There are four casts which are Brahmin, Kshatriya (Soldiers), Vaishya (farmers) and the Shudra. The Vaishya cast is where the Siyani family is recognized as being part of. Vaishya is derived from the word ‘to live’ and it focuses on merchants and those that have farming and agricultural trade. This can be further sub-divided in to casts, Vaniya, Sutar, Kunbi (known as Vavetia). The word Kunbi was given to our ancestor as they used to grow peanuts and one of the types of peanuts was known as Kagoh Phray.

The Siyani clan originates from Kunbi who lived further south of Bhuj. In the state of Gujarat there was a local king called Ahmed Shah (1411-1442) who gave grief to the Kunbi.

At that time there were about 242 villages in Halar now known as the district of Jamnagar that king Ahmed Shah reined over. One of them being a village called Gondalya.

The Gondalya’s were known to pray to a Kur Dev called Bramarni. In those days all families had an individual Kur Devi (mahtaji) which would be passed down the family line. One of the elder clan members known as Siya Bapa became very popular due to is strong belief in his Kur Devi Bramarni. He is an important figure in the Siyani family history as this is where the surname Siyani originates from.

Some residents of the village Gondalya could no longer tolerate the harsh conditions set by the Raja and it was Siya Bapa and his family that took the lead to exit the village.

Siya Bapa migrated to Kutch and old village called Manukhwa. There he registered his family name Siyani believe to be in 1735. The raja of Manukhwa at that time was called Shree Riythan.

From then on many Siyani’s remained in Manukwa however some dispersed to other villages in the area such as Kodki, Majapur and even as far as Madhapur. It is believed around 1900 Khimji (my ancestors) migrated to a small town of Kodki.

Notes
Halar district now known as Jamnagar in Gujarat
Gondal History