mahajan
Mahajan is an Indian surname and caste that belongs to the Hindu Deshastha Brahmin of the deccan or Vaishya Bania (caste) community of Punjab. It signifies the profession of a merchants, bankers, and moneylenders.{{cite book | author = Ian Stone | date = 25 July 2002 | title = Canal Irrigation in British India: Perspectives on Technological Change in a Peasant Economy | publisher = Cambridge University Press | pages = 356– | isbn = 978-0-521-52663-0 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=7WLUWxIcyogC&pg=PA356|quote=mahajan : merchant, moneylender}}
The word mahajan generally refers to a rich businessman, and the last name may be found in that caste.{{cite book | editor = Jonathan P. Parry | date = 13 September 2013 | title = Caste and Kinship in Kangra | publisher = Routledge | pages = 110– | isbn = 978-1-136-54585-6 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=MabdAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA110}}{{cite book | editor = David Bills | author=Bam Dev Sharda|date = 24 August 2005 | title = The Shape of Social Inequality: Stratification and Ethnicity in Comparative Perspective | chapter= Status allocation in middle India|publisher = Elsevier | pages = 229– | isbn = 978-0-08-045935-6 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Lf3q3zePi2UC&pg=PA229}}
Mahajans of the Deccan (i.e. Maharashtra, Telangana, and north Karnataka) are mainly Deshastha Brahmin, while mahajans of North India are mainly Bania, a mercantile community.
Notable people with this surname include:
- Poonam Mahajan, Indian politician
- Ashwani Mahajan, Indian economist, National Co-Convener, Swadeshi Jagran Manch; Professor at PG DAV College
- Harsh Mahajan, Indian politician
- Mehr Chand Mahajan, former Chief Justice of India and former Prime Minister of Kashmir
- Pramod Mahajan, Indian politician (Maharashtra State)
- Neha Mahajan, Indian Actress and Model
- Rahul Mahajan, American blogger
- Rahul Mahajan, Indian reality TV personality
- Sumitra Mahajan, Indian politician, speaker of the 16th Lok Sabha
- Vijay Mahajan, former Dean of the Indian School of Business, a Marketing professor at the McCombs School of Business, The University of Texas at Austin
- Vikram Chand Mahajan, Indian politician, Senior Advocate (Supreme Court of India)
- Girish Mahajan, Indian politician
- Yogesh Mahajan, Indian actor and writer
- Sat Mahajan, Indian politician (Himachal pradesh)