History and origin

The word salat has been derived from salaya which means stone. They are a community of stone cutters. The community is divided into two clans, the Kumbhar Salat and the Ghantitakewala Salat. Both these clans are endogamous, with the former being immigrants from 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...

. The community is concentrated in Banaskantha, Sabarkantha and Mehasana districts, and they speak Gujarati. A small number of Salaat were converted to Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

 and now form a distibct community of Muslim Salaat

Salaat (Muslim)

The Salaat are Muslim community found in the state of Gujarat in India. They are Muslim converts from the Hindu Salaat caste.-History and Origins:...

.

Present circumstances

The two divisions are divided into a number of clans, the main ones being the Rathore, Parmar, Solanki and Bijpar, which are exogamous. There main occupation remains the selling and manufacture of grinding stones.