{{short description|Feudal title of the Indian subcontinent}} {{pp-extended|small=yes}} {{Use Indian English|date=October 2023}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2023}}thumb|Portrait of ''Thakur Bakhtawar Singh Rajput'' made by ''Fateh Muhammad'' around 1880 in western Rajasthan, probably Bikaner.'''Thakur''' (Anglicized as '''Tagore'''<ref name=":0" />) is a historical feudal title of the Indian subcontinent. It is also used as a surname in the present day. The female variant of the title is '''Thakurani''' or '''Thakurain''', and is also used to describe the wife of a Thakur. There are varying opinions among scholars about its origin. Some scholars suggest that it is not mentioned in the Sanskrit texts preceding 500 BCE, but speculates that it might have been a part of the vocabulary of the dialects spoken in northern India before the Gupta Empire. It is viewed to have been derived from word ''Thakkura'' which, according to several scholars, was not an original word of the Sanskrit language but a borrowed word in the Indian lexis from the Tukharistan region of Uzbekistan. Another view-point is that ''Thakkura'' is a loan word from the Prakrit language.
Scholars have suggested differing meanings for the word, i.e. "god", "lord", and "master of the estate". Academics have suggested that it was only a title, and in itself, did not grant any authority to its users "to wield some power in the state".
In India, this title is widely used by the people belonging to the Rajput community<ref>{{cite book|quote=Thakur and rajput have been used interchangeably to refer to castes of Kshatriya rank.|title=Dominance and State Power in Modern India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7whuAAAAMAAJ |page=137 |first1=Francine R. |last1=Frankel |first2=M. S. A. |last2=Rao |last3=Madhugiri |first3=Shamarao |first4=Ananthapadmanabha |last4=Rao |year=1989 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-562098-6 |access-date=22 January 2023 |archive-date=10 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410214540/https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/Dominance_and_State_Power_in_Modern_Indi/7whuAAAAMAAJ?hl=en |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Gupta |first=Dipankar “Pandit or Baman for Brahmin and Thakur for Rajput. These are common north Indian appellations for the members of these castes.” |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bgpEIb4tNjgC&dq=thakur+caste&pg=PA2056 |title=Caste in Question: Identity Or Hierarchy? |date=2004-12-08 |publisher=SAGE Publications |isbn=978-0-7619-3324-3 |language=en}}</ref> while few people of other communities also use this title include communities such as, Bengali Brahmins,<ref name="SKD"/><ref name=":0">{{cite news|url=https://www.thedailystar.net/news/from-thakur-to-tagore|title=From Thakur to Tagore|author=Syed Ashraf Ali|date=4 May 2013|newspaper=The Daily Star|access-date=22 January 2023|archive-date=6 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190706133756/https://www.thedailystar.net/news/from-thakur-to-tagore|url-status=live}}</ref> Bhumihars,<ref>{{cite book|title=India's Communities vol 6|page=471|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jw9uAAAAMAAJ&q=bhumihars+use+thakur+title|author=KS Singh|date=1998 |publisher=OUP|isbn=978-0-19-563354-2 |quote=In Bihar, the Babhan are also known as Bhumihar Brahman. They have titles such as Rai, Singh, Pandey, Tiwari, Chaudhry and Thakur.}}</ref> Charans<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Saksena |first=B. S. |date=1965 |title=The Phenomenon Of Feudal Loyalty : A Case Study In Sirohi State |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41854129 |journal=The Indian Journal of Political Science |volume=26 |issue=4 |pages=121–128 |issn=0019-5510 |jstor=41854129 |quote=Among jagirdars, all were not Rajputs. Jagirs were also granted to Charans and Brahmins. They were also known as thakurs.}}</ref> and Kolis.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Mishra |first=Kuldeep |date=18 December 2017 |title=गुजरात और उत्तर प्रदेश की राजनीति कैसे अलग है? |url=https://www.bbc.com/hindi/india-42386072 |work=BBC News हिंदी |access-date=19 December 2021 |language=hi |archive-date=14 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211214151952/https://www.bbc.com/hindi/india-42386072|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=bkb>{{Cite book |last=Misra |first=Bankey Bihari |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BE8LAQAAIAAJ |title=The Administrative History of India, 1834-1947: General Administration |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1970 |isbn=978-0-19-560134-3 |location=New Delhi, India, Asia |pages=468: Similar to these were certain estates held on payment of rentals settled in the lump with their heads called Koli thakurs|language=en |access-date=24 January 2023 |archive-date=18 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230218044258/https://books.google.com/books?id=BE8LAQAAIAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Banerjee |first1=Supurna |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h6xvDwAAQBAJ&dq=thakur+caste&pg=PT116 |title=Caste and Gender in Contemporary India: Power, Privilege and Politics |last2=Ghosh |first2=Nandini |date=2018-09-17 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-429-78395-1 |language=en}}</ref>
== Etymology and meaning == Sisir Kumar Das stated that the word ''Thakur'' is derived from the "late Sanskrit" word ''Thakkura''.<ref name="SKD">{{cite journal |journal=Anthropological Linguistics |volume=10 |issue=4 |date=April 1968 |publisher=Trustees of Indiana University |title=Forms of Address and Terms of Reference in Bengali |first=Sisir Kumar |last=Das |pages=19–31 |jstor=30029176 |jstor-access=free}}</ref>{{rp|28}}
Harka Bahadur Gurung noted that the Nepalese version of the word ''Thakur'' is ''Thakuri''.<ref name="HBG">{{cite book |title=Faces of Nepal |year=1996 |page=29 |publisher=Himal |first=Harka Bahadur |last=Gurung |others=illustrated by Jan Salter |isbn=978-9993343509 |quote=The term Thakuri is a Nepali variation of the Hindi word thakur, which means 'master of the estate'. Indeed, Thakuris of Nepal are associated with some territory inherited from the days of Baisi and Chaubisi principalities; the term thakurai actually refers to 'fiefdom'. It is said that among those Rajputs fleeing to the hills after the Muslim invasion in India, successful adventurers among them were given the name and status of Thakuri by their Brahman followers.}}</ref>
The meaning of the word ''Thakur'' was suggested to be "god" by S. K. Das;<ref name="SKD"/>{{rp|31}} "lord" by Blair B. Kling;<ref>{{cite book |title=Partner in Empire: Dwarkanath Tagore and the Age of Enterprise in Eastern India |chapter=The Home and the World |year=1976 |page=10 |publisher=University of California Press |first=Blair B. |last=Kling |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KVBKeqaYeVwC&pg=PA10 |isbn=978-0520029279 |access-date=26 September 2020 |archive-date=10 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410214529/https://books.google.com/books?id=KVBKeqaYeVwC&pg=PA10 |url-status=live }}</ref> and "master of the estate" by H. B. Gurung.<ref name="HBG"/>
== Origin == Nirmal Chandra Sinha stated that the word ''Thakura'' is "unknown" to the Vedic and Classical Sanskrit and finds no mention in the Sanskrit literature preceding 500 BCE. He suggests, however, that "the word was possibly current in many north Indian dialects before the Imperial Guptas". Sinha notes that many scholars, such as Buddha Prakash, Frederick Thomas, Harold Bailey, Prabodh Bagchi, Suniti Chatterji, and Sylvain Lévi, have suggested that ''Thakura'' is a borrowed word in the Indian lexis from the Tukhara regions of Current Uzbekistan.<ref name="NCS">{{cite journal |journal=Bulletin of Tibetology |series=New |volume=23 |number=1 |year=1987 |page=18 |publisher=Sikkim Research Institute of Tibetology |place=Gangtok, India |title=Inner Asia and India Through the Ages |first=Nirmal Chandra |last=Sinha |url=http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/bot/pdf/bot_1987_01_full.pdf |via=University of Cambridge |access-date=26 September 2020 |archive-date=17 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211117002441/http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/bot/pdf/bot_1987_01_full.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Sinha observed: {{blockquote|"It may be noted that in South India among orthodox Brahmins, Thakura or Thakur is not a popular term obviously because of its Tukhara or Turuska background."<ref name="NCS"/>}}
Byomkes Chakrabarti noted that the Sanskrit word ''Thakkura'' finds mention in "late Sanskrit". He doubted, however, that ''Thakkura'' is "an original Sanskrit word" and was of the opinion that ''Thakkura'' is probably a loan word from the Prakrit language.<ref>{{cite book |title=A Comparative Study of Santali and Bengali |year=1992 |page=14 |publisher=K. P. Bagchi & Company |first=Byomkes |last=Chakrabarti |isbn=978-8170741282 |quote=Mr. Risley has also drawn attention to the fact that the supreme God "Thakur" of the Santali traditions bears a Hindi name derived from the Sanskrit origin "thakkura". But there is much doubt whether "thakkura" itself is an original Sanskrit word. The word occurs in late Sanskrit possibly being borrowed from Prakrit. But if we make a careful analysis of the different languages of the western regions of Asia from Turkish to Bengali we would surely find out traces of similarities of most of these languages with Santali and this will go to show that the tribes had their historical wanderings from the Western part of Asia to the Eastern part of India.}}</ref>
== Usage == [[File:Lakhajirajsinhji_II_Bavajirajsinhji.jpg|thumb|150px|''Thakur'' Lakhajirajsinhji II Bavajirajsinhji of Rajkot]] Susan Snow Wadley noted that the title ''Thakur'' was used to refer to "a man of indeterminate but mid-level caste, usually implying a landowning caste". Wadley further notes that ''Thakur'' was viewed as a "more modest" title in comparison to "''Rājā''" (King).<ref name="SSW">{{cite book |title=Raja Nal and the Goddess: The North Indian Epic Dhola in Performance |edition=illustrated |year=2004 |page=60 |publisher=Indiana University Press |place=Bloomington, Indiana |first=Susan S. |last=Wadley |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UbsgVL4AGkoC&pg=PA60 |isbn=978-0253217240 |lccn=2004009434 |quote=Eventually he was awarded the title of ''rājā'' (king), although he preferred the more modest "Thakur" (a man of indeterminate but mid-level caste, usually implying a landowning caste, often Rajput). |access-date=26 September 2020 |archive-date=10 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410214540/https://books.google.com/books?id=UbsgVL4AGkoC&pg=PA60 |url-status=live }}</ref>
S. K. Das noted that while the word ''thakur'' means "god".
In India, this title is widely used by the people belonging to the Rajput caste<ref name="Rajput">{{cite web|last=Ellinwood|first=DeWitt C.|date=January 2002|title=A Perspective on the Western Front by an Indian Army Office on the Western Front|url=https://www.westernfrontassociation.com/world-war-i-articles/a-perspective-on-the-western-front-by-an-indian-army-office-on-the-western-front-by-dr-dewitt-c-ellinwood/|access-date=9 November 2020|website=Western Front Association|quote=...Thakur (title of respect for Rajput aristocrats whose father is deceased; usually a landowner)...|archive-date=10 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201110034942/https://www.westernfrontassociation.com/world-war-i-articles/a-perspective-on-the-western-front-by-an-indian-army-office-on-the-western-front-by-dr-dewitt-c-ellinwood/|url-status=live}}</ref> while few people of some other caste groups using it include castes such as, Bengali Brahmin,<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Kanitkar |first1=Helen A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1fig6r-cktgC&dq=Forms+of+Address+and+Terms+of+Reference+in+Bengali&pg=PA76 |title=1965–1969 |last2=Fürer-Haimendorf |first2=Elizabeth |date=2012-05-07 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-080704-2 |language=en}}</ref> Bhumihar, Koli<ref name="bkb" /> and Charan.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last1=Yadav |first1=Kripal Chandra |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6v5tAAAAMAAJ |title=Arya Samaj and the Freedom Movement: 1875–1918 |last2=Arya |first2=Krishan Singh |date=1988 |publisher=Manohar Publications |isbn=978-81-85054-41-4 |language=en |quote=Thakur Kesari Singh was born on 21 November 1872 at Devpura, a small village near Shahpura in Udaipur state (Rajasthan) in a patriotic Charan family. His father, Thakur Kishan Singh a follower of Swami Dayananda was one of the chief counsellors of the ruler of Udaipur. |access-date=28 April 2022 |archive-date=10 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410214536/https://books.google.com/books?id=6v5tAAAAMAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>
Some academics have suggested that "''Thakur'' was merely a title and not an office whereby a holder was entitled to wield some power in the state".<ref>{{cite book |title=Rajput Polity: A Study of Politics and Administration of the State of Marwar, 1638–1749 |year=1977 |page=18 |publisher=Manohar |first=Ghanshyam Datt |last=Sharma |quote=Bose agrees with Dr. Kane (History of the Dharmasastras, iii, 984) that thakur was merely a title and not an office whereby a holder was entitled to wield some power in the state. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5-YeAAAAMAAJ&q=%22thakur+was+merely+a+title+and+not+an+office%22 |isbn=978-0883868874 |access-date=26 October 2020 |archive-date=10 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410214531/https://books.google.com/books?id=5-YeAAAAMAAJ&q=%22thakur+was+merely+a+title+and+not+an+office%22 |url-status=live }}</ref> However, some other academics have noted that this title had been used by "petty chiefs" in the western areas of Himachal Pradesh.<ref>{{cite book |title=History and Culture of the Chamba State, a Western Himalayan Kingdom: Collected Papers of the Seminar Held at Chamba in 1983 |section=Influence of Rajasthani on Pahari |page=131 |publisher=Books & Books |first1=Vishwa Chander |last1=Ohri |first2=Amar Nath |last2=Khanna |year=1989 |quote=...in the hills refer to a time when petty chiefs bearing the title of Rana or Thakur exercised authority over their iminutive domains... |isbn=9788185016252}}</ref> Examples include the Thakurs of Kolong, Gumrang, and Gondhla in Lahaul, who governed hereditary jagirs in Lahaul under the Rajas of Kullu, and later under British rule.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Diack |first=Alexander Henderson |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.pahar.1425/page/26/mode/2up?q=gumrang |title=Gazetteer of the Kangra District / 2/4 Kulu, Lahul and Spiti : 1897 |date=1994 |publisher=New Delhi : Indus Publ. Co. |isbn=978-81-7387-016-3 |pages=26}}</ref>
The title was used by rulers of several princely states, including Ambliara, Vala, Morbi, Barsoda, and Rajkot State. Sons of thakurs were given the Sanskrit title of ''Kumara'' ('prince'), popular usage being ''Kunwar'' in the North and ''Kumar'' in Bengal and southern India.<ref>{{cite book|last=Vadivelu|first=A.|title=The Aristocracy of Southern India, Volume 2|date=24 August 2016 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oFwDWt2N29cC|access-date=28 September 2018|archive-date=10 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410214453/https://books.google.com/books?id=oFwDWt2N29cC|url-status=live}}</ref>
The territory of land under the control of a ''Thakur'' was called ''thikana''.<ref>{{cite book |title=Dynamics of State Formation: India and Europe Compared |year=1997 |page=81 |publisher=SAGE |first1=Martin |last1=Doornbos |first2=Sudipta |last2=Kaviraj |isbn=978-8170365747 |quote=Rights to land within any particular Thakur domain, the thikana, became complicated by the 1600s.}}</ref>
== See also == * Sardar * Chaudhary * Mankari * Thakkar * Thakuri * Thakor * Thakurdas * Rajputs in Bihar * Dharmathakur
== References == {{reflist}}
Category:Titles in India Category:Rajput titles Category:Surnames of Indian origin Category:Indian feudalism Category:Titles in Bangladesh