CHAUHAN
Ethnographic status
Denzil Ibbetson, an administrator of the
British Raj, classified the Chauhans as a tribe rather than as a
caste. He believed, like Nesfield, that the society of the
Northwest Frontier Provinces and
Punjab in
British India did not permit the rigid imposition of an administratively-defined caste construct as his colleague,
H. H. Risley preferred. According to Ibbetson, society in Punjab was less governed by
Brahmanical ideas of caste, based on
varna,
and instead was more open and fluid. Tribes, which he considered to be
kin-based groups that dominated small areas, were the dominant feature
of rural life. Caste designators, such as
Jat and
Rajput,
were status-based titles to which any tribe that rose to social
prominence could lay a claim, and which could be dismissed by their
peers if they declined.
Susan Bayly, a modern
anthropologist,
considers him to have had "a high degree of accuracy in his
observations of Punjab society ... [I]n his writings we really do see
the beginnings of modern, regionally based Indian anthroplogy."
[4]
History
The Chauhans were historically a powerful group in the region now known as
Rajasthan. For around 400 years from the 7th century AD their strength in
Sambhar was a threat to the power-base of the
Guhilots in the south-west of the area, as also was the strength of their fellow Agnivanshi clans.
[5] They suffered a set-back in 1192 when their leader, Prithviraj Chauhan, was defeated at the
Battle of Tarain but this did not signify their demise.
[6]
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