History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v2.c28.s1.55

v2.c28.s1.55

Rajput is a word which is indeed used sometimes in common parlance to denote the illegitimate sons of Rajput chiefs. But that it is not its ordinary meaning can be proved by the fact that the word is used so far back as the Mahābhārata in a good sense. In that ancient epic it indicates a Kshatriya generally (एते रुक्मरथा नाम राजपुत्रा महारथा:। रथेष्बस्त्रेषु निपुणा नागेषुच विशंपते ॥ २० ॥ द्रो० अ० ११२), but often times not an ordinary Kshatriya but one who is descended from a crowned king. It is sometimes urged that the Amarakośa does not give Rājaputra as a synonym of Kshatriya. This is true but the Amarakośa cannot claim to be an exhaustive dictionary and even if a word is not given in a Kośa or dictionary, it is no proof to hold that it has no existence or has not a particular meaning. Words in dead languages are to be known from use by classical authors and the word Rājaputra has been used in the sense of a Kshatriya in hundreds of places in the Mahābhārata. One instance of such use in the Mahābhārata will suffice. Other ślokas might be quoted using the word Rajput in the same or higher sense even in the Mahābhārata; but it is unnecessary to quote many instances. The following verse from Śāntiparva Adhyāya 64 shows that Rājaputra is often used in the simple sense of a Kshatriya: भैक्ष्यचर्या तत: प्राहस्तस्य (शूद्रस्य) सद्धर्मचारिण: । तथा वैश्यस्य राजेन्द्र राजपुत्रस्य चैव हि ॥. Rājaputra is very often used in a higher sense also, nay even the word Rājaputrī is often used in the Virāta Parva in addressing Draupadī, where the sense 'daughter of a king' does not appear to be intended, but merely a high-born Kshatriya lady. It may further be noted that Bhavabhūti of the 7th century A.D. uses the word Rājaputrī in addressing Kausalyā where the same sense is intended, viz., not the daughter of a king; but merely a high-born Kshatriya lady, Bāṇa in the Harshacharita similarly uses the word Rājaputra to denote a Kshatriya soldier.