Sunar
Sunar (alternately, Sonar or Swarnkar) is a Hindu caste in India referring to the community of people who work as goldsmiths. The community is primarily Hindu, and found all over India. Indian and Nepali sunar use soni as their surname.
Etymology
The term Sunar may derive from the Sanskrit suvarna kār, "worker in gold".
The Sunar are still involved in their traditional occupation, that is being goldsmiths. There is however a steady process in taking up other occupations, and the community in Haryana and Punjab as whole is fairly successful, having produced several professionals.
Factions
The Sunars are divided into a large number of territorial and non-territorial groupings called alla. Some of the major alla are the Jhankhad, Santanpuriya, Lal sultaniya, Dekhalantiya, Mundaha, Bhigahiya, Parajiya, Samuhiya, Chilliya, Katiliya Kalidarwa, Naubastwal, Berehele, Gedehiya, Shahpuriya, Mathureke Paliya, Katkaria and Nimkheriya ,Vaibhaha . Each lineage is associated with a particular area. To which its ancestors belonged to. The Sunar use Soni, Seth, Swarnkar, Shah, Singh, Puri, Bhutani, Sonik, Kapoor, Mehra, Rastogi, Verma, Saraf etc. as their surnames. In Gujarat and Rajasthan, the community is also known as Soni. In Haryana, the Sunars are often known as Swarnakar, Soni, Suri and Verma, are their common surname. In Punjab and Rajasthan, Mair Rajput community work as goldsmiths.
Sunar in Nepal
The Central Bureau of Statistics of Nepal classifies the Sunar (called Sonar in the Nepal census) as a subgroup within the broader social group of Madheshi Other Caste. At the time of the 2011 Nepal census, 64,335 people (0.2% of the population of Nepal) were Sunar. The frequency of Sunars by province was as follows:
- Madhesh Province (1.0%)
- Koshi Province (0.1%)
- Lumbini Province (0.1%)
- Bagmati Province (0.0%)
- Gandaki Province (0.0%)
- Karnali Province (0.0%)
- Sudurpashchim Province (0.0%)
The frequency of Sunars was higher than national average (0.2%) in the following districts:
- Parsa (1.6%)
- Mahottari (1.3%)
- Bara (1.1%)
- Rautahat (1.1%)
- Sarlahi (1.1%)
- Dhanusha (1.0%)
- Siraha (0.5%)
- Morang (0.3%)
- Saptari (0.3%)