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Ahluwalia (caste)

Indian caste From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Ahluwalia (also transliterated as Ahluvalia) is an Indian caste native to the Punjab region.[1][2]

Quick facts Abbreviation, Gotra ...

There are more than 52 divisions and surnames of Ahluwalia caste. Some of them are Bhandari, Bimbat, Hoon, Jaiswal, Jaspal, Janwathia, Judge, Kapila, Lal, Malik, Maunik, Paintal, Rai, Raikhy, Rekhi, Sand, Sikan, Sikand, Sulla and Tulsi.[3][4]

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History

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Origin

The Ahluwalias originally belonged to Punjab region as the part of Punjabi Kalal or Karal[5] community.[2] It is a community of varying class and status indicating a very composite origin.[4]

Composition

In West, Karals or Kharrals[6] were mostly an agricultural community. Meanwhile, some Kalals or Karals in east including in Peshawar, Northern Punjab and in Kenya were known to be merchants, artisans and traders. They even traced their origin to Hindu Rajput ancestry from Karauli of Rajasthan. In Patiala, they were known as Nebs, and those belonging to Tulsi and Pittal gotra were commonly found in Kapurthala.[4][7][8][9] Those who became Muslims re-identified themselves as Kakezai.[10]

Early Sikhism (Sikh Kalals)

Sikh Kalals and Karals[4] who became Ahluwalias[11][12][13] were primarily a mercantile community with a wide range of occupations including being traditionally involved in wine-making, tavern-keeping, agriculture, pottery, from drawing juice of palmyra, date trees to toddy and inn-keeping.[14][15][16] They were referred to be of a good physique and a great hardihood nature. Sikh Kalals were noted to make good soldiers and established themselves as a martial race as they joined the military service in the army of Guru Gobind Singh and later, in the Dal Khalsa (Sikh army). Sikh Kalal soldiers were among the 40 men who fought alongside Guru Gobind Singh in the Battle of Chamkaur.[17][18] According to G. S. Talib and other scholars, it was the Jats, Kalals and others who actually carried on the burden of programmes started by the Gurus.[19][20]

Sikh Kalals (Ahluwalias)[21][22] were known to have a reputation for, "enterprise, mercy and obstinacy."[23][24]A famous saying regarding their obstinacy was, "Death may budge, but a Kalal won't", throughout the region.[25][26]

Among Sikh Kalals, only a few are known to write Kalal as a surname next to Singh, a surname for all Sikhs (male) irrespective of origin. It includes Bhai Koer Singh Kalal, a prominent Sikh scholar who is credited with the first comprehensive written work on the life of Guru Gobind Singh and Khalsa.[27][28]

Sikh Confederacy and later

Some were also engaged in occupations related to their gotras like florist or Phul, protector or Jaspal and treasurer or Bhandari.[29] Despite being small in number, they were a tightly organised community. Those who were vinteners had a low status in traditional caste hierarchy due to religious stigma. They embraced Sikhism more than others within the community. By the 18th century, most of them started working in diverse occupations and Ahluwalia became an influential upper or forward caste in the Punjab region. By the 19th century, their status was regarded as that of a martial race or a Kshatriya.[1][30][31][32][15][24][33]

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Etymology

In the 18th century, Jassa Singh Ahluwalia who originally belonged to a Kalal family of Tulsi sub-caste or gotra,[34] and the chiefs of Ahlu village in Lahore established Ahluwalia (misl).

He established the Kapurthala State and was known as a prominent Sikh leader. He became the 5th Jathedar of Akal Takht and Supreme Sikh Leader of Dal Khalsa. Following Sanskritisation, his fellow caste members, followers, and others also adopted this surname, which led to the formation of Ahluwalia (caste). [1]

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Colonial period and after 1947

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Ahluwalias were made up of similar groups with varying origins. Karals were an agricultural or landowning community, and Kalals/Kalars/Kullals were both merchants and artisans. Majority of them adopted Ahluwalia surname after Jassa Singh Ahluwalia and also, became soldiers of both Khalsa forces and Ahluwalia (misl).[11][35] Those who became Muslims re-identified themselves as “Kakezai” (or “Kakkezai”)[36]—a name associated with a distinct tribal community in northern Punjab.[37] Donald (1968) notes that this reidentification was sometimes employed by Muslim Kalals to obscure occupational origins and elevate social standing.[10] A family from Hoshiarpur who adopted the Kakezai identity went on to rule the Jullundur Doab as Sheikhs.[36][30] During colonial period, those who were in wine merchant business gave up their traditional occupations, as the colonial British administration started regulating the distribution and sale of liquor. Soon after that, they started working in the different fields and gained more political power. Many of them joined civil services with higher posts within British administration.[36][38][3][39][32][35]

Following this, the Ahluwalias, as a caste became equivalents of the high-ranked Khatris in the caste hierarchy.[1] They also style themselves as Kshatriyas as the Sikh Kalals are known to be serving in the Sikh military since Akal Sena. They were known to have inter-faith marriage alliances among their community but not outside the community.[40] Similarly, Khatris also practice endogamy but their marriage alliances with Ahluwalias are common.[41] Ahluwalias along with Khatris and Aroras form the Punjabi caste or community.[42] They do not marry within the sub-caste.[43]

In parts of Uttarakhand, they are a part of Rajput community.[44][36] Ahluwalias claim Kshatriya descent origin with some from Khatris or Rajputs who also claim Kshatriya descent. For example, a legendary account traces the ancestry of the Kapurthala royal family to the Bhatti Rajput royal family of Jaisalmer (and ultimately to Krishna through Salibahan). According to this narrative, a group of Bhattis migrated to Punjab, where they came to be known as Jats, and became Sikhs. The account states that Sadho Singh and his four sons married into Kalal families, because of which the family came to be known as Ahluwalia.[45] Lepel Griffin (1873), a British administrator who wrote on the history of Punjab's rulers, dismissed this account connecting the Ahluwalias to the Jaisalmer royal family as spurious.[45] The Sikh author Gian Singh, in his Twarikh Raj Khalsa (1894), noted that the Ahluwalia family had adopted the Kalal caste identity much before Sadho Singh.[46]

Post-colonial period (after 1947)

In the census of 1951, Ahluwalias who were from Punjab and settled in Punjab after partition of India returned their caste names as Ahluwalia, Ahluwalia Chauhan, Ahluwalia Sikh, Ahluwalia Zamindar and Chauhan Ahluwalia among others.[47] According to various scholars, Ahluwalias along with Khatris, Aroras and others form the upper caste group in Punjab.[48][49] For 2010 Bihar elections, Center for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) noted that, Ahluwalias have been categorised as both Punjabi Khatri and Khatri-Arora Sikh along with Arora, Bajaj, Bedi and Bhalla communities among others as upper castes and Sikhs in the electoral roll.[50] Meanwhile, in Delhi and Haryana, they have been classified under Punjabi Khatri (Hindu) whereas as a separate "Ahluwalia Sikh" category in Uttarakhand and Punjab by CSDS.[51][52][53] In a report, Haryana Backward Classes Commission stated that, "Arora Khatri, Bedi, Ahluwalia etc. are some of the important castes among the Punjabis".[54]

In East India, Ahluwalias along with Sainis as well as Mehras joined Aroras and Ramgarhias in large construction projects mainly in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela. These projects included building dams, public buildings and bridges as a part of the collective efforts by Punjabi Sikhs. Meanwhile, many Ahluwalias also became hoteliers.[55]

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Social status

According to scholars like Bardwell L. Smith, despite being lesser in number, Ahluwalias along with Khatris and Aroras have been an influential urban minority.[56][44][57] They lived across Punjab from Peshawar, Gujrat to Hoshiarpur.[58][59][2]

Religion

Most of the Ahluwalias follow either Sikhism or Hinduism. A small number of them follow Buddhism and Islam. [1][60]

Notable people

See also: This list has a few notable people from all divisions. For more, check here, Ahluwalia (surname), Bamral, Bimbat, Neb, Paintal, Rekhi, Sikand, Tulsi and Walia
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See also

References

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