Rathore

The Rathores are a Rajput dynasty of the Suryavamshi tradition whose bardic genealogies trace them to the Gahadavalas of Kannauj; the historical line begins with Rao Siha, who established the first Rathore chiefdom in the Pali country of Marwar in the thirteenth century and died in 1273. Rao Chunda gained Mandore as a Pratihara bride's dowry around 1400 and made it the clan capital, but after Rao Ranmal was assassinated in 1438 the Sisodias of Mewar annexed Marwar. Rao Jodha recovered it in 1453 and founded Jodhpur, while his sons carved out Bikaner in 1465 and Merta in 1462, and Rao Maldeo, reigning from 1532 to 1562, made Marwar the strongest power in Rajputana.

Under the Mughals the Rathores shifted between enmity and alliance: Chandrasen Rathore resisted Akbar for nearly twenty years, until Uday Singh accepted Mughal suzerainty in 1583, and Aurangzeb's reign brought a thirty-year revolt in which Durgadas Rathore defended the Jodhpur line. A junior branch under Rao Sonag had already founded Idar in Gujarat in 1257, and Rao Anand Singh reconquered it in 1729. Jodhpur itself came under British protection by treaty in 1818, the leading state among the many Rathore principalities of Rajasthan.