Mistri, or Mistry, is a term for a master-craftsman, foreman or supervisor of manual workers in India. Mistri is being replaced with "supervisor" and other terms, as for example by the Indian Railway who replaced it with supervisor in 2005. The word ''Mistri'', or ''Mistry'', is adopted into the Gujarati language from the Portuguese word ''Mestre'' meaning ''Master'' or ''Teacher''. The Portuguese were present in Gujarat since 1500 in Diu. The Kadias and

Kadia Kshatriya Gurjar Kshatriya Kadia, also known as Gurjar Kadia/ Gujjar Kadia, and Kadia Kshatriya are a Hindu community mostly in Gujarat and Maharashtra. They are artisan community, occupation is masonry work and are related to larger artisan group of Kadias. ...

s worked on building Diu Fort and the Portuguese called them ''Mestre'' due to their skills at fort building. MistriBabu besides carpenter ( for

Suthar in sanskrit according to legend, are the carpenters descended from Maya son of Vishwakarma. Sutradhar, also known as Sutar or Suthar is a Hindu caste within the Vishwakarma community of India. Their traditional occupation is carpentry. The gr ...

community ) also meant

Contractor A contractor is a person or company that performs work on a contract basis. The term may refer to: Business roles * Defense contractor, arms industry which provides weapons or military goods to a government * General contractor, an individual o ...

American anthropology, 1971-1995: papers from the American anthropologist edited by Regna Darnell page 768 ( mainly for Mistris of Kutch - majority of whom worked as Railway, PWD & Forest Contractors during British India ). Many Parsi family working as Contractor, therefore, also adopted surname Mistry, as their occupational surname. One such famous Parsi businessman is Pallonji Mistry. The word Mistri or Mistry in Gujarat is today identified with people, who are expert in building construction.

See also