Gahoi

Gahoi (गहोई in Hindi, from Sanskrit Grihapati गृहपति) is a merchant community in central India. The traditional population centre has been the Bundelkhand region, with their origin claimed to be at Kharagpur.[1]

Gahois are divided into 12 gotras, each gotra is divided into six alls.[2] However currently about 169 clans are counted, some of them because of spelling differences. They have traditionally interdined with the Parwar Jain community of Bundelkhand.

The oldest known Gahoi (Grahapati-anvaya) inscription is of samvat 1011 mentioning Pahilla, who built a Jain temple during the reign of Dhanga at Khajuraho. This temple is among those that still exist at Khajuraho.[3][4]

Contents

Origin

There are several theories about the origin of the word Gahoi.

Notable people

See also

References

  1. ^ The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India, by R. V. Russell, 1916
  2. ^ Jwalaprasad Mishra, Jati Bhaskar, 1914, Khmeraj Shrikrishnadas.
  3. ^ Kasturchand Jain Suman, Bharatiya Digambar Jain Abhilekh aur Tirth Parichay, Madhya-Pradesh: 13 vi shati tak, Delhi, 2001
  4. ^ H.V. Trivedi, "Inscriptions of the Paramaras, Chandellas, Kachchhapaghatas and two minor Dynasties", part 2 of the 3-part Vol III of Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, 1974 (published in 1991).