Talk:Khatri

Khatris Originated in Potohar, Hazarewal and areas near Afghanistan (ancient Gandhara). Kindly mention this instead of Malwa and Majha. The reason being Khatris are not native to the rural areas of Malwa and Majha. 76.69.47.163 (talk) 23:20, 6 March 2025 (UTC)

:https://www.punjabpartition.com/forum/geography-demographics/punjabi-khatris-bhera-punjab 70.55.3.134 (talk) 02:19, 25 March 2025 (UTC)

::The link above is not a reliable source. See WP:HISTRS. - Fylindfotberserk (talk) 13:26, 25 March 2025 (UTC)

:::https://rajeshkochhar.com/on-the-origin-of-the-punjabi-khatris/ 76.69.156.198 (talk) 19:14, 27 March 2025 (UTC)

:::https://www.sikhiwiki.org/index.php/Khatri

:::this page took information from Khatri page on wikipedia as it was fews years ago. 76.69.156.198 (talk) 19:16, 27 March 2025 (UTC)

::::One is a blog, another a Wiki. Both are unreliable. - Fylindfotberserk (talk) 19:19, 27 March 2025 (UTC)

:::::https://www.punjabmonitor.com/2013/04/khatris-most-mobile-and-magnificent.html?m=1 76.69.156.198 (talk) 19:24, 27 March 2025 (UTC)

::::::The information that Khatris are from Malwa and Majha is taken from this page

::::::https://en-academic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/420046 76.69.156.198 (talk) 19:25, 27 March 2025 (UTC)

:::::::This is also not reliable. 76.69.156.198 (talk) 19:26, 27 March 2025 (UTC)

::::::::The information is not taken from [https://en-academic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/420046 this page], instead it copied contents from this Khatri Wikipedia article. The first sentence that includes the information that Khatris are from Malwa and Majha is supported by five good sources. - Fylindfotberserk (talk) 19:44, 27 March 2025 (UTC)

:::::::::Why did most of the Khatris reside in Pothohar ? 76.69.156.198 (talk) 19:59, 27 March 2025 (UTC)

::::::::::https://www.studymode.com/essays/Khatris-374598.html 76.69.156.198 (talk) 07:43, 29 March 2025 (UTC)

:::::::::::Another Wikipedia copy. The header itself says "The source url: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khatri". - Fylindfotberserk (talk) 13:29, 29 March 2025 (UTC)

::::::::::::But in this article, it says Potohar, Taxila and Majha 184.147.186.249 (talk) 04:16, 31 March 2025 (UTC)

Below are direct links to online editions or previews of the principal works—colonial ethnographies, community histories and academic essays—that trace the origins of the Khatri (Kshatriya) caste to the Pothohar plateau of ancient Gandhara.

1. Colonial Ethnographies

1.1 H. A. Rose,

A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province

, Vol. III (1914)

Full three-volume set; Volume III covers entries L–Z, including Khatri. You can jump straight to the “Khatri” entry (around p. 503) and search within for “Potohar” or “Potwar” to see the note on their concentration in Jhelum–Rawalpindi districts of the Pothohar plateau .

Link: https://archive.org/details/glossaryoftribes03rose/page/503/search/khatri

1.2 Tandan Sarvan Lal,

The Kshatriya Prakasha or Origin of Khatris

, Part II (1902)

An early 20th-c. treatise explicitly entitled “Origin of Khatris,” available in full via the Digital Library of India archive .

Link: https://archive.org/details/dli.ernet.63114

1.3 Forgotten Books PDF of Rose’s

Glossary

(1914)

Alternate download of the same Vol. III (A–Z) from Forgotten Books; useful if you prefer a single PDF to search .

Link: https://www.forgottenbooks.com/en/download/AGlossaryoftheTribesandCastesofthePunjabandNorthWestFrontierProvince_10854869.pdf

2. Academic Essays

2.1 Rajesh Kochhar, “On the origin of the Punjabi Khatris”

A concise online essay reviewing colonial ethnology and linking Punjabi Khatris to ancient Gandharan peoples along the Pothohar frontier .

Link: https://rajeshkochhar.com/tag/khatri/

3. Community Histories & Genealogies

3.1 SikhiWiki, “Khatri” entry

State-of-the-art Sikh community encyclopedia: “The Khatris … originated in the Potwar Plateau of Punjab” .

Link: https://www.sikhiwiki.org/index.php/Khatri

3.2 Lt. Shri Seeta Ram Tandon,

History of Khatris in India

(2001)

Comprehensive community history with 4,600+ surnames, tracing migrations from Vedic times in the Pothohar region onward. Available as a two-page preview on Scribd .

Link: https://www.scribd.com/document/510334133/History-of-Khatris-in-India-A-book-by-Lt-Shri-Seeta-Ram-Tandon

4. Regional Context & Overviews

4.1 Salman Rashid,

The Salt Range & The Pothoar Plateau

An accessible archaeological-cultural narrative of Pothohar that discusses pre-Partition Khatri settlements in the foothills of the Salt Range adjoining the plateau .

Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9031907-the-salt-range-the-pothoar-plateau 2001:56B:3FB0:5AC9:8163:2287:99EC:4AE9 (talk) 19:41, 27 April 2025 (UTC)

:Most of the sources shared above are considered as unreliable in Wikipedia, especially in caste articles; read WP:RS. You need to share modern scholarly work by reliable authors/historians (read WP:HISTRS)! We don't use Raj era sources; read WP:RAJ! Also, we don't consider random websites like the sites mentioned by you! Thanks. Ekdalian (talk) 16:45, 28 April 2025 (UTC)

::understood. Thanks 184.147.186.249 (talk) 17:34, 28 April 2025 (UTC)

Hi, this is a page about the Khatri caste of Punjab, not about the Khatri caste of Gujarat or Maharashtra or any other region.

There is no evidence to link these disparate castes across regions, they are separate castes. The Gujarati caste of weavers is called Khātrī while the Punjabi caste is called Khattrī. In Romanized English, these two words appear the same, but they are not.

This can be seen in the linguist Ralph Turner's Dictionary of Indo-Aryan Languages (p. 189)

[https://archive.org/details/turner-a-comparative-dictionary-of-the-indo-aryan-languages-1966-1969/page/n209/mode/2up Ralph Liley Turner, A Comparative Dictionary of Indo-Aryan Languages]

Pa. khattar- m.'/attendant, charioteer’; S. khatrī m. *washerman, dyer’; H. kháti m. ‘member of a caste of wheelwrights’; '''G. khātrī m. ‘do. of Hindu weavers’.

'''

Whereas, for the Punjabi caste we have

Pa. khattiya- m. ‘member of the Ksatriya caste’, ?yáf., Pk. khattia- m., °ti- m.f., ?tini-, ^tiyáni- f., L. khattrī m., "rani f., P. khattrī

The P here stands for Punjabi and the "G" above stands for Gujarati. That being said, I am removing references of the Gujarati/Maharashtrian caste of weavers/dyers from a page on the Punjabi caste of Khatris. Abh9850 (talk) 14:51, 3 June 2025 (UTC)