Note 18 — Glossary

Bhātia.—A commercial caste of Sind and Gujarāt, a few of whom settle temporarily in the Central Provinces. Sir D. Ibbetson writes of them:18 “The Bhātias are a class of Rājpūts, originally coming from Bhatner, Jaisalmer and the Rājpūtāna desert, who have taken to domestic pursuits. The name would seem to show that they were Bhātis (called Bhatti in the Punjab); but be that as it may, their Rājpūt origin seems to be unquestioned. They stand distinctly below the Khatri, and perhaps below the Arora, and are for the most part engaged in petty shopkeeping, though the Bhātias of Dera Ismail Khān are described as belonging to a widely-spread and enterprising mercantile community. They are very strict Hindus, far more so than the other trading classes of the western Punjab; and eschew meat and liquor. They do not practise widow-marriage.”