HISTORY OF MAHESHWARI COMMUNITY

King Khadaksen ruled village Khandela. King Khadaksen was a very good leader. People of Khandela loved their King very much & lived in peace and harmony.

The King had 24 wives. He had every thing, which he wanted, except for a son who could take over his throne when he grew older. The King worshipped many saints and to get their blessings he organized a big Yagya. Being impressed, the saints & holy men blessed the king with a son but warned him that the son should not go towards the northern side till the age of 16.

Shortly, one fine day, his 5th wife gave birth to a beautiful boy. The child was given the name of Sujan Kuvar. The whole kingdom of Khandela celebrated the birth of Rajkumar Sujan Kuvar. He grew with the training of Administration & Weaponery.

Several years later, young Sujan, came in spiritual touch with the Jain Religion. He was very impressed with the Jainism & decided to promote it. He had lost faith in Hindu Gods & Goddesses. He would destroy a Hindu Temple and build Jain Temple on that place.

One Day while he was on his way for hunting with his 72 men (Umraos- Rajputs) he came across Sadhus at Surya Kund who were performing a Yagya. He ordered his men to destroy the yagya immediately. On this act of his, the Sadhus became so enraged that they gave shrapa and converted the rajputs along with Rajkumar Sujan into Stones.

When King Khadaksen came learn about the news, he took his own life. Kingdom lost their king. 16 queens become sati and gave away their life for the king. Chandravati wife of Sujan Kumar along with the wife of 72 Rajputs (umraos) went crying to holy saints to forgive their husbands. Saints gave these wives an Akshay Mantra by which they could impress God Shiva & Goddess Parvati. All wives went into the holy caves and started chanting mantras. Finally lord Shiva & goddess Parvati were impressed by their devotion & love for their husbands and gave life back to Rajkumar Sujan & 72 Rajputs. Getting their life back, all of them went to lord Shiva and prayed to forgive their sin. Lord Shiva asked these men to convert themselves from Rajputs to Vishanavas i.e. leave there weapons & convert into businessmen. He blessed these men to form a community with his name as Maheshwari. He declared Maheshwari will have my blessings, higher growth prospects in business & trade. It is said that of 72 Rajputs (Umrao) one was Sri Tej Singh Chauhan on conversion to Maheshwari his successor were known as Toshniwals.In the list of castes among Maheswaris, Toshniwal name appears in the 31st place. Their Gotra is Kaushik and their Kuldevi is Khunkharthe Maheswari.

Branches of KHAMP TOSHNIWAL IS 1)TOSHNIWAL 2)NAGORI 3)MEJAYJI 4)MODI 5)MONJI 6)DAGA 7)NEWAR 8)DAMDI 9)LAMBU 10)SINGHI 11)DAS 12)DGA 13)JHALRIA 14)NORYA 15)BHAKRODHA 16)KOTHARI

FORMING OF KOTHARI FROM TOSHNIWAL

One Sri Kaloji Toshniwal came to Bikaner and settled there in the year 1520. Though he was in business but due to his intelligence and presence of mind when the rulers of JOdhpur attacked Bikaner he advised the head of the army which led to the Bikaner Rulers winning the battle. There after he became a popular figure and on advice of his court members the Ruler of Bikaner assigned him the job of looking after the stocks at the big Store Houses better known as "KOTHAR" of the entire State. And thus he was conferred the title of Kothari and his descendants still use this title "KOTHARI".