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Rajput kingdoms, principalities, fiefdoms (zamindari, Jagirdari) spanned across north-India from Himachal to Odisha in South from Gujrat in west to Bihar in the estate, but what made them kingdoms were loyal feudal lords or Sāmant as they were called, often being related kinsmen of the ruling dynasty and many a times other clan, serving tho run functioning of kingdoms, hundreds of battles have witness their loyalty and chivalry of these feudal lords, but they remains silent in historical debates remembered sometimes, but only in connection with Royal dynasty otherwise nameless, as the persons in picture Rajput Sāmants from Jaipur/Amber.

List of evident/influential keeps and concubines of Rathore Rajput rulers of kingdom of Marwar, Starting from Maharaja Sur Singh r.1595-1618 to Maharaja Jaswant Singh (the one in picture above).

Lieutenant Colonel Megh Singh stands as a pivotal figure in the annals of the Indian Army Special Forces, often revered as the father of India’s Para Commandos. Born in an era of colonial rule and rising nationalism, he pioneered unconventional warfare tactics that transformed India's military capabilities. As the first Para Commando of India, Lt. Col. Megh Singh's visionary leadership during the 1965 Indo-Pak War led to the creation of an ad-hoc unit that evolved into the elite 9 Para (SF), laying the groundwork for modern special operations. His legacy endures in the ethos of the Indian Army Special Forces, embodying courage, innovation, and unyielding determination. As one famous quote attributed to the Para Regiment captures: "Men apart, every man an emperor," highlighting the exceptional valor of these warriors. Lt. Col. Megh Singh was born on March 1, 1924, in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, into a Rathore Rajput family, the son of Bhoor Singh. Growing up in the arid landscapes of Rajasthan, he imbibed the warrior traditions of his heritage, which emphasized However, his career faced a setback when he was court-martialed and demoted to the rank of Major just before the 1965 Indo-Pak War, reportedly due to disciplinary issues. Undeterred, this adversity fueled his resolve. Key milestones included his service in infantry roles, where he honed skills in reconnaissance and guerrilla tactics, setting the stage for his groundbreaking contributions to the Indian Army Special Forces.honor, resilience, and martial prowess. His early life was marked by a disciplined upbringing that prepared him for a career in uniform.

Singh initially joined the Patiala State Forces, a princely state army, before being integrated into the Indian Army post-independence. He was commissioned into the 3rd Battalion of the Guards (1 Rajputana Rifles), where his unorthodox thinking and tactical acumen quickly distinguished him. The 1965 Indo-Pak War erupted amid escalating tensions over Kashmir, exposing the need for specialized units capable of deep strikes behind enemy lines. In this crucible, Major Megh Singh volunteered for high-risk operations, proposing an ad-hoc commando team to conduct raids into Pakistani territory.

Granted autonomy by Lt. Gen. Harbaksh Singh, he handpicked 60 volunteers from various units, forming the Meghdoot Force—named after himself—in August 1965. This unit, comprising daring soldiers trained in stealth, sabotage, and airborne insertions, aimed to disrupt enemy supply lines and capture strategic positions.

The Meghdoot Force executed audacious missions, including raids on Pakistani posts in the Haji Pir Pass sector. On September 1, 1965, they infiltrated deep into enemy-held areas, inflicting heavy casualties over 600 on the Pakistani side against just 12 Indian losses while securing vital links between Haji Pir and Poonch.

Few episodes capture the brutal grammar of Rajput honour as starkly as the feud between Rehua and Baundi. Around 1835, a dying, issueless Raja Yashkaran Singh of Rehua placed his eight-year-old nephew Jaswant Singh upon his chest and named him heir, entrusting the regency to the boy's father, Dhaukal Singh. Baundi's ruler, seeking to annex the estate, struck first Maharaja Mandhata Singh of Baundi ambushed Dhaukal Singh near Nauguiyan, Kesarganj. Outnumbered fifty against two thousand, Dhaukal Singh fought and fell. Mandhata Singh severed his head and performed Ran-puja planting the estate's flag-staff upon the ground beside the enemy's head. The infant heir could not answer this dishonour, so his uncle Prithvi Singh swore the oath in his place. When Mandhata Singh learned of the vow, he laid siege to Rehua only to be routed when Prithvi Singh sallied out and turned the siege back on the besieger. Mandhata Singh fled and took shelter in a dancing girl's house, a refuge deemed as shameful in Rajput custom as suicide itself. Cornered there, he was spared his life but not his honour. Prithvi Singh took his turban, and, completing the Ran-puja in kind, mutilated his concubine's nipples, closing the cycle of vengeance the code demanded.

A Rajput ruler. A cricketing pioneer.

Ranjitsinhji Jadeja was born on 10 September 1872 in Sadodar, a small village in the princely state of Nawanagar in the Kathiawar region of western India present-day Jamnagar, Gujarat. He came from a Jadeja Rajput family with a distant blood tie to Nawanagar's ruling house: his grandfather, Jhalamsinhji, was a cousin of Vibhaji, the reigning Jam Sahib. That distant connection would define the first half of his life. In 1878, after his own son Kalubha was disinherited for violent conduct, Vibhaji adopted an heir from Jhalamsinhji's branch of the family and the choice eventually fell on the young Ranjitsinhji. He spent his childhood years at Rajkot under British oversight before enrolling at Rajkumar College, an institution modelled on the English public school system. But the adoption was never formally completed, and in 1882 the birth of Vibhaji's own son, Jaswantsinhji, effectively ended Ranjitsinhji's claim to the throne he had been raised to inherit.

It was at Rajkumar College that Ranjitsinhji first picked up a cricket bat, around the age of ten or eleven. He captained the school team through the mid-1880s, though by his own admission he preferred tennis at the time. His academic promise, however, opened a different door: in 1888 he travelled to England to study at Cambridge University. Cambridge did not go as planned academically he never graduated, and struggled with both funds and formal study but it was there that a cricketing legend began to take shape. Working with the cricketer Daniel Hayward on his technique, Ranjitsinhji developed what would become his signature stroke: the leg glance. Practising with his right leg tied to the ground to correct a habit of backing away from fast bowling, he began flicking the ball behind his legs an audacious, almost heretical shot by the conventions of the day. By 1892 he was scoring at a rate he had never previously managed, and English cricket had never quite seen anything like him. Ranjitsinhji's rise through county and Test cricket was rapid and, at the time, deeply controversial his selection for England was resisted by figures in the cricketing establishment on the basis of race, and he endured open hostility even as spectators marvelled at his batting. He made his Test debut in July 1896 and scored 154 not out in an innings Wisden called "marvellous" and "beyond exaggeration."

Over the following decade he became one of the most celebrated batsmen in the world:

• 72 first-class centuries
• 24,692 first-class runs at an average of 56.37 the highest career average by an England-based batsman for nearly a century
• The first player to score 3,000 first-class runs in a single season (1899)
• 989 runs in 15 Test matches, all against Australia

His batting was described by contemporaries in terms usually reserved for artists rather than athletes Neville Cardus wrote that before Ranjitsinhji, English cricket had been "English through and through," but that with him, "a strange light from the East flickered in the English sunshine." Even as his cricketing fame grew, Ranjitsinhji never abandoned his claim to Nawanagar. For over a decade he pursued it through petitions to the India Office, alliances with fellow princes, and repeated visits to India, all while sinking deeper into personal debt maintaining the lifestyle of a "prince" with no throne. It was only after the death of Jaswantsinhji in 1906, and a prolonged succession dispute with rival claimant Lakhuba, that the British finally ruled in Ranjitsinhji's favour. He was installed as Jam Sahib of Nawanagar on 11 March 1907 inheriting a state left poor by drought and disease, with much of its treasury and jewellery already sold off to survive. He is said to have described the capital, Jamnagar, on first seeing it, as "an evil slum.

As Jam Sahib and later Maharaja Ranjitsinhji oversaw the modernisation of Nawanagar: slum clearance and rebuilding in Jamnagar, expanded railways, improved irrigation, and the construction of a new port at Bedi that more than doubled the state's revenue within a decade. He served the British war effort during the First World War, and in 1915 lost an eye in a shooting accident on a Yorkshire grouse moor a wound that effectively ended his top-level cricket career, though he played on in a handful of matches until 1920. In his later years he became a leading voice among India's princely rulers, representing India at the League of Nations and chairing the Chamber of Princes, where he fought against the tide of federation and the rising Indian independence movement.

He died of heart failure on 2 April 1933, and his ashes were scattered over the Ganges. Ranjitsinhji never played cricket in India and gave little direct support to the sport's growth there a fact that has drawn criticism from historians who note the irony of his later title, "Father of Indian Cricket." Yet his impact was undeniable. A year after his death, the Board of Control for Cricket in India instituted the Ranji Trophy, India's premier first-class cricket championship, donated and inaugurated by Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala in 1934–35. It remains, to this day, the cornerstone of Indian domestic cricket a tournament played in the name of a Rajput prince who conquered English cricket before ever ruling his own kingdom.

The ruling family of the Khairigarh-Singahi estate belonged to Suryavanshi (Surajbansi) clan of Rajput rulers of Ayodhya. Historically, a branch of this clan migrated northwards and established themselves in the region of Doti (now located in western Nepal). For generations, they ruled as independent chieftains in the hills. However, during the late 18^(th) century, the expansion of the Gorkha Kingdom disrupted their rule. In 1790, Raja Dip Shah of Doti was expelled from Nepal by the advancing Gorkha forces. Seeking refuge in the plains of Awadh (Oudh), Raja Dip Shah attempted to carve out a new principality in the fertile plains of the Khairigarh Pargana. This region was then dominated by powerful nomadic Banjara chieftains who resisted his encroachment. Though Raja Dip Shah initially met with strong resistance and failed to secure a foothold, he eventually gathered a sufficient force to decisively defeat the Banjaras. This victory allowed him to establish his authority over the entire Khairigarh Pargana, as well as parts of the neighboring Bhur pargana, laying the foundation of the Khairigarh-Singahi Raj.

In the census of year #1891 a total of 11,178 Gargbansi Rajputs were recorded across 24 district of Uttar Pradesh, making them a numerically small clan among Rajputs found predominately in Gangetic Plains only (Awadh & Purvanchal) nearly half of them reside in #Faizabad, #Azamgarh & #Sultanpur. They are said to be descendant of Raja Gargayas a prominent Kshtriya king of Bhagwat Puran.

Image 1 - Raja Artatran Singh deo (left), Maharaja Anup Singh Singh Deo of Khariar estate, situated in Nuapada district, Odisha.

Image 2 - Raja Shree Niladhar Singh Chauhan Deo Bahadur of Sonepur Princely State ruled by Agnate line of Chauhan Rajput kings of Sambalpur founded in year 1556 by Raja Madan Gopal Singh 2nd son of Raja Madhukar Dev Chauhan of Sambalpur. Sonepur was one of the largest princely state in eastern India with 9 gun salute and an area of 2,347 sq. KM.