The Molesalam are a Muslim Rajput (Muslim Indo-Aryan) community found in the state of

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

in India. They also refer to themselves as Molesalam Thakur and sometimes Molesalam

Girasia Garasia alternatively spelled Girasia, Girasiya or Garasiya, is a title used by tribal chieftains and members of other arms bearing lineages in India who held the villages as ''Giras'' granted by rulers. Social order Present-day Garasias ar ...

or मॉलेसलाम (Grasiya). There is some documentation of "nomadic Molesalam", but it is unclear from the single source of the relationship with the "origin community". The Molesalam were targeted in an oppressive ''

shuddhi Shuddhi or Suddhi () may refer to: *Shuddhi (Hinduism), type of conversion to Hinduism or Sikhism *Purity in Buddhism Purity (Pali: ''Vissudhi'') is an important concept within much of Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism, although the implications ...

'' ‘purification’ campaign launched by the

Arya Samaj Arya Samaj () is a monotheistic Indian Hindu reform movement that promotes values and practices based on the belief in the infallible authority of the Vedas. Dayananda Saraswati founded the samaj in the 1870s. Arya Samaj was the first Hindu ...

Hindu organization in 1908. In March of 1926, the Molesalam held an anti-''shuddhi'' conference in

Charotar Kheda District, known as Kaira District during British rule, is one of the thirty-three districts of Gujarat state in western India. It is part of the region known as Charotar, consisting of Kheda and Anand districts. Kheda was an administrative ...

, led by a prominent leader of their community and member of the

Bombay Legislative Assembly Bombay Legislative Assembly came into existence in 1937, as the legislature of Bombay Presidency, a Provinces of India, province of India. It functioned until 1960, when separate states of Maharashtra and Gujarat were formed. History The first se ...

, Sardar Naharsinhji Ishvarsinhji.

References

Muslim communities of Gujarat {{India-ethno-stub