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{{User draft|date=August 2022}}
{{merge to|Kamboj|date=February 2024|discuss=Talk:Kamboj#Abandoned user draft}}
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{{Short description|Ethnic community of the Punjab region}}
{{other uses|Kamboja (disambiguation){{!}}Kamboja}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=January 2018}}
{{infobox ethnic group|
| group = Kamboj
| poptime = 
| popplace = India • Pakistan
| langs = [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]] • [[Hindi language|Hindi]] • [[Urdu language|Urdu]]
| rels = [[Hinduism]] • [[Islam]] • [[Sikhism]]
| related = [[Punjabi]] • [[ Kashatriya ]]

The '''Kamboj''' ({{langx|pa|ਕੰਬੋਜ}} ''Kamboj'', {{langx|hi|कंबोज}} ''Kamboj''), also '''Kamboh''' ({{langx|ur|{{nq|کمبوہ}}}} <small>[[ALA-LC]]:</small> {{transliteration|ur|ALA-LC|''Kamboh''}}), is one of the chief agricultural castes of the Punjab region.<ref>Hindu Castes and Sects" by Jogendra Nath Bhattacharya, Calcutta; Thacker, Spink and Co.,1896, P. 285 "The chief agricultural castes of the Panjab are the Jats and the Kambohs."</ref> The Kamboj people have traditionally been regarded to be a Kshatriyasreni living by agriculture, trade and by wielding weapons.<ref> "The corporations of warriors (kshatriyasrenis)  of the Kamboja and Surashtra and some other nations live by agriculture, trade and by wielding weapons.(Kautiliya Arathashastra, 11.1.03)]
" [ Kautiliya's Arathashastra, 1956, P. 407, Dr R. Shamasastry] </ref>The British acknowledged them as a [[martial race]] and the Kamboj people supplied a good number of recruits to the native army.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mazumder |first=Rajit K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O4Wop9vwS9sC&pg=PA105 |title=The Indian Army and the Making of Punjab |date=2003 |publisher=Orient Blackswan |isbn=978-81-7824-059-6 |pages=105 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Bonarjee |first=Pitt D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hwu2AAAAIAAJ |title=A Hand Book of the Fighting Races of India |date=1975 |publisher=Asian Publication Services |pages=181 |language=en}}</ref>By religion, the [[Hindu]], the [[Sikh]] Kamboj are mostly found in the east, that is the [[Punjab]] and [[Haryana]] states in India, while most of the [[Muslim]] Kamboj are found in the west in the province of [[Punjab, Pakistan|Punjab]] in Pakistan.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Singh |first1=Pashaura |last2=Fenech |first2=Louis E. |title=The Oxford Handbook of Sikh Studies |date=27 March 2014 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-100411-7 |page=84 |url=https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/The_Oxford_Handbook_of_Sikh_Studies/7YwNAwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Kamboj++caste&pg=PA84&printsec=frontcover |language=en}}</ref> The division among the Hindu Kamboj that traditionally engaged in the business of making and selling confectionary take the sacred thread whereas the agriculturist do not. <ref>"Jogendra Nath Bhattacharya, op cit, P. 285 "The Kambohs have two divisions among them: one practising agriculture, and the other making and selling confectionery . The latter take the sacred thread but the former do not." </ref> The Muslim Kamboh were powerful and influential during the later [[Delhi Sultanate]] and [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] periods and in terms of social stratification were counted among the Shaikhs and noblest of all among the Indian Muslims.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Shackle |first=C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-waANxsEciMC&dq=shahbaz+khan+kamboh+sikhs&pg=PA57 |title=The Sikhs |date=1984 |publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Distri |pages=57 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Siddiqi |first=Iqtidar Husain |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f5sEwy5tdSoC&q=The+Kambo,+Indian+Shaikhzadas+and+local+Saiyid+nobles+rose+to+prominence+during+the+period+under+review |title=Some Aspects of Afghan Despotism in India |date=1969 |publisher=Three Men Publication |pages=59 |language=en}}</ref> <ref> Muslim Society in Northern India During the Eighteenth Century, 1998, pp 24, 25 Muhammad Umar; ""The (Muslim) Kamboh distinguished themselves by their courage, generosity and high spirits...In terms of social stratification, the Kambohs were counted among the Shaikhs.....Among the Indian Muslims, the Kambohs were regarded as the noblest of all. However, perhaps with a view to maintaining the purity of their descent, or because of pride of nobility, they confined their matrimonial relationships within their own groups and did not establish marriage connections with other Muslim groups including even the Saiyids and the Mughals." </ref>


== Origin ==
The Kamboj people descend from the [[Kambojas]] who were an [[Indo-Iranians|Indo-Iranian]] people of Central Asia having Indo-Aryan cultural affinities.<ref>{{Cite book |last=West |first=Barbara A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pCiNqFj3MQsC&dq=kamboja+kamboh&pg=PA359 |title=Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania |date=2010-05-19 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=978-1-4381-1913-7 |pages=359 |language=en}}</ref><ref>1994, Punjab history conference: 26th Session, Punjabi University of Patiala: Papers: Volume 1, 	p    224, Gursharan Singh (Ed):
"The origin of the Kambohs or Kambojas is traced to very ancient times. It will not be out of place to mention here that the Kambojas was the name of a well-known Vedic Aryan Kshatriya tribe whose territory or janapada, also known as Kamboja".</ref> <ref> Epigraphia Zeylanica: Volume 2, pp  75/76 Ceylon, 1928, Archeological Deptt.".
"The reference in the Vamsa Brahmana to a certain Kamboja Aupamanyava as a pupil of Madragara points, according to Prof. Macdonell and Dr. Keith, to ' a possible connection of the Madras or more probably, the Uttara Madras, with the Kambojas, who probably had Iranian as well as Indian affinities’. The Kambohs of the present day in the NW. Provinces of India are generally regarded as the modern representatives of Ancient Kambojas.</ref> A section of Kambojas located cis of Hindukush emerged as an important part of the [[Indo Aryan]] vedic people in the later vedic age, <ref> Some Kshatriya Tribes of Ancient India, B C Law, 124, P. 230-31 "... in a list of ancient Vedic teachers given in the Vamsa Brahmana of the Samveda..we find one of the teachers in the line to be Kamboja Aupamanyava, that is, Kamboja, the son of Upamanyu....the fact stands out without any possible doubt that a sage from among the Kamboja people, had found a place in the list of the great ancient teachers by whomthe Vedic lore was kept up and handed on, and there is no 
room for any hesitation in saying that the Kambojas in Vedic times formed an important section of the Vedic Indian 
people."</ref> and find a prominent place among the [[Kshatriya]] tribes of the great epic [[Mahabharata]]. <ref> ibid. P. 241, "Among the ksatriya tribes in the great Epic the Kambojas occupy a prominent place...They were the allies of Duryodhana and by their bravery, 
and especially the prowess of their king, Sudaksina, they rendered great service to the Kuru side in the long drawn 
battle at Kuruksetra. Sudaksina was one of the few Maharathas or great heroes on the field..." </ref> Kambojas are mentioned as the Kshatriya people inhabitating the Kamboja [[ Mahajanapada]], which was one of the sixteen great nations (Solasa Mahajanapadas) existing in the Indian subcontinent at the time of the Budhha. <ref>Anguttara Nikaya: Vol I, p 213, Vol IV, pp 252, 256, 260 etc.</ref> 
==See also==
*[[Kambojas]]


==References==
{{Reflist}}


{{draft categories|
[[:Category:Punjabi tribes]]
[[:Category:Social groups of Uttar Pradesh]]
[[:Category:Social groups of Haryana]]
[[:Category:Social groups of Punjab, India]]
[[:Category:Social groups of Punjab, Pakistan]]
}}