| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
 India | |
| Religion | |
 Islam |
The Ghosi are a Muslim community found mainly in North India. It is said that originally they were Hindu Gwala who got converted to Islam. [1] [2] [3]
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| India | |
| Religion | |
| Islam |
The Ghosi are a Muslim community found mainly in North India. It is said that originally they were Hindu Gwala who got converted to Islam. [1] [2] [3]
The Ghosi in West Bengal claim Gowala ancestry. [4]
The Ghosi of West Bengal are found mainly in the districts of 24 Parganas and Midnapore, in particular near the towns of Barrackpur and Kharagpur . According to the traditions of this community, they emigrated from Kanpur, in what is now Uttar Pradesh some five centuries ago. The community thus took up the occupation of cattle rearing, and settled in Midnapur. [4]
The community is now divided between those who still engage in the selling of milk, and the rest of the community who are now small and medium-sized farmers. They reside in multi-caste villages, which tend to have ghosiparas, "Ghosi areas". The community now speak Bengali, although most have knowledge of Hindi. They remain strictly endogamous, and are unique among Bengali Muslims in practising clan exogamy. Their main clans are the Rathore, Dogar, Chauhan, Khaleri, Totar, Lehar and Maidul. The Ghosi of West Bengal have an informal caste council, known as a panchayat, which acts as an institution of social control, resolving disputes within the community, and providing social welfare. [4]
The Bangali may refer to a Scheduled Caste found in northern India. They are distinct from the Bengali ethnic group of West Bengal and Bangladesh. The Bangali are one of the many nomadic groupings found in India, and have customs similar to other nomadic communities such as the Kanjar.
Kayastha denotes a cluster of disparate Indian communities broadly categorised by the regions of the Indian subcontinent in which they were traditionally located—the Chitraguptavanshi Kayasthas of North India, the Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhus of Maharashtra, the Bengali Kayasthas of Bengal and Karanas of Odisha. All of them were traditionally considered "writing castes", who had historically served the ruling powers as administrators, ministers and record-keepers.
The Dom, also known as Domra, Domba, Domaka, Dombara and Dombari, are castes, or groups, scattered across India. Dom were a caste of drummer. According to Tantra scriptures, the Dom were engaged in the occupations of singing and playing music. Historically, they were considered an untouchable caste called the Dalits and their traditional occupation was the disposal and cremation of dead bodies. They are in the list of Scheduled caste for Reservation in India in the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
The Baiga are an ethnic group found in central India primarily in the state of Madhya Pradesh, and in smaller numbers in the surrounding states of Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. The largest number of Baiga is found in Baiga-chuk in Mandla district and Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh. They have sub-castes: Bijhwar, Narotia, Bharotiya, Nahar, Rai maina and Kath maina. The name Baiga means "sorcerer-medicine man".
Muslim Rajputs or Musalman Rajpoots are the descendants of Rajputs in the northern regions of the Indian subcontinent who generally are followers of Islam. They converted from Hinduism to Islam from the medieval period onwards, creating various dynasties and states while retaining Hindu surnames such as Chauhan. Today, Muslim Rajputs can be found mostly in present-day Northern India and Pakistan. They are further divided into different clans.
Chuhra, also known as Bhanghi and Balmiki, is a Dalit caste in India and Pakistan. Populated regions include the Punjab region of India and Pakistan, as well as Uttar Pradesh in India, among other parts of the Indian subcontinent such as southern India. Their traditional occupation is sweeping, a "polluting" occupation that caused them to be considered untouchables in the caste system.
Tyagi, originally called Taga, is a cultivator caste who claim Brahmin status. The landholding community is confined to Western Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi and Rajasthan. They are often considered the highest of the agricultural castes. During the British Raj, they changed their name from Taga to Tyagi, and began claiming Brahmin status. As of a 1990 report by the Backward Classes Commission, Government of Haryana, they were mostly engaged in farming. The Government of Haryana granted reservation to Tyagis along with five other castes in 2016. However, the Punjab and Haryana High Court shortly put a stay on the government's order.
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 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.
The Muslim Gaddi are a Muslim Rajput community found mainly in northern India. After the partition of India in 1947, many of the Gaddi in the states of Haryana and Delhi migrated to Pakistan and are now found in the provinces of Punjab and Sindh. In Pakistan and North India, community members are called Ghazi. The Gaddi of Bihar claim Arab ancestry.[6] The Ghazi|Gaddi in Bihar and Jharkhand claim descent from a Sufi saint Gaddi Salahuddin Elahi, and said to have arrived in the region in the 19th century.
Chhipi is a caste of people with ancestral roots tracing back to India. These people are basically Rajputs and used to wear Kshatriya attire. These people were skilled in the art of war, Later people of this caste started doing printing work. They are found in the states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh of India.
Delhi's ethnic groups are diverse. The Yamuna river's flood plains provide fertile alluvial soil suitable for agriculture but are prone to recurrent floods. The Yamuna, a sacred river in Hinduism, is the only major river flowing through Delhi. The original natives of Delhi are those whose ancestors lived in the Yamuna basin, a region which spreads radially from the capital up to a distance of approximately 200 kilometres. This province was not ethnically homogeneous and large amounts of Hindi-speakers resided in the southeast, now Haryana, eastern side, now West Uttar Pradesh and in Delhi's Yamuna Basin. Today the migrant population consists largely of Punjabis, Haryanavis, Bengalis and recently, Biharis and Uttar Pradeshis etc.
The Nat are a caste found in northern India. Their traditional occupation has been that of entertainers and dancers.
The Shah Fakir are a Muslim community in South Asia. They are also known as Sayed, Shah, Alvi and Dewan Baba,Miya.Some people consider Shah to be a fakir but the meaning of Sayed and Shah is same. Sayed is an Arabic word and Shah is a Persian word.
Ahir is a caste found in the Indian subcontinent, mainly modern-day India, Nepal and Pakistan. The Ahir clans are spread almost all over country. Ahirs are also known as Yadav, a surname they adopted following Sanskritisation in the 20th century. The Ahir clans are spread almost all over country.
The Bansphor are a Hindu caste found in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India.
The Bhuiyan or Bhuiya are an indigenous community found in the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. They are not only geographically disparate but also have many cultural variations and subgroups.
Kulin Kayastha is a sub-caste of the Bengali Kayastha caste in Bengal region of Indian subcontinent. They are also known as the Kulina Kayasthas.
Bengali Kayastha is a Bengali Hindu caste originated from the Bengal region of Indian subcontinent, and is one of the main subgroups of the Kayastha community. The historical caste occupation of Kayasthas throughout India has been that of scribes, administrators, ministers and record-keepers; the Kayasthas in Bengal, along with Brahmins and Baidyas, are regarded among the three traditional higher castes that comprise the "upper layer of Hindu society". During the British Raj, the Bhadraloks of Bengal were drawn primarily, but not exclusively, from these three castes, who continue to maintain a collective hegemony in West Bengal.