Khanzada Rajputs

The Khanzada or Khan Zadeh are a community of Muslim Rajputs found in the Awadh reigon of Uttar Pradesh, India. This community is distinct from the Rajasthani Khanzada, the descendants of Wali-e-Mewat Raja Naher Khan, who are a sub-clan of Jadaun gotra . They are also a community of Muslim Rajputs. They refer to themselves as Musalmaan Rajputs, or sometimes just Rajputs. After the Partition of India in 1947, many members of this community migrated to Pakistan. In addition, a small number of Khanzada are also found in the Terai region of Nepal.[1]

For other uses, see Khanzada (disambiguation).

Khanzada

Regions with significant populations
India
Languages
Hindi (Awadhi • Khari Boli • Bhojpuri) • Urdu • English •
Religion
Islam 100%
Related ethnic groups
• Rajputs • Muslim Rajputs • Thakurai • Ahbans Khanzada • Bhatti Khanzada • Khokhar Khanzada

History and origin

The word Khanzada in Persian means son of a khan, or king. This has literally the same meaning as the word Rajput, which also means son of a king in Sanskrit. The term khanzada originally applied to the Bachgoti Rajput family of the Rajahs of Hasanpur. They were said to have converted to Islam during the rule of Sher Shah Suri. This family claimed descent from Bariar Singh, a Bachgoti Rajput, who said to have emigrated from Sultanpur in the 13th century. The Bachgoti had started off as a clan of the Chauhan Rajputs of Mainpuri. Bariar Singh's grandson, Tilok Chand is said to have converted to Islam, and the family took the name khanzada.[2]

The Mandarkia and Bharsaiyan are both strictly endogamous groupings, and as such differ from other Khanzada groupings who follow the custom of clan exogamy.[3]

From the middle of the 19th century, the term Khanzada was extended to refer to all those Rajput clans, who had converted to Islam in Awadh and neighbouring Benaras division. The term is now used in the same manner as the term Ranghar, which refers to any Muslim Rajput in western Uttar Pradesh, and Khanzada is now used to describe any of the Muslim Rajput clans of eastern Uttar Pradesh. In addition, the Muslim Bhumihar of Ghazipur District are also included within the Khanzada category.[4]

Present circumstances

In northern Awadh, a region comprising roughly Barabanki District in south east to Lakhimpur Kheri District in the north west, the Khanzada have a followed a slightly different path, with a stronger identification with Islam. In a recent study of a Chauhan Khanzada village in Raisenghat Tehsil of Barabanki District, this particular community was seen to be strongly identifying with neighbouring Pathan communities, and there was increasingly intermarriage between the two groups. There economic condition in this region is also been affected, with a dwindling in the size of their farms, especially in Shravasti and Balrampur districts. Many are now, in fact, landless agricultural labourers.[5]

The Khanzada, however have been badly affected by abolition of the zamindari system, with many now destitute. They still remain a land owning community, but those especially in Balrampur, Gonda and Bahraich are now simply agricultural labourers. The community are also divided on sectarian lines, with the majority being Sunni, while a minority, mainly the ex-taluqdar families being Shia. Like other Indian Muslims, there is growing movement towards orthodoxy, with many of their villages containing madrasas. The madrasas have also facilitated the growth of Urdu, with it beginning to replace the Awadhi dialect they traditionally spoke.[6]

See also

• Bhatti Khanzada
• Khokhar Khanzada

References

1. People of India Uttar Pradesh Volume XLII Part One edited by A Hasan & J C Das pages 19 Manohar publications
2. pages 94 and 95 in Daughters of the earth : women and land in Uttar Pradesh by Smita Tewari Jassal New Delhi : Manohar, 2001 ISBN 8173043752
3. pages 40-41 in Muslim Caste in Uttar Pradesh: A Study of Culture Contact by Ghaus Ansari. Ethnographic and Folk Culture Society, 1960
4. pages 40-41 in Muslim Caste in Uttar Pradesh: A Study of Culture Contact by Ghaus Ansari. Ethnographic and Folk Culture Society, 1960
5. Family, kinship and marriage among Muslims in India / edited by Imtiaz Ahmad ISBN 0-88386-757-5
6. Sethi, Atul (8 July 2007). "Muslim Rajputs of UP [India], The | Times of India, The Newspaper | Find Articles at BNET". Findarticles.com. Retrieved 18 August 2010.

Further reading

• Fox, Richard Gabriel (1971). Kin, Clan, Raja, and Rule: Statehinterland Relations in Preindustrial India. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-52001-807-5.