The Pathans of Rajasthan are a
Pathan/Pashtun community found in the state of
Rajasthan
Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern s ...
in India.
[People of India Rajasthan Volume XXXVIII Part Two edited by B.K Lavania, D. K Samanta, S K Mandal & N.N Vyas pages 747 to 749 Popular Prakashan]
History and origin
The community are descendants of
Pashtun
Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...
(Pathan) soldiers and adventurers who came to Rajasthan to serve in the armies of various
Rajput
Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...
princes. While the principality of
Tonk was founded by
Ameer Khan in 1817, a
Yousafzai
The Yusufzai or Yousafzai ( ps, یوسفزی, ), also referred to as the Esapzai (, ) are one of the largest tribes of ethnic Pashtuns. They are natively based in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, to which they migrated to from Suliman mountains dur ...
Pathan, and was the only non-
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
state in
Rajputana, and the community is sometimes referred to as the Tonkia Pathan. Tonk was incorporated into the Indian Union in 1948. The failure of the 1857
Indian mutiny also led to an influx of
Rohilla Pathans from the
Rohilkhand region. Other than
Tonk, they are also found in the districts of
Dungarpur
Dungarpur is a city in the southernmost part of Rajasthan, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Dungarpur District. It is the fastest developing town in the southern part of Rajasthan, alongside Aspur ''tehsil''.
History
Dungarpu ...
,
Pratapgarh,
Banswara
Banswara is a city in the Banswara district in southern Rajasthan, India. The name, Banswara, came from "Bans wala" (bamboo) forests, as Bamboo grew in abundance around this place within the area.
Banswara is also known as "City of a Hundred ...
,
Ajmer
Ajmer is one of the major and oldest cities in the Indian state of Rajasthan and the centre of the eponymous Ajmer District. It is located at the centre of Rajasthan. It is also known as heart of Rajasthan. The city was established as "' ...
,
Jaipur
Jaipur (; Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had a population of 3.1 million, making it the tenth most populous city in the country. Jaipur is also known ...
,
Bharatpur and
Udaipur
Udaipur () ( ISO 15919: ''Udayapura''), historically named as Udayapura, is a city and municipal corporation in Udaipur district of the state of Rajasthan, India. It is the administrative headquarter of Udaipur district. It is the historic cap ...
. They have three sub-divisions, the Swati, Buneri and Bagodi. Most of the Rajasthan Pathans belong to the Yousafzai tribe. They have long since abandoned
Pashto
Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani ().
Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official langua ...
, and now speak
Hindustani, as well as various dialects of
Rajasthani.
The traditional occupation of the Rajasthani Pathan was serving in the armed forces of the various states in Rajputana. Now many are employed by the state police, as government clerks, as well as in the transport industry. Some also land, especially in Tonk, and are a community of cultivators. They are entirely endogamous, very rarely marrying out of the community.
Each Pathan settlement has its own community council, known as a jamaat. The head of the jamaat was historically chosen from a locally prominent family, but is now elected. If the matters concerns the Pathan community as a whole, then members of the various local jamaats come together. The Rajasthani Pathan are entirely
Sunni, and have been affected by the influence of the
Tablighi Jamat
Tablighi Jamaat (, also translated as "propagation party" or "preaching party")
is a transnational Deobandi Islamic missionary movement
that focuses on exhorting Muslims to be more religiously observant
and encouraging fellow members to ...
, a reformist
Deobandi organization, which is active in Rajasthan.
See also
*
*
Pashtun diaspora
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pathans Of Rajasthan
Muslim communities of Rajasthan
Rajasthan
Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern s ...
Social groups of Rajasthan