Emergence of Rajputs as Ruling Elite in Jammu Region

One of the important features of the early medieval social formation has been the proliferation of caste and sub-castes at pan Indian level. It has been argued that the reason behind this was the process of land grants which led to the emergence of feudal social formation and other concomitant developments which change the character of society 1 . In the realm of social formation it initiated the process of Brahmanisation and acculturation of tribal people, who were given scripts, calendar, art, literature and a new way of higher life and subsequently integrated into the larger brahmanical social order. Embedded in this social formation was another important development of the rise of Rajputs who not only hegemonized the political landscape of early medieval India but also emerged as one of the most important landed aristocracy in most of the regions of the Indian sub-continent.

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