Theos-Talk Archives (October 2004 Message tt00308)

Krishtar,
Here is a paste of that content.
From:http://www.theosophy-nw.org/theosnw/books/wqj-all/j-rajputs.htm 

The Red Rajputs

By William Q. JudgeBrother Charles Johnston, F.T.S., formerly of the Dublin 
Lodge in Ireland, is a member of the Royal Academy of Science and retired from 
the British Civil Service of India. His interest in Indian questions of 
religion, philosophy, and ethnology is very great, and as his linguistic 
accomplishments are extensive, his studies in that field are of value. The Imperial and 
Asiatic Quarterly Review for October, 1893, has an article by him under the 
above title which Theosophists will do well to read if they can procure it.
Starting with the assertion of de Quatrefages that there are four principal 
color groups in the human family, of white, yellow, red, and black races, he 
adds this from the Mahabharata:

> The color of the Brahmans is white; of the Kshatriyas red, of the Vaisyas 
> 

While Col. Tod has given much of what is called the history of the Rajputs, 
Johnston shows that although we have been in contact with Rajputana for over a 
hundred years, there as yet exists no material for an exact study of its 
ethnology; while the latter as an exact science is very young and was for a long 
time hampered by the old Mosaic traditions about Shem, Ham, and Japhet. He holds 
that the Rajputs are red in color, and also makes good argument on the point 
that in ancient times they as Kshatriyas or warriors were above the Brahmans 
so far as mystical and spiritual knowledge went. Quoting the 
Brihadaranyaka-Upanishad thus, "This knowledge has never before dwelt in any Brahman," he goes 
to point out that Krishna, the great King and Sage, was a Kshatriya, while next 
comes Buddha, admitted by the Hindus to be an Avatara, who was also a 
Kshatriya, all being held by him to be Rajputs. Krishna traced his doctrine from the 
Kshatriya Manu through a line of Rajarshis or Rajanya sages. This is in the 
Bhagavad-Gita, where the last personage named in the line is Ikshvaku, of whose 
race was Buddha. Hence he ascribes the spirit of the Upanishads and of 
Buddhism to the mystical genius of the Rajanya race. The well-known characteristics 
of the Brahmans of not having missionaries should be remembered at this point. 
The reformers they have had have been mostly among themselves, as, for 
instance, the great Brahman Samkaracharya. If Johnston's argument be right, then it 
is a very remarkable fact that the Gayatri, or that holy verse which is the 
"mother of the Vedas," repeated every morning by thousands of Brahmans as they 
bathe in the Ganges, was composed by a Kshatriya and not by a Brahman. On this 
we have in the Upanishads these words: "The Brahman sat at the foot of the 
Kshatriya." This upholds the spiritual dignity of the Rajanyas, who are the 
Kshatriyas and the Red Rajputs. And, as he shows, to this time the Ranas of Mewar 
"unite spiritual with royal authority and officiate as high priests in the 
temple of the guardian deity of their race." We should not forget, either, that it 
is recorded respecting the proceedings after the death and cremation of the 
body of Buddha that the Moriyas of Pipphalivana, saying that Buddha was of their 
soldier caste, took away the embers to erect a cairn over them.* And the name 
to be applied to these is lohita, or red, which is also the name of the 
planet Mars, the fighter.
> * See Maha-Parinibbana Sutta (The Book of the Great Decease), American 
> 

Johnston's ethnological deduction is as follows: "That the Kshatriyas of 
ancient India are identical in ethnic characteristics with the Rajputs of today." 
The Red Rajputs are the descendants of the solar race, a race of kings, of 
mystical men who not only could learn of mystic occultism but could also fight 
and rule, which is contrary to the regulation for the Brahman.
If we turn now to The Secret Doctrine, Vol. I, p. 378, there is most 
interesting and suggestive matter on this head, with names also, given doubtless with 
a purpose not divulged.
Quoting from the Vishnu-Purana (Bk. IV, ch. xxiv and iv), she says:
> . . . Two persons, Devapi, of the race of Kuru and Maru, of the family of 
> Ikshvaku . . . continue alive throughout the whole four ages, residing at the 
> village of Kalapa. They will return hither, in the beginning of the Krita age 
> . . . Maru, the son of Sighra through the power of Yoga is still living in 
> the village called Kalapa, and, in a future age, will be the restorer of the 
> 

Max Muller, it is said, translates Moru as Morya, of the Morya dynasty, 
evidently of the same race or family as those who came and took the embers from the 
cremation of Buddha. To take the embers, when read under the rules of Indian 
symbolism, is very much like "taking the essence of spiritual culture after 
all the rest is burned or purged away." Another valuable article to read in 
connection with this is the Moryas and Koothoomi in Five Years of Theosophy, p. 
483. All students of these extremely interesting points are indebted to Brother 
Johnston for his paper, all too short as it was.
> 



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