Rawat Rajputs
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Rawat Rajputs are a group of people who reside in Ajmer, Rajsamand, Bhilwara and Pali districts of Rajasthan and the Kumaon division and Garhwal Divisions of Uttarakhand, India. They claim their descent from warriors of the Chauhan dynasty.
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[edit] History
Rawat Rajputs are believed to be descendants of Chauhans.[1] Some historians believe the Rawat Rajputs are direct descendants of Prithviraj III's brother Hariraj, who escaped to hilly and dense forest areas after the fall of the Chauhan empire in 1191.
Others believe they are the descendants of Rao Lakhansi of the Nadol branch of Chauhans. Two sons of Rao Lakhansi named Rao Anhal and Rao Anoop defeated the Gujjar king ruling in the Magra region and established an empire, which was later destabilised by the Mughals.
Rawat is a title used by Rajputs in Uttarakhand and some parts of Rajasthan.[2][3] They came to be known as Rawats after their two great warrior ancestors Narhaa Singh Rawat and Vihal Singh Rawat were awarded the title of Rawat for their outstanding bravery in war against Sher Shah Suri in the 1540s. Their descendants also came to be known as Rawats. It is believed they escaped from Ajmer to hilly and dense forest areas after after the fall of the Chauhan empire in 1191. In time other branches of the Rajputs also came to these hills, such as the Rathore and Ponwar clans, and mingled with the Chauhan Rawat Rajputs. They were mainly soldiers. Their culture was affected by the hard conditions under which they lived, surrounded by hills and forests.
The present MP of Ajmer, Rasa Singh Rawat, is a Rawat Rajput.
Villages of Rawat Rajputs are also found in the Pauri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.
Some if not all of the Rawat Rajputs are believed to have migrated from the Indian plains during the Middle Ages. They still retain the name of their areas of origin: for instance, the 'Udaipur Patti' in Garhwal is a group of villages inhabited by people believed to have migrated from Udaipur in present-day Rajasthan.[4]
[edit] Khamp or subdivisions of the group
- Ghodawat
- Aapawat
- Surawat
- Sujawat
- Devawat
- Dehlawat
- Devsaal
- Hirawat
- Karnawat
- Khankhawat
- Meghawat
- Juthawat
- Malawat
- Motees (Panwar)
[edit] Notable members
- Trivendra Singh Rawat (Dabbu)
- Nain Singh Rawat (Kumaoni Rajput)
- Mukesh Rawat Mikky
- Bhakt Darshan
- Pooran Singh Ghughtyal
- Rasa Singh Rawat
- Bachi Singh Rawat, Ex Cabinet Minister (Kumaoni Rajput)
- Prem Rawat
- Satpal Singh Rawat
- Connell Dan Singh Rawat
- Pradeep Rawat, actor
- Manvir Rawat
- Om Singh Chouhan, Neemuch
- Kuldeep Singh Rawat
- Rasa Singh Rawat, MP
- Gorla Rawat
- Bakhori Rawat
- Bangari Rawat
- Kunwar Rawat
- Jirdhari Rawat
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Crooke, William, The Tribes and Castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, pp.219, Asian Educational Services; 1 edition (October 1999), ISBN 8-120-61210-8
- ^ Kumar Suresh Singh, Rajendra Behari Lal, Gujarat (pp.1283), Anthropological Survey of India, Popular Prakashan (2003), ISBN 8-179-91106-3
- ^ Balfour Edwards, Encyclopaedia Asiatica, comprising Indian Subcontinent, eastern and southern Asia: Commercial, industrial, and scientific (1976), pp.353-4,374, Cosmo Publications
- ^ GarhwalHimalayas.com - People of Garhwal
