Thakur (title)

Last updated

Thakur is a historical feudal title of the Indian subcontinent. It is also used as a surname in the present day. The female variant of the title is Thakurani or Thakurain, and is also used to describe the wife of a Thakur.

Contents

Portrait of Thakur Raja Bakhtawar Singh made by Fateh Muhammad around 1880 in western Rajasthan, probably Bikaner. Portrait of Thakur Raja Bakhtawar Singh, standing in a European-style interior..jpg
Portrait of Thakur Raja Bakhtawar Singh made by Fateh Muhammad around 1880 in western Rajasthan, probably Bikaner.

There are varying opinions among scholars about its origin. Some scholars suggest that it is not mentioned in the Sanskrit texts preceding 500 BCE, but speculates that it might have been a part of the vocabulary of the dialects spoken in northern India before the Gupta Empire. It is viewed to have been derived from word Thakkura which, according to several scholars, was not an original word of the Sanskrit language but a borrowed word in the Indian lexis from the Tukhara regions of Inner Asia. Another view-point is that Thakkura is a loan word from the Prakrit language.

Scholars have suggested differing meanings for the word, i.e. "god", "lord", and "master of the estate". Academics have suggested that it was only a title, and in itself, did not grant any authority to its users "to wield some power in the state".

In India, the social groups which use this title include the Rajputs, [1] [2] Bengali Brahmins, [3] [4] Bhumihars [5] and Charans. [6]

Etymology and meaning

Sisir Kumar Das stated that the word Thakur is derived from the "late Sanskrit" word Thakkura. [3] :28

Harka Bahadur Gurung noted that the Nepalese version of the word Thakur is Thakuri. [7]

The meaning of the word Thakur was suggested to be "god" by S. K. Das; [3] :31 "lord" by Blair B. Kling; [8] and "master of the estate" by H. B. Gurung. [7]

Origin

Nirmal Chandra Sinha stated that the word Thakura is "unknown" to the Vedic and Classical Sanskrit and finds no mention in the Sanskrit literature preceding 500 BCE. He suggests, however, that "the word was possibly current in many north Indian dialects before the Imperial Guptas". Sinha notes that many scholars, such as Buddha Prakash, Frederick Thomas, Harold Bailey, Prabodh Bagchi, Suniti Chatterji, and Sylvain Lévi, have suggested that Thakura is a borrowed word in the Indian lexis from the Tukhara regions of Inner Asia. [9] Sinha observed:

"It may be noted that in South India among orthodox Brahmins, Thakura or Thakur is not a popular term obviously because of its Tukhara or Turuska background." [9]

Byomkes Chakrabarti noted that the Sanskrit word Thakkura finds mention in "late Sanskrit". He doubted, however, that Thakkura is "an original Sanskrit word" and was of the opinion that Thakkura is probably a loan word from the Prakrit language. [10]

Usage

Thakur Lakhajirajsinhji II Bavajirajsinhji of Rajkot Lakhajirajsinhji II Bavajirajsinhji.jpg
Thakur Lakhajirajsinhji II Bavajirajsinhji of Rajkot

Susan Snow Wadley noted that the title Thakur was used to refer to "a man of indeterminate but mid-level caste, usually implying a landowning caste". Wadley further notes that Thakur was viewed as a "more modest" title in comparison to " Rājā " (King). [11]

S. K. Das noted that while the word thakur means "god", it is also used to refer to the father-in-law of a woman. [3] It is also used for a Brahmin, [3] Rajput, [2] Charan, [12] and Koli. [13]

Some academics have suggested that "Thakur was merely a title and not an office whereby a holder was entitled to wield some power in the state". [14] However, some other academics have noted that this title had been used by "petty chiefs" in the western areas of Himachal Pradesh. [15]

The title was used by rulers of several princely states, including Ambliara, Vala, Morbi, Barsoda, and Rajkot State. Sons of thakurs were given the Sanskrit title of Kumara ('prince'), popular usage being Kunwar in the North and Kumar in Bengal and southern India. [16]

The territory of land under the control of a Thakur was called thikana. [17]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Singh</span> Surname originating from Asia

Singh is a title, middle name, or surname that means "lion" in various South Asian and Southeast Asian communities. Traditionally used by the Hindu Kshatriya community, it was later mandated in the late 17th century by Guru Gobind Singh for all male Sikhs as well, in part as a rejection of caste-based prejudice and to emulate Rajput naming conventions. As a surname or a middle name, it is now found throughout the world across communities and religious groups, becoming more of a generic, caste-neutral, decorative name.

Rajput, also called Thakur, is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the northern part of the Indian subcontinent. The term Rajput covers various patrilineal clans historically associated with warriorhood: several clans claim Rajput status, although not all claims are universally accepted. According to modern scholars, almost all Rajput clans originated from peasant or pastoral communities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kayastha</span> Community of India

Kayastha denotes a cluster of disparate Indian communities broadly categorised by the regions of the Indian subcontinent in which they were traditionally located—the Chitraguptavanshi Kayasthas of North India, the Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhus of Maharashtra, the Bengali Kayasthas of Bengal and Karanas of Odisha. All of them were traditionally considered "writing castes", who had historically served the ruling powers as administrators, ministers and record-keepers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khas people</span> Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group of Nepal and India

Khas tribe, popularly known as Khashya, according to the 2015 constitution of Nepal are an Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group native to the Himalayan region of the Indian subcontinent, in what is now the South Asian country of Nepal, as well as the Indian states of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam and Sikkim.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chhetri</span> Kshatriya caste of patrilineal Khas-Aryan descent

Chhetri, historically called Kshettriya or Kshetriya or Khas are Nepali speaking Rajputs of Khas community, some of whom trace their origin to migration from medieval India. Chhetri was a caste of administrators, governor and military elites in the medieval Khas Kingdom and Gorkha Kingdom. The nobility of the Gorkha Kingdom mainly originated from Chhetri families. They also had a strong presence in civil administration affairs. The bulk of prime ministers of Nepal before the democratization of Nepal belonged to this caste as a result of the old Gorkhali aristocracy. Gorkha-based aristocratic Chhetri families included the Pande dynasty, the Basnyat dynasty, the Kunwar family, and the Thapa dynasty,.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jhapa District</span> A district in eastern Nepal

Jhapa District is a district of Koshi Province in eastern Nepal named after a Rajbanshi Surjapuri language word "Jhapa", meaning "to cover" (verb). The 2021 Nepal Census, puts the total population of the district at 994,090. The total area of the district is 1,606 square kilometres.

Thakur may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meghwal</span> People of northwest India and Pakistan

The Meghwal or Meghwar people live primarily in northwest India, with a small population in Pakistan. Their traditional occupation was agricultural farming, cattle-herding and weaving. Meghwals are known for their contribution to embroidery and the textile industry. Most are Hindu by religion, with Rishi Megh, Kabir, Ramdev Pir and Bankar Mataji as their chief gods.

Srivastava, also spelled variously as Shrivastava, Shrivastav or Srivastav, is a common surname found amongst the Chitraguptavanshi Kayastha community of upper caste Hindus particularly in the Hindi-speaking regions of India. The North Indian Kayasthas were powerful components of the upper-bureaucracy and made highly influential urban elites under Hindu kings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rajpurohit</span> Caste in Western Rajasthan

Rajpurohit is a martial race of Brahmin origin residing in South Asia natively in western Rajasthan of India. Their ancestors belonged to the family line of SaptRishis. They maintain traditions that are similar to both Brahmins and Rajputs.

Bhumihar, also locally called Bhuinhar and Babhan, is a Hindu caste mainly found in Bihar, the Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, the Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh, and Nepal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charan</span> Caste in South Asia

Charan is a caste in South Asia natively residing in the Rajasthan and Gujarat states of India, as well as the Sindh and Balochistan provinces of Pakistan. Historically, Charans have been engaged in diverse occupations like bards, poets, historians, pastoralists, agriculturalists and also administrators, jagirdars and warriors and some even as traders.

Jyotirishwar Thakur or Kaviśekharācārya Jyotirīśvara Ṭhākura (1260–1340) was a Maithili poet, playwright, musician and an early Maithili and Sanskrit writer, known for the Varṇa Ratnākara, his encyclopedic work in Maithili.

Rajasthani people or Rajasthanis are a group of Indo-Aryan peoples native to Rajasthan, a state in Northern India. Their language, Rajasthani, is a part of the western group of Indo-Aryan languages.

The Thakuri is a prominent Kshatriya sub-caste of Chhetris forming the core of the ruling class in Nepal. This term is a Nepali adaptation of the Indian title Thakur, which translates to 'master of the estate'. Thakuri as an endonym emerged as a sub-group within the Chhetris who belonged to royal families of kings of Khasa Kingdom, Gorkha Kingdom and the Kingdom of Nepal and their descendants.

Ratuwamai is a municipality and rural town situated in south-eastern Tarai in Morang district and Koshi Province of Nepal. This municipality was formed merging six village development committee i.e. Sijuwa, Itahara, Jhurkiya, Mahadeva, Govindapur and Baradanga since March 2017. Total population is 55 thousand 3 hundred 80, area 142.15 km2 and the number of voters is 42 thousand 4 hundred. The main Occupation of this municipality is the Agriculture, most of the people earn money by farming. Sombare, Itahara, Laxmichock, Damravitta, Sijuwa, Sauntha, Shanichare, Govindapur, Kalyanpur and Jhurkiya ,Mahadewa,Mirchadangi,chhalgachi ,Pidhali are the most developing places in the Municipality. The borders are as following: East Jhapa District, West Sunawarshi Municipality and Pathari-Sanischare Municipality, North Urlabari Municipality and South Bihar State India.

<i>Tagadhari</i> Hindu castes wearing sacred thread

Tagadhari are members of a Nepalese Hindu group that is perceived as historically having a high socio-religious status in society. Tagadhari are identified by a sacred thread (Janai) around the torso, which is used for ritualistic purposes in Hinduism. In Sanskrit the sacred thread is called yajñopavītam and in Nepali Janai. The cord is received after the Upanayana ceremony. Tagadharis were historically favoured by the government of Nepal and various religious and caste-based legal provisions were enacted on their behalf. The legal code of 1854, Muluki Ain, which was introduced by Chhetri Maharaja and Prime Minister of Nepal Narsingh Jang Bahadur Kunwar Ranaji, made it impossible to legally enslave Tagadharis and decreed fewer punishments for them in comparison to Matawali and Dalits.

Rajputs of Nepal or anciently Rajputras are Rajput Kshatriya community of Nepal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bhāts</span> Proclaimed genealogists and bards in India

Bhāt is a "generic term" used to refer to a bard in India. The majority of Bhats hail from Rajasthan and worked as genealogists for their patrons, however, they are viewed as mythographers. In India, the inception of Rajputization was followed by the emanation of two groups of bards with a group of them serving the society's influential communities and the other serving the communities with lower ranking in the social hierarchy.

Barhath is an honorific title of the Charans. The title was given to prominent Charans who displayed bravery in war and occupied significant positions in the royal courts in medieval India. It is used as a surname by Charans of Rohadia clan as well as other clans such as Sauda.

References

  1. Frankel, Francine R.; Rao, M. S. A.; Madhugiri, Shamarao; Rao, Ananthapadmanabha (1989). Dominance and State Power in Modern India. Oxford University Press. p. 137. ISBN   978-0-19-562098-6. Archived from the original on 10 April 2023. Retrieved 22 January 2023. Thakur and rajput have been used interchangeably to refer to castes of Kshatriya rank.
  2. 1 2 Ellinwood, DeWitt C. (January 2002). "A Perspective on the Western Front by an Indian Army Office on the Western Front". Western Front Association . Archived from the original on 10 November 2020. Retrieved 9 November 2020. ...Thakur (title of respect for Rajput aristocrats whose father is deceased; usually a landowner)...
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Das, Sisir Kumar (April 1968). "Forms of Address and Terms of Reference in Bengali". Anthropological Linguistics . 10 (4). Trustees of Indiana University: 19–31. JSTOR   30029176 .
  4. Syed Ashraf Ali (4 May 2013). "From Thakur to Tagore". The Daily Star . Archived from the original on 6 July 2019. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
  5. KS Singh. India's Communities vol 6. OUP. p. 471. In Bihar , the Babhan are also known as Bhumihar Brahman . They have titles such as Rai , Singh , Pandey , Tiwari , Chaudhry and Thakur.
  6. Saksena, B. S. (1965). "The Phenomenon Of Feudal Loyalty : A Case Study In Sirohi State". The Indian Journal of Political Science. 26 (4): 121–128. ISSN   0019-5510. JSTOR   41854129. Among jagirdars, all were not Rajputs. Jagirs were also granted to Charans and Brahmins. They were also known as thakurs.
  7. 1 2 Gurung, Harka Bahadur (1996). Faces of Nepal. illustrated by Jan Salter. Himal. p. 29. ISBN   978-9993343509. The term Thakuri is a Nepali variation of the Hindi word thakur, which means 'master of the estate'. Indeed, Thakuris of Nepal are associated with some territory inherited from the days of Baisi and Chaubisi principalities; the term thakurai actually refers to 'fiefdom'. It is said that among those Rajputs fleeing to the hills after the Muslim invasion in India, successful adventurers among them were given the name and status of Thakuri by their Brahman followers.
  8. Kling, Blair B. (1976). "The Home and the World". Partner in Empire: Dwarkanath Tagore and the Age of Enterprise in Eastern India. University of California Press. p. 10. ISBN   978-0520029279. Archived from the original on 10 April 2023. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
  9. 1 2 Sinha, Nirmal Chandra (1987). "Inner Asia and India Through the Ages" (PDF). Bulletin of Tibetology. New. 23 (1). Gangtok, India: Sikkim Research Institute of Tibetology: 18. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 November 2021. Retrieved 26 September 2020 via University of Cambridge.
  10. Chakrabarti, Byomkes (1992). A Comparative Study of Santali and Bengali. K. P. Bagchi & Company. p. 14. ISBN   978-8170741282. Mr. Risley has also drawn attention to the fact that the supreme God "Thakur" of the Santali traditions bears a Hindi name derived from the Sanskrit origin "thakkura". But there is much doubt whether "thakkura" itself is an original Sanskrit word. The word occurs in late Sanskrit possibly being borrowed from Prakrit. But if we make a careful analysis of the different languages of the western regions of Asia from Turkish to Bengali we would surely find out traces of similarities of most of these languages with Santali and this will go to show that the tribes had their historical wanderings from the Western part of Asia to the Eastern part of India.
  11. Wadley, Susan S. (2004). Raja Nal and the Goddess: The North Indian Epic Dhola in Performance (illustrated ed.). Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. p. 60. ISBN   978-0253217240. LCCN   2004009434. Archived from the original on 10 April 2023. Retrieved 26 September 2020. Eventually he was awarded the title of rājā (king), although he preferred the more modest "Thakur" (a man of indeterminate but mid-level caste, usually implying a landowning caste, often Rajput).
  12. Yadav, Kripal Chandra; Arya, Krishan Singh (1988). Arya Samaj and the Freedom Movement: 1875-1918. Manohar Publications. ISBN   978-81-85054-41-4. Archived from the original on 10 April 2023. Retrieved 28 April 2022. Thakur Kesari Singh was born on 21 November 1872 at Devpura, a small village near Shahpura in Udaipur state (Rajasthan) in a patriotic Charan family. His father, Thakur Kishan Singh a follower of Swami Dayananda was one of the chief counsellors of the ruler of Udaipur.
  13. Mishra, Kuldeep (18 December 2017). "गुजरात और उत्तर प्रदेश की राजनीति कैसे अलग है?". BBC News हिंदी (in Hindi). Archived from the original on 14 December 2021. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
  14. Sharma, Ghanshyam Datt (1977). Rajput Polity: A Study of Politics and Administration of the State of Marwar, 1638–1749. Manohar. p. 18. ISBN   978-0883868874. Archived from the original on 10 April 2023. Retrieved 26 October 2020. Bose agrees with Dr. Kane (History of the Dharmasastras, iii, 984) that thakur was merely a title and not an office whereby a holder was entitled to wield some power in the state.
  15. Ohri, Vishwa Chander; Khanna, Amar Nath (1989). "Influence of Rajasthani on Pahari". History and Culture of the Chamba State, a Western Himalayan Kingdom: Collected Papers of the Seminar Held at Chamba in 1983. Books & Books. p. 131. ISBN   9788185016252. ...in the hills refer to a time when petty chiefs bearing the title of Rana or Thakur exercised authority over their iminutive domains...
  16. Vadivelu, A. (24 August 2016). The Aristocracy of Southern India, Volume 2. Archived from the original on 10 April 2023. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  17. Doornbos, Martin; Kaviraj, Sudipta (1997). Dynamics of State Formation: India and Europe Compared. SAGE. p. 81. ISBN   978-8170365747. Rights to land within any particular Thakur domain, the thikana, became complicated by the 1600s.