page_title: Rajputana Rifles
section_title: Lineage
hierarchical_section_title: Rajputana Rifles / Lineage
caption_attribution_description: English: source: http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/LAND-FORCES/Army/Images/0110.jpg
context_page_description: The Rajputana Rifles is the oldest rifle regiment and one of the senior-most regiments of the Indian Army. It was originally raised in 1921 as part of the British Indian Army, when six previously existing regiments were amalgamated to form six battalions of the 6th Rajputana Rifles. In 1945 the numeral designation was dropped from the title and in 1947 the regiment was transferred to the newly independent Indian Army. Since independence, the regiment has been involved in a number of conflicts against Pakistan, as well as contributing to the Custodian Force in Korea under the aegis of the United Nations in 1953-54 and to the UN Mission to the Congo in 1962. As a rifle regiment it uses a bugle horn as its insignia, the same as the British Light Division, but unlike its British counterparts, the Rajputana Rifles march at the same march pace used in the Indian Army as a whole.
context_section_description: The regiment's origins lie in the 18th century when the East India Company (HEIC) recruited Rajputs to protect its operations. The impressive performance of French local units which were composed of local recruits mixed with French officers, helped the HEIC to decide that it needed to do something similar. In January 1775, it raised its first local infantry units which included the 5th Battalion, Bombay Sepoys, which is considered to be the oldest rifle regiment of the Indian Army. The 5th Battalion was successively redesignated as 9th Battalion Bombay Sepoys in 1778; 2nd Battalion, 2nd Regiment of Bombay Native Infantry in 1796; 4th Regiment of Bombay Native Infantry in 1824, and then 4th Regiment Native Infantry (Rifle Corps) in 1881. It thus became the first rifle regiment of the British Indian Army. In 1899 the battalion was once more renamed as 4th Regiment (1st Battalion Rifle Corps) Bombay Infantry and again in 1901 as 4th Bombay Rifles.
  In Kitchener's 1903 reorganisation of the Indian Army, 4th Bombay Rifles became 104th Wellesley's Rifles, to commemorate the fact that the regiment had been commanded in 1800 by Arthur Wellesley (later the  Duke of Wellington). In the further re-organisation in 1921, six regiments were brought together to form six battalions of the 6th Rajputana Rifles Regiment:
  1st Battalion - 104th Wellesley's Rifles
  2nd Battalion - 120th Rajputana Infantry
  3rd Battalion - 122nd Rajputana Infantry
  4th Battalion - 123rd Outram's Rifles
  5th Battalion - 125th Napier's Rifles
  10th (Training) Battalion - 13th Rajputs (The Shekhawati Regiment).
  18th Battalion - (Saurashtra Rifles)
  In 1945 the regiments of the British Indian Army dropped the numeral in their titles and so the Rajputana Rifles assumed its current name. In 1947 after the partition of India the regiment was allocated to the newly formed Indian Army. In 1949, the 1st battalion was transferred to the newly raised Brigade of the Guards, becoming the 3rd battalion, Brigade of the Guards.
caption: A painting depicting members of the Rajputanta Rifles, of all ranks and uniforms. c. 1911
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