Draft:Barai caste (kashyap , shandilya , bharadwaj and atri gotra)

The Barai are an ancient Hindu caste found in Uttar Pradesh, India.[1][2] They have their roots both in Brahmin And kshatriya ancestral links.The Barai are one of oldest clans of india, afghanistan, singh(now pakistan). legend gives them a Brahman ancestry. This is to the effect that the first Barai was a Brahman whom God detected in the flagrant case of lying to his brother, his sacred thread was confiscated and being planted in the ground grew up in to first betel-vine which he was set to tend’ (op.cit.). Among Barais, three main social divisions have been reported in order of hierarchy, Chaurasia, raghuvanshi, Katiyar and Nag. The Barias place themselves in brahmin and thakur varna and are treated similarly by the other communities. They claim a status superior to the Yadavs, Kahars, Malis, Lodhs, Aarakhs and Bhurjis. The Barai have a Chaurasia Samiti at Pandairba in Lucknow, which caters to some of their social needs. Lohana (also referred to as Loharana, Thakkar, and Barai) They claim Kshatriya origin based on their belief that they are from the lineage of Ram. They claim that they are the descendants of Lava of the Ramayana. This claim was more common in the Lohanas of Sindh as per Schaflechner. A "mytho-historic" legend prevalent in the community is that the Hindu God Varuna built an iron fort for some Rathore Rajputs to protect them. Lohanas claim that the fort "disappeared" after 21 days and the Rathores were then called "Lohana", a word the community interprets as "those of iron".[3]