Ahluwalia (also transliterated as Ahluvalia) is an

Indian caste The caste system in India is the paradigmatic ethnographic example of classification of castes. It has its origins in ancient India, and was transformed by various ruling elites in medieval, early-modern, and modern India, especially the Mug ...

native to the

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

region. The Ahluwalias originally belonged to the

Kalal The Kalwar, Kalal or Kalar are an Indian caste historically found in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir and other parts of north and central India. The caste is traditionally associated with the distillation and selling ...

caste, whose traditional occupation was brewing country liquor. The Kalals held a low status in the traditional caste hierarchy, close to the outcastes. In the 18th century, the Sikh chief

Jassa Singh Ahluwalia Sultan-ul-Qaum Sardar Jassa Singh Ahluwalia (3 May 1718 – 23 October 1783) was a Sikh leader during the period of the Sikh Confederacy, being the Supreme Leader of the Dal Khalsa. He was also Misldar of the Ahluwalia Misl. This period wa ...

, who belonged to the Kalal caste, adopted the surname "Ahluwalia" after the name of his ancestral village. His descendants became the ruling dynasty of the

Kapurthala State Kapurthala State, with its capital at Kapurthala, was a former Princely state of Punjab. Ruled by Ahluwalia Sikh rulers, spread across . According to the 1901 census the state had a population of 314,341 and contained two towns and 167 villag ...

. In the late 19th century, other Kalals also adopted the Ahluwalia identity, as part of a

Sanskritisation Sanskritisation (or Sanskritization) is a term in sociology which refers to the process by which castes or tribes placed lower in the caste hierarchy seek 'upward' mobility by emulating the rituals and practices of the dominant castes or upper ...

process to improve their social status, resulting in the formation of the Ahluwalia caste. They gave up their traditional occupations, as they gained political power and as the colonial British administration started regulating distribution and sale of liquor. This attempt was successful, and the Ahluwalias came to be considered equal to the high-ranked

Khatri Khatri is a caste of the Indian subcontinent that is predominantly found in India, but also in Pakistan and Afghanistan. In the subcontinent, they were mostly engaged in mercantilistic professions such as banking and trade, they were the d ...

s in the caste hierarchy. The Kalals took up new occupations, and in particular, a large number of Ahluwalias served in the army. Some of the Ahluwalias further tried to enhance their social status by claiming

Rajput Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...

descent. For example, a legendary account traces the ancestry of the Kapurthala royal family to the Bhatti Rajput royal family of

Jaisalmer Jaisalmer , nicknamed "The Golden city", is a city in the Indian state of Rajasthan, located west of the state capital Jaipur. The town stands on a ridge of yellowish sandstone and is crowned by the ancient Jaisalmer Fort. This fort contains a ...

(and ultimately to

Krishna Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is on ...

through Salibahan). According to this narrative, a group of Bhattis migrated to Punjab, where they came to be known as

Jats The Jat people ((), ()) are a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralism, pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in late medieval time ...

, and became Sikhs. The account states that Sadho Singh and his four sons married into Kalal families, because of which the family came to be known as Ahluwalia.

Lepel Griffin Sir Lepel Henry Griffin, (20 July 1838 – 9 March 1908) was a British administrator and diplomat during the British Raj period in India. He was also a writer. Early life Lepel Henry Griffin was born in Watford, England on 20 July 1838. ...

(1873), a British administrator who wrote on the history of Punjab's rulers, dismissed this account connecting the Ahluwalias to the Jaisalmer royal family as spurious. The Sikh author Gian Singh, in his '' Twarikh Raj Khalsa'' (1894), noted that the Ahluwalia family had adopted the Kalal caste identity much before Sadho Singh. Most of the Ahluwalias follow either

Sikhism Sikhism (), also known as Sikhi ( pa, ਸਿੱਖੀ ', , from pa, ਸਿੱਖ, lit=disciple', 'seeker', or 'learner, translit= Sikh, label=none),''Sikhism'' (commonly known as ''Sikhī'') originated from the word ''Sikh'', which comes fr ...

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or ''dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global po ...

References

{{reflist * Indian castes Brewing and distilling castes Social groups of Punjab, India Sikh communities