Airavat - My blog-II

Returned to military history with a facet of Indian History that has been twisted by colonial historians and the leftists who followed in their footsteps. This was the origin and history of the Rajputs, usually talking about the clans that were first called Rajputs, but not discussing the natural evolution of the term Rajput since ancient times. I started with the Chauhans since it was in the Kingdom of Ajmer that the Rajaputra chieftains took up the sword of resistance after the second Battle of Tarain. Endeavored to show here that the Rajaputra title was borne by younger sons, it became an administrative title from the 4th century onwards (beginning with the Gupta Empire), and was repeatedly found in contemporary inscriptions. The term Rajput does not indicate a separate ethnic group——it just came to replace Kshatriya in northern, central, and eastern India.

The latest post on them is:

Indian Warrior Clans, which covers the history of the ancestors of the Rajputs and other Kshatriya communities of northern India. These clans inhabited a belt of land stretching from Himachal to Rajasthan, and resisted the foreign invaders like the Kushans and the Sakas. Other related posts like the Politico-military impact of the foreigners explains why the Vedic era clan-system (miscalled "feudalism") survived so long in the Rajasthan-Gujarat-Malwa region.

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/04/limitations-of-rajputs.html

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/04/rajaputra-origin-and-evolution.html

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/04/muhammad-ghoris-blunder.html

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/04/chauhan-rajaputras.html

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/04/chauhan-clan.html

In this regard the history of Punjab was a bit puzzling——the province was crushed by the Islamic invaders but its people proudly claimed to be “martial”. Part of the reason was the glorification by the latter day British Raj, which needed the loyalty of the Punjabi peoples when the other parts of India had become rebellious and politically enlightened. The reasons for large-scale conversions to Islam were the invaders' sword, lack of a clan-hierarchy (the Hindu-Shahis were originally ministers leading a centralized army of diverse origins) unlike in the Rajput-dominated regions, and a consequent lack of local resistance. Reasons propounded by the colonial-leftist-Islamists later on were: a lack of “Brahminical” influences in Punjab (even though the Hindu-Shahi rulers were Brahmins), the preponderance of Jat clans, activities of Sufis, and immigration of foreign tribes. These posts can be read along with the posts on Punjabi Muslim attitude towards other peoples in Pakistan today.

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/05/punjab-conversions.html

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/04/punjabi-society.html

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/04/punjab-problem.html

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/03/ethnic-tensions-in-baluchistan-and.html

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/03/administrative-control-over.html

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/03/mongols-in-india.html

Posts on the "ignored regions" of India came next, starting with the east. Their ancient background, history of conversions, and reasons for the lack of mass local resistance. A separate post on Assam discussed its history and the remarkable naval battles fought in the Brahmaputra River. Another post on the use of elephants and artillery in the Battle of Khajwa.

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/05/battle-of-khajwa.html

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/05/assam-and-naval-wars.html

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/05/bihar-nepal-and-orissa.html

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/05/eastern-regions.html

Southern Indian history is well-written and explored but has not been studied in sequence....portions of it come up in the course of reading about the northern empires. Central Indian history on the other hand is not at all known...even the geographic picture of the region is hazily presented. Hence the following posts:

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/07/central-india.html

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/07/south-at-war.html

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/06/south-trade-and-exploration.html

The history of Rajasthan has been taken for granted. People assume that the region was always independent from foreign domination and wonder why its rulers could not liberate their neighboring regions. To dispel this mistaken notion a few posts on the long and tough fight that went into the making of modern Rajasthan by the little-known wars of individual Rajput clans against the Turks:

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/10/malwa-and-gujarat.html

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/09/shekhawati.html

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/08/sultanate-of-nagaur.html

Linguistic changes reflect political changes. The rise of the Apabhramsa form of Sanskrit in Rajasthan-Gujarat-Malwa and its expansion over the east, north, south negates the theories of foreign origin for Indian clans. Earlier development of Sanskrit and Prakrit illustrate the underlying unity of the Indian continent.

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/11/language-development-and-history-ii.html

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/11/language-development-and-history.html

I let my domain (airavat,com) lapse in November and transferred earlier articles on guerrilla warfare to the blog. Three distinct time periods were covered but all had some basic similarities....Islamic invasion, the breakdown of local government structures, the clan-based guerrilla warfare, attempts at diplomatic negotiations, and the final withdrawal of the invading power.

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/12/guerrilla-warfare-iii-horses-and.html

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/12/guerrilla-warfare-iii-modern-myths.html

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/12/guerrilla-warfare-iii-formation-of.html

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/12/guerrilla-warfare-iii-rajput.html

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/12/guerrilla-warfare-iii-turks-and.html

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/12/guerrilla-warfare-ii-aftermath.html

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/12/guerrilla-warfare-ii-phases-of-war.html

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/12/guerrilla-warfare-ii-turning-point.html

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/12/guerrilla-warfare-ii-light-cavalry.html

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/12/guerrilla-warfare-ii-marathas.html

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/12/guerrilla-warfare-i-vignettes.html

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/12/guerrilla-warfare-i-course-of-war.html

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/11/guerrilla-warfare-i-indigenous-powers.html

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/11/guerrilla-warfare-i-firearms.html

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/11/guerrilla-warfare-i-sikhs.html

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/11/guerrilla-warfare-i-northern-geography.html

Finally three posts on the paper for the SRR at Bharat-Rakshak dealing with the role of the Indian Armed Forces in the post-Tsunami relief operations and the possibilities of international cooperation in future disasters.

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2007/03/security-threats-from-sea.html

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2007/01/inter-military-cooperation-and.html

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2007/01/military-response-and-inter-service.html

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/12/lessons-for-civil-administration-and.html

http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/12/military-aspects-of-post-tsunami.html