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Agrawal ( Agarwal, Agerwal, Agrawala, Agarwala, Agarwalla, Aggarwal, Agarawal, Agarawala, or Aggrawal) is a Bania Vaishya caste. The Banias of northern India are a cluster of several communities.
They are found throughout North India, mainly in the states of Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi NCR, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. They are also found in the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Sindh, though at the time of the partition of India, most of them migrated across the newly created border to independent India. (2025). 9788192297491, Anthropological Survey of India. ISBN 9788192297491 Most Agrawals follow Vaishnavism Hinduism or Jainism, while a minority adhere to Islam or Christianity.
The Agrawal are the descendants of Maharaja Agrasen (b. 4250 or 3082 BCE), a Kshatriya king of the Agroha Mound. (2025). 9780198896715, Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198896715 He is claimed to have been one of the descendants of the Hindu deity Rama. Their primary goddess was Lakshmi Mahalaxmi, who blessed the king and his descendants to be prosperous always by her and her consort God Vishnu's kindness. Maharaja Agrasen himself adopted the Vaishya tradition of Hinduism.
The Agrawal are Suryavamsha and belong to the Raghuvamsha house.
The Agrawal are also known for their entrepreneurship and business acumen. In modern-day tech and e-commerce companies, they continue to dominate. It was reported in 2013, that for every 100 rupees in funding for e-commerce companies in India, 40 went to firms founded by Agrawals.
In inscriptions and texts, the original home of the Agrawal community is stated as Agroha, near Hisar, Haryana.
Some of the Agrawals adapted Jainism under the influence of Lohacharya. (2025). 9788185579092, Anthropological Survey of India. ISBN 9788185579092
In 1354, Firuz Shah Tughluq had started the construction of a new city near Agroha, called Hisar-e-Feroza ("the fort of Firuz"). Most of the raw material for building the town was brought from Agroha. The story of Hisar The town later came to be called Hisar. Hisar became a major center of the Agrawal community. Some Agrawals are also said to have moved to the Kotla Firoz Shah fort in Delhi, built by Firuz Shah Tughlaq.
In the early 15th century, Agrawals flourished under the Tomaras of Gwalior.Dr. K. C. Jain (1963). Kashtha Sangha Bhattarakas of Gwalior and Agrawal Shravakas, p. 72 According to several Sanskrit inscriptions at the Gwalior Fort in Gwalior District, several traders (Sanghavi Kamala Simha, Khela Brahmachari, Sandhadhip Namadas etc.) belonging to Agrotavansha (Agrawal clan) supported the sculptures and carving of idols at the place. Historian K. C. Jain comments:
Historically, there has been no unanimity regarding number and names of these seventeen and a half gotras, and there are regional differences between the list of gotras. The Akhil Bhartiya Agrawal Sammelan, a major organization of Agrawals, has created a standardized list of gotras, which was adopted as an official list by a vote at the organization's 1983 convention. Because the classification of any particular gotra as "half" is considered insulting, the Sammelan provides a list of following 18 gotras:
The existence of all the gotras mentioned in the list is controversial, and the list does not include several existing clans such as Kotrivala, Pasari, Mudgal, Tibreval, and Singhal.
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