29-616: [REDACTED] Look up आभीर or Ahir in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Abhira may refer to: Abhira dynasty , a classical era Indian empire in South India. Abhira kingdom , an ancient south Asian kingdom. Abhira people , an ancient Indian tribe. Ahir , a pastoralist community. Abhira-Gupta dynasty , a 6th century kingdom in Nepal. Topics referred to by
58-487: A caste , a clan , a community , a race and a tribe . The traditional occupations of Ahirs are cattle-herding and agriculture. Since late 19th century to early 20th century, Ahirs have adopted Yadav word for their community and have claimed descent from the mythological king Yadu . This is a part of a movement of social and political resurgence ( sanskritisation ) under the influence of Arya Samaj. Ahirs are found throughout India but are particularly concentrated in
87-535: A Brahmin community uses the Abhira name which distinguishes them from tribal Abhira. Theories regarding the origins of the ancient Abhira – the putative ancestors of the Ahirs – are varied for the same reasons as are the theories regarding their location; that is, there is a reliance on interpretation of linguistic and factual analysis of old texts that are known to be unreliable and ambiguous. Some scholars consider
116-821: A Hindi dialect which is different from one used normally. Ahirs usually speak language of the region in which they live. Some languages/dialects named after Ahirs are Ahirani, also known as Khandeshi , spoken in Khandesh region of Maharashtra, Ahirwati spoken in Ahirwal region of Haryana and Rajasthan. The Malwi spoken is Malwa region of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh is also known as Ahiri. These dialects are named after Ahirs but not necessarily only spoken by Ahirs living in those areas or all Ahirs in those regions speak these dialects. The Ahirs have three major classifications Yaduvanshi, Nandavanshi and Goallavanshi. Yaduvanshi claim descent from Yadu, Nandavansh claim descent from Nanda,
145-791: A legendary people mentioned in ancient Indian epics and scriptures . A historical people of the same name are mentioned in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea . The Mahabharata describes them as living near the seashore and on the bank of the Sarasvati River , near Somnath in Gujarat and in the Matsya region also. Sunil Kumar Bhattacharya says that the Abhiras are mentioned in the first-century work of classical antiquity ,
174-585: A race or a tribe, nomadic in tendency or displaced or part of a conquering wave, with origins in Indo-Scythia or Central Asia, Aryan or Dravidian – there is no academic consensus, and much in the differences of opinion relate to fundamental aspects of historiography, such as controversies regarding dating the writing of the Mahabharata and acceptance or otherwise of the Indo-Aryan migration (which
203-717: A result, life and property became unsafe. Pargiter points to the Pauranic tradition that the Vrishnis and Andhakas, while retreating northwards after the Kurukshetra War from their western home in Dwarka and Gujarat, were attacked and broken up by the rude Abhiras of Rajasthan. The Abhiras did not stop in Rajasthan; some of their clans moved south and west reaching Saurashtra and Maharashtra and taking service under
232-576: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Ahir Ahir or Aheer (derived from the Sanskrit word: abhira ) is a community of traditionally non-elite pastoralists in India, most members of which identify as being of the Indian Yadav community because they consider the two terms to be synonymous. The Ahirs are variously described as
261-474: Is universally accepted in mainstream scholarship). Similarly, there is no certainty regarding the occupational status of the Abhira, with ancient texts sometimes referring to them as pastoral and cowherders but at other times as robber tribes. The British rulers of India classified the Ahirs of Punjab as an "agricultural tribe" in the 1920s, which was at that time synonymous with being a " martial race ". This
290-467: The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea . He considers them to be a race rather than a tribe. Scholars such as Ramaprasad Chanda believe that they were Indo-Aryan peoples . But others, such as Romila Thapar , believe them to have been indigenous. The Puranic Abhiras occupied the territories of Herat ; they are invariably juxtaposed with the Kalatoyakas and Haritas, the peoples of Afghanistan. In
319-512: The 1962 Sino-Indian War that saw the last stand of Charlie company, consisting of 114 Ahirs of 13 Kumaon, and in the 1965 India-Pakistan War . It was from the 1920s that some Ahirs began to adopt the name of Yadav and created the Yadav Mahasabha , founded by ideologues such as Rajit Singh. Several caste histories and periodicals to trace a Kshatriya origin were written at the time, notably by Mannanlal Abhimanyu. These were part of
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#1732772357603348-550: The Abhira to be a Proto-Dravidian tribe who migrated to India and point to the Puranas as evidence. Other scholars say that the Abhira are recorded as being in India in the 1st-century CE work, the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea . The Abhira coommunity can also be considered to be a race rather than a tribe. Epigraphical and historical evidence exists for equating the Ahirs with the ancient Yadava tribe. Whether they were
377-737: The Abhiras lived in Rajputana and Malava on the western frontier of the Gupta Empire . Historian Dineshchandra Sircar thinks of their original abode was the area of Abhiravan, between Herat and Kandahar , although this is disputed. Their occupation of Rajasthan also at later date is evident from the Jodhpur inscription of Samvat 918 that the Abhira people of the area were a terror to their neighbours, because of their violent demeanour. Abhiras of Rajputana were sturdy and regarded as Mlecchas , and carried on anti-Brahmanical activities. As
406-782: The Ahirs defended their claims to a higher social status. At the same time Ahir/Yadav intelligentsia also emphasized the socio-economic backwardness faced by their community and in 1927, a petition was sent to the Simon Commission describing how the Ahirs suffers from the same social disabilities and discrimination as the Chamars . Despite explicitly expressing their commitment against untouchability, it has been observed that these movements by Yadav caste associations have not been egalitarian enough to include communities who are under Scheduled Castes and have claimed connection with Krishna. The Ahirs in certain region of UP had been one of
435-625: The British Raj. Ahir is believed to be a derivation of the Sanskrit word, "abhira", and the present term in the Bengali and Marathi languages is abhir . Ahirs are believed to be a tribe descended from the ancient Abhira community , whose precise location in India is the subject of various theories based mostly on interpretations of old texts such as the Mahabharata and the writings of Ptolemy . In Maharashtra and Gujarat ,
464-632: The Padma-puranas and certain literary works, the Abhiras are referred to as belonging to the race of Krishna. There is no certainty regarding the occupational status of the Abhiras, with ancient texts sometimes referring to them as warriors, as pastoral cowherders, but at other times as plundering tribes. Along with the Vrishnis , the Satvatas , and the Yadavas , the Abhiras were followers of
493-656: The Vedas, and worshipped Krishna , the head and preceptor of these tribes. In archaeological inscriptions, Abhiras are mentioned as belonging to the race of Krishna. From 203 to 270 the Abhiras ruled over the whole of the Deccan Plateau as a paramount power. The Abhiras were the probably successors of the Satvahanas. According to Ganga Ram Garg, the modern-day Ahir caste are descendants of Abhira people and
522-494: The foster father of Krishna and Goallavanshi claim descent from gopi and gopas of Krishna's childhood. The oral epic of Veer Lorik , a mythical Ahir hero, has been sung by folk singers in North India for generations. Mulla Daud, a Sufi Muslim , retold the romantic story in writing in the 14th century. Other Ahir folk traditions include those related to Kajri and Biraha . Abhira tribe The Abhira people were
551-487: The initiative or leadership qualities to command large military formations. The British had a policy of recruiting the martial Indians from those who has less access to education as they were easier to control. According to modern historian Jeffrey Greenhunt on military history, "The Martial Race theory had an elegant symmetry. Indians who were intelligent and educated were defined as cowards, while those defined as brave were uneducated and backward". According to Amiya Samanta,
580-526: The jostling among various castes for socio-economic status and ritual under the Raj and they invoked support for a zealous, martial Hindu ethos. Arya Samaj, a Hindu reformist organization also played an important role in ritual purification of Ahir/Yadavs and many low castes in order to incorporate them into Vedic Hinduism. In U.P, it was through shastrarth debates and with the help of reform movements like Arya Samaj and Vaishnava Ramanandi order in public debates that
609-513: The marital race was chosen from people of mercenary spirit (a soldier who fights for any group or country that will pay him/her), as these groups lacked nationalism as a trait. Ahirs had been recruited into the army from 1898. In that year, the British raised four Ahir companies, two of which were in the 95th Russell's Infantry . In post-independence India, some Ahir units have been involved in celebrated military actions, such as at Rezang La in
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#1732772357603638-515: The more militant Hindu groups during pre-independent India. In one of the instances before independence, Hindu shudra caste groups such as the Ahirs actively participated in a counter-reactionary communal conflict orchestrated by Arya Samaj. Some writers are also of the opinion that many low-castes (including Ahirs) took to cow protection for asserting higher status since cow already had symbolic importance in Hinduism. This view of cow protection
667-509: The northern area. Apart from India, Ahirs have significant population in Nepal , Mauritius , Fiji , South Africa and the Caribbean especially Guyana , Trinidad and Tobago , and Suriname . In Mauritius and Caribbean they are mostly the descendants of indentured servants who arrived between the 19th and 20th centuries from the former pre-partitioned sub-continent of India during the time of
696-403: The region is therefore known as Ahirwal or the abode of Ahirs. Ahirani dialect continues to be spoken today in the region and is widespread across Jalgaon , Dhule and Nashik . It is an admixture of Marathi , Gujarati , Hindi , ancient Magadhi , Saurashtri , Sauraseni , Lati, Maharashtri , Prakrit and Paishachi . Ahir culture is rooted in pastoralism and closely associated to
725-409: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Abhira . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Abhira&oldid=1255932176 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
754-461: The term Ahir is the Prakrit form of the Sanskrit term Abhira . Bhattacharya says that the terms Ahir , Ahar and Gaoli are current forms of the word Abhira . M. S. A. Rao and historians such as P. M. Chandorkar and T. Padmaja have explained that epigraphical and historical evidence exists for equating the Ahirs with the ancient Abhiras. During the reign of Samudragupta (c. 350),
783-540: The worship of Krishna and Shiva. The Ahirs have three major classifications Yaduvanshi, Nandavanshi and Goallavanshi. Yaduvanshi claim descent from Yadu, Nandavansh claim descent from Nanda, the foster father of Krishna, and Goallavanshi claim descent from gopi and gopas of Krishna's childhood. In 1992, Noor Mohammad noted that most Ahirs in Uttar Pradesh were vegetarian, with some exceptions who were engaged in fishing and raising poultry. Ahirs of Benares speak
812-420: Was a designation created by administrators that classified each ethnic group as either "martial" or "non-martial": a "martial race" was typically considered brave and well built for fighting, whilst the remainder were those whom the British believed to be unfit for battle because of their sedentary lifestyles. However, the martial races were also considered politically subservient, intellectually inferior, lacking
841-631: Was different from the UP's urban elites. Ahirs in India are known by numerous other names, including Gauli and Ghosi or Gop in North India . In Gujarat and South India as Ayar, Golla and Konar. Some in the Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh are known as Dauwa. The Ahirs have more than 20 sub-castes. They have a significant population in the region around Behror , Alwar , Rewari , Narnaul , Mahendragarh , Gurgaon and Jhajjar –
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