Gahoi

{{Short description|Central Indian merchant community}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}

{{Use Indian English|date=April 2016}}

Gahoi is a merchant Vaishya-Baniya community in central India.

[https://www.bhaskar.com/news/MP-CHHT-MAT-latest-chhatarpur-news-022005-3896437-NOR.html गहोई समाज ने मनाया होली मिलन समारोह, Bhaskar News Network, Mar 30, 2016],[http://www.amarujala.com/uttar-pradesh/jalaun/Jalaun-139202-39 अखिल भारतीय गहोई वैश्य महासभा के शताब्दी समारोह में समाज के मेधावी छात्र-छात्राओं को सम्मानित किया गया, Amar Ujala, 26 जून 2013]

Gahois are divided into 12 gotras, each gotra is divided into six alls.Vasudevasharan Agraval, "Sahitya sadan ki yatra", in Raashhtarkavi Maithiliisharana Gupt Abhinandan Granth, Ed. Agravaal Vaasudevasharana, 1959, Raashhtarkavi Maithiliisharana Gupt Abhinandan Committee Calcutta, p. 78. They have traditionally interdined with the Parwar Jain community of Bundelkhand.[Siddhantacharya Phulachandra Shastri, Parwar Jain Samaj ka Itihas, 1990, Jabalpur, pp. 175–188 ]

The "Grahapati" family mentioned in the Grahapati Kokkala inscription is believed to be from the same community that is now known as Gahoi.{{cite book |author1=Kallidaikurichi Aiyah Nilakanta Sastri |author2=Indian History Congress |title=A Comprehensive History of India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UEwwAQAAIAAJ |date=1959 |publisher=Orient Longmans |isbn=978-81-7304-561-5|language=en}} This inscription at Khajuraho, dated Vikram Samvat 1056, Kartika (1000–1001 AD), is the earliest known reference to the Grahapati family.Svasti Śrī: Dr. B.Ch. Chhabra felicitation volume, K. V. Ramesh, Agam Prasad, S. P. Tewari, p. 139 Unlike all other Chandella-era Grahapati inscriptions which are Jain, this refers to a Shiva temple,Lalit kalā, Issue 10, Lalit Kala Akademi,1961, p. 64 although Verse 3 suggests that the builder also worshipped Jinas. An inscription is of Vikram samvat 1011 mentioning Pahilla, regarded to have been a Grahapati, who built a Jain temple during the reign of Dhanga at Khajuraho. This temple is among those that still exist at Khajuraho.Kasturchand Jain Suman, Bharatiya Digambar Jain Abhilekh aur Tirth Parichay, Madhya-Pradesh: 13 vi shati tak, Delhi, 2001, pp. 14–17H.V. Trivedi, "Inscriptions of the Paramaras, Chandellas, Kachchhapaghatas and two minor Dynasties", part 2 of the 3-part Vol III of Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, 1974 (published in 1991).[Inscriptions of the Chandellas of Jejakbhukti,Ed. H.V. Trivedi, 1989, p. 456.]

A bronze Jain Altarpiece with Parshvanatha, Shantinatha, and Vasupujiya is preserved in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.[https://collections.lacma.org/node/241195 Jain Altarpiece with Parshvanatha, Shantinatha, and Vasupujiya, dated 1121] It was installed by Sadhu Sandhan, son of Kuntha, of Grahapati family in Vikram 1121 (1178 AD).[https://books.google.com/books?id=-fvKVDxcJoUC&q=grahapati&pg=PA312 Indian Sculpture: 700-1800, Volume 2 of Indian Sculpture: A Catalogue of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Collection, Pratapaditya Pal, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, University of California Press, 1988 p. 306]