Who among the following was the first to propound the theory of the origin of…

Historians who studied the origins of the Rajput clans proposed several competing theories: a fire-born (Agnikula) legend recorded in bardic chronicles, a foreign or Central Asian descent theory (Rajputs as assimilated Huna, Saka, or Scythian invaders), and a Brahmin-conversion theory holding that certain Rajput ruling lines descended from Brahmin families — specifically the Nagara Brahmins of Gujarat — who took up arms and were later absorbed into the Kshatriya varna.

1. Dr. D. R. Bhandarkar studied the early inscriptions and genealogies of the Guhila (Gahlot) dynasty of Mewar.

2. Based on this epigraphic evidence, he concluded that the Guhila ruling line traced its ancestry to Nagara Brahmins of Gujarat.

3. He published this conclusion, which is why he is credited as the first scholar to propound the Nagara-Brahmin-origin theory of Rajput descent.

• Col. James Tod, in ‘Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan,’ championed a foreign or Central Asian (Scythian-Hun) descent theory for the Rajputs, and separately popularised the Agnikula legend — not the Nagara-Brahmin theory.

• V. A. Smith likewise argued for a foreign-tribal origin, treating the Rajputs as later-assimilated Hun or Scythian invaders — a theory distinct from the Nagara-Brahmin conversion thesis.

• Dr. Dashrath Sharma is associated with a composite, indigenous-origin view of the Rajput clans, drawing on multiple indigenous Kshatriya lineages rather than a single Brahmin-conversion source.

So among these historians, Dr. D. R. Bhandarkar is credited as the first to propound the theory that the Rajputs descended from Nagara Brahmins.