The Ahirs(Sanskrit: Abhira)[1] are a Hindu caste[2][3][4] of Northern India. The Ahir clans are spread almost all over country.[5] They are a tribe of Yadubansi stock.[6] There are three main divisions among Ahirs: Jadubans, Nandbans and Gwalbans. All Ahirs, no matter where they reside, were originally of the same ethnic stock; and it is probable that they were originally a tribe of pastorals, probably Scythian, who entered India, via Persia and Baluchistan.[7]

Clans

Yaduvanshi

The Yaduvanshi[8] claim descent from the Rigvedic Yadu or Yadava tribe of Krishna.[9][10]

Nandvanshi

The Nandvanshi Ahirs[10] are the offsprings of Nanda, the foster-father of Krishna.[11]

Gwalvanshi

The Gwalvanshi are one of the subdivisions of Ahir caste[12] which is populated in the districts of Lower Doab,[13][14] Awadh[15] and Eastern Uttar Pradesh.[16] Their descent is from the Gopis of Braj.[17]

Ghosi

The Ghosi are a division of Ahir community found mainly in North India. They were the zamidars and small rulers of various parts of country.[18][19] Ghosi trace their origin to Nanda, the professed ancestor of Ghosi Ahirs.[20]

Phatak

The Phatak Ahirs claim to be descended from Digpal, the Ahir Raja of Mahaban.[18][21]

Dauwa

The Dauwa Ahirs are the descendants of Shree Balaram, half-brother of Lord Krishna.[22] Dauwas were rulers of Bundelkhand in past. It is said that Dauwas had established their power in Bundelkhand even before Bundela Rajputs.[22]

Ahar

The Ahar are a Hindu caste of agriculturists.[23] The Ahar tribe are spread through Rohilkhand and other districts of North-Western provinces, following pastoral pursuits. They are of Yaduvanshi stock.[24]

Krishnaut

Krishnaut or Kishnaut are Ahirs that inhabits the state of Bihar.[25][26] The term Krishnaut denotes that it was among them that the infant Krishna was nursed.[27]

Majhraut

The Yadavs who migrated from Mathura (Braj) to Bihar and its surrounding areas came to be known as Mathuraut or Majrauth.[28] They inhabit the Indian states of Bihar and Jharkhand.[29][30][31][32] They claim to be descended from the Yadava king Madhu who lived in Mathura.


See also

References

  1. ^ Garg, Gaṅgā Rām (1992). Encyclopaedia of the Hindu world, Volume 1 By Gaṅgā Rām Garg, Page no. 113. Concept Publishing Company. ISBN 9788170223740. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
  2. ^ Jassal, Smita Tewari; École pratique des hautes études (France). Section des sciences économiques et sociales; University of Oxford. Institute of Social Anthropology (2001). "Caste in the Colonial State: Mallahs in the census". Contributions to Indian sociology. Mouton. pp. 319–351. Quote: "The movement, which had a wide interregional spread, attempted to submerge regional names such as Goala, Ahir, Ahar, Gopa, etc., in favour of the generic term Yadava (Rao 1979). Hence a number of pastoralist castes were subsumed under Yadava, in accordance with decisions taken by the regional and national level caste sabhas. The Yadavas became the first among the shudras to gain the right to wear the janeu, a case of successful sanskritisation which continues till date. As a prominent agriculturist caste in the region, despite belonging to the shudra varna, the Yadavas claimed Kshatriya status tracing descent from the Yadu dynasty. The caste's efforts matched those of census officials, for whom standardisation of overlapping names was a matter of policy. The success of the Yadava movement also lies in the fact that, among the jaati sabhas, the Yadava sabha was probably the strongest, its journal, Ahir Samachar, having an all-India spread. These factors strengthened local efforts, such as in Bhojpur, where the Yadavas, locally known as Ahirs, refused to do begar, or forced labour, for the landlords and simultaneously prohibited liquor consumption, child marriages, and so on."
  3. ^ Mandelbaum, David Goodman (1970). Society in India. Vol. 2. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 443. ISBN 978-0-520-01623-1.
  4. ^ Jaffrelot, Christophe (2003). India's silent revolution: the rise of the lower castes in North India. Columbia University Press. pp. 210–211. ISBN 978-0-231-12786-8. Quote: "In his typology of low caste movements, (M. S. A.) Rao distinguishes five categories. The first is characterised by 'withdrawal and self-organisation'. ... The second one, illustrated by the Yadavs, is based on the claim of 'higher varna status' and fits with Sanskritisation pattern. ..."
  5. ^ Fox, Mr. (1971). Kin, Clan, Raja, and Rule: Statehinterland Relations in Preindustrial India. University of California Press. p. 19. ISBN 9780520018075.
  6. ^ India, United Service Institution of (1911). Journal of the United Service Institution of India.
  7. ^ Bonarjee, P. D. (1899). A Handbook of the Fighting Races of India. Thacker, Spink & Company.
  8. ^ Singh, Bhrigupati (2021). Poverty and the Quest for Life Spiritual and Material Striving in Rural India. University of Chicago Press. pp. 21, 146. ISBN 9780226194684.
  9. ^ Michelutti, Lucia (2002). Sons of Krishna: the politics of Yadav community formation in a North Indian town (PDF). p. 89.
  10. ^ a b Gupta, Dipankar (2021). Caste in Question. SAGE Publication. p. 58. ISBN 9788132103455. Their original caste title was Ahir. The idea of a unique Krishnavanshi kinship category which fuses traditional subdivisions Yaduvanshi, Nandavanshi and Goallavanshi into a single endogamous unit
  11. ^ Crooke, William (1896). The Tribes and Castes of the North-western Provinces and Oudh. Government printing.
  12. ^ Ames Library Pamphlet Collection: consists of extracts from the Journal of the United Service Institution of India, v.1-12, 1871-1883. 1764.
  13. ^ Bhattacharya, Jogendra Nath (1896). Hindu Castes and Sects: An Exposition of the Origin of the Hindu Caste System and the Bearing of the Sects Towards Each Other and Towards Other Religious Systems. Thacker, Spink.
  14. ^ Calcutta Review. University of Calcutta. 1885.
  15. ^ Crooke, William (1890). An Ethnographical Hand-book for the N.-W. Provinces and Oudh. North-Western provinces and Oudh government Press.
  16. ^ Pradesh (India), Uttar (1988). Uttar Pradesh District Gazetteers. Government of Uttar Pradesh.
  17. ^ Crooke, William (1896). The Tribes and Castes of the North-western Provinces and Oudh. Government printing.
  18. ^ a b Lucia Michelutti, Sons of Krishna: the politics of Yadav community formation in a North Indian town (2002) London School of Economics and Political Science University of London, p.90-98
  19. ^ Provinces (India), Central (1908). Central Provinces District Gazetteers. Printed at the Pioneer Press.
  20. ^ Ibbetson, Sir Denzil; Maclagan (1990). Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North West Frontier Province. Asian Educational Services. ISBN 978-81-206-0505-3.
  21. ^ Uttar Pradesh District Gazetteers: Mainpuri By Uttar Pradesh (India) · [1980]
  22. ^ a b Singh, Mahendra Pratap (2001). Shivaji, Bhakha Sources and Nationalism. Books India International.
  23. ^ Oliver Mendelsohn, Marika Vicziany (1998). The Untouchables: Subordination, Poverty and the State in Modern India Volume 4 of Contemporary South Asia. Cambridge University Press. pp. xi. ISBN 9780521556712.
  24. ^ Subodh Kapoor (2002). Indian Encyclopaedia, Volume 1. Genesis Publishing Pvt Ltd. p. 108. ISBN 9788177552577.
  25. ^ Bihar (India); Choudhury, Pranab Chandra Roy (1957). Bihar District Gazetteers: Bhagalpur. Superintendent, Secretariat Press, Bihar.
  26. ^ The National Geographical Journal of India. National Geographical Society of India. 1975.
  27. ^ Crooke, William (1896). The Tribes and Castes of the North-western Provinces and Oudh. Government printing.
  28. ^ Sinhā, Mīnākshī (1993). Mithilā ke Yādava (in Hindi). Mahārājā Lakshmīśvara Siṃha Risarca Sosāiṭī.
  29. ^ Bihar (India); Choudhury, Pranab Chandra Roy (1957). Bihar District Gazetteers: Bhagalpur. Superintendent, Secretariat Press, Bihar.
  30. ^ Singh, Rana P. B. (1977). Clan Settlements in the Saran Plain (Middle Ganga Valley): A Study in Cultural Geography. National Geographical Society of India, Banaras Hindu University.
  31. ^ Bihar (India); Choudhury, Pranab Chandra Roy (1962). Bihar District Gazetteers: Hazaribagh. Superintendent, Secretariat Press, Bihar.
  32. ^ Siddiqui, M. K. A. (1993). Inter-caste and Inter-community Relationship: Developing Patterns. Commonwealth Publishers. ISBN 978-81-7169-260-6.