Global InformationKhatri information
| Khatri | |
|---|---|
 Khatri nobleman in Kitab-i Tasrih al-Aqvam by James Skinner (1778–1841) | |
| Religions | Hinduism, Sikhism |
| Languages | Major: Lahnda variety of Punjabi (Potohari, Hindko, Multani/Saraiki)[1][2][3][4][5] Minor: Hindi, Gujarati, Dogri, Kangri, Sindhi,[6] Pashto, Urdu,[7] Kutchi |
| Country | India, Pakistan and Afghanistan |
| Region | Punjab, Sindh, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir,[8] Himachal Pradesh,[9] Haryana,[10] Gujarat,[11] Maharashtra,[12] Uttar Pradesh |
Khatri is a caste originating from the Malwa and Majha areas of Punjab region[13] of South Asia that is predominantly found in India, but also in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Khatris claim they are warriors who took to trade.[14] In the Indian subcontinent, they were mostly engaged in mercantile professions such as banking and trade.[15][16][17] They were the dominant commercial and financial administration class of late-medieval India.[17] Some in Punjab often belonged to hereditary agriculturalist land-holding lineages,[18][19] while others were engaged in artisanal occupations such as silk production and weaving.[20][21][22][23]
Khatris of Punjab specifically were scribes and traders during the medieval period. They enrolled in Madrasas to learn Persian language and literature, which helped them get good employment in the Mughal imperial services,[24][14].
The Sikh religion was founded by Guru Nanak, a Bedi Khatri. The second guru, Guru Angad was a Trehan Khatri. The third guru, Guru Amar Das was a Bhalla Khatri. The fourth through tenth gurus were all Sodhi Khatris.[14]
During the Sikh Empire, many Khatris formed the military vanguard of the Khalsa Army and its administrative class as Dewans of all the provinces. Hari Singh Nalwa, the commander-in-chief of the Sikh Khalsa Army, was an Uppal Khatri and responsible for most of the Sikh conquests up until the Khyber pass.[25][26] Others such as Mokham Chand commanded the Sikh Army against the Durrani Empire at Attock while those such as Sawan Mal Chopra ruled Multan after wrestling it from the Afghans.[27]
During the British colonial era, they also served as lawyers and engaged in administrative jobs in the colonial bureaucracy.[28][29] Some of them served in the British Indian army after being raised as Sikhs.[18]
During the Partition of British India in 1947, Khatris migrated enmasse to India from the regions that comprise modern-day Pakistan.[30][31] Hindu Afghans and Sikh Afghans are predominantly of Khatri and Arora origin.[32]
Khatris have played an active role in the Indian Armed Forces since 1947, with many heading it as the Chief of Army or Admiral of the Navy. Some such as Vikram Batra and Arun Khetarpal have won India's highest wartime gallantry award, the Param Vir Chakra.[33][34]
- ^ Dīwānā, Mohana Siṅgha Ubarāi; Uberoi, Mohan Singh (1971). A History of Panjabi Literature (1100-1932): A Brief Study of Reactions Between Panjabi Life and Letters Based Largely on Important MSS & Rare and Select Representative Published Works, with a New Supplement. Sadasiva Prakashan; selling agents, Bharat Prakashan.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:142was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Blame caste for Pakistan's violent streak, not faith". Times of India. 25 September 2016. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
- ^ Wagha, Ahsan (1990). The Siraiki Language: Its Growth and Development. Dderawar Publications. pp. 6–7.
- ^ Fenech, Louis E.; McLeod, W. H. (11 June 2014). Historical Dictionary of Sikhism. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-4422-3601-1.
- ^ K.S. Singh (1998). People of India: A–G. Vol. 4. Oxford University. Press. p. 3285. ISBN 978-0-19563-354-2.
- ^ 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.
- ^ A. H. Advani (1995). The India Magazine of Her People and Culture. Vol. 16. the University of Michigan. pp. 56–58.
- ^ Hesse, Klaus (May 1996). "No reciprocation? Wife-givers and wife-takers and the bartan of the samskara among the Khatris of Mandi, Himachal Pradesh". Contributions to Indian Sociology. 30 (1): 109–140. doi:10.1177/006996679603000105. ISSN 0069-9667. S2CID 53703281.
- ^ Kiran Prem (1970). Haryana District Gazetteers: Ambala. Haryana Gazetteers Organization. p. 42.
- ^ Misra, Satish Chandra (1964). Muslim communities in Gujarat: preliminary studies their history and social organization. Asia Pub. House. p. 97.
- ^ 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.....
- ^ Sarkar, Natasha (19 April 2024), "Glossary", The Last Great Plague of Colonial India (1 ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 219–222, doi:10.1093/9780191986406.003.0012, ISBN 978-0-19-198640-6
H. Singh Syan (2017). "Khatrīs and Aroṛās". Encyclopedia of Sikhism Online. Brill. doi:10.1163/2589-2118_beso_com_031682.
Bowker, John (2003). "Khatrī". The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. doi:10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100035777. ISBN 9780191727221. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
Singh, Pashaura (2019). "Khatrī". A Dictionary of Sikh Studies. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acref/9780191831874.001.0001. ISBN 9780191831874.
Levi, Scott Cameron (2016). Caravans: Punjabi Khatri Merchants on the Silk Road. Portfolio Penguin. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-14-342616-5. - ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference
McLeod_AtoZwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ 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.
- ^ 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 ...
- ^ a b Eaton, Richard Maxwell (2019). India in the Persianate age, 1000-1765. UK. pp. 349, 347, 381. ISBN 978-0-520-97423-4. OCLC 1088599361.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
Oldenburg 2002 41, 15422was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Dhawan, Purnima (2020). Oxford Handbook of the Mughal World. Oxford Library Press. ISBN 9780190222659.
- ^ 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
- ^ John Gillow; Nicholas Barnard (2008). Indian Textiles. Thames & Hudson. p. 222. ISBN 978-0-500-51432-0.
KHATRI A caste of professional dyers
- ^ Subramaniam, Lakshmi (2009). "The Political Economy of Textiles in Western India: Weavers, Merchants and the transition to a Colonial Economy" (PDF). How India Clothed the World: 253–280. doi:10.1163/ej.9789004176539.i-490.71. ISBN 9789004176539.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Muzzafar Alam (2003). "The culture and politics of Persian in pre-colonial Hindustan". 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.
- ^ "e-Book: English - General Hari Singh Nalwa by Autar Singh Sindhu; Pure". apnaorg.com. Retrieved 24 November 2022.
- ^ Singh, Gulcharan (October 1976), "General Hari Singh Nalwa", The Sikh Review, 24 (274): 36–54
- ^ Sheikh, Mohamed (17 March 2017). Emperor of the Five Rivers: The Life and Times of Maharajah Ranjit Singh. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-78673-095-4.
- ^ Jones, Kenneth W.; Jones, Kenneth W. (1976). Arya Dharm: Hindu Consciousness in 19th-century Punjab. University of California Press. p. 176. ISBN 978-0-520-02920-0.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Puri, Baij Nath (1998). The Khatris, a socio cultural study. India: M.N Publishers and Distributors.
- ^ Bessel, Richard; B. Haake, Claudia (2009). Removing Peoples: Forced Removal in the Modern World. Oxford University Press. p. 324. ISBN 978-0199561957.
- ^ Singh, Inderjeet (2019). Afghan Hindus and Sikhs. India: Readomania. p. 24. ISBN 978-93-858543-8-5.
- ^ 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) - ^ Bansal, Bobby Singh (2015). Remnants of the Sikh Empire: Historical Sikh Monuments in India & Pakistan. Hay House, Inc.