Gaur or Gour Rajputs are one of the 36 major clans of Rajputs in India. Gaurs are of Suryavanshi lineage, claiming descent from Surya, the Hindu Sun-god or in English it is known as Solar Dynasty. As per Valmiki Ramayana’s Uttar kand, Lord Ram’s younger brother Bharat established the vansh. Upon division of the kingdom, he established the kingdom of Gandharv which later got distorted to Gaur.

History

Akshay Kumar Maitreya, a contemporary and close collaborator of Rabindranath Tagore, in his Gaurer Katha (The story of Gaur) said “The whole of Gaur was once known as Gaura Desh.” The book, Gaur — The Medieval city of Bengal (c. 1450-1565), a special issue of Pratna Samiksha — a Journal of Archaeology by Centre for Archaeological Studies &Training, Eastern India, gives us an opportunity to explore the history in the ruins of Gaur. Once again it proves that history lies in the field. Traces of recorded history of the origins of Gaur Rajputs can be found in old texts of the British raj referring to the Pala Dynasty as Gaur Rajputs. The Pala dynasty ruled present Bengal and Bangladesh, later extending to other parts of north India, central India and Pakistan from the 8th century to 11th century AD. After the rule of the Palas, the Sen Dynasty established sole control over entire Bengal. Two famous rulers of the Sen Dynasty were Ballal Sen (1159-1179 AD) and Lakshman Sen (1179-1206 AD). Lakshman Sen expanded the Sena Empire to Assam, Odisha, Bihar and Varanasi. The capital of this Guar kingdom was Laknuati or Lakshmanvati. In 1203–1204 AD, the Turkic military general of Qutb-ud-din Aybak, Bakhtiyar Khilji suppressed Lakshman Sen thus capturing Northwest Bengal, although Eastern Bengal remained under Sena king’s control. The Gaurs relocated to Central and Northern India. (Present day Uttar Pradesh, Himachal and Rajasthan). One would find that some princely states in Himachal still use ‘Sen’ in their name, hence establishing semblance with the Sen Dynasty.