That Hindu tradition produced most valiant Kshatriya and then Rajput warriors is indeed a truism. Sainis being connected through ancestry with the ancient Shoorsainis, the most glorious and celebrated Kshatriya warrior lineage among the Hindus , originating from none other than Maharaja Shoorsen ,  Lord Krishna's grandfather, could hardly have been an exception to this generality.

 

Mahabharata is replete with references to the bravery of Shoorsainis (Skt. Surasenas). Krishna and his older sibling Balaram are time and again described as the most feared and revered  Yadava warriors of Shoorsaini lineage, and their military exploits are extolled by poet-sage Veda Vyasa in both the epic Mahabharata and the Puranas.

However, these ancient  Saini ethos of bravery did not just end in the epical era but have been recrudecent throughout the history of India.  History of India is testimony to the fact that Sainis  have never shied away from a scrap whenever the honor of the country and their faith have been threatened . Based on the academic opinions of many distinguished scholars, it is now almost certain that Raja Porus ,  the glorious Indian king who stopped Alexander's advance in India, was also connected with this ancient and premier  lineage of valiant Yadavas.

 

About 1400 years later the might of Khiljis was resisted by the blade of Rana Gurdan Saini , another scion of this royal ancient dynasty and  the celebrated General of Rana Hamir Dev Chauhan .  Not until this scion of the ancient Yadus went out  heroically in a blaze of glory in the full heat  of the battlefield could the Khilji force, which vastly outnumbered Rajputs, finally think of  taking the fort of Ranthambore.

 

Rana Mal was another General of Saini-Yaduvanshi lineage in Rana Hamir's force. Although his role is considered controversial in that battle and he has gotten his just desserts from history for it, the fact remains that he was a major player in the power equation. Both of these high ranked Generals of Hamir belonged to Shoorsaini lineage which ruled Bayana, Bharatpur, Kaman and Karauli  in eastern Rajputana and Mewat on the eve of he earliest Turk invasions.  These rulers of Saini-Jadaun lineage were also sometimes referred as "Shura" Rajputs.  "Shura" was the abbreviation of the epical term "Shoorsaini", with "Saini" of course being  another more commonly used version. The Jat ruling house of Bharatpur , the Sinsinwars, also trace their origin indirectly to this Saini-Jadaun Rajput lineage.

 

Through vicissitudes of time and fortune Sainis were scattered in different regions of North India. Some were converted to Islam after the fall of Mathura to Muslims. These later went by the names of Khanzadas with their  cadet line surviving in present day Meos, whose Rajput origin is doubted by none.  The past connection of present day Sainis of Punjab, through common Tomar-Yaduvanshi Rajput ancestry, with these Muslim groups can be simply verified from  their clan names which have survived  in a  form very close  to their original  to this day. Saini clan names of Mangar (Meo-Mangaria) , Dhamrait (Meo-Demrot /Daemrot) , Chera (Meo- Chriklot), Dheri (Meo- Dherowal) , Daulay (Meo- Dhulot) , Tambar (Tanwar)  Pangliya (Meo- Panglot), Nawe (Meo-Nai), Janglia,  Gehlan (Meo- Gehlot) are also found in these Muslim groups of Rajput origin to this day.  There is also uncanny similarity between rhe Saini clan name of Thinde and that of  Raja Thind Pal  (sometime pronounced as Than Pal) , a king of  Saini-Yaduvanshi Rajput lineage who  ruled the area of Mewat and Eastern Rajputana around 1100 CE.  Some other Saini clans names such as Badwal, Salariya, Basuta (Basotra), Masuta (Masotra) , Dhanota (Dhanotra), Kaloti (Kalotra) , Vaid , Biloria, Farad,  Jagait, etc have come among Sainis through past consanguinity with Dogra Rajputs which loosened up gradually over time due to a variety of reasons. However, the most remarkable is the commonality of Saini clan names  with those of Meos. Although , all of their clan names are not same, a significant number are identcal  or very similar, with variations in pronunciation purely attributable to regional influences . What makes it remarkable is that both groups have now lived apart for over 800 years atleast . After conversion to Islam these Saini or Shoorsaini converts went by the regional descriptive of Meo (from Mewat) and their purity as Rajputs was lost through conversion to Islam and also  intermarriage with Meenas, but Cunningham believed that their Yaduvanshi  Rajput lineage is atleast true through the paternal sides of their families.  The commonality of clan names with a geographically non-contiguous group which claims origin from same parent clan as Sainis of Punjab amply proves for any reasonable skeptic that the claim of 19th century Sainis elders of Doaba that ancestors moved to Punjab from Mathura as part of Rajput armies to fight Muslim invasions was spot on and well grounded in historical facts .