Rawat caste

Rawats of North India are a confederation of various ruling Rajput clans. Rawat is actually a title made up of different gotras of either Suryavanshi, Chandravanshi or Agnivanshi. They reside in the states of Rajasthan, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and parts of Jammu and Delhi. Their geographical movement is said to have changed through time. Historians believe Rawats to be direct descendants of Prithvirāja III's brother Hariraja, who fled to the hills of the himalayan region after the fall of the Chauhan Empire at the hands of the invading forces of Muhammad Ghori in 1194 C.E.

Although in some parts of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, Rawats are Brahmins, they are not to be confused with the rajput clans of Garhwal and Kumoan. The brahmins with this surname are part of the community of Shrigoud Brahmins.

Rawat is also a gotra of Jats in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana,Bihar and Punjab who claim their ancestors to be the mighty soldiers of the Pandavas from Mahabharata. Bahin village situated 60 miles south of Delhi in Faridabad district, Haryana is claimed to be the place of their origin. They now have 800 villages in district Gurgaon and 8 villages in district Aligarh.

In present day Rajasthan, this rajput community is found in small numbers in Ajmer and Rajsamand with the majority of the population migrating to himalayan region mainly Garhwal to regroup and to protect women and children from the onslaught of muslim invasions sometime durning 1200 C.E. , later succeeding in establishing small kingdoms there.

Rawat Rajput

Rawat Rajputs could be argued though, are the descendants of Chauhans, clan leaders over the centuries have fiercely advocated and maintained an independent identity. Some historians believe that Rawat Rajputs are direct descendants of Prithviraj III's brother Hariraj chauhan, who escaped to hilly and dense forest areas after the fall of the Chauhan empire in 1191. After 22 generations from Hariraj Chauhan these Chauhan Rajputs had established a few separate sub-clans among themselves such as Saidot, Ghodawat, Aapawat etc, with two major branches, one represented by Rao Karansi and the other represented by Rawat Bhim singh. Due to socio-political and geo-political circumstances at this point of time, in a meeting it was decided to allow marital alliances among these sub-clans of the Chauhan Rawat Rajputs against the widely accepted norm of the rajputs of not marrying within the same major clan or Kul, "Chauhan" in this case. The first marriage of this kind was between the daughter of Rao Karan singh Chauhan (the establisher of clan of the Rawats) and the son of Rawat Bhim singh. Gradually with more frequent marital alliances within the subclans of the Rawats, a new race called Rawat-Rajputs emerged. With time some subclans of the Rathore, Panwar, Bhati, Gahlot, Sisodiya, also became part of the community of Rawat Rajputs. The Rawats of Ajmer held 10 thikanas from Narwar to Diver, with the seat of Diver to be in the Udaipur darbaar. The major thikanas were Narvar, Shyamgarh, Diver, Athungarh etc and some minor Thikanas like Borwa, Sendra etc.

Villages of Rawat Rajputs are also found in the Shivpuri and Datia districts of Madhya Pradesh, Tehri Garhwal and Pauri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana. Some if not all of the Rawat Rajputs are believed to have migrated from the Indian plains during the Middle Ages. They still retain the name of their areas of origin: for instance, the 'Udaipur Patti' in Garhwal is a group of villages inhabited by people believed to have migrated from Udaipur in present-day Rajasthan.

References

Garhwal Himalayas: A Study in Historical Perspective by Ajay S.Rawat

History of Garhwal, 1358-1947: An Erstwhile Kingdom in the Himalayas by Ajay Singh Rawat