Halwai

Halwai
Regions with significant populations
	• India • Nepal * Pakistan
Languages
	• Hindi • Awadhi • Bhojpuri . Angika • Marwari Punjabi[citation needed]
Religion
	• Hinduism, Jainism
Related ethnic groups
	• Muslim Halwai • Bania • Vaishya

Halwai is an Indian caste whose traditional occupation was confectionery and sweet-making. The name is derived from the word Halwa plough.

Balarama is the celebrated plougher so called Halwahi or Halwai, one of the pillars of agriculture along with livestock with whom Krishna is associated with. The plough is Balarama's weapon. In the Bhagavata Purana, he uses it to fight demons, dig a way for Yamuna river to come closer to Vrindavan and pull the entire capital of Hastinapura into the Ganges river.^[1]

Baba Ganinath Govindji is the kul Guru (school) of Halwai caste.^[2]

Origins[edit]

In parts of Uttar Pradesh, some believe that they have descended from a man by the name 'Bhalandan.' This Bhalandan came into being due to the will of the Hindu god Brahma. This individual married a woman named Marutwati. Their son was an individual who was named Vatsa Priti. One of the latter's descendants, an individual called Modan, took to making sweetmeats.^[3]

The community set up its own association, the Kanyakubja Vaishya Halwai Mahasabha, which was established in Varanasi in the early part of the 1900s.^[4]

References[edit]

↑ D Dennis Hudson (2008). The Body of God: An Emperor's Palace for Krishna in Eighth-Century Kanchipuram. Oxford University Press. pp. 97–101. ISBN 978-0-19-970902-1.
↑ "Ritual as Language: The Case of South Indian Food Offerings". Gabriella Eichinger, Ferro-Luzzi. Current Anthropology, Vol. 18, No. 3 (Sep., 1977), pp. 507-514.
↑ People of India: Uttar Pradesh Volume XLII, Part 2. edited by A Hasan & J C Das page 597. ISBN 9788173041143.
↑ People of India: Uttar Pradesh, Volume XLII. edited by A Hasan & J C Das page 601.

[Hudson2008p99-1] D Dennis Hudson (2008). The Body of God: An Emperor's Palace for Krishna in Eighth-Century Kanchipuram. Oxford University Press. pp. 97–101. ISBN 978-0-19-970902-1.

[2] "Ritual as Language: The Case of South Indian Food Offerings". Gabriella Eichinger, Ferro-Luzzi. Current Anthropology, Vol. 18, No. 3 (Sep., 1977), pp. 507-514.

[3] People of India: Uttar Pradesh Volume XLII, Part 2. edited by A Hasan & J C Das page 597. ISBN 9788173041143.

[4] People of India: Uttar Pradesh, Volume XLII. edited by A Hasan & J C Das page 601.

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Origins[edit]

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References[edit]