The Manganiar are a

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 ...

community found in the

Thar Desert The Thar Desert (), also known as the Great Indian Desert, is an arid region in the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent that covers an area of in India and Pakistan. It is the world's 18th-largest desert, and the world's 9th-large ...

region of

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 ...

, India; mostly in the districts of Barmer and

Jaisalmer Jaisalmer , nicknamed ''The Golden city'', is a city in the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan, located west of the state capital Jaipur, in the heart of the Thar Desert. It serves as the administrative headquarters of Jaisalmer district ...

, and in the districts of

Tharparkar Tharparkar (Dhatki language, Dhatki/; , ), also known as Thar, is a district in Sindh province in Pakistan, headquartered at Mithi. Before Indian independence it was known as the Thar and Parkar (1901⁠–⁠1947) or Eastern Sindh Frontier Distr ...

and

Sanghar Sanghar (; English: Sānghar) is a city in Sanghar District, Sindh, Pakistan. Sanghar is the headquarters of Sanghar District and Sanghar Taluka (a subdivision of the district). The driving distance of Sangher from Karachi is 268 kilometers ...

in the bordering province of

Sindh Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind (caliphal province), Sind or Scinde) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, southeastern region of the country, Sindh is t ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. They are known for various compositions describing stories focused on humans, nature, and salvation. They, along with the

Langha The Langha are a Muslim community found in the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat in India. They are unrelated to the Langah clan of southern Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and hist ...

community, are known for their

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

. They are groups of hereditary professional musicians whose music has been supported by wealthy landlords and aristocrats for generations. Some of their

ragas A raga ( ; , ; ) is a melodic framework for improvisation in Indian classical music akin to a melodic mode. It is central to classical Indian music. Each raga consists of an array of melodic structures with musical motifs; and, from the perspec ...

have originated in the Thar and are not found in north Indian classical tradition.

Etymology

Manganhar originated from the words ''mangan'', which means "to beg", and ''hār'' which means "a garland of flowers.". A lengend is also among the people :- In that prophet's house, Bibi Fatema offered a necklace (haar) to a Mirasi named Mangan. From this time onwards they were called the 'Manganhar and the community is now known as Manganiyar.

History

The Manganhars are renowned as

folk musicians Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

of the

Thar desert The Thar Desert (), also known as the Great Indian Desert, is an arid region in the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent that covers an area of in India and Pakistan. It is the world's 18th-largest desert, and the world's 9th-large ...

. Their songs are passed on from generation to generation as a form of oral history of the desert. The traditional Jajman (patrons) of the Manganhar are the locally dominant

Rajput Rājpūt (, from Sanskrit ''rājaputra'' meaning "son of a king"), also called Thākur (), is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating fro ...

and

Charan Charan (IAST: Cāraṇ; Sanskrit: चारण; Gujarati: ચારણ; Sindhi: چارڻ; IPA: cɑːrəɳə) is a caste in South Asia natively residing in the Rajasthan and Gujarat states of India, as well as the Sindh and Balochistan prov ...

communities.

Instruments

Kamaicha
The 17-string khamaycha is a bowed instrument. Made of mango wood, its rounded resonator is covered with goat skin. Three of its strings are goat intestine while the other 14 strings are steel. Khartaal
The khartaal is a kind of castanet made of teak. Its name is derived from "Khar", meaning hand, and "Taal", meaning rhythm.

Dholak The ''dholak'' is a two-headed hand drum, a folk percussion instrument. The dholak is most commonly recognised in countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, but can also be found amongst the Indo-Diaspora in countries s ...

The dholak is a hand drum similar in timbre to a bongo. A dholak may have traditional lacing or turnbuckle tuning. The dholak has a simple membrane and a handle on the right hand side. The left hand membrane has a special coating on the inner surface. This coating is a mixture of tar, clay and sand (dholak masala) which lowers the pitch.

Notable people

* Kachra Khan, a singer * Lakha Khan, folk musician, sarangi player and vocalist “''The Manganiyar community, to which Khan belongs to, are the oral historians of the desert.''” * Mai Bhagi, Sindhi folk singer * Mai Dhai, Pakistani manganhar folk singer *

Mame Khan Mame Khan is an Indian playback and folk singer from Rajasthan, India. He has been playback singer for numerous Hindi films such as '' Luck By Chance'' (2009), ''I Am'' (2010), '' No One Killed Jessica'' (2011), '' Mirzya'' (2016) and '' Sonchiri ...

, a folk singer * Sakar Khan, Khamaicha player, Padmasree award winner *

Swaroop Khan Swaroop Khan is an India playback folk singer from 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 geo ...

, playback singer

References

External links

manganhar.com

"manganhar Magic" article by Poonam Goel

Smithsonian Folkways
{{Indian Muslim Social groups of Rajasthan Muslim communities of Rajasthan Social groups of Sindh