Sikh Rajputs: Difference between revisions

There are many Sikhs or followers of Sikhism today who call themselves "Sikh Rajputs".

Punjabi Hindus hold Sikhism in high regard, many Punjabi Hindus not only in India but worldwide today visit their local Gurudwaras regularly and adhere to the preaching’s of the Guru Granth Sahib. Sikhism is traditionally seen as a religion of warriors who were protectors of Hindus against marauding Islamic invaders who sought to convert Hindus to Islam through brutal force.

Soon after the advent of Sikh religion in Punjab, there was a long standing practice in many families [citation, evidence is needed] where Hindus, mainly Hindu Khatris, gave their first born son to the Guru to be baptized as a Sikh and join the Guru’s army of protectors. This practice came to a stop after advent of Arya Samaj Movement in Punjab. Many Punjabi Rajput families too have been giving their sons to be enrolled in the Guru’s Army and baptized as Sikhs. Thus there are many Hindu, Punjabi Hindu Rajput and Punjabi Hindu Mair Rajput families whose kin are proud followers of Sikhism today. Thus there are many Sikhs who call themselves "Sikh Rajputs" today and still use Rajput family names. citation needed:

Sikhism eliminated caste based differences and so Sikhs of one background or the other cannot find any religious basis for differentiation or caste affiliation. Despite casteism being anti-Sikh, some people insist on differentiation based on this paradigm. Sikhs themselves do not regard themselves as being protectors of Hindus alone, but rather are ready to protect society from any form of tyrannical/oppressive forces. [see www.Sikhs.org]

As for Rajput history, there are many villages that converted to Sikhism mostly in central Punjab districts of Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Fatehgarh Sahib, Patiala, Faridkot, Moga, Nawanshahr and Hoshiarpur. There are many Sikh Rajputs with common Rajput surnames such as Chauhan, Parmar, Doad, Rathore, Minhas, Bhatti etc. spread across many villages in Punjab. Farther back in history, a study of the family geneaology of Sidhu, Brar and Bhatti Jatt clans, mainly concentrated in the Malwa region, indicates that they all trace their origin to Bhati kings of Jaisalmer. King Jaisal facing a rebellion had moved northwards into the modern day Punjab in the 12th century AD. Over time, many of his successors converted to Sikhism and ruled many states and principalities including the cis-Sutlej states of Patiala, Sangrur and Jind. All these clans have merged with Jatt Sikhs as they are said to have been expelled from mainline Rajputs after one of their chiefs married a local Jat girl.

In modern times, many have intermarried Jatts because of small numbers of their own community. Due to forced mass conversions of Rajput landlords in Punjab plains to Islam in the medieval times, for example the Manj Rajputs of Patti were uprooted for refusing to convert and migrated to Nakodar and Raikot where they were finally forced or coerced to convert and given back their Jagirs. The ones that intermarried with Jats have overtime become a part of Jatt caste and many Jatt last names are the same as Rajputs such as Bhatti, Chauhan/Chohan, Parmar, Pawar/Puar etc. Also a lot of well-known Jatt clans have their ancestry in major Rajput clans e.g Gill, Dhillon, Waraich, Goraya, Sohal all are known to have some Rajput ancestry.

Some Rajputs from the Western Punjab especially from Sialkot, Gujrat and Sargodha districts migrated to Jalandhar Doab during the Muslim rule to escape conversion and are concentrated around the Adampur, Bhogpur, Mahilpur belt. Another wave of migrations occurred after partition of 1947 and many of these Sikh Rajputs are concentrated around Patiala and Rajpura.

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Sikh Minhas Rajputs