What is "jati"

n. A clan, tribe, or community in India.

n. (Hinduism) a Hindu caste or distinctive social group of which there are thousands throughout India; a special characteristic is often the exclusive occupation of its male members (such as barber or potter)

Jāti (in Devanagari: जाति, Bengali: জাতি, Telugu:జాతి, Kannada:ಜಾತಿ, Malayalam: ജാതി, Tamil:ஜாதி, literally "birth") is a group of clans, tribes, communities and sub-communities, and religions in India. Each jāti typically has an association with a traditional job function or tribe. Religious beliefs (e.g. Sri Vaishnavism or Veera Shaivism) or linguistic groupings may define some jatis.

A person's surname typically reflects a community (jati) association: thus Gandhi = perfume seller, Dhobi = washerman, Srivastava = military scribe, etc. In any given location in India 500 or more jatis may co-exist, although the exact composition will differ from district to district.

Jāti are the thousands of clans, tribes, communities and sub-communities in India. Jati or JATI may also refer to:

• Jati (or Jatu or Jataki), a dialect of the Haryanvi language
• Jāti (Buddhism), the arising of a new living entity
• Jati (game), a board game from the 3M bookshelf game series
• Teak, the Indonesian name for the hardwood tree
• Jati, Ceará, a city in Brazil
• Jati, Pulo Gadung, an administrative village of Pulo Gadung, East Jakarta, Indonesia
• Jati, Sindh, a small town in the Pakistani province of Sindh
• Jati Umra (Lahore), burial place of Nawaz Sharif's father and location of Nawaz Sharif's grand palace
• Jati Umra (Amritsar), ancestral village of Nawaz Sharif in India
• Jatimatic, a Finnish 9 mm submachine gun
• Jati (music), a rhythmic pattern in Indian classical music
• JATI, or rather Jalur Tiga is an NGO in Malaysia

In Buddhism, Jāti (the Sanskrit and Pāli word for "birth") refers to the arising of a new living entity within saṃsāra (cyclic existence).

Jāti is identified with the Buddhist teachings in the following contexts:

• as an aspect of dukkha (suffering) within the teachings on the Four Noble Truths
• as the eleventh link within the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination