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A Kshatriya is a member of the military or reigning order, according to the law-code of Manu the second ranking caste of the Indian varna system of four castes, the first being the Brahmin or priestly caste, the third the Vaishya or peasant caste and the lowest the Shudra. Sanskrit kṣatriya is derived from kṣatra "dominion, power, government" and ultimately from a root kṣi "to rule, govern, possess".

In early Vedic civilization, the warrior caste was called rājanya rather than kṣatriya, an adjective to rājan "ruler, king" from a root rāj "to rule", cognate to latin rex "king" and german Reich "empire".

In India, the period after the Epic Age or the Later Vedic Age (roughly 1000 BC to 600 BC) was marked by the rise of numerous small kingdoms. The rising popularity and aspirations of the Brahmin priests began to collide with the authority of the Kshatriyas, who formed the ruling class of each kingdom. The struggle involved the Kshatriya nobility and the Brahman clergy in all the Indo-Aryan regions from Iran to northern India.

In modern India, caste is determined by familial inheritance, but not all present members of Kshatriya castes are necessarily descended from the Vedic Kshatriyas. Many historical rulers came from other castes, or were descended from non-Hindu foreign conquerers, and were either granted de facto Kshatriya status by virtue of the power they held, or they created fictionalized family histories to connect themselves to past Kshatriya rulers. The Maratha ruler Shivaji, for example, was from non-Kshatriya origins, but in order to legitimize himself as Maratha king he created a dubious genealogy that traced his family to the Sesodia dynasty of Rajputs, and found a prestigious Brahmin to conduct a ritual of consecration that aknowledged his kingship while absolving Shivaji of living as a non-Kshatriya. The caste system spread, along with Hinduism, throughout India and into southeast Asia, but not necessarily by immigration; peoples with non-Vedic origins may have adopted the vedic castes as they acculturated into Hinduism.

The RajputA Rajput (possibly from Sanskrit rāja-putra "son of a king") is a member of a prominent caste who live throughout northern and central India, primarily in the northwestern state of Rajasthan. They are thought to number about 12 million. The Rajputss of RajasthanDate of formation 1948 Capital Jaipur Governor Pratibha Patil Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia Area 342,239 kmē Rajasthan ( is the geographically largest state in northwestern India. It borders Pakistan to the west, Gujarat to the southwest, Madhya and northern India claim to be the bona fide descendants of the Vedic Kshatriyas. The history of the Rajputs before c. 1000 CE is obscure, and historians have speculated on Rajput origins; some understand them to be relatively direct descendants of the Kshatriyas, while others favor a hybrid origin for the Rajputs, wherein Kshatriyas mixed with the descendants of invading warrior tribes from the northwest.

The Rajputs themselves usually do not take kindly to the hybrid theory: Traditionally, they view themselves as the only surviving pure Kshatriyas, claiming also that originally, this was the highest caste in the Hindu caste system, going back to an Indo-aryan patriarchal system of the king or dominant warrior at the apex of the social framework.

In addition to the Marathas, there are other Kshatriya communities in India, such as the Kunbi s, Kurmi s, JatJat could be: Alternative transliteration of Yat, a letter of old Cyrillic alphabet Short for Jat Airways, national airline carrier of Serbia and Montenegro A caste name of Indo-Aryan people in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. See Jat (peoples, YadavYadav a Hindu caste in India and Nepal. The traditional trade of the caste is cowherd. Through its political party, the Samajwadi Party, this caste wields considerable political clout, especially in the government of Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous ss, etc. that were likely members of other agrarian or tribal communities, and were baptized as warriors by Hindu kings to supplement their armies.

SikhismGolden Temple is the most important sacred shrine for Sikhs Sikhism comes from the word Sikh which means a strong and able disciple. A Sikh is a person who believes in One God and the teachings of the Ten Gurus, enshrined in Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh ho, an egalitarian warrior religion of North India started by the mystic seer Guru Nanak in the 16th century15th century 16th century 17th century more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. Events Beginning of the " Little Ice Age" a cooling period that resulted in lower crop yi and perfected by nine subsequent gurus, is also seen to be modelled on the Ancient mystical Kshatriya-warrior ethic of the Vedic Hindus.


See also: HinduismThis article is about the Hindu religion; for other meanings of the word, see Hindu (disambiguation). Aum, the most sacred syllable and quintessential symbol of Hinduism, represents the first manifestation of the unmanifest Brahman. Hinduism Santana Dharm, Varnas, Caste, Brahmin, Vaishya, Shudra, Untouchability, Aryan invasion theory

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