Khap (Sarv Khap Panchayats)

Khap and Sarv Khap was a system of social administration and organization in the republics of Northwestern states like Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh in India since ancient times. The concept of Khap is quite ancient. Written references are found as far back as the Rig Veda times circa 2500 BCE.

Khap is a term for a social - political grouping and used in a geographical sense. The word Khap is probably derived from Latin word corpus which means an organization of individuals. Other parallel terms are Pal, Ganas, Janpada or republic. According to Bhim Singh Dahiya, the word Khap is perhaps derived from the Saka word Satrapy or Khatrapy, and means an area inhabited by a particular clan.For some reasons the political unit of Khap was defined as a group of 84 villages. This unit of measure is found as far back as the Saka migrations/invasions circa 500 BCE into the Indian subcontinent.