Thakur

(“master”) The model for traditional
Indian society was as a collection of
endogamous subgroups (i.e., groups in
which marriages occurred only between
members of the same group) known as
jatis (“birth”). These jatis were organized (and their social status determined) by the group’s hereditary
occupation, over which each group had
a monopoly. In northern India, the
Thakurs were a jati considered to be
kshatriyas, who have traditionally functioned as landlords and village leaders.
Its most famous member was the Nobel
laureate Rabindranath Tagore.