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Khatri is a caste from the northern Indian subcontinent. Khatris in India are mostly from the Punjab region, but they later migrated to regions like Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Jammu, Uttarkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Balochistan, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Khatris played an important role in India's transregional trade under the Mughal Empire.^[1] With the Mughal patronage, they adopted administrative and military roles outside the Punjab region as well.^[2] Scott Cameron Levi describes Khatris among the "most important merchant communities of early modern India."^[3]

All the Sikh Gurus were Khatris.^[3] The current Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, is also a Khatri.^[4]

Origin and varna status[link]

The word "Khatri" is believed by some to be the Punjabi adaptation of Sanskrit word Kshatriya, used to describe the warriors in the traditional Hindu varna system.^[5] However, a number of sources deny the connection of Khatri caste with ancient Kshatriya Hindu military order.^[6][7] According to one theory, the word "Khatri" originates from the word Khsatri mentioned in Manu Smriti to denote a mixed caste of low-ritual status, born of the union of Kshatriya mothers and Shudra fathers.^[5][8] Dasrath Sharma also described Khatris as a mixed pratiloma caste of low ritual status, but he suggested that Khatris could be a mixed caste born of Kshatriya fathers and Brahmin mothers.^[9]

Thus, the Khatris have an ambiguous position in the varna system.^[10] Khatris claim that they were warriors who took to trade.^{[11][12][13][14]} The 19th century Indians and the 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) occupations.^[15] There are Khatris that are found in other states of India and they follow different professions in each region. The Khatris of Gujrat and Rajasthan are said to belong to "Darji" (tailor) caste.^[16][17] K C S Varma notes that Francis Buchanan wrote in the early nineteenth century that "in Behar one-half of the Khatris are goldsmiths," and that another writer of the British era, Kitts, had recorded that "the Khatris are traders in Punjab, and silk-weavers, when we find them in Bombay."^[18] Benjamin Lewis Rice echoes a similar view about the Khatri caste in various regions of India.^[19]

According to Bichitra Natak, said to be the autobiography of the last Sikh Guru Gobind Singh, but whose authenticity is a matter of ongoing dispute,^[20][21][22] the Bedi sub-caste of the Khatris derives its lineage from Kush, the son of Rama in the Hindu mythology. The descendants of Kush, according to the disputed Bachitar Natak legend, learned the Vedas at Benares, and were thus called Bedis (Vedis).^[23] Similarly, according to the same legend, the Sodhi sub-caste claims descent from the Lav, the other son of Rama.^[24]

History[link]

The region in which the Khatris originally lived was ruled by Hindu kings until 1013 AD. Khatris encountered hardships after the Muslim conquest of the region, but stubbornly clung to their heritage. Because of high levels of education and scholarship, they were able to survive even in difficult times.^{[25][page needed]}

The Khatris subsequently rose as an important trading community, and played an important role in India's transregional trade under the Mughal Empire.^[1][3] With the patronage of Mughal nobles, the Khatris adopted administrative and military roles outside the Punjab region. According to a nineteenth century Khatri legend, the Khatris followed the military professoin until the time of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. Several Khatris were killed during the Aurangzeb's Deccan Campaign, and the emperor ordered their widows to be remarried. When the Khatris refused to obey this order, Aurangzeb terminated their military service, and directred them to be shopkeepers and brokers.^[2]

Religion[link]

Hindu Khatris[link]

Sanatan Khatris[link]

The Khatri community have been active in roles of administration, rule, and warfare within Punjab. The Khatris were the patrons ('yajamansas' or in Punjabi 'jajmani') of the Saraswat Brahmins.^{[citation needed]}} The Khatris are among the very few non-Brahmin communities that have traditionally studied the Vedas.^[26] Khatris were estimated to constitute 9% of the total population of Delhi in 2003.^[27]

Arya Samaj Khatris[link]

Swami Dayanand was invited to Punjab by prominent individuals who also founded the Singh Sabha, to counter the missionaries. He established Arya Samaj in Lahore in 1877, a society and reform movement which was against casteism, rituals, and idol worship. The group promoted strict monotheism, which Swami Dayanand claimed was the essential message of the Vedas. Arya Samaj became popular among Punjabi Hindus, especially Khatris^[28] who were attracted to a similar message by the Sikh Gurus earlier.^[29] Arya Samaj inspired individuals like Swami Shraddhanand and institutions like the Dayanand Anglo-Vedic Schools System, started by Lala Hansraj Gupta.^[30]

Sikh Khatris[link]

Guru Gobind Singh (with bird) encounters Guru Nanak Dev. An 18th century painting of an imaginary meeting.

All the ten Sikh Gurus were Khatris.^[31] Guru Nanak was a Bedi, Guru Angad was a Trehan, Guru Amar Das was a Bhalla, and the rest of the Gurus were Sodhis.^[32] During the lifetime of the Gurus, most of their major supporters and Sikhs were Khatris. A list of this is provided by Bhai Gurdas in Varan Bhai Gurdas, a contemporary of the Sikh Gurus.^{[citation needed]}

Other Khatris influential in the history of Sikhism include:

• Sahib Singh Bedi (1756–1834), a Sikh general who was a Bedi descended from Guru Nanak Dev.^[33] He placed the tilak or mark of sovereignty on Ranjit Singh's forehead, anointing him the Maharaja of Punjab during his coronation at Lahore on 11 April 1801.

• Bhai Binod Singh, a disciple of Guru Gobind Singh, who accompanied him to Deccan in 1708. Binod Singh was a Trehan Khatri descended from Guru Angad.^[34] He fought many battles as a commander and was leader of the Tatt Khalsa ("True Khalsa").

• Bhai Daya Singh, the first of the Panj Pyare (the initial members of the Khalsa), belonged to the Sobti clan of the Khatris.^[35]

• Gulab Singh Dallewalia, the founder of the Dallewalia Misl, one of the twelve sovereign Sikh states during the reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh^{[disambiguation needed ]}.^[36]

• Hari Singh Nalwa (1791–1837), the Commander-in-chief of the Khalsa army of the Sikh Empire.^[37]

Muslims of Khatri origin[link]

A Khattri nobleman, in Kitab-i tasrih al-aqvam by Col. James Skinner, aka Sikandar (1778–1841)

Divisions[link]

Social divisions[link]

There are social divisions within the community which includes the Dhai-Ghar (2½ clans, the number 3 being considered unlucky) grouping comprising Mehra, Malhotra, Khanna, Kapoor ^[14] Along with the Seth clan these four subdivisions form the Char Ghar (4 houses) grouping.^[26]

The Chopra, Dhawan, Batta, Bandha, Kakar, Mahindru, Sahgal, Soni^{[disambiguation needed ]}, Tandon, Vohra, Wadhaun, and Wahi form the Barah-Ghar group of Khatris.^[26]

Other groups include the Khukhrain (8 clans), Bara-Jati (12 clans), Bavanjai (52 clans),^[26] and Sarin (300 clans) Khatris.^[26]

The Sarin Khatris include the Bedi and Sodhi clans, to which belonged the founders of the Sikh faith.^[26]

Other khatri groups include the "Savji"khatris or Somvanshya Sahasrarjun Kshatriya or SSK Samaj are a Kshatriya community concentrated in the districts bordering Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra . They are also referred to as Pategars or patkar or Khatris.^[26]

Before the partition of India in 1947, the Khatri sub-castes were particularly connected with specific regions:^[38]

• Ludhiana: Churamani, Nanda, Khullar, Jerath, Chopra and Vij/Vig
• Jagraon: Bahl, Kapoor, Mehra, Seth, Beri and Dhir
• Machhiwara and Bahlolpur: Batte, Sondhi and Karir with
• Raikot: Sehgal and Thapar
• Khanna, Ludhiana: Had and Cham

After the partition, the different Khatri castes have widely dispersed.^[38]

Khatri organizations[link]

The sessions of Akhil Bhartiya Khatri Mahasabha^{[clarification needed]} were held in Lucknow in 1916, 1936, 1952, and 1980. The Lucknow Khatri Sabha^{[clarification needed]} was established in 1927 and the publication Khatri Hitashi was started in 1936.^{[39][Full citation needed]}

See also[link]

• List of Khatris
• Punjab Chiefs

References[link]

Source texts[link]

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 
• Bhai Gurdas Ji, Varan Bhai Gurdas Ji, Vaar 8 – Pauri 10.
• Levi, Scott Cameron (2002). The Indian Diaspora in Central Asia and Its Trade, 1550–1900. Leiden: BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-12320-5. http://books.google.com/books?id=9qVkNBge8mIC. 
• Temple, R.C. "The Legends of The Panjab", 1884, Reprinted by Institute of Folk Heritage, Islamabd, 1981.