Pure Bharmans

In the ancient times Rajasthan was ruled by a dynasty of Meenas which had the emblem of Fish (matsya). The name Mina is derived from Meen and the Minas claim descent from the Matsya Avatar(Meena Avatar) of God vishnu (matsya is first avatar of god vishnu) . Matsya Avatar(Mina Avatar) takes place to save the pious and the first man, Manu.

The capital of Matsyas was at Viratanagara (modern Bairat) which is said to have been named after its founder king Virata.

Manu married Shraddha and had ten children including Ila and Ikshvaku, the progenitors of the Lunar Dynasty and Solar Dynasty respectively.

The Meena kingdom ruled the west of the river Jamuna roughly corresponding to the modern Jaipur and Alwar (ruler) areas. The Meena kingdom or Fish kingdom was called Matsya Kingdom in Sanskrit was mentioned in the Rig Veda .

Rig veda is the oldest of all the Vedas and was composed in the north-western region of the Indian subcontinent,roughly between 1700–1100 BC

Matsya or Meena was the name of a Kshatriya tribe and the state of the Indus Vedic civilization of India

The capital of Matsya was at Viratanagar (modern Bairat) which is said to have been named after its founder king Virata Meena .

Shiva considered to be the central deity in the Matsya Purana, Shiva Purana, Linga Purana, Kurma purana, Skanda Purana, and Agni Purana.

Matsya Kingdom was within the reach of Vedic religion. The Panchalas, the Salwas, the Matsyas(Meenas), the Naimishas, the Koshalas, the Kasapaundras, the Kalingas, the Magadhas, and the Chedis who are all highly blessed.

The Rig Veda mentions Pure Kshatriya tribes of ancient India which includes Bhāratas, Meenas, Puru, Anu, Kuru, Yadu, Ayu, Chedi, Mahīna, Śiva, Uśīnara, Druhyus, Gandhara, Ikshvaku, etc.

The Vedas do not mention Kshatriyas of either Suryavanshi, Chandravanshi, Nagavanshi, Agnivanshi or such Vanshas or lineages.⁽¹⁾

The Puranas, of debatable dating, constructed such genealogies. According to Shrimad Bhagvad, in Ancient times,

Meenas were the rulers of entire Bhārata. Since ancient times,Meena Kshatriyas were the Protectors of Kshatriya values and Sanatana Dharma.*

“History of India”

According to the book, “History of India” (by Prof. Mukherjee, M.A.) It was a transition period marked by a new grouping of states due to Hun invasions. The series of invasions by the Huns and other associated foreign tribes in the fifth and sixth centuries shook the fabric of the society and brought a rearrangement of the caste system and of the ruling dynasties. The Scythians and other northwestern invaders in Indian literature were described as barbarians,slaves.^[64] Brihat-Katha-Manjari of Kshmendra informs us that king Vikramaditya had unburdened the sacred earth of the Barbarians like the Sakas, Kambojas, Yavanas, Tusharas, Parasikas, Hunas etc. by annihilating these sinners.Patanjali in his Mahabhasya regards the Sakas and Yavanas as pure Shudras. Sakas (or Scythians), migrated into Bactria, Sogdiana, Arachosia, Gandhara, Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, from the middle of the 2nd century BCE to the 6th century AD. The invasion of India by Scythian tribes from Central Asia, often referred to as the Indo-Scythian invasion. The Valmiki Ramayana also attests that the Sakas, Kambojas, Pahlavas and Yavanas fought together against the Vedic Hindu king Vishwamitra of Kanauj.^[68] Some Asian Saka include bala etc.The destructive effects of the Hun inroads were, to a certain extent, arrested by Harsha (Harshwardhan) but as soon as his strong hand was removed, they manifested themselves in a regrouping of states. Hence the latter half of seventh century, during which this new grouping of states took place, is regarded as a period of transition from early to medieval India. The most prominent feature of this transitional period is the rise of the Rajput Clans

The Thakurs were of Scythian origin and historians derive their name from Tukharian.The Scythian or Saka tribes were the last pre-Islamic migrants into India. Many scythians were absorbed into the Rajput stock,and that the Rajputs of today possess a considerable Greek ancestry. The ‘Scythic Origin of the Rajput Race’ proves that all the modern-day Rajputs, Thakurs, Gujjars are not Vedic Aryans but instead the descendants of Scythic immigrants. Thus all `Hindus’ are not Vedic Aryans. Phylogenetic evidence clearly indicates that the Rajput races are of Indo-Scythic descent. Main Descendants of the Scythians in India are Getae,Gurjars,Thakur(Tokharian) and Rajputs. The term ‘Rajput’ does not occur in early Sanskrit literature nor do we hear of Rajput clans before the tenth century A.D. This proves that they were a later addition to the population of India. According to Prof. Naidu, Rajput is a contemptuous term applied by the Aryans to the Rajput invaders. Over several centuries, the Rajputs exterminated the native populations of Bhils and Meenas, till they confined to the mountainous regions of Rajasthan. During the troubled times that followed the breakup of the Gupta Empire, many foreign races such as the Huns, the Gurjaras etc. settled in the Punjab and Rajputana and became Hinduised in course of time. The Pratihara clan was descended from the Gurjars, and this raises a strong presumption that the other Rajput clans also are the descendants from the Gurjaras or the allied foreign immigrants. The upper ranks of these foreigners, whose main occupation was war, came to be known as Gurjaras, while the humbler folks ranked low in social status and developed into inferior castes such as Ahir. Brahmins were clever enough to see that number of princes should be within limits. Brahmins knew that if these people did not fight among themselves, they would be burden to Brahmins and a danger to their position in times to come.

The people were kept in ignorances, fed with unwholesome superstition and beguiled with gorgeous and never ending festivals.” The Hindus were losing their old assimilative power. They were losing their old vitality. The rigid caste system was making them unprogressive. The dominance of the Brahmanas, both in spiritual and secular matters was doing havoc.” (Mahajan: 1972: 557). Therefore, the division of the same class of people into different social grades was based not on birth but on occupation. Of the Hinduised descendants of the original invaders, those who belonged to ruling classes, with war and government as their chief business, came to be treated as Kshatriyas. The common people, on the other hand, given the rank of lower castes. Thus many of the most distinguished Gurjaras clans such as the Chauhans, the Pariharas, the Pawars (Paramaras), the Solankis (Chalukyas) are descended mainly from foreigners, called Scythians by Tod. While others are descended from indigenous tribes elevated to the rank of Kshatriyas. The nations around Meena kingdom in 810 AD were the Bhoja (Gurjaras), Kuru, Avanti and the Kingdom of Pala king Dharamapala of Bengal.^[84] The imperial Gujjars established their rule over North India with their capital at Bhinmal. The Meena rulers of Dhundhar entered into matrimonial alliances, and ultimately established friendly relations with the Imperial Gurjars. The son of the king Prathviraja of Delhi was married to the daughter of the king Alan Singh Chanda . This also reveals the link between Chandas and Chauhan Gurjaras. Other interesting fact, Chauhan claim to be descended from Dhundhar and historically before Kachwahas it was ruled by dynasty of Chanda Meenas (approximately till 10th c.).

Most of the major Rajput kingdoms were founded on the ‘blood of Bhils, Native Rulers, Meenas etc. During the exterminations that lasted for several centuries, the Native bhils, minas etc. were massacred and their towns destroyed, till they eventually only survived in the extreme hills of Rajasthan.Though the word “Rajput” is supposed to be a corrupted form of the Sanskrit word ‘Raajaputra’ which means a “scion of the royal blood” and that the word occurs in the Harshcharita of Bana, Mahajan is honest enough to accept that the word, in earlier times and in some areas even now, had an disrespectful meaning. [Mahajan: 1972: 550 ff.] The conclusion is obvious that they were not considered by the original residents or original kshatriyas(Gurjar, Meenas, Vedic kshatriya,Yadavas)^[81] to be respectable, to start with. This is because “Raaja” means royal but “Raj” means semen. The progeny of mixed marriages is even now called by that name in some parts. The condition of woman was deteriorating. The question of women education was unthinkable. Obscene Art flourished during Rajput age. The originality of the ancient times was lost and the ancient culture degenerated. The country fell into the hands of Rajput barons, soon to be followed by the Mohammedan invaders who completed the work of annihilation. The combined army of Kachwaha Rajputs and Mughals defeated the powerful Meena Kings of Rajasthan by annihilating them.^[86] Rajput age was a Dark Age for masses of India.^[81] The Rajputs were created by priestly class to suppress the religion of Buddha is well known. But the permanent solution could have only come through a class who will not only be subservient to them, but also would be careless about the welfare of masses and join hands with them in exploiting them. The Muslim Rule was also a Brahmanic rule as far as the masses were concerned. According to the scholar John Keay, not until the Mughal period, which began in 1526 AD, did the word “Rajput” come to be used of a particular class or tribe.^[87]

Hindu law as codified through acts passed between 1955 and 1956 were based on inegalitarian Victorian English patters of marriage and inheritance and on the customary practices of some the dominant communities in North-West India, among whom women’s right have been seriously coded.

The book by Alfred Comyn Lyall. covers the early formations of Meena cast, their adventures, outlaws, outcast, and refugees generally. The book highlights on the fact of Meenas groups having Bharman and Scythian ancestors. Where most of the Meenas preserve the name of the higher clan or Cast from which founder emigrated and joined Meenas. Some names denote only the founder’s original habitation, while other circle bears the names of notorious ancestors.

The semantic change from a tribal state into the Hindu state of jati-varna matrix saw the conversion and absorption of tribals into the Brahmin class, through adoption of the priestly occupation later. However, the Bharmans who joined Meenas are the one who have from time to time been persuaded or forced by some wild chief or captain of the pure clans to officiated in a human sacrifice; and that, having thereby quite forfeited their pure cast, they become degraded, and were driven forth to minister into the tribes beyond the pale. This story must not hastily be set aside as improbable, for the tradition of human sacrifice was common then. Further to this,

Alfred Comyn Lyall added,

“These Meena Levites appears to be collection of all kinds of waifs and cutting from upper religious caste, they may possible rise in respectability as their clients get on in the world; and one might almost hazard the speculation, though it will be received with horror in certain quarters, that they are something like a Brahmanic tribe in faint embryo”

During the years of invasion, several fresh groups of Meenas have been formed, under the stress of the frightful famine which desolated Rajputana in 1868. During the last millennium, food insecurity were rampant in mina dominated areas of Rajputana. As a consequence starving families were compelled to abandon scruples of caste and honesty, to steal cattle and to eat them. The earlier contributions of warriors and protectors of the state, jats, Bhils,and Meenas were neglected and lost in history.