Khatri.--A prominent mercantile caste of the Punjab, whose members
to the number of about 5000 have settled in the Central Provinces
and Berar, being distributed over most Districts. The Khatris claim
to be derived from the Rajput caste, and say that their name is a
corruption of Kshatriya. At the census of 1901 Sir Herbert Risley
approved of their demand on the evidence laid before him by the
leading representatives of the caste. This view is assented to by
Mr. Crooke and Mr. Nesfield. In Gujarat also the caste are known as
Brahma-Kshatris, and their Rajput origin is considered probable,
while their appearance bears out the claim to be derived either
from the Aryans or some later immigrants from Central Asia: "They
are a handsome fair-skinned class, some of them with blue or grey
eyes, in make and appearance like Vanias (Banias), only larger and
more vigorous." [502] Mr. Crooke states that, "their women have a
reputation for their beauty and fair complexion. The proverb runs,
'A Khatri woman would be fair without fine clothes or ornaments,'
and, 'Only an albino is fairer than a Khatri woman.'" [503] Their
legend of origin is as follows: "When Parasurama the Brahman was
slaying the Kshatriyas in revenge for the theft of the sacred cow
Kamdhenu and for the murder of his father, a pregnant Kshatriya woman
took refuge in the hut of a Saraswat Brahman. When Parasurama came
up he asked the Brahman who the woman was, and he said she was his
daughter. Parasurama then told him to eat with her in order to prove
it, and the Brahman ate out of the same leaf-plate as the woman. The
child to whom she subsequently gave birth was the ancestor of the
Khatris, and in memory of this Saraswat Brahmans will eat with Khatris
to the present day." The Saraswat Brahman priests of the Khatris do as
a matter of fact take katcha food or that cooked with water from them,
and smoke from their huqqas, and this is another strong argument in
favour of their origin either from Brahmans or Rajputs.
The classical account of the Khatris is that given in Sir George
Campbell's Ethnology of India, and it may be reproduced here as in
other descriptions of the caste: