Part 21 - Cultural groups of Lohanas

There are three different types or cultural groups in Lohanas due to their residence in three different regions in Sindh, Kutch, and Gujarat. The three different groups are:

• Sindhi Lohanas which migrated from Sindh after the partition of India
• Kutchi Lohanas living in Kutch
• Gujarati Lohanas living in Saurashtra in Gujarat

There are two subgroups of Gujarati Lohanas which are called as Halai Lohanas and Ghoghari Lohanas. They speak Gujarati and they also believe in Lord Dariyalal. Halai Lohanas are large in numbers as compared to Ghoghari Lohanas.

It is also noted that a large number of people from Lohana community from Gujarat and Kutch ventured out and migrated to the British colonies of East Africa especially Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. This was during the early part of the 20th century i.e. between 1880–1920 A.D.

The Gujarati Lohanas in East Africa are known to be great entrepreneurs and businessmen carrying on business activities in these countries for more than a century. In between some time during the 1970s, many of the Gujarati businessmen from Uganda had to flee from there due to the dictatorial regime of Idi Amin and his unfair policies towards Indians. Some of them moved to Kenya and most of them moved to Great Britain.

The Lohana people are generally known as Thakkars which is a common surname used by most of the Lohana community. There are of course many other surnames used by them, but Thakkar is most widely used. Lohanas have also migrated to UK and United States for the purpose of education and business and they are found in many major cities of both the above countries.