Terms of the court & countryside

Glossary

The vocabulary of the courts and estates of Gujarat — titles, tenures, lineages, and customs met throughout the portal.

Agnivanshi
Of the fire-born line of Vasishta’s sacrifice — the Parmars, Chalukyas, Pariharas and Chauhans.
Anwar
The ‘best man’ — an elderly married kinsman who keeps the bridegroom company and instructs him through the wedding.
Apaiya
‘Not drinkable’ — the state of feud in which parties refuse even the water of each other’s place.
Bapoti
A village granted to a younger son as his patrimony.
Barkhali
Alienated land ‘outside the ruler's threshing floor’ — held by garasdars, not the darbar.
Barot
The genealogist-recorders whose registers preserved the descents of the clans.
Bethak
The men's sitting place at the courtyard gate, where visitors were received and the household kept an eye on the street.
Bhayat
The cadet kinsmen of a ruling house, holding villages by right of blood.
Bhuva
A shaman who becomes possessed as the medium of the clan goddess or an ancestor, and works curative magic.
Chandlo
The bridegroom-price: cash carried from the bride's father to the groom's, accepted as tribute to higher standing.
Chandravanshi
Of the lunar line, descending from the Yadavas of Lord Krishna — claimed by the Jadejas, Chudasamas and Sarvaiyas.
Charan
The bard community, traditional custodians and glorifiers of Rajput deeds; quasi-official spokesmen of the clans.
Chauth
The one-fourth tribute exacted by the Marathas from 1722.
Chovisi
A grant of twenty-four villages made to a cadet of a ruling house.
Dasara
The Rajput victory festival — Vijaya Dashami — with the worship of weapons, horses and the Shami tree.
Dasondi
The hereditary village Charan, by convention entitled to a tenth share of his patron's land income.
Dharna
Ritual fasting at an offender's door by Bhats or Charans until a wrong was righted.
Fatana
The teasing wedding songs, composed on the spot to roast the bridegroom's party.
Gadi
The cushioned throne of a ruling chief; by extension, the rulership itself.
Galthuthi
The birth rite in which honey and water touch the newborn’s tongue — the giver’s nature, it is believed, passes into the child.
Ghumto
The full veiling of the body, beyond the laj of the face.
Girasya
A landholder; the distinction between Girasya and non-Girasya mattered in every caste of Saurashtra.
Hathgharanum
Cash gifts from kin and friends at a wedding, recorded and repaid at the giver's own occasions.
Jagir
A revenue grant of land held from a sovereign; its holder is a jagirdar.
Jam
The title of the Jadeja rulers of Nawanagar and of Kutch.
Jivai
Maintenance land held for a lifetime only — commonly by Rajput widows — reverting afterwards to the state.
Kariawar
The bride's dowry of ornaments, vessels, furniture and attendants, displayed at her husband's house.
Kasumba
A ceremonial offering exchanged among the ruling class as a rite of hospitality.
Kathi
The martial community after whom Kathiawar is named — a people distinct from the Rajputs, sun-worshippers and famed horse-breeders.
Khalsa
Land or villages held directly by the state, as against alienated holdings.
Khandu
The sword-marriage: the groom's sword, carried by a maidservant, stood in for him at the bride's home — found only among the Rajputs of this region, Kutch and Gujarat.
Khavas
Personal attendants of Rajput ruling families, who in time formed a community of their own.
Kshatriya
The ancient warrior-and-ruler varna of Hindu society, from which the Rajputs claim descent through the solar, lunar and fire lines.
Kuldevi
The tutelary goddess of a clan — as Shaktidevi to the Jhalas (Zalas) or Khodiyar to many houses of the peninsula.
Kunvarpadun
The maintenance grant of villages made to an heir-apparent.
Laj
The respect-veil — the sari-end drawn over the face: full to the neck, half to the lips, or drawn to one side.
Lakhpasav
The highest gift a ruler could bestow on a Charan — regal dress, a gold elephant-anklet, and money or a village; receivable once in a lifetime.
Mand
Racks running along three walls, kept filled with brightened vessels — the display pride of a Rajput home.
Molesalam
Rajputs converted to Islam who kept many of the old Rajput customs.
Mosalun
The gift of dress and money a mother's brother must send at his sister's son's wedding.
Mulkgiri
The annual tribute-collecting military circuit of the Maratha armies.
Myana
The curtained palanquin in which a secluded lady travelled, borne by male servants.
Padlun
Bride-price paid to a bride's father — taken only under hardship, and always at a cost to prestige.
Paliya
A carved memorial stone raised to a fallen warrior or sati.
Rajgor
The hereditary Brahmin priest of the Rajputs, officiating at their marriages and funerals.
Rakhat
A well-established pattern of concubinage in old Rajput households.
Rana
The title of the Jethwa rulers of Porbandar.
Randal
Goddess held to be the Sun’s consort, worshipped across many castes of Saurashtra; her coconut idol presides at weddings and pregnancy rites.
Rasda
A circular dance of Rajput women, once an occasion for the choosing of a bride.
Ra’
The title of the Chudasama sovereigns of Junagadh.
R’jput
A distinct caste separate from the Rajputs — degraded or landless Rajputs who took up widow remarriage; distinct from the Rajputs proper.
Sakhayat
The aristocratic, land-owning branch of the Kathis, formed in part from a mixture of Rajput blood.
Salat
The stone-carver and sculptor caste of Saurashtra — the ‘Salat school’ of palace art and painting.
Salute state
A state whose ruler was entitled to a fixed number of gun salutes; Saurashtra counted thirteen among its thirty-one covenanting states, with the heads of the Jadejas, Gohils and Jhalas (Zalas) at fifteen guns.
Shikotar
The spirit of a village Rajput’s dead wife, installed and worshipped in the women’s room of the house.
Surdhan
A carved memorial stone of a horse-and-rider, raised where an ancestor of valour fell and worshipped as a Dada.
Suryavanshi
Of the solar line — the lineage claimed by the Jhalas (Zalas), Gohils, Valas and Rathods.
Thakor Saheb
The style of many ruling chiefs of the second rank, as at Rajkot, Gondal and Limbdi.
Tilat
The rightful heir to a gadi.
Traga
The bard's terrible sanction — wounding or sacrificing himself while cursing the offender; outlawed under British rule.
Uttara
The men's dormitory of a Rajput village — meeting hall, guest house and evening school of talk; boys slept there from about the age of ten.
Vadaran
The woman attendant who went with a bride to her new home for life — companion, guide and keeper of custom.
Vasavayas
The essential service families — potter, cobbler, carpenter, smith, barber — invited to settle a new village.
Zortalbi
The forcible levy which Junagadh imposed on lesser chiefs, regularised under Colonel Walker’s settlement.
Raol (Rawal)
An ancient royal Rajput title (derived from Sanskrit Rajakula, meaning of the royal house) traditionally borne by the early Guhilot sovereigns of Mewar, the Chavda Thakors of Mansa, and Chauhan rulers in eastern Gujarat. Distinct from non-Rajput communities bearing similar names.
Vanta
The ancestral quarter-share (one-fourth) of village agricultural lands reserved and retained by Rajput garasiyas and talukdars when Muslim sultans conquered Gujarat, held tax-free or on a nominal quit-rent (salami).
Mewas
Rugged, heavily forested or hilly frontier tracts (notably in Mahi Kantha, Rewa Kantha, and the Sabarmati valley) whose independent Rajput and Koli chieftains defied imperial revenue exactions and maintained armed defiance.
Giras
A hereditary landed estate or proprietary maintenance grant held by a Rajput nobleman (Garasiya), literally signifying a 'mouthful' granted to junior cadets for honourable sustenance.
Darbar
The formal royal court of a ruler, and across Gujarat, the traditional title of respect and address accorded to a Rajput ruling prince, landowner, or chief of a thikana.
Chhatis Rajkul
The classical canon of the thirty-six royal Rajput lineages recognized in ancient bardic chronicles (Kumarapala Charita and Prithviraj Raso), forming the aristocratic foundation of sovereign Rajput society.
Kasbati / Talukdar
A hereditary proprietor or lord of a taluka possessing proprietary land rights, village estates, and magisterial/revenue jurisdiction under British and princely settlements.