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Khatik

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Khatik
ReligionsHinduism,
Languages• Hindi • Punjabi • Rajasthani • Tamil • Telugu• Marathi
Country• India • Nepal • Pakistan[1][2]
Populated statesUttar Pradesh,West Bengal, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Haryana Andhra pradesh,Punjab,Maharashtra, Delhi, jharkhand
Notable membersJagannath Pahadia, Udit Raj, Virendra Kumar Khatik, Rajnath Sonkar Shastri
SubdivisionsRangiya and Mewafarosh Suryavanshi khatik

The Khatik or Khateek are an ethnic group found in the Indian subcontinent, mainly modern-day India, Pakistan and Nepal. The Hindu Khatik have gerneral, OBC and scheduled caste status varied according to different states in India.[3] They are one of the most widespread communities in modern South Asia. Indian Khatik have a population of approximately above 4.8 crore and are located mainly in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, New Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh.[4]

It is also believed that some groups of Khatik community, mainly living in areas of Punjab and Pakistan turned to Islam in the early days, they were mainly involved in tannery and meat business.

Etymology

Khatik is derived from the Sanskrit (Indic ancient language) word, "Khattik or Aakhetak" means Hunter or Predator and Hindi word "Khatt" Means immediate killing.[citation needed] Since historical times they mostly seem to be in the business and profession of getting and selling the Forest and Village supplies (like meat, fruit, vegetables) in the towns, rearing of goat and pigs and tanning of raw hide.

Gobinda Chandra Khatik Road - John Burdon Sanderson Haldane Avenue - Kolkata 2013-04-10 7722

Khatiks are identified as Scheduled Caste in some states of India including West Bengal,Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh while they have OBC status in Gujarat and Bihar and also have General status in some states.[5]

Political involvement

Khatiks actively participate in politics and they are not dependent on single party but they are distributed in various political party as per their belief & interest.[6] Only a few people from the group have risen to high political positions, hence the community has little say in political decision making.

Current status

  • Today, some people of this group are the business related to fruit and vegetable, animal husbandry, butchering, agriculture. While most of the other people are into all sorts of businesses, professions and jobs, like Government Services, Private Jobs, IT Professions, Scientists, Engineers, Medical Professionals, service industry, shop owners, contractors, real estate developers, builders and others. A good number of these professions are working in different countries through out the world. Some people of this group have also been involved in Sports, modern day body building and traditional wrestling (Kushti)
  • Among the major Dalit groups, Khatiks have registered the overall literacy rate (64.4 per cent) and highest women literacy rate.[4]

Subdivisions

Hindu Khatik caste has divided into various subgroups or gotras based on their livelihood or profession and some time based on the names of there villages. These include:

  • Rangiya - they used to colour goat and deer skin to sell.[7] They also sometimes to do goat and sheep rearing.
  • Mewafarosh - There traditional profession is to sell fruits, dry-fruits and vegetables. They also work as meat sellers, mostly selling Goat meat (lamb) or Pig (pork) and some times poultry and fish. They sell jhatka meet as opposed to halal. A number of people from this group are also involved in wholesale business of Fruits and Vegetables, where they are called 'Adhatias' (working as commission agent between seller and buyer). They also own shops in 'Mandis' (wholesale markets and auction houses) from where they wholesale and retail these products. The most common surname of this group is Sonkar or Sonker.[8] They have been historically living in cities mostly in the state of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bangal, etc. Being city dwellers originally they own residential and commercial properties in old parts of the town. Some times these residences are in cluster these cluster are called ' Khatkana', these are mostly in the heart of the cities, and mostly in congested places.
  • In rural parts of Uttar Pradesh (specially in central UP) Khatki's traditionally take up profession of Mason (Rajgir Mistry) and Civil Contractors or Agriculture, where they do farming on there own land holdings and also lease orchards and farms. These groups have there subcast's named after the names of villages were they belong to. This group had a system where members discouraged marriages among certain subgroups or gotras to prevent inbreeding. They do not write any specific surname with there names, but use of word 'Ram' as first or last name is very commonly seen in the names of the older generation.
  • There are various other subgroups mostly divided and named after their occupations.
  • Marriage among these subgroups was traditionally discouraged. But a number of inter-group marriages now are taking place.

Languages

People of this group have no different language either written or spoken. They speak Hindi and all the other regional languages spoken in their particular area.

References

  1. ^ Jaffrelot, Christophe. A History of Pakistan and Its Origins. Anthem Press. p. 212.
  2. ^ http://idsn.org/wp-content/uploads/user_folder/pdf/New_files/Nepal/Caste-based_Discrimination_in_Nepal.pdf
  3. ^ People of India Uttar Pradesh Volume XLII Part Two edited by A Hasan and J C Das pages 811 to 815
  4. ^ a b "CHAPTER – 3 : DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE OF SCHEDULED CASTE DALITS IN INDIA" (PDF). Shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 February 2019. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  5. ^ "खटीक समाज की मांग, अनुसूचित जाति में किया जाए शामिल". Navbharat Times (in Hindi). 18 October 2018. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
  6. ^ "Chandigarh Congress welcomes members of Khatik community into party fold". The Indian Express. 8 April 2019. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
  7. ^ Shastri, Vijay Sonkar (1 January 2014). Hindu Khatik Jati (in Hindi). Prabhat Prakashan. ISBN 9789350485675.
  8. ^ Narayan, Badri (7 November 2006). Women Heroes and Dalit Assertion in North India: Culture, Identity and Politics. SAGE Publishing India. ISBN 9789352800575.
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