The Khatik or Khateek are an ethnic group found in the Indian subcontinent, mainly modern-day India, Pakistan and Nepal. The Hindu Khatik have gerneral, OBC and scheduled caste status varied according to different states in India. They are one of the most widespread communities in modern South Asia. Indian Khatik have a population of approximately above 4.8 crore and are located mainly in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, New Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. It is also believed that some groups of Khatik community, mainly living in areas of Punjab and Pakistan turned to Islam in the early days, they were mainly involved in tannery and meat business.
Etymology
Khatik is derived from the Sanskrit word, "Khattik or Aakhetak" means "Butcher or Hunter" and Hindi word "Khatt" Means immediate killing. Since historical times they mostly seem to be in the business and profession of getting and selling the Forest and Village supplies in the towns, rearing of goat and pigs and tanning of raw hide.
Legal status
Khatiks are identified as Scheduled Caste in some states of India including West Bengal,Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh while they have OBC status in Gujarat and Bihar and also have General status in some states.
Political involvement
Khatiks actively participate in politics and they are not dependent on single party but they are distributed in various political party as per their belief & interest. Only a few people from the group have risen to high political positions, hence the community has little say in political decision making.
Current status
Today, some people of this group are the business related to fruit and vegetable, animal husbandry, butchering, agriculture. While most of the other people are into all sorts of businesses, professions and jobs, like Government Services, Private Jobs, IT Professions, Scientists, Engineers, Medical Professionals, service industry, shop owners, contractors, real estate developers, builders and others. A good number of these professions are working in different countries through out the world. Some people of this group have also been involved in Sports, modern daybody building and traditional wrestling
Among the major Dalit groups, Khatiks have registered the overall literacy rate and highest women literacy rate.
Subdivisions
Hindu Khatik caste has divided into various subgroups or gotras based on their livelihood or profession and some time based on the names of there villages. These include:
Rangiya - they used to colour goat and deer skin to sell. They also sometimes to do goat and sheep rearing.
Mewafarosh - There traditional profession is to sell fruits, dry-fruits and vegetables. They also work as meat sellers, mostly selling Goat meat or Pig and some times poultry and fish. They sell jhatka meet as opposed to halal. A number of people from this group are also involved in wholesale business of Fruits and Vegetables, where they are called 'Adhatias'. They also own shops in 'Mandis' from where they wholesale and retail these products. The most common surname of this group is Sonkar or Sonker. They have been historically living in cities mostly in the state of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bangal, etc. Being city dwellers originally they own residential and commercial properties in old parts of the town. Some times these residences are in cluster these cluster are called ' Khatkana', these are mostly in the heart of the cities, and mostly in congested places.
In rural parts of Uttar Pradesh Khatki's traditionally take up profession of Mason and Civil Contractors or Agriculture, where they do farming on there own land holdings and also lease orchards and farms. These groups have there subcast's named after the names of villages were they belong to. This group had a system where members discouraged marriages among certain subgroups or gotras to prevent inbreeding. They do not write any specific surname with there names, but use of word 'Ram' as first or last name is very commonly seen in the names of the older generation.
There are various other subgroups mostly divided and named after their occupations.
Marriage among these subgroups was traditionally discouraged. But a number of inter-group marriages now are taking place.
A branch of Khatik community is 'Pasi ' which is treated as a separate cast or group. People of this group were traditionally engaged in bird hunting and selling them for food.
Languages
People of this group have no different language either written or spoken. They speak Hindi and all the other regional languages spoken in their particular area.
