title: Swallow

text: According to a sailing superstition, swallows are a good omen to those at sea. This probably arose from the fact that swallows are land-based birds, so their appearance informs a sailor that he or she is close to shore.


title: Enter the Void

text: Enter the Void is a 2009 English-language experimental art film written and directed by Gaspar Noé and starring Nathaniel Brown, Paz de la Huerta, and Cyril Roy. It is a psychological drama fantasy film set in the neon-lit nightclub environments of Tokyo. The story follows Oscar, a young American drug dealer who gets fatally shot by the police, but continues to watch subsequent events during an out-of-body experience. The film is shot from a first-person viewpoint, which often floats above the city streets, and occasionally features Oscar staring over his own shoulder as he recalls moments from his past. Noé labels the film a "psychedelic melodrama".


title: Enter the Void

text: Noé's dream project for many years, the production was made possible after the commercial success of his earlier feature film "Irréversible" (2002). "Enter the Void" was primarily financed by Wild Bunch, while Fidélité Films led the actual production. With a mix of professionals and newcomers, the film makes heavy use of imagery inspired by experimental cinema and psychedelic drug experiences. Principal photography took place on location in Tokyo, and involved many complicated crane shots. Co-producers included the visual effects studio BUF Compagnie, which also provided the computer-generated imagery. The film's soundtrack is a collage of electronic pop and experimental music.


title: Enter the Void

text: A rough cut premiered at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, but post-production work continued, and the film was not released in France until almost a year later. A cut-down version was released in the United States and United Kingdom in September 2010. The critical response was sharply divided: positive reviews described the film as captivating and innovative, while negative reviews called it tedious and puerile. The film performed poorly at the box office.


title: Enter the Void

text: American siblings Oscar (Nathaniel Brown) and Linda (Paz de la Huerta) live in an apartment in Tokyo, and have vowed to stay together following the accidental death of their parents. Oscar deals drugs while Linda hires herself out as a stripper. Most of the film takes place in Oscar's first-person perspective, with flashbacks to his and Linda's past taking place from an outside perspective.


title: Enter the Void

text: One evening, after Linda has left for work, Oscar indulges in an hallucinogenic trip until his friend Victor (Olly Alexander) summons him to a drug deal at ""The Void"" bar. Oscar's other friend Alex (Cyril Roy) spontaneously visits and accompanies him. On the way, Alex discusses "The Tibetan Book of the Dead", a Buddhist scripture on reincarnation, and anticipates the events to come by describing the process of death. Oscar enters "The Void" alone, and finds that he has walked into a trap; the police raid the bar when Oscar greets a distressed Victor. Oscar escapes into a bathroom stall and vainly attempts to flush the drugs. As the officers kick in the door, Oscar bluffs that he is armed, but he is fatally shot through the door. Oscar's soul – as well as the first-person perspective – rises from his body, and he goes in search of Linda, attempting to fulfill his promise to never leave her. However, he perceives walking without a body to be a nightmarish dimension in which his sense of time is blurred.


title: Enter the Void

text: The lives of Oscar and Linda are presented in short non-chronological flashbacks; in the midst of a happy childhood, their parents were killed in a violent car crash. Before being sent to different foster homes, the siblings took an oath to always be there for each other. Years later, Oscar lived as a small-time dealer in Tokyo and was soon able to afford a plane ticket for Linda to live with him. Linda found work as a stripper for the nightclub owner Mario. As Oscar's business expanded, Victor discovered that Oscar had sex with his mother to secure extra funding for Linda's plane ticket. This led him to set up the raid that ended Oscar's life.


title: Enter the Void

text: Linda becomes pregnant, loses her job as a stripper, and has an abortion. Alex is forced into hiding on the streets after Oscar's dealer Bruno breaks up the drug ring. Linda wishes she had gotten involved with Alex instead of Mario as Oscar wanted. On one occasion, Linda wishes that Oscar would come back to life; Oscar then enters Linda's head and experiences her dream in which he wakes up at the morgue, from which his body is taken to be cremated. Meanwhile, Victor argues with his mother over her involvement with Oscar, and he is thrown from the house. He visits Linda to apologize for his role in Oscar's death. However, when Victor accuses Linda of complicity in her brother's death, she angrily chases Victor away, demanding that he kill himself.


title: Enter the Void

text: Oscar hovers over Tokyo and lands on a plane, in which Oscar's mother breast-feeds a baby Oscar. Linda and Alex take a taxi to a Tokyo love hotel and have sex. Oscar moves among hotel rooms and observes several other couples having sex in various positions. Each couple emanates flashes of light from their genitals. Oscar enters Alex's head and witnesses the sex with Linda from Alex's perspective. He then travels inside Linda's vagina to witness Alex's thrusting, then observes his ejaculation and follows the semen into the fertilization of his sister's ovum. The final scene is shot from the perspective of a baby being born to Oscar's mother.


title: Enter the Void

text: The cinematic experience itself is the main focus of the film, but there is also a central theme of emptiness. Noé describes the film's subject as "the sentimentality of mammals and the shimmering vacuity of the human experience." The dramaturgy after Oscar has been shot is loosely based on "The Tibetan Book of the Dead", and ends with the spirit's search for a way to reincarnate. The director, who opposes all religious beliefs, says that "the whole movie is a dream of someone who read "The Tibetan Book of the Dead", and heard about it before being [shot by a gun]. It's not the story of someone who dies, flies and is reincarnated, it's the story of someone who is stoned when he gets shot and who has an intonation of his own dream." Noé describes the ending of the film as Oscar's recollection of "the most traumatic moment of his life – his own birth". The director also leaves open the possibility that Oscar's life starts over again in an endless loop, due to the human brain's perception of time.


title: Enter the Void

text: The idea for the film had been growing since Noé's adolescence, when he first became interested in matters of death and existence. In his early twenties—while under influence of psilocybin mushrooms—he saw Robert Montgomery's "Lady in the Lake", a 1947 film shot entirely in a first-person perspective. He then decided that, if he ever made a film about the afterlife, that was the way in which it would be filmed. Noé had been working on different versions of the screenplay for fifteen years before the film went into production. The story had initially been more linear, and the drafts were set in different locations, including the Andes, France, and New York City. Tokyo was chosen because it could provide colourful environments required for the film's hallucinogenic aspects, and because Japan's repressive drug laws add to the drama, explaining the intensity of the main character's fear of the police.


title: Enter the Void

text: Noé first tried to get the film funded in the early 2000s. Several producers responded positively to the script, and it was briefly under development for Tom Tykwer's German company X-Filme Creative Pool. It was considered too expensive and the producers dropped out. Prospects changed when "Irréversible" (2002) became a commercial success. Noé had written and directed "Irréversible" for StudioCanal, and it was sold internationally by their subsidiary, Wild Bunch. When the producers at Wild Bunch asked Noé what he wanted to do next, he answered "Enter the Void". The project was once again considered too expensive in relation to its commercial potential, but when Wild Bunch discovered that Noé had started to develop the film for Pathé instead of them, they said that they were willing to fund it. Since development went slowly at Pathé, Noé chose to not renew his contract with the studio and accepted Wild Bunch's offer.


title: Enter the Void

text: "Enter the Void" was produced under Fidélité Films, with 70% of the budget invested by Wild Bunch. French co-producers included Noé's company Les Cinémas de la Zone and the visual effects studio BUF Compagnie. It received pre-sales investment from Canal+ and funding from Eurimages. Additional co-production support was provided by Essential Filmproduktion of Germany and BIM Distribuzione of Italy. The total budget was 12.38 million euro. In retrospect, Noé called "Irréversible" a bank robbery, a film made in order to finance "Enter the Void". He also saw it as a helpful technical exercise.


title: Enter the Void

text: The decision to use English-speaking actors was made early. Since the film would be very visual, the director wanted audiences to be able to focus on the images, and not have to rely on subtitles. He later expressed his approval of the use of dubbed voice tracks in non-English speaking countries.


title: Enter the Void

text: The role of Linda was the first to be cast. Noé found Paz de la Huerta after holding auditions in New York City. "I met Paz and I really liked her. She had the profile for the character because she likes screaming, crying, showing herself naked—all the qualities for it." Due to a desire that Linda and Oscar should be believable as siblings, Nathaniel Brown, a non-professional, was cast because of his resemblance to Huerta. Noé feared that a professional actor would be frustrated by being shown almost exclusively from behind, but he felt that Brown, an aspiring director, would find it stimulating to merely be present on the set. Auditions were held for westerners living in Japan for other Tokyo-based roles. Cyril Roy went to an audition with a friend only because he wanted to talk with the director, whose previous films he admired. Roy was cast as Alex, since Noé found his talkative personality suitable for the role. Noé said about Brown and Roy:


title: Enter the Void

text: The thought of acting in a film had never even entered their minds. They're easy-going people, they have a good time in front of the camera and I don't think there was a single moment where either of them felt they were working. Paz, however, was definitely conscious of the fact that she was interpreting a role.


title: Enter the Void

text: Noé had tried various hallucinogens in his youth, and used those experiences as inspiration for the visual style. Later, when the director was already planning the film, he tried the psychoactive brew ayahuasca, in which the active substance is DMT. This was done in the Peruvian jungle, where the brew is legal due to its traditional use as an entheogen. Noé described the experience as very intense, and said he regarded it "almost like professional research." Since few on the design team had ever taken a hallucinogen, it was necessary for Noé to collect and provide visual references in the forms of paintings, photographs, music videos, and excerpts from films. One reference used was the works of biologist Ernst Haeckel, whose drawings influenced the organic patterns seen during Oscar's visions.


title: Enter the Void

text: Another important stylistic influence was the experimental oeuvre of Kenneth Anger, and in particular "Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome". Noé saw Anger's films in the early 1990s, while promoting the short film "Carne", and quickly became a fan. Other influences from experimental cinema included the works of Jordan Belson and Peter Tscherkassky. Noé's favourite film, "", was the most prominent influence among mainstream films; Noé wanted to become a filmmaker after he saw it at the age of seven. Brian De Palma's "Snake Eyes" and other films which feature hovering overhead shots inspired Noé to make a film largely from such a perspective.


title: Enter the Void

text: There were two reasons for showing Oscar's head and shoulders within the frame during the flashback scenes, rather than letting the camera be the character's eyes. The first was that this is the way Noé usually sees himself in dreams and when recalling past events. He also thought it would be easier for the viewer to care about a character who is visible, as many point-of-view films, in his opinion, look unintentionally funny.


title: Enter the Void

text: The crew filmed in Tokyo from 19 October to 15 December 2007. Flashback scenes were shot in Montreal over the course of four weeks the following spring, until 16 May 2008. The team went back to Tokyo twice for additional footage, once before the Montreal session and once when principal photography was complete. Only four persons on the Tokyo set were French; the rest of the crew was Japanese. Marc Caro worked as the supervisor of set designs in Tokyo. According to Noé, Caro had three months free after finishing "Dante 01", his first effort as a solo director, so Noé asked him to come to Japan.


title: Enter the Void

text: The 100-page screenplay detailed plot developments and many of the visual traits, but very little dialogue was scripted, so the actors were asked to improvise their lines. Noé explained this approach: "For me, directing actors is just finding the right people and putting them in the right mood on the set and letting them go. ... I think the energy has to come on the set at the very last minute." Locations were used in Kabukichō and other parts of Shinjuku. Since much of the film was set in neighbourhoods known for gambling and prostitution, the producers made agreements with the Yakuza crime syndicates before filming some of the on-location scenes. Criminal organisations were not involved in the actual production. Studio scenes set in Tokyo were filmed at Toho Studios. More scenes than originally planned had to be filmed in the studio because of the many complicated crane arrangements. Some of the overhead sequences took a full day to arrange and film. The scenes where Oscar is alive were mostly shot on location, but the crane shots were exclusively taken in the studio; this included revisits to some of the previous locations, which were replicated as large indoor sets. Other shots were taken from helicopters flying over the city. Much attention was paid to the continuity of the geography, and filming was overseen by a supervisor from the visual-effects team.


title: Enter the Void

text: The film was mainly shot on Kodak Vision3 250D film stock. Scenes where Oscar is alive were shot in the super 35 format with Arricam LT cameras, and the rest in super 16 with an Aaton XTR Prod. The cinematographer was Benoît Debie, who also shot "Irréversible". As in "Irréversible", Noé was reluctant to use artificial lighting that would destroy the illusion if the camera was turned around. Thanks to Tokyo's many neon signs, very little additional lighting was required for the exterior scenes, despite the fact that many were shot late at night. For the interior scenes Debie mainly used practical, in-frame light sources. Some exceptions were made. One was that the moods of the characters were meant to be indicated by different colours, ranging from orange to purple with occasional greens. For this, Debie used a set of red, green, and blue programmable disco lights, which allowed for all different hues. The disco lights were easy to hide. They were also used for simulation of neon flashes, and to add a tint of red to the dressing-room scenes. Another exception was the use of strobe lights, which were programmed together with the coloured lights. Blue colour was avoided throughout, since the filmmakers did not associate it with dreams. Noé was the film's camera operator, except for a few shots of Oscar running in the streets, as they required a taller cameraman. In those scenes, the camera was held by Debie.


title: Enter the Void

text: "Enter the Void"'s post-production process lasted more than a year. Work on the digital effects was led by Pierre Buffin of BUF Compagnie. Every scene in the film includes computer-generated imagery (CGI)—even the flashback scenes, where the backdrops were digitally altered. Studio scenes, helicopter shots, and CGI were forged together in the hovering sequences with the intention that the viewer should be unable to determine which is which. For shots from high altitudes, the team started with helicopter footage from video, and then created computer models of the neighbourhoods with textures from photographs. Neon lights, reflections, and dark areas were consistently accentuated. Flickers were created through a mixture of motion blur, chromatic aberration, and focus effects. For scenes seen as through a fisheye lens, the team recreated the sets digitally and progressively increased the environments' reflection values along with the lens effect.


title: Enter the Void

text: Noé initially asked the Daft Punk member Thomas Bangalter, who had composed the music for "Irréversible", to create an original soundtrack for "Enter the Void". Bangalter was occupied with work on "" and had to decline. As a compromise, he provided Noé with an arrangement of ambient sounds and samples from existing experimental music, from which Noé compiled what he envisioned as "a maelstrom of sounds." Bangalter is billed in the credits as sound effects director, and the film features his track "Désaccords" originally composed for "Irréversible". One of the sources of inspiration for the soundtrack was "Revolution 9" by The Beatles, a sound collage which Noé describes as a work "where you catch the beginning of a note, or of a melody and then it's already somewhere else." The two main musical themes of the film are "Freak" by the British electro artist LFO, which is played during the opening credits, and a recording by Delia Derbyshire of Johann Sebastian Bach's "Air on the G String", which serves as the theme for Oscar's childhood and his relationship with Linda. The beginning of "ANS" by the British band Coil is heard during Oscar's first DMT trip. The Throbbing Gristle song "Hamburger Lady" plays as Oscar tries to deliver drugs to Victor at the bar. The soundtrack notably includes excerpts from nearly every part of Jean-Claude Éloy's two compositions, "Shânti" and "Gaku-no-Michi". Other songs on the soundtrack include Toshiya Tsunoda's "Music for Baby", Alvin Lucier's "Music for Gamelan Instruments, Microphones, Amplifiers and Loudspeakers", and works by Denis Smalley, Lullatone, and Zbigniew Karkowski.


title: Enter the Void

text: When the film premiered at film festivals, it was initially shown in a version without any credits. As several people at the screenings complained about the length of the film, Noé decided that if the final version would have any opening titles, they would have to be "as fast as possible and as graphic as possible". The German experimental filmmaker Thorsten Fleisch was hired to create the title logo. Noé discovered Fleisch through his 2007 film "Energie!", for which the technique of animated sparks had been developed.


title: Enter the Void

text: A 163-minute version of the film competed in the main competition of the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. The Cannes cut lacked much of the finished film's sound design, and some visual effects were not fully in place. Noé said about the version: "the film was like a baby of three months. I took it out of my belly to show it, flattered by [festival general] Thierry Frémaux's invitation, but it was still in gestation. So I had to put it back into my belly, that is to say to tweak many details."


title: Enter the Void

text: Festival screenings of subsequent versions followed throughout the year, including the Toronto, Sitges, London, and Stockholm international film festivals. The final 154-minute cut premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. At the Cannes premiere, the film had alternatively been listed with the French title Soudain le vide, which means "Suddenly the void".


title: Enter the Void

text: When it was released in France, it used the English title. It premiered in France on 5 May 2010 through Wild Bunch Distribution. The Japanese release followed ten days later.


title: Enter the Void

text: Distribution rights for the United States were picked up at Sundance by IFC Films. Trinity Filmed Entertainment was the British distributor. The film was released in the United States and the United Kingdom on 24 September 2010. In both these countries, the film was distributed without the seventh of its nine reels. The running time was therefore 137 minutes at 25 frames per second, which the director had instructed that the film should be played at, or 142 minutes at the more common 24 frames per second. Noé says that none of the cut material is essential for the film. He describes it as "some astro-visions, an orgy scene with Linda and the Japanese girl, the scene where you see [Oscar] waking up at the morgue and he thinks he's alive but he's not, and then the camera goes down the plughole where she's tipping his ashes." The reason the shorter version was made was that Noé had promised the investors to make an alternative edit if the film ended up being longer than two hours and 20 minutes. The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc in France on 1 December 2010. Each edition features both the complete version and the shorter cut.


title: Enter the Void

text: Thomas Sotinel of "Le Monde" started his review by recalling the irritation the film caused upon its world premiere in Cannes, and compared the cut he had seen there to the final version: "In all honesty, the difference does not jump to my eyes. Of course, the film seems more consistent, but that may be because we've already traveled this maze once. While leaving, we might remain calmer, but still amazed by the mixture of exuberant invention and puerility." A positive review came from "L'Express", written by Laurent Djian, who compared the film to "2001: A Space Odyssey". He applauded how he found the strobe lights hypnotising in a way that influenced the perception of time. "In 2010, no other filmmaker [in France] than Gaspar Noé can shoot with such mastery, nor draw us into a vortex of sensations as vertiginous." "Ouest-France"s critic, on the other hand, was immensely bored by the film, and called it "a padding of simple ideas, stereotypes and cliches in a heap of contrived and vain images which think they're technical prowess. Soporific cinema."


title: Enter the Void

text: Upon the Japanese release, the critic writing for "The Japan Times" reflected: "If "Lost in Translation" is the film you'd make when all you know about Japan are the pampered press junkets at Shinjuku 5-star hotels, then "Enter the Void" is what you would make if you never got beyond the Roppongi pub-crawl." While the review was largely negative, the author was still impressed by the visual depiction of the Japanese capital: "Visually, much of the film is stunning ... and the art design by Marc Caro ("Delicatessen") takes Tokyo's love of neon gaudiness to a surreal extreme".


title: Enter the Void

text: "Enter the Void" holds an approval rating of 71% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 91 English-language reviews, with an average rating of 6.73/10. The website's critics' consensus reads: "Grimy and psychedelic, "Enter the Void" ushers audiences through an out-of-body experience with the eye for extremity and technical wizardry that Gaspar Noé fans have come to expect." On Metacritic, the film holds a score of 69 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Enter the Void

text: Peter Bradshaw included the film in "The Guardian"s top 50 films of the decade so far, and gave it five stars out of five. He compared it to "Irréversible", which he had disliked:


title: Enter the Void

text: "Enter the Void" is, in its way, just as provocative, just as extreme, just as mad, just as much of an outrageous ordeal[.] ... But despite its querulous melodrama and crazed Freudian pedantries, it has a human purpose the previous film lacked, and its sheer deranged brilliance is magnificent. ... Love him or loathe him – and I've done both in my time – Gaspar Noé is one of the very few directors who is actually trying to do something new with the medium, battling at the boundaries of the possible.


title: Enter the Void

text: Andrew Male rated the film two out of five in "Empire". Male called it "technically stunning", but also "dreadfully acted, tediously 'profound' and painfully overlong", and accused the director of misogyny. "The Village Voice"s Karina Longworth had several reservations about the film. She thought that the characters lacked emotional depth and called the story "a lame fusion of stoner lifestyle, sexual fetish, and philosophical inquiry", but still ended the review: "I could stare at this movie for days and not get tired of the sensation. A mash-up of the sacred, the profane, and the brain-dead, "Enter the Void" is addictive." Jen Chaney of "The Washington Post" thought that the film was successful as an "attempt to transport moviegoers to a hallucinatory version of the hereafter unlike anything they've ever witnessed on film", but added: "The problem is that it's also the most excruciating sit in recent cinematic memory. And no, the fact that it's intentionally excruciating doesn't make it less excruciating."


title: Enter the Void

text: In a 2016 international critics' poll conducted by BBC, three critics listed "Enter the Void" as one of the greatest motion pictures since 2000.


title: Enter the Void

text: The film was a financial failure; according to Wild Bunch in February 2011, the film had returned 1.25% of the investment. In France, it was launched on 30 prints and sold 51,126 tickets in total. Producer Brahim Chioua said that the film had been difficult to sell abroad for a reasonable price due to the late-2000s financial crisis. The Numbers reported that the worldwide theatrical revenues corresponded to US$1,467,278.


title: Enter the Void

text: "Enter the Void" won the Special Jury Award and the prize for Best Cinematography at the 2009 Sitges Film Festival. It received the main award for best film at the 2010 Neuchâtel Film Festival. This especially delighted Noé, since one of the jury members in Neuchâtel was Douglas Trumbull, the special effects supervisor of "2001: A Space Odyssey".


title: Jason Scott Lee

text: Jason Scott Lee (; born November 19, 1966) is an American actor and martial artist. He played Mowgli in Disney's 1994 live-action adaptation of "The Jungle Book" and Bruce Lee in the 1993 martial arts film "". He is not related to Bruce Lee.


title: Jason Scott Lee

text: Lee was born in Los Angeles. He was raised in Hawaii and is of Hawaiian and Chinese descent. He attended school at Pearl City High School.


title: Jason Scott Lee

text: Lee started his acting career with small roles in "Born in East L.A." (1987) and "Back to the Future Part II" (1989). In 1990, he appeared in the television film "The Lookalike". In 1992, he played his first leading role in the romantic drama Map of the Human Heart. In 1993, he portrayed Bruce Lee in the biopic ""


title: Jason Scott Lee

text: Lee has trained in Bruce Lee's martial art Jeet Kune Do since portraying Lee and continues to train and became a certified instructor under former Bruce Lee student Jerry Poteet. In 1994, he starred in "Rapa-Nui" and as Mowgli in the live-action adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book" with Lena Headey and John Cleese. Lee was originally considered for the role of Liu Kang in the 1995 film "Mortal Kombat", but Lee turned down the role and replaced by Robin Shou instead. In 1998, he played the main villain Caine 607 in the science fiction film "Soldier", along with Kurt Russell and "Mortal Kombat" film director Paul Anderson. In 2000, he played Aladdin in the miniseries "Arabian Nights". He did voice-over work for the 2002 Disney animated film "Lilo & Stitch".


title: Jason Scott Lee

text: Lee went on to appear in several direct-to-video films such as "" (2001), "" (2003), and "" (2005). Lee is among the actors, producers and directors interviewed in the documentary "The Slanted Screen" (2006), directed by Jeff Adachi, about the representation of Asian and Asian American men in Hollywood.


title: Jason Scott Lee

text: In 2007, he played Eddie in the sports comedy film "Balls of Fury" alongside Dan Fogler, in his first theatrically released film since 2002. Lee performed as The King of Siam in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "The King and I" in a production at the London Palladium in 2000 opposite Elaine Paige. Lee made his operatic debut in the non-singing role of Pasha Selim in Hawaii Opera Theatre's production of Mozart's "Abduction from the Seraglio" at the Blaisdell Concert Hall in Honolulu in February 2009.


title: Jason Scott Lee

text: Lee was also to perform as The King of Siam in the 2014 Opera Australia production of "The King and I" in Melbourne opposite Lisa McCune, but was injured, and Lou Diamond Phillips had to take his role.


title: Jason Scott Lee

text: In 2016, Lee played Hades Dai in "". In 2019, he voiced the main character, The Swordsman, for Kevin McTurk's crowdsourced short puppetry film, "The Haunted Swordsman".


title: Jason Scott Lee

text: In 2020, he played the villain Böri Khan in Disney’s "Mulan", a live action remake of the 1998 animated film of the same name. He also joined the cast of the historical drama "The Wind & The Reckoning" as Ko’olau, a cowboy who took part in a rebellion against soldiers of the recently instated Provisional Government of Hawaii forcing the displacement of leprosy patients to the Kalaupapa Leprosy Colony in Molokaʻi. Film production happened as the COVID-19 pandemic reached its peak in the islands, the film released in early November 2022.


title: Jason Scott Lee

text: In 2021, Lee starred as a main role in the Disney+ series, Doogie Kameāloha, M.D., a reboot of Doogie Howser, M.D.


title: Jason Scott Lee

text: In recognition of Lee's positive impact on the image of Asians in America through his physical, attractive roles, "Goldsea", the Asian American magazine website, placed him at Number 7 on its compilation "The 130 Most Inspiring Asian Americans of All Time".


title: Manuel Pellegrini

text: Manuel Lúis Pellegrini Ripamonti (; ; born 16 September 1953) is a Chilean professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Real Betis. As a coach, he has managed teams in Spain, England, Argentina, Chile, China and Ecuador. Pellegrini has won national leagues in four countries.


title: Manuel Pellegrini

text: Pellegrini moved to Europe in 2004 to take the manager's post at Spanish side Villarreal. Under Pellegrini, Villarreal achieved a third-place finish in La Liga in 2004–05, a Champions League semi-final in 2005–06, and broke the big two in 2008 with a second-place finish in La Liga in 2007–08.


title: Manuel Pellegrini

text: Pellegrini's consistent record at Villarreal attracted the attention of Real Madrid and he was appointed manager there in 2009. He amassed a total of 96 points, a club record until it was surpassed by José Mourinho in the 2011–12 season, but lost the title to Barcelona by three points. He was dismissed after one season and later lamented the "Galácticos" policy employed at Real which prevented him from building a balanced team.


title: Manuel Pellegrini

text: Pellegrini took up the manager's role at Málaga in November 2010. He led Málaga to a fourth-place finish in his first full season and to qualification for the UEFA Champions League. He made it to the quarter-finals of the 2012–13 Champions League, becoming the only coach to take two teams to the Champions League quarter-finals in their debut seasons in the competition. On 22 May 2013, Pellegrini confirmed he would leave Málaga at the end of the 2012–13 La Liga season. On 14 June 2013, he was appointed manager of Manchester City, and won the Football League Cup and Premier League in his first season as manager, in the process becoming the first manager from outside Europe to manage a team to the English Premier League title. The title winning season was also noted for goal scoring prowess with Manchester City scoring 151 goals in all competitions – an English football record. Pellegrini also managed to take Manchester City to their first ever semi-final in Champions League in 2015–16, which was his last season after finishing in fourth-place with 66 points. He managed Hebei China Fortune from 2016 to 2018 before leaving the position in May. He was appointed as manager of West Ham United in May 2018 and lasted 18 months in charge before he was sacked in December 2019 after a poor run of results. On 9 July 2020, Spanish club Real Betis announced that he would manage the side for the 2020–21 season.


title: Manuel Pellegrini

text: Born in Santiago, to Italian parents, Pellegrini attended the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile in Santiago, where he graduated in civil engineering in 1979. He started his formative years as a footballer in the youth divisions of Audax Italiano. Then he went to Club Universidad de Chile where he would play professionally for them as a defender. He spent his entire playing career with the club, making a total of 451 appearances and scoring seven goals in the Chilean Division 1, including one goal against Colo-Colo, Universidad de Chile's biggest rival.


title: Manuel Pellegrini

text: In the 1970s, Club Universidad de Chile was going through one of the most unsuccessful periods in its history, having not won the national Copa Chile championship since 1969. That changed in 1979, when the club managed to win the championship and secure a spot for the 1980 Copa Libertadores, defeating its arch-rival Colo-Colo in both tournaments.


title: Manuel Pellegrini

text: Pellegrini was capped once by the Chile national team, starting in a 1–1 friendly draw away to Brazil on 7 May 1986. He retired as a player a year later, in February 1987, after a match against Trasandino, with his reason for retiring being the following: "We were playing in the Copa Chile against Trasandino. Our goalkeeper parried the shot of a rival player, I jumped to clear the ball, and behind me came a 17-year-old boy who jumped half a metre above me, and scored. That day I decided I couldn't keep going". That boy was Iván Zamorano, on loan from Cobresal, who would eventually become "Pichichi" of La Liga in 1995 with Real Madrid. Pellegrini confessed: "If I had known where that boy would get, I would not have retired. I would have kept playing two more years."


title: Manuel Pellegrini

text: Pellegrini wanted to help reconstruction projects in the Chilean central zone after the 1985 Algarrobo earthquake knowing that his experience as a qualified civil engineer would be ideal.


title: Manuel Pellegrini

text: As a coach, Pellegrini has primarily managed teams in Spain, Argentina and Chile. As in his career as a professional player, he also started off coaching Universidad de Chile during the 1988 season, but left the team at the middle of the season to take football coaching courses in Europe.


title: Manuel Pellegrini

text: The team's poor performance that year led to a relegation to the Division 2 for the first time in its history, though in 1989 they won the Division 2 championship, bringing them back to Division 1, where they have remained ever since.


title: Manuel Pellegrini

text: In 1990, Arturo Salah was appointed as the manager of the Chilean national team, and he hired Pellegrini as his assistant coach and manager of the under-20 team. In 1990, Pellegrini was appointed manager of Palestino, where he stayed until 1992. Then, in 1992, he took on managership of O'Higgins for a year, before moving in 1993 to become coach of Universidad Católica, one of the most popular clubs in Chile. There he managed well-known players such as Alberto Acosta and Nestor Gorosito and took the team to victory in the prestigious Copa Interamericana in 1994 and the 1995 Copa Chile, though he could only finish as runner-up in 1994 and 1995 of the local Campeonato Nacional championship, a competition organized by the Chilean Football Federation in parallel to the Primera Division.


title: Manuel Pellegrini

text: In 1998, Pellegrini had a brief spell back at Palestino before he was bought by Ecuadorian club LDU Quito. He managed the club to a national title in 1999, starting a tradition of coaches that followed him to the Ecuadorian team. Pellegrini also gave the club a good run in the Copa Libertadores, catching the eye of other South American managers.


title: Manuel Pellegrini

text: Pellegrini joined Argentine club San Lorenzo de Almagro in 2001 and led them to their first international title in the Copa Mercosur. He was recommended to the club by San Lorenzo icon Nestor Gorosito, who had worked with Pellegrini at Universidad Católica. The recommendation paid dividends as Pellegrini led San Lorenzo to victory in the Argentine Clausura and the Copa Mercosur, South America's UEFA Cup equivalent.


title: Manuel Pellegrini

text: Pellegrini managed Argentine club River Plate from 2002 to 2003 and secured the Clausura championships in 2003, in which he utilised the talents of Andrés D'Alessandro, one of many Argentine playmakers to have been likened to Diego Maradona. His sale to Vfl Wolfsburg, however, proved a tough hurdle for Pellegrini to overcome and his team struggled to defend their status as Argentine champions in the 2003 Torneo Apertura. He resigned his post at the end of the campaign.


title: Manuel Pellegrini

text: Pellegrini took over the managerial duties of Villarreal CF on 1 July 2004. In his first season in charge of the club, Villarreal qualified for the UEFA Champions League after finishing third in the league and reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup. The following season, Villarreal reached the semi-finals of the 2005–06 UEFA Champions League, losing to Arsenal. Villarreal eventually finished seventh in La Liga that year. The following two seasons featured Villarreal finishing in both fifth and second place in the league, the latter being historic for the club. Pellegrini led "El Submarino Amarillo" to the Champions League knockout stages, where they drew Arsenal once again in the quarter-finals, losing 4–1 on aggregate.


title: Manuel Pellegrini

text: At the end of 2007, Villarreal offered Pellegrini an extended contract until 2011. On 31 May 2009, after the last La Liga match for Villarreal, Pellegrini said: "Nobody from Real Madrid has spoken with me. I have a contract with Villarreal, we finished the league today, and tomorrow we go on holiday", after being questioned by the press on rumours that he was in talks with Madrid.


title: Manuel Pellegrini

text: On 1 June 2009, a Villarreal executive announced that Pellegrini would no longer continue at the club. The Valencian club executive specified that if Real Madrid wanted to sign the Chilean coach, they would have to pay Pellegrini's €4 million termination clause.


title: Manuel Pellegrini

text: On 1 June 2009, Pellegrini was appointed as manager of Real Madrid, signing a two-year contract. On being presented at the presidential balcony of the Santiago Bernabéu, he said, "Hard to say in a few words the excitement and pride that one feels for having been chosen to direct perhaps the most important club in the world." He joined Real Madrid as the first manager in Florentino Pérez's second stint as Real Madrid president. After a few days, Pellegrini bought Kaká from Milan, saying, "If we want to win the Champions League and be the best team in the world, we need the best players in the world." They later bought Cristiano Ronaldo for £80 million from Manchester United, Karim Benzema from Olympique Lyonnais for £30 million, and Xabi Alonso for £30 million from Liverpool.


title: Manuel Pellegrini

text: In July 2009, Pellegrini competed in his first cup for the club as manager, the Peace Cup 2009. The club finished as semi-finalist in the tournament, being eliminated by Juventus in a 2–1 loss. On 29 August, Real Madrid won 3–2 at Deportivo La Coruña in Pellegrini's first La Liga game as manager.


title: Manuel Pellegrini

text: On 27 October 2009 the club was eliminated from the Copa del Rey during the Round of 16 by the modest Segunda División B club Alcorcón with a 4–1 aggregate loss. The Spanish daily "Marca" named this match "Alcorconazo" and went on to make many teasing references to Pellegrini. On 10 March 2010, Madrid were eliminated from the Champions League by Lyon in the round-of-16 with a 2–1 aggregate loss. Florentino Pérez issued an ultimatum to Pellegrini after this defeat, warning him that he would be dismissed if he did not win the La Liga title.


title: Manuel Pellegrini

text: Pellegrini's Real Madrid team achieved 96 points in La Liga, the highest points total that Real Madrid had ever achieved in a La Liga season up to that point (since surpassed by the 2011–12 team under José Mourinho), but still came in runner-up, finishing behind their arch rival Barcelona, who had 99 points. On 26 May 2010, Real Madrid's directors announced that Pellegrini was being dismissed, to be replaced by Mourinho, but that they would have kept him if the opportunity to hire Mourinho had not arisen.


title: Manuel Pellegrini

text: Pellegrini later reflected on his frustration at not being able to build a team at Real Madrid due to the club's controversial "Galácticos" policy: "I didn't have a voice or a vote at Madrid. They sign the best players, but not the best players needed in a certain position. It's no good having an orchestra with the 10 best guitarists if I don't have a pianist. Real Madrid have the best guitarists, but if I ask them to play the piano they won't be able to do it so well. He [Pérez] sold players that I considered important. We didn't win the Champions League because we didn't have a squad properly structured to be able to win it."


title: Manuel Pellegrini

text: After being released by Real Madrid, on 22 July 2010, Pellegrini received an offer from the Mexico national team; Javier Aguirre resigned following the 2010 World Cup loss in round 16 in South Africa. Pellegrini, however, eventually signed for La Liga club Málaga on a three-year contract, their coach Jesualdo Ferreira having been dismissed. On 5 November, he was officially presented as the new coach of Málaga during a press conference with the club's owner Abdullah bin Nasser Al Thani, and watched from the stands as they lost 1–0 to Espanyol the following day. On 11 November 2010, he made his Málaga debut as coach against Hércules in a 3–2 victory in the Copa del Rey at La Rosaleda stadium, which led them to the round of 16 after the teams had drawn 0–0 in the first leg at Estadio José Rico Pérez two weeks previously, and continued his winning start as new coach of Malaga by beating Levante 1–0 in his league debut four days later. That season Malaga only managed to finish 11th.


title: Manuel Pellegrini

text: After his first full season with the team, he led them to fourth in the league with a club record-breaking 58 points. With his guidance, Málaga entered the Champions League qualifiers for the first time in the club's history. On 10 August 2012, Pellegrini publicly stated his desire to stay at the club despite its ongoing financial problems and the loss of key players such as Santi Cazorla and José Salomón Rondón.


title: Manuel Pellegrini

text: Málaga progressed to latter stages of the Champions League, where they were drawn against Milan, Zenit Saint Petersburg and Anderlecht. The club progressed to the knockout stage unbeaten, winning three and drawing three in the group stage. Málaga then beat FC Porto 2–1 on aggregate in the round-of-16. They were eliminated by Borussia Dortmund after conceding two stoppage time goals which cost them a semi-final place.


title: Manuel Pellegrini

text: On 22 May 2013, at Málaga's end-of-season award ceremony, Pellegrini announced he would leave the club at the end of the season with Málaga finishing sixth and excluded from Europe due to Financial Fair Play. In October 2018, a roundabout in Malaga was named in his honour.


title: Manuel Pellegrini

text: On 30 May 2013, Pellegrini stated he had a verbal agreement to become the new manager of Premier League club Manchester City. On 14 June 2013, Manchester City confirmed Pellegrini's appointment as their new first-team manager on a three-year contract. Pellegrini was quoted saying he was "delighted to accept this hugely exciting opportunity." Upon joining Manchester City, Pellegrini became only the fifth coach from outside of Europe to manage in the Premier League, and the first Chilean.


title: Manuel Pellegrini

text: Pellegrini initially made a shaky start, with four league losses by the end of November, but big wins against Newcastle United, Manchester United and Norwich City showed the team's potential. After their fourth league loss against Sunderland on 10 November 2013, City went on a 20-match unbeaten streak (in all competitions), which included a 6–0 win over Tottenham Hotspur, a 3–2 away win at European champions Bayern Munich, and a 6–3 win over league leaders Arsenal.


title: Manuel Pellegrini

text: After a hectic Christmas period, City's form showed no signs of abating. A 9–0 aggregate win over West Ham United in the Football League Cup semi-final (a competition record) and a 5–1 humbling of Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane maintained City's average of more than three goals a game. Of the 20 matches, only two were draws, against Southampton and Blackburn Rovers, in the FA Cup – both of which ended 1–1. Some opponents openly described City as the best team in the world, and talk about an unprecedented quadruple soon arose in the media.


title: Manuel Pellegrini

text: Pellegrini had won the Premier League manager of the month for December 2013 and was roundly praised for his attacking managerial style, calm demeanor, and excellent man management. Such was Manchester City's ruthlessness in front of goal from all angles – intricate passing moves, crosses, solo-runs and set pieces – "The Daily Telegraph" likened City's style to ""death by beautiful geometry"".


title: Manuel Pellegrini

text: On 18 January 2014, City surpassed 100 goals for the season, in all competitions, in just 34 games – the quickest century in the Premier League era, beating Chelsea's 2012–13 record by eight matches. By the end of January 2014, they had scored 115 goals in all competitions – the most goals scored by any club in Europe. Maintaining such a scoring rate would see them surpass the 143 scored by Manchester United's "Busby Babes" in the 1957–58 season.


title: Manuel Pellegrini

text: On 2 March 2014, Pellegrini's Manchester City defeated Sunderland 3–1 at Wembley Stadium in the 2014 Football League Cup Final, giving him his first major trophy in European football. On 11 May, Manchester City became Premier League champions, after beating West Ham United 2–0, with goals from Samir Nasri and Vincent Kompany at the City of Manchester Stadium, making Pellegrini the first coach from outside of Europe to win the English league title.


title: Manuel Pellegrini

text: On 29 October 2014, City were defeated 2–0 by Newcastle United in the League Cup, thus failing to defend their title. On 24 January 2015, Pellegrini's men were knocked out of the FA Cup, after a 2–0 loss to Championship team Middlesbrough.


title: Manuel Pellegrini

text: Despite sharing the top spot in the Premier League on New Year's Day, Manchester City suffered a dip in form in the second half of the season and claimed just 18 points from a possible 36. City were also knocked out of the Champions League in the round of the last 16 for a successive season, following a 3–1 aggregate defeat to Barcelona.


title: Manuel Pellegrini

text: On 7 August 2015, Manchester City announced that Pellegrini had signed a one-year contract extension, which would keep him with the club until June 2016. Pellegrini commented, "I am proud to manage Manchester City FC and am therefore very pleased to have agreed to this contract.


title: Manuel Pellegrini

text: On 1 February 2016, Manchester City confirmed Pellegrini would be leaving in June, at the end of his contract, and that Pep Guardiola would be taking over for the 2016–17 season. Pellegrini left Manchester City with the fifth-highest win percentage in Premier League history.


title: Manuel Pellegrini

text: On 27 August 2016, Pellegrini was named manager of Chinese Super League club Hebei China Fortune, replacing Li Tie. He took charge of his first match on 10 September 2016 in a home game against Guangzhou Evergrande, which Hebei lost 3–0.


title: Manuel Pellegrini

text: On 19 May 2018, Hebei China Fortune confirmed Pellegrini had left the club. Pellegrini's last match in charge of Hebei was a 2–1 win over Chongqing Dangdai Lifan.


title: Manuel Pellegrini

text: On 22 May 2018, Premier League club West Ham United appointed Pellegrini as their new manager on a three-year deal contract. In his first game as West Ham manager, on 12 August, the team lost 4–0 away to Liverpool. His first win with the club came in an EFL Cup match against AFC Wimbledon on 28 August. In the Premier League, having presided over four defeats at the start of the 2018–19 season, Pellegrini oversaw his first win on 16 September with a 3–1 win over Everton. In January 2019, West Ham were knocked out of the FA Cup in the fourth round by Wimbledon, losing 4–2. At the time Wimbledon were five points adrift at the bottom of League One and playing in the fourth round for the first time in the club’s history. West Ham finished in 10th position in the Premier League in Pellegrini's first season in charge; their first top-ten finish since 2016.


title: Manuel Pellegrini

text: West Ham broke their transfer record twice under Pellegrini, paying £36 million for Felipe Anderson in 2018 and £45 million for striker Sebastien Haller in 2019. They spent £155 million in transfer fees while he was in charge, including £71 million in the summer before the 2019-20 season. However, in the first Premier League game of the season, Pellegrini suffered a heavy 5–0 defeat against his former club, Manchester City. In September 2019, they were knocked out from the EFL Cup, losing 4–0 to Oxford United of League One. He was sacked by the club on 28 December 2019 after a 2–1 home loss to Leicester City, their fourth-straight home defeat, with the club in 17th place and having won only five league games all season. His time at West Ham saw a win rate of 38.98% of all games played.


title: Manuel Pellegrini

text: On 9 July 2020, it was announced that Pellegrini would become the manager of Real Betis in La Liga ahead of the 2020–21 season, replacing Alexis Trujillo who had served as an interim coach following the dismissal of Rubi the previous month.


title: Manuel Pellegrini

text: His son, Manuel Pellegrini Pucci, is a traumatologist who works in the medical staff of Audax Italiano since 2022. As of 26 September 2022 he was under investigation by HMRC for tax evasion. The amount claimed by HMRC is £816,579.80.


title: Opinion polling for the 2022 French presidential election

text: This page lists public opinion polls conducted for the 2022 French presidential election the first round of which was held on 10 April 2022. Since no candidate won a majority of the vote in the first round, the second round election was held between the top two candidates on 24 April 2022.


text: This table below lists polls completed since the publication of the official list of candidates on 7 March.


text: The following polls reflect matchups involving a candidate who did not place in the top two in the first round.


text: The head-to-head polls below included Xavier Bertrand, before he failed to secure his party's nomination at the 2021 The Republicans congress.


title: Khatri

text: Khatri is a caste of the Indian subcontinent that is predominantly found in India, but also in Pakistan and Afghanistan. In the subcontinent, they were mostly engaged in mercantilistic professions such as banking and trade, they were the dominant commerical & financial administration class of Late-Medieval India some in Punjab often belonged to hereditary agriculturalist land-holding lineages, others were engaged in artisanal occupations such as silk production and weaving while some were scribes learned in Sanskrit and Persian too


title: Khatri

text: During the British colonial era, they also served as lawyers and engaged in administrative jobs in the colonial bureaucracy. Some of them served in the British Indian army after being raised as Sikhs. The Sikh religion was founded by Guru Nanak, a Bedi Khatri. Subequently, all the Sikh religious leaders or Gurus were Khatris. During the Sikh Empire, many Khatris formed the military vanguard of the Khalsa Army and it's administrative class as Dewans of all the provinces. Hari Singh Nalwa, the commander-in-chief of the Sikh Khalsa Army, was an Uppal Khatri and responsible for most of the Sikh conquests uptill the Khyber pass. Others such as Mokham Chand commanded the Sikh Army against the Durrani Empire at Attock while those such as Sawan Mal Chopra ruled Multan after wrestling it from the Afghans.


title: Khatri

text: Khatris have played an active role in the Indian Armed Forces since 1947, with many heading it as the Chief of Army or Admiral of the Navy. Some such as Vikram Batra and Arun Khetarpal have won India's highest wartime gallantry award, the Param Vir Chakra.


title: Khatri

text: During the Partition of British India in 1947, many Khatris migrated to India from the regions that comprise modern-day Pakistan. Hindu Afghans and Sikh Afghans are predominantly of Khatri and Arora origin.


title: Khatri

text: The word "Khatri" in the Hindi Language comes from the Sanskrit word ""Kshatriya"" according to the Śabdasāgara Lexicon by Shyamasundara Dasa According to B. N. Puri, philologists agree that the terms "Khatri" and "Kshatriya" are synonymous. The Sanskrit conjunct Ksha (क्ष) turns into the Prakrit Kha (ख) as per the grammarian Vararuchi. This change is not only accepted in Prakrit but in all Indian vernaculars derived by it such as Gujarati, Urdu, Gurumukhi as well as Persian. For example, Sanskrit words kshetra, kshama, laksha, iksha turns into kheta, khama, lakha and ikha respectively. The substituition of Ri (ऋ) from Riya is also witnessed in case of Hindi. Hence, the change from Kshatriya to Khatri is in consonance with the Prakrit rule and Hindi usage. The same is also testified by scholars R. G. Bhandarkar and Shapurji Edulji.


title: Khatri

text: Purnima Dhavan sees the claim as originating from a conflation of the phonetically similar words khatri and kshatriya, but refers to Khatris as a "trading caste" of the Sikh Gurus. As per historian W. H. McLeod and Louis Fenech, Khatri is a Punjabi form of the word Kshatriya. Peter Hardy and A. R. Desai also agree that Khatri is derived from Kshatriya. Despite the etymology, Hardy says that Khatri is "a mercantile class" and Desai says the Khatris were "traditionally tradesmen and government officials". Dr. Dharamvir Bharati comments that in Punjabi language, Kshatriya is pronounced as Khatri. As per Dr. GS Mansukhani and RC Dogra, "Khatri appears to be unquestionably a Prakritised form of Sanskrit word Kshatriya." According to philologist Ralph Lilley Turner, the Punjabi word ""khattrī"", meaning "warrior", derives from Sanskrit ""kṣatriya"", whereas the Gujarati word ""khātrī"", meaning "a caste of Hindu weavers", derives from Sanskrit ""kṣattr̥"", meaning "carver, distributor".


title: Khatri

text: Many Khatris use this etymology to claim that they are Kshatriyas. However, most scholars dispute these claims. John Stratton Hawley and Mann clarify that although the word "Khatri" derives from the word "Kshatriya", in Punjab's context Khatri refers to a "cluster of merchant castes including Bedis, Bhallas and Sodhis".


title: Khatri

text: Ancient Greek accounts from historians that accompanied Alexander the Great to Punjab mention a tribe called the "Kathaioi" whose territory lay from east of the Hydraotes (Ravi) but between the Hydarpes (Jhelum) & Akesines (Chenab) and whose capital was "Sagala" (Sialkot). They were described as a powerful nation who resisted Alexander's advance. Arrian in the Anabasis (VI.15) mentions the "Khathrois of Punjab (χάθροις - Khathrois)," whose territory lay between the Indus & Chenab. Ptolemy writing in the 2nd century AD refers again to another tribe called the "Khatriaoi" to whom belong cities lying east & west of the Indus.


title: Khatri

text: Baij Nath Puri mentions that the modern descendants of these "Kathaiois, Khathrois & Khatriaoi" tribes mentioned by the Greeks in West Punjab are the Khatris of India. According to S. Sasikanta Sastri, Greek historians have mentioned that Alexander faced stiffed resistance from Indian army of "Kathiyo" warriors. Sastri further adds that "even in present day modern-India, a group of martial caste members called Khati (Khatri) exist in North-India". Michael Witzel, writing in his paper ""Sanskritization of the Kuru State"" states the "Kathaiois" were Kaṭha Brahmins.


title: Khatri

text: The Khatris played an important role in India's trans-regional trade during the period, being described by Levi as among the "most important merchant communities of early modern India." Levi writes : "Stephen Dale locates Khatris in Astrakhan, Russia during the late 17th century and, in the 1830s, Elphinstone, was informed that Khatris were still highly involved in northwest India's trade and that they maintained communities throughout Afghanistan and as far away as Astrakhan"". According to Kiran Datar, they often married Tatar local women in Astrakhan and the children from these marriages were known as "Agrijan." As per Stephen Dale, the children born out of Indo-Turkic alliance was sufficient to form an Agrizhan suburb in the city.


title: Khatri

text: Historian Stephen Dale states that most of the 10,000 (as estimated by Jean Chardin) Indian merchants and money-lenders in Isfahan (Iran) in 1670, belonged to the Khatri caste of Punjab and north-west India. In Iran's Bazaar's, Khatris sold cloth and various items and also practised money-lending. Dale believes that Khatris had possibly been travelling from Punjab via caravans since the era of Ziauddin Barani (around 1300 AD). Chardin specifically stereotyped and expressed disapproval of the money-lending techniques of the Khatri community. According to Dale, this racist criticism was ironic given Chardin's non-English background but adds that it was Chardin's way of giving an "ethnic explanation" to the economic disparity between Iran and India at that time.


title: Khatri

text: According to "Bichitra Natak", traditionally said to be the autobiography of the last Sikh Guru, Gobind Singh, but possibly not so, the Bedi sub-caste of the Khatris derives its lineage from Kush, the son of Rama (according to Hindu epic "Ramayana"). Similarly, according to the same legend, the Sodhi sub-caste claims descent from Lav, the other son of Rama.


title: Khatri

text: In Guru Granth Sahib, the primary scripture of Sikhism, Khatri is mentioned as one among the four varnas.ਖਤ੍ਰੀ ਬ੍ਰਾਹਮਣ ਸੂਦ ਵੈਸ ਉਪਦੇਸੁ ਚਹੁ ਵਰਨਾ ਕਉ ਸਾਝਾ ॥ "(SGGS, ang 747)"


title: Khatri

text: Translation : Kshatriyas, Brahmins, Shudras and Vaishyas all have the same mandate Guru Gobind Singh, said the following in a swayya :""Chattri ko poot ho, Baman ko naheen kayee tap aavat ha jo karon ; Ar aur janjaar jito greh ko tohe tyaag, kahan chit taan mai dharon,"


title: Khatri

text: "Ab reejh ke deh vahey humko jo-oo, hau binti kar jor karoon ; Jab aao ki audh nidaan bane, att hi ran main tab jujh maroon.""


title: Khatri

text: Meaning : I am son of a Chhatri (Khatri), not of a Brahmin and I will live according to my Dharma. All other complications of life are meaningless for me, and I set my heart on the path of righteousness. I humbly beseech thee God Almighty that when the time comes for me to fulfill my Dharma, may I die with honour in the field of battle. Translated by Vanit Nalwa


title: Khatri

text: French traveller Thevenot visited India during 1600s where he commented "At Multan, there is another sort of gentiles whom they call Ca-try, the town is properly their country and from thence they spread all over the Indies." According to Dr. Madhu Tyagi, Thevenot is referring to Hindu Khatri caste here.


title: Khatri

text: The last caste-based census was conducted by the British in 1931 which regarded Khatri and Arora as a different caste. During 1931, Khatris were prominent in the West Punjab and North-Western Frontier Province (NWFP), which is now known as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK). The Khatris spoke Hindko and Potohari language. Highest percentage concentration of Khatris (excluding Aroras) were in Potohar regions of Jhelum and Rawalpindi In NWFP, the Khatris were found mainly in Peshawer and Hazara.


title: Khatri

text: Arora-Khatris were centered in Multan and Derajat regions of Punjab and NWFP. In the NWFP, the Aroras which are considered a sub-caste of Khatris by some scholars were concentrated in the districts of Bannu, Kohat and Dera Ismail Khan. The Aroras spoke Jatki language which is the 9th century version of Saraiki (Multani) according to Ibbetson.


title: Khatri

text: They were also found in Afghanistan at a population of 3,00,000 in 1880. According to a 1800s colonial source referred by Shah Hanifi, "Hindki is the name given to Hindus who live in Afghanistan. They are Hindus of Khatri class and are found all over Afghanistan even amongst the wildest tribes. They are wholly occupied in trade and form numerous portion of the population of all the cities and towns, and are also to be found in the majority of large villages."


title: Khatri

text: Apart from Punjab, Khatris arrived in Delhi and Haryana among other regions after the partition where they make up 9% and 6.5-8.0% of the population respectively.


title: Khatri

text: Historically, Khatris were divided into various hierarchal endogamous sections. This includes u"rhai/dhai ghar", "char ghar", "barah ghar/bahri" and "bunjayee or bavanjah ghar" which translated to House of 2.5, 4, 12 and 52 respectively. They formed the majority of Khatris and were deemed superior. This was followed by Sareen Khatris who formed a minority. Another sub-group of Khatris include Khukhrain which had split up from the "bunjayees".


title: Khatri

text: Emperor Jahangir in his autobiography Jahangirnama while talking about the castes, he observed "The second highest caste (after Brahmins in the caste system) is the Chhatri which is also known as Khattri. The Chhatri caste's purpose is to protect the oppressed from the aggression of the oppressors".


title: Khatri

text: According to scholars, the Khatri Hindus dominated the weaving industry in Benaras. When the first caravan of Muslim weavers arrived in Benaras, the Khatri, who were considered low-caste Hindus at the time, helped them. The Muslims had to depend on the Khatri weavers because the Muslims found it difficult to interact with the high-caste Hindus directly at the time. Since these new immigrant Muslims were cheap labor, the Khatris took over marketing and thus transited from weavers to traders over time. The Muslims, who learned the technique of weaving from them, soon came to be known as "Chira-i-Baaf" or 'fine cloth weavers'.


title: Khatri

text: Historian Muzaffar Alam describes the Khatris of Punjab as a "scribe and trading caste". They occupied positions in revenue collection and record keeping and learnt Persian during Mughal era. However, this profession often created conflicts with the Brahmin scribes who discontinued the use of Persian and started using Marathi in the Deccan. According to McLane, them being a trading group, had spread into many parts of India, possibly long before the 1700s and to Bengal, possibly even before the Mughals arrived.


title: Khatri

text: The most prominent Mughal Khatri noble was Raja Todar Mal, who was the Finance Minister of the Empire. He introduced an entirely new system of revenue and taxation known as "zabt" and "dahshala" respectively. According to a 17th century legend, they continued their military service until the time of Aurangzeb, when their mass death during the emperor's Deccan Campaign caused him to order their widows to be remarried. The order was made out of sympathy for the widows but when the Khatri community leaders refused to obey it, Aurangzeb terminated their military service and said that they should be shopkeepers and brokers. This legend is probably fanciful: McLane notes that a more likely explanation for their revised position was that a Sikh rebellion against the Mughals in the early 1700s severely compromised the Khatri's ability to trade and forced them to take sides. Those who were primarily dependent on the Mughals went to significant lengths to assert that allegiance in the face of accusations that they were in fact favouring "Jat Sikh followers of the rebel leader, Banda". The outcome of their assertions - which included providing financial support to the Mughals and shaving their beards - was that the Khatris became still more important to the Mughal rulers as administrators at various levels, in particular because of their skills in financial management and their connections with bankers.


title: Khatri

text: Khatri standards of literacy and caste status were such during the early years of Sikhism that, according to W. H. McLeod, they dominated it.


title: Khatri

text: Historian Douglas E. Hanes states that the Khatri weavers in Gujarat trace their ancestry to either Champaner (Bihar) or Sindh (Pakistan) and the community genealogists believe that the migration happened during the late sixteenth' century.


title: Khatri

text: Suraiya Faroqhi, writes that, in 1742 Gujarat, the Khatris had protested the immigration of Muslim weavers by refusing to deliver cloth to the East India Company. In another case Khatris taught weaving to Kunbis due to receiving excessive orders who soon became strong competitors to the Khatris much to their chagrin. In the mid-1770s, the Mughal governor granted the Kunbi rivals rights to manufacture saris. This licence was later revoked in 1800 due to pressure from the British, after a deal was struck between the Khatris and the East India Company, in which the Khatris would weave only for the EIC until certain quotas were met.


title: Khatri

text: The Gujarat Sultanate (1407-1523) was a medieval Muslim dynasty founded by Zafar Khan Muzaffar, a member of the Tank caste originally from South Punjab. The Tanks have been stated to be Khatris by some scholars, although others have stated the Tanks were Rajputs., or even a Jat He started as a menial but rose to the level of a noble in the Delhi Sultan's family and became the Governor of Gujrat. After Timur attacked the city, people fled to Gujarat and it became independent.


title: Khatri

text: In Bengal, Burdwan Raj (1657-1955) was a Khatri dynasty, which gained a high social position for Khatris in the region resulting in greater migration of Khatris from North to Bengal. When Guru Tegh Bahadur visited Bengal in 1666, he was welcomed by the local Khatris, thereby supporting earlier waves of migration of Khatris to Bengal as well.


title: Khatri

text: According to historians Roger Ballard and Harjot Oberoi, Afghan Hindus and Sikhs descend from the members of the country's indigenous Khatri population who resisted the conversion from Buddhism to Islam between 9th and 13th centuries. Later, they aligned themselves to the teachings of Guru Nanak, himself a Khatri and converted to Sikhism. Hence, Khatris of Afghanistan are in no way of "Indian origin" but are components of the original population of the region. George Campbell says "I do not know the exact limits of Khatri occupation to the West, but certainly in all Eastern Afghanistan they seem to be just as much part of the community as they are in the Punjab. They find their way into Central Asia."


title: Khatri

text: The Khatris took on a prominent role in the emerging Sikh milieu of post-Mughal Punjab. According to the Khalsa Durbar Records, Maharaja Ranjit Singh's army was composed of majorly Jats followed by Khatris. Sardar Gulab Singh Khatri founded the Dallewallia Misl, an independent 18th century Sikh sovereign state in Ludhiana and Jalandhar district that would later on join Maharaja Ranjit Singh's kingdom. In the Sikh Empire, Hari Singh Nalwa (1791–1837) an Uppal Khatri from Gujranwala, became the Commander-in-chief of the Sikh Khalsa Army. He led the Sikh conquests of Kasur, Sialkot, Attock, Multan, Kashmir, Peshawar and Jamrud. He was responsible for expanding the frontier of Sikh Empire to beyond the Indus River, up to the mouth of the Khyber Pass. At the time of his death, the western boundary of the empire was Jamrud.


title: Khatri

text: Dewan Mokham Chand (1750-1814) became one of the most distinguished leaders of the Khalsa Army. He was the commander in chief of armies in Battle of Attock which defeated Durrani Empire Wazir Fateh Khan and Dost Mohammad Khan Other Khatris like Diwan Sawan Mal Chopra served as governors of Lahore and Multan, after helping conquer the region while his son Diwan Mulraj Chopra, (1814-1851) the last Punjabi ruler of Multan led a Sikh rebellion against British suzerainty over Multan after the fall of the Sikh Empire in the Anglo-Sikh Wars. He was arrested after the Siege of Multan and put to death.


title: Khatri

text: Purnima Dhawan described that together with Jat community, the Khatris gained considerably from the expansion of the Mughal empire, although both groups supported Guru Hargobind in his campaign for Sikh self-government in the Punjab plains.


title: Khatri

text: In the 1830s, Khatris were working as governors in the districts like Bardhaman, Lahore, Multan, Peshawar and Hazara, but independent from the Mughal rule.


title: Khatri

text: A Peshkari Khatri family in Hyderabad State would become part of the Hyderabadi nobility and occupy the post of Prime Minister of Hyderabad. Notable inviduals of the family include Maharaja Kishen Prasad, GCIE who would serve as Prime Minister of the State twice. In Hyderabad, around the mid-20th century, Khatris and Padmasalis were the leading "Hindu weaving castes" who owned 43% of the looms. The Khatris specialised in silk, while the Padmasalis in cotton weaving.


title: Khatri

text: In Gujarat, during the colonial rule, Khatris contributed greatly to the weaving industry there. They as well as the Muslim and Kunbi weavers purchased imported yarn in the 1840s. In Mandvi, the silk products were highly valued and the Khatri dyers would work in the pits on the bank of the river Rukmavati because the water was supposed to have special properties to give steadfast colours. These products were often exported to east Africa. In Dhamadka, Kutch, "block printing cloth" was the traditional occupation of the Khatri men since the seventeenth century.


title: Khatri

text: In the early 19th century, the Khatris, Bhatias and Lohanas were the main trading castes in Rajasthan, Delhi, Agra, Sind and Punjab. Banking, trading and business were considered "traditional occupations of the Khatri in Rajasthan".


title: Khatri

text: According to Prakash Tandon, during Khatri weddings, a ritual is carried out to test the Khatri groom's strength. The groom is supposed to slice the thick branch or stem of a Jandi Tree (Prosopis cineraria) in one blow using a sword. During the pregnancy period of a female, a baby shower ceremony called "reetan" or "goadbharai" is carried out amongst Khatris and Aroras. During the event, gifts are showered to the pregnant mother from family and friends among other traditions.


title: Khatri

text: Harish Damodaran says the rise of Khatri industrialists in post-1947 India was a consequence initially of the cataclysmic Partition, which pushed them in droves towards Delhi and its neighbourhoods. This exodus opened new opportunities for them. A combination of enterprise, articulation, and strategic closeness to the national capital— which, in itself, was becoming a major growth hub - created conditions for Khatri capital to flourish in the post-Partition period.


title: Khatri

text: Damodaran adds that the land Khatris originally belonged to had very little industry and rail infrastructure until the 20th century and hence were not comparable to merchant groups like Banias in terms of scale and spread of operation. Before independence they were only regional players and their rise in phenomenal proportions was a post-independence feature. Since then, they have produced leading entities in fields of pharmaceuticals, two-wheelers, tractors, paper, tyre-making and hotels with the groups of Ranbaxy, Hero, Mahindra, Ballarpur Industries, Apollo Tyres and Oberoi respectively. They have also co-founded companies like Snapdeal, Hotmail, YesBank, IndiaToday, AajTak, IndiGo Airlines, Sun Microsystems, Max Group etc.


title: Khatri

text: Punjabi Khatris and others, together with the traditionally "urban and professional" castes, formed a part of the elite middle class immediately after independence in 1947. According to P. K. Verma, "Education was a common thread that bound together this pan Indian elite" and almost all the members of these upper castes communities could read and write English and were educated beyond school.


title: Khatri

text: Delhi's population increased by 1.1 million in the period 1941-51. This growth of 106% largely resulted from the influx of Partition migrants among other reasons. These were members of the Hindu and Sikh Khatri/Arora castes of the West Punjab. Many moved to the city for better economic opportunities.


title: Khatri

text: During 1947, Punjabis who migrated to Haryana during Partition were mostly Khatris or Aroras. As per a survey conducted by Maharishi Dayanand University, the migrant population were forced to live in camps under open sky. Only a meager 5% received "grossly undervalued claims against their properties in shape of very poorly cultivable land, while remaining 95% though entitled for compensation could not get any thing to sustain". This migrant population is also referred to as ‘refugee’ and ‘sharnarthi’ (शरणार्थी) in a derogatory manner by some locals. A Punjabi organisation had approached the Haryana government with a demand to ban both words and to enact a law on the lines of the SC/ST Act with similar penalties. The community has a high literacy rate and are not dependent on money-lending and shopkeeping. They are engaged as doctors, engineers, administrators etc.


title: Khatri

text: Khatris of Kashmir, also known as "Bohras" were traders and had the 2nd largest Hindu population after the Pandits. Many of these Khatris had to face the brunt of 1990 Kashmiri Hindu Exodus. Khatris of Himachal Pradesh are numerically most important commercial classes are mostly concentrated in Mandi, Kangra and Chamba.


title: Khatri

text: Anthropologist Karve, based on the post-Independence research of castes by a in Konkan, Maharashtra, classified Marathi Khatris as one of the "professional/advanced castes" as they were doctors, engineers, clerks, lawyers, teachers, etc. during independence. She states that their traditional professions were silk weaving and working as merchants although they had entered other professions later. Khatris in modern Maharashtra are divided into endogamous subgroups, such as the Brahmo Khatris and Kapur Khatris.


title: Khatri

text: Khatris claim that they are Kshatriyas. However, most scholars do not agree with the claims. They consider castes in north India, like Khatri and Kayastha to be merchant castes who claim higher status to befit the educational and economic progress they made in the past.


title: Khatri

text: According to Anand Yang, the Khatris in the Saran district of Bihar, were included in the list of "Bania" along with Agarwals and Rastogis of the Vaishya Varna. Jacob Copeman also agrees and writes "Agarwal, Khatri, and Bania usually denote people of merchant-trader background of middling clean-caste status, often of Vaishya varna".


title: Khatri

text: Thus, while some historians agree with the claim of Khatris to be of Kshatriya varna, many others dont. On the other hand, according to some historians even though they participated in mercantile or other occupationally diverse professions such as Agriculture, they were originally Kshatriyas. In Indian historian Satish Chandra's opinion, certain castes like Khatris and Kayasthas "do not quite fit" in the Hindu Varna system. According to him, Khatris are neither Vaishyas nor Kshatriyas but are "par excellence traders". The Saraswat Brahmins are the purohits of Khatris and accept gifts only from them.


title: Khatri

text: Susan Bayly states that the Khatris had scribal traditions and despite that Khatri caste organisations in the British Raj era tried to portray their caste as Kshatriyas. Similar caste glorifying ideas were written by the historian Puri who describes Khatris as "one of the most acute, energetic, and remarkable race [sic] in India", "pure descendants of the old Vedic Kshatriyas" and "true representatives of the Aryan nobility". Puri also tried to show the Khatris as higher than the Rajputs whose blood he considered "impure", mixed with ‘inferior’ Kolis or ‘aborigines’. She considers his views to represent those of "pre-Independence race theorists". Bayly further describes the Khatris as a "caste title of north Indians with military and scribal traditions". Hardip Singh Syan says Khatris considered themselves to be of pure Vedic descent and thus superior to the Rajputs, who like them claim the Kshatriya status of the Hindu varna system. M. N. Srinivas states that Khatri made different Varna claims at different times in the Census of India before Independence. In 1911, they did not make any Varna claim, while in 1921 and 1931 they claimed a Kshatriya and Vaishya status respectively.


title: Khatri

text: Historian Kenneth W. Jones states that the Khatris of Punjab had some justification in claiming Kshatriya status from the British government. However, the fact that this claim was not granted at the time showing their ambiguous position in the varna system. Although Jones also classifies Khatris as one of the Vaishya caste of Punjabi Hindus, he shows that their social status was higher than the Arora, Suds and Baniyas in the 19th century Punjab. He quotes Ibbetson who states that the Punjabi Khatris who held prominent military and civil posts were traditionally different from the Aroras, Suds or Baniyas who were rural, of low status and mostly commercial. Punjabi Khatris, on the other hand, were urban, usually prosperous and literate. Thus, the Khatris led the vaishyas in seeking a higher social position in the flexible Varna hierarchy based on their superior achievements. Similar social mobility efforts were followed by other Hindus in Punjab McLane also describes them as a "mercantile caste who claimed to be Kshatriyas". In the 19th-century, British failed to agree whether their claim of Kshatriya status should be accepted. Nesfield and Campbell were leaning towards accepting this claim but Risley and Ibbetson cast doubts on it. McLane opines that the confusion was caused since Khatris pursued mercantile occupations and not military ones. However, he adds that this Vaishya occupation fact was balanced by their origin myths, the "possible" derivation of the word Khatri from "Kshatriya," their large physical stature, the superior status accorded to them by other Punjabis as well as the willingness of the Saraswat Brahmins, their chaplains, to accept cooked food from them.


title: Khatri

text: In the case of Sikh Khatris, their Kshatriya claim reflects a contradictory attitude towards the traditional Hindu caste system. It is evident in "Guru Granth Sahib", which on the one hand rises above the Hindu caste paradigm and on the other hand seeks to portray the Khatri gurus as a group of warrior-defenders of their faith, just as with the Kshatriya varna.


title: Khatri

text: Majority of the male members of the Arya Samaj in the late 19th century Punjab came from the Arora and Khatri merchant castes. In Punjab, the Kshatriya castes who were ritually higher than the Aroras and Khatris had been disempowered and thus the Brahmins who had lost their patrons had to turn to these non-Kshatriya castes. Christophe Jaffrelot explains the attraction of these trading castes to the Arya Samaj as a means of social mobility associated with their prosperity during the British rule. He cites N. G. Barrier to show that the philosophy of the Arya Samaj founder, Dayananda Saraswati, was responsible for the aspirations of these Vaishya castes from Punjab to higher status:


title: Khatri

text: Dasharatha Sharma described Khatris of Rajasthan as a mixed "pratiloma" caste of low ritual status but they could be a mixed caste born of Kshatriya fathers and Brahmin mothers. Banking, trading, agriculture and service are traditional occupations of the Khatris in Rajasthan. The literacy rate is appreciably high among them.


title: Khatri

text: Ashok Malik, former press secretary to the President of India, says that there were two groups of Khatris in Gujarat, that arrived right after the Mughal invasion and during the reign of Akbar respectively. The latter considered themselves superior to the former and they called themselves "Brahmakshatriyas" after arriving in Gujarat. When the older Khatri community of Gujarat started prospering, they also started calling themselves "Brahmakshatriya", causing the new Khatri community to panic and adopt the name "Nayar Brahmakshatriyas" for themselves. In addition, another community - the Gujarati Telis, considered an Other Backward Class (OBC) in India began to call themselves "Khatris." Malik calls this as Sanskritization.


title: Khatri

text: Historian Vijaya Gupchup from the University of Mumbai states that in Maharashtra, Brahmins showed resentment in the attempt by the Marathi Khatris or Koshti to elevate themselves from ritually low status to Kshatriya by taking advantage of the British neutrality towards castes. She quotes a translation from a Marathi publication that gave a Brahminic opinion of this attempt:


title: Khatri

text: The vast majority of Khatris are Hindu. Many Hindu Khatris made their first newborn a Sikh. Daughters were married into both Hindu and Sikh families according to the Khatri sub-hierarchy rules. Hindu-Sikh intermarriages among Khatris and Aroras were common in the cities of Peshawar and Rawalpindi. They worship Hinglaj Mata, Chandi Mata, Shiva, Hanuman and Vishnu's avatars. Worship of totemistic symbols such as snakes and trees used to be common among them. Meditation upon the flame while reciting Vidhyavasini's hymns was a common practice and reverence was paid to the dead ancestors. They are both vegetarian and non-vegetarian depending on their affiliations with the sects of Vaishnavism and Shaktism respectively. Sects of Arya Samaj, Nirankari and Radhasoami are also followed.


title: Khatri

text: All the ten Sikh Gurus were from various Khatri clans: The early followers of Guru Nanak were Khatris but later a large number of Jats joined the faith. Khatris and Brahmins opposed "the demand that the Sikhs set aside the distinctive customs of their castes and families, including the older rituals."


title: Khatri

text: Bhapa (pronounced as Pahpa) is a term used in a derogatory sense to denote Sikhs who left Potohar Region of modern-day Pakistan during Partition, specifically of Khatri and Arora caste. Bhapa translates to elder brother in the Potohari dialect spoken around Rawalpindi region. McLeod, referring to the Khatris and Aroras says "The term is typically used dismissively by Jats to express opprobrium towards Sikhs of these castes. Until recently it was never used in polite company or print, but today the word is used quite openly" According to Birinder Pal Singh, Jat Sikhs consider only themselves as Sikhs and consider Khatris as "bhapas". In Nicola Mooney's opinion, Jat Sikhs consider Arora Sikhs as "Hindu Punjabis" which reserves Sikhism for the Jats alone, denying even the fully baptised Arora as Sikhs.


title: Khatri

text: According to Historian B. N. Puri, Muslim Khatris are commonly known as Khojas in Punjab. Khattak tribe of Pashtuns is credited with origin from the Khatris but was divided in belief to its descent according to the 1883 book "Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province".


title: Khatri

text: Khatris are mentioned in a popular Punjabi literature "Heer Ranjha" written by Waris Shah. ""Heer's beauty slays rich Khojas and Khatris in the bazaar, like a murderous Kizilbash trooper riding out of the royal camp armed with a sword""


title: Khatri

text: The Arora is a community that Levi describes as a sub-caste of Khatris. They originate in Punjab and Sindh region. The name is derived from their native place Aror and the community comprises both Hindus and Sikhs. As per W. H. McLeod, a historian of Sikhism, "traditionally the Aroras, though a relatively high caste were inferior to the Khatris, but the difference has now progressively narrowed. Khatri-Arora marriages are not unknown nowadays."


title: Khatri

text: According to Claude Markovits, castes such as Bhatia and Lohana were close to the Khatris and intermarried with them. Jürgen Schaflechner mentions that many Khatris and Bhatias were absorbed into Lohanas when they arrived in Sindh during 18th century from cities in Punjab such as Multan. He further adds that the genealogy of communities such as Khatri, Lohana and Arora is described in the composition of Hiṃgulā Purāṇ that brings them all into one mytho-historic narrative. He also notes that common mythologies found among Khatris and Lohanas. Some members, around 10-15% of the Sindhi Lohanas began working for the local rulers and hence achieved a higher status than Khatris and Lohanas. These people came to known as "Amils" while the ones who continued with their merchant professions came to be known as "Bhaibands". The Amils then started to recruit members from the general Khatris and Lohanas.


title: Khatri

text: Upendra Thakur mentions that there is a strong connection between the Khatris, Aroras, Lohanas and the Bhanushalis who all recruit the Saraswat Brahmins as their priests.


title: Khatri

text: Gaddi is a nomadic shepherding tribe that resides in the mountainous terrains of the Himalayas. Gaddi is an amalgamation of various groups such as Khatris, Rajputs, Brahmins etc. Most Gaddis of Himachal Pradesh call themselves Khatris. There is a popular saying among them "Ujreya Lahore te baseya Bharmaur" meaning that when Lahore was deserted (possibly by the Muslim invasion), Bharmour was inhabited. Some Khatris clans are known to have settled there during Aurangzeb's reign.


title: Survivor: Game Changers

text: Survivor: Game Changers — Mamanuca Islands is the 34th season of the American CBS competitive reality television series "Survivor", featuring 20 returning castaways. The season premiered on March 8, 2017 with a two-hour airing, marking the series' 500th episode, and ended on May 24, 2017, when Sarah Lacina was named the winner over Brad Culpepper and "Troyzan" Robertson in a 7–3–0 vote.


title: Survivor: Game Changers

text: This season was the third to film in Fiji after "" and "". It was the fourth season to feature entirely returning players, following "", "", and "" and was the 11th season overall to feature returning players.


title: Survivor: Game Changers

text: This season introduced several alterations to the game format. The process for resolving a tied vote was changed for this season, removing the second ballot where only non-tied castaways were allowed to vote between the tied castaways and proceeding directly to the procedure to resolve a deadlocked tie: an open deliberation between non-tied voters. The rest of the process remained the same (however, there turned out to be no such scenario in the season). This format twist was retired in the following seasons, with the revote being re-introduced. The format of the Final Tribal Council, in which jurors individually addressed the finalists by delivering a statement or asking questions, was changed to a moderated discussion between the finalists and jurors.


title: Survivor: Game Changers

text: According to host Jeff Probst, this season featured former contestants from the show that were considered "game changers"—those whose strategies and risky moves either affected or would have significantly affected, how their season played out. Probst stated that in preceding seasons, "we’ve had so many new players that were good players, and the game has continued to escalate in terms of the level of gameplay that it suddenly became apparent that we actually have a lot of great game players." Producers also sought out applicable contestants from earlier seasons in order to ensure a balanced representation of players from throughout the program's history.


title: Survivor: Game Changers

text: Probst also pointed out that "Game Changers" was being cast while the 33rd season, "", was still filming. Because of this, two of the 20 slots for "Game Changers" were reserved for Season 33 players, in case producers wanted to ask any of them back; should either spot have gone unfilled, producers had two earlier players in mind. "" winner Earl Cole was asked, but he dropped out due to injury. "" co-runner-up Carolyn Rivera was considered for this season's cast, but she was cut by producers late into the casting process. Ultimately, "Millennials vs. Gen X" castaways Zeke Smith and Michaela Bradshaw were cast.


title: Survivor: Game Changers

text: Ethan Zohn from "" and "", Joe Anglim from "Worlds Apart" and "", Kelley Wentworth from "" and "Cambodia", Danni Boatwright from "", Sabrina Thompson from "", and Corinne Kaplan from "" and "" were asked, but they declined. Anglim and Wentworth would both eventually return for and Zohn and Boatwright would return for "". Marty Piombo from "," Jon Misch from "San Juan Del Sur", John Cody from "", "Worlds Apart" winner Mike Holloway, Alexis Maxwell and LJ McKanas from "", Sophie Clarke from "", Jonathan Penner from , , and were also contacted, but ultimately cut. Clarke would eventually return for "Winners at War".


title: Survivor: Game Changers

text: "San Juan Del Sur" winner Natalie Anderson was originally cast on the season as well, but she ultimately had to back out shortly before filming began due to medical reasons. Her spot was filled on short notice by "Worlds Apart" contestant Sierra Dawn Thomas. Anderson later returned for "Winners at War".


title: Survivor: Game Changers

text: Aubry Bracco returned for "". Sandra Diaz-Twine returned in "" to serve as a mentor alongside Rob Mariano. Sarah Lacina, Tony Vlachos, and Sandra Diaz-Twine returned to compete on "". Diaz-Twine also competed on "" with her daughter Nina.


title: Survivor: Game Changers

text: Outside of "Survivor", Caleb Reynolds competed on the premiere of "Candy Crush". Reynolds and Sierra Dawn Thomas competed on separate teams on a "Survivor" vs "Big Brother" episode of "Fear Factor". Michaela Bradshaw competed on the of "The Challenge". In 2022, Lacina competed on "". Malcolm Freberg and Cirie Fields competed on the 2022 USA Network reality competition series "Snake in the Grass".


title: Survivor: Game Changers

text: The 20 returning players were initially divided into two tribes: Mana and Nuku. Nuku fared much better in challenges; throughout two tribe switches, original tribal lines held strong and the Nuku members were able to eliminate most of the Mana tribe.


title: Survivor: Game Changers

text: When the tribes merged, two main factions emerged: an alliance led by Sierra and Brad and one led by Andrea and Cirie, with Sarah navigating between the two groups to eliminate threats on both sides. She used her social connections and game advantages to protect herself from betrayal by Andrea and Cirie's alliance. Meanwhile, Brad won the final four consecutive immunity challenges, and Sarah ultimately aligned with him and Troyzan to reach the end of the game together.


title: Survivor: Game Changers

text: At the Final Tribal Council, Troyzan was overlooked by the jury for being Brad's follower throughout the game, and went on to receive no votes to win. Sarah was commended for her strategic control and social flexibility but criticized for manipulating personal relations for strategic gain, while Brad was lauded for his challenge prowess but condemned for his condescending attitude. Ultimately, the jury awarded Sarah the title of Sole Survivor with seven votes to Brad's three.


title: Survivor: Game Changers

text: "Survivor: Game Changers" was met with generally mixed reception. Daniel Fienberg of "The Hollywood Reporter" gave the season and the finale a mixed review, criticizing the season's confusing direction, saying the season "was pretty good for me for a long time and then it started becoming increasingly confusing, both in terms of in-game momentum and the editing, which relied excessively on misdirection that actually left viewers unable to understand several big votes. Then 90 percent of Wednesday's season finale was infuriating for me, with one frustrating vote after another seemingly leading to a result that I was prepared to be irritated by." He did, however, applaud the winner, saying "The correct person was victorious. And a "Survivor" season ending up with the 'right' winner, or a winner whose path to victory I could see and endorse goes a long way toward me making my peace with a season."


title: Survivor: Game Changers

text: Dalton Ross, of "Entertainment Weekly" also had mixed feelings towards the season, believing that the final four were "not nearly as engaging or exciting a group as one that would have included any number of people who got voted out early" but still believed that "the right person won." He also noted "there were simply too many immunities and advantages in the game" which became evident in the tribal council where contestant Cirie Fields was eliminated because she was the only contestant of the six remaining "not" to possess immunity from elimination in some form. "It was almost "too" much and demonstrates how "Game Changers" was more about crazy events than solid character arcs." Ross would later rank the season 20th out of the 40 seasons.


title: Survivor: Game Changers

text: In 2020, the "Purple Rock Podcast" ranked this season 28th out of 40 saying that "abundance of twists and turns makes the season struggle narratively" but "there are some excellent episodes along the way, and the winner plays a very strong game".


title: Survivor: Game Changers

text: In 2020, "Inside Survivor" ranked this season 31st out of 40 acknowledging the exciting pre-merge but criticizing the imbalanced cast, the lackluster post-merge, and lack of a cohesive story.


title: Survivor: Game Changers

text: In 2021, "Rob Has a Podcast" ranked "Game Changers" 31st during their "Survivor All-Time Top 40 Rankings" podcast.


title: Survivor: Game Changers

text: The incident where Jeff Varner outed fellow contestant Zeke Smith as transgender was covered by various news outlets, with fans heavily criticizing Varner's actions. Varner explained himself following the episode's airing and expressed regret for his actions, but was subsequently fired from his job due to the negative publicity over his outing of Smith. According to "The New York Times", between the episode's taping and airing, CBS and the producers of "Survivor" worked with Smith as well as the advocacy group GLAAD to determine how best to handle the episode. CBS's handling of the incident, including its decision to broadcast, drew mixed response. Ira Madison III of MTV News argued that the episode was "irresponsible" because it put "Varner's words on air" without "actively repudiating them," explaining that while Varner was chastised for his actions his words went unchallenged. In a column for "Slate Magazine", however, David Canfield praised the show's handling of a politically sensitive topic: "It’s safe to say that never before in popular culture had a large American audience been guided into witnessing such forceful, persuasive, and (seemingly) unprompted advocacy for the trans community...With fundamental trans rights still a point of debate in standard political discourse, the collective rejection of anti-trans bigotry [sic] that "Survivor" put on display is major."


title: Survivor: Game Changers

text: The March 8 premiere episode ""The Stakes Have Been Raised"" faced the smallest viewer audience in the show's history, watched by only 7.643 million viewers and receiving just a 1.7/8 rating/share in the critical 18–49 demographic. While ratings were substantially down from the "" and "" premieres in February and September the year prior, the series still ranked first in its timeslot, but tied with ABC's "The Goldbergs" for the 18-49 demo. The series also managed to edge out ABC's "Modern Family" for total viewership, ranking first but placing second within the demo for the night.


title: Telegraphy

text: Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas pigeon post is not. Ancient signalling systems, although sometimes quite extensive and sophisticated as in China, were generally not capable of transmitting arbitrary text messages. Possible messages were fixed and predetermined and such systems are thus not true telegraphs.