Surwar

Survar, Sarwar^[1] or Surwar (सूरवार) is a clan of Rajputs.

Places

The people of Surwar are spread across the northern parts of India, mainly in Rajasthan, Eastern Uttar Pradesh (Benares, Mirzapur, Jaunpur) and Western Bihar (Arrah, Patna). The Piania village of Bhojpur district alone has more than two thousand Rajputs. There are many villages nearby Arrah, Bihar, where people of this clan live.

Origin

Elderly people living in the Piania village claim that hundreds of years ago their ancestors migrated from Rajasthan. They mention that their ancestors were from a place called Surpur Belahri in Rajasthan. However a place with the name of Surpur Belahri is not widely known today and so it can be assumed that it must be an old name or maybe it was a small town.

It is noteworthy that some sources^[2] mention that Surwar rajputs were from Sarwar city, Ajmer District. A handbook on Rajputs written by Capt. A.H. Bingley was published in 1899 which mentions their original place of migration as Bikaner.

Moreover a handbook on Rajputs mentions that Sarwar^[1] or Surwar rajput originally migrated from districts beyond Sarayu (Sarju) and Ghaghara (Gogra) to Rajasthan at some remote period. Hence that could be the reason for calling themselves Sarwar.

Worship

Surwars mainly worship Lord Rama. They consider themselves as Surajbanshis (Suryavanshi Rajput) and their gotras are mainly Garg and Bharadwaj.

References