Khatri

Khatri is a predominantly Hindu caste of northern India and Pakistan, mostly from the Punjab region, that provided many significant figures in Sikhism, including all of the Sikh Gurus.[6] The Khatri caste has also provided important figures in the Khalsa Army such as Hari Singh Nalwa, the Commander-in-chief of the Sikh Empire[7] and Dewan Mokham Chand (1785-1814), General of the Khalsa Army[8] Historically, Khatris were merchants, traders, bankers, scribes, accountants, civil administrators, silk weavers, and shopkeepers.[9][10][11]

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

History

According to Bichitra Natak, said to be the autobiography of the last Sikh Guru, Gobind Singh,[12][13][14] the Bedi sub-caste of the Khatris derives its lineage from Kush, the son of Rama (according to Hindu epic Ramayana). The descendants of Kush, according to the disputed Bachitar Natak legend, learned the Vedas at Benares, and were thus called Bedis (Vedis).[15] Similarly, according to the same legend, the Sodhi sub-caste claims descent from Lav, the other son of Rama.[16]

According to Ancient Greek sources, "The people that held the territory comprised between the Hydrastes (Ravi) and the Hyphasis (Beas) were the Khatriaioi, whose capital was Sangala". Sangala find mention in Mahabharata and Pali Buddhist texts as the capital of Madra Kingdom. J. W. McCrindle, the translator and writer adds that the name is found in the modern era, spread across a vast region in the northwest of India, from Hindukush to Bengal and from Nepal to Gujarat, in slightly variant forms, including the term Khatris and others.[17]

Having gained the patronage of the Mughal nobles, the Khatris then adopted administrative and military roles outside the Punjab region. According to a Khatri legend of the 19th 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. 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 favouring the rebel Jat Sikhs, led by 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 historic connections with bankers.[18]

The Khatris played an important role in India's trans-regional trade during the period,[19] being described by Scott Cameron Levi as among the "most important merchant communities of early modern India."[20] 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.[21] Often, they married Tatar local women and the children from these marriages were known as Agrijan.[22] According to George Campbell's mid-nineteenth-century Ethnology of India, "Khatris are the only Hindus known in Central Asia"[21]

Pictorial representation of a Khatri King.

Author Suresh Kumar described Khatris as silk weavers.[23] Author 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.[24]

Origin and ritual status

According to Hardip Singh Syan, the 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.[25] As per historian Baij Nath Puri, the Khatris as an integral part of the old Kshatriya caste differ from the neo-Kshatriyas, Rajputras or Rajputs.[26][27] According to Scott C. Levi Despite their participation in occupations similar to those of the Bania communities, Khatris were considered to be Kshatriyas, the second-highest varna in the Indian social hierarchy, below only the Brahmans.[21]

However, these claims are disputed by most of the scholars who 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.[10] According to Anand Yang, the Khatris are one of the sub-category of the Bania caste of north India along with numerous groups which are together categorised as Vaishya in the Varna system.[28]

Khatri's standards of literacy and caste status were such during the early years of Sikhism that, according to W. H. McLeod, they dominated it.[25] Author McLeod mentions the employment of Khatris as soldiers by Mughal emperors but notes by the time of British arrival in India they were mostly merchants and scribes[29] Kenneth W. Jones says "the Khatris claimed with some justice and increasing insistence, the status of Rajputs, or Kshatriyas, a claim not granted by those above but illustrative of their ambiguous position on the great varna scale of class divisions".[30]

The word Khatri in the Hindi Language comes from the Sanskrit Kshatriya according to the Śabdasāgara Lexicon by Shyamasundara Dasa[31] According to Dr. H.H Wilson, Professor of Sanskrit in the University of Oxford, the word Khatri is the Hindi word for the Sanskrit Kshatriya, the name of the 2nd pure tribe of the caste system.[32] Purnima Dhavan sees the claim as originating from a conflation of the words khatri and kshatriya, which are phonetically similar.[33] In the 19th-century British administrators failed to agree whether the Khatri claim of Kshatriya status should be accepted, since the overwhelming majority of them were engaged in Vaishya (mercantile) occupation rather than in Kshatriya (military) pursuits.[34] Dasharatha Sharma described Khatris of Rajasthan as a mixed pratiloma caste of low ritual status but suggested that they could be a mixed caste born of Kshatriya fathers and Brahmin mothers.[35]

Historian Vijaya Gupchup from the University of Mumbai states that in Maharashtra, Brahmins showed resentment in the attempt by the Marathi Khatris(Koshti) to elevate themselves from a 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(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 Shudras will not take water have become Brahmins and Kshatriyas. In short day by day higher castes are disappearing and lower castes are prospering."[36]

The Khatris of Gujarat and Rajasthan are said to have tailoring skills like "Darji" (tailor) caste.[37] In the case of those Khatris who avow Sikhism, their Kshatriya claim reflects the confusing, even seemingly contradictory, attitude towards the traditional Hindu caste system that is evident in Sikh texts such as the Guru Granth Sahib, which on the one hand renounces the Hindu caste paradigm and on the other seeks to portray the gurus as a group of warrior-defenders of their faith, just as with the Kshatriya varna.[33]

Religious groups

Hindu Khatris

The vast majority of Khatris are Hindu.[38] Most Hindu Khatris migrated to India after partition and settled in urban areas across India. They were estimated to constitute 9% of the total population of Delhi in 2003.[39]

The Bardhaman Raj was founded in 1657 by Sangam Rai Kapoor, a Khatri from Kotli, Punjab[40]

Sikh Khatris

All the ten Sikh Gurus were Khatris:[41] Guru Nanak was a Bedi, Guru Angad was a Trehan, Guru Amar Das was a Bhalla, and the remainder were Sodhis.[42] During the lifetime of the Gurus, most of their major supporters were Khatris. A list of these is provided by a contemporary of the Sikh Gurus, Bhai Gurdas, in his Varan Bhai Gurdas.[43] However, many of the more successful Khatri traders opposed the strictures of the Khalsa movement, introduced by Guru Gobind Singh to end the concept of caste in Sikhism by removing traditional rituals and identities.[44]

Gulaba Singh Khatri (1720-1759) was the ruler and founder of the Dallewalia Misl, an 18th century state in Jalandhar district[45]

Punjabi Khatris post-Independence

D.L. Sheth, the former director of the Center for the Study of Developing Societies in India (CSDS), listed the Indian upper castes that constituted the middle class and were traditionally "urban and professional" immediately after Independence in 1947. This list included the Khatris from Punjab, Kashmiri Pandits, Nagar Brahmins and the South Indian Brahmins; Chitpawans and CKPs (Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhus) from Maharashtra; Kayasthas from northern India; the Probasi and the Bhadralok Bengalis; the Parsis; and the upper crusts of the Muslim and Christian communities. According to P.K.Verma, "Education was a common thread that bound together with this pan Indian elite" and almost all the members of these communities could read and write English and were educated beyond school.[46][47][48]

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. McLeod, W. H. (2009). The A to Z of Sikhism. McLeod, W. H. Lanham: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-6344-6. OCLC 435778610.
  7. Nalwa, Vanit. (2009). Hari Singh Nalwa, "champion of the Khalsaji" (1791-1837). New Delhi: Manohar. ISBN 978-81-7304-785-5. OCLC 317588577.
  8. 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 19 November 2020
  9. Scott Levi (15 January 2016). Caravans: Punjabi Khatri Merchants on the Silk Road. Penguin Books Limited. pp. 38–. ISBN 978-93-5118-916-9.
  10. David N. Lorenzen (1 January 1995). Bhakti Religion in North India: Community Identity and Political Action. SUNY Press. p. 86. ISBN 978-0-7914-2025-6.
  11. Dhooleka Sarhadi Raj, Where Are You From? Middle-Class Migrants in the Modern World, 2003, p. 222
  12. Different approaches to Bachitar Natak, Journal of Sikh studies, Surjit Singh Hans, Volume 10, 66-78, Guru Nanak University.
  13. 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..."
  14. Dasam Granth: A historical study, Sikh Review, 42(8), Aug 1994, 9-20
  15. Major Nahar Singh Jawandha (2010). Glimpses of Sikhism. Sanbun. p. 16. ISBN 978-93-8021-325-5.
  16. 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
  17. John Watson McCrindle (1885). Ancient India as Described by Ptolemy: Being a Translation of the Chapters ... Oxford University. Trübner. p. 157.
  18. McLane, John R. (2002). Land and Local Kingship in Eighteenth-Century Bengal. Cambridge University Press. pp. 132–133. ISBN 978-0-521-52654-8.
  19. Oonk, Gijsbert (2007). Global Indian diasporas. Amsterdam University Press. p. 43. ISBN 978-90-5356-035-8.
  20. Levi, Scott Cameron (2002). The Indian Diaspora in Central Asia and Its Trade, 1550–1900. Leiden: BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-12320-5.
  21. Levi, Scott Cameron (2002). The Indian Diaspora in Central Asia and Its Trade, 1550-1900. Brill. p. 108. ISBN 978-90-04-12320-5.
  22. Singh, Ganda. The Punjab Past and Present - Volume 20 Part 1.
  23. Singh, Kumar Suresh, ed. (1998). India's Communities. 2 H–M. New Delhi, India: Oxford University Press. pp. 1722, 1729. ISBN 978-0-19-563354-2.
  24. 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.
  25. 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.
  26. Puri, Baij Nath (1988). The Khatris, a socio-cultural study. M.N Publishers and distributers New Delhi. p. 161.
  27. Puri, Baij Nath (1988). The Khatris, a Socio-cultural Study. M.N. Publishers and Distributors.
  28. 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.
  29. McLeod, W. H. (2009). The A to Z of Sikhism. Scarecrow Press. p. 115. ISBN 978-0-8108-6828-1.
  30. Jones, Kenneth W. (1976). Arya dharm: Hindu consciousness in 19th-century Punjab. University of California Press. pp. 4–5. ISBN 978-0-520-02920-0.
  31. Dasa, Syamasundara (1965–1975). "Hindi sabdasagara". dsal.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  32. Dr. Moti Lal (1905). A Brief Ethnological Survey of the Khattris. pp. 9–11.
  33. 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.
  34. 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...
  35. 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.
  36. 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 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.
  37. Indian settlers: the story of a New Zealand South Asian community, p48, Jacqueline Leckie, Otago University Press, 2000/ quote :"Tailoring was a caste occupation that continued in New Zealand by those from Darji and Khatri castes who had been trained in appropriate skills. Bhukandas Masters, a Khatri, emigrated to New Zealand in 1919. He practised as tailor in central Auckland..."
  38. Gopal Krishan. Demography of the Punjab (1849-1947) (PDF) (Report). UCSB. p. 83. Retrieved 24 September 2018. Conversion was negligible from the higher castes such as Brahmins, Aroras, Khatris and Aggarwals.
  39. "534 Sanjay Kumar, A tale of three cities".
  40. "Burdwan Municipality". burdwanmunicipality.gov.in. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  41. Singha, H. S. (2000). The Encyclopedia of Sikhism. Hemkunt Press. p. 125. ISBN 978-81-7010-301-1.
  42. McLeod, W. H. (2009). The A to Z of Sikhism. Scarecrow Press. p. 86. ISBN 978-0-8108-6828-1.
  43. Bhai Gurdas Ji, Varan Bhai Gurdas Ji, Vaar 8 – Pauri 10.
  44. 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.
  45. Dhavan, Purnima. (2011). When sparrows became hawks : the making of the Sikh warrior tradition, 1699-1799. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-975655-1. OCLC 695560144.
  46. 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
  47. "Social Action, Volume 50". Indian Social Institute. 2000: 72. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  48. "D.L. Sheth".
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