Forged in India's Apocalypse, History of the Rajputs (Summarized)

[Music] the history of the rajputs the rajput warrior community of the northern Indians of continent has played a significant role in the Region's history for more than a thousand years while many kingdoms confederations and Empires Rose and fell large extended families or clans of rajput Warriors adapted survived Amber assisted they were often pivotal in restoring order from chaos and preserving their people and culture in the wake of Destruction part 1 Origins the origin of these illustrious Warriors is a matter of intense scholarly debate what is broadly agreed upon is that the rajputs emerged as a social political and military force sometime after the collapse of the Gupta Empire The prominent theories on the origins of the rajput community can be broken down into four broad categories one they were descended from members of the kashatria warrior class of the Gupta Empire that had survived the collapse and later established their own smaller kingdoms two they were descended from foreign Invaders who assimilated into Hindu Society three they were descended from members of higher or lower castes that in turbulent times armed themselves dedicated their lives to Excellence in Warfare and refused to be victims of the times 4. any combination of two or all of the above theories the Gupta Empire oversaw a golden age in Indian history great achievements were made in the Realms of science mathematics astronomy medicine literature art and architecture wealth poured into India with long-distance trade routes that reached as far as Rome and China all good things in this world come to an end and so did the Glory Days of the Gupta internal power struggles and religious Strife was followed by a Cavalcade of nomadic Invaders towns cities and temples were raised to the ground international trade was severed the economy collapsed and then there was only War for a Time the largest and most powerful group of Invaders was the nomadic hunai people which included the kitterites and Alcon Huns they were related to some extent to the Huns of Attila who ransacked Europe and the half the lights that ravaged assassinate Persian Empire the Alcon Huns conquered large swaths of the northern Indian subcontinent while agupta Empire fragmented in the pieces the Huns established a powerful Kingdom in the northern Indian subcontinent that lasted for a few decades there they minted coins and began worshiping Hindu deities like Lakshmi Vishnu and Shiva they also stopped destroying temples and started building them instead but they ultimately failed at solidifying their control in the region after being individually beaten time and again a large Coalition of small kingdoms along with a surviving remnant of the Gupta Empire decisively defeated the Huna the most powerful King in that Victorious Coalition yashad Harman conquered his former allies and briefly United the northern Indian subcontinent before he died and it all fell apart again the defeated Huns were treated to the periphery of the subcontinent in the west and in the north there they established bases of operations from where they raided and invaded from for more than a century they remained a constant destabilizing factor in the early 7th Century the Indian king Harsha vardhana established a powerful Empire and even sent an embassy that reached the Imperial Tang Chinese court but by the time the Chinese reciprocated and a Tang Ambassador reached India harsha's empire had already collapsed the chaotic times continued for the remainder of the 7th century and into the 8th it was this remarkably turbulent period in Indian history beginning in the 6th Century the multiple extraordinary events occurred one was the development of a game called chaturanga where miniature pieces representing infantry Cavalry chariots and elephants battled on a checkered board in a simulation of the never-ending Wars of that time this game slowly migrated westwards gaining in popularity eventually evolving into the game of chess which millions of people around the world play today another remarkable development that emerged from the fires of that age were the small armed familial groups that survived grew and thrived by the establishment of the gujara pratihara dynastic rule over much of the northern Indian subcontinent the vast majority of the Empire's vassal states were composed of large powerful Warrior Clans that had grown from the small family groups that had overcome India's centuries of troubled time items members of these emergent Clans became known as the rajputs during the reign of the pratiharas like the rajputs the pratihara's origins are also shrouded in mystery and just like the rajputs there are a variety of loosely attenuated theories tying the pratiharas to indigenous kashatriya Clans previous non-warrior groups or foreigners like the Alcon Huns both the rajputs and the pratiharas appear in the historical record not long after the Alcan Huns were expelled from the region both had highly militant social structures with a greater emphasis on Cavalry than previous indian warriors a foreign origin could explain these capable Warriors sudden rise to prominence be it all Khan Huns or an amalgamation of previous foreign Warrior groups who had assimilated in the region like the Greeks sakas kushans and sasanians however overall there is little conclusive evidence to support a predominantly foreign origin which was the dominant academic theory in the past modern historic local Scholars tend to favor indigenous origin theories for both the pratiharas and the rajputs in addition to different social classes among the subtle population being inducted as nyukashatria Warriors obscure pastoralist tribes living on the periphery of the Thar Desert moving in to fill the power vacuum left in the wake of The Hun's Destruction has been proposed as a theory and could explain the emergence of the rajputs and pratiharas some have also proposed that these two groups were the same or related whether or not they were related it was under the gujara pratiharas that the Raj puts Rose to prominence during a prosperous 9th century of expansion the pratihara Empire found itself surrounded by four hostile expansionist and capable foes the Raj trakutas in the South the Pala Empire in the East Arab states in the west and nomadic turkic tribes in the north at the beginning of the 10th Century in 916 the rajtrakuta sacks the pratihara's capital city despite This Disaster the pratiharas were able to retake their capital and successfully prevent the bulk of their territory from being annexed by any of their adversaries however in defeating external threats the pratiharas failed to maintain internal Unity Central Authority eroded as local predominantly rajput rulers took the lead in defending their land from the enemies that most threatened their particular region One By One The pratiharas vassals cease to recognize their rule which was out of touch with their subject's own rational self-interest the katiharas were unable to subdue their rebellious vassals rather than abruptly collapse their empire was disassembled piece by piece until they were little more than a city-state beginning in the mid 10th Century the northern Indian subcontinent was dominated by a host of rajput Clans that had just become fully independent part 2 age of the rash puts rash putana land of the rajputs is the historical region that roughly corresponds to the modern Indian state of Rajasthan before and after the reign of the pratiharas it was from this region that the Raj put slowly extended their influence and control into the salt marshes of Kutch Gujarat the central Indian Highlands and large parts of the indogangetic plain which was and still is one of the most densely populated regions in the world just for reference this region is similar in size to Britain France Germany Poland Austria Hungary and Ireland combined as demonstrated by the centuries of History following the collapse of the Gupta Empire this very large and populist region was extremely difficult to manage and keep any semblance of unity the rajput solution to this persistent and Troublesome problem was to not even try on the local level rajput rulers were generally hands off and did not attempt to micromanage the economic or political life of its subjects from the top down law was also on the local level which was typically adjudicated based on the customs of individual communities on the macro level rajput states were very decentralized with little Administration in medieval India there were around 30 to 40 prominent rajput Clans in addition to this there were many largely autonomous subdivisions within each Clan which over time could become its own de facto independent Clan at the head of a rajput state a sovereign's power was structured differently depending on the clan or region many clans were ruled by hereditary monarchy while in other clans the Monarch chose his successor or ruled alongside a Council of Elders as was the case with a few rajput states there was no Monarch instead the Elders of the clan voted on political issues in a type of Republic cultagana at the core of rajput client's social structure was a hereditary political status based on a system of land grants a ruler would Grant large tracts of land his closest followers who in turn granted land to their followers and so on in return regular military or financial payment was made to the grantor of the land the money raised in this system was usually spent on building temples palaces and forts because this system was so simple and required so little Administration it freed up the rash puts to focus on what they did best which was to wage war as members of the Hindu kashatria warrior class Raj puts train in the use of all manner of weapons from a young age it was also not on common for rajput woman to train in the martial arts and weaponry in some rare instances a few women joined in the fighting usually in a crisis situation when all hope was lost in one example a rajput queen led her deceased husband's ill-fated Army into battle atop an elephant an extreme but more common response to impending defeat in battle was for rajput women to self-immolate rather than face the dishonor of being captured by enemy soldiers in peace time women's more typical Pursuits would be in the Realms of embroidery literature painting and music in comparison to many other cultures of medieval to early modern times rajput women frequently were literate and in addition to men wrote many stories songs and poems these were usually romantic adventurous Tales where the honor courage and bravery of their klansmen were celebrated over time the rajputs became increasingly obsessive about their honor duels to defend one's honor were extremely common and warfare between rajput Clans became a highly ritualized Affair in one example a rash put Raja had food delivered to a fortress he was besieging because he believed it would be dishonorable to starve them out or to fight them when the Defenders were not at full strength The besiege Defenders eventually lost in another example of perhaps taking the concept of honor to a selfish destructive level one rajput Raja fought a gratuitous series of duels where he slaughtered all of his own best warriors this left his kingdom greatly weakened which allowed a rival to easily Annex his territory in the centuries of rajput prominence wars were constantly being fought and borders frequently shifted disappeared and were redrawn in history it is highly unusual for a seemingly fractured disjointed Society frequently at war with itself and everyone else to have a thriving economy and the medieval rajput economy was one of those rare instances this was due in large part to the rajput's highly ritualized honor-based system of warfare rajput armies dueled against each other with the winner getting to collect the taxes of the region they were fighting over consequently both sides typically try not to disrupt the economy of the territory they were fighting over because collecting the revenue was the end goal in addition to the land tax which was the basis of the rajput economy a tax on Merchants bringing Goods into or out of a rajput Clan's territory became another lucrative source of income despite the frequent conflict the rajputs gained a reputation for guaranteeing the safety of merchants Arab Merchants from Ascend and Beyond frequented the ports of the Gujarat from there they exported large quantities of spices perfumes diamonds emeralds sapphires cotton and silk fabrics and metals the rajputs were also expert horse breeders they exported some of the small agile horses they had in abundance while importing larger war horses because of their shared economic interests the rajputs and the Arab Emirates of the Sindh had increasingly amicable relations in the early 11th century a new power arrived in the Indian subcontinent the gazanovids they were turkic slave soldiers who had freed themselves and created their own Empire the rajputs in particular bhoja of Mawa was able to Halt kazanovid expansion for the next Century the gazanovids were content to raid the South while the Raj puts held off their expansion while fighting among themselves in the late 12th century the gurds the gaznavid vassal overthrew their Rule and then expanded into the Indian subcontinent part 3 Age of Empires realizing the threat that the new more formidable gurued Empire presented the rajputs organized a confederation of mutual defense in 1191 the rajput Coalition decisively defeated the gerds wounding the sultan who barely escaped with his life the following year Muhammad of Gore returned with a massive Army of 120 000 men this included a large Cavalry contingent of horse archers whose hidden run feigned Retreat tactics the rajputs were unfamiliar with this time the rajputs were decisively defeated and the gurds capitalized on the Victory and rapidly expanded their territory to the east Muhammad was assassinated a few years later and his Empire split after his death one of his generals established a sultanate in the strategically located city of Delhi for the next 320 years the Delhi sultanate was engaged in a near continual struggle to fully subdue the rash puts during the reign of allahuddin kalji a Mongol invasion was repulsed and then aloud din invaded Raj bhutana there the rajput Maharaja ratna simha vaaluddin during the siege of chitter for eight months before the Sultan's forces were able to storm The Fortress the rajputs were cut down to the last man while their wives self-immolated a law didn't continue to conquer most of the Indian subcontinent after his death his successors continued to expand the sultanate's territory for a few more years then a civil war Raj put rebellion and an invasion by the turko Mongol warlord Tamer Lane sent the sultanate into terminal decline for the next Century the resurgent rash put Confederacy successfully battled the Delhi sultanate becoming the strongest power in the Indian subcontinent then another group of mixed turkic and Mongol ancestry the Moguls arrived after the Moguls conquered Delhi they came into contact with the rajputs initially the rajput Confederacy held off the Mogul Advance under the leadership of ranasanga during the reign of Akbar the Moguls conquered rash bhutana and then all of the northern Indian subcontinent during this process many rajputs fought to the last man while their wives committed jauhar after battling the Moguls other rajput leaders sought to ensure the survival of their people and when offered peace on favorable terms including marriage alliances it was accepted as the Muslim Mughal Empire expanded many of its top generals were Hindu rajputs some rajputs were even appointed subodars Governors who ruled regions on behalf of the emperor the Mughal Empire reached the height of its territory oil expansion during the reign of oring Zeb it was also during his Reign that a increasing amount of discrimination against the majority Hindu population of the Empire became public policy consequently many previously loyal rajputs rebelled they made an alliance with anti-mocal maratha Confederacy based out of the Deccan Plateau while the moratas and rajputs were defeating the Moguls a criminally capitalist corporate cabal captured Bengal the British East India company's private Army of perfidious pilfering profiteers pillaged their path into war with the morotha Confederacy and sought to place their own prinsley peshwa puppet on his throne they proceeded to fight three Wars against each other in the third conflict the British East India Company exploited hostile relations between the marathas and the weakened rajput States they convinced the rajput states to not get involved and to accept the britishers as the premier power after the war with the maratas was over in exchange they promised the rajputs protection and autonomy afterwards under the company and British rule rajput Authority was slowly eroded though they did exercise a greater deal of autonomy compared to most other regions in India following Indian independence the 22 rajput friendly States chose to join the new country they've form the state of Rajasthan which today has a population of more than 78 million people rash puts continue to be an important part of Indian society as they have been since after the fall of the Gupta Empire this has been epomethius thank you so much for watching I hope I pronounce things right if you're a rajput or from India I would love to read in the comments of what do you believe is uh the most interesting or unique thing of rajput society and culture today or just a fun fact or if you are just learning about the rajputs what do you find interesting about rajput history and a tremendous thanks to my patrons who help make videos like this possible

Channel: Epimetheus

Views: 274,951

Keywords: india, indian history documentary, documentary, maratha empire, history, indian history, indian empires, mughal empire, mughal india, anglo maratha, british india, epimetheus, British east India company, indian empire, Rajput, Rajput history, Rajput kshatriya, rajput vs kshatriya, Rajput documentary, Rajput empire, rajput kingdom, rajput caste, who are the Rajputs?, Who were the Rajputs?, Gupta empire, alchon huns, origins of the Rajputs, gurjara pratihara dynasty, Maratha

Id: -DSiAW0coFU

Length: 18min 37sec (1117 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 23 2023