Origin and varna status:
Khatris consider themselves to be of pure Vedic descent and thus superior to other claimants to kshatriya status, such as the Rajputs. Their standards of literacy and caste status were such during the early years of the Sikh community that, according to W. H. McLeod, they dominated it.[4] Nath called Khatris a warlike race, a claim further supported by their employment as soldiers by Mughal emperors. But if Khatris were once warriors, then, why they are found to be involved in merchant and scribe occupation. Khatris sources explained it as the act of Mughal emperors who terminated the services of Khatris chieftains as they moved against their order of widow re marriage.[5] Kenneth W Jones quoted that "the Khatris claimed with some justice and increasing insistence, the status of Rajputs, or Kshatriyas, a claim not granted by those above but illustrative of their ambiguous position on the great varna scale of class divisions" [6] Khatris claim that they were warriors who took to trade.[7] The 19th-century Indians and the British administrators failed to agree whether the Khatri claim of Kshatriya status should be accepted, since the overwhelming majority of them were engaged in Vaishya (mercantile) occupations.[8] There are Khatris that are found in other states of India and they follow different professions in each region. The Khatris of Gujrat and Rajasthan are said to have tailoring skills like "Darji" (tailor) caste.[9] Dasrath Sharma described Khatris as a mixed pratiloma caste of low ritual status but suggested that Khatris could be a mixed caste born of, The Kshatriyas are a large block of Hindu castes, mainly located in the northern half of India. The Sanskrit term Kshatrā means "warrior, ruler," and identifies the second varna, ranking immediately below the Brahman but Kshatriyas fathers and Brhamin mothers, The Khatris (Punjabi) or Kshatriyas (Sanskrit, (K) silent) are a north Indian community that originated in the Potwar Plateau of Punjab. This region is historically connected with the composition of the Vedas and classics like the Mahabharata and Ashtadhyayi. In the old varna (caste) system the Kshatriya were members of the Hindu military order who as administrators and rulers, were tasked with protecting Hindu Dharma, and serving humanity. In the course of time, however, as a result of economic and political exigencies, Khatris also expanded into mercantile occupations.It is important to note that many of the Khatri clans (gotras) are common with many jatt castes. History of Khatris says some Reddy from Andra pradesh they went Punjab were able to enlist Brahmin support for themselves and self-consciously insisted on calling themselves Khatri, The word Khatri accordingly may have originated from "Kshaatri" instead of "Kshatriya", Dravidian Rajput bought the bonafide Hindu Kshatriya caste
Khatri Surnames: Anand, Awal, Bachewal, Badhwar, Baijal, Bagga, Bajaj, Bakshi, Batta, Bedi, Behal (Behl), Bhalla, Bhola, Bhasin, Bhandari, Bhandula, Bindra, Birghi, Chadha, Chandok, Charan, Chona, Chopra, Choudhary,Chetal, Dhall, Dhawan, Dhingra, Dhir, Dua, Duggal, Dhupar, Dumra, Gambhir, Gandhi, Gandhoke, Gadok, Gadhiok, Ghai, Gujral, Gulati, Gulla, Handa, Jerath, Jairath, Jaggi, Jalota, Jolly, Kakkar (Kacker) ,Kapoor (Kapur), Katyal, Keer, Khanna, Kehar, Khosla, Khullar, Kohli, Koshal, Lala, Lamba, Loomba, Madhok, Mahendru, Maini, Malhotra, Malik, Mangal, Mankhand, Manraj, Mehra, Mehrotra, Midha, Monga, Nayakar(Vanni) , Nagpal, Nakra, Nehra, Nijhawan, Nikhanj, Oberoi, Ohri, Parwanda, Passi, Phull, Phul, Phool, Puri, Rai, Reddy, Rehan, Roshan, Sabharwal, Sablok, Sadana, Saggar (Sagar), Saggi, Sahi (Shahi), Sahni(Sawhney), Sami, Sarin (Sareen), Sarna, Sehgal (Sahgal), Sekhri, Sethi, Seth, Sial (Syal), Sibal, Sikka, Singh, Sobti, Sodhi, Sondhi, Soni, Suri, Talwar, Tandan (Tandon), Tehim, Tuli, Thapar, Trehan, Uberoi, Uppal, Vadehra, Vasudeva, Ved, Verma, Vig, Vij, Vinaik (Vinayak), Vohra, Wadhawan, Wahi (Wahie), Wassan(Wasan/Wason).
