Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Khatri" in English language version.
[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.
(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.....
Khatri: A predominantly merchant and trading community that originated from the Malwa and Majha areas in the Punjab
{{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)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.
For the role of the khatri caste as village moneylender, shopkeeper and grain-dealer in pre-Independence Punjab, see ...
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
KHATRI A caste of professional dyers
The silk trade between Bengal and Gujarat was a domain of Khatri merchants, for example.
Three Hindu communities had particularly strong ties with Persian and Urdu, namely the Kayasths, Kashmiri Brahmins and Khatris. Two of the three - Kayasths and Khatris could claim a high status among their fellow Hindus, while the third, Kashmiri Brahmins - ranked among the highest of the Brahmin castes.
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.
Nanak was probably of a khatri jati, traditionally tradesmen and government officials in the Punjab, though the name Khatri is from the word Kshatriya. The nine Sikh gurus who came after him were certainly Khatris
Khatri (khatri) "merchant-caste." Although the name derives from Sanskrit kshatriya, which designates the warrior or ruling castes, khatri in Punjabi usage refers to a cluster of merchant castes including Bedis, Bhallas and Sodhis
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.
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)
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.
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
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.
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 Hinglaj 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.
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.
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
The latter sultanate was founded by a former Tughluq governor, perhaps from a family of Punjabi Khatri converts, who took the title Muzaffar Shah in the early fifteenth century but reigned for only a short time.
Similarly, Zaffar Khan Muzaffar, the first independent ruler of Gujarat was not a foreign muslim but a Khatri convert, of low subdivision called Tank.
the Gujarati historian Sikandar does narrate the story of their ancestors having once been Hindu 'Tanks', a branch of Khatris.
These men, a certain Saharan and his brother Sadhu, were, mostly likely peasants or pastoralists, non-Muslim Tank Rajputs from Thanesar in northwestern India (modern-day Haryana).
Zafar Khan, a son of Rajput convert to Islam was appointed as governor of Gujarat in 1391AD.
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 household. As the governor of Gujarat he became independent from Delhi after Timur devastated the city an immense number of people fled to Gujarat..
43 percent of the looms were owned by the main Hindu weaving castes, Khatri(silk) and Salis/padmasalis(cotton)
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)
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.
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'
Block printing cloth, the traditional occupation of Khatri men, has been practiced in Dhamadka since the time of its foundation some 400 years ago.
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
...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
The old neocolonial upper-caste elite, with a long tradition of education in the language of the ruling elite, with a 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.
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) ...
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.
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.
Agarwal, khatri, and bania usually denote people of merchant-trader background of middling clean-caste status, often of vaishya varna
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
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
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.
In 1891, more than half the 9,105 male members of the movement belonged to the Khatri and Arora merchant castes. This sociological composition reflected the same socio-cultural logic as in Gujarat where Dayananda had set up the Arya samaj with the support of traders seeking a better status more in keeping with their new prosperity (Jordens 1978) linked with the economic advance of British India; in the Punjab, his movement developed along the same lines among the merchant castes which felt that they could aspire all the more legitimately to the leadership of their community as the Brahmins and Kshatriyas, who had been hierarchically superior to them had been marginalized. Barrier hence explains the attraction that the Arya Samaj exercised over the merchant castes by the fact that: Dayananda's claim that caste should be determined primarily by merit not birth, opened new paths of social mobility to educated Vaishyas who were trying to achieve social status commensurate with their improving economic status.
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.
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.
Khatri: A predominantly merchant and trading community that originated from the Malwa and Majha areas in the Punjab
{{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)Khatri: A predominantly merchant and trading community that originated from the Malwa and Majha areas in the Punjab
{{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)Khatri: A predominantly merchant and trading community that originated from the Malwa and Majha areas in the Punjab
{{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)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.
Note also the fierce Kathaíoi "tribe" (i.e. Kaṭha Brahmins) who live in the same area as the Salva (and Mahāvr̥ṣa) at the time of Alexander, see Arrian, Anabasis 5.22).
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)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."