Rajasthan: Akshay Kumar-starrer 'Prithviraj' faces protest from Gurjar community

The Gurjars in Rajasthan have threatened to stop the screening of the Bollywood flick Prithviraj starring Akshay Kumar if the movie continues using the term Rajput for Prithviraj ChauhanThe community claimed that Prithviraj was from the Gurjar community and he was not a Rajput However leaders from the Rajput community have strongly rejected their claim and said that Gurjars were initially gauchar who then converted into Gujjars and then Gurjars They basically come from Gujarat and hence got this name claimed Shri Rajput Karni Sena national spokesperson Vijendra Singh Shaktawat This is a placerelated term and not a casterelated term he addedTwo days back members of the Gurjar community had staged a protest in Ajmer threatening to stall the screening of the film if Prithviraj Chauhan is not shown as a Gurjar kingGurjar 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 languageDuring the reign of Gurjar emperor Prithviraj Chauhan the Sanskrit language was used but not the Pringal language which has been used by the poet said Himmat SinghThese 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 Bhojs statue in Dadri and Gwalior Rajputs submitted their caste as Kshatriya in the Madhya Pradesh High Court said SinghThe 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 he said adding Prithviraj Chauhans father Someshwar has been connected with the Gujjar caste and hence the son should himself be a Gurjar he addedShaktawat said that its true that Rajput is a title and not a caste But then it is also a fact that Rajputs symbolize those who are connected to the land which means sons of the soil who are ready to sacrifice their lives for the sake of their landIt 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 Rajput is a title which means son of Raja the legacy which continues amongst royals where kings get the title he addedHe said that Someshwar was the king of Gurjarland which was a part of todays 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 claimedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever