Who are the Suthars?

We all carry a label of being a Suthar but how much do we know about what that
actually means?
The word ‘Suthar’ is probably an abbreviation of the word ‘Sutradhara’, ‘Sutra’
meaning ‘cord’ or ‘tape measure’. In its modern usage it has come to mean
‘carpenter’. The Suthar people are considered the descendants of the Hindu God
‘Shree Vishwakarma’ In the Hindu view of the ‘supreme principal’ of creation, Brahma
is the thinking aspect and Vishwakarma, is the working aspect. He is considered as
the divine artisan, who made all that exists in the universe (Source:‘Vishwakarma
Puran’).

Descendants of Shree Vishwakarma are spread throughout the India and the World.
Although concentrated in the Gujarat his descendants also exist in Bengal, South India
and the Punjab i.e. the Ramgharia Sikhs. All however, originate from the five sons of
Vishwakarma, sometimes known as the Panchal Brothers.

Vishwakarma Dada

Manu Mai/Maya Tvastha Shilpini Daiwadnya

worked with worked with worked with worked with worked with
"Lohu" iron "Kast" wood "Tamradi" metal "Silavat" stone "Sonu" gold

Luhar Suthar Kansara Kadia Soni

blacksmith architect/carpenter metalworker masons goldsmith

Gujjar suthar Mewada suthar Pancholi suthar Saurathia suthar Vains suthar

settled in settled in settled in settled in settled in

Gujjar Pradesh, Gujarat Mewar, Rajasthan Panchal Desh, Rajasthan Saurat Pradesh Ujanpur, Uttar Pradesh

These five sons were the originators of the five crafts. The Suthar people descend
from the son named Mai or Maya, whose expertise was in the craft of woodwork or
carpentry. Similarly, the Lohana and Soni communities, who are also settled in Britain,
are descendants of Vishwakarma’s sons; the Lohanas being blacksmiths, and the
Sonis, goldsmiths.

Originally from Georgia, the Suthar people travelled down through Central Asia
towards the Punjab in an area then known as Gujjar Pranth. News reached them of
the Maharajah Solanki, who as part of his desire for the expansion of his kingdom,
wanted to build a vast palace ‘rudramahal’ in Sidpur.

The Solanki Dynasty followed the Maitraka Dynasty around the 8th Century AD. Some
Gujarati texts give an exact date of 752 VS. (VS stands for Vikram Savant, a King in
the region of Gujarat who started the Gujarati calendar in his name. To convert to AD
you must subtract 56years). This would mean that the events in Sidhpur took place
around 695AD.
Experts in the art of building flocked towards Sidhpur, the majority of these were
Suthars. Solanki selected 1000 Brahmins to aid with the new palace. Each Brahmin
had assigned to him various experts in the crafts, again the majority being Suthars.
After the palace was built the Brahmins together with their craftsmen were to return
to the Punjab. Instead, Solanki offered them an alternative. To each of the 1000
Brahmins, he assigned a town to live.

In Whichever town the Suthars settled they took on its name. Their family line,
‘Kutumb’, or surname, became that of the town in which they had settled. For
example, the surname Vadgama originated from ‘Vadgam’, Valambhia from ‘Valam’,
and Talsania from ‘Talsan’ and so on.

This pattern of identifying with the place of origin or settlement explains a further
label of the Suthar people. The Suthars who continued to travel south into Kathiavar ,
the central area of the present Gujarat State, became known as Gujjar Suthars, Those
who travelled North towards Marwar became known as Mewada Suthars and the
remaining Vains, Pancholi and Saurathia Suthars similarly got their name from the
region in which they settled.

The structure of Indian society was unique in being characterised by caste and as
these communities became more permanent through generations of settlement in a
specific area or town, so did their prescribed status. The Suthars were just one of
these kinship groups arranged in a hierarchy of ritual ranking. The urban structure
was a complex one in which the guilds/professions occasionally took on gnati
functions. These grew out of one village or community or one profession. The Suthar
people, seen as carpenters, were just one of the many guilds/professions who
conformed to the ordering of occupations within the caste hierarchy. Thus the Gujjar
Suthars are seen as a ‘gnati’, as are the Lohana (blacksmith), Soni (goldsmith), Darji
(tailor) communities to name but a few.

Of course the concept of carpentry, or trade, as a mutual identification has long

passed but a sense of solidarity and religious affiliation remains. This is partly because
you are born into such a community and religion, as one is born with a title, and partly
because the majority of one’s social interaction revolves around the community, in
past and present times.

There now exist similar communities or ‘gnatis’ in East Africa and Britain. These gnatis
are usually run as registered charities that give themselves an organisational name. In
the case of the Gujjar Suthar community in Britain it is known as the, Shree
Vishwakarma Association of UK and although this is just 25 years old, ‘Suthars’ are
centuries old.

By Preeti Kathrecha
August 2009.

©2009 – P Kathrecha
All Rights reserved. No part of the document may be reproduced without the prior consent of the author.