Row between Rajputs, Gurjars within Haryana BJP: What history says about the caste of king Mihir Bhoj

The controversy around the lineage of Mihir Bhoj has surfaced earlier too, in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, with both Gurjars and Rajputs claiming he belonged to their community.

What is the current controversy in Haryana?

The Gurjar community in Haryana’s Kaithal had planned to unveil a statue of Mihir Bhoj, calling him a Gurjar Pratihar Samrat (king). The Rajput community members objected to this. The local administration then intervened and held a series of meetings between the members of both communities, to no avail.

The situation worsened on July 19 when the police lathi-charged the Rajputs who had gathered in Kaithal to oppose the Gurjars’ move.

On July 20, even as protests from the Rajputs continued, Gurjar community leaders unveiled the statue. Upset, as many as 35 leaders offered to quit the BJP.

BJP’s Kaithal MLA, Lila Ram Gujjar, said, “Today, there is solid proof that Mihir Bhoj was a Gurjar Samrat. He had ruled India when Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Burma were also part of the country. The Rajput community members can’t tamper with history to prove their point.”

On the other hand, a local Rajput leader said: “If the statue had been named Rajput-Gurjar Samrat, Hindu Samrat or Chhatrapati Samrat, we would have supported it.”

Who was Mihir Bhoj?

Mihir Bhoj (c. 836-885 CE) was a successful and ambitious ruler of ninth century India, said Kurukshetra University Professor SK Chahal. “At that time, the Gurjara-Pratiharas were ruling over a vast empire, from Kashmir to Gujarat. Mihir Bhoj successfully conquered areas of Deccan and Malwa too.”

Prof. Chahal, chairman of Kurukshetra University’s history department and dean of Faculty of Social Sciences, added: “During the ninth century, the major political struggle was for control over Kannauj as it was considered that whoever conquered Kannauj would be emperor of the country. Hence, the country witnessed a tripartite struggle among three big powers of the times —the Gurjara-Pratihara, the Rashtrakutas of Deccan and the Palas of Bengal. In that struggle, Mihir Bhoj was, by and large, the most successful. He conquered areas of Gujarat and Malwa from the Gujarat-Rashtrakutas. Similarly, the king launched a campaign towards Bengal and conquered territories of Gorakhpur from the Palas of Bengal too.”

What do historians say about his lineage?

M Rajivlochan, a history professor at Chandigarh’s Panjab University, said: “Gurjar Pratiharas, the group to which Mihir Bhoj belonged, are often considered both Rajputs and Gurjars. So there is really no conflict between the two identities.”

Explaining further, Chahal said: “Gurjars were a nomadic tribe in ancient India, initially spreading in Rajasthan and Gujarat regions. And it is believed that Mihir Bhoj belonged to this tribe. However, it is also believed that he claimed Kshatriya status for himself. The Pratihara branch of the dynasty was linked to Rajputs. It was considered that only a Kshatriya (warrior) could become a king. In ancient India, all kings claimed Kshatriya status.”

Chahal also said caste identities seem to blur as you go deeper into history. “Clear caste lines as we understand them today emerged much later. The recent controversies in the name of ancient rulers’ castes are an outcome of modern-day politics and have nothing to do with history,” he said.

What are the past controversies over this?

In Bihar in 2022, a “research and advocacy group” called the Kshatriya Parishad had started a campaign to “reclaim” ‘Gurjara-Pratihara’ king Mihir Bhoj into the Rajput fold.

Before that in 2021, the Gurjars had held a mahapanchayat in Uttar Pradesh’s Dadri to protest the removal of the word ‘Gurjar’ from the plaque of a statue of the king unveiled by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath at Mihir Bhoj Inter College.