Manihar

The Manihar of Uttar Pradesh also known as Soudagar or Saudagar in Madhya Pradesh have a traditional community council, which resolves disputes within the community. They are an endogamous community, and have a preference of cross - cousin and parallel cousin marriages. The Manihar are Sunni Hanafi Muslims and like other artisan communities in North India, have now become fairly orthodox. In Rajasthan, the Manihar are found in Jhunjhunu, Jaipur, Sikar, Churu and Ajmer districts. They are bangle makers and dealers in lac or sealing wax. They are divided into three territorial groupings, the Shishgar, Shekhawati and Padiya, which are further divided into several clans. Their main clans are the Balara, Chauhan, Kasali, Gori, Nausal,Bathhot.The community speak the Shekhawati dialect of Rajasthani. They are endogamous community, and maintain a system of gotra exogamy. [3]

In Gujarat, the Manihar are also referred to as the Shaikh sahab. They are mainly concentrated in Ahmedabad, but also found in the districts of Kutch, Khada, Jamnagar and Vadodara. The community claim to have come from Sindh and speak Kutchi, and have three clans, the Lodani, Kachani and Ishani. They have their own caste association, the Gujarat Manihar Jamaat.[4]