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Marwari

Marwari husband and wife in traditional attire
Regions with significant populations
India	Spread across parts of India and mainly in Rajasthan
Nepal	51,443[1]Terai region and Kathmandu Valley[2]
Languages
Marwari and Hindi
Religion
Hinduism, Jainism, Islam[citation needed]
Related ethnic groups
Rajasthani people and Marwari Muslims

The Marwari or Marwadi are a South Asian ethno-linguistic group in India and Nepal that originate from the Marwar Shekhawati Jaipur region of Rajasthan and Haryana in broader term, India. Their language, also called Marwari, comes under the umbrella of Rajasthani languages, which is part of the Western Zone of Indo-Aryan languages.

They have been a highly successful business community, first as inland traders during the era of Rajput kingdoms, and later also as investors in industrial production and other sectors. Today, they control many of the country's largest media groups. Although spread throughout India, historically they have been most concentrated in Kolkata, Nagpur and the hinterlands of central and eastern India.

Etymology

The term Marwadi once referred to the area encompassed by the former princely state of Marwar, also called the Jodhpur region of southwest Rajasthan in India. It has evolved to be a designation for the Rajasthani people in general but it is used particularly with reference to certain jātis that fall within the Bania ethnic category. The most prominent among those communities, whose traditional occupation has been as traders, are the Varmas, Khandelwals, Maheshwaris, Agrawals, Sonis and Oswals.^[3]

Dwijendra Tripathi believes that the term Marwari was probably used by the traders only when they were outside their home region; that is, by the diaspora.^[4]

Culture

Marawaris have been known for a tightly-knit social solidarity, described by Selig Harrison in 1960 as "indissoluble under the impact of the strongest regional solvents".^[5]

Language

Marwari, or Marrubhasha, as it is referred to by Marwaris, is the traditional, historical, language of the Marwari ethnicity. The Marwari language is closely related to the Rajasthani language. The latter evolved from the Old Gujarati (also called Old Western Rajasthani, Gujjar Bhakha or Maru-Gurjar), language spoken by the people in Gujarat and Rajasthan.^[6] It has been noted that throughout the state of Rajasthan, people avoid identifying their language by name, preferring to identify themselves as speaking "Rajasthani" with Marwari literature and taught as Rajasthani until secondary level.^[7]

History

Early origins

Marwari traders have historically been migratory in habit. The possible causes of this trait include the proximity of their homeland to the major [Ganges]-[Yamuna] trade route; movement to escape famine; and the encouragement given to them by various rulers of northern India who saw advantages in having their skills in banking and finance.^[3]

The pattern of Marwari migration became increasingly divergent following the decline in wars between Rajput kingdoms, which the Marwaris had helped to finance, and the decreasing influence of the community over the North Indian caravan trading routes that resulted from the British establishing themselves in the region. The changed focus of migration was also encouraged by the British establishment of new trading routes and centres, as well as by the declining political significance of the Rajput courts whose famed conspicuous consumption had been supported by Marwari money. The community welcomed the relative safety that the British presence offered, as well as the commercial and legal frameworks that they provided and which were more favourable to Marwari activities than the systems prevalent during the earlier period of Mughal and Rajput rule.^[8]

The Marwari Jagat Seth family served as bankers to the Mughals.

British era

After the decline of Mughal authority in Bengal, Marwari traders, bankers and financiers migrated to the growing British power in Calcutta.^[9] There were particularly significant population shifts to Bombay between 1835-1850 and Kolkata from the 1870s, as well as to Madras.^[8] They continued to spread into areas of British control throughout the nineteenth century, becoming established as sahukars (moneylenders) and inland trade-brokers in central India and Maharashtra. The migration of these traders accelerated in the second half of the nineteenth century which led to growing unpopularity, and acts of communal violence against them.^{[citation needed]}

Historian Medha M. Kudaisya has said that the Marwaris:

made the transition from being niche players in trading to becoming industrial conglomerates ... From being brokers and bankers, the Marwaris went on to break the British monopoly over the jute industry after World War I; they then moved into other industrial sectors, such as cotton and sugar, and set up diversified conglomerates. By the 1950s, the Marwaris dominated the India private industry scenario, emerging as the establishers of its most prominent business houses.^[10]

A considerable number of Marwari business groups made their fortune on speculative markets in the nineteenth and early twentieth century.^[11]

Although maintaining close and public ties with the British authorities, members of the Marwari business community where early financial supporters of the Indian National Congress, often in secret.^[11]

Independent India

In 1956, the All-India Marwari Federation opposed a linguistic organisation of states whilst buying up regional language newspapers in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.^[12] Today, they control many of the country's largest media groups.^[13]

The community's control of the Indian economy declined following the country's 1991 economic reforms. From a peak of controlling 24 per cent in 1990, it had fallen to less than 2 per cent in 2000, apparently because of an unwillingness to adapt. The 2000 figure is considered to be lower than the position in 1939, when the community first began its resurgence.^[14]

See also

• Tarachand Ghanshyamdas


• Marwari Muslims


• Karmveer Choudhary

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Marwari people.