View source for Mercantile and Shop-Keeping Castes

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This article is an extract from <br/>

PANJAB CASTES <br/>

SIR DENZIL CHARLES JELF IBBETSON, K.C. S.I. <br/>

Being a reprint of the chapter on <br/>
The Races, Castes and Tribes of <br/>
the People in the Report on the <br/>
Census of the Panjab published <br/>
in '''1883''' by the late Sir Denzil <br/>
Ibbetson, KCSI <br/>

Lahore: <br/>

Printed  by the Superintendent, Government Printing, Punjab, <br/>

1916. <br/>
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[[Category:India|M]]
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==Merchants and Shop-keepers==	

The group of mercantile castes for 
which the figures will be found in Abstract No. 91 on the next page practi
cally hold the whole commerce of the Panjab In their hands. They do not 
engage in the carrying trade, nor do they traffic in cattlo ; being for the most 
part Hindus they will not sell liquor or meat ; and being of fair social 
standing they do not sell vegetables ; but with these exceptions almost the 
whole of the mercantile and commercial transactions of the Province, 
excepting as a general rule petty hawking and pedling, are conducted by one 
or other of the castes which I have included In this abstract. They may be 
divided Into five groups, the first consisting of Banyas, Dhnnsars, Bohras, 
and Pahari Mahajans ; the second of Suds and Bhabras ; the third of Khatris, 
Khakhas, and Bhatlas ; the fourth of Aroras ; and the fifth of Khojahs and 
Parachas. 

The territorial distribution of these groups Is very well marked. The first 
or Banya group Is almost confined to the eastern and south-eastern divisions of 
Dehli, HIssar, and Ambala, and to the central Native States, though a few of 
them have spread along the north of the Eastern Plains and into the Hill 
States. West of Lahore they are practically unknown. The second or Sud 
andBhabra group Is found only in the districts that lie under the hills on the 
northern border of the Province from Ambala to Rawalpindi. The third or 
Khatri group constitutes a large proportion of the mercantile classes of all the 
centre and, excluding the frontier, of the north-west of the Province, being 
most numerous In the Jalandhar, Amritsar, Lahore, and Rawalpindi divisions. 
The fourth or Arora group have the IMultan and Derajat divisions and Baha
walpur almost to themselves, extending also Into Peshawar and Kohat, and 
crossing the Satluj In Sirsa to meet the Banya group of the east. Finally, the 
fifth or Mahomeflan group Is confined to the central and western districts and 
the Salt-range Tract. 

On the whole this class constitutes 7 per cent, of the population of the 
Province. But in the districts of the Multan and Derajat divisions and in 
Bahawalpui- the proportion rises to from N to 17 percent. This however is 
due, not to the fact that a larger proportion of the population of these parts is 
engaged in commerce, but to the peculiar versatility of the Arora of the south
western Panjab, who is a trader first indeed, but aFter that anything and every
thing*. Throughout the Eastern Plains the proportion is very uniform, 
naturally rising  highest in the districts which include large cities. Through
out the hills and submontane districts the proportion is singularly low, for 
these tracts include none of the commercial centres of the Panjab, and the
needs of the people are simple and easily supplied. In the central districts 
and the Salt-range Tract the proportion is large, probably because the Khatris 
like the Aroras by no means confine themselves to commerce as an occu
pation.

See[[The Banya ]]