First published on India Today here
The prince of Nagod state of Madhya Pradesh, the direct descendant of the ninth-century ruler Samrat Mihir Bhoj, has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to stop “distortion of Rajput history.”
Kunwar Arunoday Singh Parihar, the prince of Nagod state, which was founded in the 13th century by Raja Veerraj Judev, a direct descendant of Samrat Mihir Bhoj, in 1327, slammed the Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh governments for the “appropriation” of Mihir Bhoj as Gujjar and sought the PM’s intervention.
“We feel proud when we hear that our ancestors are still in people’s mind and they build statuses and make committee, but while doing this, they change the whole Identity of Samrat Mihir Bhoj as we are the direct descendant of him and we are Kshatriya Rajputs. He was given the title of Gurjara Adhipati/ Gurjashwar/ Gurjar/ AdhiVaraha as he used to rule the area of Gurjara (Gujarat) which is why other regional kings used to mention him as the ruler of the Gurjara area. As in the present Baroda princely state, he is also known as Gurjar Naresh but that doesn’t mean he is a Gujjar; his family is a Maharatha family,” Kunwar Arunoday told India Today.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath was invited to unveil the statue of Samrat Mihir Bhoj on September 22 and the local MLA claimed him to be a Gujjar Samrat. The issue triggered a series of protests by Rajput bodies across western UP and Yogi Adityanath had to unveil the statue without attributing Mihir Bhoj as a Gujjar.
A similar incident took place a few days back in the Gwalior area of Madhya Pradesh where the Gujjar community unveiled a statue of Mihir Bhoj with the prefix of Gujjar. After a protest by Rajput bodies, the statue was covered by the administration.
“The caste-changing theory of Samrat Mihir Bhoj ji has been like a shock to me and for my family; we are shattered. How can someone change the caste of our ancestors and claim them as theirs while the present Nagod family, the descendants, are still alive? When I heard of all this misunderstanding going on in Nagod, I provided all the necessary documents and Vanshavali (family tree) and made a video,” he said.
Kunwar Arunoday has written a letter to PM Narendra Modi describing the details of his family and 1,300 years of history of the Nagod state to prove that he is the direct descendant of Mihir Bhoj and politics around his caste shall end.
“Things have come to a point where we the descendants have to prove who our forefathers were, while we are alive. All are my family, Gujjars, Brahmins, Pathans. I don’t have anything against them as they were the one and all and Hindustan made him a Samrat,” said Kunwar Arunoday.
