Legendary Origin
The Bhavasar claim the Kshatriya varna, stating a legendary descent from Kshatriyas who survived extermination by Parshuram by taking shelter in the temple of the goddess Hingulaambikaa.
The Bhavasar's legendary origin dates back to Saurashtra.According to the epic stories, the legendary Parshuram, who was said to be an avatar of Vishnu, had vowed vengeance against the kshatriyas (the community of warriors) and had wiped most of the kshatriyas off the earth. This scenario had worried two young princes Bhavsingh and Sarsingh from Saurashtra who had foreseen their dynasty meeting its end. The princes had been directed to appeal to the Hindu Goddess Hinglaj at the holy shrine situated on the banks of the Hingol River in Baluchistan near Sindh, now in Pakistan, where the Hindu goddess assured protection of their dynasty by compelling Parshuram to leave them alone, on the condition that none from their community would confront Parshuram as he too was a son for her. The Bhavsar community was named after these two princes, Bhavsingh and Sarsingh. The Bhavsar community has negotiated with the Pakistani government passage for regular pilgrimage to Hinglaj.
The community fled from the Sindh area around Hinglaj when faced with conversion to Islam by force by Mughal invaders and settled in Gujarat and Maharashtra in the Middle Ages. The Maharashtrian Bhavsars moved further to the South of India up to Tamil Nadu, settling along the way in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Another branch moved West to Vidharbha and Madhya Pradesh.
Historical evidence is available to support the warrior heritage of the Bhavsars, see for eg. Rangrez. Initially, the community was not advanced educationally and stuck to the profession of tailoring/printing, but in the last few decades, a number of educated professionals and entrepreneurs have come up and have also spread overseas.
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