Jadeja

The Jadeja (also spelled Jarejo) is a Rajput clan who claim to be descended from the legendary Jamshed of Iran.[1][2][3] They originated from pastoral communities and laid a claim on the Rajput identity after marriages with Sodha Rajput women.[4]

Jadeja
sketch of Jadeja Chief Bharvaji Jadeja, 1838, by Mrs Postans.
CountryIndia and Pakistan
Current regionKutch
Sindh
Saurashtra
Founded1540
FounderJadaji
Connected familiesRajput
Estate(s)Kutch State
Nawanagar State
Morvi State
Dhrol State
Gondal State
Rajkot State

History

The Jadejas originated from pastoral communities and laid a claim on the Rajput identity after marriages with Sodha Rajput women.[4] According to the sociologist Lyla Mehta, the Jadeja were Hindu descendants of a Muslim tribe that had migrated from Sindh to Kutch.[5] A Jadeja dynasty ruled the princely state of Kutch between 1540 and 1948, at which time India became a republic. This state had been formed by king Khengarji I, who gathered under him twelve Jadeja noble landowning families, who were also related to him, as well as two noble families of the Waghela community. Khengarji and his successors retained the allegiance of these Bhayat (chieftains) until the mid-18th century.[6] They claimed legendary descent from Krishna.[7] However, historians state that such illustrious descent has no historical basis, and was fabricated by Brahmins in order to give mainly low caste illiterate warriors greater status and prestige in a process called Rajputization. In the process, a Brahmin would somehow "discover" that a budding tribal king descended from an ancient Kshatriya lineage, and the newly declared Rajput would surround himself with the paraphernalia of Brahmanism and become a patron of the Brahmins.[8][9][10][11][12]

Among other territories or princely states ruled by Jadeja before independence of India, were Dhrol,[13] Morvi,[14] Rajkot, Nawanagar,[15] and Virpur.[16]

Culture

Although the British rulers found the tradition distasteful, the Jadeja's high social status and the rigid caste system that forbade intermarriage with lower social groups contributed to the community's tradition of female infanticide because it was difficult and costly to arrange suitable marriages for female offspring, with substantial dowries often being required. The practice continues to some degree today, although where modern facilities are available it may take the form of female foeticide.[17] The Jadejas believed that a Rajput man could only marry a woman from a Rajput caste below him, and a Rajput father could only give his daughter's hand in marriage to a Rajput caste above him. To intermarry within the caste was considered incest.[18]

The principal deity of the Jadejas was Ashapura Mata (Hope-Giving Mother).[19]

Gujarat's Jadeja Rajputs who were called "half-Muslim" would employ Muslim African Siddi slaves for cooking.[20]

Layla Mehta, a sociologist, who made studies in Kutch in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, noticed a trend in Jadejas that was unusual for other communities. In gender-based labour such as fetching water, while other communities sent women and girls to fetch the water, the Jadeja men fetched the water from the well and exercised clout at the wells and intimidated many women and girls there. This exception of men fetching the water for the household was due to the custom of ojjal, which barred Jadeja women from being in public.[21]

Notable people


See also

References
  1. Rodrigues, Mario (2003). Batting for the Empire: A Political Biography of Ranjitsinhji. Penguin Books, 2003. p. 51. ISBN 9780143029519.
  2. Goswamy, B. N. (1983). A Place Apart: Painting in Kutch, 1720-1820. Oxford University Press, 1983. p. 7. ISBN 9780195613117.
  3. Syed, M. H. (2004). History Of The Delhi Sultanate (Set Of 2 Vols.). Anmol Publications Pvt. Limited, 2004. p. 240. ISBN 9788126118304.
  4. Farhana Ibrahim (29 November 2020). Settlers, Saints and Sovereigns: An Ethnography of State Formation in Western India. Taylor & Francis. pp. 127–. ISBN 978-1-00-008397-2. The Jadejas entered the rank of Rajput society slowly from pastoralist pasts, as was frequently the norm in this region. Steady intermarriage between Jadeja men and Sodha Rajput women in Sindh enabled the former to lay claim to a Rajput identity.
  5. Lyla Mehta (2005). The Politics and Poetics of Water: The Naturalisation of Scarcity in Western India. Orient Blackswan. pp. 113–. ISBN 978-81-250-2869-7. As stated in Chapter 3, the Jadeja Rajputs were the former rulers of Kutch and the Hindu descendants of a Muslim tribe that migrated to Kutch from Sind.
  6. Mcleod, John (6–9 July 2004). The Rise and Fall of the Kutch Bhayati (PDF). Eighteenth European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies, University of Lund. pp. 1–5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 March 2012. Retrieved 13 September 2012.
  7. Mcleod, John (6–9 July 2004). The Rise and Fall of the Kutch Bhayati (PDF). Eighteenth European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies, University of Lund. p. 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 March 2012. Retrieved 13 September 2012.
  8. Koyal, Sivaji (1986). "Emergence of Kingship, Rajputization and a New Economic Arrangement in Mundaland". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. Indian History Congress. 47, I: 536–542. JSTOR 44141600.
  9. André Wink (2002). Al-Hind, the Making of the Indo-Islamic World: Early Medieval India and the Expansion of Islam 7Th-11th Centuries. BRILL. p. 282. ISBN 0-391-04173-8. In short, a process of development occurred which after several centuries culminated in the formation of new groups with the identity of 'Rajputs'. The predecessors of the Rajputs, from about the eighth century, rose to politico-military prominence as an open status group or estate of largely illiterate warriors who wished to consider themselves as the reincarnates of the ancient Indian Kshatriyas. The claim of Kshatriyas was, of course, historically completely unfounded. The Rajputs as well as other autochthonous Indian gentry groups who claimed Kshatriya status by way of putative Rajput descent, differed widely from the classical varna of Kshatriyas which, as depicted in literature, was made of aristocratic, urbanite and educated clans...
  10. Norman Ziegler (1976). David Henige (ed.). "History in Africa (vol.3)". African Studies Association: 150. : Rajputs were, with some exceptions, almost totally illiterate as a caste group Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  11. Reinhard Bendix (1998). Max Weber: An Intellectual Portrait. Psychology Press. pp. 180–. ISBN 978-0-415-17453-4.
  12. Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya (1994). "Origin of the Rajputs: The Political, Economic and Social Processes in Early Medieval Rajasthan". The Making of Early Medieval India. Oxford University Press. p. 59. ISBN 9780195634150.
  13. Gazetteers: Jamnagar District, Gujarat (India) - 1970 - Page 614 Before the integration of States, Dhrol was a Class II State founded by Jam Hardholji, the brother of Jam Raval, who hailed from the ruling Jadeja Darbar family of Kutch.
  14. Rajkot. India. Superintendent of Census Operations, Gujarat. 1964. pp. 45–46.
  15. McClenaghan, Tony (1996). Indian Princely Medals: A Record of the Orders, Decorations, and Medals of ... By Tony McClenaghan. p. 207. ISBN 9781897829196.
  16. Gazetteers: Rajkot District. Directorate of Government Print., Stationery and Publications. 1965. p. 36.
  17. Vishwanath, L. S. (2006). "Female Infanticide, Property and the Colonial State". In Patel, Tulsi (ed.). Sex-Selective Abortion in India: Gender, Society and New Reproductive Technologies. SAGE. pp. 275, 278–282. ISBN 9780761935391. Retrieved 13 September 2012.
  18. "Museum Bulletin". Museum and Picture Gallery, Baroda. 26: 47. 1973.
  19. De Neve, Geert; Donner, Henrike (2007). The Meaning of the Local: Politics of Place in Urban India. Taylor and Francis. p. 221.
  20. Shail Mayaram (6 May 2011). Kamala Visweswaran (ed.). Perspectives on Modern South Asia: A Reader in Culture, History, and Representation. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 18–. ISBN 978-1-4051-0062-5. Helena Basu points out that the Jadeja Rajputs of Gujarat who were described as 'half Muslim' employed African Sidi(Muslim) slaves as cooks
  21. Lyla Mehta (2005). The Politics and Poetics of Water: The Naturalisation of Scarcity in Western India. Orient Blackswan. p. 166. ISBN 978-81-250-2869-7. One notable exception is the Jadeja community. As their women are barred from the public realm due to the ojjal system, Jadeja men fetch water for their households.[...]Jadeja men exercise the greatest clout and power at the wells and intimidate many women, especially young Harijan girls.
  23. "Meghrajji Bahadur's GS Performance Timeline & Stats". db4tennis.com. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  24. Gazette of India. 1953. p. 1475. Major General M. S. Pratapsinhji; 2. Major General M. S. Himatsinhji; 3. Maharaj Shri Duleepsinhji; and 4. Lieutenant General M. S. Rajendrasinhji; members of the family of the Ruler of Nawanagar for the purposes...
  25. Sen, Satadru (2012). Disciplined Natives: Race, Freedom and Confinement in Colonial India. Primus Books. ISBN 978-93-80607-31-3.
  26. "Kumar Shri Duleepsinhji". The Open University Making Britain. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
  27. "Royalty on the cricket field". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  28. "Kutch's royal family member passes away". One India News. 22 February 2008. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
  29. The Journal of Indo-judaic Studies , Volumes 1-4. Society for Indo-Judaic Studies. 1998. p. 95. Four generations of the Jamnagar royal family have played test cricket: Ranji and Duleep for England and Indrajit and Ajay Jadeja for India
  30. "I am suffering irreparably: Ajay Jadeja". Times of India. 7 January 2003. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
  31. Yadav, Jyoti (15 April 2020). "Ravindra Jadeja must stop being a 'Rajput boy' and grow up to be a cricketer". ThePrint.

Further reading

 Society portal

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.