Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Chopra belongs to the community of Rors, a Hindu community, from Haryana. The Rors were considered descendants of Maratha soldiers who settled in Haryana after being defeated in the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761. Genetic scientists have found that the Rors have a very unique and distinctive ancestry among the Indian population and they have no ancestral link with Marathas or any other castes and communities.
Published: 14 Sep 2021, Updated: 14 Sep 2021 9:33 pm
When Neeraj Chopra won the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in men’s javelin throw, it made every Indian feel proud of his historic feat. Amidst countrywide praise and admirations, different communities tried to appropriate him as their own.
Soon after news broke, the Chopras took to social media to stake a claim that a Chopra guy ended India’s 100-year wait for a medal at the Olympics.
Even Punjabis were not far behind in patting their back and exchanging greetings. The Punjab government announced an award of Rs 2.51 crore. Then came the Rajputs and Gujjars staking their claim on Chopra’s ancestry.
Soon, it came to be known that Chopra belonged to the Rors, a Hindu community, from Haryana. The news thrilled the Maratha community as they started calling him their own.
Their claim was based on an old myth, according to which, the Rors were considered descendants of Maratha soldiers who settled in Haryana after being defeated in the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761.
Interestingly, genetic scientists found that the Rors have a very unique and distinctive ancestry among the Indian population and they have no ancestral link with Marathas or any other castes and communities.
Led by professor Gyaneshwer Chaubey of Banaras Hindu University — an international team of scientists involving Anurag Kadian, a Ror himself and an IIT Kharagpur alumnus, and scientists from ten institutions around the world prepared genetic data in 2018 on 254 individuals belonging to five ethnic groups living in the region of the Harappan civilization, and compare them with 1869 samples from around the world. These five groups are Ror, Gujjar, Jat, Kamboj and Khatri.
