Turk (caste)

Turk

Total population
(2,500[1])
Regions with significant populations
•  India •  Pakistan
Languages
• Urdu • Khari Boli • Hindi
Religion
• Islam 100% •
Related ethnic groups
• Turk • Turk Jamat • Mughal

The Turk are a Muslim community found in the Terai region of the states of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh in India.^[2]

Origin

The Turks claim to have come from Central Asia to India with the armies of Mohammad Ghori, who settled in the slopes of the Himalayas, to guard the plains of North India from the Rajputs of the Garhwal and Kumaon hills. Some claim to have originally been Oghuz Turks. They are now found in Udham Singh Nagar district of Uttarakhand state, and the terai portions of the districts of Rampur, Amroha, Moradabad, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Haridwar, Bijnor, Balrampur, Gonda, Basti, Siddharthnagar and Sant Kabir Nagar in Uttar Pradesh. A few are also found in the Baheri tehsil of Bareilly District. The Turk speak Urdu as well as the Awadhi and Khari boli dialect of Hindustani.^[3] There are sub caste of turks like Jhojha and Khoja, living at the bank of Ganga river.

Present circumstances

The Turk are an endogamous community, and prefer marrying close kin. They are essential small and medium sized farmers, and their villages tend to be uni-caste. The Turk cultivate wheat, paddy, maize, sorghum and sugar cane. Those in north Rohilkhand have benefited from the effects of the Green Revolution. Their customs are similar to other neighbouring Muslim communities such as the Rayeen and Rohilla. They have fairly active caste council, which deals with community welfare as well as an instrument of social control. The Turk are entirely Sunni Muslims, like other Muslim communities in western Rohilkhand, they have seen a growth in madrasas in their villages. Recent attempts by the community to gain Other Backward Classes status have been unsuccessful.^[4]

See also

• Mughal

References