Khoja or Khwaja is a gotra

Gotra

In the Hindu society, the term Gotra broadly refers to people who are descendants in an unbroken male line from a common male ancestor. Panini defines gotra for grammatical purposes as apatyam pautraprabhrti gotram , which means "the word gotra denotes the progeny beginning with the son's son"...

 (clan

Clan

A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be symbolical, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a...

) of mostly Jats (less commonly Rajputs) found in Marwar

Marwar

Marwar is a region of southwestern Rajasthan state in western India. It lies partly in the Thar Desert. In Rajasthani dialect "wad" means a particular area. The word Marwar is derived from Sanskrit word 'Maruwat'. English translation of the word is 'The region of desert'., The Imperial Gazetteer...

, Ajmer-Merwara

Ajmer-Merwara

Ajmer-Merwara is a former province of British India in the historical Ajmer region. The territory of the province was ceded to the British by Daulat Rao Sindhia by a treaty on June 25, 1818....

 and Jhunjhunwati

Jhunjhunu

Jhunjhunu is a town in the state of Rajasthan in India, and the administrative headquarters of Jhunjhunu District. It is located a 180 km from Jaipur and 245 km from Delhi. The town is famous for the frescos on its grand Havelis, a special artistic feature of this region.- Etymology...

 areas of Rajasthan

Rajasthan

Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...

 , as well sa Kutch and Punjab

Punjab (India)

Punjab ) is a state in the northwest of the Republic of India, forming part of the larger Punjab region. The state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the east, Haryana to the south and southeast and Rajasthan to the southwest as well as the Pakistani province of Punjab to the...

 in India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. They are also found in Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh , often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and Indore is the largest city....

. They are also scattered around the surrounding areas. The word Khoja is a phonetic corruption of the word Khawaja

Khawaja

Khawaja or Khwaja is a title used in Middle East, South Asia, and Central Asia. It means Lord or Master.Khwajagan is a word often used to refer to a chains of Central Asian Naqshbandi Sufi Masters from the 10th to the 16th century A.D. In Ferdowsi's Shahnameh the word is used many times for some...

, an Arabic/Persian

Persian language

Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...

 title (Arabic: خواج). The people are sometimes referred to as Persian Lords because of this lordship.

Many keep their original surnames, while others have changed it. Khoja surnames include Khwajah/Khoja(h), Thakker/Thakur, Patel and sometimes Singh. (There are others as well, many adopt surnames to reflect their occupation).

They ruled in Tonk

Tonk (princely state)

Tonk was a Princely State of India which by treaty in 1817 accepted British suzerainty. Following the Partition of India in 1947, Tonk acceded to the newly independent Union of India. It was located in the region that is now the Tonk district.-History:...

 in 11th century. The author of ‘Tarikh Rajgan Hind’ Maulvi Hakeem Majmulgani Khan has mentioned giving the geographical description of Tonk state and location of Tonk town on Banas River

Banas River

The Banas is a river of Rajasthan state in western India. It is a tributary of the Chambal River, which in turn flows into the Yamuna, a tributary of the Ganges. The Banas is approximately 512 kilometres in length. It is also known as 'Van Ki Asha' .The Banas originates in the Khamnor Hills of the...

. He has further mentioned that Khoja Ram Singh after a war at Delhi

Delhi

Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...

 came to this place and founded Tonk town on magha sudi teras samvat 1003 (946 AD). This town was earlier called Tonkra, which later became Tonk. After a long period on magh sudi 5 samvat 1337 (1280 AD) Alloudin Khilji when won Madhaupur and Chittorgarh, this town was again inhabited. Thus the descendants of Ram Singh ruled Tonk from samvat 1003 (946

946

Year 946 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar.- Religion :* May 10 – Pope Agapitus II succeeds Pope Marinus II as the 129th pope.- Deaths :...

 AD) to samvat 1337 (1280 AD). Khilji

Khilji

Khilji may refer to:*Khilji dynasty*Khilji, Nepalas added to the page to prevent it being listed on Special:Shortpages. It and the accompanying monitoring template were generated via Template:Longcomment. Please do not remove the monitor template without removing the comment as well....

 or some other Muslim

Muslim

A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

ruler had destroyed this town, which was rehabilitated.