The Royal Asiatic Society of great Britain

The Royal Asiatic Society of great Britain
Reserch published by Cambridge University Press for the Royal Asiatic Society, 1834 (republished in 1904)

Friday, September 24, 2010

1. Gurjars of Ancient India

The Gurjar is a great race of the world. Gurjars had been ruling India since historical times; their some families were called Rajputs in medieval period. Rajput, Maratha, Jat and Ahir are heirs of the Kshatriyas. They are not foreigners. there is no community being called Kshatriya except us all. How that Kshatriyan race can be eliminated in which Ram and Krishna were born. All of us Rajput, Maratha, Jat and Ahirs are the stars whereas Gurjar is the Moon in the Kshatriyan sky. It is beyond human power to lessen the dignity of the Gurjars.
(Words By - Thakur Yashpal Singh Rajput)








1.1 According to oldest available records, Lord Sri Krisna ruled a kingdom named Gurjara Kingdom[i]. These Gurjaras, who were also known as Gopas or Narayanas, had to fight under the flag of Kauravas, during Mahabharata, to follow the command of their master Sri Krishna.

Maps 1.1 Shows the location of various kingdoms under Ancient Bharata. (Gurjars near Present day Rajasthan with Abhiras, Malvas and Nishadas)


1.2 Sri Krisna with some of the Kshatriyas who survived the Mahabharta war abandoned Mathura and went towards the west to Dwarika. The ancient Kshatriya clans thronged around Lord Krishna who united them into one class and named it as "Gurjar" (including old Gurjar warriors of his own army) and their Government came to be known as "Gurjarashtra" the first capital of which was established at Dwarka in around 1420 BC. This state is still known as Gujarat in western India.

1.3 Meaning of “Gurjar”

Gurjar is a pure Sanskrit word which means “One, who vanish the enemy”
ln Sanskrit if a dot is put on an alphabet, it is spoken in nostrils ; such as ma (mother) ha (yes) etc. There is a dot on mid 'r' i.e The word is Guran+Jar
Guran=Enemy
Jar=Vanishing

·         Pandit Vasudeva Prasad, a famous Sanskrit Pandit of Banaras, has proved through ancient Sanskrit literature that the word "Gurjar" or "Gurjara" used to be spoken after the names of antique Kshatriyas.
·         Another Sanskrit scholar Radhakant, is of the opinion that the word 'Gurjar' was for Kshatriyas.[ii]
·         Scientific evidence also has proved that Gurjars belong to Aryans.

1.4 Origin of Gurjars

Before understanding the origin of Gurjars we need to first understand the origin of Aryans, as Gurjars belong to Aryan stock. Aryans have always been a controversial topic so far. 






In the most ancient times, Aryans were residng in the areas between Kashyap sagar (Caspian sea) and Lauhit (Bramhaputra) river. Their language was Sanskrit. The word Aryan means a cultured man. Sanskrit means civilized. And the word Sanskriti means civilization. The Aryans were civilized people and knew agriculture, medicine, metals, house building and taming animals. AlI such information is received from the most ancient books namely Vedas. The word Veda means knowledge. Ved was divided into four parts namely, Rigved, Yajur Ved, Sam Ved and Atharv Ved.




The word Iran (Ērān) itself comes from Proto-Iranian Aryānām - (land) of the Aryas.
The Aryan culture and civilisation spread on all sides beyond Arya Vart. That is why Sanskrit words are found in the Languages of the other countries, mostly in the adjacent countries and least in the farthest ones. More than fifty percent words of lranian (old Persian) language are Prakritic form of Sanskrit. A look on these words shows that Persian is an off shoot of Sanskrit just as the territorial languages of the Indo - Pak sub-continent. Sanskrit words traveled to Turkey and Europe through Iran. Similarly Sri Lanka, Tibet, Nepal, Brahma, (Burma) , Malay ( Malayasia ) , Singapur , Yava (Java) , Sumatra , Bali , Siyam , (Thailand) and Kambojia were influenced by the Aryan culture. Sanskrit words are also found in the languages of Phillipines , China and Japan but hundred percent Sanskrit Vocables are found only in this sub - continent. Vocables of the Aryan speech not common to other Aryan languages of Asia and Europe are found in the Vedic Sanskrit. This also points to the Vedic Sanskrit as being the oldest and the most unadulterated form of Indo Aryan speech

1.4 Most of the south Asia was under the rule of Vedic Aryans
1.5 Gurjars in ‘The Great Ashoka’s’ Era
 We also find Gurjaras in the times of Great Asoka

Map 1.2 Gurjars residing near Madhya Pradesh in ‘Asoka the Greats’ Era


[i] See Wiipedia “Gurjar Rashtra” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurjara_Kingdom.
[ii] see (Sanskrit dictionary compiled by Pandit Radhakant Sharma, Shabd Kaldrupam , part Il page 341, Shakabda 1181).

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