaking of British colonialism.
But what of the twenty first century battle over Prithviraj Chauhan? Responding to Jitesh Gujjar’s declare that Prithviraj was a Gujjar as a result of his father was referred to as Gurjaradhipati, Virendra Singh Rathore, an IT skilled from Rajasthan who has written Prithviraj Chauhan: A Light on the Mist in History, says: “Someshwar’s maternal grandmother was in Patan, Gujarat. The word Gurjareshwar or Gurjaradhipati is used for Jaisingh Siddharaj, Someshwar’s maternal grandfather.”
“The word Gurjar,” insists Mahavir Singh Sarwadi, convenor of the Kshatriya Yuvak Sangh, “was used for a particular place. Ravana was called Lankadhipati, but it does not mean his caste was Lanka. Southern Rajasthan and northern Gujarat were then called Gurjara Desh or Gurjarat, and Gurjaradhipati was the term for the king of that land. The castes that came out from these parts such as Gurjar Gaur Brahmins or Gurjar Pratihar Rajputs still use Gurjar with their name.” Not letting nuance are available in the best way of his argument, Jitesh Gujjar maintains, “It was a tradition till medieval times to name places after the ruling dynasties. For example, Rajasthan was originally called Rajputana because it was ruled by the Rajputs. Accordingly, Gujarat was called Gujjar country because it was ruled by the Gujjars.” And the Chauhans are mentioned to have been Pratihara vassals who moved from Gujarat to Rajasthan who subsequently gained in territory and affect.
Meanwhile, there’s little consensus relating to the origins of the Gujjars themselves. Colonial historian Vincent Arthur Smith in his The Early History of India ascribes a blood relation with the Huns. Others imagine them to be the inhabitants of Georgia who blazed a path throughout central Asia, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and the Khyber Pass to succeed in Gujarat circa the fifth and sixth centuries. Yet others imagine them to be indigenous to the subcontinent. Some went on to say a Brahmin lineage, others a Kshatriya or Rajput one via a strategy of Sanskritisation. There are Gujjars amongst India’s Muslims, Sikhs, Christians and, maybe Buddhists, too. In the current day, they’re largely 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 might be higher caste in a single area, and OBC in one other.
However, whether or not a Gujjar or Rajput raja, Prithviraj Chauhan stays an interesting character of Indian historical past and a distinguished determine within the nationwide iconography alongside such greats as Rana Pratap and Shivaji. Samrat Prithviraj, although, appears to have run right into a spot of hassle on the field workplace. After a disappointing opening, on day 5, reviews say, some exhibits of the movie even needed to be cancelled for lack of an viewers.
DISPUTED LEGACIES
Other historic personalities who’re claimed by a couple of group
EMPEROR ASHOKA | Kshatriya or Kushwaha?
On the delivery anniversary of the third century BCE ruler, the BJP assigned the duty of organising a grand celebration at his birthplace in Pataliputra, modern-day Patna, to Kushwaha chief Samrat Chaudhury. Uttar Pradesh deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya was a particular invitee as, other than being a Kushwaha, he additionally has Maurya in his identify. Another Maurya chief, Keshav Dev, too, celebrated the event with nice gusto in UP. “Ashoka was a king, so he was called Kshatriya,” he says. “But we are from the same lineage. Our place in the varna system changed after we took to farming”
RAJA SUHAIL DEV | Pasis vs the Rajbhars
The Maharaja Suhail Dev Seva Samiti claimed that the raja was a Pasi in 2001. Rajbhars, however, cite the Mirat-e-Masoodi, Abdur Rahman Chishti’s biography of Mahmud Ghazni, to say that Suhail Dev was from the Bhartharu group. A statue, a postage stamp after which the muse stone of a medical 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 was born in Merpur, close to trendy Udaipur, in Rajasthan. Rajputs say Rana Punja, who fought alongside Maharana Pratap, is descended from the Bhojawat Solanki Rajputs. In the previous few years, a statue struggle has erupted in southern Rajasthan, with the Bharatiya Tribal Party, the political entrance of the Bhil Parivar, insisting that any reference to the raja say Rana Punja Bhil
