human being wrote:Yes, ex-l, Kriplanis are Brahmins by caste. But, as I said, they being 'sindhis' are not regarded in very good light by the 'mainlanders'.
I am very surprised by this. In truth, I doubt it.
Were you told that by the BKs?
Everything I've read says Lekhraj Kirpalani was a Bhaibund ... and he certain became part of it. The Bhaibund was a lower caste (vyasa) to the Amil (kshatriya), although related (basically, the smart kids going off to become Amil and the others going into business, Bhaibund with the Amils often running the administrative side of the Bhaibund business).
I thought they were Lohana (again, kshatriya turned merchant). There's discussion of it in
Cosmopolitan Connections: The Sindhi Diaspora, 1860-2000 by Mark-Anthony FalzonHowever, I'll be the first to admit I am utterly confused by Sindhi name spelling and conventions (
... and, to some degree, they are deliberate confusing - you need to know *all* their names and naming conventions to decode them).
Are the Kirpalani related to Kirpals, "-ani" often denotes a descent from a common male ancestor? And what of the "Khubchand"? I read that The Brahmins among Sindis were Saraswats and Pushkaranas and very few in number.
A Sind reseacher, Bherumal Mehrchand suggests that "the Chandiramanis, the Bhambhanis, the Karnanis and the Kripalanis are all Chugh”.
Doesn't chug/chugh mean "once born" (and much the same as Shudra), or is it just a Punjabi Aroras name? (I don't know, I am not Indian).
human being wrote:Now, if ex-l's repeated references to a 'sadhu' having 'sidhhis' is correct than I can clearly see how this cult was formed by a bunch of semi-literate rich people. However,I would dearly love to see some evidence of it ...
The best evidence to the saddhu figure is in the paperwork of the court proceedings where all witness statements were formal and had to be notarised. It was a very high profile case at the time. I think the PBKs get this aspect of the story *absolutely* wrong. They are desparate to prove their guru was said character ... but that is all wrong.
However, I think they take their original references from the Sakar Murlis, so it may be in them. I've forgotten.
I was also told this by an elderly Sindi who remember Lekhraj Kirpalani. They said it happened in Bengal and when he came back, he was a very changed man. I think his habit of wearing eyeshadow dates back to this, references to which again appear in both the Murlis and the court proceedings. He paid a great fortune.
I worked out a conversion rate on this forum a long time ago. It may come up in a search.
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