- Mathur (subcaste)
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For other uses, see Mathur (disambiguation).
Mathur is a sub-caste of Kayastha, a Hindu caste.
They are the only sect who are referred to as direct descendants of a Vedic God in the religious texts and the only ancestor worshipping sect of Hinduism also called Chitranshi/Devputra. Kayasth's are said, in the Vedas and Puranas, to have a dual-caste status i.e. Kshatriya and Brahmin. Mathurs are mainly spread across North Indian states of Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and are a sect whose ancient profession was writing.
According to the Hindu theology Lord Brahma, the Creator, created Lord Chitragupta out of his own body. When Lord Brahma had created all the four Varnas, he thought that there must be someone to keep records and account of each Varna - so he went into deep meditation of the Lord. When this meditation was over, he found standing in front of him a radiant human figure holding a pen and an inkpot in his hands as well as a sword girdled to his waist. Thereupon Brahma said, "Thy manifestation has come about through my mind (chitta) and in secret mystical (Gupt) manner, thy name shall be Chitragupta and as thy creation has been from the whole of my body (kaya), therefore thy progeny will be called Kayastha. So ever since then reading and writing has been the hereditary occupation of the Kayasthas, the descendants of Lord Chitragupta, and in all governmental institutions the Kayasthas have held high administrative posts.Kāyastha or Kayasth (Hindi: कायस्थ) is a caste/ethnic-group of India. As regards the Mathur sub-caste of the Kayasthas,They were the descendants of Charu (one of the twelve sons of Lord Chitragupta) and Irawati. (It is noticeable that there are a class of Brahmins who call themselves Mathurs and trace their ancestry to Mathura. Mathura is also the birth place of Sri Lord Krishna. There are also a class of Vaishya who call themselves Mathur Vaishya and trace their ancestry to Mathura kingdom. There are also some Bengalis who are known as Mathur Babus). According to Puranic tradition, Charu took up his abode at Mathura—and so his descendants came to be known as Mathurs.
The Mathurs served under the hindu Kings of Mathura till Qutab-ud-din conquered it, after that some of them learned arabic and served under the courts of Turkish thereafter Mughal emprerors while others fled to other areas in search of work. In the ancient times they worked in the posts of Dewan of some area under the Surya Vanshi Kings. The Suryavanshi kings who ruled Ayodhya included Ikshvaku, Raghu, Dashrata and Rama and it is said that Mathurs have worked under them and served them. The Mathurs are subdivided into als and gotras. People belonging to the same al claim to have descended from the same immediate ancestor and share a common totem. Gotra is a larger group being composed of a number of al.
Sub Sects
According to tradition, there were only eighty-four big villages in Brij Bhoomi, the empire of Mathura. It is probably on that account that there are eighty-four further sub-sects called Als of the Mathurs. The genealogies of quite a large number of Mathur families are given in this history. What is noticeable in the accounts of these families is that several of them had come either from Mathura direct or from Delhi and nearly all of them belonged to the administrative services of the then rulers and held offices such as Diwans, Ministers, Secretaries, or Kanungoes, etc. -- receiving shares of the profits of land. That the 84 Allas or sub-sections acquired their names after those of the villages or mauzas of their origin seems probable enough—Sahariyas were so named because their original residence was a village—Sahar—Which was not very far from Mathura; Golghotia—Alla is most probably derived by metathesis from Gokalotia i.e., residents of Gokal—Narnolias from Narnole, Mahabani from Mahaban, Bhiwanis from Bhiwani, etc.
See also
External links
Categories:- Social groups of India
- Kayastha
- Social groups of Uttar Pradesh
- Social groups of Rajasthan
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