Lohar is a social group in India, Nepal and Pakistan. They are associated with iron smelting work. They form part of a loose grouping of traditionally artisanal castes known as

Panchal Panchal or Panchal Brahmin is a collective term for a variable range of Artisanal Indian caste groups who are Brahmins. According to Louis Dumont, it is derived from the word ''panch'', meaning ''five'', and refers to communities that have tradi ...

s. Lohars worship Lord Vishwakarma and other Hindu gods and claim to be Vishwakarma's descendants. Lohar caste is included in OBC in different parts of India. Regional synonyms include Vishwakarma and Saifi/ Tarkhan (for Muslims).

Names

Lohar are known by varied surnames in different regions. *

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

: Lohar, Karmakar, Vishwakarma *

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

: VishwaBrahmins,Lohar, Achari, Chary, and Acharya *

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

: Lohar, Karmakar, Raut, Majhi, Dandamajhi, Dalui, Sutar *

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...

and

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 195 ...

: Lohar‚ Sharma, Vishwakarma and Thakur *

Jammu Jammu is the winter capital of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is the headquarters and the largest city in Jammu district of the union territory. Lying on the banks of the river Tawi, the city of Jammu, with an area of ...

and

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi Language, Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also Romanization, romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the I ...

: Lohar, Verma, Tarkhan, Mistri *

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

: Lohar, Panchal *

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ...

: Lohar, Dhalwal, Tanwar, Panwar, Solanki, Chauhan, Dangi, Karhera, Dharra, Bhavra, Siwal, Panchal, Bhardwaj, pitlehra *

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . I ...

: Lohar, Lohra, Lohara *

karnataka Karnataka (; ISO 15919, ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reor ...

: Lohar,

kammara The Kammara are blacksmiths since ancient times, situated in the state of Karnataka in India. The name Kammāra/kammar (in Prakrit/pali/kannada) / Karmāra (in Sanskrit) means a smith, artist, mechanic, craftsman, sculptor, blacksmith; a make ...

, Achari, kambar *

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South Ca ...

: Lohar, Achari, Vishwakarma, Ashari, Panjal *

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the second-most populous state in India and the second-most populous country subdi ...

: Lohar, Suryavanshi, Kale, Dharankar, Chavhan, Pawar, Panhalkar, Yande, Borkar, Ghotekar, Manekar, Dhuratkar, Nagare, Thorat, Ingle, Dangre, Upankar, Mane, Ighe, Koshe, Waghodekar, Kumbare, Panvalkar, Dhole, Pakhale. In Konkan Area Shemadkar, Katalkar, Gulekar, Shirvankar, Ghadi, Masurkar, Chaphekar, Masurkar, Pomendkar, *

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the 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 fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

: Lohar, Panchal,Makwana, Pitroda, Chitroda, Parmar, Pithva, Suthar, Mistry, Gohil. *

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is ma ...

: Lohar,

Vishwakarma (caste) The Vishwakarma community, also known as the Vishwabrahmin although having no general connection to the Brahmins, they use the term 'Brahmin' at the end of their community name. Vishwakarma are a social group of India, sometimes described as a c ...

Orissa Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of S ...

: Lohar, Moharana, Mohapatra, Sutar, Sahu, Parida *

: Lohar, Saifi/ Tarkhan *

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern ...

: Lohar, Mistri, Panchal, Suthar *

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

: Lohar, Vishvabrahmins, Kamaalar, Aachari or Aasaari

States

Gujarat

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Himachal Pradesh

Tarkhan and Lohar are two castes in

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several pea ...

. Sikh Lohar are known as Tarkhan. While the Lohar caste has been included in the SC, the Tarkhan caste has been kept on the OBC List. The two castes are the same for all social and matrimonial purposes.

Bihar

* In

Lohar are in list of OBC.

Jharkhand

The Lohar in Jharkhand are a part of the Vishwakarma community.

Madhya Pradesh

The Lohar of Madhya Pradesh are also called Panchal (five sub-castes) since Lohar is one of the five sub-castes of Vishwakarma.

Uttar Pradesh

The Lohar are one of the most widespread OBC communities in

. They are divided along religious lines, with the Hindu Lohar known as Vishwakarmas and Muslim Lohars known as Saifis. They are further divided into

exogamous Exogamy is the social norm of marrying outside one's social group. The group defines the scope and extent of exogamy, and the rules and enforcement mechanisms that ensure its continuity. One form of exogamy is dual exogamy, in which two groups ...

groupings, notably the Sharma and Vishwakarma. Most Lohar engage in their traditional occupation of metal fabrication, although the majority of those in western Uttar Pradesh are cultivators. The assimilated Lohar speak Hindi and its various dialects such as

Awadhi Awadhi (; ), also known as Audhi (), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in northern India and Nepal. It is primarily spoken in the Awadh region of present-day Uttar Pradesh, India. The name ''Awadh'' is connected to Ayodhya, the ancient city ...

; others speak Ho. They consider themselves as Vishwabrahmins.

References

External links

* * {{smiths Ethnic groups in Nepal Ethnic groups in India Blacksmith castes Scheduled Castes of Himachal Pradesh Scheduled Castes of Punjab Scheduled Tribes of Jharkhand Scheduled Tribes of Bihar Other Backward Classes of Haryana Other Backward Classes of Uttar Pradesh Other Backward Classes of Chhattisgarh Other Backward Classes of Rajasthan Other Backward Classes of Madhya Pradesh Other Backward Classes of Maharashtra Other Backward Classes of Bihar