Arora
| Arora | |
|---|---|
| Religions | Hinduism • Sikhism |
| Languages | Punjabi, Sindhi |
| Region | Primarily the Punjab region of India and Pakistan |
| Related groups | Khatri • Bhatia • Sood |
The Arora is a mercantile community originating from Punjab. The name is derived from their native place Aror and the community comprises both Hindus and Sikhs.[1][2]
Before the Partition of India, they were largely concentrated in Potohar region which consists of Rawalpindi, Jhelum, Attock, Chakwal and Islamabad provinces.[2]
Historically, the Arora section of the Khatri community had been principally found in West Punjab , in the districts to the south and west of Lahore. Scott Cameron Levi, believes that they are a "sub-caste of the Khatris".[3] After Partition of India, Punjabis who migrated from erstwhile Punjab were mostly Khatris and Aroras. Studies reveal that "Arora Khatri, Bedi, Ahluwalia etc. are some of the important castes among the Punjabis".[4]
Colonial Era
Pettigrew notes that in the 19th century, the Aroras were working as shopkeepers and small traders within the Sikh community in Punjab.[5] During the British Raj, the traditional occupations of the Aroras in Punjab were reduced to shopkeeping, accountancy and money-lending[6][7]
The Amritsar Gazetteer says:
Aroras trace their origin from the Khatris. It is said that Khatris are Khatris of Lahore and Multan, whereas Aroras are Khatris of Aror, modern Rori and Sukkar (Sind) in Pakistan. There is a street in Amritsar named as ‘Arorianwali Gali’. The Aroras seem to have settled in Amritsar during the time of Maharaja Ranjit Singh or even earlier. It is presumed that they migrated to Amritsar from Lahore to which place they might have originally migrated from Sind or Multan.[8]
The Hoshiarpur Gazetteer says:
Before independence, the Aroras did not constitute a sizeable population in the district. With the migration of the non-Muslim population from Pakistan to India in 1947, they settled here, though in small numbers. The Aroras were generally settled in West Punjab (Pakistan) and in the Firozepur District. Their representation in the eastern districts of the Punjab was not notable. Whatever be their origin, the fact is that they resemble Khatris in certain traits. They are also divided into many groups and castes, Uchanda, Nichanda, etc., but in social life, these groups are of no importance. They intermarry in their groups like others. They also intermarry among Khatris. In the All-India meeting in 1936, held by the Khatris at Lahore (Pakistan), it was decided that the Aroras, Soods and Bhatias were Khatri for all intents and purposes. And, as such, they should be admitted to the Khatri stock. This interpretation did not find much favour then, but with the lapse of time, it has almost been accepted.[9]
Uttaradhi (north), Dakhanadhi (south) and Dahre (west) are three major sub-groups of the Arora people based on territorial differentiations.[10] Before the independence of India, Arora used to marry in their own sub-group i.e. Uttradhi, Dakkhna or Dahra but after the independence, spheres of permissible arranged matrimonial alliances were widened to include other sub-groups of Arora.[11]
British ethnographer Denzil Ibbetson observed that Arora-Khatris were centered in Multan and Derajat (region consisting of Dera Ismail Khan and Dera Ghazi Khan) which are now part of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa regions of modern-day Pakistan. They conducted business throughout Afghanistan and Central Asia.[12]
Post-Independence
In the census of 1951, Aroras that were settled in Punjab returned their caste names as Khatris, Arora Khatris, Arore, Rore, Aror, Rora Khatris, Aror Khatris etc. Some of the Aroras simply returned their caste names with Arora sub-caste names such as Arya, Ahuja, Batheja, Bathla, Chawla, Chabbra, Juneja, Jadeja, Taneja, Upneja, Wadhwa etc. [13]
According to the Commission Reports by Justice Gurnam Singh (1990) and Justice K.C. Gupta (2012), Arora is a forward caste socially, educationally and economically. It was reported that "despite of being uprooted from their homeland", Arora community has high literacy rate. An economic survey conducted by Maharishi Dayanand University states that Arora/Khatri people have good representation both in government as well as private sector. They are both in business, services and other fields. They are "economically well-off and not dependent on money-lending or shopkeeping". They are engaged as "doctors, engineers, administrators and are represented in white-collar jobs". The Arora were divided in two main sub groups, namely Hindu Arora and Sikh Arora depending upon the religion pursued.[14]
As of 2009, many Aroras were prominent shopkeepers in several cities of Punjab including Amritsar.[2] McLeod adds that they played prominent role in the Singh Sabha movement. Aroras such as Vir Singh and Mehtab Singh were influential within the Sikh community.[2]
In Haryana, a majority of Aroras folow Hinduism while some follow Sikhism.[15]
Culture
Some sanskrit scholars derived the origin of the word Arora from Arur meaning firm, possibly because they "remained firm in paying their respects to the Brahmins".[16] McLeod notes that marriages between Aroras and the Khatris are common.[2]
According to the University of Utah sociologist, Bam dev Sharda, in the "status allocation in village India", they are considered a mercantile caste belonging to the Vaishya varna - like the Khatris, Agarwal, Bania and Ahluwalia.[17]So does historian Kenneth Jones by citing Denzil Ibbetson's study.[18]
According to the University of Toronto anthropologist, Dr. Nicola Mooney, the Aroras are of Kshatriya varna, along with the Khatris.[19] Similarly, Grant Evans describes Arora as a "sub-group of the Khatri jati of the Kshatriya Varna".[20]
According to K.S. Singh, the two endogamous branches of the Khatri are presently "Punjabi Khatri and Arora Khatri". The Aroras in Rajasthan are known as "the progeny of Arrut Maharaj".[21]
See also
References
Citations
- ^ Hanks, Patrick; Coates, Richard; McClure, Peter (17 November 2016). The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland. ISBN 9780192527479 – via books.google.com.
Indian:Hindu and sikh, based on the name of a mercantile community of Punjab, which is derived from the place name Aror(now in Rohri Sind Pakistan)
- ^ a b c d e McLeod, W. H. (24 July 2009). The A to Z of Sikhism. Scarecrow Press. pp. 21, 213, 128. ISBN 978-0-8108-6344-6.
- ^ Levi (2002), p. 107
- ^ Government of Haryana, Department of Welfare. "Report of Backward Classes Commission". Welfare of Scheduled Caste & Backward Classes Department. pp. 05, 135. Archived from the original on 15 May 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
- ^ Joyce Pettigrew (1975). Robber Noblemen: A Study of the Political System of the Sikh Jats. Routledge & Kegan Paul. p. 41.
The Aroras, who formed 9 per cent of the Sikh population and who generally supplied most of Punjab's petty traders and small shopkeepers...
- ^ Kesar Singh (1997). B. L. Abbi (ed.). Post-green revolution rural Punjab: A profile of economic and socio-cultural change, 1965-1995. p. 36.
Of the clean caste households in the village , Arora , a traditional shopkeeping and petty - business caste , is lacking in the Jat's prestige and power in this village
- ^ J. Royal Roseberry (1987). Imperial Rule in Punjab: The Conquest and Administration of Multan 1818-1881. p. 4.
The Aroras were so numerous that many had to find employ outside the traditional caste occupations of shopkeeper, moneylender and village accountant.
- ^ Gazetteers of India, State Editor (1976). Amritsar. Chandigarh: Government of Punjab. p. 88.
{{cite book}}:|first=has generic name (help) - ^ "Chapter Iii". Archived from the original on 24 October 2010. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
- ^ Singh, Surely Kumar (1997). People of India: India's communities. Kolkata: Anthropological Survey of India. p. 126.
- ^ "Religions And Castes". District Gazetteer - Amritsar. Department of Revenue, Rehabilitation and Disaster Management, Government of Punjab. 1976. Archived from the original on 26 September 2007. Retrieved 23 October 2011.
- ^ Oonk, Gijsbert (2007). Global Indian Diasporas: Exploring Trajectories of Migration and Theory. Amsterdam University Press. p. 43. ISBN 978-90-5356-035-8.
- ^ Government of India, Deputy Registrar General (23 August 1956). "GLOSSARY OR CASTE NAMES RETURNED AT THE CENSUS OF 1951 IN THE DISTRICTS OF PEPSU" (PDF). Linguistic Survey of India. Archived from the original on 23 August 1956. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
- ^ Government of Haryana, Department of Welfare. "Report of Backward Classes Commission". Welfare of Scheduled Caste & Backward Classes Department. pp. 135–136. Archived from the original on 15 May 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
- ^ Singh, K.S.; Sharma, Madan Lal; Bhatia, A.K. (1994). People of India: Haryana. New Delhi: Manohar Publishers. p. 25.
- ^ The University of Chicago Library, The Kenneth Jones Collection (1888). Short Ethnographical History of Aror Bans [panchayat]: According to the Questions No. B. Virajananda Press.
- ^ Bam Dev Sharda (2005). David Bills (ed.). The Shape of Social Inequality: Stratification and Ethnicity in Comparative perspective. p. 253.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Evans, Grant (1993). Asia's Cultural Mosaic: An Anthropological Introduction. Prentice Hall. ISBN 978-0-13-052812-4.
- ^ Singh, K.S. (1998). Rajasthan, part 2. Mumbai: Popular Prakashan Pvt. Ltd. ISBN 8171547699.
Bibliography
- Levi, Scott Cameron (2002), The Indian Diaspora in Central Asia and Its Trade, 1550–1900, Leiden: BRILL, ISBN 978-90-04-12320-5, retrieved 23 October 2011