The Amazing Khatris of Punjab

Re: #92 by mohar11

Interesting point, mohar11. I very much agree, that “pride” can indeed give way to bigotry and hatred. However, by that logic, why object to the expressions of tribal or caste identities alone? Doesn’t that apply as well to any grouping revolving around a label acquired at birth?

In my opinion, trying to brush identities under the carpet for the purpose of avoiding bigotry is like killing a patient to get rid of a disease. To me the pride of belonging to any community is a-ok as long as -and only if- it stays away from any pretensions of in-born traits of superiority over any other..

Re: # 77 DM

We all know that this caste thing is NOT just about identity - this is much more than that....so let`s not even go there..... any case - this is how it all starts - past glory, feeling proud - the next thing you know you have some caste supremacists in your hand....thre is a very thin line here.....

So - ``academic`` or not - all this ``identity``, ``past glory`` should be banned right away.... may be after a few hundred years when this caste curse is entirely erased - people can have an ``academic`` excercise.... but right now - this discussion about past glory is nothing but evil.....

Let`s stop this right now.....

Jang, you are right about majority of Punjabi Hindus seems to be Khatris....I think 2 reasons...first not many brahmins in Punjab to start with secondly the shudras or dalit Hindus don`t sound/seem/appear/qualify to be real hindus in our minds...so that leaves only Punjabi Khatris as more visible Hindu communities in Punjab.

did anyone answer my query about Mahajans? are they Khatries?

Re: # 60
[.... past glory and feeling proud. ...]

Feeling proud about what? achievements of people of your caste? I can`t believe you are saying this?... there is nothing glorious about the artificial divisions created by caste.... Like I said - you guys are really getting old..... past glory - yeah, right!!!

Manyd, amansandhu, Jang:

``so, are pakistani khatris also an elite race like our indian side?``

Since there are no Khatris in Pakhtoons, I would also eagerly await the answer from tahmed, romair, mantolive, etc.

I can tell you with confidence that people having surname of Khatri are always Sindhis. They are usually in education and journalism. Some have gone into politics.

#86 Mannyd Ji

My family is from Lahore/Gujrat/Mandi Bhaudin area :)

Thanks.

can anyone post % of khatris in sikh and non-muslims (i guess that would be hindus and may be arya samajis if they are considered non-hindus)? my undergrad class felt like almost all non-sikh panjabis were khatris.

i didnt realize that DAV college was arya-samaji. they seem to be in every small-town in the north india. i dont think there is any arya samaj in gujrat.

so, are pakistani khatris also an elite race like our indian side?

Ahmadzai, # 80
Khatris are spread all over India. There are punjabi khatris, sindhi khatris, up khatris etc
Khatris have been living in Amritsar since ages. bishnois live in Rajasthan.

By the way I do not know what Rajinder Kumar`s last name is, but he had the same affliction and affection for Punjabi.)

The minute I hear it, I make a mental note `Must be a Jhangi Bhra`. Sorry Pardesi sahib if you are a Jhangi too....LOL.

# 83 Dulla Ji,

Of course none of the names ending in `...Ja` are left in Jhang now and your class mate may have adapted the Amritsari accent. The Jhangi accent I knew in the sixties pronounced hard consonants like Dhola with a soft Hindi-like `Dh` etc. It was a source of great mirth to us to listen to : `Lai eh te Tor NibhaNwi, Chad ke na JaNwi we Dhola`, apart from the fact why a lover would be called a Dhol...LOL))))

tahmed at # 15:

You provided a very interesting write-up on Gujjars.

As a child, I was returning with my father from high alpine mountains of the north from a wildlife observation expedition. We ran into Gujjars who, along with their cattle, were migrating towards the planes in the last of the summers. I immediately fell in love with those nomadic people. Gujjars, Koochis and Powindas have always impressed me. As a young adult, I took photography as a hobby and still have a large repertoire of pictures of those nomads from the good old days. Unlike Koochis, Gujjars always allowed me to take their pictures. However, since my family could easily relate to Powindas / Koochis, we admired Gujjars the most for their liberal and friendly mindset.

Thank you for providing so much knowledge about this tribe of people.

#78. There are many Taneja families in Amritsar. One of my classmates at DAV, Asr was 6`4`` tall Taneja dude. He was the tallest in the whole campus. and that is when we were 18 yrs old...I am not sure if he added another few inches to his height later. I think he went to IIT Kanpur later.

DM ji, JJ Singh trims his beard...I am sure that does not qualify as saabat soorat...although dastar sira part is correct.:-)

Pardesi#59:

I think that a number of things happened when the British rule came to India. Christians being the rulers, and Muslims before them, two things happened to the Hindus. One, they realised some of the inherent injustice of some of their practices, such as caste, esp, untouchability, sati and the plight of the widows. The other was that they swallowed the notion, unnecessarily in my opinion, that Monotheism was superior to the wonderful plurality and coexistence of polytheism, monoism, monotheism, atheism and agnosticism that was Hinduism. Similar movements sprung up independently in different parts of India, Brahmo Samaj and Arya Samaj being two of them on the East and West corner of the subcontinent. Arya Samajis were more fanatical (kattar!), just like the sikhs and therefore survived, while Brahmo Samajis who were equally liberal and more Westernised were more tolerant and therefore have more or less disappeared, despite producing some real giants in every field, such as Tagore, Satyajit Roy, Mahalnobis, Surendra Nath Bannerjee and maybe even Amartya Sen.

dullabhatti#62, 65:

Dullaji, main kadon nindya keeti jattaN dee. All I said was that both Jatts and Khatris tease each other and make jokes about them. But I think that there is also a good deal of mutual admiration. I haven`t seen any Jatt who denies Khatris` intelligence and I haven`t met any Khatri who denies the hard work and hardboiled commonsense of the jatt farmer.

As for Trehans, yes they are khatris. And it was the second Guru, Angad Dev (Bhai Lehna)not the third, who was a Trehan. The third guru, Amar Das, was a Bhalla as pointed out by Delhiwalla.

Jang#66:
Biodiversity? LOL!

#79: Good use of `histrionics`, but you lose.

Urstruly in his earlier days on Chowk was very proud of Pakis having pulled the Khatris` dhotis and stripping them of their dignity. Since he was not born in 1947, it must have been his dad bragging to him about his deeds against unarmed Khatri civilians.

One of my Khatri relatives by marriage did convert to Islam in 1947 but escpaed to India after one year and reconverted to Hinduism.

Very surprisingly, one of my school teacher in the NWFP was a Khatri, but he was Sindhi from Sukker area. Could he be a Punjabi settler in the Sindh? I think not, because he used to take lot of pride in being a Sindhi.

This is an interesting article.

Urstruly asked at # 19:

``I wonder what Indian Army calls its manequins?``

Keeping in mind Dost Mittar jee`s concerns at # 51 and the histrionics of our Indian friends from all spheres of life, my guess would be ``Zihadi``.

;-)