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Rajputs in Bihar are members of the Rajput caste found in the Indian state of Bihar. In some historical sources, they are also referred to as Purbiya Rajputs, meaning Eastern Rajputs. In contrast, the Rajputs living in Rajasthan were historically referred to as "Western Rajputs".

History

They have a history stretching back to the Kings of Chandel descent ruled on erstwhile Patsanda for more than six centuries. Raja Bir Vikram Singh founded this princely state in 1266. His ancestors belong to Mahoba of Bundelkhand region and were the builders of the Khajuraho Temples in Madhya Pradesh. His ninth in descent, Raja Puran Singh is said to have built the temple of Baba Baidyanath (Lord Shiva) in Deoghar, Jharkhand. In early 14th century when Parmar Rajputs migrated and deposed the local Chero rulers. These Rajputs later came known as Ujjainiya Rajputs and form one of the many clans to now inhabit the region. According to the "Khyat", a legendary source for information about the Ujjainiya Rajputs, the Jaunpur Sultanate rulers interrupted the prayers of Brahmins on the bank of the Ganges. The Ujjainiya Rajputs attempted to defend the Brahmins, but the Jaunpur Sultanate soon defeated them and demolished the temples used by the Brahmins.

Bihari Rajputs have a long tradition of being recruited as mercenaries for various rulers such as the British and the Marathas.

Along with members of the Bhumihar caste, many of the Zamindari estates were ruled by Rajputs, such as Sonbarsa Raj, ruled by the Ganwaria Rajput clan, and Dumrao Raj, Jagdishpur in South Bihar, and Shakarpura Raj Zamindari in North Bihar, ruled by the Ujjainiya Parmar Rajput clan from Dhar. Bihari Rajputs made up the majority of the Bengal Army.

Notable people

• Kunwar Singh, leader of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 in Bihar

References

1. Mohammad Sajjad (13 August 2014). Muslim Politics in Bihar: Changing Contours. Routledge. p. 104. ISBN 978-1-317-55982-5.
2. ^ Waltraud Ernst; Biswamoy Pati (18 October 2007). India's Princely States: People, Princes and Colonialism. Routledge. p. 57. ISBN 978-1-134-11988-2.
3. M. S. Naravane (1999). The Rajputs of Rajputana: A Glimpse of Medieval Rajasthan. APH Publishing. p. 23. ISBN 978-81-7648-118-2.
4. Anand A. Yang (1998). Bazaar India: Markets, Society, and the Colonial State in Gangetic Bihar. University of California Press. p. 139. ISBN 978-0-520-91996-9.
5. Dirk H. A. Kolff (8 August 2002). Naukar, Rajput, and Sepoy: The Ethnohistory of the Military Labour Market of Hindustan, 1450-1850. Cambridge University Press. p. 59. ISBN 978-0-521-52305-9.
6. Alf Hiltebeitel (15 February 2009). Rethinking India's Oral and Classical Epics: Draupadi among Rajputs, Muslims, and Dalits. University of Chicago Press. p. 308. ISBN 978-0-226-34055-5.
7. ^ Peter Karsten (31 October 2013). Recruiting, Drafting, and Enlisting: Two Sides of the Raising of Military Forces. Routledge. p. 103. ISBN 978-1-135-66150-2.
8. Kumkum Chatterjee (1996). Merchants, Politics, and Society in Early Modern India: Bihar, 1733-1820. BRILL. p. 35. ISBN 90-04-10303-1.
9. Usha Jha (1 January 2003). Land, Labour, and Power: Agrarian Crisis and the State in Bihar (1937-52). Aakar Books. p. 50. ISBN 978-81-87879-07-7.

• Ethnic groups in India
• Social groups of Bihar