The Sunar (alternately , Swarnkar, Soni, Sonar, Sonkar) is a caste in India. The Sunar community works as traders of gold or as .[ People of Tiben: Lhasa (Volume XLII) edited by A Hasan & J C Das page 1500 to 150] The community is primarily Hindu, Sikhism, Muslim and found all over India. In the state of Haryana, Muslim Sunars are on the Other Backward Class list and Hindu Sunars are Scheduled Castes.
Etymology
The term
Swarnkar may derive from the
Sanskrit suvarna kār, "worker in gold".
The Swarnkar are still involved in their traditional occupation, that is being . There is however a steady process in taking up other occupations, and the community in Haryana and Punjab as whole is fairly successful, having produced several professionals.[ People of India: Haryana (Volume XXIII) edited by M.L Sharma and A.K Bhatia pages 475 to 479 Manohar Books]
Social status
The Sunars are generally considered a part of
Vaishya varna.
[
]
Factions
The Sunars are divided into a large number of territorial and non-territorial groupings called alla. Some of the major alla are the Jhankhad, Santanpuriya, Lal sultaniya, Dekhalantiya, Mundaha, Bhigahiya, kulthiya, Parajiya, Samuhiya, Chilliya, Katiliya Kalidarwa, Naubastwal, Berehele, Gedehiya, Shahpuriya, Mathureke Paliya, Katkaria and Nimkheriya, Vaibhaha. Each lineage is associated with a particular area. To which its ancestors belonged to. The Sunars use Soni, Swarnkar, Verma, Wadichar, Saraf, Shah, Sonik, Singh etc. as their surnames. In
Gujarat and
Rajasthan, the community is also known as Soni.
[ People of India: Uttar Pradesh (Volume XLII) edited by A Hasan & J C Das page 1500] In Haryana, the Sunars are often known as Swarnkar, Soni, Suri and
Verma, are their common surname.
[ People of India: Haryana (Volume XXIII) edited by M.L Sharma and A.K Bhatia page 475 Manohar Books] In
Sindh they are called Sonaro, In Punjab, Haryana and
Rajasthan, Mair community work as goldsmiths.
Sunar in Nepal
Sunar (Sunar in the Nepal census) Sunar surname is used by
Khas people of Nepal . And also use by subgroup within the broader social group of
Madheshi people Other Caste.
[ Population Monograph of Nepal, Volume II] At the time of the 2011 Nepal census, 64,335 people (0.2% of the population of Nepal) were Sunar.
Notable members
-
Raj Babbar Film Actor & Politician
-
Gurpreet Singh, Artist is an internationally recognized painting artist.
-
Parmish Verma Punjabi Singer & Performer
See also
Further reading
