15. Occupation
The traditional occupation of a Rājpūt was that of a warrior and landholder. Their high-flown titles, Bhupāl (Protector of the earth), Bhupati (Lord of the earth), Bhusur (God of the earth), Bahuja (Born from the arms), indicate, Sir H. Risley says,[33] the exalted claims of the tribe. The notion that the trade of arms was their proper vocation clung to them for a very long time, and has retarded their education, so that they have perhaps lost status relatively to other castes under British supremacy. The rule that a Rājpūt must not touch the plough was until recently very strictly observed in the more conservative centres, and the poorer Rājpūts were reduced by it to pathetic straits for a livelihood, as is excellently shown by Mr. Barnes in the Kāngra Settlement Report:[34] “A Miān or well-known Rājpūt, to preserve his name and honour unsullied, must scrupulously observe four fundamental maxims: first, he must never drive the plough; second, he must never give his daughter in marriage to an inferior nor marry himself much below his rank; thirdly, he must never accept money in exchange for the betrothal of his daughter; and lastly, his female household must observe strict seclusion. The prejudice against the plough is perhaps the most inveterate of all; that step can never be recalled; the offender at once loses the privileged salutation; he is reduced to the second grade of Rājpūts; no man will marry his daughter, and he must go a step lower in the social scale to get a wife for himself. In every occupation of life he is made to feel his degraded position. In meetings of the tribe and at marriages the Rājpūts undefiled by the plough will refuse to sit at meals with the Hal Bāh or plough-driver as he is contemptuously styled; and many to avoid the indignity of exclusion never appear at public assemblies.... It is melancholy to see with what devoted tenacity the Rājpūt clings to these deep-rooted prejudices. Their emaciated looks and coarse clothes attest the vicissitudes they have undergone to maintain their fancied purity. In the quantity of waste land which abounds in the hills, a ready livelihood is offered to those who will cultivate the soil for their daily bread; but this alternative involves a forfeiture of their dearest rights, and they would rather follow any precarious pursuit than submit to the disgrace. Some lounge away their time on the tops of the mountains, spreading nets for the capture of hawks; many a day they watch in vain, subsisting on berries and on game accidentally entangled in their nets; at last, when fortune grants them success, they despatch the prize to their friends below, who tame and instruct the bird for the purpose of sale. Others will stay at home and pass their time in sporting, either with a hawk or, if they can afford it, with a gun; one Rājpūt beats the bushes and the other carries the hawk ready to be sprung after any quarry that rises to the view. At the close of the day if they have been successful they exchange the game for a little meal and thus prolong existence over another span. The marksman armed with a gun will sit up for wild pig returning from the fields, and in the same manner barter their flesh for other necessaries of life. However, the prospect of starvation has already driven many to take the plough, and the number of seceders daily increases. Our administration, though just and liberal, has a levelling tendency; service is no longer to be procured, and to many the stern alternative has arrived of taking to agriculture and securing comparative comfort, or enduring the pangs of hunger and death. So long as any resource remains the fatal step will be postponed, but it is easy to foresee that the struggle cannot be long protracted; necessity is a hard task-master, and sooner or later the pressure of want will overcome the scruples of the most bigoted.” The objection to ploughing appears happily to have been quite overcome in the Central Provinces, as at the last census nine-tenths of the whole caste were shown as employed in pasture and agriculture, one-tenth of the Rājpūts being landholders, three-fifths actual cultivators, and one-fifth labourers and woodcutters. The bulk of the remaining tenth are probably in the police or other branches of Government service.
[1] Early History of India (Oxford, Clarendon Press), 3rd edition, p. 414.
[2] Early History of India, pp. 252, 254.
[3] Ibidem, p. 210.
[4] Ibidem, p. 227.
[5] Colonel Tod states that, the proper name of the caste was Jit or Jat, and was changed to Jāt by a section of them who also adopted Muhammadanism. Colonel Tod also identifies the Jats or Jits with the Yueh-chi as suggested in the text (Rājasthān, i. p. 97).
[6] Rājasthān, i. p. 42. Mr. Crooke points out that the Buddha here referred to is probably the planet Mercury. But it is possible that he may have been identified with the religious reformer as the names seem to have a common origin.
[7] See also separate articles on Panwār, Rājpūt and Gūjar.
[8] J.A.S.B., 1909, p. 167, Guhilots. See also annexed article on Rājpūt Sesodia.
[9] Ibidem, i. p. 105.
[10] See also article Bhāt.
[11] Rājasthān, i. pp. 231, 232.
[12] Butea frondosa. This powder is also used at the Holi festival and has some sexual significance.
[13] Rājasthān, i. p. 159.
[14] Melia indica.
[15] Ficus R.
[16] Rājasthān, i. p. 123.
[17] Rājasthān, i. pp. 267, 268.
[18] Rāsmāla, ii. p. 261.
[19] Rājasthān, i. p. 553.
[20] Reminiscences of Lady Dorothy Nevill, Nelson’s edition, p. 367.
[21] Rājasthān, ii. p. 3.
[22] Mrs. Postans, Cutch, p. 35.
[23] Mrs. Postans, Cutch, p. 138.
[24] Rājasthān, i. pp. 543, 544.
[25] Ibidem, i. p. 125.
[26] Ibidem, ii. p. 52.
[27] Rājasthān, i. p. 552.
[28] Vol. ii. p. 227.
[29] A ceremony of smearing vermilion on the bride before a wedding, which is believed to bring good fortune.
[30] The basil plant, sacred to Vishnu.
[31] A round black stone, considered to be a form of Vishnu.
[32] Rājasthān, i. p. 555.
[33] Tribes and Castes of Bengal. art. Rājpūt.
[34] Quoted in Sir D. Ibbetson’s Punjab Census Report (1881), para. 456.