| Khatri | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Khatri nobleman inKitab-i Tasrih al-Aqvam byJames Skinner (1778–1841) | |
| Religions | Majority:Hinduism Minority:Sikhism,Islam |
| Languages | Major:Lahnda variety ofPunjabi (Potohari,Hindko,Multani/Saraiki)[1][2][3][4][5] Minor:Hindi,Gujarati,Dogri,Kangri,Sindhi,[6]Pashto,Urdu,[7]Kutchi |
| Country | India,Pakistan andAfghanistan |
| Region | Punjab,Sindh,Delhi,Jammu and Kashmir,[8]Himachal Pradesh,[9]Haryana,[10]Gujarat,[11]Maharashtra,[12]Uttar Pradesh |
Khatri (fromSanskrit:Kṣatriya, "the warrior or military caste") is acaste originating from theMalwa andMajha areas ofPunjab region[13] ofSouth Asia that is predominantly found inIndia, but also inPakistan andAfghanistan. The Khatris claim they are warriors who took to trade.[14] In theIndian subcontinent, they were mostly engaged in mercantile professions such as banking and trade.[15][16][17] They were the dominant commercial and financial administration class of late-medieval India.[17] Some in Punjab often belonged to hereditary agriculturalist land-holding lineages,[18][19] while others were engaged in artisanal occupations such as silk production and weaving.[20][21][22][23]
Khatris of Punjab, specifically, werescribes and traders during the medieval period, with theGurumukhi script used in writing thePunjabi language deriving from a standardised form of theLāṇḍa script used by Khatri traders;[24] the invention of the script is traditionally ascribed toGuru Angad. During the medieval period, with the rise of Persian as an elite vernacular due to Islamic rule, some of the traditional high statusupper-caste literate elite[25] such as the Khatris,Kashmiri Brahmins andKayasthas took readily to learning Persian from the times ofSikandar Lodi onwards and found ready employment in the Imperial Services, specifically in the departments of accountancy (siyaq), draftsmanship (insha) and offices of the revenue minister (diwan).[citation needed][26][14]
In the 15th century, theSikh religion was founded byGuru Nanak, a Bedi Khatri. The second guru,Guru Angad was a Trehan Khatri. The third guru,Guru Amar Das was a Bhalla Khatri. The fourth through tenth gurus were allSodhi Khatris.[14] During theSikh Empire, many Khatris formed the military vanguard of theKhalsa Army and its administrative class asDewans of all the provinces.Hari Singh Nalwa, the commander-in-chief of the Sikh Khalsa Army, was an Uppal Khatri and responsible for most of the Sikh conquests up until theKhyber pass.[27][28] Others such asMokham Chand commanded the Sikh Army against theDurrani Empire atAttock while those such asSawan Mal Chopra ruledMultan after wrestling it from the Afghans.[29]
During the British colonial era, they also served as lawyers and engaged in administrative jobs in the colonial bureaucracy.[30][31] Some of them served in theBritish Indian army after being raised as Sikhs.[18]
During thePartition of British India in 1947, Khatris migrated enmasse to India from the regions that comprise modern-day Pakistan.[32][33]Hindu Afghans andSikh Afghans are predominantly of Khatri andArora origin.[34]
Khatris have played an active role in theIndian Armed Forces since 1947, with many heading it as theChief of Army orAdmiral of the Navy. Some such asVikram Batra andArun Khetarpal have won India's highest wartime gallantry award, theParam Vir Chakra.[35][36]
As per historianW. H. McLeod and Louis Fenech,Khattrī is a Punjabi form of the wordKṣatriya.[37]Peter Hardy andA. R. Desai also agree thatKhattrī is derived fromKṣatriya.[38][39] In the Shabdasāgara, the wordKhattrī used for the caste of Hindus from Punjab derives from the SanskritKṣatriya, with the female member being aKhatrānī (Skt. Kṣatrāṇī)[40]
Dr. Dharamvir Bharati comments that in Punjabi language,Kṣatriya is pronounced asKhattrī.[41] As per Dr. GS Mansukhani and RC Dogra, "Khatri appears to be unquestionably a Prakritised form of Sanskrit word Kshatriya."[42] According to philologistRalph Lilley Turner, in his etymological Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Lexicon, it is the Punjabi word "khattrī", meaning "warrior", that derives from Sanskrit "kṣatriya", whereas another similar sounding Gujarati word "khātrī", meaning "a caste of Hindu weavers", derives from Sanskrit "kṣattr̥", meaning "carver, distributor", the name of a mixed caste in the Brahminical scriptures.[43]
John Stratton Hawley and Mann clarify that the word "Khatri" derives from the Sanskrit "Kshatriya", in Punjab's context Khatri refers to a "cluster of merchant castes including Bedis, Bhallas and Sodhis".[44] Purnima Dhavan sees the claim as originating from a conflation of the phonetically similar words khatri and kshatriya, but refers to Khatris as a "trading caste" of the Sikh Gurus.[45]
According toS. Sasikanta Sastri, Greek historians have mentioned that Alexander faced stiffed resistance from Indian army of "Kathiyo" warriors. Sastri further adds that "even in present day modern-India, a group of martial caste members called Khati (Khatri) exist inNorth-India".[46]Michael Witzel, writing in his paper "Sanskritization of the Kuru State" states theKathaiois were KaṭhaBrahmins.[47]
EmperorJahangir in his autobiographyJahangirnama while talking about the castes, he observed "The second highest caste (after Brahmins in the caste system) is the Chhatri which is also known as Khattri. The Chhatri caste's purpose is to protect the oppressed from the aggression of the oppressors".[48][49]
HistorianMuzaffar Alam describes the Khatris of Punjab as a "scribe and trading caste". They occupied positions in revenue collection and record keeping and learntPersian during Mughal era. However, this profession often created conflicts with the Brahmin scribes who discontinued the use of Persian and started using Marathi in the Deccan.[50][51][26][52][53] According to McLane, them being a trading group, had spread into many parts of India, possibly long before the 1700s and to Bengal, possibly even before the Mughals arrived.[54]
According to a 17th-century legend, Khatris continued their military service until the time ofAurangzeb, when their mass death during the emperor's Deccan Campaign caused him to order theirwidows to be remarried. The order was made out of sympathy for the widows but when the Khatri community leaders refused to obey it, Aurangzebterminated their military service and said that they should be shopkeepers and brokers.[55] This legend is probably fanciful: McLane notes that a more likely explanation for their revised position was that a Sikh rebellion against the Mughals in the early 1700s severely compromised the Khatri's ability to trade and forced them to take sides. Those who were primarily dependent on the Mughals went to significant lengths to assert that allegiance in the face of accusations that they were in fact favouring "Jat Sikh followers of the rebel leader,Banda". The outcome of their assertions - which included providing financial support to the Mughals and shaving their beards - was that the Khatris became still more important to the Mughal rulers as administrators at various levels, in particular because of their skills in financial management and their connections with bankers.[55]
Khatri standards of literacy and caste status were such during the early years of Sikhism that, according toW. H. McLeod, they dominated it.[56]
Sukh Jiwan Mal, aDewan ofAhmad Shah Durrani, was a Khatri officer fromBhera. He liberatedKashmir fromAfghan dominancy in 1754 and ratified his control over the valley by assuming his duties as aRaja. Mal was subsequently defeated in 1762 by Nur-ud-Din Bamzai, a general deputed by Durrani himself.[57][58][59]
In Bengal,Burdwan Raj (1657–1955) was a Khatri dynasty, which gained a high social position for Khatris in the region resulting in greater migration of Khatris from Punjab to Bengal.[60] When GuruTegh Bahadur visited Bengal in 1666, he was welcomed by the local Khatris, thereby supporting earlier waves of migration of Khatris to Bengal as well.[61]
TheGujarat Sultanate (1407–1523) was a medieval Muslim dynasty founded byZafar Khan Muzaffar, a member of the Tank caste of Punjabi Khatris according to the contemporary historian Shiekh Sikander[62] or Rajputs.[63] He started as a menial but rose to the level of a noble in theDelhi Sultan's family and became the Governor of Gujrat. After Timur attacked the city, people fled to Gujarat and it became independent.[64][65]
The Khatris played an important role in India's trans-regional trade during the period,[66] being described by Levi as among the "most important merchant communities of early modern India."[67] Levi writes: "Stephen Dale locates Khatris inAstrakhan,Russia during the late 17th century and, in the 1830s,Elphinstone, was informed that Khatris were still highly involved in northwest India's trade and that they maintained communities throughoutAfghanistan and as far away asAstrakhan".[68] According to Kiran Datar, they often marriedTatar local women in Astrakhan and the children from these marriages were known asAgrijan.[69] As per Stephen Dale, the children born out of Indo-Turkic alliance were in sufficient number to form an Agrizhan suburb in the city.[70]
Dale states that most of the 10,000 (as estimated byJean Chardin) Indian merchants and money-lenders inIsfahan (Iran) in 1670, belonged to the Khatri caste of Punjab and north-west India. In Iran'sBazaars, Khatris sold cloth and various items and also practised money-lending. Dale believes that Khatris had possibly been travelling from Punjab viacaravans since the era ofZiauddin Barani (around 1300 AD). Chardin specifically stereotyped and expressed disapproval of the money-lending techniques of the Khatri community. According to Dale, this racist criticism was ironic given Chardin's non-English background but adds that it was Chardin's way of giving an "ethnic explanation" to the economic disparity between Iran and India at that time.[71]
According to historians Roger Ballard andHarjot Oberoi, Afghan Hindus and Sikhs descend from the members of the country's indigenous Khatri population who resisted the conversion fromBuddhism to Islam between 9th and 13th centuries. Later, they aligned themselves to the teachings of Guru Nanak, himself a Khatri and converted to Sikhism. Hence, Khatris of Afghanistan are in no way of "Indian origin" but are components of the original population of the region.George Campbell says "I do not know the exact limits of Khatri occupation to the West, but certainly in all Eastern Afghanistan they seem to be just as much part of the community as they are in the Punjab. They find their way into Central Asia."[72]
The Khatris took on a prominent role in the emerging Sikh milieu of post-Mughal Punjab. According to the Khalsa Durbar Records,Maharaja Ranjit Singh's army was composed of majorly Jats followed by Khatris.[73]Sardar Gulab Singh Khatri founded theDallewallia Misl, an independent 18th century Sikh sovereign state inLudhiana andJalandhar district that would later on join Maharaja Ranjit Singh's kingdom.[74][page needed][75][page needed] In the Sikh Empire,Hari Singh Nalwa (1791–1837) an Uppal Khatri fromGujranwala, became the Commander-in-chief of theSikh Khalsa Army.[76][page needed] He led the Sikh conquests ofKasur,Sialkot,Attock,Multan,Kashmir,Peshawar andJamrud. He was responsible for expanding the frontier of Sikh Empire to beyond theIndus River, up to the mouth of theKhyber Pass. At the time of his death, the western boundary of the empire was Jamrud.[77][page needed]
Dewan Mokham Chand (1750-1814) became one of the most distinguished leaders of the Khalsa Army. He was the commander in chief of armies inBattle of Attock which defeatedDurrani Empire Wazir Fateh Khan andDost Mohammad Khan[78] Other Khatris likeDiwan Sawan Mal Chopra served as governors ofLahore andMultan, after helping conquer the region[56] while his sonDiwan Mulraj Chopra (1814-1851), the lastPunjabi ruler of Multan led a Sikh rebellion against British suzerainty over Multan after the fall of theSikh Empire in theAnglo-Sikh Wars. He was arrested after the Siege of Multan and put to death.[79][page needed]
Purnima Dhawan described that together withJat community, the Khatris gained considerably from the expansion of the Mughal empire, although both groups supportedGuru Hargobind in his campaign for Sikh self-government in the Punjab plains.[80]
In the 1830s, Khatris were working asgovernors in the districts likeBardhaman,Lahore,Multan,Peshawar andHazara, but independent from the Mughal rule.[81][36][page needed][82]
In Punjab, they were moneylenders, shopkeepers and grain-dealers among other professions.[16]
A Peshkari Khatri family inHyderabad State would become part of the Hyderabadi nobility and occupy the post of Prime Minister of Hyderabad. Notable individuals of the family includeMaharaja Kishen Prasad,GCIE who would serve as Prime Minister of the State twice.[83][84][85] InHyderabad, around the mid-20th century, Khatris andPadmasalis were the leading "Hindu weaving castes" who owned 43% of thelooms. The Khatris specialised in silk, while the Padmasalis in cotton weaving.[86]
In the early 19th century, the Khatris,Bhatias andLohanas were the main trading castes inRajasthan,Delhi,Agra,Sind andPunjab.[87] Banking, trading and business were considered "traditional occupations of the Khatri in Rajasthan".[88]
Harish Damodaran says the rise of Khatri industrialists in post-1947 India was a consequence initially of the cataclysmicPartition, which pushed them in droves towards Delhi and its neighbourhoods. This exodus opened new opportunities for them. A combination of enterprise, articulation, and strategic closeness to the national capital— which, in itself, was becoming a major growth hub - created conditions for Khatri capital to flourish in the post-Partition period.[89]
Damodaran adds that the land Khatris originally belonged to had very little industry and rail infrastructure until the 20th century and hence were not comparable to merchant groups likeBanias in terms of scale and spread of operation. Before independence they were only regional players and their rise in phenomenal proportions was a post-independence feature. Since then, they have produced leading entities in fields of pharmaceuticals, two-wheelers, tractors, paper, tyre-making and hotels with the groups ofRanbaxy,Hero,Mahindra,Ballarpur Industries,Apollo Tyres andOberoi respectively.[90] They have also co-founded companies likeSnapdeal,Hotmail,YesBank,IndiaToday,AajTak,IndiGo Airlines,Sun Microsystems,Max Group etc.[91][90]
Punjabi Khatris and others, together with the traditionally "urban and professional" castes, formed a part of the elite middle class immediately after independence in 1947. According to P. K. Verma, "Education was a common thread that bound together this pan Indian elite" and almost all the members of theseupper castes communities could read and write English and were educated beyond school.[92][93]
Delhi's population increased by 1.1 million in the period 1941–1951. This growth of 106% largely resulted from the influx ofPartition migrants among other reasons. These were members of the Hindu and Sikh Khatri/Arora castes of theWest Punjab. Many moved to the city for better economic opportunities.[33]
During 1947, Punjabis who migrated to Haryana during Partition were mostly Khatris or Aroras. As per a survey conducted byMaharishi Dayanand University, the migrant population were forced to live in camps under open sky. Only a meager 5% received "grossly undervalued claims against their properties in shape of very poorly cultivable land, while remaining 95% though entitled for compensation could not get any thing to sustain". This migrant population is also referred to as ‘refugee’ and ‘sharnarthi’ (शरणार्थी) in a derogatory manner by some locals. A Punjabi organisation had approached the Haryana government with a demand to ban both words and to enact a law on the lines of theSC/ST Act with similar penalties. The community has a high literacy rate and are not dependent on money-lending and shopkeeping. They are engaged as doctors, engineers, administrators etc.[94][95]
Khatris ofKashmir, also known as "Bohras" were traders and had the second largest Hindu population after thePandits.[96][97] Many of these Khatris had to face the brunt of1990 Kashmiri Hindu Exodus.[98] Khatris of Himachal Pradesh are numerically most important commercial classes are mostly concentrated inMandi,Kangra andChamba.[99]
The French travellerJean de Thévenot visited India during the 1600s where he commented "AtMultan, there is another sort of gentiles whom they call Catry, the town is properly their country and from thence they spread all over the Indies." According to Dr. Madhu Tyagi, Thevenot is referring to the Hindu Khatri caste here.[100]
The last caste-based census was conducted by the British in 1931 which regarded Khatri andArora as a different caste. During 1931, Khatris were prominent in theWest Punjab andNorth-Western Frontier Province (NWFP), which is now known as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK).[101] The Khatris spokeHindko andPotohari language.[1][102] Highest percentage concentration of Khatris (excluding Aroras) were in Potohar regions ofJhelum andRawalpindi.[101] In NWFP, the Khatris were found mainly inPeshawer andHazara.[103]
Arora-Khatris were centered inMultan andDerajat regions of Punjab andNWFP.[72] In the NWFP, the Aroras which are considered a sub-caste of Khatris by some scholars were concentrated in the districts ofBannu,Kohat andDera Ismail Khan.[103][2] The Aroras spoke Jatki language which is the 9th century version of Saraiki (Multani) according toIbbetson.[104]
They were also found in Afghanistan at a population of 300,000 in 1880. According to an 1800s colonial source referred byShah Hanifi, "Hindki is the name given to Hindus who live in Afghanistan. They are Hindus of Khatri class and are found all over Afghanistan even amongst the wildest tribes. They are wholly occupied in trade and form numerous portion of the population of all the cities and towns, and are also to be found in the majority of large villages."[105]
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| Region | State | Total % pop. | Khatri | Arora | Year | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amritsar district | Punjab (East) | 05.47% | 03.30% | 02.17% | 1901 | [111] |
| Attock dist. | Punjab (West) | 09.90% | 07.32% | 02.58% | 1901 | [112] |
| Bahawalpur dist. | Punjab (West) | 07.36% | 00.50% | 06.86% | 1931 | [113] |
| Balochistan | Balochistan | 01.93% | 00.03% | 01.90% | 1931 | [114] |
| Bannu dist. | KPK | 07.83% | 00.50% | 07.30% | 1921 | [115] |
| DG Khan dist. | Punjab (West) | 10.01% | 00.79% | 09.22% | 1891 | [116] |
| DI Khan dist. | KPK | 09.86% | 00.72% | 09.14% | 1901 | [111] |
| Dir, Chitral & Swat | KPK | 20.33% | 16.32% | 04.01% | 1901 | [111] |
| Ferozpur dist. | Punjab (East) | 03.57% | 01.11% | 02.46% | 1901 | [111] |
| Gujranwala dist. | Punjab (West) | 10.01% | 04.46% | 05.55% | 1931 | [113] |
| Gujrat district | Punjab (West) | 06.30% | 02.46% | 03.84% | 1901 | [111] |
| Gurdaspur dist. | Punjab (East & West) | 01.98% | 01.83% | 00.15% | 1901 | [111] |
| Hazara district | KPK | 02.97% | 02.29% | 00.68% | 1901 | [117] |
| Jammu Province | Jammu-Kashmir | 03.01% | 03.01% | 00.00% | 1901 | [118] |
| Kangra district | Himachal Pradesh | 00.87% | 00.85% | 00.02% | 1931 | [113] |
| Kohat district | KPK | 05.07% | 01.50% | 03.57% | 1921 | [115] |
| Jalandhar dist. | Punjab (East) | 02.88% | 02.78% | 00.10% | 1901 | [111] |
| Jhang district | Punjab (West) | 15.06% | 04.34% | 10.72% | 1931 | [113] |
| Jhelum district | Punjab (West) | 09.77% | 07.27% | 02.50% | 1881 | [119] |
| Lahore district | Punjab (West) | 08.01% | 05.10% | 02.91% | 1931 | [113] |
| Lyallpur district | Punjab (West) | 07.50% | 01.82% | 05.68% | 1931 | [113] |
| Mianwali district | Punjab (West) | 13.20% | 02.24% | 10.96% | 1931 | [113] |
| Montgomery dist | Punjab (West) | 11.91% | 01.09% | 10.82% | 1901 | [111] |
| Multan district | Punjab (West) | 14.05% | 01.53% | 12.52% | 1901 | [111] |
| Muzzafargarh dist | Punjab (West) | 09.67% | 00.45% | 09.22% | 1931 | [113] |
| Patiala district | Punjab (East) | 01.29% | 01.14% | 00.15% | 1901 | [111] |
| Peshawar dist. | KPK | 04.34% | 02.26% | 02.08% | 1921 | [115] |
| Rawalpindi dist. | Punjab (West) | 10.01% | 07.71% | 02.30% | 1891 | [120] |
| Shahpur district | Punjab (West) | 11.08% | 03.02% | 08.06% | 1901 | [111] |
| Sheikhupura dist | Punjab (West) | 05.50% | 02.18% | 03.32% | 1931 | [113] |
| Sialkot district | Punjab (West) | 04.01% | 02.01% | 02.00% | 1921 | [121] |
Apart fromPunjab, Khatris arrived inDelhi andHaryana among other regions after the partition where they make up 9% and 8.0% of the population respectively.[33][94][122]
Historically, Khatris were divided into various hierarchalendogamous sections. This includesurhai/dhai ghar,char ghar,barah ghar/bahri andbunjayee or bavanjah ghar which translated to House of 2.5, 4, 12 and 52 respectively. They formed the majority of Khatris and were deemed superior. This was followed by Sareen Khatris who formed a minority. Another sub-group of Khatris includeKhukhrain which had split up from thebunjayees.[18]
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M. N. Srinivas states that Khatri made different Varna claims at different times in theCensus of India before Independence. In 1911, they did not make anyVarna claim, while in 1921 they made a claimed aKshatriya status but later in 1931 they claimed aVaishya status.[131]
However, most scholars do not agree with the Khatris' claims to Kshatriya varna. They consider castes in north India, like Khatri andKayastha to be merchant castes who claim higher status based on the educational and economic progress they made in the past.[132]
According toYang, the Khatris in theSaran district ofBihar, were included in the list of "Bania" along with Agarwals and Rastogis of theVaishya Varna. According to Yang, their position in the Varna system should be "just below" thetwice-born varnas.[133] Jacob Copeman writes "Agarwal, Khatri, and Bania usually denote people of merchant-trader background of middling clean-caste status, often of Vaishya varna".[134]
While some historians agree with the claim of Khatris to be ofKshatriya varna,[135][136][137][138][139][140][141][142][143] many others do not.[15][144][134][145][146][147] According to some historians, even though they participated in mercantile or other occupationally diverse professions such as Agriculture, they were originally Kshatriyas.[68][148][149][150][18] In Indian historianSatish Chandra's opinion, certain castes like Khatris and Kayasthas "do not quite fit" in the Hindu Varna system. According to him, Khatris are neither Vaishyas nor Kshatriyas but are "par excellence traders".[151]
TheSaraswat Brahmins are thepurohits of Khatris and accept gifts only from them.[152] Jürgen Schaflechner cites the historian Rowe who states that such Saraswat Brahmins who were considered a low caste, formed a symbiotic relationship withVaishya castes such asKhatris,Lohanas, etc. who were trying to raise their varna status - which in turn would benefit the Saraswats as well. For this purpose, certain religious texts were written during the British Raj era[153]
Susan Bayly states that the Khatris had scribal traditions and despite that Khatri caste organisations in the British Raj era tried to portray their caste as Kshatriyas. Similar caste glorifying ideas were written by the historianPuri who describes Khatris as "one of the most acute, energetic, and remarkable race [sic] in India", "pure descendants of the old Vedic Kshatriyas" and "true representatives of the Aryan nobility". Puri also tried to show the Khatris as higher than the Rajputs whose blood he considered "impure", mixed with ‘inferior’ Kolis or ‘aborigines’.[145] She considers his views to represent those of "pre-Independence race theorists". Bayly further describes the Khatris as a "caste title of north Indians with military and scribal traditions".[154] Hardip Singh Syan says Khatris considered themselves to be of pureVedic descent and thus superior to the Rajputs, who like them claim the Kshatriya status of the Hinduvarna system.[56]
Historian Kenneth W. Jones states that the Khatris of Punjab had some justification in claiming Kshatriya status from the British government. However, the fact that this claim was not granted at the time showing their ambiguous position in the varna system. Although Jones also classifies Khatris as one of the Vaishya caste of Punjabi Hindus, he shows that their social status was higher than the Arora, Suds and Baniyas in the 19th century Punjab. He quotes Ibbetson who states that the Punjabi Khatris who held prominent military and civil posts were traditionally different from the Aroras, Suds or Baniyas who were rural, of low status and mostly commercial. Punjabi Khatris, on the other hand, were urban, usually prosperous and literate. Thus, the Khatris led the Vaishyas in seeking a higher social position in the flexible Varna hierarchy based on their superior achievements. Similar social mobility efforts were followed by other Hindus in Punjab[146] McLane also describes them as a "mercantile caste who claimed to be Kshatriyas". In the 19th century, British failed to agree whether their claim of Kshatriya status should be accepted.Nesfield andCampbell were leaning towards accepting this claim butRisley andIbbetson cast doubts on it. McLane opines that the confusion was caused since Khatris pursued mercantile occupations and not military ones. However, he adds that this Vaishya occupation fact was balanced by their origin myths, the "possible" derivation of the word Khatri fromKshatriya, their large physical stature, the superior status accorded to them by otherPunjabis as well as the willingness of theSaraswat Brahmins, theirchaplains, to accept cooked food from them.[147]
In the case ofSikh Khatris, their Kshatriya claim reflects a contradictory attitude towards the traditional Hindu caste system. It is evident inGuru Granth Sahib, which on the one hand rises above the Hindu caste paradigm and on the other hand seeks to portray the Khatri gurus as a group of warrior-defenders of their faith, just as with the Kshatriya varna.[45]
Majority of the male members of theArya Samaj in the late 19th century Punjab came from theArora and Khatri merchant castes. In Punjab, the Kshatriya castes who were ritually higher than the Aroras and Khatris had been disempowered and thus the Brahmins who had lost their patrons had to turn to these non-Kshatriya castes.Christophe Jaffrelot explains the attraction of these trading castes to the Arya Samaj as a means of social mobility associated with their prosperity during the British rule. He cites N. G. Barrier to show that the philosophy of the Arya Samaj founder,Dayananda Saraswati, was responsible for the aspirations of theseVaishya castes from Punjab to higher status:[155]
Dayananda's claim that caste should be determined primarily by merit not birth, opened new paths of social mobility to educatedVaishyas who were trying to achieve social status commensurate with their improving economic status[155]
Dasharatha Sharma described Khatris ofRajasthan as a mixedpratiloma caste of low ritual status but they could be a mixed caste born of Kshatriya fathers and Brahmin mothers.[156]Banking,trading, agriculture and service are traditional occupations of the Khatris in Rajasthan. Theliteracy rate is appreciably high among them.[157]
Ashok Malik, former press secretary to the President of India, says that there were two groups of Khatris in Gujarat, that arrived right after the Mughal invasion and during the reign ofAkbar respectively. The latter considered themselves superior to the former and they called themselves "Brahmakshatriyas" after arriving in Gujarat. When the older Khatri community of Gujarat started prospering, they also started calling themselves "Brahmakshatriya", causing the new Khatri community to panic and adopt the name "Nayar Brahmakshatriyas" for themselves. In addition, another community - the GujaratiTelis, considered anOther Backward Class (OBC) in India began to call themselvesKhatris. Malik calls this asSanskritization.[158]
The vast majority of Khatris are Hindu.[37] Many Hindu Khatris made their first newborn a Sikh. Daughters were married into both Hindu and Sikh families according to the Khatri sub-hierarchy rules.[159] Hindu-Sikh intermarriages among Khatris andAroras were common in the cities ofPeshawar andRawalpindi.[160] They worshipHinglaj Mata,Chandi Mata,Shiva,Hanuman andVishnu's avatars. Worship oftotemistic symbols such as snakes and trees used to be common among them.Meditation upon the flame while recitingVidhyavasini's hymns was a common practice and reverence was paid to the dead ancestors.[161][162] They are both vegetarian and non-vegetarian depending on their affiliations with the sects ofVaishnavism andShaktism respectively.[163] Sects ofArya Samaj,Nirankari andRadhasoami are also followed.[162]
All the ten Sikh Gurus were from various Khatri clans.[164] The early followers ofGuru Nanak were Khatris but later a large number ofJats joined the faith.[165] Khatris and Brahmins opposed "the demand that the Sikhs set aside the distinctive customs of their castes and families, including the older rituals."[166]
Bhapa (pronounced as Pahpa) is a term used in a derogatory sense to denote Sikhs who leftPotohar Region of modern-day Pakistan duringPartition, specifically of Khatri andArora caste. Bhapa translates to elder brother in thePotohari dialect spoken aroundRawalpindi region.McLeod, referring to the Khatris and Aroras says "The term is typically used dismissively byJats to express opprobrium towards Sikhs of these castes. Until recently it was never used in polite company or print, but today the word is used quite openly"[102][167][168] According to Birinder Pal Singh,Jat Sikhs consider only themselves as Sikhs and consider Khatris as "bhapas".[169] In Nicola Mooney's opinion, Jat Sikhs consider Arora Sikhs as "Hindu Punjabis" which reserves Sikhism for the Jats alone, denying even the fullybaptised Arora as Sikhs.[137]
According to HistorianB. N. Puri,Muslim Khatris are commonly known asKhojas in Punjab.[170]Khattak tribe ofPashtuns is credited with origin from the Khatris but was divided in belief to its descent according to the 1883 book "Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province".[171]
According toPrakash Tandon, during Khatri weddings, a ritual is carried out to test the Khatri groom's strength. The groom is supposed to slice the thick branch or stem of aJandi Tree (Prosopis cineraria) in one blow using a sword.[172][better source needed] During the pregnancy period of a female, ababy shower ceremony called "reetan" or "goadbharai" is carried out amongst Khatris and Aroras. During the event, gifts are showered to the pregnant mother from family and friends among other traditions.[173]
Khatris are mentioned in a popular Punjabi literature "Heer Ranjha" written byWaris Shah.
Heer's beauty slays richKhojas and Khatris in thebazaar, like a murderousKizilbash trooper riding out of the royal camp armed with a sword
According toBichitra Natak, traditionally said to be the autobiography of the last Sikh Guru,Gobind Singh, but possibly not so,[176] the Bedi sub-caste of the Khatris derives its lineage fromKush, the son ofRama (according to Hindu epicRamayana). Similarly, according to the same legend, theSodhi sub-caste claims descent fromLav, the other son of Rama.[177][better source needed]
InGuru Granth Sahib, the primary scripture ofSikhism, Khatri is mentioned as one among the fourvarnas.[178]
ਖਤ੍ਰੀ ਬ੍ਰਾਹਮਣ ਸੂਦ ਵੈਸ ਉਪਦੇਸੁ ਚਹੁ ਵਰਨਾ ਕਉ ਸਾਝਾ ॥ (SGGS, ang 747)
Khatri brahman sud vais updesu cahu varna ku sanjha
Kshatriyas,Brahmins,Shudras andVaishyas all have the same mandate
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Guru Gobind Singh, said the following in aswayya:
Chattri ko poot ho, Baman ko naheen kayee tap aavat ha jo karon; Ar aur janjaar jito greh ko tohe tyaag, kahan chit taan mai dharon, Ab reejh ke deh vahey humko jo-oo, hau binti kar jor karoon ; Jab aao ki audh nidaan bane, att hi ran main tab jujh maroon.
I am the son of a Chhatri (Khatri), not of aBrahmin and I will live according to myDharma. All other complications of life are meaningless for me, and I set my heart on the path of righteousness. I humbly beseech thee God Almighty that when the time comes for me to fulfill my Dharma, may I die with honour in the field of battle.[179]
— Translated by Vanit Nalwa
The Arora is a community that Levi describes as a sub-caste of Khatris.[2] They originate inPunjab andSindh region. The name is derived from their native placeAror and the community comprises both Hindus and Sikhs.[180] As perW. H. McLeod, a historian of Sikhism, "traditionally the Aroras, though a relatively high caste were inferior to the Khatris, but the difference has now progressively narrowed. Khatri-Arora marriages are not unknown nowadays."[14]
According to Claude Markovits, castes such asBhatia andLohana were close to the Khatris and intermarried with them.[181] Jürgen Schaflechner mentions that many Khatris andBhatias were absorbed into Lohanas when they arrived in Sindh during the 18th century from cities in Punjab such asMultan.[182] He further adds that the genealogy of communities such as Khatri, Lohana and Arora is described in the composition of Hiṃgulā Purāṇ that brings them all into one mytho-historic narrative. He also notes that common mythologies found among Khatris and Lohanas. Some members, around 10-15% of theSindhi Lohanas began working for the local rulers and hence achieved a higher status than Khatris and Lohanas. These people came to known as "Amils" while the ones who continued with their merchant professions came to be known as "Bhaibands". The Amils then started to recruit members from the general Khatris and Lohanas.[182]
Upendra Thakur mentions that there is a strong connection between the Khatris, Aroras, Lohanas and theBhanushalis who all recruit the Saraswat Brahmins as their priests.[183]
Gaddi is anomadicshepherdingtribe that resides in the mountainous terrains of theHimalayas. Gaddi is an amalgamation of various groups such as Khatris, Rajputs, Brahmins etc.[184] MostGaddis of Himachal Pradesh call themselves Khatris.[99] There is a popular saying among them "Ujreya Lahore te baseya Bharmaur" meaning that whenLahore was deserted (possibly by the Muslim invasion),Bharmour was inhabited. Some Khatris clans are known to have settled there during Aurangzeb's reign.[185]
(Pg 16)Group I. Castes which follow various professions like teachers, doctors, clerks, pleaders, engineers etc:-All Brahmins,Non Brahmins: Kayastha Prabhu,Pathare Prabhu, Pathare Kshatriya, Khatri, Vaishya Vani (pg 29) Castes called Khatris are found in Gujarat Karnataka and Maharashtra. This sample represents the Marathi speaking khatris who claim to have living near the Bombay island for the last century at least. Khatris are found in other towns in the west maratha countries their hereditary profession is said to be that of silk weavers and merchants. Now they have entered into all services like clerks, teachers and higher administrative jobs and also follow professions like law and medicine.....
Khatri: A predominantly merchant and trading community that originated from theMalwa andMajha areas in thePunjab
In the past members of such castes such as Khatris served as shopkeepers, moneylenders, traders and teachers. Their reputation for mastering knowledge sometimes extended to the spiritual realm: Guru Nanak and the other nine founding gurus of the sikh tradition were Khatris, member of the Bedi subcaste.
For the role of the khatri caste as village moneylender, shopkeeper and grain-dealer in pre-Independence Punjab, see ...
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)The traditional and present - day occupation of the Khatri is silk and cotton weaving, colouring, dyeing of threads and making jari and garlands. Some of them are engaged in other occupations like business and government jobs
KHATRI A caste of professional dyers
The silk trade between Bengal and Gujarat was a domain of Khatri merchants, for example.
Three Hindu communities had particularly strong ties with Persian and Urdu, namely the Kayasths, Kashmiri Brahmins and Khatris. Two of the three - Kayasths and Khatris could claim a high status among their fellow Hindus, while the third, Kashmiri Brahmins - ranked among the highest of the Brahmin castes.
Hindus—Kayasthas (of the accountant and scribe caste) and Khatris (of the trading and scribe caste of the Panjab) in particular—joined madrasahs in large numbers to acquire training in Persian language and literature, which now promised good careers in imperial service.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)Nanak was probably of a khatri jati, traditionally tradesmen and government officials in the Punjab, though the name Khatri is from the word Kshatriya. The nine Sikh gurus who came after him were certainly Khatris
Khatri (khatri) "merchant-caste." Although the name derives from Sanskrit kshatriya, which designates the warrior or ruling castes, khatri in Punjabi usage refers to a cluster of merchant castes including Bedis, Bhallas and Sodhis
Note also the fierce Kathaíoi "tribe" (i.e. Kaṭha Brahmins) who live in the same area as the Salva (and Mahāvr̥ṣa) at the time of Alexander, see Arrian, Anabasis 5.22).
In northern India and Rajput states, Persian assimilated Kayasths and the khatris were the leading scribal people. These communities were not Brahmans, but had early in the second millennium developed as specialised scribes and clerks. Popular literatures reviled them for the influence they were able to command as royal scribes, but they also appear in inscriptional literature represented as pious donors and great men in their own right. Originally serving medieval Hindu kings, the coming of the Muslim empires opened up new opportunities for them. In these new courtly contexts, their willingness to assimilate themselves to the Persianate language and the culture of Muslim courts gave them a sharp advantage - although often, in the process, attracting sharp hostility from Brahman scribal rivals(O'Hanlon 2010b:563-95)
Anyone who wished to enter the large Mughal bureaucracy as an accountant or a scribe had to be well qualified in Persian, since all papers and imperial orders (firmans) were written in that language. The elders of the Hindu castes such as Kayasths and Khatris, who were professional scribes, encouraged their children to learn Persian; and Hindu writers in Persian increased greatly in numbers through the eighteenth century.
Kayastha and Khatri caste members acted as scribes (monshi) throughout the Mughal dynasty, and in so doing occupied positions in revenue collection, and record keeping
Writing in the 1760s in the Deccan districts of the Mughal empire, he was witness to the rise there of the Brahmin Peshwas who took over the Mughal Bureaucracy and promoted Marathi in place of Persian, displacing the North Indian Persian-literate Hindu scribes of the Kāyastha and Khatri castes.
The Khatris were a Punjabi mercantile caste who claimed to be Kshatriyas. Nineteenth-century Indians and British administrators failed to agree whether that claim should be accepted. The fact that overwhelming majority were engaged in Vaishya (mercantile), not Kshatriya (military), pursuits was balanced against the Khatri origin myths...By the eighteenth century, and probably long before, they were a dominant group in the trade of the Punjab and Afghanistan, and they had penetrated into Turkistan and also east and south into many parts of India. ...This raises the possibility that Khatris were resident in Bengal in pre-Mughal times.
The latter sultanate was founded by a former Tughluq governor, perhaps from a family of Punjabi Khatri converts, who took the title Muzaffar Shah in the early fifteenth century but reigned for only a short time.
Similarly, Zaffar Khan Muzaffar, the first independent ruler of Gujarat was not a foreign muslim but a Khatri convert, of low subdivision called Tank.
the Gujarati historian Sikandar does narrate the story of their ancestors having once been Hindu 'Tanks', a branch of Khatris.
These men, a certain Saharan and his brother Sadhu, were, mostly likely peasants or pastoralists, non-Muslim Tank Rajputs fromThanesar in northwestern India (modern-dayHaryana).
Zafar Khan, a son of Rajput convert to Islam was appointed as governor of Gujarat in 1391AD.
Similarly, Zafar Khan Muzaffar, the first independent ruler of Gujarat, was not a foreign muslim but a Khatri convert, of a low subdivision called Talk, originally from southern Punjab, but born in Delhi, where he rose from menial to noble status in the Delhi sultan's household. As the governor of Gujarat he became independent from Delhi after Timur devastated the city an immense number of people fled to Gujarat..
[137]Khatris were an agrarian people belonging mainly to south Punjab; claiming descent from Kshatriyas of old. It is for this reason that Sikander gives a long genealogy that would link the Sultans of Gujarat with Ramachandra, in other words, with the Suryavanshis. Like most genealogies fabricated to glorify royalty, it is obviously a fake.
Some of them, known in sources as banians, sold goods and lent money in the Persian gulf port of Bandar 'Abbas. However, most of the 10,000 Indians whom Chardin estimated resided in Isfahan in 1670 belonged to the prominent Khatri caste group, whose members were native to the Punjab and northwestern India. Khatris had probably been travelling from the Punjab since the days of Saltanate curmudgeon Zia al-Din Barani, whose denunciation of the Hindu dominance of the Indo-Muslim economy would have been appropriate for the Mughal period as well. Khatris would have found it easy to join caravans that has traversed the Khyber and other Indo Afgan passes since ancient times.[...]In Iran, Khatris both sold cloth and various other Indian goods in bazaars, such as Isfahan's Maidain-i Shah, and lent money to merchants in the cash starved Iranian economy. In the early eighteenth century, the Englishman Edward Pettus, who served the East India company in Isfahan, complained about Indian aggressive marketing techniques. Using Banian as a general term for all non-Muslim Indians he wrote:[beginquote] The bannians, the cheif[sic] Marchantes who vende Linene of India, of all sorts and prices, which this Countrye cannot bee without, except the people should goe naked...they vende most of the linene they bring to Spahan after a most base peddlinge, and unmarchante like manner...carying it up and down on their shoulders [in] the Bazar[endquote]. Later in the century Chardin criticized Indians for their moneylending and wrote stereotyped characterization of the Khatris that reminds readers of European Christian portrayals of Jews, ironic considering Chardin was a Huguenot who had taken refuge in England. He pictured the Khatris as a nefarious class of usurious moneylenders who drained Iran of its precious metals by repatriating their ill-gotten gains to India. His was an ethnic explanation for a fundamental economic imbalance between the two regions.
43 percent of the looms were owned by the main Hindu weaving castes, Khatri(silk) and Salis/padmasalis(cotton)
...its main adherents came from those in government service, qualified professionals such as doctors, engineers, and lawyers, business entrepreneurs, teachers in schools in the bigger cities and in the institutes of higher education, journalists[etc]...The upper castes dominated the Indian middle class. Prominent among its members were Punjabi Khatris, Kashmiri Pandits, and South Indian brahmins. Then there were the 'traditional urban-oriented professional castes such as the Nagars of Gujarat, the Chitpawans and the Ckps (Chandrasenya Kayastha Prabhus)s of Maharashtra and the Kayasthas of North India. Also included were the old elite groups that emerged during the colonial rule: the Probasi and the Bhadralok Bengalis, the Parsis, and the upper crusts of the Muslim and Christian communities. Education was a common thread that bound together with this pan Indian elite...But almost all its members spoke and wrote English and had had some education beyond school
The old neocolonial upper-caste elite, with a long tradition of education in the language of the ruling elite, with a long tradition of education in the language of the ruling elite of the time -Sanskrit of Persian in the past or english today - still constitutes its core. However, the ranks of the 'national' elite have now expanded to include several new groups of castes, by and large of the dwija varna, which have acquired access to English education in the post Independence period[...]Sociologically viewed, the ranks of the pan-Indian elite are drawn from several groups ousted from the regions, such as Punjabi Hindus, Kashmiri Pundits and South-Indian Brahmins. Then there are the traditional urban-oriented professional castes such as the Nagars of Gujarat, the Chitpawans and the CKPs(Chandrasenya Kayastha Prabhus) of Maharashtra and the Kayasthas of North India whose members have joined the ranks, albeit more through responding to the pull factor than being subject to the push factor.Also included amound them are the old elite groups which emerged during the colonial rule: The Probasi and the Bhadralok Bengalis, the Parsis, and the upper crusts of the Muslim and Christian communities with a pronounced secular and nationalist persuation.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)In the past members of such castes such as Khatris served as shopkeepers, moneylenders, traders and teachers. Their reputation for mastering knowledge sometimes extended to the spiritual realm:Guru Nanak and the other nine founding gurus of the sikh tradition were Khatris, member of the Bedi subcaste.
Agarwal, khatri, and bania usually denote people of merchant-trader background of middling clean-caste status, often of vaishya varna
Examples of continuing fascination with the Kshatriya ideal abound, as can be seen in the many post-Independence publications which exalt the doings of individual named jatis. The production of these 'community' histories has been as active an industry in the late twentieth century as it was in the pre-Independence period. As recently as 1988, a polemicist representing himself as an Oxford-trained Indian 'socio-historian' published an account of the supposed origins and heritage of north India's Khatris. Today, as in the past, those who call themselves Khatri favour the livelihoods of the pen and the ledger. In the colonial period, however, Khatri caste associations extolled the heritage of their 'community' as one of prowess and noble service (seva), claiming that their dharmic essence was that of the arms-bearing Kshatriya and therefore quite unlike that of the commercial Agarwals and other pacific Vaishyas. These same themes were recapitulated by the author of the 1988 text: the Khatris, 'one of the most acute, energetic, and remarkable race [sic] in India', are heirs to a glorious martial past, 'pure descendants of the old Vedic Kshatriyas'. The writer even tries to exalt Khatris above Rajputs, whose blood he considers 'impure', being supposedly mixed with that of 'inferior' Kols or 'aborigines': in his view only Khatris are 'true representatives of the Aryan nobility'.<39>Footnote: 39 Puri 1988: 3, 78, 163, 166. The writer appeals to the Khatri 'race' to 'wake up' and cherish their heritage as 'followers of the Hindu Dharma Sastras' (5). Above all they should guard against 'hybridising', i.e. marrying non-Khatris (166). These views closely resemble those of pre-Independence race theorists (see Chapters 3-4). Compare Seth 1904
Among Punjabi Hindus the Vaishyas would lead; among Vaishyas, the Khatri and his associates, the Saraswat Brahmins. The Khatris claimed with some justice and increasing insistence, the status of Rajputs, or Kshatriyas, a claim not granted by British but illustrative of their ambiguous position on the great varna scale of class divisions and their importance within the Hindu community. Processed of questionable and flexible status in the traditional hierarchy, literate, urban and often wealthy, in search of recognition for their achievements and pretentions, the Khatris acted as traditional innovators, leaders into new worlds
The Khatris were a Punjabi mercantile caste who claimed to be Kshatriyas. Nineteenth-century Indians and British administrators failed to agree whether that claim should be accepted. The fact that overwhelming majority were engaged in Vaishya (mercantile), not Kshatriya (military), pursuits was balanced against the Khatri origin myths...By the eighteenth century, and probably long before, they were a dominant group in the trade of the Punjab and Afghanistan, and they had penetrated into Turkistan and also east and south into many parts of India. ...This raises the possibility that Khatris were resident in Bengal in pre-Mughal times.
In fact, there are some castes which do not quite fit into any of the four varnas. I do not know enough about the situation in south India. But in Northern India, castes such as Khatris and Kayasths are difficult to fit into the varna system. The Khatris are par excellence traders, but they are not classified amongst vaishyas. Nor are they part of the Kshatriyas.
In 1891, more than half the 9,105 male members of the movement belonged to the Khatri and Arora merchant castes. This sociological composition reflected the same socio-cultural logic as in Gujarat where Dayananda had set up the Arya samaj with the support of traders seeking a better status more in keeping with their new prosperity (Jordens 1978) linked with the economic advance of British India; in the Punjab, his movement developed along the same lines among the merchant castes which felt that they could aspire all the more legitimately to the leadership of their community as the Brahmins and Kshatriyas, who had been hierarchically superior to them had been marginalized. Barrier hence explains the attraction that the Arya Samaj exercised over the merchant castes by the fact that: Dayananda's claim that caste should be determined primarily by merit not birth, opened new paths of social mobility to educated Vaishyas who were trying to achieve social status commensurate with their improving economic status.
The Sikh community grew rapidly in the sixteenth century. Nanak's earliest followers had been fellow Khatris engaged in petty trade, shopkeeping, or lower level civil service in the Lodi or Mughal bureaucracies. But as the movement grew, it experienced a significant influx of Jat cultivators.
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