Manihar

The Manihar of Uttar Pradesh have a traditional community council, which resolves disputes within the community. They are an endogamous community with a preference for and parallel cousin and cross-cousin marriages.[1]

In Rajasthan, the Manihar are found in Jhunjhunu, Jaipur, Sikar, Churu and Ajmer districts. They are bangle makers and dealers in lac or sealing wax. The Manihar community in Rajasthan speak the Shekhawati dialect of Rajasthani. They are endogamous community maintaining a system of gotra exogamy.[3] They are divided into three territorial groupings, the Shishgar, Shekhawati and Padiya, which are further divided into several clans. The Shaikh clan is one pre-eminent clan in the community. Shekhawati Manihar have five main clans: the Sheikh, Sayyed, Mughal, Gori and Chauhan.

These are further classified into many subclans, such as:

In Madhya Pradesh Manihar are also known as Soudagar or Saudagar.

In Gujarat, the Manihar are also referred to as the Shaikh sahab. They are mainly concentrated in Ahmedabad, but also found in the districts of Kutch, Kheda, Jamnagar and Vadodara. The community claim to have come from Sindh and speak Kutchi, and have three clans, the Lodani, Kachani and Ishani. They have their own Anjuman (a 'forum' or 'society'), as a "caste" association: the Gujarat Manihar Jamaat.[4]