Banaphar, also spelled Banafar and Banafer, is a clan native to the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographical region in Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean from the Himalayas. Geopolitically, it includes the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India ...

of mixed

Ahir Ahir or Aheer are a community of traditionally non-elite pastoralists in India, most members of which identify as being of the Indian Yadav community because they consider the two terms to be synonymous. The Ahirs are variously described as a ...

and

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 ...

descent. The legendary 12th century generals Alha and Udal, who appear in the ''

Alha-Khand The term ''Alha Khand'' is used to refer to poetic works in Hindi which consists of a number of ballads describing the brave acts of two 12th century Banaphar heroes, Alha and Udal, generals working for king Paramardi-Deva (Parmal) of Mah ...

'' ballads, were said to belong to this clan. In the ballads, the Banaphars was susceptible to "mean caste" slurs from other Rajputs because of their "mixed" background. Ballads referring to Alha and Udal describe great bravery in the medieval period.

References

{{india-ethno-stub Indian castes