Jump to content

Khatri

Page semi-protected
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Wikieditor1008 (talk | contribs) at 10:01, 14 September 2021 (WP: AGF Restoring the last edit by Lamperdamper at 09:00 hours, 14 September 2021 was overridden (deleted) unintentionally due to time overlap). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Not to be confused with Chhetri.
For other uses, see Khatri (surname).

Khatri
A Khatri nobleman, in Kitab-i tasrih al-aqvam by Col. James Skinner (1778–1841)
ReligionsHinduism, Sikhism and Islam
LanguagesPunjabi, Hindi, Pahari-Pothwari, Hindko, Saraiki, Pashto, Dogri, Urdu,[1] Kutchi, Gujarati, Sindhi[2]
CountryIndia, Pakistan and Afghanistan
RegionPunjab, Sindh, Delhi,[3] Haryana,[4] Gujarat[5]

Khatri is a caste, originally found in South Asia. Apart from India , they are also found in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Afghan Hindus and Sikhs are predominantly of Khatri and Arora origin.[6]

From the medieval India till the end of British Raj, Khatris were mostly employed as businessmen[7],shopkeepers[8][9],governors,[10][11] bankers,[12] civil administrators,[13]merchants,[7] teachers,[8] scribes,[14] silk weavers[15] and cloth printers.[16] Khatris have provided many significant religious figures and teachers, such as all the Sikh Gurus.[17] They have also provided notable martial and administrative figures such as Hari Singh Nalwa, the Commander-in-Chief of the Khalsa Army.[18] During the Partition of India, many Khatris migrated from modern-day regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan.[19][20]

Etymology

The word Khatri in the Hindi Language comes from the Sanskrit word "Kshatriya" according to the Śabdasāgara Lexicon by Shyamasundara Dasa[21] Purnima Dhavan sees the claim as originating from a conflation of the words khatri and kshatriya, which are phonetically similar.[22]Veena Oldenburg states that Khatri is a miniature form of Kshatriya, but notes that they were "arbitrarily lumped together with the 'trading castes' by the British".[23]According to historian W.H McLeod and Nigel Hankin, Khatri is a Punjabi form of Sanskrit word Kshatriya.[24][25]Sociologist A.R Desai mentions that the name Khatri comes from Kshatriya[26]

Dr. Dharamvir Bharati comments that in Punjabi language, Kshatriya is pronounced as Khatri.[27] As per Dr. GS Mansukhani and RC Dogra, "Khatri appears to be unquestionably a Prakritised form of Sanskrit word Kshatriya."[28]

Many Khatris use this etymology to claim that they are Kshatriyas. However, most scholars dispute these claims.[8]

See also: Khatri § Origins and Ritual Status

Sikhism References

According to Bichitra Natak, traditionally said to be the autobiography of the last Sikh Guru, Gobind Singh, but possibly not so,[29] the Bedi sub-caste of the Khatris derives its lineage from Kush, the son of Rama (according to Hindu epic Ramayana). Similarly, according to the same legend, the Sodhi sub-caste claims descent from Lav, the other son of Rama.[30][better source needed]

In Guru Granth Sahib, the primary scripture of Sikhism, Khatri is mentioned as one among the four varnas.

ਖਤ੍ਰੀ ਬ੍ਰਾਹਮਣ ਸੂਦ ਵੈਸ ਉਪਦੇਸੁ ਚਹੁ ਵਰਨਾ ਕਉ ਸਾਝਾ ॥

Transliteration : "Khatri brahman sud vais updesu cahu varna ku sanjha"

(SGGS, ang 747)

The above mentioned line means that Kshatriyas, Brahmins, Shudras and Vaishyas all have the same mandate.[31][32]

Early history

Greek accounts from the historians[33] [34][35] that accompanied Alexander the Great to Punjab mention a tribe called the Kathaioi whose territory lay from east of the Hydraotes (Ravi) but between the Hydarpes (Jhelum) & Akesines (Chenab) and whose capital was Sagala (Sialkot). They were described as a powerful nation who resisted Alexander's advance. Arrian in the Anabasis (VI.15) mentions the Khathrois of Punjab (χάθροις - Khathrois), whose territory lay between the Indus & Chenab.[36] Ptolemy writing in the 2nd century AD refers again to the Khatriaoi to whom belong cities lying east & west of the Indus. Baij Nath Puri mentions that the modern descendants of these Kathaiois, Khathrois & Khatriaoi tribes mentioned by the Greeks in West Punjab are the Khatris of India.[37]

According to S. 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 in North-India".[38]

Although, Michael Witzel, writing in his paper "Sanskritization of the Kuru State" states the Kathaiois were Kaṭha Brahmins.[39]

Literature

Khatris have been mentioned in a popular Punjabi Qissa, "Heer Ranjha" written by Waris Shah. Some historians claim that the story was an authentic work of Shah, written after he had fallen in love with a girl named Bhag Bhari. Others say that Heer and Ranjha were real personalities who lived under the Lodi dynasty in India of the 15th and 16th century and that Waris Shah was inspired from these personalities and hence wrote the novel in 1766.[40][41]

"Heer's beauty slays rich Khojas and Khatris in the bazaar, like a murderous Kizilbash trooper riding out of the royal camp armed with a sword"

- Waris Shah (Translated by Charles Frederick Usborne)[42][43]

Demographics

Before Partition

The last caste-based census was conducted by the British in 1931. Khatris and Aroras were considered a different caste by British during that time. However, Sir D. Ibbetson believed that "the Aroras were the Khatris of Aror, the ancient capital of Scinde".[44][better source needed]. Scott Levi also acknowledged Arora as Khatris in his studies.[45] Similarly, the Punjab District Gazetteers states that Aroras trace their origin from the Khatris and infact were the Khatris of Aror, modern day Rohri Shankar in Pakistan.[46]

They were prominent in the West Punjab and North-Western Frontier Province regions before 1947. The highest concentration of Khatris were in Jhelum and Rawalpindi regions. The concentration dwindles eastwards in the districts of Shahpur, Gujrat, Jhang, Gujranwala, Lahore and Amritsar. North Western Frontier Province accounted for 34,000 Khatris meanwhile Jammu & Kashmir accounted for 48,000 Khatris. The numbers are expected to be more than that because many Hindus boycotted the Census due to the Civil Disobedience Movement.[47]

After Partition

Khatris arrived in Delhi, Haryana and Punjab among other regions after the partition.[20] In 2012, the population of Punjabi community in Haryana, referring to Arora and Khatri as a unit is 6.50%. In the year 1990 Gurnam Singh Commission had estimated their population to be 8%. It is possible that their population in Haryana may have decreased as some of them may have shifted to other states to seek better opportunities.[48]

They were estimated to be 9% of the total population of Delhi in 2003.[49]

Trans-Regional Trade

The Khatris played an important role in India's trans-regional trade during the period,[50] being described by Levi as among the "most important merchant communities of early modern India."[45] Levi writes :"Stephen Dale locates Khatris in Astrakhan, Russia during the late seventeenth century and, in the 1830s, the British imperial proconsul and past governor of Bombay, Mountstuart Elphinstone, was informed that Khatris were still highly involved in northwest India's transregional commerce and that they maintained communities throughout Afghanistan and as far away as Astrakhan"".[51] Often, they married Tatar local women and the children from these marriages were known as Agrijan.[52][page needed]

Historian Stephen Dale states that most of the 10,000 (as estimated by Jean Chardin) Indian merchants and money-lenders in Isfahan(Iran) in 1670, belonged to the Khatri caste of Punjab and north-west India. In Iran's Bazaar's, Khatris sold cloth and various items and also practiced money-lending. Dale believes that Khatris had possibly been travelling from Punjab via caravans since the era of Ziauddin Barani(around 1300 AD). An Englishman of the East India Company in Isfahan expressed disapproval of the marketing techniques of non-Muslim Indian merchants and Jean 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.[53]

Historian Rene J. Barendse locates Khatri merchants in Muscat and Persia[54]

Origins and Ritual Status

The Saraswat Brahmins of the North are closely associated with the Punjabi Khatris as their purohits.[55]

Cambridge historian Susan Bayly states that the north Indian Khatris had the tradition of making their living via the "pen and the ledger". Despite this fact, due to the fascination with the Kshatriya varna, the Khatri caste organizations in the British colonial era tried to disassociate themselves from Agarwals and other Vaishyas by portraying their caste as having the essence of "noble service of the Kshatriya". Similar caste glorifying ideas were written by the historian Baij Nath Puri, whom Bayly describes as a "a polemicist representing himself as an Oxford-trained Indian ‘socio-historian’" who wrote about the "supposed origins and heritage" of the Khatris from north India. She considers his views to represent those of "pre-Independence race theorists". Puri 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’.[56]Bayly further describes the Khatris as a "caste title of north Indians with military and scribal traditions".[57]

Many historians such as J. Gordon Melton, Peter B. Clarke, Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh, John Renard, Rajesh Rai and Kamala Elizabeth Nayar describes Khatris as a "warrior caste".[58][59][60][61][62][63] Christian Missiologist Charles E. Farhadian mentions that the Khatri Jāti was originally the Kshatriya caste of Punjab but he calls it a "mercantile caste".[64] Historian Robin Jeffrey adds that Khatris were theoretically a warrior caste but were settled into commercial and clerical professions for many generations in Punjab.[65]Nicola Mooney mentions that Khatris are of Kshatriya varna.[66]Furthermore, Karen Pechilis comments that Khatris were originally the kshatriyas.[67]Historian David Lorenzen and David Westerlund mentions Khatris as a "Kshatriya caste".[68][69]Rishi Singh describes Khatris as "a caste group mainly involved in military and some in trade"[70]

Hardip Singh Syan says Khatris considered themselves to be of pure Vedic descent and thus superior to the Rajputs, who like them claim the Kshatriya status of the Hindu varna system.[71] According to Scott Cameron Levi, Khatris were considered to be Kshatriyas, the second-highest varna in the Indian social hierarchy, below only the Brahmans despite their participation in occupations similar to those of the Bania communities.[51]Veena Talwar Oldenburg states that the Khatris were acknowledged[by whom?] as Kshatriyas, but "had always been much more occupationally diverse than their origins as a warrior caste suggested."[23]

However, most scholars do not agree with the claims. They consider castes in north India, like Khatri and Kayastha to be merchant castes who claim higher status to befit the educational and economic progress they made in the past.[8] According to Anand Yang, the Khatris in the Saran district of Bihar, were included in the list of "Bania" along with Agarwals and Rastogis of the Vaishya Varna .[72] Jacob Copeman also agrees and writes "Agarwal, Khatri, and Bania usually denote people of merchant-trader background of middling clean-caste status, often of Vaishya varna".[73]

In Indian historian Satish Chandra's opinion, certain castes like the North-Indian Khatris and North-Indian Kayasthas "do not quite fit" in the Hindu Varna system. According to him, Khatris are neither Vaishyas nor Kshatriyas but are "par excellence traders".[74]

The historian S.C.Misra, writing in his book The Rise of Muslim Power in Gujarat, says the Khatris were an agrarian people belonging mainly to South Punjab who claimed descent from the Kshatriyas of the old. He says it is for this reason the Persian historian gave the Khatri Sultan Muzaffar Shah a genealogy that said he was a descendant of the Hindu God Rama, hence a Suryavanshi. Mishra says like most genalogies fabricated to glorify royalty, it was obviously dubiously concocted.[75]

Khatri standards of literacy and caste status were such during the early years of Sikhism that, according to W. H. McLeod, they dominated it.[71]

Mysore Narasimhachar Srinivas states that Khatri is one of the communities that made different Varna claims at different times in the Census of India before Independence. In 1911, they did not make any Varna claim, in 1921 they claimed a Kshatriya status but in 1931 they claimed a Vaishya status.[76]

Kashmir

Khatris of Kashmir, also known as "Bohras," formed the biggest minority of the Kashmiri Hindus. They were the most numerous in number after Kashmiri Pandits. They were mostly involved in the profession of trading and were cut off from the communion with the Punjabi Khatris.[77][78] Many of these Khatris had to face the brunt of 1990 Kashmiri Hindu Exodus and have been living in camps since then.[79]

Punjab

Historian Kenneth W. Jones states that the Khatris of Punjab had some justification in claiming and increasingly insisting the Kshatriya status from the British government. However, the fact that this claim was not granted at the time serves as an illustration of 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 other Vaishyas like the Arora and Suds and Baniyas. He quotes Ibbetson who states that the Punjabi Khatris who held prominent military and civil posts were traditionally different from the Aroras, Suds and 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.[80]

McLane also describes Punjabi Khatris as a "mercantile caste who claimed to be Kshatriyas" and says that they had migrated to several parts of India, possibly long before the 18th century, and to Bengal even before the arrival of the Mughals. In the 19th-century, British administrators failed to agree whether the Khatri claim of Kshatriya status should be accepted. John Nesfield and George Campbell were leaning towards accepting this claim but Herbert Hope Risley and Denzil Ibbetson cast doubts on this claim. John McLane opines that the dilemma was because most of the Khatris pursued Vaishya (mercantile) occupation and not Kshatriya (military) ones. However, he adds that this Vaishya occupation fact was balanced by their origin myths, the "possible" derivation of the word Khatri from Kshatriya, their large physical stature, the superior status accorded to them by other Punjabis as well as the willingness of the Saraswat Brahmins, their chaplains, to accept cooked food from them.[81]

In the case of Sikh Khatris, their Kshatriya claim reflects a contradictory attitude towards the traditional Hindu caste system. It is evident in Sikh texts such as the Guru 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.[22]

Uttar Pradesh

The Khatri of Uttar Pradesh are in business and government service and are also self-employed as Advocates and Doctors. The "All-India Khatri Mahasabha" functions for the general welfare of the community. The Khatri are Hindu and their sacred specialists are Kanyakubja Brahmins.[82]

Rajasthan

Dasharatha Sharma described Khatris of Rajasthan as a mixed pratiloma caste of low ritual status but they could be a mixed caste born of Kshatriya fathers and Brahmin mothers.[83]

Banking, trading and business are traditional occupations of the Khatris in Rajasthan. Besides, they are also engaged in Agriculture and Service. The Khatri are Hindu by faith. Their caste council consists of some elderly people who resolve their problems. In the field of business, they interact with all other communities. The literacy rate is appreciably high among them.[84]

Gujarat

Ashok Malik, former press secretary to the President of India, says that there were two groups of Khatris in Gujarat, one that arrived right after the Mughal invasion and another that came during the reign of Akbar. 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 Gujarati Telis, considered an Other Backward Class (OBC) in India began to call themselves Khatris. but this did not last long. Malik calls this as Sanskritization.[85]

Maharashtra

Historian Vijaya Gupchup from the University of Mumbai states that in Maharashtra, Brahmins showed resentment in the attempt by the Marathi Khatris or Koshti to elevate themselves from ritually low status to Kshatriya by taking advantage of the British neutrality towards castes. She quotes a translation from a Marathi publication that gave a Brahminic opinion of this attempt:

Everyone does what he wants, Sonars have become Brahmins, Treemungalacharya was insulted by throwing cowdung at him in Pune, but he has no shame and still calls himself a Brahmin. Similarly a Khatri or Koshti who are included in Panchal at places other than Bombay, call themselves Kshatriya in Bombay and say their needles are the arrows and their thimbles are the sheaths. How surprising that those Sonars and Khatris at the hands of whom even Shudras will not take water have become Brahmins and Kshatriyas. In short day by day higher castes are disappearing and lower castes are prospering.[86]

Culture and lifestyle

According to Prakash 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 a Jandi Tree (Prosopis cineraria) in one blow using a sword.[87][better source needed]

Whenever there is a death in the Khatri family, a family member goes to Haridwar to immerse the ashes of the departed. At Haridwar, Hindu Genealogy Registers that cover some important information including birth, death, migration among others are maintained.[88][better source needed]

During the pregnancy period of a female, a baby 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.[89]

Medieval history

Punjab

Historian Muzaffar Alam describes the Khatris of Punjab as a "scribe and trading caste". Khatris (and Kayasthas) in north-India and Rajput ruled states were the main communities that worked as scribes and thus occupied positions in revenue collection and record keeping. The arrival of Mughals gave the scribes advantage due to their willingness to learn Persian. However, this profession often created conflicts with the Brahmin scribes. In Deccan, these north Indian scribes lost their advantage with the rise of the Brahmin Peshwas who discontinued the use of Persian and started using Marathi.[90][91][14][92][93] According to McLane, the Punjabi Khatris being the dominant trading group, had spread into many parts of India, possibly long before the 1700s and to Bengal, possibly even before the Mughals arrived.[81]

Raja Todar Mall, Finance Minister of Akbar 17th Century Painting Gouache on paper

Having gained the patronage of the Mughal nobles, the Khatris then adopted administrative and military roles outside the Punjab region[failed verification]. The most prominent Mughal Khatri noble was Raja Todar Mal[dubious – discuss], who was the Finance Minister of the Empire. He introduced an entirely new system of revenue known as zabt and a system of taxation called dahshala.[94] According to the legend, in the 17th century, they continued their military service until the time of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, when the death of many of their number during the emperor's Deccan Campaign caused him to order their widows to be remarried. The order was made out of sympathy for the widows but when the Khatri community leaders refused to obey it, Aurangzeb terminated their military service and said that they should be shopkeepers and brokers.[95]

This legend is probably fanciful: John 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 favoring "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.[95]

Gujarat

Historian Douglas E. Hanes states that the Khatri weavers in Gujarat trace their ancestry to either Champaner (Bihar) or Sindh (Pakistan) and the community genealogists believe that the migration happened during the late sixteenth' century.[96]

The Gujarat Sultanate (1407-1523) was a medieval Muslim dynasty founded by Zafar Khan Muzaffar, a member of the Tank caste. [97][98][99][100][101] The Tanks have been stated to be Khatris by some scholars, although others have stated the Tanks were Rajputs. [102][103][104][105][106][107][108][109][110][111][112] Although he was born in Delhi, his ancestry was originally from Southern Punjab. He started as a menial but rose to the level of a noble in the Delhi Sultan's family and became the Governor of Gujrat. After Timur attacked the city, people fled to Gujarat and it became independent.[113][75]

The Muslim invasion affected the Khatri tradition of weaving. Suraiya Faroqhi, writes that, in 1742 Gujarat, the Khatris had protested the immigration of Muslim weavers by refusing to deliver cloth to the East India Company. In another case, the craft of weaving was taught by the Khatris to the Kunbis as a side effect of receiving more orders then they could handle. The Kunbis soon became strong competitors to the Khatris much to their chagrin. In the mid-1770s, the Mughal governor granted the Kunbi rivals rights to manufacture saris, a garment worn by women. This license was later revoked in 1800 due to pressure from the British, after a deal was struck between the Khatris and the East India Company, in which the Khatris would weave only for the EIC until certain quotas were met.[114][115][116]

Benaras

Mehtab Chand of Burdwan, c. 1860-65

According to some scholars, when the Muslim community first arrived in Benaras, the Khatri Hindus dominated the weaving industry there. These Muslims learned the technique of weaving from the Khatris and soon came to be known as Chira-i-Baaf or 'fine cloth weavers'.[117][118]

Bengal

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 North to Bengal.[119][page needed]

When guru Tegh Bahadur visited Bengal in 1666, he was welcomed by the local Khatris, thereby supporting earlier waves of migration of Khatris to Bengal as well.[120]

Sikh Empire

ca. 19th century, paint on paper A military procession of Hari Singh Nalwa (1791–1837), one of the greatest generals of the Sikh Empire. The military procession depicted is lead by two horsemen carrying battle standards

The Khatris took on a prominent militaristic role in the emerging Sikh milieu of post-Mughal Punjab. Sardar Gulab Singh Khatri founded the Dallewallia Misl, an independent 18th century Sikh sovereign state in Ludhiana and Jalandhar district that would later on join Maharaja Ranjit Singh's kingdom.[121][page needed][122][page needed] In the Sikh Empire, Hari Singh Nalwa (1791–1837) an Uppal Khatri from Gujranwala, became the Commander-in-chief of the Sikh Khalsa Army.[123][page needed] He led the Sikh conquests of Kasur, Sialkot, Attock, Multan, Kashmir, Peshawar and Jamrud. He was responsible for expanding the frontier of Sikh Empire to beyond the Indus River, up to the mouth of the Khyber Pass. At the time of his death, the western boundary of the empire was Jamrud.[124][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 in Battle of Attock which defeated Durrani Empire Wazir Fateh Khan and Dost Mohammad Khan[125] Other Khatris like Diwan Sawan Mal Chopra served as governors of Lahore and Multan, after helping conquer the region [71] while his son Diwan Mulraj Chopra, (1814-1851) the last Punjabi ruler of Multan led a Sikh rebellion against British suzerainty over Multan after the fall of the Sikh Empire in the Anglo-Sikh Wars. He was arrested after the Siege of Multan and put to death.[126][page needed]

Purnima Dhawan described that together with Jat community, the Khatris gained considerably from the expansion of the Mughal empire, although both groups supported Guru Hargobind in his campaign for Sikh self-government in the Punjab plains.[127]

In the 1830s, Khatris were working as governors in the districts like Bardhaman, Lahore, Multan, Peshawar and Hazara, but independent from the Mughal rule.[128][10][page needed][11]

British Colonial Era

Maharaja Kishen Pershad, circa 1915
Photograph of a Khatri man c. 1859-1869

Punjab

In Punjab, they were moneylenders, shopkeepers and grain-dealers among other professions.[9]

Hyderabad

A Peshkari Khatri family in Hyderabad State would become part of the Hyderabadi nobility and occupy the post of Prime Minister of Hyderabad. Notable inviduals of the family include Maharaja Kishen Prasad, GCIE who would serve as Prime Minister of the State twice.[129][130][131]

In Hyderabad, around the mid-20th century, Khatris and Padmasalis were the leading "Hindu weaving castes" who owned 43% of the looms. The Khatris specialized in silk, while the Padmasalis in cotton weaving.[132]

Gujarat

In Gujarat, during the colonial rule, Khatris contributed greatly to the weaving industry there. They as well as the Muslim and Kunbi weavers purchased imported yarn in the 1840s. In Mandvi, the silk products were highly valued and the Khatri dyers would work in the pits on the bank of the river Rukmavati because the water was supposed to have special properties to give steadfast colors. These products were often exported to east Africa.[133][134][135] In Dhamadka, Kutch, "block printing cloth" was the traditional occupation of the Khatri men since the seventeenth century.[136][137]

Rajasthan

In 1998, Kumar Suresh Singh described Khatris working as silk weavers[where?]. Khatris were also found to be engaged in agriculture and service. Banking, trading and business were considered "traditional occupations of the Khatri in Rajasthan".[138]

Modern pictorial representation of a Khatri King.

Post-Independence

Punjab

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 these upper castes communities could read and write English and were educated beyond school.[139][140]

Harish Damodaran says the rise of Khatri industrialists in post-Independence India was a consequence initially of the cataclysmic Partition, which pushed them in droves towards Delhi and its neighborhoods. This exodus opened new avenues for a middle class of educated traders. 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.[141][page needed] This led to the rise of various industrialists such as the Mahindra brothers of Ludhiana - Jagdish Chandra and Kailash Chandra - who founded the Mahindra Group.[citation needed]

Delhi NCR

Delhi's population increased by 1.1 million in the period 1941-51. This growth of 106% largely resulted from the influx of Partition migrants among other reasons. These were members of the Hindu and Sikh Khatri/Arora castes of the West Punjab. Many moved to the city for better economic opportunities.[20]

Maharashtra

Anthropologist Karve, based on the post-Independence research of castes by a in Konkan, Maharashtra, classified Marathi Khatris[a] as one of the "professional/advanced castes" as they were doctors, engineers, clerks, lawyers, teachers, etc. at the time of independence. She states that their traditional professions were silk weaving and working as merchants although they had entered other professions later.[142][143] Khatris in modern Maharashtra are divided into endogamous subgroups, such as the Brahmo Khatris and Kapur Khatris.[144]

Religious groups

Hindu Khatris

The vast majority of Khatris are Hindu.[citation needed] They were estimated to constitute 9% of the total population of Delhi in 2003.[49]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.[145]Hindu-Sikh intermarriages amongst Khatris and Aroras were common in the cities of Peshawar and Rawalpindi.[146]

Sikh Khatris

All the ten Sikh Gurus were from various Khatri clans:[147] Guru Nanak was a Bedi, Guru Angad was a Trehan, Guru Amar Das was a Bhalla, and the remainder were Sodhis.[148]

The early followers of Guru Nanak were Khatris but later a large number of Jats joined the faith.[149] Khatris and Brahmins opposed "the demand that the Sikhs set aside the distinctive customs of their castes and families, including the older rituals."[150]

Bhapa (pronounced as Paapa) is a term used in a derogatory sense to denote Sikhs who left Potohar Region of modern-day Pakistan during Partition , specifically of Khatri and Arora caste. Bhapa translates to elder brother in the Potohari dialect spoken around Rawalpindi region. McLeod, referring to the Khatris and Aroras says "The term is typically used dismissively by Jats 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" [151][152][153]

Muslim Khatris

According to Historian B.N Puri, Muslim Khatris are commonly known as Khojas in Punjab.[55]

Arora

The Arora is a community originating from the Punjab and Sindh region of India and Pakistan. The name is derived from their native place Aror and the community comprises both Hindus and Sikhs.[154]

Scott Cameron Levi, describes that they are a "sub-caste of the Khatris".[155]

As per W.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"[156]

Lohana, Bhatia and Bhanushali

According to Claude Markovits, castes such as Bhatia and Lohana were close to the Khatris and intermarried with them.[157]

Jürgen Schaflechner mentions that many Khatris and Bhatias were absorbed into Lohanas when they arrived in Sindh during 18th century from cities in Punjab such as Multan.[158]

Some members, around 10-15% of the Sindhi 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.[158]

Upendra Thakur mentions that there is a strong connection between the Khatris, Aroras, Lohanas and the Bhanushalis who all recruit the Saraswat Brahmins as their priests.[159]

Gaddi

Gaddi is a nomadic shepherding tribe that resides in the mountainous terrains of the Himalayas. Gaddi is an amalgamation of various groups such as Khatris, Rajputs, Brahmins etc.[160] They are divided into four classes:

  1. Brahmins
  2. Khatris and Rajputs, who wear the sacred thread
  3. Thakurs and Rathis, who don't wear the sacred thread as a rule
  4. The menial castes: Kolis, Spis, Halis etc

Inter-marriages among the groups is common, except for the lower castes.[161]

See also

References

  1. ^ Christine Everaert (1996). Tracing the Boundaries Between Hindi and Urdu: Lost and Added in Translation Between 20th Century Short Stories. BRILL. p. 259. ISBN 9789004177314.
  2. ^ K.S. Singh (1998). People of India: A - G., Volume 4. Oxford University. Press. p. 3285. ISBN 978-0-19563-354-2.
  3. ^ A. H. Advani (1995). The India Magazine of Her People and Culture, Volume 16. the University of Michigan. pp. 56–58.
  4. ^ Kiran Prem (1970). Haryana District Gazetteers: Ambala. Haryana Gazetteers Organization. p. 42.
  5. ^ Misra, Satish Chandra (1964). Muslim communities in Gujarat: preliminary studies in their history and social organization. Asia Pub. House. p. 97.
  6. ^ Singh, Inderjeet (2019). Afghan Hindus and Sikhs. India: Readomania. p. 24. ISBN 978-93-858543-8-5.
  7. ^ a b R. J. Barendse (2009). Arabian Seas, 1700-1763. M.E. Sharpe. pp. 164–. ISBN 978-0-7656-3364-4. The silk trade between Bengal and Gujarat was a domain of Khatri merchants, for example.
  8. ^ a b c d Mark Juergensmayer (1 January 1995). "The social significance of Radhasoami". In David N. Lorenzen (ed.). Bhakti Religion in North India: Community Identity and Political Action. SUNY Press. p. 86. ISBN 978-0-7914-2025-6. 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.
  9. ^ a b Tom Brass (2016). Towards a Comparative Political Economy of Unfree Labour: Case Studies and Debates. Routledge. p. 96. ISBN 9781317827351. For the role of the khatri caste as village moneylender, shopkeeper and grain-dealer in pre-Independence Punjab, see ...
  10. ^ a b Bansal, Bobby Singh (2015). Remnants of the Sikh Empire: Historical Sikh Monuments in India & Pakistan. Hay House, Inc.
  11. ^ a b Hans, Herrli (2004). The Coins of the Sikhs. Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal. pp. 122–123. ISBN 8121511321.
  12. ^ Eaton, Richard Maxwell (2019). India in the Persianate age, 1000-1765. UK. ISBN 978-0-520-97423-4. OCLC 1088599361.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  13. ^ Raj, Dhooleka Sarhadi (2003). Where are you from? : Middle-class migrants in the modern world. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 222. ISBN 978-0-520-92867-1. OCLC 56034872.
  14. ^ a b Muzzafar Alam (2003). "The culture and politics of Persian in pre-colonial Hindusim". In Sheldon Pollock (ed.). Literary Cultures in History: Reconstructions from South Asia. University of California Press. p. 163. ISBN 9780520228214. 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.
  15. ^ K. S. Singh; Anthropological Survey of India (1998). India's Communities. Oxford University Press. p. 1730. ISBN 978-0-19-563354-2. 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
  16. ^ John Gillow; Nicholas Barnard (2008). Indian Textiles. Thames & Hudson. p. 222. ISBN 978-0-500-51432-0. KHATRI A caste of professional dyers
  17. ^ W.H McLeod (2009). The A to Z of Sikhism. Scarecrow Press. p. 86. ISBN 978-0-8108-6828-1.
  18. ^ Nalwa, Vanit (2009). Hari Singh Nalwa, "Champion of the Khalsaji" (1791-1837). India. ISBN 978-81-7304-785-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  19. ^ Puri, Baij Nath (1998). The Khatris, a socio cultural study. India: M.N Publishers and Distributors.
  20. ^ a b c Bessel, Richard; B. Haake, Claudia (2009). Removing Peoples : Forced Removal in the Modern World. OUP Oxford. p. 324. ISBN 978-0199561957.
  21. ^ Dasa, Syamasundara (1965–1975). "Hindi sabdasagara". dsal.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  22. ^ a b Dhavan, Purnima (2011). When Sparrows Became Hawks: The Making of the Sikh Warrior Tradition, 1699-1799. Oxford University Press. pp. 36–37. ISBN 978-0-19987-717-1.
  23. ^ a b Oldenburg, Veena Talwar (2002). Dowry Murder: The Imperial Origins of a Cultural Crime. Oxford University Press. pp. 41, 154.
  24. ^ Hankin, Nigel B. (2003). Hanklyn-janklin. India Presearch Press. p. 281. ISBN 978-81-87943-04-4.
  25. ^ Fenech, Louis E.; McLeod, W. H. (11 June 2014). Historical Dictionary of Sikhism. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 182. ISBN 978-1-4422-3601-1.
  26. ^ Desai, A. R. (1975). State and Society in India. Popular Prakashan. p. 540. ISBN 978-81-7154-013-6.
  27. ^ Dalit Chintan ka Vikas Abhishapt Chintan se Itihas (in Hindi). Vani Prakashan. p. 243.
  28. ^ Dogra, R. C.; Mansukhani, Gobind Singh (1995). Encyclopaedia of Sikh Religion and Culture. Vikas Publishing House. p. 264. ISBN 978-0-7069-8368-5.
  29. ^ The Sikh Struggle in the Eighteenth Century and Its Relevance for Today, W. H. McLeod, History of Religions, Vol. 31, No. 4, Sikh Studies (May 1992), pp. 344-362, The University of Chicago Press/ quote: "Although Bachitar Natak is traditionally attributed to Guru Gobind Singh, there is a strong case to be made for regarding it as the work of one of his followers..."
  30. ^ The Cosmic Drama: Bichitra Natak, Author Gobind Singh, Publisher Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy of the U.S.A., 1989 ISBN 0-89389-116-9, ISBN 978-0-89389-116-9
  31. ^ Singh, Nikky-Guninder Kaur (22 February 2011). Sikhism: An Introduction. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-0-85773-549-2.
  32. ^ "Ang 747 of Guru Granth Sahib Ji - SikhiToTheMax". www.sikhitothemax.org. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
  33. ^ Vincent A. Smith (2008). History of India, in Nine Volumes: Vol. II. New York: Cosimo Publications.
  34. ^ Etienne Lamotte, Sara Webb-Boin & Jean Dantinne (1988). History of Indian Buddhism: From the Origins to the Saka Era. Université catholique de Louvain, Institut orientaliste.
  35. ^ Sahay, Uday (2021). Kayasth Encyclopedia. Delhi: SAUV communications. ISBN 978-81-941122-3-5.
  36. ^ "Arrian, Anabasis, book 6, chapter 15, section 1". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  37. ^ Puri, Baij Nath (1988). The Khatris, a socio-cultural study. New Delhi: M.N. Publishers and Distributors. pp. 9–11. OCLC 61616699. It is reasonable to presume at the moment on the basis of the cumulative evidence adduced above that the Kathioi, Khatriaioi and the Khatriyas appear to be synonymous- all representing the Kshatriyas-Khatriyas-Khatris."
  38. ^ Dr S. Srikanta Sastri, English Translation by S. Naganath (28 July 2021). Indian Culture: A Compendium of Indian History, Culture and Heritage. Notion Press. ISBN 978-1-63806-511-1.
  39. ^ Witzel, Michael (1995). "Early Sanskritization Origins and Development of the Kuru State". Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies. 1 (4): 22.
  40. ^ Hanif, N. (2000). Biographical Encyclopaedia of Sufis: South Asia. p. 387.
  41. ^ Pirzada, Waqar (2014). Chasing Love Up against the Sun. p. 12.
  42. ^ Shāh, Vāris̲ (1966). The Adventures of Hir & Ranjha. Lion Art Press. p. 41.
  43. ^ Shah, Waris (2003). The Adventure of Hir and Ranjha (PDF). Translated by Usborne, Charles Frederick. Rupa. ISBN 978-8129103796.
  44. ^ Russell, R.V (1916). "Part 1". The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India. Vol. 1. London: Macmillan and Co. p. 337.
  45. ^ a b Levi, Scott Cameron (2002). The Indian Diaspora in Central Asia and Its Trade, 1550–1900. Leiden: BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-12320-5.
  46. ^ India, Punjab (1976). Volume 9 of Punjab District Gazetteers. Controller of Print and Stationery. p. 87.
  47. ^ Puri, Baij Nath (1988). The Khatris, a Socio-cultural Study. M.N. Publishers and Distributors. pp. 19–20.
  48. ^ "Report of Haryana Backward Classes Commission - 2012 | Welfare of Scheduled Caste & Backward Classes Department, Government of Haryana". haryanascbc.gov.in. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  49. ^ a b Kumar, Sanjay. "A tale of three cities".
  50. ^ Oonk, Gijsbert (2007). Global Indian diasporas. Amsterdam University Press. p. 43. ISBN 978-90-5356-035-8.
  51. ^ a b Levi, Scott Cameron (2002). The Indian Diaspora in Central Asia and Its Trade, 1550-1900. Brill. p. 108. ISBN 978-90-04-12320-5.
  52. ^ Singh, Ganda. The Punjab Past and Present - Volume 20 Part 1.
  53. ^ Stephen F. Dale (2009). The Muslim Empires of the Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals. Cambridge University Press. pp. 190–191. ISBN 9781316184394. 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.
  54. ^ Barendse, Rene J. (8 July 2016). The Arabian Seas: The Indian Ocean World of the Seventeenth Century: The Indian Ocean World of the Seventeenth Century. Routledge. p. 238. ISBN 978-1-317-45836-4.
  55. ^ a b Puri, Baij Nath (1988). The Khatris, a Socio-cultural Study. M.N. Publishers and Distributors. pp. 149–150.
  56. ^ Susan Bayly (2001). Caste, Society and Politics in India from the Eighteenth Century to the Modern Age. Cambridge University Press. pp. 328–329. ISBN 9780521798426. 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
  57. ^ Bayly, Susan (22 February 2001). Caste, Society and Politics in India from the Eighteenth Century to the Modern Age. Cambridge University Press. p. 385. ISBN 978-0-521-79842-6.
  58. ^ Clarke, Peter B.; Beyer, Peter (7 May 2009). The World's Religions: Continuities and Transformations. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-21099-1.
  59. ^ Melton, J. Gordon; Baumann, Martin (21 September 2010). Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices, 2nd Edition [6 volumes]. ABC-CLIO. p. 2013. ISBN 978-1-59884-204-3.
  60. ^ Kamala Elizabeth Nayar; Harold Coward (13 June 2012). Kelli I. Stajduhar (ed.). Religious Understandings of a Good Death in Hospice Palliative Care. SUNY Press. p. 214. ISBN 978-1-4384-4275-4.
  61. ^ Rai, Rajesh; Sankaran, Chitra (5 July 2017). Religion and Identity in the South Asian Diaspora. Routledge. p. 104. ISBN 978-1-351-55159-5.
  62. ^ Renard, John (31 December 2012). Fighting Words: Religion, Violence, and the Interpretation of Sacred Texts. University of California Press. p. 18. ISBN 978-0-520-95408-3.
  63. ^ Singh, Nikky-Guninder Kaur (2004). Sikhism. Infobase Publishing. p. 22. ISBN 978-1-4381-1779-9.
  64. ^ Farhadian, Charles E. (9 June 2015). Introducing World Religions: A Christian Engagement. Baker Academic. ISBN 978-1-4412-4650-9.
  65. ^ Jeffrey, Robin (27 July 2016). What’s Happening to India?: Punjab, Ethnic Conflict, and the Test for Federalism. Springer. p. 52. ISBN 978-1-349-23410-3.
  66. ^ Mooney, Nicola (17 September 2011). Rural Nostalgias and Transnational Dreams: Identity and Modernity Among Jat Sikhs. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-1-4426-6268-1.
  67. ^ Pechilis, Karen; Raj, Selva J. (2013). South Asian Religions: Tradition and Today. Routledge. p. 239. ISBN 978-0-415-44851-2.
  68. ^ Westerlund, David (1996). Questioning the Secular State: The Worldwide Resurgence of Religion in Politics. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. p. 261. ISBN 978-1-85065-241-0.
  69. ^ Lorenzen, David N. (2005). Religious Movements in South Asia 600-1800. Oxford University Press. p. 321. ISBN 978-0-19-567876-5.
  70. ^ Singh, Rishi (23 April 2015). State Formation and the Establishment of Non-Muslim Hegemony: Post-Mughal 19th-century Punjab. SAGE Publications India. ISBN 978-93-5150-504-4.
  71. ^ a b c Syan, Hardip Singh (2013). Sikh Militancy in the Seventeenth Century: Religious Violence in Mughal and Early Modern India. I. B. Tauris. pp. 35, 39. ISBN 978-1-78076-250-0.
  72. ^ Anand A. Yang (1989). The Limited Raj: Agrarian Relations in Colonial India, Saran District, 1793-1920. University of California Press. ISBN 0520057112. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  73. ^ Jacob Copeman (2009). Veins of Devotion: Blood Donation and Religious Experience in North India. Rutgers University Press. p. 203. ISBN 978-0-8135-4449-6. Agarwal, khatri, and bania usually denote people of merchant-trader background of middling clean-caste status, often of vaishya varna
  74. ^ Satish Chandra (2008). Social Change and Development in Medieval Indian History. Har-Anand Publications. p. 43. ISBN 978-81-241-1386-8. 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.
  75. ^ a b Misra, S. C. (Satish Chandra) (1963). The rise of Muslim power in Gujarat; a history of Gujarat from 1298 to 1442. Internet Archive. New York, Asia Pub. House. pp. 137–138. [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.
  76. ^ Mysore Narasimhachar Srinivas (1967). Social Change in Modern India. University of California Press-Berkeley and Los Angeles. p. 97.
  77. ^ Lawrence, Sir Walter Roper (1895). The Valley of Kashmir (PDF). pp. 296–302.
  78. ^ Sheikh, Tariq (January 2019). "Cradle of Castes in Kashmir (From Medieval Period to Present Day)". ResearchGate. Retrieved 24 August 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  79. ^ Gigoo, Siddhartha; Sharma, Varad (18 October 2016). A Long Dream of Home: The persecution, exile and exodus of Kashmiri Pandits. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-93-86250-25-4.
  80. ^ Kenneth W. Jones; Kenneth W.Jones (1976). Arya Dharm: Hindu Consciousness in 19th-century Punjab. University of California Press. pp. 4–5. ISBN 978-0-520-02920-0. 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
  81. ^ a b McLane, John R. (2002). Land and Local Kingship in Eighteenth-Century Bengal. Cambridge University Press. p. 131. ISBN 978-0-521-52654-8. 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 Afganistan, 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.
  82. ^ Singh, K.S (1998). India's Communities A-G. OUP India. p. 1727. ISBN 978-0195633542.
  83. ^ Sharma, Dasharatha (1975). Early Chauhān dynasties: a study of Chauhān political history, Chauhān political institutions, and life in the Chauhān dominions, from 800 to 1316 A.D. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 279.
  84. ^ Singh, K.S (1998). India's Communities A-G. OUP India. p. 1728. ISBN 978-0195633542.
  85. ^ Malik, Ashok (2010). "Caste Census". India International Centre Quarterly. 37 (1): 142–147. ISSN 0376-9771. JSTOR 23006464.
  86. ^ Vijaya V. Gupchup (1993). Bombay: Social Change, 1813-1857. Popular Book Depot. p. 191. The cynical remarks of the Brahmin point out that there was a general tendency of the castes to elevate themselves in the social strata, no doubt taking advantage of the British policy of neutrality towards castes. Thus he says: Everyone does what he wants, Sonars have become Brahmins , Treemungalacharya was insulted by throwing cowdung at him in Pune, but he has no shame and still calls himself a Brahmin. Similarly a (Marathi) Khatri or Koshti (weavers) who are included in Panchal at places other than Bombay, call themselves Kshatriya in Bombay and say their needles are the arrows and their thimbles are the sheaths. How surprising that those Sonars and Khatris at the hands of whom even Sudras will not take water have become Brahmins and Kshatriyas. He continues, in short day by day higher castes are disappearing and lower castes are prospering.
  87. ^ Tandon, Prakash (1968). Punjabi Century, 1857-1947. University of California Press. p. 136. ISBN 978-0-520-01253-0.
  88. ^ Tandon, Prakash (1968). Punjabi Century, 1857-1947. University of California Press. p. 9. ISBN 978-0-520-01253-0.
  89. ^ Rait, S. K. (2005). Sikh Women in England: Their Religious and Cultural Beliefs and Social Practices. Trentham Books. p. 71. ISBN 978-1-85856-353-4.
  90. ^ Rosalind O'Hanlon (2014). "Scribal migrations in early modern India". In Joya Chatterji; David Washbrook (eds.). Routledge Handbook of the South Asian Diaspora. pp. 97–98. ISBN 9781136018329. 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)
  91. ^ Burjor Avari (2013). Islamic Civilization in South Asia:A History of Muslim Power and Presence in the Indian Subcontinent. Routledge. p. 142. ISBN 9780415580618. 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.
  92. ^ Hendrik Spruyt (2020). The World Imagined: Collective Beliefs and Political Order in the Sinocentric, Islamic and Southeast Asian International Societies. Cambridge University Press. p. 200. ISBN 978-1108811743. 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
  93. ^ Prashant Keshavmurthy (2020). "The limits of Islamic civility in India". In Milad Milani; Vassilios Adrahtas (eds.). Islam, Civility and Political Culture. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 121. ISBN 9783030567613. 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.
  94. ^ Das, Kumudranjan. Raja Todar Mal. pp. 138–150.
  95. ^ a b McLane, John R. (2002). Land and Local Kingship in Eighteenth-Century Bengal. Cambridge University Press. pp. 132–133. ISBN 978-0-521-52654-8.
  96. ^ Small Town Capitalism in Western India:Artisans, Merchants and the making of the Informal Economy. Cambridge University Press. 2012. p. 31. ISBN 9780521193337. Weavers and other artisans frequently moved to places where the prospects for international trade or state patronage were great. Khatri weavers living in Gujarat largely trace their ancestry to Champaner in the current Panch Mahals district or to Hinglag in Sind. Community genealogists today preserve the memory of how Khatri families fanned out through towns in central and southern Gujarat during the late sixteenth century, a period of rapid expansion in the region's foreign trade.
  97. ^ Kapadia, Aparna (16 May 2018). Gujarat: The Long Fifteenth Century and the Making of a Region. Cambridge University Press. p. 120. ISBN 978-1-107-15331-8.
  98. ^ Wink, André (2003). Indo-Islamic society: 14th - 15th centuries. BRILL. p. 143. ISBN 978-90-04-13561-1. Similarly, Zaffar Khan Muzaffar, the first independent ruler of Gujarat was not a foreign muslim but a Khatri convert, of low subdivision called Tank.
  99. ^ Khan, Iqtidar Alam (25 April 2008). Historical Dictionary of Medieval India. Scarecrow Press. p. 107. ISBN 978-0-8108-5503-8. The founder of the Gujarat Sultanate he was a convert from a sect of Hindu Khatris known as Tanks.
  100. ^ Misra, S. C. (Satish Chandra) (1963). The rise of Muslim power in Gujarat; a history of Gujarat from 1298 to 1442. Internet Archive. New York, Asia Pub. House. p. 137. Zafar Khan was not a foreign muslim. He was a convert to Islam from a sect of the Khatris known as Tank.
  101. ^ Khan, Iqtidar Alam (2004). Gunpowder and Firearms: Warfare in Medieval India. Oxford University Press. p. 57. ISBN 978-0-19-566526-0. Zafar Khan (entitled Muzaffar Shah) himself was a convert to Islam from a sub-caste of the Khatris known as Tank.
  102. ^ Abbas, Syed Anwer (2021). Confluence of Cultures: Hindu, Muslim, Buddhists & Jain mosque and Mausoleum. Notion Press. ISBN 9781639046041.
  103. ^ Chandra, Satish (2004). Medieval India ( From Sultanat to the Mughals), PART ONE Delhi Sultanat ( 1206-1526). Har-Anand Publications. p. 218. ISBN 9788124110645.
  104. ^ Muzaffar Husain Syed, Syed Saud Akhtar, BD Usmani (2011). Concise History of Islam. p. 271.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  105. ^ Kapadia, Aparna (2018). Gujarat: The Long Fifteenth Century and the Making of a Region. Cambridge University Press. p. 8. ISBN 9781107153318.
  106. ^ Edward James Rapson, Sir Wolseley Haig, Sir Richard Burn (1965). The Cambridge History of India: Turks and Afghans, edited by W Haig, 1965. Cambridge. p. 294.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  107. ^ Chaube, J. (1975). History of Gujarat Kingdom, 1458-1537. Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers. p. 4. ISBN 9780883865736.
  108. ^ Mahajan, VD (2007). History of Medieval India. S. Chand. p. 245. ISBN 9788121903646.
  109. ^ Jenkins, Everett (2010). The Muslim Diaspora - A comprehensive reference to the spread of Islam in Asia, Africa, Europe and the America, 570 - 1799. McFarland & Company Inc. p. 275. ISBN 9780786447138.
  110. ^ Jutta, Jain-Neubauer (1981). The Stepwells of Gujarat: In Art- Historical perspective. p. 62.
  111. ^ Saran, Kishori Lal (1992). The legacy of Muslim Rule in India. Aditya Prakashan. p. 233. ISBN 9788185689036.
  112. ^ Lane-Pool, Stanley (2014). Mohammadan Dyn: Orientalism V 2 - volume 2, page -312 , writer. p. 312. ISBN 9781317853947.
  113. ^ Wink, André (1990). Indo-Islamic society: 14th - 15th centuries. BRILL. p. 143. ISBN 978-90-04-13561-1. 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 houshold. As the governor of Gujarat he became independent from Delhi after Timur devastated the city an immense number of people fled to Gujarat..
  114. ^ Suraiya Faroqh (2019). The Ottoman and Mughal Empires: Social History in the Early Modern World. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 254. ISBN 9781788318730. In the study of the political economy of Gujarat in the second half of the eighteenth century, the author points out that castes and subcastes did not prevent inter-caste mobility. Thus, when the Khatri weavers found that they have more orders for high-quality cottons than they could fill on their own, they employed adjuncts from another caste known as Kunbis. The latter soon learnt the craft and turned into formidable competitors. Particularly, the Khatris resented that at some time in the mid-1770s, at the very end of the period studied here, the Mughal governor had granted their Kunbi rivals the right to manufacture saris, a popular female garment. In 1742, the Khatri weavers refused to deliver cloth to the EIC to protest against the immigration of Muslim weavers; it is difficult to say whether this strike was a purely economic matter or whether religion, status and caste were an issue as well.
  115. ^ Moin Qazi (2014). Woven Wonders of the Deccan. Notion Press. pp. 147–. ISBN 978-93-83808-62-5. With the Muslim invasion the hereditary art fell on bad times, as the khatri community of weavers scattered far and wide in search of work
  116. ^ Nadri, Ghulam A. (2009). Eighteenth Century Gujarat: The Dynamics of Its Political Economy, 1750-1800. Brill. pp. 26–28, 31. ISBN 978-90-04-17202-9.
  117. ^ Parvez Alam (July 2017). "Trade, Textile and other Industrial Activities: A Study of Banaras region in Medieval India" (PDF). Journal of Indian Studies Vol. 3, No. 1: 49–56. When the first caravan of Muslim weavers known as 'sat gharua' entered Banaras, there was monopoly of Khatri Hindus over the weaving industry in Banaras. The Khatri Hindus known as Pattikas or Pattakars assisted to these immigrant Muslim weavers in founding their craft both by cash and raw material. Since these Muslims were not allowed to have any direct connection with high caste Hindus, the finished products of Muslims were marketed by the Khatris. The Muslim weavers were good in weaving and their labour was cheap for they had to take whatever they were paid to establish themselves. Now the Khatris started focusing more on marketing. By this way, weaving from the Khatris passed into the hands of the Muslims. Gradually, the Khatris became traders.
  118. ^ Badri Prasad Pandey (1981). Banaras Brocades: Structure and Functioning. Gandhian Institute of Studies. p. 18. Muslim community learned the art of weaving from the Pattikas khatris - a low Hindu caste at that time. It was easier to mix with low Hindu castes than higher one for muslims. The muslims who installed their own looms and learnt weaving were known as 'chira-i- Baaf' meaning 'Fine cloth weavers'. By and by Pattikas khatris withdrew from the scene and it was replaced by muslim community" When muslim community came to Varanasi after conquering Varanasi they settled at Alaipura and other muslim localities
  119. ^ Baij Nath Puri (1988). The Khatris, a Socio-cultural Study. M.N. Publishers and Distributors. The history of Burdwan Raj seems to mark the beginning of Khatri migration or its efflorescence of the Khatris in Bengal.
  120. ^ John R. McLane (1993). Land and Local Kingship in Eighteenth-Century Bengal. Cambridge University Press. p. 132.
  121. ^ Mandair, Arvind-Pal S.; Shackle, Christopher; Singh, Gurharpal (16 December 2013). Sikh Religion, Culture and Ethnicity. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781315028583. ISBN 978-1-136-84627-4.
  122. ^ Dhavan, Purnima (22 November 2011). When Sparrows Became Hawks. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199756551.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-975655-1.
  123. ^ Naīara, Gurabacana Siṅgha (1995). The Campaigns of General Hari Singh Nalwa. Punjabi University. ISBN 978-81-7380-141-9.
  124. ^ Kapūra, Prithīpāla Siṅgha (1993). Perspectives on Hari Singh Nalwa. ABS Publications. ISBN 978-81-7072-056-0.
  125. ^ Singh, Khushwant (18 November 2004), "Constitutional Reforms and the Sikhs", A History of the Sikhs, Oxford University Press, pp. 216–234, doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195673098.003.0014, ISBN 978-0-19-567309-8, retrieved 31 July 2021
  126. ^ Hernon, Ian (2002). Britain's Forgotten Wars. Sutton Publishing
  127. ^ Dhavan, Purnima (2011). When Sparrows Became Hawks: The Making of the Sikh Warrior Tradition, 1699-1799. Oxford University Press. pp. 3, 30–31. ISBN 978-0-19987-717-1.
  128. ^ Nirad Baran, Sarkar (1999). Bardhaman Raj. Sujata Sarkar. p. 210.
  129. ^ Patel, Alka; Leonard, Karen (7 December 2011). Indo-Muslim Cultures in Transition. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-21887-1.
  130. ^ Leonard, Karen Isaksen (1994). Social History of an Indian Caste: The Kayasths of Hyderabad. Orient BlackSwan. ISBN 978-81-250-0032-7.
  131. ^ Bawa, Basant K. (1992). The Last Nizam: The Life and Times of Mir Osman Ali Khan. Viking. ISBN 978-0-670-83997-1.
  132. ^ Tirthankar Roy; Roy (4 November 1999). Traditional Industry in the Economy of Colonial India. Cambridge University Press. pp. 93–. ISBN 978-0-521-65012-0. 43 percent of the looms were owned by the main Hindu weaving castes, Khatri(silk) and Salis/padmasalis(cotton)
  133. ^ A.M. Shah (6 December 2012). The Structure of Indian Society: Then and Now. Routledge. pp. 126–127. ISBN 978-1-136-19770-3. A large number of specialized artisan and craftsmen castes lived almost entirely in towns, as for example Soni(goldsmith), Kansara(brazier), chudgar(bangle-maker), chhipa(dyer, printer), bhavsar(weaver, dyer, printer), khatri(cotton weaver), salvi(silk weaver), kadiya(brick layer)..and Darji(tailor)
  134. ^ Makrand Mehta (1991). Indian Merchants and Entrepreneurs in Historical Perspective: With Special Reference to Shroffs of Gujarat, 17th to 19th Centuries. Academic Foundation. pp. 176–. ISBN 978-81-7188-017-1. In the 1840's a large number of weavers , mostly belonging to the kanbi and the Khatri castes and also the Muslim weavers , increasingly purchased machine made imported yarn to weave them into superior textila goods.
  135. ^ Edward A. Alpers; Chhaya Goswami (12 February 2019). Transregional Trade and Traders: Situating Gujarat in the Indian Ocean from Early Times to 1900. OUP India. pp. 176–. ISBN 978-0-19-909613-8. In the last place, 'silk weaving[was] carried on to a large extent.' the products 'much valued for the fastness of the dye', with Khatri dyers working at 'pits on the banks of the dry river Rukmavati where water is said to give specially clear and lasting colors'
  136. ^ Jennifer E. Duyne Barenstein; Esther Leemann (29 October 2012). Post-Disaster Reconstruction and Change: Communities' Perspectives. CRC Press. pp. 286–. ISBN 978-1-4398-8817-9. Block printing cloth, the traditional occupation of Khatri men, has been practiced in Dhamadka since the time of its foundation some 400 years ago.
  137. ^ Sheila Paine (2001). Embroidery from India and Pakistan. British Museum Press. p. 11. ISBN 978-0-7141-2744-6. Block printing is done with a resist substance by both Muslims and Hindus of the Khatri caste , and block printers can still be found in many villages. The background fabric for this work is normally red
  138. ^ Singh, Kumar Suresh, ed. (1998). India's Communities. Vol. 2 H–M. New Delhi, India: Oxford University Press. pp. 1722, 1728–1729. ISBN 978-0-19-563354-2.
  139. ^ Pavan K. Varma (2007). The Great Indian Middle class. Penguin Books. p. 28. ISBN 9780143103257. ...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
  140. ^ D.L. Sheth (2018). Peter Ronald deSouza (ed.). At Home with Democracy: A Theory of Indian Politics. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9789811064128. The old neocolonial upper-caste elite, with a long tradition of education in the language of the ruling elite, witha 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.
  141. ^ Damodaran, Harish (25 November 2018). INDIA'S NEW CAPITALISTS: Caste, Business, and Industry in a Modern Nation. Hachette India. ISBN 978-93-5195-280-0.
  142. ^ Gordon Townsend Bowles (1977). The People of Asia. Scribner. p. 173. ISBN 978-0-684-15625-5. Following Karve's classification in the Konkan , the Kayastha Prabhu , Pathare Prabhu , Pathare Kshatriya , Khatri and Vaisya Vani may be listed with the Brahmins as professional groups. The intermediate or artisan and service castes include the Sonar ( goldsmiths ) , Kasar ( coppersmiths ) , Shimpi ( tailors ) , Teli ( oil pressers ) , Khosti ( weavers ) , Bhajvsar ( dyers ) , Nhavi ( barbers ) , Parit ( washermen ) ...
  143. ^ Irawati Karve; Vishnu Mahadeo Dandekar (1951). Anthropometric Measurements of Mahārāṣhṭra. Deccan College Postgraduate and Research Institute, Pune. (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.....
  144. ^ K. S. Singh; Anthropological Survey of India (1998). India's Communities. Oxford University Press. p. 1728. ISBN 978-0-19-563354-2. In Maharashtra , the Khatri have different subgroups , such as Brahmo Khatri , Gujarathi Khatri , Kapur Khatri , Sahashtrarjun Khatri , Surthi Khatri , Somvanshiya Khatri , and Maratha Khatri which are territorial and endogamous . They are weavers by profession.
  145. ^ Singh, Manpreet J. (31 August 2020). The Sikh Next Door: An Identity in Transition. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-93-89165-58-6.
  146. ^ Mooney, Nicola (1 January 2011). Rural Nostalgias and Transnational Dreams: Identity and Modernity Among Jat Sikhs. University of Toronto Press. p. 12. ISBN 978-0-8020-9257-1.
  147. ^ Singha, H. S. (2000). The Encyclopedia of Sikhism. Hemkunt Press. p. 125. ISBN 978-81-7010-301-1.
  148. ^ McLeod, W. H. (2009). The A to Z of Sikhism. Scarecrow Press. p. 86. ISBN 978-0-8108-6828-1.
  149. ^ Richard M. Eaton (2019). India in the Persianate Age: 1000-1765. Penguin. pp. 168–169. ISBN 9780141966557. 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.
  150. ^ Dhavan, Purnima (2011). When Sparrows Became Hawks: The Making of the Sikh Warrior Tradition, 1699-1799. Oxford University Press. pp. 42, 47, 184. ISBN 978-0-19987-717-1.
  151. ^ Fenech, Louis E.; McLeod, W.H (2014). Historical Dictionary of Sikhism. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 67. ISBN 978-1442236004.
  152. ^ Singh, Pukhraj (31 May 2014). "Bluestar Baby Boomers". Newslaundary. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
  153. ^ Kumar, Dharminder (3 January 2016). "The Sardar Joke Is On You". Mumbai Mirror. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
  154. ^ Hans, Patrick (2016). The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland. p. 78. ISBN 9780192527479.
  155. ^ Levi, Scott Cameron (2002). The Indian Diaspora in Central Asia and its Trade 1550-1900. p. 107. ISBN 978-90-04-12320-5.
  156. ^ McLeod, W. H. (24 July 2009). The A to Z of Sikhism. Scarecrow Press. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-8108-6344-6.
  157. ^ Markovits, Claude (22 June 2000). The Global World of Indian Merchants, 1750–1947: Traders of Sind from Bukhara to Panama. Cambridge University Press. p. 47. ISBN 978-1-139-43127-9.
  158. ^ a b Schaflechner, Jürgen (2018). Hinglaj Devi: Identity, Change, and Solidification at a Hindu Temple in Pakistan. Oxford University Press. pp. 73–74. ISBN 978-0-19-085052-4.
  159. ^ Thakur, Upendra (1997). Sindhi Culture. Sindhi Academy. p. 61. ISBN 978-81-87096-02-3.
  160. ^ Sharma, Manorma (1998). Tribal Melodies of Himachal Pradesh: Gaddi folk music. APH Publishing. p. 9. ISBN 978-81-7024-912-2.
  161. ^ Bisht, Narendra S.; Bankoti, T. S. (2004). Encyclopaedic Ethnography of the Himalayan Tribes: A-D. Global Vision. p. 431. ISBN 978-81-87746-92-8.
  1. ^ Khatris claimed to live near the Bombay island from at least the mid-1800s and would speak Marathi
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Khatri.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Khatri&oldid=1044259541"