Arabs in India

Arabs in India

Total population
54,947 (Arabic speaking) [1] large number of Indians with partial or full Arab ancestry [2] [3] [4] [5]
Regions with significant populations
Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Telangana, Punjab, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Sindh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Delhi, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu
Languages
Currently spoken: Various Indian languages and English Traditional: Arabic
Religion
Islam, Christianity

Arabs in India are people with Arab origins who have over a long period of time, settled in the Indian subcontinent. There have been extensive trade and cultural links between India and the Arab world spanning several millennia. ^{[6] [7]} The west coast region of India, especially Malabar, Gujarat and Konkan coasts were active trading hubs, where Arab merchants frequently used to visit on their way to Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. ^[8] Over a span of several centuries, migrants from different Arabian nations immigrated to various regions and kingdoms of the Indian subcontinent as merchants, missionaries and through intermarriages.

Communities

Tyabji family of North Yemeni origin

Haveli of the Sheikh family of Tungipara

Sayed Muhammed Ali Shihab Thangal of the Pukkoya family of Panakkad, of Yemeni origin.

The earliest immigrants from the Arab world arrived as merchants to the Malabar coastal region of South West India, today consisting of the state of Kerala. ^[9] Many of these Arab merchants married local women. Concentrations of these mixed-race descendants of Arab merchants can be found especially in the Kozhikode and Malappuram districts of Kerala. There also have been historic and close links between the Orthodox churches of South-West India and the Christian Arab orthodox churches in the middle east for several centuries, especially among the Orthodox Christians in India and Syria, which they maintain until this day and many of the Christians from these communities have claimed their ancestors are Arabs and the DNA results support this claim with Haplogroup G-M201 and Haplogroup J-M304 being prominent. ^[10]

Descendants of Arabs also live in the villages of Variav and Rander in Gujarat. In Hyderabad, Chaush are an Arab community of Hadhrami descent whose ancestors were recruited as soldiers by Nizam of Hyderabad. ^[11] Some Konkani Muslims trace their ancestry to traders from Hadhramaut (in Yemen or South Arabia). ^[12] In coastal Karnataka, a group of Persian speaking Sunni Muslims from Iraq having Assadi surname arrived in Mangalore during the reign of Tipu Sultan. They claim their ancestry from Banu Assad. These population migrations may have been favoured by both the Nizam of Hyderabad and Tipu Sultan of Mysore because both had their ancestral linkages to these populations. In Kerala, Syed Thangals of Hadhrami descent settled around the 17th century as missionaries to propagate Islam.

There are also Shia Sayyids in the Northern region of the country who claim descent from Wasit, Iraq like Zaidis.

Arab ancestry among Indians

It is estimated that several groups in India have Middle Eastern Arab ancestry. Especially Muslim groups and various populations in western India have at least some Arab ancestry. Genetic analyses show that Arab and other West Asian lineages are quite common in Indians. ^{[13] [14]}

Arabic speakers in India

Year	Pop.	±%
1971	23,318	—
1981	28,116	+20.6%
1991	21,975	−21.8%
2001	51,728	+135.4%
2011	54,947	+6.2%
Source: Language Census of India (2011)

See also

• India–Saudi Arabia relations
• India–United Arab Emirates relations
• Arab diaspora
• Adnani Arabs
• Chaush (India)

References

1. "Language" (PDF). Census of India. 2011.
6. Pillalamarri, Akhilesh. "India and the Gulf States Share a Long History". thediplomat.com. Retrieved 2020-09-05.
7. Observer, Oman (2017-12-25). "Ancient Oman had trade links with Indus Valley". Oman Observer. Retrieved 2020-09-05.
8. Mohamed, K.M.; Mohammad, K.M. (1999). "ARAB RELATIONS WITH MALABAR COAST FROM 9th TO 16th CENTURIES". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 60: 226–234. ISSN   2249-1937. JSTOR   44144090.
9. Koya, S.M. Mohamad (1976). "Muslims of the Malabar Coast as Descendants of the Arabs". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 37: 195–200. ISSN   2249-1937. JSTOR   44138933.
10. "Familytree - Syrian Christians DNA Project Information Nasranis". 18 February 2007.
11. "Hadhramis present a slice of Yemen in India's Hyderabad". Al Arabiya English. 2018-12-13. Retrieved 2020-09-05.
12. Khalidi, Omar (1996). "The Arabs of Hadramawt in Hyderabad". In Kulkarni; Naeem; De Souza (eds.). Mediaeval Deccan History. Bombay: Popular Prakashan. ISBN   978-8-1715-4579-7.
13. Belle, Elise M. S.; Shah, Saima; Parfitt, Tudor; Thomas, Mark G. (2010-09-01). "Y chromosomes of self-identified Syeds from the Indian subcontinent show evidence of elevated Arab ancestry but not of a recent common patrilineal origin". Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences. 2 (3): 217–224. doi:10.1007/s12520-010-0040-1. ISSN   1866-9565. S2CID   16195047.
14. Yelmen, Burak; Mondal, Mayukh; Marnetto, Davide; Pathak, Ajai K; Montinaro, Francesco; Gallego Romero, Irene; Kivisild, Toomas; Metspalu, Mait; Pagani, Luca (August 2019). "Ancestry-Specific Analyses Reveal Differential Demographic Histories and Opposite Selective Pressures in Modern South Asian Populations". Molecular Biology and Evolution. 36 (8): 1628–1642. doi:10.1093/molbev/msz037. ISSN   0737-4038. PMC   6657728 . PMID   30952160.