Savji
The Savji (or Saoji, Souji[1] or Sauji) are an Indian caste. They claim descent from the mythological Puranic king Sahasrārjuna.
Etymology
When Savjis from the north central India migrated to the southern states, many of them were involved in silk cleaning and weaving business. Today, there are many Savji families in Karnataka, Andhra and Tamil Nadu who are in silk cleaning and weaving business.[2]
Origin ties
Customs, traditions and the language spoken by Savjis suggests that the community has its origin in North Central part of India or Malwa region (between west Madhya Pradesh and East Gujarat) where such customs are followed and languages similar to the Savji language are spoken. Savjis were part of a larger community that lived in north-central part of India during 6th century till 13th century before the advent of Islam in northern part of India. Shakti pooja (in the form of Hinglaj mata, Bhawani mata or Jagdamba mata etc.) is common to the Savji and Kalchuri the communities. Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu claim to be descendants of King Sahastrarjuna and the Haihaya dynasty.[3] All of these communities were once the same and part of the dynasty that ruled the region of Malwa. Once powerful, the Kalchuri dynasty fell gradually to the rising Islamic rule in northern India. Constant threat of Islamic invasions and a fear of losing their cultural identity to the forced religious conversions by the Islamic rulers compelled the community to gradually disintegrate, and disperse from their homeland to different parts of India.
Culture and festivals
Dasara or Dusshera is the main festival in Savji community during which goddess of power or Shakti is worshiped. Special culinary dishes like edimi (prepared of wheat flour, gram flour), arithi (prepared of wheat flour in shape of Diyas) and offer lalpani (intoxicants) to the Goddess Bhavani. On every Kartika month Sapthami tithi in Shravana Nakshatra Savjis celebrate the birthday of Sri Sahastrarjun called "Sahastrarjuna Jayanti"[4] with much pomp and gaiety. Procession of Sahastrarjun's idol is taken out in many places on the Sahastrarjuna Jayanti.[5] Other festivals that are celebrated are Diwali, Holi and other traditional Hindu festivals. Every year communities in some places organize social gathering and deity prayer called "Bhandara". The function is preceded with prayer, bhajan and aarti of the deity, followed by meals in the form of Prasad. The meal served during the function is mostly vegetarian food.
Like Brahmins, Savjis perform the thread ceremony (Upanayana). Marriages follow the traditional Vedic wedding and happens for three days with all the rituals like deity pooja, engagement, "Gandh", "Haldi" etc. Offering dowry in any form is strictly forbidden in the community. This is a notable feature of Savji community which they take lot of pride in. Moreover, the marriage ceremony is performed by the bride groom's side. In many places mass marriages and upanayanas are conducted for the welfare of poor samaj people.[6] During marriage the bride and groom side look for the Lagna and Janma Kundli to match between the boy and the girl, and also for the matching Gotra. Wedding date is fixed based on the Panchang for auspicious day. Inter caste marriages are not very common in the community. Marriages mostly happen within the community and in some cases between far relatives. Because of this close association, the community has also managed to preserve its distinct culture and tradition.
Cuisine
Savji community is known for its hot and spicy non-vegetarian delicacies and Savji masala in places where Savjis are concentrated in large numbers. Majority of the Savji people are non-vegetarian and hence preparation of variety of meat dishes is very common in the community. Goat meat, chicken and fish forms major component of Savji cuisine along with other vegetarian dishes. Alcohol consumption is not restricted in the community. Some of the common recipes include edmi (puris made of wheat flour, gram flour, chilies and other spices), khaimo or kheema (minced goat meat), shakanu chaknu (goat and chicken curry) prepared in special Savji spices.[7]
Savji food is famous for its very hot and spicy flavor in many cities (where they are in large number) served in small family style restaurants called Savji khanavali[8] or "Savji hotel" or bhojanalaya,[1] found in large numbers in places like Hubli, Bangalore, Belgaum in Karnataka, Nagpur and Solapur in Maharashtra. There are a line of Savji bhojanalays[9][10] in Nagpur that are very popular in Maharashtra. So much so that, the Indian chef Sanjeev Kapoor once featured Savji mutton on one of his shows and its recipe is also listed on his website.[11]
Language
Savji people speak a language called "Savji bhasha" or "Khatri bhasha" in some regions[12] that belongs to the Indo-Aryan language family and appears to be an amalgamation of Indic languages such as Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi, Sindhi, Gujarati, Marwari.
Surnames
The Savji caste includes following Surnames[13]:
- Afre
- Arsid (living in Kanchipuram, Tamilnadu)
- Akhnoor
- Alaspure
- Aljapur
- Ambala
- Ambekar
- Ambadkar
- Arawatagi Mostly from gadag
- Athani
- Auji(also known as Houji Mostly from Jajapur,Mahabubnagar,A.P.)
- Bhagat
- Bhumkar
- Baddi
- Bachawal
- Baji
- Bakale
- Bakde
- Bakhave
- Bakle
- Balid
- Bankapur
- Barad (Living in Chitapur,Gulbarga and Mysore)
- Basude
- Baswa
- Bawale
- Bevinakatti Mostly from gadag
- Bhandage
- Bhure
- Bhupat
- Bhute
- Bidri
- Bijwe
- Bobde
- Boriwale
- Borgaonkar
- Bichawe
- Bojagiri
- Bochkari
- Billade
- Burbure
- Cettiyar mostly found in ajmer,banglore and are also known by ‘Makat’.
- Chauhan
- Chandu
- Chamakura
- Chavan
- Chaute
- Chawande
- Chawadimani
- Chawla
- Chede
- Chennapatnam [mostly found in Nandyal, Kurnool]
- Chinagi
- Choudhari {Belgaum, Karnataka}
- Dagudu(People located in Kurnool,Kodumur,Gudur,Nandyala of Andhra Pradesh)
- Dalbhanjan most are from gudur , navalgund
- DanejYeola in nashik and places around.
- Dani
- Damam
- Damji
- Daulatabad
- Dharamdhas
- Dhinge
- Darbi
- Dariya (living in Kanchipuram,Tamilnadu)
- Dashpute
- Dassu
- Dhadange (found in yadgir,gurmitkal,narayanpet,bangalore and mysore)
- Dhalkari (Aurangabad and maanvat )
- Dhondale
- Dhongadi(living in Kanchipuram, Tamilnadu)
- Dhondi
- Diwan
- Dumane
- Gathadi
- Gantedi
- Ganbhava
- Gangji
- Garg
- GemanjyothI
- Golconda
- Gaul
- Gorak
- Gorale
- Gudas
- Gujarathi
- Habib
- Hadgal
- Haadimani (Gudur)karnataka
- Hamsagar
- Hanumasagar
- Harihar
- Hazari [mostly found in Armoor,Nizamabad]
- Hazare
- Hublikar
- Irkal
- Jadi
- Jadhav
- Jaiswal
- Jalnapure
- Jartarghar
- Jartarkar
- Javare
- Jethe
- Jhinge
- Jituri
- Jessu
- Jugge
- Jyothi (especially from Warangal and Hyderabad)
- Jamanjyothi
- Jatling[mostly found in Warangal,Hyderabad,Bhongir (Nalgonda District) in Andhra Pradesh and their gotra is Bharadwaja
- Kabadi
- Kabadagi
- Kadtan [mostly found in Basmat,Armoor and Manwat ] as per Pankaj Kadtan ,cell:9762310537
- Kadthan
- kadwane
- Karthan
- Kalal
- [[Kalburgi][From Belgaum]
- Kalpavruksh
- Kalwar
- Kamlapure
- Kamlu (also known as Pandu Mostly found in Ganesh peth,Basmath)
- Kamloo
- Kanchi Mudigal
- Kathare (Mostly From Ranibennur in Karnataka)
- Katigar (Mostly in Harihar, hubli, Lakshmeshwar in Karnataka & Chennai in Tamilnadu)
- Kathari
- Katwe
- Katwa
- Kshatriya
- Kankarej
- Kashiwale
- Kavade
- Keshavdas
- Kudale
- Khanapure
- Khade
- Khambe
- Khatri
- Khatwate
- Kherud
- Kherudkar
- Khidse
- Khoday
- Kolhapure are from mumbai
- Kodmur (Katwe, Mostly from Solapur City)
- Kokane (Mostly from Yeola)
- Komte
- Kota
- Kotha
- Koneri
- Kosandal
- Kukkar
- Ladwa [LADWE]
- Ladhwa
- Lalpotu[Mostly found in Ganesh peth,Basmath]
- Latkan
- Lomte
- Magaji
- Magajikondi
- Makawane
- Mani
- Mahajan
- Malji
- Malagi
- Maitrani
- Mamarde
- Memani
- Merpade
- Metrani
- Megharaj: mostly found in Nizamabad, Sirpur Khagajnagar, Warangal,Hyderabad, Siddipet (Medak District)
- Meharwade: Mostly found in Gadag,Hubli in Karnataka
- Merwade
- Mamidi: mostly found in Warangal, Hyderabad
- Mengi
- Mengji
- Margue
- Marajkar
- Mule
- Mirajkar
- Maratta: Also called Marati mostly found in Warangal, Nizamabad, Huzurabad, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Khammam
- Miskin: Also found in Svamina Bharadvaja gotra of Kashmiri Pandits
- Nagri
- Nakade
- Nandyal
- Naikwad[Belgaum, Karnataka]
- Nakod[Nakode]
- Namji
- Nampalli
- Niranjan mostly found in hubli
- Padal mostly found in Armoor(Dist:Nizamabad,Andhra Pradesh)
- Pawar
- Pandhare
- Panchang
- Pahilwan
- Pakhale
- Parihar
- Painjane
- Parashar[Mostly from Delhi]
- Patekar
- Patvi
- PATI: Ganesh peth Basmat
- Patwekar
- Petkar
- Phulpagar
- Pujari
- Raibagi
- Rangapure
- Rajoli
- Rangrej
- Raotole
- Rathod
- Raut
- Ratan mostly found in Hyderabad, Warangal,
- Rings
- Rodage
- Sadhu mostly found in Nanded , pune
- Sakaram mostly found in Kurnool Dist(Gudur, Kodumur, Kurnool city), AP.
- Sambar mostly found in Nashik,Chandawad
- Satpute
- Satarkar
- Savji
- Shalgar mostly are in Satara & Pune City Having Known history of almost last 300 years
- shidling gadag
- Shahari
- Shethe
- Shete
- Shikari
- Shingri
- Sirigiri
- Sita
- Solanki
- Solanke
- Sonawane
- Sonicha
- Surthi
- Sutare
- Sulegar: living in Chennai,Tamilnadu
- Sulegai
- Tagadghar
- Tambre
- Tanksali: Especially from Mudhol
- Taak: From Yeola,Nashik and places around
- Thathera
- Tikandar
- Trimal
- Trimalle
- Tunk mostly found in Hyderabad
- Turai
- Ture mostly found in and around Gulbarga(Karnataka).
- Turerao
- Vaddey
- Vadegar mostly found in Warangal, Khammam, Jaggaiahpet (Krishna District), Hyderabad
- Vagale
- Varma
- Vaidya mostly found in Armoor,
- Vishwanath mostly found in Siddipet (Medak District), Warangal, Hyderabad,
- Wagule Wagule famileis is been settled in Gokak, Hubli & Belgaum cities (Karnataka)
- Wakhare
- Walvekar
- Zad mostly found in metros like Pune and Mumbai.
- Tavrej Sangamner,Maharashtra (Also known as Bhagat)
- Shiralkar from Hubli city Marchantise in Textiles and Tailoring Services skills.
References
- 1 2 Beteille, Gopa Sabharwal ; with a foreword by André (2005). Ethnicity and class : social divisions in an Indian city. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. p. 134. ISBN 0-19-567830-3.
- ↑ Ernst, edited by Waltraud; Pati, Biswamoy (2007). India's princely states : people, princes and colonialism (1. publ. ed.). London: Routledge. p. 210. ISBN 0-415-41541-1.
- ↑ Singh, ed. by B.V. Bhanu, B.R. Bhatnagar, D.K. Bose, V.S. Kulkarni, J. Sreenath ; gen. ed. K.S. (2004). Maharashtra. Mumbai: Popular Prakashan. p. 398. ISBN 81-7991-101-2.
- ↑ Sahastrarjun Jayanti Celebration In India – Date of Sahastrarjun Jayanti Festival In Year 2011
- ↑ Correspondent, Staff (30 October 2006). "Hundreds participate in Sahasrarjun Jayanti Utsav procession in Hubli". Hindu.
- ↑ Joshi, K.G. (1993). Mass marriages in Karnataka : a sociological study. Calcutta, India: Minerva Associates (Publications). pp. 46, 49. ISBN 81-85195-52-8.
- ↑ Weaving a spicy cult. SpiceFlair.com
- ↑ Bhatia, Arun (Sep 2, 2002). "A 'khanavali' in our metropolis". Hindu.
- ↑ Joiye, Joiye. "Saoji food in Nagpur". Joiye. Joiye.
- ↑ nagpuronline, nagpuronline. "Restaurants in Nagpur". nagpuronline. nagpuronline.
- ↑ Sanjeev, Kapoor. "Saoji Mutton". sanjeevkapoor. sanjeevkapoor.
- ↑ Beteille, Gopa Sabharwal ; with a foreword by André (2005). Ethnicity and class : social divisions in an Indian city. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. pp. 133, 134. ISBN 0-19-567830-3.
- ↑ https://ssksamajsangareddy.wordpress.com/category/surnames/
External links
- Savji phrasebook travel guide from Wikivoyage
- Social Networking Portal for Savji's Somavanshiya Sahasrarjun Kshatriya Samaj
- Savji's in North America
- Blog of Sangareddy Khatriya community
- SSK graduates solapur
- SSK Cooperative Society Bangalore
- SSK Samaj Secunderabad
- SSK Surat
- SSK Samaj Maharashtra Gramsabha
- SSK Yeola