Relevance to Marwari Identity
MYTH - 01
The
real Marwari’s are in Rajasthan
REALITY - 01
There
are no resident marwaris in rajasthan that
can be identified in the way this business community is identified across
India. There was no pre-existing “Marwari” community in Rajasthan before the
migrations. It was the fact of the trader’s departure itself and their disporic
location outside of Rajasthan-that transforms this migrant community into Marwaris
MYTH - 02
Marwari’s
hail from Marwar region of Rajasthan
which was ernstwhile Marwar Kingdom and modern
day’s Marwar & Jodhpur
district.
REALITY - 02
The subjective region of “Marwar” as an imaginary homeland of the Marwari’s can hardly be
found on a map. The very name “Marwari”, of course suggests an origin in “Marwar” but he historical importance of the Marwar kingdom and its continuing presence as an
enduring place name may partially account for that fact that this diasporic and expatriate business
group has been called Marwari instead of Shekhawati, the name of the region in
Rajasthan that most Marwaris have come from. The
Marwari process of mapping themselves into landmarks in a so-called ancestral
homeland has been a crucial element of their identity formation. Tracking their
ancestry to Marwar, Rajasthan is itself a
form of mapping, in the essence of mapping their identity in relation to other
communities in India. Returning to
Rajasthan to celebrate various rites of life passage such as marriage, tonsure
(first haricut) of boys, building
“ancestral” haveli (mansions), pursuing
philanthropic ventures and constructing temples in home villages has creates a
geographical orientation in Marwari identity that connects the kul (lineage) with Rajasthan
MYTH - 03
Origin of the word "Marwari"
REALITY - 03
The general
stereotype of the Marwari businessman is a Hindu or Jain (Vaishya trader or
moneylender), carrying nothing but Iota (water pot) and kambal (blanket), who has
migrated thousands of miles from poor villages in the dry deserts of Rajasthan
to cities and towns all over South Asia. The more general term baniya is interchangeable
with Marwari, and includes all traders, regardless of regional origin.
The majority of
Marwari migrant traders settled in colonial trading centers first in Bombay
and later especially in Calcutta and eastern India, where many of them became
fabulously rich through business and speculation. During the nineteenth century, these group
were also referred to in Bengal as “upcountrymen”.
The name
"Marwari" for the last century, Marwaris and Bengalis alike have been able to ascribe an
identity to a group of people in order to make distinctions between various
upcountry men and so-called non-Bengalis in Calcutta. For reasons that will
become apparent, Marwari became that designated name. It did not matter that
the term "Marwar" has no exact
territorial referent in the modern Indian nation-state. This is contrary to the
objectifying logic of colonial, nationalist, and anthropological thought.
To an extent the
appellation Marwari seems to have been born in contempt and jealousy. Contempt
for the immigrant’s frugality which was interpreted as stinginess, for his
commercial preoccupation which seemed to symbolize lack of interest in socio-cultural concerns, for his
dress and food habits which evoked nothing but
amusement, and for his clannish interdependence which made him appear as an
incorrigible outsider, and jealousy
because more often than not the immigrant seemed to leave his Bengali
counterpart far behind in the race for business success.