{{infobox ethnic group| | group = Kamboj | poptime = | popplace = India • Pakistan | langs = PunjabiHindiUrdu | rels = HinduismIslamSikhism | related = PunjabiKashatriya

The Kamboj (Punjabi: ਕੰਬੋਜ Kamboj, Hindi: कंबोज Kamboj), also Kamboh (Urdu: کمبوہ ALA-LC: Kamboh), is one of the chief agricultural castes of the Punjab region.[1] The Kamboj people have traditionally been regarded to be a Kshatriyasreni living by agriculture, trade and by wielding weapons.[2]The British acknowledged them as a martial race and the Kamboj people supplied a good number of recruits to the native army.[3][4]By religion, the Hindu, the Sikh Kamboj are mostly found in the east, that is the Punjab and Haryana states in India, while most of the Muslim Kamboj are found in the west in the province of Punjab in Pakistan.[5] The division among the Hindu Kamboj that traditionally engaged in the business of making and selling confectionary take the sacred thread whereas the agriculturist do not. [6] The Muslim Kamboh were powerful and influential during the later Delhi Sultanate and Mughal periods and in terms of social stratification were counted among the Shaikhs and noblest of all among the Indian Muslims.[7][8] [9]


Origin

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The Kamboj people descend from the Kambojas who were an Indo-Iranian people of Central Asia having Indo-Aryan cultural affinities.[10][11] [12] A section of Kambojas located cis of Hindukush emerged as an important part of the Indo Aryan vedic people in the later vedic age, [13] and find a prominent place among the Kshatriya tribes of the great epic Mahabharata. [14] Kambojas are mentioned as the Kshatriya people inhabitating the Kamboja Mahajanapada, which was one of the sixteen great nations (Solasa Mahajanapadas) existing in the Indian subcontinent at the time of the Budhha. [15]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Hindu Castes and Sects" by Jogendra Nath Bhattacharya, Calcutta; Thacker, Spink and Co.,1896, P. 285 "The chief agricultural castes of the Panjab are the Jats and the Kambohs."
  2. ^ "The corporations of warriors (kshatriyasrenis) of the Kamboja and Surashtra and some other nations live by agriculture, trade and by wielding weapons.(Kautiliya Arathashastra, 11.1.03)] " [ Kautiliya's Arathashastra, 1956, P. 407, Dr R. Shamasastry]
  3. ^ Mazumder, Rajit K. (2003). The Indian Army and the Making of Punjab. Orient Blackswan. p. 105. ISBN 978-81-7824-059-6.
  4. ^ Bonarjee, Pitt D. (1975). A Hand Book of the Fighting Races of India. Asian Publication Services. p. 181.
  5. ^ Singh, Pashaura; Fenech, Louis E. (27 March 2014). The Oxford Handbook of Sikh Studies. OUP Oxford. p. 84. ISBN 978-0-19-100411-7.
  6. ^ "Jogendra Nath Bhattacharya, op cit, P. 285 "The Kambohs have two divisions among them: one practising agriculture, and the other making and selling confectionery . The latter take the sacred thread but the former do not."
  7. ^ Shackle, C. (1984). The Sikhs. Atlantic Publishers & Distri. p. 57.
  8. ^ Siddiqi, Iqtidar Husain (1969). Some Aspects of Afghan Despotism in India. Three Men Publication. p. 59.
  9. ^ Muslim Society in Northern India During the Eighteenth Century, 1998, pp 24, 25 Muhammad Umar; ""The (Muslim) Kamboh distinguished themselves by their courage, generosity and high spirits...In terms of social stratification, the Kambohs were counted among the Shaikhs.....Among the Indian Muslims, the Kambohs were regarded as the noblest of all. However, perhaps with a view to maintaining the purity of their descent, or because of pride of nobility, they confined their matrimonial relationships within their own groups and did not establish marriage connections with other Muslim groups including even the Saiyids and the Mughals."
  10. ^ West, Barbara A. (19 May 2010). Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania. Infobase Publishing. p. 359. ISBN 978-1-4381-1913-7.
  11. ^ 1994, Punjab history conference: 26th Session, Punjabi University of Patiala: Papers: Volume 1, p 224, Gursharan Singh (Ed): "The origin of the Kambohs or Kambojas is traced to very ancient times. It will not be out of place to mention here that the Kambojas was the name of a well-known Vedic Aryan Kshatriya tribe whose territory or janapada, also known as Kamboja".
  12. ^ Epigraphia Zeylanica: Volume 2, pp 75/76 Ceylon, 1928, Archeological Deptt.". "The reference in the Vamsa Brahmana to a certain Kamboja Aupamanyava as a pupil of Madragara points, according to Prof. Macdonell and Dr. Keith, to ' a possible connection of the Madras or more probably, the Uttara Madras, with the Kambojas, who probably had Iranian as well as Indian affinities’. The Kambohs of the present day in the NW. Provinces of India are generally regarded as the modern representatives of Ancient Kambojas.
  13. ^ Some Kshatriya Tribes of Ancient India, B C Law, 124, P. 230-31 "... in a list of ancient Vedic teachers given in the Vamsa Brahmana of the Samveda..we find one of the teachers in the line to be Kamboja Aupamanyava, that is, Kamboja, the son of Upamanyu....the fact stands out without any possible doubt that a sage from among the Kamboja people, had found a place in the list of the great ancient teachers by whomthe Vedic lore was kept up and handed on, and there is no room for any hesitation in saying that the Kambojas in Vedic times formed an important section of the Vedic Indian people."
  14. ^ ibid. P. 241, "Among the ksatriya tribes in the great Epic the Kambojas occupy a prominent place...They were the allies of Duryodhana and by their bravery, and especially the prowess of their king, Sudaksina, they rendered great service to the Kuru side in the long drawn battle at Kuruksetra. Sudaksina was one of the few Maharathas or great heroes on the field..."
  15. ^ Anguttara Nikaya: Vol I, p 213, Vol IV, pp 252, 256, 260 etc.