The Khanzada or Khan Zadeh are a cluster community of

Muslim Rajputs Muslim Rajputs or Musalman Rajpoots are the descendants of Rajputs in the northern regions of the Indian subcontinent who generally are followers of Islam. They converted from Hinduism to Islam from the medieval period onwards, creating various ...

found in the

Indian states India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, for a total of 36 subnational entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into 800 districts and smaller administrative divisions by the respe ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

and

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

. A notable community is the Khanzadas of Mewat, the descendants of Raja Nahar Khan, who are a sub-clan of

Jadaun Jadaun also known Jadon is a Rajput clan of Indian origin. They claim descent from the Yaduvanshi lineage of the Chandravanshi dynasty. They further claim to be the descendants of Krishna. It is believed that once they ruled the state of Math ...

. They refer to themselves as Muslim Rajputs. After the

Partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

in 1947, many members of this community migrated to Pakistan, forming a part of the

Muhajir Muhajir or Mohajir (, '; pl. , ') is an Arabic word meaning ''migrant'' (see immigration and emigration) which is also used in other languages spoken by Muslims, including English. In English, this term and its derivatives may refer in a general s ...

community.

Etymology

The term ''Khanzada'' or ''Khan Zadeh'' is a literal

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

translation of the

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

word ''Rajput'', which originates from the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

word ''rājaputra'' (; literally "son of a king"). The Sankrit term finds mention in some ancient

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

scriptures like the ''

Rigveda The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' (, , from wikt:ऋच्, ऋच्, "praise" and wikt:वेद, वेद, "knowledge") is an ancient Indian Miscellany, collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canoni ...

'', ''

Ramayana The ''Ramayana'' (; ), also known as ''Valmiki Ramayana'', as traditionally attributed to Valmiki, is a smriti text (also described as a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic) from ancient India, one of the two important epics ...

'' and ''

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kuru ...

''.

History and origin

The term ''khanzada'' originally applied to the Bachgoti Rajput family of the Rajahs of Hasanpur. They were said to have converted to Islam during the rule of

Sher Shah Suri Sher Shah Suri (born Farid al-Din Khan; 1472 or 1486 – 22 May 1545), also known by his title Sultan Adil (), was the ruler of Bihar from 1530 to 1540, and Sultan of Hindustan from 1540 until his death in 1545. He defeated the Mughal Empire, ...

. This family claimed descent from Bariar Singh, a Bachgoti Rajput, who said to have emigrated from Sultanpur in the 13th century. The Bachgoti had started off as a clan of the Chauhan Rajputs of

Mainpuri Mainpuri (; ) is a city in Mainpuri district in the States and territories of India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is the administrative headquarters of Mainpuri district and is 55 km from Etawah and 294 km from New Delhi. Mainp ...

. Bariar Singh's grandson, Tilok Chand is said to have converted to Islam, and the family took the name Khanzada.

Present circumstances

In northern Awadh, a region comprising roughly

Barabanki District Barabanki district is one of the five districts of Ayodhya division in the central Awadh region of Uttar Pradesh, India. Barabanki city is the administrative headquarters of Barabanki district. Total area of Barabanki district is 3891.5 Sq.&n ...

in south east to

Lakhimpur Kheri District Lakhimpur Kheri district is the largest district in Uttar Pradesh, India, on the border with Nepal. Its administrative capital is the city of Lakhimpur. Lakhimpur Kheri district is a part of Lucknow division, with a total area of . The natio ...

in the north west, the Khanzada have a followed a slightly different path, with a stronger identification with Islam. In a recent study of a Chauhan Khanzada village in Raisenghat Tehsil of

, this particular community was seen to be strongly identifying with neighbouring

muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

rajput of Uttar Pradesh communities, and there was increasingly intermarriage between the two groups. There economic condition in this region is also been affected, with a dwindling in the size of their farms, especially in

Shravasti Shravasti (, ; ) is a town in Shravasti district in Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It was the capital of the ancient Indian kingdom of Kosala which was ruled by Lava and the place where the Buddha lived most after his enlightenment. It is n ...

and

Balrampur Balrampur is a town and a municipal board in Balrampur district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is situated on the bank of river Rapti and is the district headquarters of Balrampur district. History Balrampur town is in close vici ...

districts. Many are now, in fact, landless agricultural labourers. The Khanzada, however have been badly affected by abolition of the

zamindar A zamindar in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semi-autonomous feudal lord of a ''zamindari'' (feudal estate). The term itself came into use during the Mughal Empire, when Persian was the official language; ''zamindar'' is the ...

i system, with many now destitute. They still remain a land owning community, but those especially in

, Gonda and

Bahraich Bahraich is a city and a municipal board in Bahraich district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Located on the Saryu River, a tributary of the Ghaghara river, Bahraich is north-east of Lucknow, the state capital. The districts of B ...

are now simply agricultural labourers. The community are also divided on sectarian lines, with the majority being

Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...

, while a minority, mainly the ex-taluqdar families being

Shia Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood ...

. Like other

Indian Muslim Islam is India's Religion in India, second-largest religion, with 14.2% of the country's population, or approximately 172.2 million people, identifying as adherents of Islam in a 2011 census. India also has the Islam by country, third-larg ...

s, there is growing movement towards orthodoxy, with many of their villages containing

madrasa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , ), sometimes Romanization of Arabic, romanized as madrasah or madrassa, is the Arabic word for any Educational institution, type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whet ...

s. The madrasas have also facilitated the growth of

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

, with it beginning to replace the Awadhi dialect they traditionally spoke.

Etymology

History and origin

Present circumstances

See also

References

Further reading