Mark Koenig (Nepal)


Mark Koenig

Mark Koenig (Collective Campaign for Peace – COCAP): Mark was born in St. Louis, Missouri. After graduating from the International School of Bern in Switzerland in 2000, he spent one year at Davidson College in North Carolina and then moved on to Johns Hopkins University where he received a bachelor's degree with honors in Political Science in 2004. While studying at Johns Hopkins, Mark completed internships with genomics researcher Craig Venter, US House Representative Chris Van Hollen, and in London with Lady Sylvia Hermon, a Member of Parliament from Northern Ireland. After graduation, Mark moved to Shenzhen, China where he lived for two years teaching English at Shenzhen Senior High School. At the time of his fellowship, Mark was studying at Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Boston focusing on post-conflict reconstruction, law and development. After his fellowship, Mark wrote: “I think that perhaps it is my interest in and understanding of community level dynamics and activities that has developed the most while here. The significance of community level interactions and relationships as it pertains to the events that take place on a national level is an intriguing topic that this summer has given me new insight into.”



Jo Khan Khatik

30 Aug

Jo Khan Khatik lives in Howaldarpur Village. Howaldarpur is a community consisting of about 20 families, half of which are Chidimaar caste and half which are Khatik. While both castes are considered “impure” traditionally, the Chidimaar occupy a slightly higher position on the caste hierarchy. This supposed superiority leads to disputes, discrimination and tension in their small community.

Reasons to explain why the Chidimaar perceive themselves as somehow better than the Khatik are complicated. There are religious justifications, but most simply there is the traditional job of the Khatik. Khatik caste families are traditionally pig farmers. As pigs are considered a dirty and impure animal therefore their masters must also assume some of that impurity. So Jo Khan Khatik suffers prejudices against him and his family for their keeping of pigs, only Jo Khan does not have any pigs. In fact there is only one family in Howaldarpur who keeps pigs.

As I was trying to focus my interviews of the traditional work and jobs of the people I met, I was curious as to why the entire village had abandoned pig farming. Jo Khan Khatik has an answer ready that was difficult to argue with; “I do not have enough food to feed my children, so how should I feed animals?”

Without the resources to continue their traditional work, the Khatik have fallen back like so many people on manual labor and other jobs that create some minimal income. Jo Khan Khatik and his family mostly collect and sell firewood to earn money. Before it had been a family affair, and all of the women and children in the family would accompany the men. Recently collecting firewood in the forests has been made illegal as the forests are being strictly protected. There are more guards in the forests now that make it more dangerous to go and collect wood there. So now only the men go while the women stay home meaning their already meager income has now been cut almost in half.

Jo Khan’s situation is dire, but in fact he is better off that many in Howaldarpur. Mishiri Khatik started an argument with Jo Khan during the interview because Mishiri wanted Jo Khan to stop complaining because Jo Khan’s family has their own house with enough rooms for the entire family.

Mishiri Khatik is perhaps the oldest looking man I have ever met in my life. His thin, frail frame seems to struggle to support his every step and movement. Mishiri had interrupted Jo Khan and clearly wanted to talk. His conversation faded in and out of coherence and other impatient villagers soon told him to be quiet and listen. Before falling silent Mishiri did tell my friend Amol, the translator for the day, his age. Amol could hardly hide his surprise. Still looking slightly awestruck Amol turned to me and said “He thinks he is only 60 years old.”

Posted By Mark Koenig

Posted Aug 30th, 2007

19 Comments

  • UDAY SINGH TUNDELE

    November 9, 2007

     

    Your notion is incorrect about the Khatiks.Khatiks are originally Rajputs a fighter community of India.The word Khatik is derived from ‘Khadg’ the ‘Sword’which they always held in their hand for fighting.Another theory says that they were servants of Hindu Khatriya/Rajput kings who used to give ‘Bali'(devoting animals like goat,sheep,cock etc.) by cutting these animal’s head in a single stroke of their sword & while performing this act when the sword hit the wooden log beneath the sound comes ‘khat’ or ‘cut’. The people who used to cut neck in a single stroke i.e.aek(means one in India)thus khat+aek became Khatik later on. The third theory says that they were the hunters ‘Aakhetak’ is the Indian word for them,which became Khatik with the passage of time.This matches to your chidimar to some extant which means birdhunter. But pig forming was never a profession of khatiks nor it could be in future also because of this community’s self respect, courage & fighting spirit. In India professional pig forming is done by two other communities those are Sonkar & Sweepers/Valmiki involved in scavanging job.

  • tottan

    December 22, 2007

     

    I agree with Uday’s analysis . As there are multiple theories on origin of Khatik as a community. Some of the beliefs are mentioned by Uday are plausible looking at the current socio- economic status of Khatik community in India. I have heard of another theory in which Khatik’s have been referred as subcast of Rajputs ( Dhangar Rajput). There are many surnames in Khatik community which has striking commonality with Rajput surnames e.g. Pundir, Panwar, Sarwalia etc

  • mark

    January 7, 2008

     

    I apologize for the long delay in responding to your comments. I have not been frequenting these comment boards. I appreciate your input, the origins I described were not derived from any academic study on my part or even academic opinion. I relied on the information given to me by activists, whose knowledge might reflect apocryphal misconceptions about the group.

    So thank you for your very informed comment.

  • ghasilal khanna

    April 16, 2008

     

    i agree with uday singh ji, we are aakhetak it,s true.

  • mark

    April 28, 2008

     

    Thank you for your comment Ghasilal. I appreciate the insight from attentive readers like yourself.

  • praveen

    May 2, 2008

     

    Hi,
    I fully agree with Uday’s analysis w.r.t origin of Khatik caste.
    Khatik’s were into the profession of sheep, goat, farming etc. They were serving the Rajput kings in ancient history.

    No offence, but Pig farming was part of Sonkar / sweeper community during those ancient times.

    Regds.

  • mark

    June 24, 2008

     

    Praveen,

    I am happy to have another informative contribution to this post. There must be more to the story of this particular community then I came to understand. I am glad that there are so many people out there willing to share their knowledge about this subject with me. I am very interested to learn more.

    So, thank you for your comment.

    Mark

  • Gagan Rajora

    August 12, 2008

     

    My question is for Mr. Uday Singh. Sir, if khatiks were Dhangar rajputs then why do they fall in low caste category in various parts of India (Specially Rajasthan)?
    I am really thankful to Uday Ji for sharing his knowledge on Khatik community’s origin. Depending on the surnames, can we stand up in the society and say that we are Rajputs?

  • GANESH DASS SONKAR

    February 5, 2009

     

    Comments from GD Sonkar
    I agree with Mr.Uday that our profession was animal harvesing and fruits and vegitanble selling. But our forefather never says that we were Rajputs. This time it is necessary to unite and became political pillar, without politics and high education our development is not possible. So, we have to unite under the leadership of Dr.Udit Raj,Ex.Incometax commissioner and National Chairman of Indian Justice Party (belongs to Khatik Community). We have to leave our bad habits and leg pulling of each other. Thanking u.

  • vikas mogha

    June 8, 2009

     

    if any one want to prove that we are rajpoot because we have the same surnames as rajpoots have, really i want to inform my all brothers of khatik samaj that Balmiki, naayi, dhiwar etc are also have same surname as rajpoots have. according to them it means Balmiki, naayi, Dhiwar ect all communities are from Rajpoots origin, in fact, residents of a perticular state id used theirs king’s Surname as their surame

  • vikas mogha

    June 8, 2009

     

    there are so many definitions. Some says that is a word of sanskrit, it is also used in Urdu and Arabic language, some say khatik words comes from khagik, khag means a dear and khagik means a hunter of a dear, a wild caste khadakwanshi which is included in S.T. Say khatiks are a part of them. No doubt these wild caste was also describe in Hindu epic Ramayana as bheel(aakhetak), some say khatik word is comes from the words khadik, khadak means a weapon, and khadik means a weapon holder. We admit that we have a very clear relation with a weapon but all the khatiks are not butter, some khatiks choose a business of goat meat. Some are the business of pet animals as it is describe in Mahabharata also. Some accepted the agriculture for their living, here it should be admitable that khatiks are the care takers of fruit garden and agriculture land due to they have no fear from wild animals and they are always able to kill a wild animal, they are also the care
    takers of pet animals. Due to this boldness, khatiks have position as a bold caste. This is a fact that khatiks caste has original Indian origin this caste is used by the foreigners. Some khatiks have accepted Islam. It should be admitting that the khatik was not come with foreigners as gulam.
    here DHANKAR means a person who do pet animal forming for their living. a pig is also a pet animal

  • vikas mogha

    June 9, 2009

     

    With many others profession, Khatiks are also doing the business of goat’s mutton for their living and for getting their earnings so that they might fulfills their family requirements. But the lord Shri ram chandra went to kill a dear for satisfying the feelings of seeta mata. In Hindus epics and the great poet kalidaas describe in his play the meghaduta that the great devotion for Hinduism was- the maharishi killed 1 lac cows for their great worship call as yagya, this was the great worship of hindu religion. When a kharastiya king did same and he gave the death of 1 lac cows for yagya, it was vained because a king did it. After that the cows have been made for worship. Example is given about it; the water of river chambal is red because the skin of 1 lac cows was washed there. Khatiks are not the killers of cows. They are protector of human circle.
    Some say the khatik is the sub caste of Dhankar Rajpoots as same as the sonkars, (the pig forming caste according to respected sir mr. Uday singh Tundele. And the pig forming caste is also included in Dhankar Rajpoot sub caste, when one admit that he is a dhankar rajpoot, why he don’t want to admit this fact that pig forming caste is also a sub caste of dhankar rajpoot). Dhankar means the care taker of pet animals or a person, who do pet animal forming. A dhankar don’t allow killing of animals. And how we can agree, some sub castes as Gujjar etc in dhankar are not from Indian origin which included as the sister caste of khatiks in the list. Our history does clear that Gujjar or Rajpoots are not Indian origin castes. We are also telling here, the khatiks are the ancient Indian, who live in jungle and people call them Aakhetak.
    The Dhankar may be khatiks, sonkars are also khatik but We khatiks are only khatik. In our caste certificate which is issued by government to khatik as a reservation caste, we are only khatik. Because the Indian society don’t like profession of “butcher” or khatik so people who try to hide their caste, and want to have up their self in Indian society after showing themselves as rajpoot. They use words like dhankar Rajpoot etc. now science is proving that a man can change their body shape color and presence after 20000 years. The science has proved what are the color, height body and presence of an Indian origin person. I am completely agree with Mr. Ghan Shyam Dass Sonkar and Mr. Gagan Rajoraj ji
    Thanking you

  • Ekta Sharma

    June 22, 2011

     

    Hi All,
    I read your conversation & i need a solution. Is there anyone who can help me out.

    Regards

  • ankit sawariya

    July 5, 2015

     

    If Khatiks are aakhetak or hunters of Indian origin then why my intellectual friends we were not given schedule tribe status rather we were originally given obc status in starting prior to sc status ?

  • Lucky

    July 20, 2024

     

    Wrong information about khatik caste… Khatiks are not pig farmers. Khatik is a ancient indo Aryan tribe. Khatik is a warrior/ fighter caste of india. Khatiks have OBC status. Khatik sacrifice goats at once that called jhatka. Khatik is profesional caste. Their origin from kshtriya.. they are kshtriya..they are hunters they are brave. They are saviours.95% khatik’s fair because of their Aryan kshatriya identity.
    No-one can beat khatik people

  • Vishal

    September 22, 2024

     

    I have read many articles and reached to the conclusion that khatik is mother caste of gaderia caste, It means there was only one caste “khatik” related to hunting and butchering of sheeps, goats dear and even cows yes cows because khatiks emerged from vedic brahmin who used to perform yajna and use cows, buffaloes as their sacrificial offering to devi maa. you can search it on google that vedic brahmins were beef eaters
    vedic brahmin- yajna- sanskrit-khattaka: immediate killing-khatik
    Till now we are clear that how Brahmins turned khatik at that time they were not perceived as untouchables but more as warrior priests they were respected like any other brahmins
    Emergence of buddhism and Jainism opposed vedic brahmin’s animal killing in the name of devotion thereafter many reforms came by emergence of co-existence of these religions puranas, upnishads, brahmanas were written and rituals were modified to preserve superiority of brahmins so they started giving ultimate importance to cows which they used to kill as sacrificial offering and promoted non-violence altogether they abandoned brahmins who still continued to the practice of butchering by this chronological steps a separate khatik community was emerged, due to increasing sanctions and religious impositions from all three religions i.e puranic brahminism, Buddhism and jainism around 70% khatik brahmins left the profession on butchering animal but they continued rearing of sheep and goats to sell them to their khatik brothers later these khatiks who left butchering were known as gadarias even today both khatik and gadaria claim their common dhangar origin which mean dhenu ghar i.e “house of cows”.
    to win the moral race brahmins tried to protect cows at any cost for that they started using cows as currency to buy grains and things and even to the level of goddess who contain all 33cr devi devtas to confirm this brahmins started using even excretion like uring and dung of cows as consumables.
    by the chronology used till now khatik is most ancient caste after brahmin yes even more ancient than buddhism,
    gadaria caste emerged after bhakti movement i.e after 8th century so khatik is almost 1000yrs more ancient than gadaria so these claims are false that khatiks emerged from gadaria but it’s reverse is true.
    Khatik brahmin continued meat eating, puranic brahmin turned towards vegetarianism as puranic brahmins were preserved their elite status so they didn’t suffer any nutritional deficiencies in same manner though khatik brahmins status was degraded but they completed their protein intake from meat but gadarias who emerged from khatiks were already facing degradation of status but at the same time they turned vegetarian due to which they suffered nutritional deficiencies and this is the only reason why average khatik is taller than average gadaria even after both being from same dhangar khatik stock Let’s summarize chronology
    1.Aryan -2.brahmin- 3.-sankrit-khattikã-4vedic bali- 5 buddhism- 6 pura
    nas- 6 abandoned khatik- 7.khatik turned gadaria by opting vegetarianism 8 dhangar-conmon origin
    let’s comeback to topic
    So khatiks are the actual vedic brahmins who used to slaughter sacrificial animals but later degraded to status of untouchable due to exposure to blood and purity concept later introduced in hinduism due to influence of Buddhism and jainism.
    In one of osho records it is stated that brahmins were slaughterers and those who used to perform this know as sharma and he stated literal meaning sharnan word to offer by killing and this might be the reason why even present day actual sharma brahmins has the best genetics with robust personality.
    who are khatiks and is there any relationship with pigs?now
    now we know are khatiks and there is no relationship with pigs
    pig slaughter community is different earlier used to known as sonkar which is originated drom word “sukkaraha” as pig was considered as god among hindus and prohibited animal in islam so after muslim rule sonkars faced double oppressed and degraded to the level of untouchables but khatiks were demonized and feared but were not untouchables even they were appointed as cooks, soldiers and meat sellers in both islamic army like turks and mughals and hindu army like rajputs and marathas by this time khatik regained their strong hold in position with a parallel status like jats of that time.
    Fascinated by allmost similar profession of hunting and slaughtering though animal was different that is goat and sheep in case of khatiks and pigs in case of sonkar,
    sonkars started calling themselves khatiks to the nearest possibility of social acceptability “kuch na hone se kuch hona hi bhala hai”.
    Sonkars are sonkars not khatiks -period
    Britishers came
    now there were two castes established as khatiks i.e 1.vedic brahmin khatik or dhangar khatik 2.sonkar khatik or suryavanshi khatik
    suryavanshi khatiks are those sonkar khatiks who left pigs and started using horse and donkeys as their new animal.
    sonkar khatiks were 70% and dhangar khatiks were 30% by the time of independence so the last known records on khatiks by a Britishers who wrote khatik as scavenger and vegetables selling caste who involved in pig slaughtering as most data was recorded from sonkars being majority of population and the original community dhangar khatik was put under index of bakar-kasao khatik
    Sonkars were put under SC category and bakar kasao put under obc in starting but to avoid administrative burden they both assigned khatik as SC in documents even after being totally Unrelated communities.
    Sonkars share their origin with dravidians, pasi and rajbhars while khatiks shares their origin with indo-aryan sharma brahmins .
    Khatiks are fighting for their existence even after becoming most important caste I don’t understand why there is no genetic studies and research on our community
    Jai bhim

  • Pranveer shingh

    February 15, 2025

     

    I want to inform that the many of rajput family got kick out from the kingdom by their king because of some reasons one of the main reasons is many of rajput kings signed treaty to the mugals. So the many families were against the king that’s why they were moved to other caste.. Like in khatik community chandels, panwar etc.

  • Kunal

    February 16, 2025

     

    I am Kunal ( soor khateek )from meerut, Western UP. I want to say that pork butcher khatik or soor khatik are originated in north india around the area of delhi. When the period of Mughals king Aurangzeb many khatik were converted to Islam in 17th or 18th century, in punjab and delhi. To prevent for the conversion, they decided to raise pigs, and the oppose of Mughal cow/beef
    Butchering(slaughtering). They decided to slaughtering pigs. Now they known as soor khateek, which is the sub devision of khatik caste. the pork butcher khatik were mainly found in punjab, Delh, West Up before the 1947, and now they mainly found in punjab, haryana, delhi NCR, west UP. And few parts of Rajasthan. And I don’t know about remaining khatik such as suryawanshi, mogha, khal rangya etc. but are different from these khatik and have different origin from these khatiks. Thank you

  • Kunal

    February 16, 2025

     

    I am Kunal ( soor khateek )from meerut, Western UP. I want to say that pork butcher khatik or soor khatik are originated in north india around the area of delhi. When the period of Mughals king Aurangzeb many khatik were converted to Islam in 17th or 18th century, in punjab and delhi. To prevent for the conversion, they decided to raise pigs, and the oppose of Mughal cow/beef
    Butchering(slaughtering). They decided to slaughtering pigs. Now they known as soor khateek, which is the sub devision of khatik caste. the pork butcher khatik were mainly found in punjab, Delh, West Up before the 1947, and now they mainly found in punjab, haryana, delhi NCR, west UP. And few parts of Rajasthan. And I don’t know about remaining khatik such as suryawanshi, mogha, khal rangya etc. but are different from these khatik and have different origin from these khatiks.

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