What is "thaker"

Thaker ( Gujarati: ઠાકર, ), is a family name referring to the descendants of Kashiraj Thaker, an 11th-century Kashmiri Brahmin who moved to the region of Saurashtra, Gujarat to spread and maintain Hinduism on the request of the Siddhraj Jaysinh I (b. 1094), a Hindu Solanki King who ruled modern-day Gujarat until 1143. The family rose to prominence within Saurashtran nobility throughout the 12th-19th centuries as Diwans.

From 1297 to 1758 various Muslim rulers ruled Gujarat; during this time members of the Thaker family were appointed to lifelong hereditary positions as premier political and financial advisors to the rulers of Saurashtra from the Solanki Dynasty to the Mughal Empire; notably Emperor Akbar the Great. Following the change of power to the Maratha Empire who eventually accepted the paramountcy of the British Empire in 1819, members of the Thaker family, being well-versed in scripture, history, philosophy, ritual, politics, law, social precepts and morality, continued on in their positions as principal advisors or in executive offices as Diwans to the various Maharajas/ Maharanas of the Princely States of British India in modern-day Gujarat, Western India. After the 11th century many Thaker family members became landowners of large portions of Saurashtra. Today, while many branches of the family remain in India, some bloodlines have spread internationally to, among others, East Africa, the United Kingdom and the United states.

Thaker is a surname, and may refer to:

• Pranjivan Vishwanath Thaker (circa 1860 – 1920), Diwan of the princely state of Vadia in Saurashtra, Gujarat the highest executive office under Rajput rule
• Mahashankar Vishwanath Thaker (circa 1867 – 1902), Chief Treasurer of the princely state of Limbdi under Jhala Rajput rule
• Dhirajlal Mahashankar Vishwanath Thaker (1897–1947), Paymaster General of the Port of Karachi; the largest wheat and cotton exporting port in British India prior to partition, currently the largest port in Pakistan
• Amit Thaker (born 1971), Indian politician of the Bharatiya Janata Party, currently National President of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha
• Dhirubhai Premshankar Thaker (born 1917), Chief Editor of the Gujarati Vishwakosh; Gujarat's first extensive encyclopedia in the Gujarati language with 25 volumes and over 23,000 articles, and winner of the 1994 Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak; the highest literary award in Gujarati literature