Khandayat, also spelled Khandait, is a cultivating caste,[2][3] as well as a peasant militia [3] or landed militia caste from Odisha, East India.[4][5] Some of them had earlier served as feudal chiefs as well as zamindars apart from being land holders and agriculturalists.[6][7][8][9] Numerically they are the largest caste of the state.[10]
^Patnaik, Nihar Ranjan (1997). Economic History of Orissa. Indus Publishing. p. 157. ISBN978-81-7387-075-0. These estates were generally held by Khandayat militia chiefs who earlier served the Gajapati Kings.