Muslim Khatris

Muslim Khatri

A Khatri nobleman, in Kitab-i tasrih al-aqvam by Col. James Skinner in (1778–1841)
Regions with significant populations
• India • Pakistan • Europe • United States • Canada • Australia • Dubai • Saudi Arabia • United Kingdom
Languages
• Punjabi • Urdu-Hindi
Religion
Islam
Related ethnic groups
Khatris • Aroras • Punjabi Sheikh

The Muslim Khatris are descendants of the Khatri community of Indian subcontinent which embraced Islam during medieval period. They are now mostly concentrated in Pakistani provinces of Punjab, Sindh, Azad Kashmir as well as northern India. The community is scattered throughout Punjab and Kutch region.

Origin

Khatris, from which Muslim Khatris are descended, are a Punjabi mercantile caste which claims to be Kshatriyas. ^[1] The origins of the community lies in the Punjab region, and the word "Khatri" itself is a Punjabi form of Kshatriya. ^{[2] [3] [4]}

Indian historian Baij Nath Puri, himself a Khatri, wrote that they had mostly converted during the middle of the 16th century and that in Punjab regions such as Multan and Jhang they usually use the "Khawaja" surname, mainly hailing from the Kapoor clan. ^[5]

History

Khatris are divided into different clans. Most of the Muslim Khatris were warriors and chieftains during the medieval era, many were employed as generals and soldiers under Mughal Empire. They slowly adopted agriculture and business for their survival. Khatris are one of the land owning group in the subcontinent. They were designated as martial race by the British.

Gujarat Sultanate

Main article: Gujarat Sultanate

The medieval Gujarat Sultanate was founded by Zafar Khan, who was son of Saharan. There are various claims about their origin. According to medieval historians, like Ziauddin Barani, he was a member Kalal tribe. ^[6] Modern historians claim his origin to be either a Punjabi Muslim Khatri, ^[7] Rajput, ^[8] Jat ^[9] or Kalal. ^[10] His aunt married into Tughlaq royal family which led to their conversion to Islam and they rose to prominence. ^[11]

Following Timur's invasion of the Delhi Sultanate, the Delhi Sultanate was devastated and weakened considerably, so he declared himself independent from Delhi in 1407, and formally established the Sultanate of Guzerat. The next sultan, his grandson Ahmad Shah I moved the capital to Ahmedabad in 1411. His successor Muhammad Shah II subdued most Rajput chieftains. The prosperity of the sultanate reached its zenith during the rule of Mahmud Begada. He also subdued most Gujarati Rajput chieftains and built a navy off the coast of Diu. The Moghul emperor Humayun attacked Gujarat in 1535 and briefly occupied it, during which Bombay, Bassein & Damaon would become a Portuguese colony, thereafter Bahadur Shah was killed by the Portuguese while making a deal in 1537. The end of the sultanate came in 1573, when Akbar annexed Sultanate of Guzerat into his empire. The last ruler Muzaffar Shah III was taken a prisoner to Agra. In 1583, he escaped from the prison and with the help of the nobles succeeded to regain the throne for a short period before being defeated by Akbar's general Abdul Rahim Khan-I-Khana. ^[12]

Saudagaran-e-Delhi

Main article: Punjabi Saudagaran-e-Delhi

In addition, the Qaume-e-Punjaban community of Delhi are also of Khatri ancestry. Historically, this community lived in Delhi, and other North Indian towns, but after the Partition of India, a lot of these people moved to Pakistan. In Pakistan also, the Muslim Khatris are engaged in various occupations.^{[ citation needed ]}

References

1. McLane, John R. (25 July 2002). Land and Local Kingship in Eighteenth-Century Bengal. Cambridge University Press. p. 131. ISBN   978-0-521-52654-8.
2. Fenech, Louis E.; McLeod, W. H. (11 June 2014). Historical Dictionary of Sikhism. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN   978-1-4422-3601-1.
3. John Stratton Hawley; Gurinder Singh Mann (1993). Studying the Sikhs: Issues for North America. State University of New York Press. p. 179. ISBN   9780791414255. Khatri (khatri) "merchant-caste." Although the name derives from Sanskrit kshatriya, which designates the warrior or ruling castes, khatri in Punjabi usage refers to a cluster of merchant castes including Bedis, Bhallas and Sodhis
4. Hardy; Hardy, Thomas (7 December 1972). The Muslims of British India. CUP Archive. p. 279. ISBN   978-0-521-09783-3.
5. Puri, Baij Nath (1988). The Khatris, a Socio-cultural Study. New Delhi: M.N. Publishers and Distributors. pp. 150–151. OL   14709495M.
6. Medieval India: Researches in the History of India, 1200-1750. Oxford University Press. 1992.
7. Subrahmanyam, Sanjay (2024). Across the Green Sea: Histories from the Western Indian Ocean, 1440-1640. University of Texas Press. ISBN   978-1-4773-2879-8. The latter sultanate was founded by a former Tughluq governor, perhaps from a family of Punjabi Khatri converts, who took the title Muzaffar Shah in the early fifteenth century but reigned for only a short time.
   Wink, André (2003). Indo-Islamic society: 14th - 15th centuries. BRILL. p. 143. ISBN   978-90-04-13561-1. Similarly, Zaffar Khan Muzaffar, the first independent ruler of Gujarat was not a foreign muslim but a Khatri convert, of low subdivision called Tank, originally from southern Punjab.
   Kapadia, Aparna (16 May 2018). Gujarat: The Long Fifteenth Century and the Making of a Region. Cambridge University Press. p. 120. ISBN   978-1-107-15331-8. the Gujarati historian Sikandar does narrate the story of their ancestors having once been Hindu 'Tanks', a branch of Khatris
   Misra, S. C. (Satish Chandra) (1963). The rise of Muslim power in Gujarat; a history of Gujarat from 1298 to 1442. Internet Archive. New York, Asia Pub. House. p. 137. Zafar Khan was not a foreign muslim. He was a convert to Islam from a sect of the Khatris known as Tank.
   Khan, Iqtidar Alam (2004). Gunpowder and Firearms: Warfare in Medieval India. Oxford University Press. p. 57. ISBN   978-0-19-566526-0. Zafar Khan (entitled Muzaffar Shah) himself was a convert to Islam from a sub-caste of the Khatris known as Tank.
8. Stein, Burton (12 April 2010). A History of India. John Wiley & Sons. p. 142. ISBN   978-1-4051-9509-6. Ahmedabad in Gujarat received its great congregational mosque in 1423, though it had been a province of Delhi since 1297. It was built by Ahmad Shah, a converted Rajput, who, when governor, declared the province an independent sultanate in 1411.
   Chandra, Satish (2004). Medieval India ( From Sultanat to the Mughals), PART ONE Delhi Sultanat ( 1206-1526). Har-Anand Publications. p. 218. ISBN   9788124110645. Sadharan a Rajput who converted to Islam
   Mahajan, VD (2007). History of Medieval India. S. Chand. p. 245. ISBN   9788121903646. Zafar Khan, a son of Rajput Convert to Islam was appointed as Governor of Gujarat in 1391AD
   Jenkins, Everett (2010). The Muslim Diaspora - A comprehensive reference to the spread of Islam in Asia, Africa, Europe and the America, 570 - 1799. McFarland & Company Inc. p. 275. ISBN   9780786447138.
   Kapadia, Aparna (2018). Gujarat: The Long Fifteenth Century and the Making of a Region. Cambridge University Press. p. 8. ISBN   9781107153318.
9. Agnihotri, V. K. (1988). Indian History. Allied Publishers. pp. B-131. ISBN   9788184245684. The independent kingdom of Gujarat was founded by Zafar Khan, son of Sadharan, a Jat convert to Islam.
   Rizvi, S. A. A (1987). The Wonder That Was India. Allied Publishers. p. 69. ISBN   9788184245684.
10. Siddiqi, Iqtidar Husain (1987). Islam and Muslims in South Asia: Historical Perspective. Adam Publishers & Distributors.
    Manglik, Mr Rohit (21 August 2023). Urbanisation in India: [9789366894775]. EduGorilla Community Pvt. Ltd. ISBN   978-93-6689-477-5.
11. Pawar, Kiran (1996). Women in Indian History: Social, Economic, Political and Cultural Perspectives. Vision & Venture. ISBN   978-81-86769-01-0.
12. Mitra, Sudipta (2005). Gir Forest and the Saga of the Asiatic Lion. Indus Publishing. ISBN   978-81-7387-183-2.

Further reading

• Basham, Arthur Llewellyn (1954). The Wonder That Was India: A survey of the culture of the Indian sub-continent before the coming of the Muslims. London: Sidgwick & Jackson. OCLC   181731857.