The Bhadala or Bhodala (, ) is a community of seamen and fishermen found in

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 and Kutch and

Saurashtra Saurashtra, Sourashtra, or variants may refer to: ** Kathiawar, also called Saurashtra Peninsula, a peninsula in western India ** Saurashtra (state), alias United State of Kathiawar, a former Indian state, merged into Bombay State and since its d ...

regions 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. In Pakistan, they are found mainly in Southern Sindh.People of India Gujarat Volume XXI, Part One, edited by R.B. Lal, P.B.S.V. Padmanabham, G. Krishnan & M. Azeez Mohideen, pages 234 to 238.

Present circumstances

The Bhadala are divided into a number of 32 clans, the main ones being the Aspun, Bhatti, Babar, Bhopal, Bholim/Belhim, Bhojani, Chahan, Chanaa, Dekla, Dosani, Fatwani, Ghohil, Grana, Gunda, Jadeja, Juspani, Jethwa, Juneja, Koreja, Kandeja, Kana, Karani, Mokha, Madwani, Madyar, Nathrani, Panjri, Palija, Patha, Ruknani, Roomi, Saghani, Sodha, Sameja, Sayani, Sap, Siru, Thaim, Turk, Vidhani,Zufrabadi and Alshaan. Many are names of well-known Sindhi tribes, and could point to a diverse origin of the community. But community boundaries are clear, and there is no intermarriage 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 ...

Maldhari The Maldhari is a occupational term or title used by several herdsmen or animal husbandry castes. Most Maldhari live in Kutch district in Gujarat and the Maldharis are spread over 48 hamlets that are organized into 19 Panchayats. Their popul ...

communities like the Juneja, Royma and Ker. Each of their clans are of equal status and inter marry. The community have a well established caste association, the Muslim Bhadala Jamat, which is one of the oldest Muslim castes association in

. It has offices in

Mombasa Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital status in 1907. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is ...

Muscat Muscat (, ) is the capital and most populous city in Oman. It is the seat of the Governorate of Muscat. According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), the population of the Muscat Governorate in 2022 was 1.72 million. ...

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

(

Keamari Keamari (, ) is a neighbourhood in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Keamari was originally an independent settlement built on a sandy ridge on the eastern side of Karachi Harbour. History Kemari was a low lying island located between Manora and the ...

& Baba Island) and

Keti Bandar Keti Bandar () is a historical port town in Thatta District, Sindh, Pakistan. Keti Bandar is also the name of one of the taluka A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Paki ...

, reflecting the widespread distribution of the community. The Bhadala is still a seafaring community, and almost all the

Dhow Dhow (; ) is the generic name of a number of traditional sailing vessels with one or more masts with settee or sometimes lateen sails, used in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean region. Typically sporting long thin hulls, dhows are trading vessels ...

captains on the

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

route are Bhadala. Many are also employed by the merchant navies of

and

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# ...

. Generally each

dhow Dhow (; ) is the generic name of a number of traditional sailing vessels with one or more masts with settee or sometimes lateen sails, used in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean region. Typically sporting long thin hulls, dhows are trading vessels ...

crew is made up of close kinsmen. In

, the Bhadala owns a significant part of that countries fishing fleet. In

, the Bhadala often employ Muslim

Machiyar The Machiyara, Machhiyara or Machhimar () is a Muslim community of fishing, they are found throughout the coastal area of state of Gujarat RupenBandar Dwarka, bhogat Bandar, Navdra Bandar, Harshad Bandar, Gosabara, Madhavpur Ghed, Sil Bandar, Ma ...

or Hindu Kharwa on their fishing boats, while in

most of the crew is made up of ethnic

Bengali Muslims Bengali Muslims (; ) 'Mussalman'' also used in this work.are adherents of Islam who ethnically, linguistically and genealogically identify as Bengalis. Comprising over 70% of the global Bengali population, they are the second-largest et ...

. The Bhadala are entirely

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 ...

, and follow the traditions of the other neighbouring

communities.

References

{{Indian Muslim Sindhi tribes Ethnic groups in Pakistan Muslim communities of India Sindhi tribes in India