The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c15.95

v1.c15.95

Aided by such powerful natural conditions the Rājputs—the word means 'sons of princes'—were during many centuries the defenders of India against invasion by the direct road to Delhi. Unable at last to stem the tide of Musalmān conquest, they have maintained themselves on the southern flank of the advance, and to-day some of their princely families claim to trace their lineage back in unbroken descent from ancestors before the Christian era. The descendants of conquerors who had won their kingdoms with the sword, they remain even now proud aristocratic clans holding a predominant position in the midst of a population far more numerous than themselves.