Pathans in India
Pashtuns or the Pathans in India are citizens or residents in India who are of ethnic Pashtun ancestry. "Pathan" is the local Hindavi term for an individual who belongs to the Pashtun ethnic group, or descends from it. The Pashtuns originate from the regions of Eastern Afghanistan and Northwestern Pakistan, ethnolinguistically known as Pashtunistan.
There are varying estimates of the population of Pathan descent living in India, ranging from 3.2 million people per the All India Pakhtoon Jirga-e-Hind to "twice their population in Afghanistan" as per Khan Mohammad Atif, an academic at the University of Lucknow. In the 2011 Census of India, 21,677 individuals reported Pashto as their mother tongue.
Large-scale Pashtun migration began in the 11th and 12th centuries, as a result of the many Muslim empires and dynasties founded by Pashtuns in the Indian subcontinent. Pashtuns also arrived as traders, officers, administrators, diplomats, travellers, religious saints and preachers, students, and as soldiers serving in the armies of India's rulers. In many cases, migration and settlement occurred among whole clans. Today, the Pathans are a collection of diversely scattered communities present across the length and breadth of India, with the largest populations principally settled in the plains of northern India. Following the partition of India in 1947, many of them migrated to Pakistan. The majority of Indian Pathans are Urdu-speaking communities, who have assimilated into the local society over the course of generations. Pathans have influenced and contributed to various fields in India, particularly politics, the entertainment industry and sports.
History
The Pathans of India are a community who trace their ancestry to the Pashtun regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Pashtun homeland is located in Central Asia and the northwestern region of South Asia; it roughly stretches from areas south of the Amu River in Afghanistan to west of the Indus River in Pakistan, mainly consisting of southwestern, eastern and some northern and western districts of Afghanistan, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and northern Balochistan in western Pakistan, with the Durand Line acting as the border between the two countries. The Hindu Kush mountains straddle the north of the region. Geographically, the Pathans are an eastern Iranic ethnic group who lived west of the Indo-Aryan ethnicities of the northern Indian subcontinent.Some Pashtuns from the Ghilji tribe historically used to seasonally migrate to India in winter as nomadic merchants. They would buy goods there, and transport these by camel caravan in summer for sale or barter in Afghanistan.
Demographics
Pathans of India descend from different tribes and clans. Some of the common Pashtun tribes found in India including the influential Ahmadzai and others like Afridi, Barakzai, Bettani, Panni, Sulemanzai, Tareen, Kakar, Sherani, Khattak, Orakzai and the Shinwari, Yusufzai including the mighty Ghilzai, Durrani and Lodi. There is also a population of Muslim Rajput Pathans in India whose ancestors were Rajputs but got the title Khan after converting to Islam. After many generations, they are now intermixed with Pathans.Hindu Pathans
The term "Hindu Pathan" is used for Hindus who hailed or were born in the predominately Pashtun regions of British India, as well as those who arrived from Afghanistan. The 1947 partition of India led to an exodus of Hindus settled in the former North-West Frontier Province and Baluchistan, which are part of modern Pakistan, into the newly independent India. Notable people from these regions, mainly Peshawar, who identified as Hindu Pathans include independence activist Bhagat Ram Talwar and union minister Mehr Chand Khanna; Prithviraj Kapoor, the progenitor of Bollywood's Kapoor family, also of Punjabi descent; his cousin, Surinder Kapoor ; actor Vinod Khanna, and film producer F.C. Mehra. Pushpa Kumari Bagai writes that the Hindu Pathans in India, especially those who migrated from the Saraiki-speaking area of Dera Ismail Khan, had their own unique vegetarian cuisine. In her historical magnum opus River of Fire, writer Qurratulain Hyder makes reference to Hindu Pathans from the NWFP who were displaced by the partition and settled in India.Some Hindus who lived in Balochistan prior to 1947, and later migrated to India following the partition, had a highly Pashtunized culture and spoke a form of Pashto or Balochi. They identified themselves culturally as Pathans and members of the Kakari tribe. Originating from Quetta and Loralai, they brought their customs and practices with themselves to India, where they became known as the Sheenkhalai. This name stemmed from a novel tradition their womenfolk practised, who would adorn their faces, hands and skin with permanent tattoos to enhance their appearance. These decorative, tribal tattoos were considered a form of art and beauty in their culture, however they were looked down upon by other Indians. The women wore a traditional hand-embroidered dress known as the kakrai kameez, similar to a firaq – the upper garment worn by Pashtun females. They also listened to Pashto music and would teach the language to their children. Due to their different culture and appearance, they were often stereotyped and considered Muslims or foreigners by the locals. The Sheenkhalai, numbering up to 500 at the time of partition, settled mostly in Rajasthan and Punjab, and adopted Indian culture. In recent years, there have been efforts to revive their indigenous culture. In 2018, former Afghan president Hamid Karzai met members of this community and inaugurated the Sheenkhalai Art Project during the Jaipur Literature Festival. A feature-length documentary titled Sheenkhalai – The Blue Skin produced by Shilpi Batra Adwani, a third-generation Sheenkhalai herself, explores the history and origins of this community and was funded by the India–Afghanistan Foundation.
From the 1950s and onwards, some Pakistani Hindus from Peshawar and surrounding areas moved to India, settling chiefly in Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Firozpur, as well as in Delhi, Rajasthan and other places across India. As of 2005, they numbered over 3,000 families including both Hindus and Sikhs. Amritsar itself was home to over 500 Peshawari families, and most of them lived in an area known as the Peshawari Mohalla where they had set up a Hindu temple for the community. They were mainly businesspeople. According to the Hindustan Times, around 250 Hindu and Sikh families were living in an area named "Mini Peshawar" near Chheharta in Amritsar as of 2016. Although Peshawar was not as violently affected by communal riots as other regions during the partition, the Peshawari Hindus cited economic issues, security challenges and religious violence as reasons for their emigration after independence. A wave of similar migrations continued in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. After living in India for some time, these Hindus are able to secure Indian citizenship. The elderly Peshawari Hindus are distinguishable due to their Peshawari clothing and the Peshawari turban which some of them wear, and they converse in Pashto or the local Peshawari dialect. However, the younger generation is not fluent in these languages.
Since the 1970s, thousands of Afghan Hindus have also settled in India while escaping war and persecution. Many of them had lived in the Pashtun areas for generations, spoke Pashto, and practised a culture that was Pashtun-influenced.
Diaspora
A secondary diaspora of Pathans from India also exists, including those who were transported from British India to various other colonies as indentured workers in the early 19th century.Distribution
North India
In July 1954, over 100,000 Pashtun tribes people living in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir were granted Indian nationality. They are a mostly endogamous, Pashto-speaking community whose ancestors migrated from what is now Pakistan and Afghanistan prior to India's independence. The village of Gotli Bagh in Ganderbal district is home to around 10,000 Pashtuns. The community observes Pashtun customs such as jirga for mediation on disputes, and Pashto television channels like Khyber TV are followed to keep up to date with news in the region. They mostly marry within their community, which has allowed their language and culture to be preserved intact.The city of Malerkotla is home to a significant population of Punjabi Muslims, some of whom are of Pathan origin. It is notably the only Muslim-majority city in Indian Punjab, since the partition in 1947. The princely Malerkotla State was established and ruled by a Pathan dynasty of Sherwani and Lodi origins. The Pathans in Malerkotla were considered an influential group and were principally landowners. Their numbers dwindled after many of them migrated to Pakistan. They are principally divided into the Yusufzai, Lodi, Tareen, Kakar and Sherwani tribes. The rulers of the state historically shared a harmonious relationship with their Hindu and Sikh subjects, giving them protection and equal rights as minorities, which is one of the reasons why the city was mostly spared from violence during the partition. Even after independence, members of the royal Pathan family have continued to receive political support in state elections.
Chandigarh is a common destination for Afghan students who pursue tertiary education in India. They numbered up to 500 as of 2019, and were enrolled in different institutes including Panjab University. The princely Pataudi State, which was founded by the Pataudi family and ruled by the Nawab of Pataudi, was centred in Pataudi in modern Haryana's Gurgaon district. The Pataudis were of Afghan descent, whose ancestors arrived in India in the late 15th century as mercenaries of the Pashtun emperor Bahlul Lodi, during the latter's reign. According to Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, the family are "basically Afghans with a bit of Turkish blood."
There is a small community of Pashto-speaking Hindus and Sikhs who migrated from Parachinar to Himachal Pradesh in 1948. They have an organisation known as the Akhil Bharatiya Parachinar Biradari, which seeks to gain Scheduled Tribal status for the community in order to secure various government incentives and opportunities committed under the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes for "displaced" communities. They are settled in a village also named "Parachinar" in Bharmour in Chamba district. These Parachinaris are noted for their Pathan dresses and turbans, their traditional Chitrali-influenced dance known as the gharra, and the Pashto dialect which they speak.
According to Sohail Hashmi, the Peshawari dress and turban were a common site on the streets of Delhi up until the 1960s. The area of Jangpura has long been a hub for Pathan Muslims, possibly due to its proximity to the Nizamuddin Dargah.
Across North India, the Pathan population is chiefly spread over 74 districts. Beginning in the 17th century, tens of thousands of "Rohilla" Pashtuns migrated into modern Uttar Pradesh and settled in what became known as the Rohilkhand region.