MAHARANA PRATAP FUNCTION :

Famous Rajput Rulers and Personalities:

Armed Forces of India:

• Brigadier Hari Singh Deora, awarded A.V.S.M.
• Brigadier Sawai Bhawani Singh (also Maharaja of Jaipur), awarded Mahavir Chakra.
• Major Shaitan Singh, awarded Param Vir Chakra for service in the 1962 India-China war.
• Naik Jadu Nath Singh Rathore, awarded Param Vir Chakra for service in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947.

List of Rajput dynasties and states:

During the medieval period, many parts of India and modern-day Pakistan were being ruled by various dynasties of ruling Hindu warrior class- Rajput. Following is the list of those ruling Rajput dynasties of the Indian subcontinent :

• Kabul Shahi dynasty of Afghanistan also known as Hindu Shahi (964-1026 AD): according to some historians, Kabul Shahi dynasty was a Hindu Janjua Rajputdynasty, This dynasty was ruling parts of Afghanistan and Punjab region at the time of Turkic Ghaznavid invasions. Jayapala was its first Rajput king who succeeded the last Brahmin king Bhimadeva. Its last king Bhimpala died in 1024.

• Chauhan dynasty of Ajmer and Delhi: The Chauhans, ruled between 956 and 1192 AD, earlier over the eastern parts of the present day’s Rajasthan with their capital at Ajmer and later extended their territory up to parts of modern-day Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. This Rajput dynasty was founded by Simharaj, who is famously known as the founder of the city of Ajmer. Prithviraj Chauhan was considered greatest of all Chauhan rulers. During his reign, the kingdom extended over Delhi, Ajmer, modern-day Rohilkhand, Kalinjar, Hansi, Kalpi, Mahoba etc. He conquered Bhatinda (in Punjab) from Ghaznavide ruler of Punjab and defeated Muhammad of Ghor in the first battle of Tarain. However, he was defeated in the second battle of Tarain, 1192.Successor states in modern times are that of mainpuri (etawah) and Bhaddaiyan Raj (sultanpur).
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The name for the state of Gujarat has derived from “Gurjar”.

The pratiharas belonged to the same clan that of Gurjaras was proved by the “Rajor inscription”.From the phrase “Gurjara Pratiharanvayah” inscribed in the “Rajor inscription”. It is known that the Pratiharas belonged to the Gurjara clan.The Rashtrakuta records and the Arabian chronicles also identify the Pariharas with Gurjaras.Over the years, the Gurjars were assimilated mainly into the castes of Kshatriya varna, although some Gurjar groups (such as Gaur Gurjars of central India) are classified as Brahmins.During the Muslim rule, many of the Gurjars converted to Islam.^[55] With the rise of Islam, Muslim Gujjars no longer adhered to theirKshatriya or Brahmin classification but retained clan names as a form of tribal recognition.Places such as Gujranwala, Gujar Khan, Gujar Kot, Gujrat in Pakistan and the state of Gujarat in India are a testament to the Gurjar influence in the past. The name for the state of Gujarat has derived from “Gurjar”.

Rajput Society in early days

The Rajputs’ origins seem to date from a great breakup of Indian society in the northern and northwestern Indian subcontinent under the impact of the Hephthalites (White Huns) and associated tribes from the mid-5th century ce onward. Following the breakup of the Gupta empire (late 6th century), invading groups were probably integrated within the existing society, with the present pattern of northwestern Indian society being the result. Tribal leaders and nobles were accepted as Kshatriyas, the second order of the Hindus, while their followers entered the fourth (Sudra, or cultivating) order to form the basis of tribal castes, such as the Jats, the Gujars, and the Ahirs. Some of the invaders’ priests became Brahmans (the highest-ranking caste). Some indigenous tribes also attained Rajput status, such as the Rathors of Rajputana and the Chandelas, Paramaras, and Bundelas of central India. Rajput ancestry can be divided between Suryavanshi (“House of the Sun,” or Solar people), or those descended from Rama, the hero of the epic Ramayana; and Chandravanshi (“House of the Moon,” or Lunar people), or those descended from Krishna, the hero of the epic Mahabharata. A third group, Agnikula (“Family of the Fire God”), is the group from which the Rajputs derive their claim to be Kshatriyas. Rajput habits of eating meat (except beef) and other traits suggest both foreign and aboriginal origins.

The Rajputs emerged into political importance in the 9th and 10th centuries. From about 800, Rajput dynasties dominated northern India, and the many petty Rajput kingdoms there were among the main obstacles to the complete Muslim domination of Hindu India. After the Muslim conquest of the eastern Punjab and the Ganges (Ganga) River valley, the Rajputs maintained their independence in the fastnesses of Rajputana and the forests of central India. Sultan ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn Khaljī of Delhi (reigned 1296–1316) took the two great Rajput forts of Chitor and Ranthambhor in eastern Rajputana but could not hold them. The Rajput state of Mewar under Rana Sanga made a bid for supremacy but was defeated by the Mughal emperor Bābur at Khanua (1527). Bābur’s grandson Akbar retook the Chitor and Ranthambhor forts (1568–69) and then made a settlement with all the Rajputana princes except Mewar. Accepting Mughal overlordship, the princes were admitted to the court and the emperor’s privy council and were given governorships and commands of armies. Although that arrangement was damaged by the intolerance of the emperor Aurangzeb (reigned 1658–1707), it continued until the Mughal Empire itself collapsed in the 18th century. The Rajputs then fell victims to the chiefs of theMaratha confederacy until they accepted British suzerainty (1818) at the end of the last Maratha war. After India’s independence (1947), most of the Rajput states in Rajputana were merged to form the state of Rajasthan within the Indian union.

Bundela

Bundela:
                    Bundela Rajput clan that gave its name to Bundelkhand in north-central India. The Bundelas, whose origin is obscure, emerged in the 14th century. They won prominence when they resisted the Afghan emperor, Shēr Shah of Sūr, who was killed while besieging their fortress of Kalinjar in 1545. The Bundela Bir Singh of Orchha, in collusion with Akbar’s son, Prince Salīm (later Jahāngīr), ambushed and killed the Mughal emperor’s confidant, Abu al-Faḍl ʿAllāmī, in 1602.

The Bundela territories were important because through them ran the route from theDeccan to the Yamuna-Ganges doab. But they were hilly, remote, and difficult to control. The Mughals suppressed many insurrections until the Bundelas called in the Marathas(1729). After many vicissitudes the tract passed under British control in the early 19th century. The fortress of Kalinjar was taken in 1812.

Bharat Rakshak Indian Army

The Soldier who won India's First Param Vir Chakra:

Lately many pleas have been made that Mohammed 

Afzal Guru's execution should be stayed because his 

death could fuel separatism in Jammu & Kashmir.

 The state chief minister himself has been an ardent 

advocate for clemency for the terrorist who attacked

 the Indian Parliament in December 2001 (and nearly

 provoked a war between India and Pakistan). The 

secular protagonists claim that his execution will 

make a martyr of Afzal. I will not enter into these 

fallacious arguments, but the time has perhaps co

me to remember a true martyr: Major Somnath 

Sharma who on 03 November 1947 saved Srinagar

 Airport (and Kashmir) at the supreme cost of his life

. Had he not sacrificed his life, Afzal's defenders 

would not today make front page news in the Indian 

press, for the simple reason that they would be 

Pakistani citizens living under a military dictatorship.