Badgujar Rajputs

Badgujar (बड़गूजर) are an interesting clan of Rajputs. Their historic kingdoms and settlements were concentrated in northeast Rajasthan, western UP, and MP. As per their traditions, the Badgujar Rajputs are descended from Lava, the elder son of Bhagwan Rama who ruled over Ayodhya in the epic era. In later times they migrated eastward, settling in UP and Rajasthan, overcoming the previous rulers. They have five great branches: Sikarwar, Khadad, Lawtamia, Taparia, and Madadh.

Badgujars gave way to Chahamans and Kachhwahas in Jaipur and Alwar (north-east Rajasthan), and were crushed by the Islamic invaders in UP. At Machari in Alwar is an inscription dated Vikram Samvat 1439 (1382 CE), which names the Badgujara vansha, and mentions its rulers. As per their oral traditions, nearby Rajor was founded by their remote ancestor Raja Bagh Singh Bargujar in 145 CE. Anupshahar in UP was founded by Raja Anup Singh Bargujar, while Samthar and Kamalpur in MP became Badgujar princely states in more modern times.

In Jaipur and Alwar, many ancient Badgujar Rajputs became Thakurs under the Kachwahas, like Tahsin in Alwar and Deoti in Jaipur. The Badgujars have no presence in, or historic memory of, either Gurjara or Maru Bhoomi to the south and west. Both their oral traditions and recorded history place the Badgujar Rajputs in the lap of northern India.

Badgujar Rajputs and pastoral Gujjars

The colonial historians were delighted to find a Rajput clan with a name that sounded similar to the Gujjars. Adding to their theory of the mythical Gurjara invasion, they declared Badgujars as an "aristocratic branch" of this so called tribe. The clinching evidence was the presence of the Badgujar surname among the Gujjars.

This evidence has no meaning since the Badgujar surname is also found among other lower castes like Jats, Meenas, etc. and even among Muslims. The reason is that the Badgujar story is the same as that of other Rajput clans who fought the Islamic invaders to the death.

After losing their main leaders and a central rallying point, those living in villages had two choices: continue fighting in isolated pockets and risk certain death/captivity/conversion to Islam, or save themselves by giving up their Rajput status and taking up other professions. Hence the proliferation of Rajput surnames among lower castes. Some saved themselves by migrating elsewhere. So we find the Badgujar surname in faraway Maharashtra.

Like any other Rajput clan, the Badgujars have no special links to the pastoral Gujjars, no common customs or traditions. And lastly the Badgujars are absent in the main Gujjar population center of western Punjab.

Pastoral Gujjars not mentioned in ancient literature

While Gurjara as a territorial term finds ample mention in Indian literature, the numerous communities with the Gurjara cognomen naturally appear at a later date. But since foreign historians and some of their Indian followers persist in opposing the native historians views on Gurjara, and keep insisting that it was originally a tribal name, it would be useful to examine whether the pastoral Gujjars are mentioned in ancient literature? A mass movement of a nomadic tribe, whether it happened in the post-Maurya age, or in the post-Gupta age, surely could not have passed unnoticed?

The Natyashastra of Bharata, groups languages spoken in the post-Maurya age by country (Desi) and by profession (Vibhasha): of the former are listed Magadhi, Avanti, Prachya, Sauraseni, Ardhamagadhi, Balhika, and Dakshinatya. The Vibhasha, or corrupt forms of language are used by people like grass sellers, hunters, charcoal makers, goat traders, pastoral communities like Sabara and Abhira, hill tribes like Kiratas, forest dwelling Vanachara and Pulinda, and Chandalas. It even gives minute descriptions of the clothes worn by pastoral Abhira women: they have two Venis on their head covered with a deep blue cloth. Such a detailed text has no mention of the pastoral Gujjars.

Even the later texts continue to mention these tribes and professions but none of them mention the pastoral Gujjars. The Harshacharita composed by Banabhatta mentions Gurjara as a country but does not speak of any tribe, the Dasakumar Charita mentions several parts of India and their tribes, but not the pastoral Gujjars.

The 8th century Kuvalayamala Kaha, which gives the first detailed description of Gurjara Bhoomi, also has notes on other regions of India. It mentions 34 Janpads, 47 towns, 7 villages, 21 mountains, 8 rivers, and 2 seas of India. Naturally it mentions the numerous pastoral and forest-dwelling tribes like: the shabara, kirata, orda, gonda, pulinda, and bhilla (modern Bhils of Rajasthan). Therefore it is baffling that a pastoral tribe like the Gujjars, who in the concocted tale of the colonial historians, had "arrived" by this time and made settlements across vast parts of India.....are not even mentioned.

It would be stretching credulity to suppose that the author of Kuvalayamala Kaha, who lived in Gurjara bhoomi, would have knowledge of the Bhils but not of the pastoral Gujjars. The conclusion is inescapable that this pastoral tribe makes its appearance at a much later date. Other community traditions in Gurjara state that they migrated out from Bhinmal with the drying up of the Sukri River.

Therefore agrarian and pastoral people too would have left, first into the neighboring Mewar region, which was always greener and more fertile than both Gurjara and Maru. It is no coincidence that the earliest oral traditions of the Gujjars are traced to Mewar, and the Gujari language has more similarities to Mewari and Mewati, than it does to Gujarati or Marwari. It suggests a long period of Gujjar residence in northeastern Rajasthan, for their language to take its modern shape.

Mt Abu gives no clues for Gurjara

Mt Abu, the highest point in the Aravalli Range of Rajasthan is traditionally included in the territory of Gurjara, but is much older than that province. In the Vedic texts it is called Arbuda, described as the mountain close to the sea, and in Puranic texts as Arbudanchal, the son of the Himalayas and the abode of saints and Gods. The ancient caves, lofty heights, and thick forests of Mt. Abu attracted sadhus, pilgrims, tribes, and warriors alike.

With its strategic location, at the tripoint of three distinct regions: Mewar, Gujarat, and Marwar, have made Mt. Abu a desired possession of successive rulers. The oldest inscription nearby pertains to the Chavada Rajputs in the 7th century. The Pratihara Rajputs are more associated with Mandor in Maru Desh, while Bhinmal in Gurjara Bhoomi is only associated with the Imperial Pratiharas by reason of conquest. Mt Abu itself contains no ancient memory of the Pratihara Rajputs.

The oldest settlement in Mt. Abu is the 2000 year old city of Chandravati, which became a flourishing capital of the Paramara Rajputs in the 10th century. Located at the foot of this great hill, Chandravati reportedly contained 999 temples in white marble and was a flourishing centre of trade. The city was repeatedly attacked by the foreign invaders and finally even its marble was carried off by the Sultan of Gujarat. But still much remained till the 20th century when it was used by the British in laying down a railway track.

There are several temples of great antiquity in Mt. Abu but none provide any clues; having been destroyed and rebuilt over the centuries in warfare between the Rajputs and Muslims, and before them between the proto-Rajputs and Sakas. The Rishikesh temple is believed to be 8000 years old, while the Karnikeshwar Mahadev temple is of Puranic times, the cave temple of Vasthanji on the northern slopes of Abu is dedicated to Shiva. The 2,000-year-old city of Vardhmanpur, has the oldest sun temple in the world in white marble, while a kilometer away is the Krishna Vat Vriksh temple of similar antiquity.

The fort of Hamirpur, now called Mirpur, contained a Jain idol housed in a blue marble temple. While the citadel was destroyed and the idol broken by Sultan Allaudin Khilji, the temple was restored by the Rajput rulers of Mewar and the carved pillars are still from the ancient period. In fact the majority of undamaged constructions in Mt Abu belong to the late period of the powerful Maharanas of Mewar.

Thus Mt. Abu has several ancient sites but gives no clues to when or how Gurjara became the name of the neighboring region of Bhinmal and Jalor.