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Chawla is a surname of the Arora community in South Asia especially in Punjab region. It is also a common surname used in sikhism and hinduism in India.They are "Kshastriyas".

(chawla)Khatri is a caste from the northern Indian subcontinent. Chawla are mostly from the Punjab region.

Khatris played an important role in India's trans regional trade during the Mughal Empire.[9] They adopted administrative and military roles outside the Punjab region as well.India."[11]

Khatris consider themselves to be of pureVedic descent and thus superior to the Rajputs, who also claim Kshatriya status. Their standards of literacy and caste status were such during the early years of the Sikhcommunity that, according to W. H. McLeod, they dominated it.[12] Nath called Khatris a warlike race, a claim further supported by their employment as soldiers by Mughal emperors. However, by the time of British arrival in India, the Khatris were mostly merchants and scribes. Khatris sources explain this transition as follows: the Mughal emperors terminated the services of Khatris chieftains for moving against the imperial order of widow remarriage.[13] Kenneth W. Jones quoted that "the Khatris claimed with some justice and increasing insistence, the status of Rajputs, or Kshatriyas, a claim not granted by those above but illustrative of their ambiguous position on the great varna scale of class divisions" [14] Khatris claim that they were warriors who took to trade.[15] The 19th-century Indians and the British administrators failed to agree whether the Khatri claim of Kshatriya status should be accepted, since the overwhelming majority of them were engaged in Vaishya (mercantile) occupations.[16] There are Khatris that are found in other states of India and they follow different professions in each region. The Khatris of Gujarat and Rajasthan are said to have tailoring skills like "Darji" (tailor) caste.[17] Dasrath Sharma described Khatris as a mixed pratiloma caste of low ritual status but suggested that Khatris could be a mixed caste born of Kshatriya fathers and Brahminmothers.[18]

According to Bichitra Natak, said to be the autobiography of the last Sikh Guru Gobind Singh, but whose authenticity is a matter of ongoing dispute,[19][20][21] the Bedi sub-caste of the Khatris derives its lineage from Kush, the son of Rama in the Hindu mythology. The descendants of Kush, according to the disputed Bachitar Natak legend, learned theVedas at Benares, and were thus called Bedis (Vedis).[22] Similarly, according to the same legend, the Sodhi sub-caste claims descent from Lav, the other son of Rama.[23]