Rajpurohit
Indian caste from western Rajasthan
Rajpurohit is a caste native to western Rajasthan in India.
They maintain traditions that are similar to both Brahmins and Rajputs. According to political analysts, the Rajput, Charan and Rajpurohit communities are considered to be identical with regards to their social customs.
Etymology
The term "rajpurohit" (lit. 'royal priest', from raj (royal) + purohit (priest)) is synonymous with "rajguru" a term used in ancient India for a type of Brahmin. Hermann Kulke and Dietmar Rothermund note that there "is much evidence in ancient texts that there were two ideal types of Brahmins in those days, the royal priest or advisor (rajpurohit, rajguru, "akherajot" and "kanot") and the sage (rishi) who lived in the forest and shared his wisdom only with those who asked for it."
The modern usage of the term in this sense has been described by Sumit Sarkar as a "self-conscious archaism".
History
The Rajpurohits claim to be descendants of purohit Brahmins who were chosen as chief priests by the kings of western Rajasthan in the regions of Marwar and Mewar. Though they form a separate caste and differ in traditions from the Brahmins and do not provide Brahminical services as is traditionally expected of Brahmins. For instance, they have been described as having mediated the matrimonial alliances of Rajputs but did not play any role in the actual wedding rituals for which the services of regular Brahmins were employed.
The Rajpurohits served as royal caretakers of Hindu kingdoms in western Rajasthan during medieval times and attained feudal status during Rathore rule. The kings used to award a few non-taxable villages or lands known as sasan jagirs and doli jagirs on the boundaries of their kingdoms to Rajpurohits.
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This entry incorporates text from “Rajpurohit” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.