farming frontiers. New centres of dynastic power arose in Karnataka, Andhra,
and Maharashtra, where local warriors faced enemies who raced along routes
across Malwa, Rajasthan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia. Late medieval
militarism in the Deccan—based in Khandesh, Berar, Maharashtra, Andhra,
and Karnataka—had its social origins on the land with ancient histories.
Dynasties emerged from the mobilisation of warriors inside and around
farming communities; but they also came from pastoral, hunting, and
mountain societies. Earlier dynasties were more pastoral, but later dynasties
were predominantly agrarian. In the Deccan, where drought was common,
willingness and readiness to fight in the hot dry season came naturally. All
the dominant agrarian castes that came into being in the medieval Deccan
included both soldiers and field cultivators.
Rajput Warrior Dynasties of Rajasthan and Central India
By contrast, in Rajasthan, a single dominant warrior group evolved, called
Rajput (derived from Rajaputra), who rarely engaged in farming, which task
was left exclusively for their peasant subjects. Rajput nobles endowed
temples and employed Brahmins, but their devotion to war, clan and
supremacy over peasants were the true measures of Rajput dharma. They
attracted allies and imitators as they made themselves ideal Kshatriyas.
Rajput cultural influence spread widely among allies, competitors and
imitators. The genealogies that constituted the valorous record of a Rajput
ancestry became coveted assets among aspiring rulers who multiplied east of
Rajasthan until, in the eighteenth century, a cultural Rajputisation of tribal
kingdoms occurred across the mountains of central and eastern India. Rajput
supremacy also stimulated the rise of warrior Jat peasant clans in
                             RAJPUT CLANS
  In the ninth century, separate clans of Rajput Chahamanas (Chauhans),
  Paramaras (Pawars), Guhilas (Sisodias) and Chaulukyas (Solankis) were
  branching off from the sprawling Gurjara Pratihara clans, whose distant
  ancestors were pastoralists and who formed an imperial medieval dynasty
  that spread across Rajasthan, Malwa and the Ganga basin. In later