The Rajputs rose to political importance in India in ninth century.

They were either descended from the Huns settled in northern India or from those tribes who had entered India together with with the Hun invaders.

The Rajputs became subjects of older Hindu kingdoms and assisted them in holding back the Arab advance. Hindu princes formally accepted the barbarian Rajputs as nobles in a fire ceremony at Mount Abu in western India.

Four of the Rajput clans claimed later a special status on the grounds that they decsended from a mythical figure who arose out of a vast sacrificial fire pit near Mt. Abu.

The Rajput princes became subsequently the principal defenders of India against the Muslims.