Rajputs mentioned as shudras in Hindu Dharmashastras

Rajput is a community that claims descent from Rajputras or kings. But The Rajput word for the ruler has not been used from the time of Ramayan and Mahabharat upto 600 A.D. in the history books or puranas, and after 600 A.D. to 1200 A.D. the Rajput word never mentioned in Historic religious or vedic books.The word Raja-putra/Rajputra in some vedic books which Today Rajputs say and corelate that Raja-putra/Rajputra means Rajputs in vedic books is wrong as Raja-Putra/Rajputra in sanskrit and hindi means "Raja as King and Putra as son ."Kings- son" can be any person from any caste or tribe.
Rajputs in Hindu Dharmashastras
Ananya Vajpeyi discusses the Rajputs in the context of Hindu Sanskrit Dharmashastra texts and shows the dissonance between the meaning of Rajput in the practical political arena versus the literal meaning of rajaputa in Hindu religious texts and how both meanings could coexist.
Vishvambhara Shastra states that :"An Ugra (Sudra mother, Kshatriya father) makes a living by the arts of war.
Skilled with the sword and bow, he is expert in combat. He stands apart among men as the mighty Rajput".
Similar view is held by the Jatinirnayaprakaranama of Sudrakamalakara, an early 1600s Dharmasastra text written by Kamalakarabhatta
(uncle of the notable Brahmin scholar Gaga Bhatt) for a rajaputa. Vajpeyi clarifies that although ugra literally means scary or fierce, in this context the medieval writers only used this term in the context of his qualities as a warrior.
Seshasakrishna's Sudracarasiromani, a text that predates Sudrakamalakara also supports this definition for a rajaputa.
Vajpeyi notes that Kamalakarabhatta makes a professional and religious distinction: a rajaputa may fight, however, he has to follow the duties similar to sudras or sudrasamana. She says Ugra or rajaputa is listed as one of the six types of a sankarajati(mixed caste) given in the text, whose father's varna is higher than that of the mother, and are thus an anulomajas or "one born in accordance with the natural flow". There are five other types of anulomajas unions given by Kamalakarabhatta. Thus, as per the medieval Brahminical Dharmashastras, Rajputs are a mixed jati. In the practical political context,
the word meaning edges towards Kshatriya although in Hindu religious texts rajaputa is closer to Shudra.
Some emigrant Brahmins may have been involved in Rajputising tribes to the Rajput status. Despite this, Vajpayi states that, periodically, Brahmins have characterized Rajput as self-seekers, and stated that they are not real Kshatriyas. Other than establishing marital ties with already established Rajput families,
constructing false genealogies and adopting titles such as "rana", Rajputising also involved starting the pretensions of rituals of twice-borns ( wearing sacred thread etc.). However, one ritual that was not given much significance was the Abhisheka. When a clan leader was made king by the Mughal emperor, the Tika mark on the head of leader by the Muslim emperor confirmed his Royal status and the Hindu ritual of Abhisheka was only of secondary importance. Aurangzeb eventually stopped the custom of Tika and the custom was replaced by bowing or taslim to the Mughal emperor, who would return the salute. According to Vajpayi, this possibly implies that it was still up to the Mughal emperor to ultimately give or deny the Rajput status to the clan leader.
The description of Rajputs in the Hindu Dharmashastras, self image that the Rajputs presented, and the Mughal view of the Rajputs was disparate. This incongruity, according to Vajpayi makes the Rajput identity Polyphonous.
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