Muslim Rajputs

History

The term Rajput is traditionally applied to the original Suryavanshi, Chandravanshi and Agnivanshi clans, who claimed to be Kshatriya in the Hindu varna system.

Conversion to Islam and ethos

Upon their conversion from Hinduism to Islam, many Muslim Rajputs maintained many of their Hindu customs. Muslim Rajputs also often retained common social practices, such as purdah (seclusion of women), with Hindu Rajputs.

Despite the difference in religious faith, where the question has arisen of common Rajput honour, there have been instances where both Muslim and Hindu Rajputs have united against threats from external ethnic groups.

In 1993 recorded instances of conversions of Rajputs to Islam in Khurja tahsil of Bulandshahr, in western Uttar Pradesh.

Muslim Rajput dynasties

Kharagpur Raj

Main article: Kharagpur Raj

The Kharagpur Raj was a Muslim Kindwar Rajput chieftaincy in modern-day Munger district of Bihar. Raja Sangram Singh led a rebellion against the Mughal authorities and was subsequently defeated and executed. His son, Toral Mal, was made to convert to Islam and renamed as Roz Afzun. Roz Afzun was a loyal Commander to the Emperors Jahangir and Shah Jahan and Jahangir referred to him as his "favourite" commander in the empire. Another prominent chieftain of this dynasty was Tahawar Singh who played an active role in the Mughal expedition against the nearby Cheros of Palamu.

Khanzada dynasty

Main article: Khanzadas of Mewat

Mewat was a kingdom in Rajputana with its capital at Alwar ruled by a Khanzada Mewati Rajput dynasty during the period of the Delhi Sultanate in India. Raja Hassan Khan Mewati was represented the Meo Khanzada in Battle of Khanwa. Mewat was covered over a wide area, it included Hathin tehsil, Nuh district, Tijara, Gurgaon, Kishangarh Bas, Ramgarh, Laxmangarh Tehsils Aravalli Range in Alwar district and Pahari, Nagar, Kaman tehsils in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan and also some part of Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh. The last ruler of Mewat, Hasan Khan Mewati was killed in the battle of Khanwa against the Mughal emperor Babur. The Meo Khanzadas were descended from Hindu Yadu Rajputs.

Lalkhani Nawabs

The Lalkhanis are a Muslim Rajput community and a sub-clan of the Bargujars. They were the Nawabs of various estates in Western Uttar Pradesh. These included Chhatari and neighbouring regions including parts of Aligarh and Bulandshahr.

Qaimkhanis of Fatehpur-Jhunjhunu

The Qaimkhanis were a Muslim Rajput dynasty who were notable for ruling the Fatehpur-Jhunjhunu region in Rajasthan from the 1300s to the 1700s. They were descended from Hindu Chauhan Rajputs, though as also stated by the historian Dirk Kolff the Qaimkhani have Turkic origins.

Mayi chiefs

The Mayi clan were the chieftains of the Narhat-Samai (Hisua) chieftaincy in modern-day Nawada district in South Bihar. The founder of the Mayi clan was Nuraon Khan who arrived in Bihar in the 17th century. His descendants were Azmeri and Deyanut who were granted zamindari rights over six parganas by the Mughal authorities. Deyanut's son was Kamgar Khan who expanded his land by attacking and plundering neighbouring zamindars. Kamgar Khan also led numerous revolts against the Mughals and attempted to assert the Mayi's independence. His descendant was Iqbal Ali Khan who took part in the 1781 revolt in Bihar against the British however his revolt failed and Mayi's lost much of their land.

Bengal

Rajput communities began settling in Bengal during the Sultanate period where they were given high ranks in the Bengal government. One notable example is of Bhagirath of Ayodhya, who belonged to the Hindu Bais clan, who was appointed as the Dewan of Sultan Ghiyasuddin Mahmud Shah. His son, Kalidas Gajdani embraced Sunni Islam through the guidance of Ibrahim Danishmand and became known as Sulaiman Khan. Bhagirath's grandson, Isa Khan, grew to become the chief of Bengal's Baro-Bhuiyan confederacy which posed as a threat to the Mughals who wanted to conquer Bengal. The diwans of Mymensingh and Dhaka during the 19th-century were said to be the descendants of Muslim Rajputs.

Another Bengali Rajput community are the Ghosi, who can predominantly be found in the 24 Parganas and Midnapore districts, particularly near the towns of Barrackpur and Kharagpur. They migrated to Bengal from Kanpur five centuries ago and are descended from Amar Singh Rathore, a Rajput nobleman from Jhansi who converted to Islam. They are divided into several clans; Rathore, Dogar, Chauhan, Khelari, Tatar, Lehar, Nahar and Maidul.

Princely state of Makran

Main article: Makran (princely state)

Makran state was ruled by Gichki Nawabs, who were of Rajput origin. Their ancestor, Jagat Singh, had migrated from Rajputana in the 17th century and converted to Islam. The Gichki now identify as Baloch.

Demographics

British India

Punjab

In the Punjab province of British India, comprising Punjab and some parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in modern Pakistan as well Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, and some parts of Himachal Pradesh in modern India, in 1921, 70.7% of the Punjabi Rajputs were Muslims while 27.7% were Hindus, with the highest percentage of Rajputs found in Rawalpindi, with 21%.

Pakistan

In 2008, it was estimated that the Rajput population in Pakistan stood at 15 million, with around 9 million in Punjab, nearly 5 million in Sindh, followed by 643,000 in Azad Kashmir, 223,000 in Islamabad, 174,000 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 37,000 in Balochistan.

Punjab

In Pakistan's Punjab province, the Rajputs are dominant in the Potohar plateau through its politics and military.

As per the 2017 Pakistan census, Rajputs numbered around 5% of Lahore's population, their population amounting to some 550,000 individuals out of Lahore's total population of around 11 million.

India

Uttar Pradesh

In India's Uttar Pradesh, many Rajput communities have embraced Islam, such as the Bais or the Gautam, the Gautamanas or Gautam Thakurs as they like to call themselves being the largest such group in the Fatehpur district, where they number around 100,000.

References

References

1. "UNHCR Refugee Review Tribunal. IND32856, 6 February 2008".
2. (1972). "Pakistan". [[Prentice Hall]].
3. (1973). "Modernization of Indian Tradition". Oriental Press.
4. (1965). "Cambridge South Asian Studies, Issue 16".
5. توصیف الحسن میواتی الہندی. (2020-08-23). "تاریخِ میو اور داستانِ میوات".
6. Ashok Pratap Singh and Pratija Kumari. (2007). "Psychological implications in Industrial Performance".
7. "Rajput". Encyclopædia Britannica.
8. ''Self and sovereignty: Individual and Community in South Asian Islam Since 1850'' by Ayesha Jalal, Routledge 2000, p480, p481
9. ''Muslim Women'' by Zakia A. Siddiqi, Anwar Jahan Zuberi, Aligarh Muslim University, India University Grants, M.D. Publications Pvt. Ltd., 1993, p93
10. Tahir Hussain Ansari. (20 June 2019). "Mughal Administration and the Zamindars of Bihar". Taylor & Francis.
11. Yogendra P. Roy. (1999). "Agrarian Reforms in "Sarkar" Munger under Raja Bahrox Singh (1631-76) Of Kharagpur". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress.
12. Yogendra P. Roy. (1993). "Raja Roz Afzun of Kharagpur (AD 1601 - 31". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress.
13. Yogendra P. Roy. (1992). "Tahawar Singh-A Muslim Raja of Kharagpur Raj (1676 - 1727)". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress.
14. "Tareekh-e-Miyo Chhatri by Hakeem Abdush Shakoor".
15. (2016). "State Formation in Mewat Relationship of the Khanzadas with the Delhi Sultanate, the Mughal State, and Other Regional Potentates". Oxford University Press.
16. Eric Stokes. (1978). "The Peasant and the Raj: Studies in Agrarian Society and Peasant Rebellion in Colonial India". CUP Archive.
17. Sunita Budhwar. (1978). "The Qayamkhani Shaikhzada Family of Fatehpur-Jhunjhunu". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress.
18. Dr Dasharatha Sharma, Kyam Khan Raso, Ed. Dasharath Sharma, Agarchand Nahta, Rajsthan Puratatva Mandir, 1953, page-15
19. Kolff, Dirk H. A.. (2002). "Naukar, Rajput, and Sepoy: The Ethnohistory of the Military Labour Market of Hindustan, 1450-1850". Cambridge University Press.
20. Gyan Prakash. (30 October 2003). "Bonded Histories: Genealogies of Labor Servitude in Colonial India". Cambridge University Press.
21. {{cite Banglapedia. Ahmed, ABM Shamsuddin
22. [[Richard M. Eaton. (1993). "The rise of Islam and the Bengal frontier, 1204-1760". [[University of California Press]].
23. (2004). "Marginal Muslim communities in India". Institute of Objective Studies.
24. Malik, Fida Hussain. (2020-10-14). "Balochistan: A Conflict of Narratives". Saiyid Books.
25. Quddus, Syed Abdul. (1990). "The Tribal Baluchistan". Ferozsons.
26. Spooner, Brian. (1964). "Kūch u Balūch and Ichthyophagi". Iran.
27. (2017). "The History of Baloch and Balochistan: A Critical Appraisal". A Research Journal of South Asian Studies.
28. Sharma, Subash Chander (1987). ''Punjab, the Crucial Decade''. New Delhi: Nirmal Publishers & Distributors. p. 105. {{ISBN. 978-81-7156-173-5.
29. Arshad, Sameer. (7 May 2013). "Caste plays dominant role in Pak elections".
30. "District Profile".
31. Sethi, Atul. (8 July 2007). "The Muslim Rajputs of UP".