Arora
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The Aroras are both Sikh and mona (shaven).
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The Arora, 1916
This article is an extract from PANJAB CASTES SIR DENZIL CHARLES JELF IBBETSON, K.C. S.I. Being a reprint of the chapter on Lahore: Printed by the Superintendent, Government Printing, Punjab, 1916. Indpaedia is an archive. It neither agrees nor disagrees |
Caste No. 10
The Arora, or Rora as he is often called, is the trader par excellence of the Jatki speaking or south-western portion of Panjab, that is to say of the lower valleys of our nve rivers ; while higher up their courses he shares that position with the Khatri. East of the upper Satluj he is only found in the immediate neighbourhood of the river. More than half the Aroras of the Panjab dwell in the Multan and Derajat divisions. Like the Khatri, and unlike the Banya, he is no mere trader ; but his social position is far inferior to theirs, partly no doubt because ht is looked down upon simply as being a Hindu in the portions of the Province which are his special habitat. He is commonly known as a Kirar, a word almost synony mous with coward, and even more contemptuous than is the name Banya in the east of the Province. The word Kirar, indeed, appears to be ' applied to all the Western or Panjubi traders, as distinct from the Banyas of Hindustan, and is so used even in the Kaugra Hills. But the Arora is the person to whom the term is most eommonly applied, and Khatris repudiate the name altogether as derogatory. The Arora is active and enterprising, industrious and thrifty.
When an Arora girds up his loins, he makes it only two jniles (from Jhang) to Lahore He will turn his hand to any work, he makes a most admiral )le cultivator, and a large proportion of the Aroras of the lower Chenab are purely agricultural in their avocations. He is found throughout Afghanistan and even Turkistan, and is the Hindu trader of those countries ; while in the Western Panjab he will sew clothes, weave matting and baskets, make vessels of brass and copper, and do goldsmith's work. But he is a terrible coward and is so branded in the proverbs of the countryside : The thieves were four and we eighty-four ; the thieves came on and we ran away. Damn the thieves ! Well done us ! And again : To meet a Rathi armed with a hoe makes a company of nine Kirars feel alone.Yet the peasant has a wholesome dread of the Kirar when in his proper place. ' Vex not the Jat in his jungle, or the Kirar at his shop, or the boatman at his ferry ; for if you do they Willl break your head/' Again : Trust not a crow, a dog, or a Kirar, even when asleep.
So again : You can't make a friend of a Kirar any mow. than a Satn [Sati] of a prostitute.The Arora is of inferior physique, and his character is thus summed up by Mr. Thorburn : A cowardly, secretive, acquisitive race, very necessary and useful it may be in their places, but possessed of few manly qualities, and both despised and envied by the great Musalman tribes of Bannu.A few of the Aroras are returned as Musalman, some 7 per cent, as Sikh, and the rest as Hindu. But many of the so-called Hindus, especially on the lower Chanab and Satluj, are really Munna (shaven) Sikhs, or followers of Baba Nanak, while the Hindu Aroras of the Indus worship the river. Further details will be found in sections 240 and 264 of Chapter IV on the Religions of the people.
Origin and divisions of the Aroras
The Aroras claim to be of Khatri origin, and it will presently be seen that they follow some of the Khatri sub-divisions. ' The Khatris however reject the claim. Sir George Campbell (see section 539) is of opinion that the two belong to the same ethuic stock. They say that they became outcasts from the Kshatriya stock during the persecution of that people by Paras Ram, to avoid which they denied their caste and described it as Aur or another, hence their name. Some of them fled northwards and some southwards, and hence the names of the two g-reat sections of the caste, Uttaradhi and Dakhana. But it has been suggest ed with greater probability that, as the Multan and Lahore Khatris are Khatris of Multan and Lahore, so the Aroras are Khatris of Aror the ancient capital of Sindh, now represented by the modern Rori. The number of clans is enormous, and many of them are found in both sections. The Uttaradhi and Dakhana do not intermarry, the section being endogamous and the clan, as usual, exogamous. All Aroras are said to be of the Kasib gotra. The
The detailed figures, when published, will show how far the identity of divisions extends. women of the northern or Uttarndhi section wear red ivory bracelets and the section is divided into two sub-sections called Bahri and Bunjahi (see Khatri division section 540. The women of the southern or Dakhana section wear white ivory bracelets, and the section is divided into two sub-sections, the Dahra and the Dakhanadhnin ; but the Dahra sub-section is so important that it is often counted as a third section, and the term Dakhana api^lied to the Dakhanadhains alone. So it is said that in some places the Dahra women alone wear white, and the Dakhana women spotted bracelets of both colours. The Bahri and the Dakhanadhain claim social superiority, and will take wives from, but not give daughters to, the other sub-section of their respective sections. The figures are given in Abstract No. 93 on the next page.* It will be noticed that the Dakhauas are far strongest in the southern and south western districts.
Arora Surnames
Source: Sikh Castes
Khatri and Arora Sikhs are also sometimes called "Kirar" or "Bhapa Sikhs". Both groups intermarry freely and are identical for all practical purposes . They used to constitute chiefly of shopkeepers, petty money-lenders, accountants, grocers, perfume sellers, grain traders, etc.
Ahuja, Alreja, Arya, Aneja, Asija, Babbar, Bajaj, Balana, Bagai, Bakhru, Batra, Baweja, Bhathheja, Baseeja, Bhyana, Bhutani, Buddhiraja, Chawla, Charaipotra, Chhabra, Chhabaria, Chugh, Chuggha, Dhamija, Dawar, Dhingra, Dureja, Doda, Doomra, Dua, Dudeja, Gambhir, Gaba, Gagneja, Gakhar, Ganda, Gandhi, Gavri, Gawri, Gera, Ghawri, Ghavri, Girdhar, Gogia, Grover, Gulati, Guliani, Hangal, Handa, Hasija, Huria, Jhamb, Jhandai, Juneja, Kakkar, Kalra, Kamra, Kataria, Kathpal, Kharbanda, Khera, Khetarpal, Khirbaat, Khurana, Khorana, Kukreja, Kumar, Lakhina, Lal, Leekha, Lekhi, Loona, Lulla, Luthra, Madaan, Mahatta, Mahtta, Makhija, Makkar, Malik, Manaktala, Manchanda, Manocha, Mehndiratta, Mendiratta, Middha, Miglani, Mongia, Munjal, Nagpal, Narang, Narula, Nirula, Nijhawan, Pahuja, Pahwa, Papneja, Pasricha, Pujara, Raheja, Rahuria, Rajpal, Rehani, Relan, Sachdev, Sachdeva, Saluja, Sardana, Sehtiya, Sethi, Setia, Shreedar, Siddhar, Sidana, Sikri, Sindhwani/Sindhuria, Sukhija, Suneja, Taneja, Thakral, Tuteja,Vasant, Virmani, Wadhwa
The Aroras vis-à-vis the Khatris
The Arora (Ahuja, Aneja, Khurana, Chawla, Juneja), Sood, Bhatia and Lohana are distinct communities of the Punjab and Sindh. Although they are not Khatri, they share a similar cultural background with the sub-group communities of Khatris who are in the commercial/trade businesses.
One interesting difference between Aroras and Khatris is the colour of bangles (churah), which brides wear during the marriage ceremony. Arora women wear white bangles (Chitta churah) and Khatri women wear red ones (Laal churah), along with their bridal wear. But in many areas of Punjab, Arora women women red bangles as well and vice versa.
