Rajput (from Sanskrit raja-putra, "son of a king") is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The Anthropological Survey of India, which relies heavily on sources compiled during the period of the British Raj, notes that they are "an offshoot of the Samma tribe, pro
bably of Turk origin who entered India during the seventh or eighth century and are found in Kachchh, Junagadh and Jamnagar districts."[1] They claim to be originally of the Abhira clan from Sindh.[2][3]
Harald Tambs-Lyche believes that there is evidence, based on myths, that a Chudasama kingdom existed at Junagadh in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat. The dynasty is traditionally said to have been founded in 875 CE and around 1030 received assistance from members of the pastoralist Ahir community in order to restore its power following a conquest of the kingdom by the king of Gujarat. The Chudasamas are sometimes referred to as the Ahirani Ranis, and Tambs-Lyche says that, "The structure of the Chudasama state ... seems to have been an alliance between a small royal clan — later to be classified as Rajputs — and the Ahir tribe."[4] The last of these kings, Mandulak Chudasama, was forcibly converted to Islam in 1470 by Mahmud Begarha, who also annexed the state[5]. Begarha had attacked the Chudasama kingdom, which was known as Girnar, on several previous occasions.[6]
