Regions with significant populations | |
---|---|
• Pakistan • India | |
Languages | |
• Urdu • Hindi • Gujarati • Punjabi • Seraiki | |
Religion | |
Islam | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Malik • Shaikh |
The Muslim Dhobi are a South Asian Muslim caste whose traditional occupation is washing clothes. They are considered to be Muslim converts from Hinduism, where the Dhobi castes are launderers. Muslim Dhobis are found throughout the Indian subcontinent.[ citation needed ]
The community is also known as Charhoa and Gazar in Pakistan, and Qassar in India. They also use "Hawari" as a surname.[ citation needed ]
In Pakistan, the Punjab Qassar are mainly a rural community. The Qassar are an artisan caste, receiving a fixed share of the agricultural produce for their services. The Gazar sub-division, found in southern Punjab, have taken to agriculture. The Gazar and Charhoa are Seraiki speaking, while the Qassar in central Punjab speak Punjabi. [1]
Sikhs are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term Sikh has its origin in the Sanskrit word śiṣya, meaning 'seeker', 'disciple' or 'student'.
The Punjabis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group associated with the Punjab region, comprising areas of northwestern India and eastern Pakistan. They generally speak Standard Punjabi or various Punjabi dialects on both sides.
Dhobi known in some places as Dhoba, Rajaka, a scheduled caste in India and the greater Indian subcontinent whose traditional occupations are washing, ironing, and agricultural labour.
Bhatia is a group of people and a caste found in Punjab, Sindh and Gujarat. Traditionally, they have been a trading and merchant community. The Bhatias primarily live in Northwestern India and Pakistan. The Bhatias, Lohanas and Khatris were similar communities and were known to intermarry. The Bhatias recruit Saraswat Brahmins as priests.
Arain are a large Punjabi Muslim agricultural community with a strong political identity and level of organisation.
Bazigar, or Goaars, are an ethnic group of north-western India. They are primarily found in Punjab and in Pakistan's Punjab, but there are also communities in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Rajasthan. They were previously nomadic with their main occupation the performance of acrobatics and other forms of entertainment, but they are now settled and engaged mainly in agricultural and similar forms of labour.
Punjabi Hindus are adherents of Hinduism who identify ethnically, linguistically, culturally, and genealogically as Punjabis and are natives of the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent. Punjabi Hindus are the second-largest religious group of the Punjabi community, after the Punjabi Muslims. While Punjabi Hindus mostly inhabit the Indian state of Punjab, as well as Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, and Chandigarh today, many have ancestry across the greater Punjab region, which was partitioned between India and Pakistan in 1947.
Indian Sikhs number approximately 21 million people and account for 1.7% of India's population as of 2011, forming the country's fourth-largest religious group. The majority of the nation's Sikhs live in the northern state of Punjab, which is the only Sikh-majority administrative division in the world.
Muslim communities in South Asia have a system of social stratification arising from concepts other than "pure" and "impure", which are integral to the caste system in India. It developed as a result of relations among foreign conquerors, local upper-caste Hindus convert to Islam and local lower-caste converts (ajlaf), as well as the continuation of the Indian caste system by converts. Non-ashrafs are backward-caste converts. The concept of "pasmanda" includes ajlaf and arzal Muslims; ajlaf status is defined by descent from converts to Islam and by pesha (profession). These terms are not part of the sociological vocabulary in regions such as Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh, and say little about the functioning of Muslim society.
The Kanjars are a Muslim tribe native to Pakistan, with small populations also living in India. The Kanjari language is spoken mostly by the Kanjari people living in the Punjab province of Pakistan. Kanjari is a lesser-known Indo-Aryan language, but almost all Pakistani Kanjars speak Punjabi as well.
Chiniot District, is a district in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It became the district in July 2009. Before this, it was a tehsil of Jhang District.
The Muslim Shaikh are a community found in the Sindh province of Pakistan. The Shah Khel community of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has similar roots.
The Muslim Kayastha, also known as Siddiqui, are a community of Muslims, are related to the Kayastha of northern India, mainly modern Uttar Pradesh, who converted to Islam during the rule of the Islamic empires in India.
Tailoring is the English translation of Darzi. In the Indian tradition, it was customary to wrap clothing over the body rather than wear stitched clothes. Used in Hindi and Urdu, the word Darzi comes from the Persian language.
The Dogra Muslim are a Muslim community found in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. They are Muslim converts from the larger Hindu Dogra community. Many Dogra Muslim are also now found in the province of Punjab in Pakistan. They are also known as Rajahs, especially in Pakistan.
Mochi are a community, found in North India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.They are the traditional shoemakers of South Asia.
The Pachhada are a Muslim ethnic group found in the Pakistani Punjab. They are also known as Rath.
Khakh is surname belonging to the Jat clan. Most of those with the name are followers of Sikhism and Islam, but a large number of Sikhs also exist among those identifying with the name. Just like many other Jatt castes, the Khakh originate in the historical Punjab region of South Asia. Today, the surname is widely popular across Indian Punjab, New Delhi and Pakistani Punjab.