Dashora

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Historical Origins The origins of Dashora Family are not well documented and there is little trustworthy information. A very authentic attempt to depict the history of Dashoras is believed to be in the books by Nandlal Dashora.

All myths and word of mouth stories do indicate that Dashora Brahmins in the past were were traveling, engaging in religious preaching, discourses and discussions. They provided advice, spiritual guidance and medical expertise. They were frequently consulted by the Indian Royal Families. They served as Priests, Educators and Aurvedic "Doctors" (Vaidyas).

The most generally accepted belief is that Dashoras are decedents of Nagar Brahmins. Around the 10th century they were living in the town of Visnagar near Junagadh in Gujarat Province of India and were advisers to the royalty. They fled Gujarat when Ghazni attacked Gujarat and the Somnath Temple around the year 1069. Like other Nagar Brahmins Dashoras worship Hatkeshwar Mahadev (The Hatkeshwar Mahedev Temple is located in Vadnagar Gujarat)

Dashora are decedents of those residents of Vishnagar who migrated to Mandsaur. It is firmly believed that Dashoras were living in the region around Mandsaur in the 12th-13th century. Mandsaur was originally named Dashpur or Dashor. It is thus most widely implied that that the name Dashora signifies Dahora as originating from Dashpur. That is to say members of Dashpur Jati (Community).

In the year 1305 an attack on Mandsaur by Ala-ud-din Khilji almost completely destroyed the community. Many women chose death by burning themselves rather than surrendering to the invaders.

It is believed that the "Maha Sati Mata" Shrine in Mandsaur is a memorial to the women who became "Satis" during that invasion. This belief is also supported by the tradition that Dashoras show respect and worship the "Sati Matas" in all their religious ceremonies.

The men and women who survived the slaughter fled and settled in nearby regions in Rajasthan (towns of Udaipur, Chittor Saventa) and Central India (towns Garoth, Indore, Ujjain, Rampura, Bhanpura....).

Many other Dashora Families have Sati Mata Shrines specific to their family origin in different places.

Major concentration of of Dashoras is in the city of Indore, Madhya Pradesh. It is not clear when the Dashoras began to settle in Indore or the nearby Malwa Region. The other major concentration is in the city of Udaipur Rajasthan. Nandlal Dashora's books trace the genealogy of (male) Dashoras settled in Udaipur and nearby areas for many generations to the present generation with great authenticity.

The main languages spoken by modern day Dashoras are Hindi and English. The Dashoras of Indore ancestry consider Malwi as their first language whereas those with Mewad ancestry use Mewadi / Marwadi dialects of Rajasthan as their first language. The Malwi language spoken by some of the Dashora families with Indore ancestry includes shades of Nimadi, Gujarati and Marathi depending upon their family migratory and professional history. Dashoras use Sanskrit as the language for religious ceremonies and worship and are followers of Shukla Yajurveda.

For generations Dashoras remained a closed community marrying only with other Dashoras. This resulted in many inter-marriages although cross-breading has been carefully avoided and rare. Only in the recent generations individuals started marrying outside the Dashora Community, The cross marriages happened first to other Nagar Brahmins then to other Brahmin communities and other Hindus. Even now relatively extremely few people have married to persons of other religions, faiths and cultures. However, now, in the 21st century members of the Extended Dashora Community are spread all over the globe.

To this generation, Dashoras have retained a sense of community. They support each other. Most of them are ethical, religious, peaceful, nonviolent, selfless, honest, simple living, middle class, dedicated hard working individuals engaged in a variety of white collar and intellectual professions. They are trust worthy and respected by the society around them. They believe in superiority of moral and spiritual values over material riches.

References http://nannu.pugmarks.com/dashora-family/history.htm Other Published Material (1) Books by Nandlal Dashora

A set of excellent books have been published by Nandlal Dashora and various co-authors

1. DASHORA (BRAHMIN) JATI- Ke MEWAD Main 700 VARSH 700 Years (1305-2005) of History of Dashora Family in Mewad. by Nandlal Dashora. 2006 . Also contains imprtantant facts related to Dashora Community in Rajasthan. FRONT COVER of the book is available at http://nannu.pugmarks.com/dashora-family/images/nld.pdf 2. DASHORA (BRAHMIN) JATI- MEWAD Wanshawalian avm Wansh Parichay (Family Trees and an Introduction of the Families) by Nandlal and Hari Shankar Dashora Last edited 30-11-2004 + Erratum issued in 2005. Publishers: Radheshyam Dashora, Purshottam Lal Dashora and Rajendra Prasad Dashora May be ordered from the authors.

3.  DASHORA (BRAHMIN) JATI-  Dharmik Paramparayen (Religious Traditions)

by Nandlal Dashora First Edition 01 March 1996. Publishers: Shyam Sunder Dashora and Nandlal Dashora May be ordered from the authors.

DASHORA (BRAHMIN) JATI- MEWAD Itihas (History) 
DASHORA (BRAHMIN) JATI-  MEWAD Itihas avm Parichay  (History and Introduction)