Hussaini Brahmin
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Hussaini Brahmin (Urdu: حسینی برﮨمن ) are a group sharing Muslim and Hindu religions. They are greatly influenced by martydom of Imam Hussain, grandson of Prophet Muhammad, at Karbala in 680 CE. During the month of Muharram many Hindus joined Muslims lamenting the death of Imam Hussain in Lucknow during the rule of Shia Nawabs of Awadh. Brahmins are the highest caste in Hindu hierarchy.
The small Hussaini Brahmin sect, located mostly in Indian Punjab, also known as Dutts or Mohyals. Unlike other Brahmin clans, the Hussaini Brahmins have had a long martial tradition, which they trace back to the event of Karbala. They believe that an ancestor named Rahab traveled all the way from Punjab to Arabia and there developed close relations with Imam Hussain. In the battle of Karbala, Rahab fought in the army of the Imam against Yazid. His sons, too, joined him, and most of them were killed. The Imam, seeing Rahab's love for him, bestowed upon him the title of Sultan or king, and told him to go back to India. It is because of this close bond between their ancestor Rahab and Imam Hussain that the Hussaini Brahmins got their name.
The Hussaini Brahmins were once concentrated in the Rawalpindi-Jhelum regions of Pakistan. According to the traditions, the Hussaini Brahmins believe that their ancestor Rahab Dutt and his sons fought on the side of Imam Hussain at Kerbala and they were martyred along with the Imam. They remained Hindus but the tragedy of Kerbala was commemorated from generation to generation in their families and even now their clans observes it all over India, although the younger generation is less keen on such traditions.
The non-Muslim tribal Lambadi community in Andhra Pradesh have their own genre of Muharram lamentation songs in Telugu. Among certain Hindu castes in Rajasthan, the Karbala battle is recounted by staging plays in which the death of Imam Hussain is enacted, after which the women of the village come out in a procession, crying and cursing Yazid for his cruelty. This custom is known as Pitna Dalna.
