Mazhabi Sikh

Clans and Kinship

Rose's Glossary (1914) records that the Mazhabi gots were numerous and that many of them were the same as the gots of the Jats, and that at weddings and in other customs families largely followed Jat practice. It also records that Mazhabi families often married into Hindu families of the Valmiki community, from which most of them came. The Glossary names no Mazhabi gots and does not say how descent is reckoned. Within the community, one group calls itself Rangreta and traces its line to Bhai Jaita. Many Mazhabi families live in separate clusters within villages, and many have also joined sant mat and dera movements.

No list is given. Rose's Glossary (1914) says the Mazhabi gots are numerous and many share their names with Jat gots, but it names none, and no other list was found.

In the Official Lists

• Scheduled Caste

  Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand

  Listed as: Mazhabi

  Punjab and Haryana list 'Mazhabi, Mazhabi Sikh'; the other states list 'Mazhabi' (Census 2011, Table A-10 Appendix).

Checked in Census 2011 Table A-10 Appendix for all seven states and union territories, and against Wikipedia's compilation of the Scheduled Castes order; the tables reflect the 2011 lists, so check the current order before relying on it.

Checked on 2026-11-07 against the sources below. The lists are amended from time to time and can differ by district; for a certificate, the current order or the state's list is what counts.

Name and Origin

Mazhabi comes from the Arabic mazhab, religion, and is translated 'the faithful'. Sikh tradition holds that when Bhai Jaita brought the head of Guru Tegh Bahadur to Anandpur, Guru Gobind Singh declared 'Rangrete Guru ke bete', the Rangretas are the Guru's sons, which gave the community its other name. The community grew from families of the Valmiki community who became Sikhs, and oral tradition dates their joining the Sikh faith in numbers to the time of Guru Gobind Singh.

History

Bhai Jaita recovered the head of Guru Tegh Bahadur after the Guru's execution in Delhi in 1675 and carried it to Anandpur. Mazhabi Sikhs served as separate companies in the army of Ranjit Singh, and under British rule they made up the Sikh Pioneer regiments, which served in the First World War and were disbanded in December 1932. In 1941 the Sikh Light Infantry was formed, first called the Mazhabi and Ramdasia Sikh Regiment, and it has recruited from the two communities ever since. In the colonial period many families in the Punjab became Christian, and at the close of the nineteenth century Mazhabi Sikhs were still denied equal access to gurdwaras, and discrimination by other Sikhs has continued since.

Faith and Worship

Mazhabi Sikhs are Sikhs, and in the 2011 census about 97 per cent of the Mazhabis of Punjab gave Sikhism as their religion (2,562,761 of 2,633,921; Census 2011, Table SC-14, Punjab). Some Mazhabi families are Hindu, Christian or Buddhist, and many have joined dera movements. One of the four factions of the Nihangs, the Rangreta Dal, is associated with the community.

Stories and Legends

Notable Personalities