| Khatri | |||
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| Religions | Hinduism, Islam and Sikhism | ||
| Languages | Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu | ||
| Country | Primarily India, a significant population in UK, United States, Canada and Pakistan | ||
| Populated States | Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Balochistan, Sindh, NWFP, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi. | ||
| Family names | Kapoor, Chopra and Sehgal etc. | ||
| Subdivisions | Bari, Bunjahi and Sarin | ||
| Status | Forward caste | ||
Khatri (Hindi: खत्री, Punjabi: ਖੱਤਰੀ,Urdu: کھتری) is a caste from the northern Indian subcontinent. Khatris in India are mostly from the Punjab region, but they later migrated to regions like Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Jammu, Uttarkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Balochistan, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Khatris played an important role in India's transregional trade under the Mughal Empire.[1] With the Mughal patronage, they adopted administrative and military roles outside the Punjab region as well.[2] Scott Cameron Levi describes Khatris among the "most important merchant communities of early modern India."[3]
All the Sikh Gurus were Khatris.[3] The current Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, is also a Khatri.[4]
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The word "Khatri" is believed by some to be the Punjabi adaptation of Sanskrit word Kshatriya, used to describe the warriors in the traditional Hindu varna system.[5] However, a number of sources deny the connection of Khatri caste with ancient Kshatriya Hindu military order.[6][7] According to one theory, the word "Khatri" originates from the word Khsatri mentioned in Manu Smriti to denote a mixed caste of low-ritual status, born of the union of Kshatriya mothers and Shudra fathers.[5][8] Dasrath Sharma also described Khatris as a mixed pratiloma caste of low ritual status, but he suggested that Khatris could be a mixed caste born of Kshatriya fathers and Brahmin mothers.[9]
Thus, the Khatris have an ambiguous position in the varna system.[10] Khatris claim that they were warriors who took to trade.[11][12][13][14] The 19th century Indians and the British administrators failed to agree whether the Khatri claim of Kshatriya status should be accepted, since the overwhelming majority of them were engaged in Vaishya (mercantile) occupations.[15] There are Khatris that are found in other states of India and they follow different professions in each region. The Khatris of Gujrat and Rajasthan are said to belong to "Darji" (tailor) caste.[16][17] K C S Varma notes that Francis Buchanan wrote in the early nineteenth century that "in Behar one-half of the Khatris are goldsmiths," and that another writer of the British era, Kitts, had recorded that "the Khatris are traders in Punjab, and silk-weavers, when we find them in Bombay."[18][19] Benjamin Lewis Rice echoes a similar view about the Khatri caste in various regions of India.[20]
According to Bichitra Natak, said to be the autobiography of the last Sikh Guru Gobind Singh, but whose authenticity is a matter of ongoing dispute,[21][22][23] the Bedi sub-caste of the Khatris derives its lineage from Kush, the son of Rama in the Hindu mythology. The descendants of Kush, according to the disputed Bachitar Natak legend, learned the Vedas at Benares, and were thus called Bedis (Vedis).[24] Similarly, according to the same legend, the Sodhi sub-caste claims descent from the Lav, the other son of Rama.[25]
The region in which the Khatris originally lived was ruled by Hindu kings until 1013 AD. Khatris encountered hardships after the Muslim conquest of the region, but stubbornly clung to their heritage. Because of high levels of education and scholarship, they were able to survive even in difficult times.[26]
The Khatris subsequently rose as an important trading community, and played an important role in India's transregional trade under the Mughal Empire.[1][3] With the patronage of Mughal nobles, the Khatris adopted administrative and military roles outside the Punjab region. According to a nineteenth century Khatri legend, the Khatris followed the military professoin until the time of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. Several Khatris were killed during the Aurangzeb's Deccan Campaign, and the emperor ordered their widows to be remarried. When the Khatris refused to obey this order, Aurangzeb terminated their military service, and directred them to be shopkeepers and brokers.[2]
The Khatris are originally from the Malwa and the Majha areas in the Punjab region of the north-western Indian subcontinent. They are now present in all the states of India, although the major concentration remains in Punjab and the Delhi region.
The Khatri community have been active in roles of administration, rule, and warfare within Punjab. The Khatris were the patrons ('yajamansas' or in Punjabi 'jajmani') of the Saraswat Brahmins.[27] The Khatris are among the very few non-Brahmin communities that have traditionally studied the Vedas.[28] Khatris were estimated to constitute 9% of the total population of Delhi in 2003.[29]
Swami Dayanand was invited to Punjab by prominent individuals who also founded the Singh Sabha, to counter the missionaries. He established Arya Samaj in Lahore in 1877, a society and reform movement which was against casteism, rituals, and idol worship. The group promoted strict monotheism, which Swami Dayanand claimed was the essential message of the Vedas. Arya Samaj became popular among Punjabi Hindus, especially Khatris[30] who were attracted to a similar message by the Sikh Gurus earlier.[31] Arya Samaj inspired individuals like Swami Shraddhanand and institutions like the Dayanand Anglo-Vedic Schools System, started by Lala Hansraj Gupta.[32]
All the ten Sikh Gurus were Khatris.[33] Guru Nanak was a Bedi, Guru Angad was a Trehan, Guru Amar Das was a Bhalla, and the rest of the Gurus were Sodhis.[34] During the lifetime of the Gurus, most of their major supporters and Sikhs were Khatris. A list of this is provided by Bhai Gurdas in Varan Bhai Gurdas, a contemporary of the Sikh Gurus.[35]
Other Khatris influential in the history of Sikhism include:
After formation of the Khalsa (1699), and especially during the reign of Ranjit Singh, Hindu Khatri families raised at least one son (usually the oldest) as an Amritdhari Sikh. The Sikh institutions till the early 20th century were led by Mahants (Masands) who were generally Khatri. Widespread abuses by the Masands, such as the introduction of idols in Gurudwaras, led to calls for reform (which were met more than once by deadly resistance from the Mahants) by the Singh Sabha which resulted in formation of the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabhandak Committee to oversee Sikh Gurudwaras.
Following invasions by Turkic tribes from Afghanistan and the North West Frontier Province from the 11th century onwards, there were conversions of Hindus to Islam from among various Punjabi communities, including Khatris. Generally they retained their tribal and clan affiliations, as has been the norm in the region. Similarly, the Khatris who converted to Islam continue to retain a strong social identity.
When Khatri traders from the western districts of the Punjab like Sargodha, Jhang, Jehlum, Chakwal, Faisalabad accepted Islam, they called themselves Khawaja and adopted Shaikh as their title. They are thus called Khawaja Shaikh. Some of them have also adopted Mian as a title. In recent years traders from the small town of Chiniot, in the Chiniot District, became prominent due to their contribution in the industries of Pakistan. These traders are known as Chiniotis or Chinioti Shaikhs. The trading family of Sahgals, Sahgal Khatris of Chakwal, are known simply as Punjabi Shaikh instead of Khawaja Shaikh. They use "Mian" as a title.
The first censuses of the Punjab were conducted by Denzil Ibbetson and Edward Maclagan in 1883 and 1892. According to their reports, the Khawajas of Bhera in Shahpur, Sargodha District were converted from Khatris, and those from Jhang were said to be converted from Aroras. At Chiniot, the majority of the Khawajas are Khatris, and some are Arora. They reported the following sections (gotras) of Khatris from Chiniot: Sahgal, Wadhaun (or Vadhavan), Talwar, Puri, Topra. One gotra of Arora was reported from Chiniot: the Goruwala.
The gotras of Khawajas from Bhera were reported as follows: Vohra, Sahgal, Kapur, Sethi, Duggal, Nanda, Mehndru, Chadha, Suri. These are all Khatri gotras.
The Khawajas of Layyah have following Khatri sections: Kapur, Puri, and Tandon.
There are a small number of Khatris who are Jain.
In 1914, Raja Vanvihari Kapoor wrote that the major Khatri clans are named after the Sun god.[27]
There are social divisions within the community which includes the Dhai-Ghar (2½ clans, the number 3 being considered unlucky) grouping comprising Mehra, Malhotra, Khanna, Kapoor [14] Along with the Seth clan these four subdivisions form the Char Ghar (4 houses) grouping.[28]
The Chopra, Dhawan, Batta, Bandha, Kakar, Mahindru, Sahgal, Soni, Tandon, Vohra, Wadhaun, and Wahi form the Barah-Ghar group of Khatris.[28]
Other groups include the Khukhrain (8 clans), Bara-Jati (12 clans), Bavanjai (52 clans),[28] and Sarin (300 clans) Khatris.[28]
The Sarin Khatris include the Bedi and Sodhi clans, to which belonged the founders of the Sikh faith.[28]
Other khatri groups include the "Savji"khatris or Somvanshya Sahasrarjun Kshatriya or SSK Samaj are a Kshatriya community concentrated in the districts bordering Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra . They are also referred to as Pategars or patkar or Khatris.[28]
Before the partition of India in 1947, the Khatri sub-castes were particularly connected with specific regions:[41]
After the partition, the different Khatri castes have widely dispersed.[41]
Khukhrain (also spelt Khokhran/Kukhrain/Kukhran) are a regional subcaste of Khatris[28] consisting of eight clans who live in Punjab. They were originally from the town of Bhera in the Jech Doab (Jhelum — Chenab interfluve) region of Sargodha district of Pakistani Punjab. A significant number of Khukhrains, along with other major Khatri groups, adopted Sikhism during the 18th and 19th centuries. The names of the eight clans are Anand, Bhasin, Chadha, Kohli, Sabharwal, Sahni/Sawhney, Sethi, and Suri. Three new subclans were later formed: Chandok (Chandhoke, Chandhok, Chandiok), Gandhoke, and Ghai.
The sessions of Akhil Bhartiya Khatri Mahasabha were held in Lucknow in 1916, 1936, 1952, and 1980. The Lucknow Khatri Sabha was established in 1927 and the publication Khatri Hitashi was started in 1936.[42]
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