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{{short description|Hindu caste in India}}
{{for|goddess|Maheshvari|Parvati}}
{{pp-extended|small=yes}}
{{Use Indian English|date=October 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
'''Maheshwari''', also spelled '''Maheshvari''', is a [[Hindu]] [[Caste system in India|caste]] of India, originally from what is now the state of [[Rajasthan]].<ref name="hardgrove">{{cite journal |title=Sati Worship and Marwari Public Identity in India |first=Anne |last=Hardgrove |journal=The Journal of Asian Studies |volume=58 |issue=3 |date=August 1999 |pages=723–752 |jstor=2659117|doi=10.2307/2659117 }}</ref> Their traditional occupation is that of commerce and as such they form part of the wider [[Bania (caste)|Bania]] occupation-based community that also includes castes such as the [[Khandelwal Vaishya|Khandelwal]]s, [[Oswal]]s and [[Agrawal]]s. The Banias of Rajasthan are often known as [[Marwari people|Marwari]]s, and are also known as ''Mahajans'', a term which community members prefer because ''Bania'' can have negative connotations and imply a lower social position than that which they believe themselves to hold.<ref name="ellis">{{cite book |chapter=Jain merchant castes of Rajasthan |first=Christine M. Cottam |last=Ellis |title=The Assembly of Listeners: Jains in Society |editor1-first=Michael |editor1-last=Carrithers |editor2-first=Caroline |editor2-last=Humphrey |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-52136-505-5 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LW8czr_HzzwC&pg=PA83 |pages=83–84}}</ref><ref name="schrader">{{cite book |title=Changing Financial Landscapes in India and Indonesia: Sociological Aspects of Monetization and Market Integration |first=Heiko |last=Schrader |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |year=1997 |isbn=978-3-82582-641-3 |page=130 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8rf7nIIz8ikC&pg=PA130}}</ref> There is a community of [[Meghwar]] people in the state of [[Gujarat]] who also sometimes use the ''Maheshwari'' name but these people are [[Dalit]]s, unrelated to the Banias, and adopt the name to signify their devotion to the god Shiv.<ref>{{cite book |chapter=Some Ginans Common to Barmati Panthi and Satpanthi Traditions |first1=Mohan Devraj |last1=Thontya |first2=Françoise |last2=Mallison |page=55 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xmh3gQjPHkAC&pg=PA55 |title=Gināns: Texts and Contexts: Essays on Ismaili Hymns from South Asia in Honour of Zawahir Moir |editor1-first=Tazim R. |editor1-last=Kassam |editor2-first=Françoise |editor2-last=Mallison |publisher=Primus Books |year=2010 |edition=Revised |isbn=978-8-19089-187-5}}</ref>

The Maheshwaris claim a [[Rajput]] ancestry.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Debnath |first=Debashis |title=Hierarchies Within Hierarchy: Some Observations on Caste System in Rajasthan |journal=Indian Anthropologist |volume=25 |issue=1 |year=1995 |pages=23–30 |jstor=41919761}}</ref> [[K. K. Birla]], an industrialist whose family has its origins in the Maheshwari caste,{{Efn|The Birla family were outcaste by the community in 1922 when one of their number broke the caste marriage rules.<ref>{{cite book |title=Ashes of Immortality: Widow-Burning in India |first=Catherine |last=Weinberger-Thomas |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-22688-568-1 |page=177 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3wPthVcxWGkC&pg=PA17 |edition=Translated |orig-year=1996}}</ref>}} recounted a traditional story of origin for the community. This states that 72 groups from the [[Kshatriya]] [[Varna (Hinduism)|varna]] in what is now Rajasthan decided in the 8th century to abandon their traditional role in favour of being members of the [[Vaishya]] varna. Inspired to do this by their devotion to [[Shiva]], another name for whom is ''Mahesh'', they adopted the name ''Maheshwari'' and thus established the 72 distinct family lines that exist within the small, tight-knit Maheshwari community to this day.<ref>{{cite book |first=K. K. |last=Birla |author-link=K. K. Birla |title=Brushes With History |publisher=Penguin |year=2009 |isbn=978-8-18475-851-1 |pages=40–41 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pDlj7rwlDK0C&pg=PT40}}</ref>{{efn|The move from Kshatriya to Vaishya status may well have been involuntary. The success of invading Muslim forces in pre-medieval Rajasthan forced many indigenous traditional martial groups to either convert to Islam or adopt what was perceived to be a lower social standing in order to survive.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Devra |first=G. S. L. |title=Political Wilderness and Social Dismemberment - Varhas: A Forgotten Clan of North-West India (Pre-Medieval Period) |journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress |volume=64 |year=2003 |pages=216–232 |jstor=44145463}}</ref>}} Those lines, known as ''khaps'', traditionally practice [[exogamy]] in marriage and mostly [[Vaishnavism]] in religion.<ref name="isaksen">{{cite journal |last=Leonard |first=Karen Isaksen |title=Family Firms in Hyderabad: Gujarati, Goswami, and Marwari Patterns of Adoption, Marriage, and Inheritance |journal=Comparative Studies in Society and History |volume=53 |issue=4 |year=2011 |pages=827–854 |jstor=41241866|doi=10.1017/S0010417511000429 |s2cid=85553204 |url=http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/9jv6h4jj }}</ref>

There is a variant myth of origin, recorded by Sivkaran Ramratan Darak in 1923 and subsequently referred to by modern scholars such as Lawrence Babb. In this version, a prince was supported by 72 Rajputs in disrupting a sacrifice being made by some sages, who retaliated by cursing them such that they were turned to stone. It was Shiva who freed them from the curse, restoring them to life and thus inspiring their devotion.<ref>{{cite book |title=Multiple histories: culture and society in the study of Rajasthan |publisher=Rawat |year=2002 |isbn=978-8-17033-720-1 |page=22 |editor1-first=Lawrence A. |editor1-last=Babb |editor2-first=Varsha |editor2-last=Joshi |editor3-first=Michael W. |editor3-last=Meister |chapter=Violence and construction of trading-caste identity |first=Lawrence A. |last=Babb}}</ref>

The arrival of colonial trade with the [[British India|British]] encouraged Marwari people of Rajasthan to expand their business interests and geographical influence.<ref name="calangutcar">{{cite journal |last=Calangutcar |first=Archana |title=Marwaris in the Cotton Trade of Mumbai: Collaboration and Conflict (circa: 1850-1950 |journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress |volume=73 |year=2012 |pages=658–667 |jstor=44156261}}</ref> Maheshwaris were among the Marwari merchants who moved to the [[Deccan Plateau]] in the early 19th century, where the [[opium trade]] was prominent;<ref>{{cite journal |last=Moorthi |first=Sulochana Krishna |title=Imperial Trade and 'Indigenous Mercantile World' in Western India with Special Reference to Opium |journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress |volume=62 |year=2001 |pages=436–441 |jstor=44155786}}</ref> they were present as bankers in [[Hyderabad State]] by 1850;<ref name="isaksen"/> and in the last quarter of the century emerged as a significant group in the cotton trade of [[Bombay]].<ref name="calangutcar"/> In the 20th century, some Maheshwari , Tharu families, such as the [[Birla family|Birlas]], used the accumulated wealth from their traditional occupations to become prominent industrialists and entrepreneurs.<ref name="schrader"/>

== References ==
'''Notes'''
{{notelist}}
'''Citations'''
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite journal |title=Land Control and Agrarian Mercantile Classes in Western Rajasthan c. 1650-1700 |first=G. S. L. |last=Devra |journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress |volume=58 |year=1997 |pages=371–381 |jstor=44143928}}
* {{cite journal |first=Veronique |last=Pache |title=Marriage Fairs among Maheshwaris: A New Matrimonial Strategy |journal=Economic and Political Weekly |volume=33 |issue=17 |year=1998 |pages=970–975 |jstor=4406701}}
{{Social groups of Rajasthan}}
[[Category:Bania communities]]
[[Category:Rajasthani peoples]]

Maheshwari - Revision history

Dia at 08:00, 18 January 2026