Jadeja

The Jadejas originated from pastoral communities and laid a claim on the Rajput identity after marriages with Sodha Rajput women.[4] According to the sociologist Lyla Mehta, the Jadeja were Hindu descendants of a Muslim tribe that had migrated from Sindh to Kutch.[5] A Jadeja dynasty ruled the princely state of Kutch between 1540 and 1948, at which time India became a republic. This state had been formed by king Khengarji I, who gathered under him twelve Jadeja noble landowning families, who were also related to him, as well as two noble families of the Waghela community. Khengarji and his successors retained the allegiance of these Bhayat (chieftains) until the mid-18th century.[6] They claimed legendary descent from Krishna.[7] However, historians state that such illustrious descent has no historical basis, and was fabricated by Brahmins in order to give mainly low caste illiterate warriors greater status and prestige in a process called Rajputization. In the process, a Brahmin would somehow "discover" that a budding tribal king descended from an ancient Kshatriya lineage, and the newly declared Rajput would surround himself with the paraphernalia of Brahmanism and become a patron of the Brahmins.[8][9][10][11][12]

Among other territories or princely states ruled by Jadeja before independence of India, were Dhrol,[13] Morvi,[14] Rajkot, Nawanagar,[15] and Virpur.[16]

Although the British rulers found the tradition distasteful, the Jadeja's high social status and the rigid caste system that forbade intermarriage with lower social groups contributed to the community's tradition of female infanticide because it was difficult and costly to arrange suitable marriages for female offspring, with substantial dowries often being required. The practice continues to some degree today, although where modern facilities are available it may take the form of female foeticide.[17] The Jadejas believed that a Rajput man could only marry a woman from a Rajput caste below him, and a Rajput father could only give his daughter's hand in marriage to a Rajput caste above him. To intermarry within the caste was considered incest.[18]

The principal deity of the Jadejas was Ashapura Mata (Hope-Giving Mother).[19]

Gujarat's Jadeja Rajputs who were called "half-Muslim" would employ Muslim African Siddi slaves for cooking.[20]

Layla Mehta, a sociologist, who made studies in Kutch in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, noticed a trend in Jadejas that was unusual for other communities. In gender-based labour such as fetching water, while other communities sent women and girls to fetch the water, the Jadeja men fetched the water from the well and exercised clout at the wells and intimidated many women and girls there. This exception of men fetching the water for the household was due to the custom of ojjal, which barred Jadeja women from being in public.[21]

• Jam Rawal - founder of Nawanagar State.[15]
• Khengarji III - Ruler of Cutch State one of the longest ruling monarchs of the world who represented India in year 1921 in League of Nations and Imperial Conference.[22]
• Madansinhji - last ruler of Cutch and Tennis player who represented India Davis Cup in 1936 and Wimbledon in 1937.[23]
• Rajendrasinhji Jadeja - the first Chief of Army Staff of the Indian army and later Commander-in-Chief of the Indian armed forces and head the Indian Army - hailing from the ruling family of the Nawanagar State.[24]
• Ranjitsinhji - former Indian cricketer and on whom Ranji Trophy is named.[25]
• Duleepsinhji, nephew of K. S. Ranjitsinhji, noted cricketer, later served as High Commissioner of India in several countries.[26] after whom Duleep Trophy is named.[27]
• Himmatsinhji M. K. - a noted ornithologist, politician hailing from ruling family of Cutch.[28]
• Ajay Jadeja - noted cricketer hailing from ruling family of Nawanagar.[29][30]
• Ravindra Jadeja - Indian international cricketer.[31]

• Rajputisation

• Mehta, Lyla (2005). The Politics and Poetics of Water: The Naturalisation of Scarcity in Western India. New Delhi: Orient Blackswan. ISBN 9788125028697.
• Lauterpacht, E., ed. (1976). International Law Reports. 50. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521463959.
• Dilipsinh, K. S. (2004). Kutch: In Festival And Custom. New Delhi: Har-Anand Publications. ISBN 9788124109984.
• Sen, Satadru (2005). Migrant Races: Empire, Identity and K.S. Ranjitsinhji. Manchester University Press. ISBN 9780719069260.

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