Template:Pp-extended Template:Use British English
Template:Infobox ethnic group Agrawal (Agarwal, Agerwal, Agrawala, Agarwala, Agarwalla, Aggarwal, Agarawal, Agarawala, or Aggrawal) is a Bania Vaishya caste. The Banias of northern India are a cluster of several communities.[1]
They are found throughout northern India, mainly in the states of Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. They are also found in the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Sindh, though at the time of the partition of India, most of them migrated across the newly created border to independent India.[2][3][4] Most Agrawals follow Vaishnava Hinduism or Jainism, while a minority adhere to Islam or Christianity.[5][6][7]
The Agrawal are the descendants of Maharaja Agrasen (b. 4250 or 3082 BCE), a Kshatriya king of the Agroha Kingdom.[8] He is claimed to have been one of the descendants of the Hindu deity Rama. Their primary goddess was Lakshmi Mahalaxmi, who blessed the king and his descendants to be prosperous always by her and her consort God Vishnu's kindness. Maharaja Agrasen himself adopted the Vaishya tradition of Hinduism.[8]
The Agrawal are Suryavamsha and belong to the Raghuvamsha house.
The Agrawal are also known for their entrepreneurship and business acumen.[8] In modern-day tech and e-commerce companies, they continue to dominate. It was reported in 2013, that for every 100 rupees in funding for e-commerce companies in India, 40 went to firms founded by Agrawals.[9]
History
Agrawals are one of the Bania (merchant) communities in India, which includes other mercantile communities like Maheshwari, and Oswals.[11][12]
In inscriptions and texts, the original home of the Agrawal community is stated as Agroha, near Hisar, Haryana.
- In Pradumna Charita of samvat 1411 (1354 AD), the Agrawal poet Sadharu wrote "अग्रवाल की मेरी जात, पुर अग्रोहा महि उतपात" ("My jāti is Agrawal, and I trace my roots to the city of Agroha).[13]
- In his Padma Purana[14] of VS 1711 (AD 1654), Muni Sabhachandra writes "अग्रोहे निकट प्रभु ठाढे जोग, करैं वन्दना सब ही लोग|| अग्रवाल श्रावक प्रतिबोध, त्रेपन क्रिया बताई सोध||", (When Lohacharya was near Agroha, he taught the 53 actions to the Agrawal shravakas).
- In a Sanskrit inscription, the Agrawals are referred to as Agrotaka ("from Agroha"). A 1272 AD inscription states: "सं १३२९ चैत्र वुदी दशम्यां बुधवासरे अद्येह योगिनिपुरे समस्त राजावलि-समलन्कृत ग्यासदीन राज्ये अत्रस्थित अग्रोतक परम श्रावक जिनचरणकमल".[15]
Some of the Agrawals adapted Jainism under the influence of Lohacharya.[16]
Migration to Delhi
The Agrawal merchant Nattal Sahu and the Agrawal poet Vibudh Shridhar lived during the reign of Tomara King Anangapal of Yoginipur (now Mehrauli, near Delhi).[17] Vibudh Shridhar wrote Pasanahacariu in 1132 AD, which includes a historical account of Yoginipur then.
In 1354, Firuz Shah Tughluq had started the construction of a new city near Agroha, called Hisar-e-Feroza ("the fort of Firuz"). Most of the raw material for building the town was brought from Agroha.[18] The town later came to be called Hisar. Hisar became a major center of the Agrawal community. Some Agrawals are also said to have moved to the Kotla Firoz Shah fort in Delhi, built by Firuz Shah Tughlaq.Template:Citation needed
Migration to Rajput kingdoms
During the era of Islamic administrative rule in India, some Agrawal, as with the Saraogi, migrated to the Bikaner State.Template:Citation needed The Malkana include Muslim Agrawals, who converted from Hinduism to Islam during this time and were given land tracts along the Yamuna by Afghan rulers.[7]
In the early 15th century, Agrawals flourished under the Tomaras of Gwalior.[19]Template:Full citation needed According to several Sanskrit inscriptions at the Gwalior Fort in Gwalior District, several traders (Sanghavi Kamala Simha, Khela Brahmachari, Sandhadhip Namadas etc.) belonging to Agrotavansha (Agrawal clan) supported the sculptures and carving of idols at the place.[20] Historian K. C. Jain comments: Template:Cquote
Migration to Eastern India
Later, during the Mughal rule, and during the British East India Company administration, some Agrawals migrated to Bihar and Calcutta, who became the major component of the Marwaris.[21]Template:Page needed
Gotras
Agrawals belong to various gotras, traditionally said to be seventeen and a half in number. According to Bharatendu Harishchandra's Agrawalon ki Utpatti (1871), Agrasen - the legendary progenitor of the community - performed 17 sacrifices and left the eighteenth incomplete, resulting in this number. Bharatendu also mentions that Agrasen had 17 queens and a junior queen, but does not mention any connection between the number of gotras and the number of queens, or describe how the sacrifices led to the formation of the gotras.Template:Sfn Another popular legend claims that a boy and girl from the Goyan gotra married each other by mistake, which led to the formation of a new "half" gotra. Another popular belief that since Maharaj Agrasen had 17 sons and one daughter, so when his daughter was married the gotra of daughter-in-laws were adopted as half gotra in Agrawals, thus 17.5 gotra.Template:Sfn
Historically, there has been no unanimity regarding number and names of these seventeen and a half gotras, and there are regional differences between the list of gotras. The Akhil Bhartiya Agrawal Sammelan, a major organization of Agrawals, has created a standardized list of gotras, which was adopted as an official list by a vote at the organization's 1983 convention.Template:Sfn Because the classification of any particular gotra as "half" is considered insulting, the Sammelan provides a list of following 18 gotras:Template:Sfn
The existence of all the gotras mentioned in the list is controversial, and the list does not include several existing clans such as Kotrivala, Pasari, Mudgal, Tibreval, and Singhal.Template:SfnTemplate:Request quotation
Notable Agrawals
See also
References
- ↑ A history of the Agarwals, Patel, Aakar. mint(2015-02-06). Retrieved 2024-04-05.
- ↑ Trade and Commerce in Rajasthan During the 18th Century{{#if:Gupta|, Gupta}. Jaipur Publishing House(1987)
- ↑ Resilience and Identity in Urban India: Anthropology of Barmer and Tehri{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Anthropological Survey of India(2012). ISBN 978-81-922974-9-1
- ↑ Nagar Mahal – from Agarwals to Sukheras. Dawn(4 June 2014).
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedHarrison2015 - ↑ Protestant Christianity in the Indian Diaspora: Abjected Identities, Evangelical Relations, and Pentecostal Visions{{#if:Goh|, Goh}. SUNY Press(2018-02-08). ISBN 978-1-4384-6944-7
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Mass Conversions to Hinduism among Indian Muslims. Economic and Political Weekly({Template:Date).
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 The Oxford Handbook of Caste{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Oxford University Press(2023). ISBN 978-0-19-889671-5
- ↑ Why young Aggarwals dominate India's e-commerce start-ups. The Economic Times(12 February 2013).
- ↑ Down to Earth: Science and Environment Fortnightly, Volume 16, Issues 16-24{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Society for Environmental Communications(2008)
- ↑ Dictionary of American Family Names{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Oxford University Press(8 May 2003). ISBN 978-0-19-977169-1
- ↑ Agarwalon ki utpatti{{#if:Harishchandra|, Harishchandra}. bharatenduHarichandra(2020-10-23)
- ↑ Dr. Kasturachand Kasliwal, Khandelwal Jain Samaj ka Vrihad Itihas, 1969, p. 49
- ↑ Muni Sabhachandra aur Unaka Padmapurana, Kasturchanda Kasliwal, 1984
- ↑ Parmananda Jain Shastri. Agrawalon ka Jain sanskriti mein yogadan. Anekanta Oct. 1966, p. 277-281
- ↑ People of India: Bihar{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Anthropological Survey of India(2008). ISBN 978-81-85579-09-2
- ↑ Richard J. Cohen. "An Early Attestation of the Toponym Ḍhillī". Journal of the American Oriental Society, 1989, p. 513-519
- ↑ The story of Hisar
- ↑ Dr. K. C. Jain (1963). Kashtha Sangha Bhattarakas of Gwalior and Agrawal Shravakas, p. 72
- ↑ गोपाचल के जिन मन्दिर एवं प्रतिमाएँ. Webdunia.com. Retrieved 2007-06-02.
- ↑ Community and Public Culture: The Marwaris in Calcutta, c. 1897–1997{{#if:Hardgrove|, Hardgrove}. Columbia University Press(2004). ISBN 978-0-23112-216-0
Bibliography
- Alchemies of Violence: Myths of Identity and the Life of Trade in Western India{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. SAGE(2004). ISBN 978-0-7619-3223-9
- Urbanization and Family Change{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Popular Prakashan(1990). ISBN 978-0-86132-262-6
External links
Template:Authority controlTemplate:Social groups of RajasthanTemplate:Social groups of Maharashtra