The Gujjars in Rajasthan have threatened to stop the screening of Bollywood film ‘Prithviraj’ starring Akshay Kumar for using the term ‘Rajput’ for Prithviraj Chauhan.
The controversy over the movie is because the word Rajput was used at the time of Chand Bardai and not during the reign of Prithviraj Chauhan.
Gurjar leader Himmat Singh said, “Prithviraj Movie is made on the basis of Prithviraj Raso written by Chand Bardai and the same was shown in the teaser of Prithviraj movie. After studying the inscriptions available in history, researchers have believed that Chand Bardai wrote it around 400 years back after the reign of Prithviraj Chauhan. In the 16th century, the Raso epic was written which is fictional. The epic is written by Chand Bardai in Pringal language which is a mixture of Bajra and Rajasthani language.
These are historical proofs that Rajputs were never in existence before the 13th century, we have proved this from historical facts and it has also been accepted by the people of Rajput caste at present and hence they claimed themselves as Kshatriya and not as Rajputs. In fact, even during a dispute, after the unveiling of Gurjar emperor Mihir Bhoj’s statue in Dadri and Gwalior, Rajputs submitted their caste as Kshatriya in the Madhya Pradesh High Court,” said Singh.
Shaktawat said that “It is true that the 13th century did not find mention of the Rajput word, Lord Ram was Kshatriya but he has never been known as a Rajput. He also said that Someshwar was the king of Gurjarland which was a part of today’s Gujarat and Rajasthan and hence was called Gurjadhipati or Gurjaradheer which connected south Rajasthan and Gujarat. All claims of the Gurjar clan are hence baseless, he claimed”.
