Bharai

Bharai are a Muslim community found in India and Pakistan. They are settled in the states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab in India. While in Pakistan they have settled in Punjab province and in Karachi. They are also known as Parahin and in Uttar Pradesh, the Bharai are also commonly known as Sheikh Sarwari.^[1][2]

Origin

The Bharai were traditionally priests of the Sultani sect, a syncrethic sect with combined elements of Hinduism and Islam. The Sultanis were followers of the Sufi saint Sultan Sakhi Sarwar of Dera Ghazi Khan in what is now Pakistan. Most Sultanis were members of the Hindu Jat community, but the Bharai were always Muslim, and belonged either to the Jat or Rajput castes. The Jat Bharai claim descent from one Garba Jat, a Hindu attendant at the shrine of Sakhi Sarwar, who said to have been instructed by the Sakhi Sarwar to convert to Islam in a dream. There are various theories as to the origin of the word Bharai. According to early 20th Century British ethnographers such as Sir Denzil Ibbetson and Horace Arthur Rose, the name Bharai was a distortion of the word chauki bharna or those who keep a vigil. According to other sources, the Bharai get their name from Punjabi and Hindi word bhadai, which means to welcome. They are said to have acquired this name on account of one of their traditional occupation, which to sing and beat drums on various ceremonial occasions for their client families.^[3]

Traditionally, the Bharai were associated with a particular type of drum, which was beaten by a special type of stick shaped like a small crook. They were asked to attend various events organized by their patrons, who were always Hindu Jats who followed the Sultani sect. The Bharai originally belonged to Rajput and Jat families that were associated with the upkeep of Sultani shrines. Historically, the Rajput Bharai did not intermarry with the Jat Bharai. Among the Hindu Jats, the main clans were the Badecha, Dhillon, Deo, Gill, Grewal, Jham, Karhi, Maan, and Randhawa, while the Rajputs were divided into clans, the Chauhan and Ghorewaha, Manj.^[4]

Many Sikh Jatts had become followers of Sakhi Sarwar (Sultanis), during the late 19th century, but the Sikh reforms, made at Amritsar, from 1873-1925, stopped the Influence, of Sakhi Sarwar, which was spreading at that time. And brought The breaking away Jatt Sikhs back in to their ancestral Sikh faith, by mass preaching by notable Sikhs of that period, and the Hindu Jatts, reverted to more orthodox form of Hinduism.

By the very early 20th Century, most Sultanis had either converted to Sikhism from 1901-1911 or reverted to more orthodox form of Hinduism. With the Partition of India in 1947, which saw the division of Punjab, most Bharais emigrated to Pakistan. In Pakistan, the Bharai have been reabsorbed into the Jat community, but in India there is still a large community found in several villages near the city of Malerkotla. In the neighbouring state of Himachal Pradesh, the Bharais of inhabit the districts of Bilaspur, Kangra, Hamirpur and Mandi. In Himachal Pradesh, they speak the Bilaspuri dialect.^[5]

During the partition, of 1947, the Hindu Sultani Jatts of western Punjab migrated along with the Sikhs, to East Punjab, where the Sultanis are still found, in tiny numbers.

Present circumstances

The Bharai are now mainly settled agriculturists, although many are still involved in their traditional occupation of drum beating, and are often invited to cattle fairs and other public events, as well as private ceremonies such as weddings. Many Bharai are involved in rearing cattle, ands the community are considered fairly skilled in this activity. Important subsidiary occupation includes service in the army, police and forestry service.^[6]

Although Sunni, the Bharai still pay special reverence to Sultan Sakhi Sarwar.

See also

• Muslim Jat

References