Rohit or Rohitas, also called Bhambi Rohit and Bhambi Khalpa, who are Bhambi sub-caste and sub-community from

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

, India. Rohit consider themselves to be followers or descendants of the

Bhakti Movement The Bhakti movement was a significant religious movement in medieval Hinduism that sought to bring religious reforms to all strata of society by adopting the method of Bhakti, devotion to achieve salvation. Originating in Tamilakam during 6t ...

saint Ravidas or Rohidas. Traditionally, they did

leather Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning (leather), tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffal ...

or hide work and were identified as Khalpa. But in 1947, a group of Khalpa organized and decided to call themselves Rohit. They also abandoned all leather works but practiced consumption of non-veg. From the 1930-40s Rohits were active in changing their caste name from Khalpa to Rohit, like others such as Dheds to Mahyavanshis, Garua to

Guru Guru ( ; International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ''guru'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian religions, Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: tr ...

, and Bhangi to

Rishi In Indian religions, a ''rishi'' ( ) is an accomplished and enlightened person. They find mention in various Vedic texts. Rishis are believed to have composed hymns of the Vedas. The Post-Vedic tradition of Hinduism regards the rishis as "gre ...

. Only Mahyavanshis were successful in getting official recognition from the Government of India to get a

Kshatriya Kshatriya () (from Sanskrit ''kṣatra'', "rule, authority"; also called Rajanya) is one of the four varnas (social orders) of Hindu society and is associated with the warrior aristocracy. The Sanskrit term ''kṣatriyaḥ'' is used in the con ...

status officially.

Surname

The Rohit community has number of ''ataks'' (

surnames In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several giv ...

) apart from Rohit generally used by them.

References

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Surname

References

See also