‖ Rajput
(ˈrɑːdʒpuːt)
Forms: α. 6 reysbuto, 7 resbuti (pl.), rashboot(e, -bout, -poot, rasboute, reshpout, 8 rasspout. β. 7 ratspuche, razbooche. γ. 7 ragipou, 8 raijpout, rajah-, rajepoot, 9 rajapoote, -put, raujepoot, rajpoot, rajput.
[Hindī rājpūt, f. Skr. rāja king + putra son. The form rashbūt is found in an Oriental writer of the 16th c. (Yule); reysbuto came through Pg., and ragipou through Fr.]
A member of a Hindu caste, claiming descent from the original Kshatriyas, and distinguished by its military spirit.
| α 1598 tr. Linschoten's Voy. xxvii. 48 Reysbutos of Cambaia doe yet liue by robbing and stealing, and those of Cambaia pay tribute to the saide Reysbutos. 1615 E. Terry in Purchas Pilgrims (1625) ix. vi. §4. 1479 The Rashbootes eate Swines-flesh most hatefull to the Mahometans. 1689 W. Dampier Voy. (1697) I. 507 Our Seamen..calling the Idolaters, Gentous, or Rashbouts. 1727 A. Hamilton New Acc. E. Ind. I. xii. 134 Those Rasspouts..are all Gentlemen of the Sword,..well trained in the Art of killing. |
| attrib. 1616 Sir T. Roe Jrnl. 9 Oct. (Hakluyt Soc.) II. 282 In the handes of a Rashboote Gentile. |
| β 1612 Copland in Purchas Pilgrims (1625) iv. viii. §1. 467 A Castle kept by the Ratspuches. 1612 Whithington Ibid. §3. 482 A Castle of the Razbooches (which were before the Mogolls Conquest, the Nobles of that countrey now liuing by robbery). |
| γ 1678 J. Phillips tr. Tavernier's Trav. ii. i. iv. 34 The Ragipou's, who are the best Souldiers among the Indians. 1763 Scrafton Indostan (1770) 7 The Soldiers are commonly called Rajah-poots. 1800 Asiatic Ann. Reg., Chron. 47/2 A remarkable strong Rajepoot, selected for the purpose. 1829 J. Tod Rajast'han I. 137 The poorest Rajpoot of this day retains all the pride of ancestry, often his sole inheritance. 1836 N. Wiseman Lect. Doctr. Cath. Ch. I. vi. 174, I consider the soul of the meanest and poorest in the lowest caste, equal, in the estimation of God, to that of the Rajpoot. 1841 Elphinstone Hist. Ind. I. i. 103 The Rájp{uacu}ts still loudly assert the purity of their descent from the Cshetriyas. 1864 Trevelyan Compet. Wallah (1866) 67 Coer Sing, who was recognised as chieftain by the Rajpoots, or soldier caste, of that region. 1971 Illustr. Weekly India 4 Apr. 8/3 The non-Vedic and non-Aryan Kshatriyas..had been admitted to the military class by Shankaracharya. These (along with certain other families who claimed descent from Raja Ram Chandra) became the masters of Rajputana. Their royal families acquired the title of Rajputra or Rajanya, which ultimately became ‘Rajput’. |
| attrib. 1878 A. C. Lyall in Fortn. Rev. XXX. 543 (heading) A Rajput Chief of the old School. 1931 Times Lit. Suppl. 18 June 482/3 They [sc. hill paintings] differ not only from the metropolitan art of the Mughal Court, but from the Rajput paintings of other parts of India. 1937 [see candy pink]. 1974 Encycl. Brit. Micropædia VIII. 396/3 Rajput painting, the art of the independent Hindu feudal states in India, as distinguished from the court art of the Mughal emperors. |