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The Mirshikar are a Muslim community, found in North India who were traditionally hunters and trappers of birds and small animals. This title was used for the high position of "chief huntsman" and served in the courts of Persian and Mughal rulers and taught them to hunt. [1] [2]
The word Mirshikar is a combination of two Urdu words, mir meaning lord and shikar meaning a hunt, and their name means a leader of a hunting party. They are mostly concentrated in the Indian states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. The Mirshikar speak a dialect which is a combination of Urdu and Hindi. Mirshikars in Bihar and Uttarpradesh hunt both by day and night and work alongside other trapper communities like the Bahelia and Mallaha. Most are into animal husbandry. They are emerged from the pashtuns (Pathans) who were came from the poor villages.[ citation needed ] They started so many different profession over the time for the survival.[ citation needed ] The main profession was the hunting. They started calling themselves 'MIRSHIKAR' for their own satisfaction in the society as the term 'MIRSHIKAR' means 'Lord of the hunters' until this community was proposed by the government. Mirshikar community, because of their low literacy rate was unable to emerge again as Pashtuns (Pathans) but their title remain the same as Khan, Pakhtan, Alam, or with no title -for Male. On the other hand, Nisha, Khatoon, Khatun, Aara, Parween are used as the title for the Female till now Beside this, there is a Massive number of Mirshikar Muslim having the title 'KHAN' referring to this title as their predecessor's title and claimed that they are often known as the 'LATHMAAR PATHAN' and a pure orthodox Muslim. 'LATHMAAR PATHAN' is referred to the pathan groups which are very talented in order fight with Laathi (Bamboo stick).[ citation needed ] Nowadays Mirshikar are making a growth in the literacy rate in which reservation for the MIRSHIKAR Muslim is playing a major role for their upliftment. [3] In some parts of Uttar Pradesh the tribe name is reduced to maskar. [4]
In one Mirshikar community in Bihar, young men needed to prove themselves fit for marriage by catching a loha sarang, the black-necked stork known for being vicious. The practice was stopped when a boy was killed in the process. [5]
Ali Hussain from a mirshikar community in Manjhaul in Begusarai is acclaimed for his work as a bird trapper for the Bombay Natural History Society. He worked with Salim Ali and many other ornithologists to aid the marking and study of birds. In 1998 he was flown to Jackson County, Mississippi and during his 1-week visit, he demonstrated his clap-trap and noose-trap techniques and helped capture 10% of the sandhill crane population of Mississippi. [6] His method is now a standard in crane research. [7] In 1998, the Indian government Films Division recorded a documentary featuring Ali Hussain. [8]
The Mirshikar are scattered are across Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. They are an endogamous community, marrying close kin.[ citation needed ] The majority are landless agricultural labourers.[ citation needed ] There has also been a steady emigration of the Mirshikar to other states of India, where many are now found. A few are also involved in the manufacture of bamboos flute. Just like other Muslim community in India they are also an extremely marginalized community, with a poor literacy rates. The Mirshikar are Sunni Muslims, and are fairly orthodox. [9]
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Rohillas are a community of Pashtun ancestry, historically found in Rohilkhand, a region in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It forms the largest Pashtun diaspora community in India, and has given its name to the Rohilkhand region. The Rohilla military chiefs settled in this region of northern India in the 1720s, the first of whom was Daud Khan.
Tonk was a Princely State of India at the time of the British Raj. The town of Tonk, which was the capital of the state, had a population of 273,201 in 1901. The town was surrounded by a wall and boasted a mud fort. It had a high school, the Walter hospital for women, under a matron, and a separate hospital for men. It has a bridge on river Banas.
Powayan or Pawayan is a town and a subdivisional headquarters in Shahjahanpur district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, 27 km from Shahjahanpur, 47km from Tilhar. It is located in the fertile agricultural belt of Northern India and is 300 km from Delhi and 200 km from Lucknow.
Jansath is a town and a nagar panchayat in Muzaffarnagar district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Chairman-Mr.Pravendra Bhadana
The Pathans of Punjab (Punjabi: پنجابی پٹھان; Pashto: د پنجاب پښتانه; also called Punjabi Pathans are originally Pashtun people who have settled in the Punjab region of Pakistan. Most of these Pashtun communities are scattered throughout the Punjab and have over time assimilated into the Punjabi society and culture.
The demographics of Uttar Pradesh is a complex topic, which is undergoing dynamic change. Uttar Pradesh is India's most populous state, and the largest subdivision in the world. It has a population of about 199,812,341 as per the 2011 census. If it were a separate country, Uttar Pradesh would be the world's fifth most populous nation, next only to China, India, the United States of America and Indonesia. Uttar Pradesh has a population more than that of Pakistan. There is an average population density of 828 persons per km² i.e. 2,146 per sq mi. The capital of Uttar Pradesh is Lucknow, and Allahabad serves as the state’s judicial capital. Hindus and Muslims both consider the state as a holy place.
The Muslim Rangrez is a Muslim community in North India. Many members of thecommunity migrated to Pakistan after independence and settled in Karachi, Sindh.
The Farooqui's are a community, found in North India. They are also known as Farooqi and Shaikh Farooqi.
The Mansoori Al Mansoori are the Muslim community found in the states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and north India.
Gujarati Pashtuns/Pathans are a group of Pashtuns. At various times in history, numerous Pashtuns have settled in the region of Gujarat in western India. They now form a distinct community of Gujarati and Urdu/Hindi speaking Muslims. They are distributed throughout the state, but live mainly in Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Junagadh, Surat, Bhavnagar, Panchamahal, Koth, Kotha, Borsad, Kheda, Banaskantha, Bharuch, Gandhinagar, Sabarkantha, Vadodara and Mehsana. They mainly speak Urdu/Hindi with many Hindustani and Pashto loanwords most of them have been Indianized so some may have Hindi/Gujarati as their first language as well, few elders in the community still speak Pashto. Common Tribes include Babi or Babai, Khan, Bangash, Durrani, and Yousafzai.
The Pathans of Uttar Pradesh, have a large community of Ethnic Afghans also known as Pashtuns in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India, who form one of the largest Muslim communities in the state. They are also known as khans, which is a commonly used surname, although not all those who use the surname are Pathans, for example the Khanzada community of eastern Uttar Pradesh, who are Muslim Rajputs, are also commonly known as khan. Indeed in Awadh, the boundary between the Khanzada and Pathans are blurred. In addition, the phrase Pathan Khanzada is used to describe Muslim Rajput groups, found mainly in Gorakhpur, who have been absorbed into the Pathan community. However in Rohilkhand, and arts of the Doab and Awadh, there are genuine communities of Pashtuns, such as the Rohilla.
The Putliwale are a Muslim community found in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India.
The Muslim population in Uttar Pradesh was 38,483,967 in 2011, 19.3% of total population of Uttar-Pradesh) in 2011 and forms the second largest religion in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Muslims of Uttar Pradesh have also been referred to as Hindustani Musalman. They do not form a unified ethnic community, but are differentiated by sectarian and Baradari divisions, as well as by language and geography. Nevertheless, the community shares some unifying cultural factors.
Pathans in Kashmir include Pashtun people (Pathans) that may still follow Pashtunwali and speak Pashto as their mother-tongue who have settled in the Indian Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir region of South Asia. While there are also a large number of people throughout Kashmir who claim Pashtun ancestry through forefathers who migrated to the region under the Afghan rule in Kashmir. While exact numbers are hard to determine, cursory estimates put the number of these Pathans or Pashtuns above 100,000. Many of these Pathans have over time absorbed Kashmiriyat and use Kashmiri language as their second language, although some people following Pashtunwali customs and aspects of Pashtun culture and Pashto are still notably practiced among the community, largely of them resides in district Ganderbal (gutlibagh)and Anantnag, there are also Pathans in district Kishtwar and Baramulla
The Kheshgi, Khaishgi, Kheshagi, Khweshgi, or Kheshki is a prominent Sarbani Pashtun tribe and Imperial dynasty in South Asia.
The Pathans of Madhya Pradesh are an Urdu-speaking Pashtun community settled in the present-day Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.
Muhajir culture is the culture of Urdu-speaking nation , Urdu-speaking Muslims that migrated mainly from North India after the independence of Pakistan in 1947 generally to the Karachi a federal capital of Pakistan & on 02 April 1970 Karachi merged & became part of matruka Sindh province without Urdu Muhajir nation consent & agreement. They are also known as Urdu speakers, on account of Urdu being their native language. Many Muhajirs of Pakistan are closely related to the Muslims of Uttar Pradesh in India. The Muhajirs nation are concentrated in urban areas of matruka Sindh.
The Pathans of Tamil Nadu are Urdu-speaking Muslims of Pashtun ancestry who have migrated to and settled in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Their migration to the Tamil country had occurred in three main waves - first during the Madurai Sultanate between 1335 and 1378, second during the Mughal incursions into the Tamil country of the reign of Aurangazeb and the subsequent establishment of the Carnatic state and lastly, during British rule when both the Tamil country as part of the Madras Presidency and the North West Frontier Province which formed part of the Pashtun homeland, were both part of British India. Pathans in Tamil Nadu are generally called Pattan or Pattani and form a part of the larger Urdu-speaking community of Tamil Muslims.
Pathans in India are citizens or residents of India who are of ethnic Pashtun ancestry. "Pathan" is the local Hindi-Urdu term for an individual who belongs to the Pashtun ethnic group, or descends from it. The term additionally finds mention among Western sources, mainly in the colonial-era literature of British India. Historically, the term "Afghan" was also synonymous with the Pathans. The Pathans originate from the region straddling Pakistan and Afghanistan.
