What is "bhavsar"

The Bhavsar are basically Gujarati community an ethnic group in India, traditionally associated with woodblock printing on textiles. They mostly live in the regions of Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan, with some also located in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh. Gujarati and Rajasthani Bhavsars refer to themselves simply as Bhavsars. In Maharashtra, however, the community is subdivided, and its members refer to themselves variously as Bhavsar Kshathriya, Bhavsar Shimpi, and Namdev Shimpi. Namdev Shimpis are considered a distinct group, even though they are an offshoot of the Maharashtrian Bhavsars, because they are followers of Namdev, However, they use the same surnames as Maharashtrian Bhavsars.

Bhavsar, or Bhavasar, is also the surname of some members of the ethnic group. By profession, Bhavsars are divided into Rangrezs, who were traditionally involved with woodblock printing on textiles, and Shimpis/Darzis, who were traditionally involved in tailoring.