Ahir (Sanskrit: Abhira)[1] is a caste found in the Indian subcontinent, mainly modern-day Northern India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nepal.[2][3][4][5] The Ahir clans are almost spread over all the Northern India.[6] Historians such as P. M. Chandorkar, using both literary and epigraphic sources has argued that the modern Ahirs should be identified with the Yadavas of the classical Sanskrit texts.[7]

Clans

Yaduvanshi Ahirs

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

Nandvanshi Ahirs

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

Gwalvanshi Ahirs

The Gwalvanshi Ahirs are one of the subdivisions of Ahirs.[citation needed] They say that they have descended from the Gopis of Braj and Vrindavan who danced with Kanhaiya (Krishna).[citation needed]

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.[11] Ghosi trace their origin to Nanda, the professed ancestor of Ghosi Ahirs.[12]

Phatak

The Phatak Ahirs claim to be descended from Digpal, the Ahir Raja of Mahaban.[11]

Dauwa

The Dauwa Ahirs are the descendants of Shree Balaram, half-brother of Lord Krishna.[13] Dauwas were rulers of Bundelkhand in past. It is said that Dauwas had established their power in Bundelkhand even before Bundela Rajputs.[13]

Ahar

The Ahar are a Hindu caste of agriculturists.[14] The Ahar tribe are spread through Rohilkhand and other districts of North-Western provinces, following pastoral pursuits. They are of Yaduvanshi stock.[15]

Dhadhor

Dhadhor is a tribe of Ahirs. They are reckoned in Tashreeh-al-akwam amongst the Doab Ahirs.[citation needed]

Kamaria

Kamarias (or Yaduvanshi Thakurs)[16] are a clan of Nandvanshi Ahirs[17][18][19] in Braj.

Krishnaut

Krishnaut or Kishnaut are Ahirs that inhabits the state of Bihar.[20][21] The term Krishnaut which to them denotes their descent from Lord Krishna.[22][23]

Majhraut

The Yadavs who migrated from Mathura (Braj) to Bihar and its surrounding areas came to be known as Mathuraut or Majrauth.[24] They inhabit the Indian states of Bihar and Jharkhand.[25][26][27][28] They claim to be descended from the Yadava king Madhu.

See also

References

  1. ^ Shashi, Shyam Singh (1994). Encyclopaedia of Indian Tribes: The tribal world in transition. Anmol Publications. ISBN 978-81-7041-836-8.
  2. ^ Shashi, Shyam Singh (1994). Encyclopaedia of Indian Tribes: The tribal world in transition. Anmol Publications. p. 76. ISBN 978-81-7041-836-8.
  3. ^ Heath, Anthony F.; Jeffery, Roger (2010). Diversity and Change in Modern India: Economic, Social and Political Approaches. OUP/British Academy. p. 223. ISBN 978-0-19-726451-5.
  4. ^ Gurung, Harka B. (1996). Faces of Nepal. Himal Books. p. 80. ISBN 978-99933-43-50-9.
  5. ^ Biographical Encyclopedia of Pakistan: Millennium 2000. Research Institute of Historiography, Biography and Philosophy. 2001.
  6. ^ Fox, Richard Gabriel (1971). Kin, Clan, Raja, and Rule: Statehinterland Relations in Preindustrial India. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-01807-5.
  7. ^ Guha, Sumit (15 July 1999). Environment and Ethnicity in India, 1200-1991. Cambridge University Press. p. 47. ISBN 978-0-521-64078-7.
  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. ^ 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
  12. ^ 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.
  13. ^ a b Singh, Mahendra Pratap (2001). Shivaji, Bhakha Sources and Nationalism. Books India International.
  14. ^ 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.
  15. ^ Subodh Kapoor (2002). Indian Encyclopaedia, Volume 1. Genesis Publishing Pvt Ltd. p. 108. ISBN 9788177552577.
  16. ^ Mutatkar, Ramchandra Keshav (1978). Caste Dimensions in a Village. Shubhada-Saraswat.
  17. ^ Dass, Arvind (2002). Caste System: Caste commentaries and documentation. Dominant Publishers and Distributors. ISBN 978-81-7888-029-7.
  18. ^ Mutatkar, Ramchandra Keshav (1978). Caste Dimensions in a Village. Shubhada-Saraswat.
  19. ^ Gupta, Dipankar (8 December 2004). Caste in Question: Identity Or Hierarchy?. SAGE Publications. ISBN 978-0-7619-3324-3.
  20. ^ Bihar (India); Choudhury, Pranab Chandra Roy (1957). Bihar District Gazetteers: Bhagalpur. Superintendent, Secretariat Press, Bihar.
  21. ^ The National Geographical Journal of India. National Geographical Society of India. 1975.
  22. ^ Swartzberg, Leon (1979). The North Indian Peasant Goes to Market. Motilal Banarsidass Publishe. p. 11. ISBN 978-81-208-3039-4.
  23. ^ O'malley, L. S. S. (2007). Bihar And Orissa District Gazetteers : Saran. Concept Publishing Company. ISBN 978-81-7268-136-4.
  24. ^ Sinhā, Mīnākshī (1993). Mithilā ke Yādava (in Hindi). Mahārājā Lakshmīśvara Siṃha Risarca Sosāiṭī.
  25. ^ Bihar (India); Choudhury, Pranab Chandra Roy (1957). Bihar District Gazetteers: Bhagalpur. Superintendent, Secretariat Press, Bihar.
  26. ^ 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.
  27. ^ Bihar (India); Choudhury, Pranab Chandra Roy (1962). Bihar District Gazetteers: Hazaribagh. Superintendent, Secretariat Press, Bihar.
  28. ^ Siddiqui, M. K. A. (1993). Inter-caste and Inter-community Relationship: Developing Patterns. Commonwealth Publishers. ISBN 978-81-7169-260-6.