Saini and Kushwaha communities have no links. The history of Sainis can be found on the following website:
www.shoorsaini.com are some Mali groups who also use the Saini last name. But Census records of Government of India show that these Mali groups started calling themselves 'Saini' only after 1940. They changed their identity to gain access to army jobs which were open only to castes designated as "martial class". Sainis were enlisted as "martial class" since earliest time of British presence in India. Sainis were recruited in army but Malis were not...hence the latter changed their identity to Saini too to piggyback their way into army which was biggest employer in British era. Many other "non-martial" caste groups adopted new identities during the period.
Authentic Sainis are found only in Punjab, Haryana, HP and J & K. They are the predominantly descendants of Yadav and Tanwar (Pandav) Rajputs who moved to Punjab from Mathura & Bharatpur regions to fight earliest Muslim armies and settled there as farmers when Rajputs lost. They do not intermarry with these new groups who started claiming to be Sainis only after 1940. These Neo-Sainis (read Malis) are sometimes confused with Kushwahas.
www.shoorsaini.com are some Mali groups who also use the Saini last name. But Census records of Government of India show that these Mali groups started calling themselves 'Saini' only after 1940. They changed their identity to gain access to army jobs which were open only to castes designated as "martial class". Sainis were enlisted as "martial class" since earliest time of British presence in India. Sainis were recruited in army but Malis were not...hence the latter changed their identity to Saini too to piggyback their way into army which was biggest employer in British era. Many other "non-martial" caste groups adopted new identities during the period.
Authentic Sainis are found only in Punjab, Haryana, HP and J & K. They are the predominantly descendants of Yadav and Tanwar (Pandav) Rajputs who moved to Punjab from Mathura & Bharatpur regions to fight earliest Muslim armies and settled there as farmers when Rajputs lost. They do not intermarry with these new groups who started claiming to be Sainis only after 1940. These Neo-Sainis (read Malis) are sometimes confused with Kushwahas.
