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.
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 Tukharistan region of Uzbekistan. 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, this title is widely used by the people belonging to the Rajput community [1] [2] while few people of other communities also use this title include communities such as, Bengali Brahmins, [3] [4] Bhumihars, [5] Charans [6] and Kolis. [7] [8] [9]
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. [10]
The meaning of the word Thakur was suggested to be "god" by S. K. Das; [3] : 31 "lord" by Blair B. Kling; [11] and "master of the estate" by H. B. Gurung. [10]
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 Current Uzbekistan. [12] 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." [12]
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. [13]
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). [14]
S. K. Das noted that while the word thakur means "god".
In India, this title is widely used by the people belonging to the Rajput caste [15] while few people of some other caste groups using it include castes such as, Bengali Brahmin, [16] Bhumihar, Koli [8] and Charan. [17]
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". [18] However, some other academics have noted that this title had been used by "petty chiefs" in the western areas of Himachal Pradesh. [19]
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. [20]
The territory of land under the control of a Thakur was called thikana. [21]
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—similar to names such as Kumar and Lal.
Rājpūt, also called Thākur, 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.
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.
Thakur may refer to:
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.
Datt/Dutt is a Mohyal Brahmin clan from Punjab.
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.
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.
The politics of Bihar, a state in east India, is dominated by regional political parties. As of 2021, the main political groups are Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Janata Dal (United) (JDU), Indian National Congress (INC), Left Front, Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM). There are also smaller regional parties: Samata Party, Rashtriya Jan Jan Party, Rashtriya Lok Janata Dal, Jan Adhikar Party and Vikassheel Insaan Party, Lok Janshakti Party and Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party. As of 2024, Bihar is currently ruled by NDA. This is after JDU broke away from a Mahagatbandhan coalition and returned to NDA fold.
The Koli is an Indian caste that is predominantly found in India, but also in Pakistan and Nepal. Koli is an agriculturist caste of Gujarat but in coastal areas they also work as fishermen along with agriculture.
The Thakuri is a royal Kshatriya caste forming the core of the ruling class in Nepal. This term is a Nepali cognate of the Indian Kshatriya title Thakur, which translates to 'master of the estate'. The term denotes the royal descendants of kings of baise rajya,chaubise rajyaGorkha kingdom and the Kingdom of Nepal.
Rajputs in Bihar are members of the Rajput community living in the eastern Indian state of Bihar. They traditionally formed part of the feudal elite in Bihari society. Rajputs were pressed with the Zamindari abolition and Bhoodan movement in post-independence India; along with other Forward Castes, they lost their significant position in Bihar's agrarian society, leading to the rise of Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
The Zamindars of Bihar were the autonomous and semi-autonomous rulers and administrators of the subah of Bihar during Mughal rule and later during British rule. They formed the landed aristocracy that lasted until Indian independence in 1947. The zamindars of Bihar were numerous and could be divided into small, medium and large depending on how much land they controlled. Within Bihar, the zamindars had both economic and military power. Each zamindari would have their own standing army which was typically composed of their own clansmen.
Chitraguptavanshi Kayastha, also referred to as North-Indian Kayastha, is a subgroup of Hindus of the Kayastha community that are mainly concentrated in the Hindi Belt of North India.
Modern historians agree that Rajputs consisted of a mix of various different social groups and different varnas. Rajputisation explains the process by which such diverse communities coalesced into the Rajput community.
Bhāt is a "generic term" used to refer to an oral repository or 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.
Thakur and rajput have been used interchangeably to refer to castes of Kshatriya rank.
In Bihar , the Babhan are also known as Bhumihar Brahman . They have titles such as Rai , Singh , Pandey , Tiwari , Chaudhry and Thakur.
Among jagirdars, all were not Rajputs. Jagirs were also granted to Charans and Brahmins. They were also known as thakurs.
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.
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.
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).
...Thakur (title of respect for Rajput aristocrats whose father is deceased; usually a landowner)...
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.
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.
...in the hills refer to a time when petty chiefs bearing the title of Rana or Thakur exercised authority over their iminutive domains...
Rights to land within any particular Thakur domain, the thikana, became complicated by the 1600s.