Mahuri (माहुरी) is a Hindu caste (jāti) under Vaishya varna. Mahuri are reported to have migrated from the city of Mathura and surrounding rural locations to the then sub of Bengal under the Mughal Empire. As a faithful community, the Mahuri Vaishya community still continues to worship Mata Mathurasini Devi, an incarnation of Shakti, as their family deity. Mythology In a part of the Bhagavata Purana, which is named Sukha Sagar (that is, the Ocean of Bliss), there is a mythical story which states that Brahma felt that the Avatar (incarnation) of Krishna had already taken place on the earth (Prithvi). He dispatched an emissary to the Mathura region to ascertain the factual position. There the emissary found that Krishna was moving around with Gopas and Gopis in and around Vrindavan. After some time, Krishna went somewhere, leaving the Gopas and Gopis alone for some time. During Krishna's absence, Brahma's emissary put all the Gopas and Gopis inside a cave and closed the opening of the cave. Upon his return, when Krishna found that all the Gopas and Gopis had disappeared, he, by his divine power, created duplicates of them and sent them to their respective homes. After some time, the real Gopas and Gopis could come out of the cave, and when they reached their homes, they found their identical figures occupying the houses. Somehow, they evicted them from their houses. Now, the Gopas and Gopis created of Krishna's divine maya came to him, and prayed for shelter. Krishna advised them to reside in the fourteen forest hamlets around Vrindavan and directed them that for livelihood they should engage themselves in trade and commerce. It is believed by some of the Mahuri people that these Gopas and Gopis created by the divine Maya of Krishna are their ancestors, and Mahuri people derive their surnames, as described below, from the names of the forest hamlets where they had originally settled as directed by Krishna. Surnames The Mahuri Vaishya have 13 surnames (family names), each with a different gotra. It is believed that Lord Krishna advised the ancient ancestors of the Mahuri to engage themselves in trade and commerce—that is, to take up the ways of the Vaishya—in order to earn their livelihood. They settled in fourteen hamlets nestled in the forests of Vrindavana (now Vrindavan) around the ancient city of Mathura, whence the name "Mahuri". The fourteen original Mahuri surnames