
Twashta Kasar,Somavanshiya Kshatriya Kasar or Jain Kasar (also known as Tambat,Kshatriya Kasar or Kasar) is a
Hindu
Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...
artisan
An artisan (from , ) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. These objects may be functional or strictly decorative, for example furniture, decorative art, sculpture, clothing, food ite ...
caste
A caste is a Essentialism, fixed social group into which an individual is born within a particular system of social stratification: a caste system. Within such a system, individuals are expected to marry exclusively within the same caste (en ...
of
coppersmith
A coppersmith, also known as a brazier, is a person who makes artifacts from copper and brass. Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc. The term "redsmith" is used for a tinsmith that uses tinsmithing tools and techniques to make copper items.
Hi ...
s (
tamrakar and tamta), predominantly residing in the
Indian state
India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, for a total of 36 subnational entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into 800 districts and smaller administrative divisions by the respe ...
of
Maharashtra
Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...
. In
Goa
Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...
, they call themselves ''Twashta Kasar Brahmin''. According to
Herbert Hope Risley
Sir Herbert Hope Risley (4 January 1851 – 30 September 1911) was a British ethnographer and colonial administrator, a member of the Indian Civil Service who conducted extensive studies on the tribes and castes of the Bengal Presidency. He ...
, they are a branch of the
Suvarna Banik, who became degraded because they took to working in metal.
They are included in the
Other Backward Class category by the
Government of Maharashtra
The Government of Maharashtra is the executive branch of the Indian states of india, state of Maharashtra. The government is led by the List of chief ministers of Maharashtra, chief minister (currently Devendra Fadnavis since 5 December 2024) ...
.
Traditions
The primary religion of Twashta Kasar is
Hindu
Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...
. The community worships
Kali
Kali (; , ), also called Kalika, is a major goddess in Hinduism, primarily associated with time, death and destruction. Kali is also connected with transcendental knowledge and is the first of the ten Mahavidyas, a group of goddesses who p ...
ka as a guardian deity (Palak Devta). They have established "Twashta Kasar Samaj Samstha Kalika Mandir" in every city wherever they have a sizable population. The Samaj Samstha is a community center where they organize events. In Pune, the community has been celebrating
Ganeshotsav
Ganesh Chaturthi (ISO: ), also known as Vinayaka Chaturthi () or Vinayaka Chavithi () or Vinayagar Chaturthi (), is a Hindu festival celebrating the birthday of Hindu deity Ganesh. The festival is marked with the installation of Ganesha's ''m ...
since 1893.
Although
Kokani is their mother tongue, most of them converse in
marathi
Marathi may refer to:
*Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India
**Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh
*Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...
.They are trditionally vegetarian.
References
{{reflist
Surnames of Indian origin
Social groups of Maharashtra