Suryavanshi Aare Katika
Encyclopedia
Suryavanshi Aare Katika is a caste
Caste
Caste is an elaborate and complex social system that combines elements of endogamy, occupation, culture, social class, tribal affiliation and political power. It should not be confused with race or social class, e.g. members of different castes in one society may belong to the same race, as in India...

 found in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. It is a division of the traditional warrior caste called Kshatriya
Kshatriya
*For the Bollywood film of the same name see Kshatriya Kshatriya or Kashtriya, meaning warrior, is one of the four varnas in Hinduism...

, although in modern times members of this caste also engage in a variety of other professions.

History of the caste

During the time of the king Shivaji, the Surya Vanshi Are Katikas were warriors and followers of the Maratha
Maratha
The Maratha are an Indian caste, predominantly in the state of Maharashtra. The term Marāthā has three related usages: within the Marathi speaking region it describes the dominant Maratha caste; outside Maharashtra it can refer to the entire regional population of Marathi-speaking people;...

 king. After the Mughal
Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire ,‎ or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...

 war on Maratha, the soldiers were scattered and spread all over India.

'Are' is a synonym for Marathi. In the Madras Census Report of 1891, it is recorded that the term "Marathi" denotes the various non-Brahmin castes who went south either as soldiers or camp followers in the armies of Maratha invaders. Their ancient profession was to serve as warriors, but they are now mostly engaged in other professions.

Members of this caste were scattered after Shivaji conquered and defeated Moghul rulers. After the death of their king Shivaji, the clan had none to lead them in battles. They faced many hardships under Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

 rule and had to forego their identity as warriors, opting for professions such as: liquor dwelling (Jaiswals & Lodha), weaving (Rangrez), farming (Kachi), rasing cows for milk (Ahir Gowli), washermen (Ahir Dhobi), or butchery of sheep (only to the extent of removing the skin of the sheep and cutting it in parts).

Issue of name change

The community was socially and educationally backward, until recently there has been tremendous development both educationally and socially.
They have been called as Are-Katika. Recently some people did not want to be called as Katika so they requested for a change of name In fact the national organization is called as Katika Samaj. There is no justification to change the name and it will create confusion and they will not be recognized if the name is changed. Hence A.P. B.C. commission disallowed change of name but allowed use of synonym.

There has been improvement in recent times in the status of the community due to the improved educational opportunities for the caste.

See also

  • List of Indian castes
  • Varna (Hinduism)
  • Manusmṛti
  • Caste system in India
    Caste system in India
    The Indian caste system is a system of social stratification and social restriction in India in which communities are defined by thousands of endogamous hereditary groups called Jātis....

  • Jāti
    Jati
    Jāti is the term used to denote clans, tribes, communities and sub-communities in India. It is a term used across religions. In Indian society each jāti typically has an association with a traditional job function or tribe, although religious beliefs Jāti (in Devanagari: जाति Tamil:சாதி) (the...

  • History of the Indian caste system
    History of the Indian caste system
    Indian society has consisted of thousands of endogamous clans and groups called jatis since ancient times. The Brahminical scriptures and texts tried to bring this diversity under a comprehensible scheme which hypothesised four idealised meta groups called varna...

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