Sisodia Gotra
सिसोदिया
At a glance
- Founding Rishi
- Gautama
- Veda
- Samaveda
- Pravara
- Angirasa · Ayasya · Gautama
Related Gotras
Common surnames
About
Sisodia is the Rajput clan of the Maharanas of Mewar (Chittor and Udaipur), a branch of the Guhila (Guhilot, Gahlot) family named for the village of Sisoda. The clan's tradition makes it Suryavanshi, descended from Rama; Guhila inscriptions call its founder a Brahmin from Anandapura. The kuldevi in Mewar tradition is Bayan Mata (Baanmata) at Chittorgarh, and the ruling god of Mewar is Eklingji. The gotra is given differently in different records.
Founding Rishi
Pravara Lineage
The Pravara is the line of illustrious ancestral rishis recited in ritual, from the first ancestor down:
Regional Spread
The Sisodia Gotra is predominantly found in:
Etymology
Sisodia is a local name, from Sisoda (Sesoda, Sisodha), the village where, in Tod's account, one of the brothers Rahup and Mahup set up the seat of the line; Tod says the name replaced the older names Aharya and Guhilot. Folk explanations recorded by Crooke and Russell derive it instead from sisa, 'lead', after the story of Bappa swallowing molten lead, from a devotee of Shiva, or from a hare totem. Guhilot comes from Guhadatta or Guha, the family's early ancestor; Tod's bards derive it from Grahaditya.
Historical Journey
The origin has two layers. The clan's own tradition, in Tod and the bardic chronicles, makes it Suryavanshi: descended from Rama through his son Lava (Loh), settled at Valabhi in Saurashtra, and then at Idar after the last Valabhi king fell in the sixth century. Inscriptions of the Guhilas tell a different story. The Atpur inscription of 977 CE lists twenty kings from Guhadatta, called a Mahideva, a word some read as 'Brahmin' and others as 'king', and later records say he came from Anandapura, now Vadnagar in Gujarat, of the Nagar Brahmin family. The Ekalingamahatmya of the fifteenth century gives the family's gotra as Vaijavapa. G. H. Ojha, who cited a Pushkar epigraph naming a Guhila of the Gautama gotra, argued for a Kshatriya origin. Historians have not settled the question. Bappa (Bappa Rawal) is the best-known early figure. Thirteenth-century records name him as the founder, but he is absent from the Atpur list and historians identify him with different kings, including Kalabhoja. Tod's story has him winning Chitor from the Mori (Maurya) chief. Tod names the brothers Rahup and Mahup: one set up the Sisodia seat at Sesoda and the other the Aharya line at Dungarpur. The 1652 Eklingji inscription names Rahapa, a son of Ranasimha (Karna), as founder of the Rana branch from which the Sisodia descend. Chitor was taken by Alauddin Khalji in 1303, by Bahadur Shah of Gujarat in 1534 and by Akbar in 1567. Rana Hamir Singh (1301 to 1364 in Tod) recovered Chitor and re-established the state. Rana Kumbha (1433 to 1468) laid the foundation of the Tower of Victory at Chitor after a victory over the lords of Malwa and Gujarat. Rana Sanga led the Rajput army against Babur at Khanua. Rana Pratap (1572 to 1597) fought a Mughal army guided by Raja Man of Amber at Haldighat on 18 June 1576. Udai Singh II founded Udaipur in about 1559, and Amar Singh submitted to Jahangir in 1614 on terms that he need not attend court in person. Tod lists twenty-four branches of the Guhilot kula. The principal Sisodia clans of Mewar are named for sons and descendants of the Ranas: the Chundawat (Chonda, eldest son of Lakha), Shaktawat (Shakti, brother of Pratap), Sangawat (Rana Sanga), Ranawat, and the Lunawat and Dulawat of the Aravalli country. The chiefly houses of Dungarpur, Banswara and Pratapgarh are also Guhila or Sisodia lines.
Migration & Diaspora
From Valabhi the family moved, in the clan's account, to Idar and Ahar, and from Ahar to Nagda and Chitor in Mewar. After Alauddin Khalji's siege of 1303 the line retreated to the hill country, from which Hamir recovered Chitor. After the sacks of 1534 and 1567 the capital moved to Udaipur, and from the sixteenth century younger branches took service or lands elsewhere. Crooke records Gahlot settlements in western Uttar Pradesh, with the largest count in Meerut district at the 1891 census, and Russell records Sesodia Rajputs in the Narmada districts of the Central Provinces.
Presence Across Regions
Mewar (Udaipur, Chittorgarh, Rajsamand)
Rajput
The home of the clan and the seat of the Maharanas. Chitor was the capital until 1567, then Udaipur.
Dungarpur, Banswara and Pratapgarh
Rajput
Russell lists these three states as held by Sesodia chiefs. The Dungarpur line is the Aharya branch in Tod.
Uttar Pradesh and the Doab
Rajput
Crooke records Gahlot clans in Meerut, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Agra, Mathura and Etawah. Some Agra families told the census they belonged to the Kashyapa gotra; their claim to pure Gahlot blood was not admitted in every place.
Madhya Pradesh
Rajput
Russell counted nearly 2,000 Sesodia Rajputs in the Narmada districts in 1911.
Other communities
Various
Sisodia and Gehlot are also surnames of families outside the Rajput clan. This page describes the Rajput clan only.
Notable Personalities
Bappa Rawal
8th century by tradition; dating contested
Founder figure of the Guhila line of Mewar in 13th-century records and in Tod. Bardic chronicles call him the winner of Chitor from the Mori chief; historians identify him with different early kings.
Rana Hamir Singh
1301 to 1364 (Tod)
Recovered Chitor after Alauddin Khalji's capture and re-established the Mewar state with the title Rana. Tod calls him the one Hindu prince of power left in India in his time.
Rana Kumbha (Kumbhakarna)
1433 to 1468
Ruler of Mewar who, on Tod's account, laid the foundation of the Tower of Victory at Chitor eleven years after a victory over the lords of Malwa and Gujarat. The tower took ten more years to finish.
Rana Sanga (Sangram Singh)
Early 16th century
Led the Rajput forces against Babur at Khanua, as recorded by Tod. The Sangawat clan is named for him.
Rana Pratap
Reigned 1572 to 1597
Fought a Mughal army at Haldighat on 18 June 1576 and kept the hill country of Mewar outside Mughal rule. Tod calls Haldighat the Thermopylae of Mewar.
Stories & Legends
Bappa and the molten lead
Russell, from Bhandarkar and the Rajasthan tradition, tells how Bappa took a medicine for his eyes that was mixed in liquor. When he learned what it was he said he was a Brahmin who had lost caste, and drank molten lead (sisa) and died. The story is offered as the origin of the name Sisodia. Russell says it supports the view that the family was Brahmin in origin. Crooke and Russell both prefer the village name Sisoda as the real source.
The twelve crowned heads of Chitor
Tod and Russell record the tradition that the guardian goddess of Chitor promised never to leave the fort while a descendant of Bappa served her, and that at the first siege by Alauddin she asked for twelve crowned heads. The Rana's eleven sons were crowned in turn, each ruling for a day and dying in battle on the fourth, and then the Rana himself fell, in the bardic account; his favourite son Ajaysi was spared to continue the line. The goddess is not named in these passages.
Ritual Significance
Gotra: not settled in the records. The site's index gives Gautama; the one early source for it is an epigraph from Pushkar, cited by Ojha, which names a Guhila of the Gautama gotra. The Ekalingamahatmya names the Vaijavapa (Vaijavapayana) gotra, which is the gotra of the Nagar Brahmins of Anandapura. Crooke records Gahlots of Agra naming Kashyapa. The pravara and Veda above are those of the Gautam page on this site. Families should confirm the gotra with their own purohit. Kuldevi, in Mewar tradition: Bayan Mata (Baanmata, Vyanmata), whose temple is inside Chittorgarh fort. The Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation names her as kuldevi of the Sisodia dynasty. Tod says Bappa brought her image to Chitor with his bride from Saurashtra, and that she divides the devotion of the Guhilot princes with Eklinga. The Kalika Mata temple in Chittorgarh fort is also honoured, and sources differ on whether she is the Sisodia kuldevi. Kuldevata: Eklingji, the Shiva linga near Udaipur, held to be the ruler of Mewar, with the Maharana ruling as his Dewan. Other Sisodia branches may name other goddesses.