Arora

For other uses, see Arora (disambiguation).

Aroras

Languages
Urdu • Punjabi • Saraiki • Hindi
Religion
Hinduism • Sikhism • Islam

The Arora is a great an Indo-Aryan kshatriya (khatri) community of the [[[Punjab,Saraiki,Sindh,West Haryana region]]]. The surnames names of the Arora people are generally unique in South Asia, but some do overlap with the Jats, Ramgaria and Gujars like Malik,Kataria,Kanwar,Chaudhry.

They are traditionally a Kshatriya community, whom Lakshmi Chandra Jain, an economic historian writing in 1929, believes "control[led] the finance of much of the commerce of India with central Asia, Afghanistan and Tibet."

The name of the community is claimed to have originated from the ancient city of Aror in the northwestern part of what is now the Sindh province of Pakistan. The Hindu temples of Kabul and the Hindu Fire Temple of Baku built and maintained by them still exist.

Aroras were mainly concentrated in West Punjab (now Pakistan) along the banks of the Indus River and its tributaries; in the Malwa region in East Punjab (a part of India), although not greatly in what became the North-West Frontier Province from 1901; in Sindh (mainly as Sindhi Aroras but there were many Punjabi and Multani speaking Aroras as well); in Rajasthan (as Jodhpuri and Nagauri Aroras/Khatris); and in Gujarat. In post-independence and post-partition India, Aroras mainly reside in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Jammu, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Gujarat.

Origins

The town of Rohri in Sukkur District as sketched in 1842

According to Puranic mythology, the Arora are a people from the Suryavansha group of the Ikshvaku. According to ancient religious texts, Devaneek, who was an eighth-generation descendant of Rama, had three sons. Of the three, Ruru is regarded by all Aroras as their eponymous ancestor. The lineage from there on is well-preserved by their bards right up to King Dadror.

Denzil Ibbetson, who wrote the Report for the Indian census of 1881, notes that "The Aroras are often called Roras in the east of the Panjab". However, he considers the community calling itself Ror to be distinct from the Punjabi Arora, stating that "I can hardly believe that the frank and stalwart Ror is of the same origin as the Arora" even though they shared a common account of their origin. The account was that in the past they had denied their original status in order to avoid persecution, and were in fact "Rajputs who escaped the fury of Paras Ram by stating that their caste was aur or 'another'", from which word their name came.

According to Ibbetson, the belief of the Punjabi community is that in fleeing the persecution there was at some point a bifurcation, with some members moving north and others moving south. From this arose the two major endogamous divisions within the Arora, respectively known as Uttradhi and Dakhna, which in turn had subdivisions. H. A. Rose is more specific, considering this to be the belief of the Arora of Gujarat, who maintain that Paras Ram pushed the community towards Multan, where they founded the town of Arorkot, probably near to the present day Rohri. That town was subsequently cursed and its inhabitants fled in different directions through its north, south and west gates. While Rose agrees with Ibbetson that the Dakhna division is sometimes thought to include a subdivision called Dahra, he states that the Dahra went westwards, rather than south, and that there is also another major division known as the Sindhi of Sindh.

For the purposes of his report on the census, Ibbetson treats the Arora as a separate community from that of the Khatri, although similarly one of the "great mercantile castes". He notes that the Arora claimed to be of Khatri origin, evidenced by their claims to have denied their true origin to avoid persecution, but that the Khatri themselves rejected this. Jogendra Nath Bhattacharya, writing in 1896, goes further and states that only the Arora believe this connection to be true. However, a more recent commentator, Scott Cameron Levi, believes that they are a "sub-caste of the Khatris".

Occupation and demographics

At the time of the 1881 census, more than half the Arora in the then Punjab Province lived in the areas of Derajat and Multan, with another significant presence at Bahawalpur. Their influence extended as far as Kohat and Peshawar, as well as towards Sirsa. Unlike other mercantile castes of the region, the Arora had almost sole control of the mercantile activities in their areas of abode, sharing them with no other mercantile community as defined by Ibbetson. He noted of the Punjab mercantile classes that

They do not engage in the carrying trade, nor do they traffic in cattle; being for the most part Hindus they will not sell liquor or meat; and being of fair social standing they do not sell vegetables; but with these exceptions almost the whole of the mercantile and commercial transactions, excepting as a general rule petty hawking and peddling, are conducted ....

Ibbetson further noted that unlike other Punjabi mercantile castes such as the Bania, the Arora did not confine themselves solely to that economic activity, although it was nonetheless their primary occupation: they had a "peculiar versatility .... trader[s] first indeed, but after that anything and everything." He considers that the Khatri shared the same trait. The Arora were "the trader par excellence of the Jakti-speaking or south-western portion of Panjab", which corresponded to the lower river valleys, and were a match for the Khatri in the higher reaches of those rivers.

Despite their versatility and industry - they worked in such occupations as agriculture, metalwork, weaving and basket-making, as well as trading - they were not well respected and were particularly liable to be referred to as kirár (roughly, "coward"). This term was also used, but less frequently, in respect of other mercantile communities, except the Khatri. Ibbetson believes that the prevalence of usage against Arora may have been connected to their status as Hindus in an area where Hindus were looked down upon.

In 1911, Rose reported that the Arora of Bahawalpur were " ... dealing in every commodity, and even selling shoes and vegetables. Some are contractors, bankers or moneylenders, and in the latter capacity they have now acquired a considerable amount of land by mortgage or purchase from Muhummadan owners, though forty or fifty years ago they did not own an acre of cultivated land".

According to the Imperial Gazetteer of India (1901), the three major mercantile communities of the Punjab province—the Aroras, the Bania, and the Ahluwalia — were dominant in the southwest (Multan division), the southeast (Delhi division including present Haryana), and the northeast (Jalandhar division) respectively; in the central area (Lahore division) and the northwest (Rawalpindi division), Aroras and Khatris were almost equal in numbers.

The numerical strength of the Arora community in the 1901 census of the province (which included Delhi) was 653,000. In the former princely state of Bahawalpur, practically the entire commerce was in the hands of Aroras. A majority of the government employees were Aroras. In the same census, the Arora population in North-West Frontier Province was 69,000; in the province of Sindh and the princely state of Khayrpur, both Aroras and Khatris were probably counted as Lohanas, the mercantile community of Sindh. Many Aroras were promoted in all departments of the Indian government as Extra Assistant commissioners, accountants, professors, doctors, civil surgeons, engineers, military officers, and court officers. After the partition of India in 1947, the majority of Sikh and Hindu Aroras from all over Pakistan migrated to India.

Independence

Aroras joined with the rest of India to fight for Indian independence. Many were imprisoned for satyagraha (nonviolent resistance). Some were involved in the Hindu Mahasabha in fighting for independence, including Madanlal Pahwa. As the Aroras are mainly from the Western Punjab region, most Aroras had to migrate to India during the partition of India in 1947.

After partition

The Aroras settled in Amritsar during the time of Maharaja Ranjit Singh or even earlier. It is presumed that they migrated from Sind or Multan to Lahore, and then to Amritsar. This is inferred from the fact that, after a very long stay in the central Punjab, they ceased to speak their Lahnda dialect. The Arora Sikhs are mostly found in big towns, especially in Amritsar. They were living there even before the partition. Their Hindu counterparts, the majority of whom migrated from Pakistan, arrived in India in 1947 after a journey lasting up to a month or more to cross only 100 to 400 miles, starved, dehydrated, ill, and often with only the clothes they were wearing. Aroras not only have survived but have prospered. The Amritsar Gazetteer claims Aroras are very energetic and intelligent. They are mostly engaged in trade and industry. They are superior in business acumen to their counterparts settled in the district. A good number of them have also joined public and private services. The Hoshiarpur Gazetteer says

Before independence, the Aroras did not constitute a sizeable population in the district. With the migration of the non-Muslim population from Pakistan to India in 1947, they settled here, though in small numbers. The Aroras were generally settled in West Punjab (Pakistan) and in the Firozepur District. Their representation in the eastern districts of the Punjab was not notable. According to Ibbetson, the Aroras are the Khatris of Ror (Rori Sukkur, Sindh, in Pakistan). Whatever be their origin, the fact is that they resemble Khatirs in certain traits. In certain respects, they are even superior to them. They are also divided into many groups and castes, Uchanda, Nichanda, etc., but in social life, these groups are of no importance. They intermarry in their groups like others. They also intermarry among Khatirs. In the All-India meeting in 1936, held by the Khatris at Lahore (Pakistan), it was decided that the Aroras, Soods and Bhatias were Khatri for all intents and purposes. And, as such, they should be admitted to the Khatri stock. This interpretation did not find much favour then, but with the lapse of time, it has almost been accepted.

Before the partition, Aroras used to marry only among their sub-group i.e. Uttradhi, Dakkhna or Dahra and members of the same geographic region. But after the partition, spheres of permissible arranged matrimonial alliances were widened to others of Punjabi origin,< especially Khatris, Bhatias, and Sood. Inter-caste marriages with other communities of Punjab (with Brahmins and Baniyas especially) and other parts of India and world have become quite common and are becoming more common every day. These sub-castes have mixed so overwhelmingly that all of these castes together are now referred to as the Punjabi Aroras or simply the 'Punjabi' community. Aroras have been increasingly shunning the caste system, twith he Aroras (and all Punjabis in general) becoming more liberal, especially the populace in bigger towns and cities. Among Punjabis, socioeconomic status has replaced caste as the primary concern in matrimonial alliances.

Role in Indian society

Arora families in India place great emphasis and attention to the education of their children, including their daughters; because of this, they have become prosperous and are successful in many diverse professions such as trade, education, medicine, finance, technology, engineering, manufacturing, entertainment, arts, armed forces, and bureaucracy. They are a very small minority, lack a political power-base, and have in the pre-partition period suffered from Muslim attempts to disparage and suppress them. Some lost their homes, businesses, properties, and bank deposits (at Punjab & Sind Bank, owned and controlled by three Sikh Khatri families) at the time of partition in 1947. Another prominent bank in Punjab at that time (Punjab National Bank) is reported to have played a very positive role by encashing bank deposits of migrants based on pass book entries, even though the bank had lost its records in Pakistan.

Aroras have taken roles in the Indian Armed Forces. Jagjit Singh Aurora was a prominent member of the Arora community in the Indian Armed Forces. Aroras were prominent in the Kargil War. Squadron Leader Ajay Ahuja was declared a war hero and died during the conflicts.

Religion

At the time of the 1881 census, Ibbetson noted that most of the Punjabi Arora were Hindu and around 7% were Sikh; a few were Muslim. However, he queried the classification because, for example, some who were recorded as Hindu were in his opinion "really Munna (shaven) Sikhs, or followers of Baba Nanak".

Aroras are very tolerant in their religious faith. Most are followers of Hindu Dharma; however, they respect the sanctity of and frequently visit Arya Samaj temples, Jain temples, Mazars and Sikh Gurdwaras. For several centuries in the past, the eldest son of an Arora Hindu family voluntarily changed his religion to Sikhism as a family devotion to the Sikh Gurus in the 18th century. The Arora community is in charge of most of the temples in Delhi, Haryana, and Punjab areas. Most of the Shiv Mandirs, Hanuman Mandirs, Sanatan Dharma Mandirs, Durga Mandirs, and Krishna Mandirs are managed by Arora communities in the provinces with significant Arora population.

Divisions

Aroras share cultural and genetic similarity with Khatris/Kukhrans. The Arora existed in western districts of Punjab, and only influenced towards Sanatan Dharma or Shiv Lingam Poojan, but Khatris in eastern Punjab followed Sikh and other beliefs. After the Khatris started condemning Brahmins, the Arora stopped being known by the name Khatri. Another genetically similar group living in Pakistan is the Memons.

The folk dance of the Arora community is the Jhumar, a slow moving and expressive dance, and the Khatri folk dance is the Bhangra, which is more aggressive.

Notable Aroras

Main article: List of Aroras

See also

• Hinduism in Punjab

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

• Bhattacharya, Jogendra Nath (1896). Hindu castes and sects: an exposition of the origin of the Hindu caste system and the bearing of the sects towards each other and towards other religious systems. Calcutta: Thacker, Spink.
• Ibbetson, Denzil (1916). Panjab castes; being a reprint of the chapter on "The races, castes and tribes of the people" in the report on the census of the Panjab published in 1883 by the late Sir Denzil Ibbetson. Punjab: Government Printing Press. Retrieved 2011-10-23.
• Jain, Lakshmi Chandra (1929). Indigenous banking in India. London: Macmillan and Co. Retrieved 2011-10-23.
• Levi, Scott Cameron (2002). The Indian Diaspora in Central Asia and Its Trade, 1550–1900. Leiden: BRILL. ISBN 9789004123205. Retrieved 2011-10-23.
• Rose, H. A, (1911). A Glossary of The Tribes & Castes of The Punjab & North West Frontier Province. Vol. II. Lahore: Samuel T. Weston. Retrieved 2011-10-23.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)</ref>