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Bhanot (Brahmin)

'Bhanot' is a subcaste of Saraswat Brahmins from states of North India. Majority of Bhanots today reside in states of Punjab, Haryana and Delhi. Bhanots belong to the geanology of Sage Vatasya/vats also called 'Gotra' for familial references. Maharishi Vatsa was one of the descendants of Bhrigu Kul. The term is also used to describe a Rajput clan, Bhanot.

There are multiple theories behind the Bhanot name. The king of Bhathinda in Punjab state was of Rajput clan, his Rajpurohit (chief prist) was Saraswat Brahmin of Vats gotra. During one war when the fort was about to be captured all women including the wife of rajpurohit went suttee (jumped into fire). As she was pregnant with a baby boy, due to the heat the baby fell out of her womb. After the war was over, king treated that baby boy as his son. People called him Bhanot means "born out of fire".

The boy later married two women, one Brahmin and one Rajput, which is how Brahmin Bhanots and Rajput Bhanots originated. The king who adopted the son of his rajpurohit was a Rajput, and the biological father of the boy (the rajpurohit) was a Brahmin. It happened about 400 years ago in or around Bhathinda.