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Kshatriya, meaning warrior, is one of the four varnas (ritual rankings) in the Hindu religion. Kshatriya constituted the military elite of the social system outlined by the Dharmashastras.

Etymology

Sanskrit akṣatra, ruling; one of the ruling order member of the Kṣhatriya caste^[1] is the derivation for Old Persian xšaθra ("realm, power"), xšaθrya ("royal"), and xšāyaθiya ("emperor") are related to it, as are the New Persian words šāh ("emperor") and šahr ("city", "realm").^{[citation needed]} Thai: กษัตริย์ (kasat), "king" or "monarch," and similar-sounding Malay kesatria or satria, "knight" or "warrior", are also derived from it. The term may also denote aristocratic status.^{[citation needed]}

Social status

The situation has changed in modern times and Kshatriyas do not have much to gain or lose in status by their Kshatriya lineage. One area where the Kshatriya heritage has been prominent is the Indian Army.^[3]^{[page needed]}

Symbols

In rituals, the nyagrodha (Ficus Indica or India Fig or banyan tree) danda, or staff, is assigned to the Kshatriya class, and along with a mantra, intended to impart physical vitality or 'ojas'.^[4]

Kshatriya lineage

Gautama Buddha was born into a Hindu Kshatriya family.

The major branches of Kshatriya varna are: Suryavanshi (solar line), claiming direct descent from Ramachandra, and descent from Surya;^[5] Chandravanshi (lunar line), claiming descent from Yadu, as Yadu was himself born in a Chandravanshi dynasty,^[6] and descent from Chandra; Agnivanshi, claiming descent from Agni;^[5]^[7]^[8] and Nagavanshi, claiming descent from the Nāgas.

Claimed members

There are numerous communities that claim Kshatriya status. These include:

Marathas: of Maharashtra claim themselves as Kshatriyas.^[9] However, the Maratha-Kunbis, who made up 31.19 percent of the population of the districts which came to constitute the state of Maharastra, were classified as Shudras, in the Census of 1931. ^[10]

Rajputs: a warrior class of North India.^[11]

Rajus: claim to be Kshatriyas.^[12] It is claimed, from the medieval period, the term "Andhra Kshatriya" has been used synonymously with Rachavaru, Rajus and Telugu Kshatriya.^[13]^{[page needed]} However, the Madras District Gazetteers: Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur Districts records them as descendents of the Kammas ^[14] and the classification of castes in Orissa took into account their supposed mixed parentage.^[15]

Shrestha subdivision among ethnic Newar is recognised as Kshatriya in Nepal.^[16]

The alien hordes that did not follow priestly customs or traditions (Shakas, Kushans, Indo-Greeks, Hunas and Parthians) were stated as Vratya Kshatriyas in Manusmriti.^[17]^{[page needed]}

Gurung and Magar ethnic groups are recognised as Kshatriyas in Nepal by the Bahun, along with other groups such as Thakore and Chhetri.^[18]^{[page needed]} They acquired a Kshatriya ritual position with Brahmins playing agents of transformation in the medieval period; with the whole system becoming codified in the 19^th century.^[19]

The Meitei of Manipur were claimed to be Kshatriyas by the Bengali and Assamese Brahmins and were posited to be the descendants of epic warrior Arjuna.^[20]

Vellalars: claim to have descended from the Tamil nobility, linked to Tamil royal lineages (Chera, Chola, Pandya) and claim Kshatriya status.^[21]^[22]^[23]^[24]^[25] However, their social group included those derived from lower-ranking peasant castes or Shudra agriculturists.^[26]^[27]^[28]^[29] The Vellalars did not follow ritualism for Kshatriyas as prescribed in the Dharmashastras; and the caste was classified as Shudra, with the Government of Madras in 1901 recognizing the 4-fold varna division did not describe the South Indian society adequately.^[30]^[31]

Nairs - The Nairs claim to be Kshatriyas.^[32] However, they were recognized as Shudras by the Namboodiri Brahmins of Kerala^[33]^[34]^[35] and in the colonial period census of India.^[36]^[37]

Jats^[38]

References

^ Turner, Sir Ralph Lilley (2006) [1962]. A comparative dictionary of the Indo-Aryan languages (Accompanied by three supplementary volumes: indexes, compiled by Dorothy Rivers Turner: 1969. – Phonetic analysis: 1971. – Addenda et corrigenda: 1985. ed.). London: Oxford University Press,. pp. 189–190. Retrieved 23 October 2011. kṣatríya 3649 {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
^ http://www.culturalindia.net/indian-history/shivaji.html
^ "The Untouchable Soldier: Caste, Politics, and the Indian Army" by Stephen P. Cohen, The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 28, No. 3 (May 1969), pp. 453–468
^ Reflections on Resemblance, Ritual, and Religion; Brian K. Smith
^ ^a ^b Rajasthan, Part 2 By D. K. Samanta, S. K. Mandal, N. N. Vyas, Anthropological survey of India p.786
^ Sinha, Purnendu Narayana (1901). "THE LUNAR DYNASTY (SKANDHA 9)". A study of the Bhagavata Purana; or, Esoteric Hinduism. Freeman (Benares). p. 229.
^ Rajasthan & Gujarat handbook: the ... – Google Books
^ Memoirs on the History, Folk-Lore ... – Google Books
^ Creative pasts: historical memory and identity in western India, 1700–1960 – Prachi Deshpande – Google Books
^ Christophe Jaffrelot (2005). Dr Ambedkar and Untouchability: Analysing and Fighting Caste, p.9. C Hurst & Co Publishers [1]
^ Britannica
^ K. Ramachandra Murty (1 January 2001). Parties, elections, and mobilisation. Anmol Publications. pp. 158–. ISBN 978-81-261-0979-1. Retrieved 25 July 2011.
^ Krishnarao, B.V (1942). A History of the Early Dynasties of Andhradesa. V. Ramaswami Sastrulu. p. 149,159.
^ Madras District Gazetteers: Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur Districts (Erstwhile Chengalpattu District) (v. 1-2). Gazetteer of India, Volume 12, Part 1 of Madras District Gazetteers, Madras (India : State), p.203 states [2]: "The Rajus who claim to be Kshatriyas are the descendants of the Kammas"
^ S. Jeyaseela Stephen (2006). Literature, Caste and Society: The Masks and Veils, p.357 states [3]: Another contemporary social anachronism, which Mr.Hunter's reclassification of castes in Orissa pointed out, was the placement of Shagird Peshas and Rajus in two different categories. The Shagird Peshas, who were said to be the off-springs of low caste women by Karana, Bhata and sometimes, though rarely, Brahmin fathers, were put in the list of "higher castes" while the Rajus supposed to be of mixed parentage of a similar kind were put below the rank of other menial castes like the Chasas, Tambulis.........Formerly a numerous cultivating caste with a common surname "Raju" they adopted a disparate range of surnames from 'Mohapatra' to 'Das' and established extensive martial relationships with the Khandayats of Orissa"
^ Fatalism and development: Nepal's struggle for modernization By Dor Bahadur Bista p.59
^ Magumdar, Raichaudhry. Notes of IGNOU Delhi University, Allahabad University, Banaras Hindu University, JNU, Jamia Milia Islamia (Irfan Habib)
^ Sociology of Indian tea industry: a study of inter-ethnic relationships By Khemraj Sharma (Education officer.) p.54
^ John Whelpton (2005). A History of Nepal, p.31-32. Cambridge University Press. [4]
^ Encyclopaedia of North-East India: Manipur By Hamlet Bareh p.274-277
^ Ancient Indian History and Civilization By Sailendra Nath Sen Page 205 & 207: "... the Vellalars were the aristocratic classes and were held in high esteem..."[5]
^ The Harappan civilization and its writing: a model for the decipherment of the Indus Script... By Walter Ashlin Fairservis 52/53 pages: " The relationship of vellalan (Tamil) and vellalar (Malayalam) to terms for ancient chiefs velir, etc., provide us with a term for the system of chiefs as a whole, vellalar"
^ Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland, Volume 19 By Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland (1887) page 582: "The reason why Manu styled the Drâvidian Vellâlar as degraded Kshatriyas was doubtless owing to the fact that the first Brahman settlers found them almost in exclusive possession of land..."; [6]
^ The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago — by V. Kanakasabhai — Tamil (Indic people) – 1904 – 240 pages; page 113: "The Chera, Chola and Pandyan kings and most of the petty chiefs of Tamilakam belonged to the tribe of Vellâlas."
^ Tamil studies: essays on the history of the Tamil people, language, religion ... By Muttusvami Srinivasa Aiyangar page 63: "No traces of the Tamil kings are to be found at present in this country, and it is highly probable that they should have merged with the Vellala caste..."[7]
^ Madras journal of literature and science, Volume 13 By Madras Literary Society and Auxiliary of the Royal Asiatic Society, p.41
^ Kathleen Gough. Rural Society in Southeast India, p.29 [8] says: The Vellalars were a dominant secular aristocratic caste under the Chola kings, providing the courtiers, most of the army officers, the lower ranks of the kingdom's bureaucracy, and the upper layer of the peasantry....In 1951 Vellalars were mainly landlords, tenant or owner cultivators....There were however, a number of nonvegetarian Vellalar that actually derived from the lower-ranking peasant castes.
^ N. Subrahmanian (1977). History of Tamilnad, Volume 1, p.64 states: "Of the chieftains who ruled small territories within the large kingdoms and subject to the overall and theoretical suzerainty of the crowned monarchs many belonged to the clan of Velir who are to be distinguished from the Velalars. The latter word is to be derived from the root 'vel(lam)' (floods) and the former from the root vēl (liking) (the Vēlir meaning the 'beloved ones')"
^ N. Subrahmanian (1993). Social and cultural history of Tamilnad, Volume 1, p.46 states: "Of the chieftains who ruled small territories within the large kingdoms and subject to the suzerainty of the crowned monarchs many belonged to the clan of Velir who are to be distinguished from the Velalars. These people who seem to have had their origin in Tamilaham-Karnataka borderland spread in course of time to different parts of the Tamil country and settled down as petty chieftains, even as in later times several Telugu Naik chieftains settled down in different parts of Tamilaham"
^ Kingship and political practice in colonial India, by Pamela G. Price, p.61: "...when government census officers placed Vellalar in the Sat-Sudra or Good Sudra category in its 1901 census, Vellalar castemen petitioned this designation, protesting this designation..[9]
^ Encyclopaedia of the Theoretical Sociology (3 Vols. Set), by A.P. Thakur, p.182: "Even families who might be regarded as of 'pure' Vellalar caste are reluctant to question the bona fides of the Vellalar 'pretenders' since the line between them is very thin indeed [10]."
^ Fuller, Christopher John (Winter 1975). "The Internal Structure of the Nayar Caste". Journal of Anthropological Research 31 (4): 283–312. JSTOR 3629883
^ John Wilson. Indian Caste, p.74 states [11]: "A Nayar [highest caste shudra] may approach, but must not touch a Namburi Brahman"
^ K N Panikkar (2002). Culture, Ideology, Hegemony: Intellectuals and Social Consciousness in Colonial India, p.180-183 states that [12]: A Nair could not touch a Nambudiri.....According to Keralolpatti, for instance, the duty of Nair women was to satisfy the desires of brahmins. Quoting the Smritis, Ashtamurthi Nambudiri told the Marriage Commission that "if a Brahmin wished to have sexual intercourse with a Sudra's wife, the Sudra would be bound to gratify the wish".
^ Sheldon Pollock (2003). Literary Cultures in History: Reconstructions from South Asia, p.467 states [13]: "The caste title of Kannassan group of poets was Panikkar, which places them almost certainly in the Nayar caste grade....as Nayars they would have been reckoned as Shudras in the Brahmanical order.."
^ SN Sadasivan. A Social History Of India, p.449 states: [14]: "The 1919 Travancore census listed 116 Nayar groups including Kalamkotty (potter), Chempukotty (coppersmith), Vilakkithala Nayar (barber), Veluthedan Nayar (washerman). The last two in 1931 census were listed as fully depressed classes from whom even the lowest two communities, the Pulayas and the Parayas refused to eat"
^ Lorna Srimathie Dewaraja (1972). A study of the political, administrative, and social structure of the Kandyan Kingdom of Ceylon, 1707-1760, p.22 states [15]: "The Census Report of 1891, adds that at the time the term nayar or nayak implied as wide a connotation as Sudhra"
^ Miller, D.B. (1975). From hierarchy to stratification: changing patterns of social inequality in a north Indian village Oxford University Press. p. 64.

@@ Line 61: / Line 61: @@
 *[[Nairs]] - The Nairs claim to be Kshatriyas.<ref>Fuller, Christopher John (Winter 1975). "The Internal Structure of the Nayar Caste". Journal of Anthropological Research 31 (4): 283–312. JSTOR 3629883</ref> However, they were recognized as Shudras by the Namboodiri Brahmins of Kerala<ref>John Wilson. Indian Caste, p.74 states [http://books.google.com.sg/books?id=uTTB8Px-jt4C&pg=PA74&dq=nayar+shudra&hl=en&sa=X&ei=SVuNUK36EIrxrQfx6YGQCA&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=nayar%20shudra&f=false]: "A Nayar [highest caste shudra] may approach, but must not touch a Namburi Brahman"</ref><ref>K N Panikkar (2002). Culture, Ideology, Hegemony: Intellectuals and Social Consciousness in Colonial India, p.180-183 states that [http://books.google.com.sg/books?id=3It3piJ4ihgC&pg=PA183&dq=nair++shudra&hl=en&sa=X&ei=f1uNULOOIYLJrAeb5IGIAw&ved=0CFMQ6AEwBjgK#v=onepage&q=sudra&f=false]: ''A Nair could not touch a Nambudiri''.....''According to Keralolpatti, for instance, the duty of Nair women was to satisfy the desires of brahmins. Quoting the Smritis, Ashtamurthi Nambudiri told the Marriage Commission that "if a Brahmin wished to have sexual intercourse with a Sudra's wife, the Sudra would be bound to gratify the wish".'' </ref><ref>Sheldon Pollock (2003). Literary Cultures in History: Reconstructions from South Asia, p.467 states [http://books.google.com.sg/books?id=ak9csfpY2WoC&pg=PA467&dq=nayar+shudra&hl=en&sa=X&ei=SVuNUK36EIrxrQfx6YGQCA&ved=0CEYQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=nayar%20shudra&f=false]: "The caste title of Kannassan group of poets was Panikkar, which places them almost certainly in the Nayar caste grade....as Nayars they would have been reckoned as Shudras in the Brahmanical order.."</ref> and in the colonial period census of India.<ref>SN Sadasivan. A Social History Of India, p.449 states: [http://books.google.com.sg/books?id=Be3PCvzf-BYC&pg=PA449&dq=1919+Travancore+Census+Nayar&hl=en&sa=X&ei=f2CNUNWcPIjQrQfKt4GgBQ&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=1919%20Travancore%20Census%20Nayar&f=false]: "The 1919 Travancore census listed 116 Nayar groups including Kalamkotty (potter), Chempukotty (coppersmith), Vilakkithala Nayar (barber), Veluthedan Nayar (washerman). The last two in 1931 census were listed as fully depressed classes from whom even the lowest two communities, the Pulayas and the Parayas refused to eat"</ref><ref>Lorna Srimathie Dewaraja (1972). A study of the political, administrative, and social structure of the Kandyan Kingdom of Ceylon, 1707-1760, p.22 states [http://books.google.com.sg/books?ei=eWKNUOP2CszNrQf_v4DYAw&id=j5w5AQAAIAAJ&dq=Census+%22Nayar%22+OR+%22nair%22+sudra&q=sudra#search_anchor]: "The Census Report of 1891, adds that at the time the term nayar or nayak implied as wide a connotation as Sudhra"</ref>
+* [[Jats]]<ref>Miller, D.B. (1975). [http://books.google.co.in/books?ei=zTWdS7mmDIOUlAS-9fGtCQ&cd=7&id=K98EAAAAMAAJ&dq=jat+kshatriya&q=Jat+kshatriya&redir_esc=y#search_anchor From hierarchy to stratification: changing patterns of social inequality in a north Indian village] Oxford University Press. p. 64.</ref>
 ==See also==