Rohit (caste)
Rohit or Rohitas, also called Bhambi Rohit and Bhambi Khalpa, who are sub-caste and sub-community of Chamar Caste from Gujarat, India.[1]
Rohit (or Rohitas) consider themselves to be followers or descendants of the Bhakti Movement saint Ravidas. Traditionally, they did leather or hide work and were identified as Khalpa. But in 1947, a group of Khalpa organized and decided to call themselves Rohit. They also abandoned all leather works but practiced consumption of non-veg.[2]
In the census of 1961, Rohits have been identified as one of the fifteen sub sections of the Chamar caste. They claim they are higher than Bhangis and Dhor Koli.
From the 1930-40s Rohits were active in changing their caste name from Khalpa to Rohit, like others such as Dheds to Mahyavanshis, Garua to Guru, and Bhangi to Rishi. Only Mahyavanshis were successful in getting official recognition from the Government of India to get a Kshatriya status officially.[3]
Surname
The Rohit community has number of ataks (surnames) apart from Rohit generally used by them.[4]
References
- Gujarat. Popular Prakashan. 2003. ISBN 978-81-7991-106-8.
- Bhambhi / Rohit Gujarat, Part 1 By Kumar Suresh Singh, Rajendra Behari Lal, Anthropological Survey of India. Page 163-165
- The Mahyavanshi: the success story of a scheduled caste By Y. A. Parmar (Page 91-92)
- Singh, K. S.; Solanki, B. R.; Sinha, N. K.; Pereira, Jaime F. (1994). Daman and Diu. Popular Prakashan. ISBN 978-81-7154-761-6.