Rathore Gotra
राठौड़
At a glance
- Founding Rishi
- Gautama
- Veda
- Samaveda
- Pravara
- Angirasa · Ayasya · Gautama
Related Gotras
Common surnames
About
Rathore (Rathor, Rathaur) is a Rajput clan of Marwar, with ruling houses at Jodhpur and Bikaner and others in Gujarat and central India. The clan's tradition makes it Suryavanshi and brings it from Kannauj; many historians link it to the Rashtrakuta family instead. Tod's bardic gotracharya gives the Gautama gotra. The kuldevi in Rathore tradition is Nagnechiya Mata (Chakreshwari), whose main shrine is at Nagana in western Marwar. Branches differ.
Founding Rishi
Pravara Lineage
The Pravara is the line of illustrious ancestral rishis recited in ritual, from the first ancestor down:
Regional Spread
The Rathore Gotra is predominantly found in:
Etymology
Rathore, also written Rathor, Rathaur and Rathaud, is usually derived from the Sanskrit rashtrakuta, 'royal house', the name of the Rashtrakuta family. Crooke records two other explanations current in Marwar: the goddess Rashtrasena ('falcon of the state') gave her blessing (vara) on the race, and the clan sprang from the spine (raht) of Indra. These are traditional explanations, not linguistic findings.
Historical Journey
Two origin accounts exist. The clan's own tradition, set down by Nainsi in the Khyat of about 1660 and retold by Tod, says the Rathores came from Kannauj. After the fall of the Gahadavala king Jayachandra (Jaichand) in 1193, his grandson or nephew Siha (Siahji) went to Dwarka on pilgrimage, stopped at Pali in Marwar, and settled there. Tod places him in 1212 in one passage and 1156 in another. On this tradition the Rathores are Suryavanshi, descended from Rama through his son Kusha, though Tod says the bards did not wholly allow the solar claim. Modern historians, citing inscriptions that name Rathaura families in Marwar from the tenth to the thirteenth century, including the Hathundi (Hastikundi) inscription of 997 CE near Bali, connect the clan with the Rashtrakutas. V. A. Smith's older view linked them with the Gahadavalas. The Bithu inscription that records Siha's death in 1273 does not claim Gahadavala descent. Norman Ziegler treats the bardic genealogies as largely unhistorical. The line of Marwar after Siha is told by Tod. Rao Chunda took or received Mandore from a Parihar chief in the 1380s, tradition having him marry the Parihar's daughter. Rao Jodha, who died in 1488, moved the seat to the new fort of Jodhpur in 1459. His son Bika founded Bikaner in the late fifteenth century. Rao Maldeo (1532 to 1562) became, in Tod's words, the first among the princes of Rajputana, and opposed Sher Shah Suri. Under Akbar and his successors, Rathore chiefs served in Mughal armies; Tod quotes the phrase 'lakh talwar Rathoran', the hundred thousand swords of the Rathores. Durgadas Rathore was among those who saved the infant Ajit Singh from Aurangzeb after Jaswant Singh's death in 1678, in Tod's account. Tod gives twenty-four early branches (sakha), among them Dhandal, Bhadel, Khokra, Hatundia, Gogadeva and Mahecha. After Jodha's time the principal clans of Marwar are named for his sons and grandsons, notably Champawat, Kumpawat, Udawat (from Uda of Nimaj), Mertia (from Duda of Merta), and the Jodha and Bika lines.
Migration & Diaspora
On the Kannauj tradition the clan came west after 1193 and spread from Pali across Marwar, taking Mandore, then Nagaur and Nadol, and Jodhpur became the capital in 1459. From Jodhpur, Bika went north to found Bikaner, and Marwar chiefs took service across the Mughal empire. Younger branches received states elsewhere: Kishangarh from 1611 under Kishan Singh, Ratlam from about 1651, Jhabua from 1584, and Sailana, Sitamau and Alirajpur in Malwa. Idar in Gujarat is held by a Rathore line whose own tradition, in Tod, makes it a branch of Siha's sons. Crooke records Rathaur families in the Gangetic plain, such as the Raja of Rampur in Etah, who claim descent from Jaichand.
Presence Across Regions
Marwar (Jodhpur, Pali, Nagaur, Barmer, Jalor)
Rajput
The main seat of the clan. The 1891 census, quoted by Crooke, counted about 174,000 Rathaurs in Rajputana, about 87,000 of them in Marwar. The principal fiefs were held by the Champawat, Kumpawat, Udawat and Mertia lines.
Bikaner and the Thar
Rajput
Founded by Bika, a son of Rao Jodha, who conquered the lands of the Jat clans and the Johiyas. Tod gives 1489 for the city.
Gujarat and Malwa
Rajput
Ruling houses of Idar in Gujarat, and of Ratlam, Jhabua, Sailana, Sitamau and Alirajpur in Malwa, all claim a Rathore origin through Marwar.
Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh
Rajput
Crooke lists Rathaur families in Etah, Farrukhabad and Budaun, with a lower-ranked eastern branch in Gorakhpur and Azamgarh. Russell records Rathor Rajputs in Sagar, Jabalpur, Narsinghpur and Hoshangabad.
Other communities
Gujjar and others
Rathore and Rathod are also used as clan and family names by other communities. This page describes the Rajput clan only.
Notable Personalities
Rao Siha (Siahji)
13th century
Founder of the Marwar line at Pali in tradition. The Bithu inscription records his death in 1273; Tod's bardic account makes him a grandson of Jayachandra of Kannauj, which the inscription does not state.
Rao Jodha
15th century (died 1488)
Founded Jodhpur and its fort in 1459, moving the capital from Mandore. Tod says he had fourteen sons and fixed the number and size of the Rathore fiefs of Marwar.
Rao Bika
15th century
Sixth son of Jodha. He conquered the country of the Jat communities in the north and founded the city of Bikaner, which became a separate Rathore state.
Rao Maldeo
Reigned 1532 to 1562
Reconquered Nagaur and Ajmer, built fortifications and extended Marwar. Tod calls him the gallant opponent of Sher Shah Suri and the foremost prince of Rajputana in his time.
Durgadas Rathore
17th century
Rathore chief of Marwar. In Tod's account he was among those who preserved the infant Ajit Singh from Aurangzeb after Jaswant Singh's death in 1678, and he led Rathore resistance in the long war that followed.
Stories & Legends
How Nagnechiya Mata took her name
In the Marwar tradition recorded in the Rajputana Gazetteer and quoted by Crooke, the family goddess of the Rathores changed her name through the ages: Mansa Devi, Rashtrasena, Pankhani ('the winged one'), and in the present age Naganechi. The story of the last change says that Duhar, grandson of Siha, travelled to the Karnatak, where the Rathores had ruled before Marwar, to bring the goddess's image to his own country. The cart carrying the image stopped at the village of Nagana in Marwar and would go no further, so he built a temple there. Crooke notes that the same story is told at Mathura of the image of Kesava Deva. It is a tradition.
The Parihar daughter and Mandore
The bardic account in Tod says Rao Chunda took Mandore from the Parihar chief and made his hold secure by marrying the Parihar's daughter. Later retellings make Mandore the dowry of that marriage. Mandore remained the Rathore seat until Jodha moved to Jodhpur in 1459.
Ritual Significance
Gotra: Tod's bardic gotracharya for the Rathores gives the Gautama gotra with Sukracharya as guru and the Mardawandani sakha (probably Madhyandina). The pravara and Veda above are those of the Gautam page on this site. Branches and families differ, and some give other gotras. Kuldevi, in Rathore tradition: Nagnechiya (Naganechi, Nagnaichiyan) Mata, a form of Chakreshwari whose older titles in the tradition include Rajeshwari and Ratheshwari (William Crooke's note in his edition of Tod, citing the Marwar Census Report of 1891). Her main temple is at Nagana in the Pachpadra country of western Marwar, with a shrine in the Jodhpur fort. The nim tree is held sacred in Rathore settlements. Wikipedia notes a falcon, linked with the goddess Rashtrasena, on the flags of Marwar, Bikaner and Kishangarh. Among other Rathore families other deities are honoured, so the kuldevi should be confirmed with the family's own elders and priests.