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The Jhinwar is a caste found in the states of Punjab and Uttar Pradesh in India.
Traditionally, the Jhinwar community found in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh was associated with occupations such as boating, [1] carrying water [2] and river fishing. [3]
Communities that are related to the Jhinwar by occupation in Uttar Pradesh include the Batham, Bind, Bhar, Dhewar, Dhimar, Gariya, Gaur, Godia, Gond, Guria, Jhimar, Jhir, Jhiwar, Kahar, Kashyap, Keot, Kewat, Kharwar, Khairwar, Kumhar, Machua, Majhi, Majhwar, Mallah, Nishad, Prajapati, Rajbhar, Riakwar, Tura, Turah, Turaha, Tureha and Turaiha. There were proposals in 2013 that some or all of these communities in the state should be reclassified as Scheduled Castes under India's system of positive discrimination; this would have involved declassifying them from the Other Backwards Class category. [1] Whether or not this would happen was a significant issue in the campaign for the 2014 Indian general election. [4]
The Dom, also known as Domra, Domba, Domaka, Dombara and Dombari, are castes, or groups, scattered across India. Dom were a caste of drummer. According to Tantra scriptures, the Dom were engaged in the occupations of singing and playing music. Historically, they were considered an untouchable caste called the Dalits and their traditional occupation was the disposal and cremation of dead bodies. They are in the list of Scheduled caste for Reservation in India in the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
Bazigar are an ethnic group of north-western India. They are primarily found in Punjab region of India and Pakistan, but there are also communities in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Rajasthan. They were previously nomadic with their main occupation the performance of acrobatics and other forms of entertainment, but they are now settled and engaged mainly in agricultural and forms of industrial services and businesses.
Chamar is a Dalit community classified as a Scheduled Caste under modern India's system of affirmative action. They are found throughout the Indian subcontinent, mainly in the northern states of India and in Pakistan and Nepal.
Chuhra, also known as Bhanghi and Balmiki, is a Dalit caste in India and Pakistan. Populated regions include the Punjab region of India and Pakistan, as well as Uttar Pradesh in India, among other parts of the Indian subcontinent such as southern India. Their traditional occupation is sweeping, a "polluting" occupation that caused them to be considered untouchables in the caste system.
Lohar is considered to be a caste among Hindus and a clan among Muslims and Sikhs in the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand, and in Nepal. They form traditionally artisanal castes. Writers of the Raj period often used the term Lohar as a synonym for blacksmith, although there are other traditional smiting communities, such as the Ramgarhia and Sikligar, and numerous non-traditional communities, including the Kayastha, Rajput and Brahmin.
The Mallaah are the traditional boatmen and fishermen tribes or communities found in North India, East India, Northeastern India and Pakistan. A significant number of Mallah are also found in Nepal and Bangladesh. In the Indian state of Bihar, the term Nishad includes the Mallah and refers to communities whose traditional occupation centred on rivers.
Mazhabi Sikh is a community from Northern India, especially Punjab region, who follow Sikhism. Mazhabi are part of wider category of Dalit Sikhs, who convert from the hindu Valmiki community. The word Mazhabi is derived from the Arabic term mazhab, and can be translated as the faithful. They live mainly in Indian Punjab, Rajasthan and Haryana.
Muslim communities in South Asia apply a system of social stratification. The stratification that operates among Muslims arises from concerns other than in the concepts of pure and impure that are integral to the Indian caste system. It developed as a result of relations between the foreign conquerors and upper caste Hindus who converted to Islam (Ashraf) and the local lower caste converts (Ajlaf) as well as the continuation of the Indian caste system among local converts. Non-Ashrafs are backward caste converts. The neologism "Pasmanda" includes Ajlaf and Arzal Muslims, and Ajlafs' statuses are defined by them being the descendants of converts to Islam and are also defined by their pesha (profession). These terms are not used in local, sociological vocabulary in places such as Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh, and therefore tell us very little about the functioning of Muslim society.
Kushwaha is a community of the Indo-Gangetic Plain that has traditionally been involved in agriculture, including beekeeping. The term has been used to represent different sub-castes of the Kachhis, Kachhvahas, Koeris and Muraos. Under the Indian governments system of positive discrimination, the Kushwahas are classified as a "Backward" or Other backward class. The Kushwaha had worshipped Shiva and Shakta, but beginning in the 20th century, they claim descent from the Suryavansh (Solar) dynasty via Kusha, one of the twin sons of Rama and Sita. At present, it is a broad community formed by coming together of several caste groups with similar occupational backgrounds and socio-economic status, who, over the time, started inter-marrying among themselves and created all India caste network for caste solidarity. The communities which merged into this caste cluster includes Kachhi, Kachhwaha, Kushwaha, Mali, Marrar, Saini, Sonkar, Murai, Shakya, Maurya, Koeri and Panara.
Swarnkar is a Hindu caste in India. The Swarnkar community works trader of gold or as goldsmiths. The community is primarily Hindu, and found all over India. Indian and Nepali sunar use soni as their surname.
The Muslim Kayastha, also known as Siddiqui, are a community of Muslims, are related to the Kayastha of northern India, mainly modern Uttar Pradesh, who converted to Islam during the rule of the Islamic empires in India.
The Pasi is a Dalit (untouchable) community of India. Pasi refers to tapping toddy, a traditional occupation of the Pasi community. The Pasi are divided into Gujjar, Kaithwas, and Boria. They are classified as an Other Backward Class in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. They live in the northern Indian states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
Tailoring is the English translation of Darzi. In the Indian tradition, it was customary to wrap clothing over the body rather than wear stitched clothes. The word Darzi comes from the Persian language. In Hindi Darzi is pronounced Darji.
The Bhar are a caste in India.
The Nayak are an aboriginal caste; also some Nayak are Punjabi found in India and Pakistan. Mainly Nayak follows aboriginal Bhil. According to Vinay Krishin Gidwani, the Nayaks claim that they were, historically, Bhil.
Kumhar or Kumbhar is a caste or community in India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan. 'Kumhar' have historically been associated with the art of pottery.
The Sapera are a Hindu caste found in North India. They are also known as Barwa Sampheriya in West Bengal, Sapela in Punjab and Sparera in Madhya Pradesh.
The Dhimar is a caste in India, sometimes referred to as a subcaste of boatmen.
The Kalwar,KalalorKalar are an Indian caste historically found in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir and other parts of north and central India. The caste is traditionally associated with the distillation and selling of liquor, but around the start of the 20th century assorted Kalwar caste organisations sought to leave that trade and redefine their community through Sanskritisation process.
The Jat people are a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in late medieval times, and subsequently into the Delhi Territory, northeastern Rajputana, and the western Gangetic Plain in the 17th and 18th centuries. Of Hindu, Muslim and Sikh faiths, they are now found mostly in the Indian states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan and the Pakistani provinces of Sindh and Punjab.