Chaush

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Chaush literally means a guide, but in India they are the one who migrated to India in the 18th century, primarily from the Hadhramaut region in Yemen. They have a big community mainly in the Deccan region of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. They have relatives living/working in the Gulf region and many of them still holding Yemeni nationality. They came here in search of work especially from Yemen. They worked here with the Nizam of Hyderabad, serving in the armed forces or police. they have settled well over here and hold the Indian citizenship. They still have maintained the Arab culture in them. Most of them can't speak Arabic but they still want to be called Arabs.[citation needed].

Culturally they are a bit different from the mainstream Indian Muslims. The famous dishes from the Chaush community is Lham- mandi, dajaj-mandi, hasseed, qahwa, haleem etc. The famous tribes residing in India are Al Kaseri (Kathiri), BinMazi, Al Attas, Bajaman, Baqtayan, Al Amoudi, BinHilabi, Bawazir, Tamimi, Al Yafai, Al Hamed, Baadam, BaHakim, Bajhaw, Bajham, Basolaan, Al Jabri, Al Saadi, Bin mahfuz, Alhabeeb, Binmubarak.

You will find members of chaush community wearing a soft cotton cloth called 'lungi' and Arabic robes, and in the past would wear at Jambiya (dagger) at their waist. most of them do not know Arabic except few words like ' keifalhaal' 'taal bukhra' 'alhamdulillah' etc. You will find this community in scores in an area called Barkas (Previously known as Barracks) in Hyderabad and in old Auranagabad city of Maharashtra. Besides majority of them reside in rural maharashtra. The prominent being Ajanta village, bhokardan, dhawda, jafferabad, jalna, ambad, sawangi, vaijapur, gangapur, partur, pathri, kannad, beed, osmanabad, latur, ausa, parbhani, nanded. There are also a few individuals of this community in Surat, Gujarat.

The chaush community of Aurangabad have founded an organisation 'THE JAMIAT UL ARAB' for the welfare of the Arab community of Maharashtra.

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