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A website dedicated to people of Bhatia origin.
"The Bhattias are one of the very ancient, skillful, and important subdivisions of the Hindoo commercial castes, but from being a comparatively small caste, and more addicted to foreign than domestic commerce, they are not so well known to us in India as many castes of less importance, except in Bombay itself and in Guzerat, Cutch, and Kattywar, where their red turbans, often with a peak in front, strike the stranger as differing from the ordinary head-dress of the Hindoos."
Sir Bartle Frere. (29 March 1815 – 29 May 1884) was a British colonial administrator.
British Library
Full-length standing carte-de-visite portrait of a bhattia or moneylender, one of a series of portrait studies of ethnic types and occupations taken by Bourne and Shepherd in the early 1870s.
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WHO ARE BHATIAS?
The Bhatia caste is a mercantile community from North India. Once a warrior caste of Kshatriya Rajput's originating in Sind, the community is now primarily involved in trade and commerce. From their original habitat of Sind, Kutch, Rajasthan and Gujarat, they travelled the world to pursue business. Today, community members are found settled in many countries across the globe. Over the centuries, due to persecution and economic migration, Bhatias dispersed across different parts of North India. And they adapted to the customs and language of the place. Hence there are various divisions primarily based on the areas they settled in, such as Kutchi, Halai, Sindhi, Thattai, Punjabi etc. You will also find divisions such as Kanthi, Navgaon, Pachisgaon, Dasa, Panja, Visas, Tragdi. There are many Bhatia's settled around Delhi and in Rajasthan. Bhatia from Cutch were one of the first people to settle in Bombay, Muscat and Zanzibar. They were very successful in commerce and played a significant role in developing the places they settled in, especially Bombay. Bhatia were financiers, bankers, investors, speculators, entrepreneurs, lenders, brokers, and industrialists before it became common in modern times. Bhatias from Cutch and Sindh probably were the first of the Indian merchants to trade across the Arabian and Swahili Coast. When the first Europeans "discovered" the East coast of Africa, they encountered Arab and Indian trading ships in every important trading port along the Swahili coast. And amongst the natives armed with spears, the Arabs armed with daggers and matchlocks, they were surprised to see the unarmed Bhatia's (banians) distinguished by their fair skin and red and gold turban, the main trading partners. Bhatia are renowned for their honesty, being righteous, amicable, and obliging devout Hindus, a trait still prevalent among community members. |
British Library Photographer:
Chintamon, Hurrichund 1867
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