Rawat Rajputs

Rawat Rajputs are a group of people who reside in Ajmer, Ballabgarh, Faridabad, Palwal Rajsamand, Bhilwara, Chittorgarh and Pali districts of Rajasthan.

The Rawat Gotra is also found in Meenas and bhils in Rajasthan which is not to be confused with the Rawat Rajputs as the Rawat Rajputs have distinct Rajput surnames as Chauhan, chouhan, Panwar, Bhati etc.

The word Rajput is claimed to be a corruption of Rajputra. Rawat Rajputs are believed to be descendants of Chauhans.

Some historians believe that Rawat Rajputs are direct descendants of Prithviraj III's brother Hariraj, who escaped to hilly and dense forest areas after the fall of the Chauhan empire in 1192.

The areas in Ajmer that these Rajputs resided were hilly and forest areas. 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, Diver, Athungarh (Kunwar Digvijay Singh Chauhan) and some minor Thikanas like Borwa, Sendra , kukra ( Pannaraj singh rathore ) , Ajithgarh etc. yes thats is true.

In the 13th generation of Chauhan clan was born a king Named Vakpatiraj, ruler of Sambhar.He had three sons named Singhraj, Vatsaraj and Laxman. After the kings death the kingdom was divided among the three brothers and the smallest share was given to the youngest prince Laxman. Being a valiant Rajput, he considered it to be against his dignity and left Sambhar and became a minister in the court of Raja Samant Singh Chawda, the ruler of nadole. After the death of Samant Singh, Rao Laxman being a valiant warrior, managed to establish his own kingdom in Nadole and gradually became the sole lord of Nadole. Rao Laxman had six sons Anhal Rao, Anoop Rao, Aasal, Shobhitraj, Vigrahpalg, Ajeetsingh. Rao Anhal and Rao Anoop in the year 998 A.D., set on a military expedition and defeated the Chandel Gurjars ruling in Chaang and Cheta villages near the present Rajsamand district and established their kingdom in the Merwara region. Later the two brothers divided the kingdom and the area from present Narvar village to Togi village was given to Rao Anhal. His descendents later came to be known as Cheeta Rawats and the region from Togi to Diver village was given to Rao Anoop (his descendents later came to be known as Barad Rawats).

Villages of Rawat Rajputs are also found in the Tehri Garhwal and Pauri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and some villages are also found in the Shivpuri and Datia districts of Madhya Pradesh. Some if not all of the Rawat Rajputs are believed to have migrated from the Indian plains during the Middle Ages.

The Rawat Rajputs are a social group founded in the north western and central states of India.

References

KULDEEPSINGH GEHLOT THIKANA - SONIYANA