🧵CASE STUDY: RAJPUTISATION OF TRIBALS IN THE COLONIAL TIMES
In this thread, we will see how a family of Bhuiyan tribal chiefs from Jharkhand successfully acquired Rathore Rajput status in the colonial era.
In picture: Bhuiyan tribal of Jharkhand and Odisha 1/n
In this thread, we will see how a family of Bhuiyan tribal chiefs from Jharkhand successfully acquired Rathore Rajput status in the colonial era.
In picture: Bhuiyan tribal of Jharkhand and Odisha 1/n
The subject of our study is the Rathore family of Seraikela which is a branch of the Porahat Raj family. The Seraikela Rathores eclipsed their parent family and emerged as the dominant family of chiefs in the region. This family and its sister branch of Kharsawan claim...2/n
...descent from the Rathore Rajus of Marwar. However, there are a few contradictory legends about their origins. According to the first one, their Rathore ancestors migrated from Marwar to Porahat in the 9th century. However, Rathores of Marwar, who claim descent from the...3/n
..Gaharwal Rajus of modern-day UP, themselves hadn't migrated to Marwar in the 9th century. According to their own traditions, Rathores reached Marwar only after the 10-11th centuries. However, there is another legend of this family which is equally preposterous. 4/n
The family asserts that their ancestor was in the service of the Mughal mercenary Man Singh Kachua who invaded the region and brought it within the Mughal empire. However, just as before, there are several problems with this theory. First, the region was unimportant to the...5/n
Mughals, hence it was never under their direct rule. Secondly, the family of Porahat is said to have ruled independently for 52 generations till 1767. That amounts to, at the very minimum, over 600 years which places the Mughals in the 12th century when in fact the Mughals....6/n
...flourished in the 16th century and after. But there is another more truthful legend, albeit not entirely, which hints at a tribal origin of the family. The founder of this "Rathore" Raju family was discovered in the jungle by the Bhuinya tribals while they were cutting a...7/n
...tree. This jungle boy perhaps aroused the same kind of intrigue that the Mowgli of the Jungle book fame did. The boy became the head of the Bhuinya tribe and worshipped the Pauri Devi, a peculiarly Bhuinya Devi which is now the Kuldevi of the Seraikela Rathore family. 8/n
Even in the above legend, the Raju family has tried to disassociate itself from its tribal origins by claiming that their ancestor was merely discovered by the tribals while staying silent on his provenance. However, it is amply clear that the family is of tribal origin...9/n
given the fact that their claimed connection to the Rathores of Marwar is entirely fabricated as we have seen above. Scholars suggest that the family Rajputised in the colonial era to prove their aristocratic credentials to the British. They even adopted Raju customs like...10/n
..Sati and loving men. For instance, Much like most Raju kangs of his time, the Rathore Raju kang of Seraikela was a lover of boys and started an all-boys dance school for unspeakable purposes. Read more in the quoted thread. 11/n
This isn't the only case of the Rajputisation of Dalits and tribals. Previously, we had studied the case of the Rajuputisation of a Dalit family in Awadh. There are many more such cases that we shall study in detail in the future. n/n
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