Mahajan

Mahajan is an Indian surname, found among castes, given due to occupation.

The origin of the Mahajan Community dates back to old period

This surname is an amalgam of two Hindi words: mahaan meaning great, and jan meaning people or individuals. Thus the surname literally means 'great people'. In India the surname Mahajan is used by three communities: one residing the Amritsar to Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir, another belonging to North Maharashtra and the third one residing in almost entire North India.

Most of the Mahajans speak Hindi, Marathi, Punjabi or Dogri.

Different Communities Using Mahajan Surname

• • Mahajans of Jammu, Maharashtra and Punjab were landlords, traders and business men and had a good respect in the society. It was always considered to be a high caste and forward class, that's why they were given the name MAHAJAN. The Mahajans were always economically and socially powerful people of the society. Ironically a few of them were also involved in money lending.
  • Whereas the other category of Mahajans were people involved in money lending. So, it was a job title. Any person involved in this money lending was referred to as Mahajan whether or not was a Mahajan by caste. The people mostly involed in this money lending were lalas, munims etc. With time and with opening of banks, this type of business started diminishing and as for today such businesses hardly exists, except for few rural parts in UP, Bihar and few other backward states.
  • At times Mahajans and Baniyas are confused, originally 'Baniyas' were involved in the practice of trading where as Mahajans were usually involved in business and trading from one state to another (same like Import or Export).

• Mahajans from Maharashtra are a diverse group. They are mostly Chitpavan or Kokanastha and Deshastha Brahmins like Late Pramod Mahajan and Vishnupant Mahajan. The surname Mahajan also exists within the Gujri, Leva Patil, Mali, Digambar Jain communities of Maharashtra.

• Mahajans were the early bankers and were able to meet the credit needs of the society for centuries. The lending risk was usually mitigated by getting a collateral in the form of land or property. Thats why they became infamous. But they did the same jobs as the modern banks and finance companies are doing in India and the rest of the world.

Notable Mahajans

Mahajans from India:

• Mehr Chand Mahajan, former Chief Justice of India.
• Pramod Mahajan, a prominent Indian Politician.
• Ishan Mahajan, an awesome guy!