Kashmiri Muslim tribes from Hindu Lineage
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Kashmiri Kinship and descent is one of the major concepts of Kashmiri cultural anthropology. Hindu and Muslim Kashmiri people living in the state of Jammu AND Kashmir in India, and other parts of the world possess a wide range of likeness and parallel that lead to tracking Kashmiri kinship and descent. .
[edit] Kashmiri Descent groups
A significant section of the Kashmiri community or people from the Kashmir region speaking Kashmiri language form a descent group social group whose members claim common ancestry. With patrilineal descent,Kashmiri individuals belong to their father's descent group.
Both the Kashmiri Hindus and Muslim society reckons descent patrilineally . For instance, certain property and titles may be inherited through the male line, however there are instances also where certain inheritances may accrue and others through the female line.
[edit] Kashmiri Lineages, clans, phratries and moieties
Kashmiri lineage as a descent group demonstrate a common descent from an apical ancestor. Kashmiri Hindu and Muslim Lineages are patrilineal, traced through fathers .The prevalence of common clan , family, and surnames among contemporary Hindu and Muslim Kashmiri groups is indicative of a common descent group .
Several Kashmiri Pundit and Muslim clan are a descent group that claims common descent from an apical ancestor (but often cannot demonstrate it, or "stipulated descent"). Examples of other such clans are Scottish, Irish, Tlingit, Chechen, Chinese and Japanese clans.
Kashmiri Hindu and Muslim phratry are a descent group containing at least two clans which have a supposed common ancestor.
Therefore Kashmiri society divided into exactly two descent groups, and each could be called a moiety, after the French word for half.
[edit] Etymology
The name "Kashmir" means "desiccated land" (from the Sanskrit: Ka = water and shimeera = desiccate). According to Hindu mythology, Sage Kashyapa drained a lake to produce the land now known as Kashmir.
[edit] Conversion of Hindus in the valley by Shah i Hamdan and King Sikandar Butshikan the Iconoclast
| “ | It is generally accepted fact that up to about the beginning of the fourteenth century the population of the valley was Hindu and Buddhist , and that about the middle and the end of the century the mass of the people were converted to Islam through the efforts of Shah i Hamdan and his followers and the violent bigotry and persecution of King Sikandar the Iconoclast "[1] | ” |
[edit] Early history
For a better understanding of the common kinship of Muslim and Hindu Kashmiris a brief introduction to the history of the region is important . According to Mahabharata evidence [2], the Kambojas had ruled over Kashmir during epic times and that it was a Republican system of government under the Kamboj [3]. The capital city of Kashmir during epic times was Rajapura i.e Karna-Rajapuram-gatva-Kambojah-nirjitastava[4]. Epic Rajapura has been identified with modern Rajauri [5]. Later, the Panchalas are stated to have established their sway. The name Peer Panjal, which is a part of modern Kashmir, is a witness to this fact. Panjal is simply a distorted form of the Sanskritic tribal term Panchala. The Muslims had prefixed the word " peer " to it in memory of one Siddha Faqir and the name thence-after is said to have changed into Peer Panjal. See Link: [1].
The Mauryan emperor Ashoka is often credited with having founded the city of Srinagar. Kashmir was once a Buddhist seat of learning, perhaps with the Sarvāstivādan school dominating. East and Central Asian Buddhist monks are recorded as having visited the kingdom. In the late 4th century AD, the famous Kuchanese monk Kumārajīva, born to an Indian noble family, studied Dīrghāgama and Madhyāgama in Kashmir under Bandhudatta. He later becoming a prolific translator who helped take Buddhism to China. His mother Jīva is thought to have retired to Kashmir. Vimalākṣa, a Sarvāstivādan Buddhist monk, travelled from Kashmir to Kucha and there instructed Kumārajīva in the Vinayapiṭaka.
[edit] Muslim rule
In the 13th century, Islam first became the dominant religion in Kashmir. The Muslims and Hindus of Kashmir lived in relative harmony, since the Sufi-Islamic way of life that ordinary Muslims followed in Kashmir complemented the Rishi tradition of Kashmiri Pandits. This led to a syncretic culture where Hindus and Muslims revered the same local saints and prayed at the same shrines. Famous Sufi saint Bulbul Shah was able to persuade the king of the time Rinchan Shah who was prince of Kashgar Ladakh, through his intellectual power to adopt Islamic way of life and the foundation of Sufiana composite culture was laid when Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists were co-existing in the atmosphere of love and brotherhood.
Some Kashmiri rulers, such as Sultan Zain-ul-Abidin, were tolerant of all religions in a manner comparable to Akbar. However, several Muslim rulers of Kashmir were intolerant to other religions. Sultãn Sikandar Butshikan of Kashmir (AD 1389-1413) is often considered the worst of these. Historians have recorded many of his atrocities. The Tarikh-i-Firishta records that Sikandar persecuted the Hindus and issued orders proscribing the residence of any other than Muslims in Kashmir. He also ordered the breaking of all "golden and silver images". The Tarikh-i-Firishta further states: "Many of the Brahmins, rather than abandon their religion or their country, poisoned themselves; some emigrated from their native homes, while a few escaped the evil of banishment by becoming Mahomedans. After the emigration of the Brahmins, Sikandar ordered all the temples in Kashmeer to be thrown down......Having broken all the images in Kashmir, (Sikandar) acquired the title of ‘Destroyer of Idols’."[6]
[edit] The Histories
The metrical chronicle of the kings of Kashmir, called Rajatarangini, has been pronounced by Professor H.I.Wilson to be the only Sanskrit composition yet discovered to which the appellation "history" can with any propriety be applied. It first became known to the Muslims when, on Akbar's invasion of Kashmir in 1588, a copy was presented to the emperor. A translation into Persian was made at his order. A summary of its contents, taken from this Persian translation, is given by Abul Fazl in the Ain-i-Akbari. The Rajatarangini was written by Kalhana about the middle of the 12th century. His work, in six books, makes use of earlier writings that are now lost.
The Rajatarangini is the first of a series of four histories that record the annals of Kashmir. Commencing with a rendition of traditional history of very early times, the Rajatarangini comes down to the reign of Sangrama Deva, (c.1006 AD). The second work, by Jonaraja, continues the history from where Kalhana left off, and, entering the Muslim period, gives an account of the reigns down to that of Zain-ul-ab-ad-din, 1412. P. Srivara carried on the record to the accession of Fah Shah in 1486. The fourth work, called Rajavalipataka, by Prajnia Bhatta, completes the history to the time of the incorporation of Kashmir in the dominions of the Mogul emperor Akbar, 1588.
[edit] Common Hindu and Muslim clan names
The Settlement commissioner , Kashmir and Jammu State Walter R Lawrence ICS recorded the Gotras and Kram system of the Kashmiri Pandits in 1895 .Owing to Conversions of Kashmiri Pandits from Hinduism to Islam in Kashmir many of the names from the Hindu gotras and Krams are common to Kashmiri Muslims .
| “ | The pandits are broken into numerous gotrs , or tribal divisions and though the name of the gotra is repeated seven times by the pandit as he performs his daily ablutions, the outside world rarely hears it mentioned, and the Pandits are known by their Kram or family appellation .There are eighteen known gotras among Lenite Brahmans and 103 among the other Brahmans in Kashmir .In one Gotra there may be many Krams as the following instances will show .Among the Malmas gotra is one known as Paldeo Wasgarge and this gotra embraces Families belonging to the following krams, or tribal subdivisions -Sopuri-Pandit, Mala Poot , Mirakhur, Kadalabaju , Kokru , Bangru, Bakaya, Khashu , Kichlu , Misri, Khar and Mam ....Among the Banamas Pandits there is a gotra known as Dattatrye and from this gotra have sprung the great families of Kol and others less known such as the Nagari , Jinse , Jalali , Watal , Nek , Sultan, Ogra , Amin , Moja , Bamjai , Dont , Tota , SabinKissu , Manslal , Singari Rafij , Balu and Darabi . As will be afterwards shown when discussing the tribes of the Musalmans, the Kram is often the relic of a nickname applied to the ancestor of the subdivision "[7] | ” |
[edit] Conversion of Kashmiri Hindus to Islam
After the advent of Islam into Kashmir a traditional centre of Buddhist and Hindu religions conversion of Hindus to Islam has resulted in numerically significant population of the Kashmiri Muslims being descendants of Hindus . The prevalence of common Kashmiri Pandit family names among contemporary Kashmiri Muslims is indicative of Hindu lineage.
Kashmiri Pandit family names Common family names among Kashmiri Pandits include: Handoo, Aga, Atal, Bandhu, Bhan, Bagati, Bhat/Butt/Bhatt, Budki(Burki), Chowdhury, Dhar(Dar), Dass(Das), Dassi, Dulloo, Ganju(Ganjoo), Kaw, Gurtu,Hak, Haksar, Hangal, Hangoo, Hoon, Jaju, Jalali, Kachru(Kachroo), Kak, Kar, Kappu, Katju, Kaul(Koul), Kaw, Kemmu, Khar, Kasid Kher, Khosa, Kitchlu(Kitchlew), Kunzru, Langoo, Malla, Mantoo, Mattoo, Mukoo,Muthoo, Misri, Natu, Nehru, Ogra,\ Pandit, Pandita, Parimoo, Qasba, Raina, Rayu, Razdan, Reu, Sadhu, Sapru, Shah, Shivpuri, Shrunglu, Shunglu, Tangnu, Thusoo, Tikoo,Wakhlu, Wanchoo/Wanchu, Wantoo/Wantu, Warikoo, Wattal, Wattoo, Zalpuri, Zaroo and Zutshi.
Many of these names are also shared by Kashmiri Muslims.
Kashmiri Muslim tribes from Hindu Lineage
Handoo
Bagati
Bhan
Butt
Dhar(Dar)
Sapru
Kitchlew
Qasba
[edit] Muslim Khatris
| “ | Conversions from Hindus in Kashmir also happened among the Khatris . There are still Khatris in Srinagar known as Bohras and engaged in trade, who are cut off from Communion with the Khatris of the Punjab , and there are certain Musalman tribes who trace their origins to Khatri ancestors "[8] |
” |
[edit] Shekh
| “ | The census of 1891 does not show the divisions into which the Musalmans of the valley fall , but it may be stated that the greatest mass of the village people come under the head Shekh , and are descendants of the original Hindus "[9] | ” |
| “ | The Shekh Musalmans of the valley may have retained , for some time after their conversion to Islam , some of the Hindu customs of endogamy within the caste and exogamy outside the gotra [10] | ” |
| “ | Among the Shekhs must be mentioned the following classes who are more or less connected with the religion of Islam . The Pirzadas who are descendents of zealous converts to Islam , consider themselves equal to the Saiyads and intermarry with them [11] | ” |
[edit] Lohar
[edit] References
- ^ The Valley of Kashmir by Walter R Lawrence Page 302 published by Asian Educational Services
- ^ MBH 7.4.5.
- ^ MBH 7/91/39-40.
- ^ Mahabharata 7.4.5
- ^ Watters, Yuan Chawang, Vol I, p 284.
- ^ Muhammad Qãsim Hindû Shãh Firishta : Tãrîkh-i-Firishta, translated by John Briggs under the title "History of the Rise of the Mahomedan Power in India." First published in 1829, New Delhi Reprint 1981.
- ^ The Valley of Kashmir by Walter R Lawrence Page 304 published by Asian Educational Services
- ^ The Valley of Kashmir by Walter R Lawrence Page 302 published by Asian Educational Services
- ^ The Valley of Kashmir by Walter R Lawrence Page 306 published by Asian Educational Services
- ^ The Valley of Kashmir by Walter R Lawrence Page 306 published by Asian Educational Services
- ^ The Valley of Kashmir by Walter R Lawrence Page 307 published by Asian Educational Services
