Ahir or Aheer (derived from the Sanskrit word: Abhira people)
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.[ Sanskritisation of Ahir:
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Quote: "The movement, which had a wide interregional spread, attempted to submerge regional names such as Goala, Ahir, Ahar, Gopa, etc., in favour of the generic term Yadava (Rao 1979). Hence a number of pastoralist castes were subsumed under Yadava, in accordance with decisions taken by the regional and national level caste sabhas. The Yadavas became the first among the shudras to gain the right to wear the janeu, a case of successful sanskritisation which continues till date. As a prominent agriculturist caste in the region, despite belonging to the shudra varna, the Yadavas claimed Kshatriya status tracing descent from the Yadu dynasty. The caste's efforts matched those of census officials, for whom standardisation of overlapping names was a matter of policy. The success of the Yadava movement also lies in the fact that, among the jaati sabhas, the Yadava sabha was probably the strongest, its journal, Ahir Samachar, having an all-India spread. These factors strengthened local efforts, such as in Bhojpur, where the Yadavas, locally known as Ahirs, refused to do begar, or forced labour, for the landlords and simultaneously prohibited liquor consumption, child marriages, and so on."
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Ahirs are found throughout India but are particularly concentrated in 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 in the 19th and 20th centuries from the former pre-partitioned sub-continent of India during the British Raj.[*
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Etymology
Ahir is believed to be a derivation of the
Sanskrit word, "abhira", and the present term in the Bengali and
Marathi language languages is
abhir.
History
Early history
Theories regarding the origins of the ancient
Abhira tribe – 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, such as A. P. Karmakar, consider the Abhira to be a Proto-Dravidian tribe who migrated to India and point to the as evidence. Others, such as Sunil Kumar Bhattacharya, say that the Abhira are recorded as being in India in the 1st-century CE work, the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. Bhattacharya considers the Abhira of old to be a race rather than a tribe.
Whether they were 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 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.
Kingdoms
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Veersen of Nasik
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Ahir dynasty in pre-12th century areas in present-day Nepal
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Ahir-Rajas of Sagar
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Ahir Rajas of Gawror fort, Patna district.
Military involvements
The
British Raj 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 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 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, 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 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.
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Sanskritisation
Recreating the past for new identity
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 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 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
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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.
Yadavs of Braj-Ahirwal attempted to "endlessly portray themselves" as inheritors of the heritage of local dynasties such as the Jats of Bharatpur and Alwar, Jadon Rajputs of Jaleshar and Karauli and fellow Ahir dynasties of Rewari and Mahabhan who were considered to be of Yaduvanshi descent.
Participation in reactionary communal conflicts
The Ahirs in
Benaras, UP had been one of the more militant Hindu groups during pre-independent India. In one of the instances before independence, Hindu
shudra caste groups 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 was different from the UP's urban elites.
Distribution
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.
North India
They have a significant population in the region around
Behror,
Alwar,
Rewari,
Narnaul,
Mahendragarh,
Gurgaon and
Jhajjar – the region is therefore known as
Ahirwal or the abode of Ahirs.
Maharashtra
Ahirani dialect continues to be spoken today in the region and is widespread across
Jalgaon,
Dhule and
Nashik. It is an admixture of
Marathi Language, Gujarati,
Hindi, ancient
Magadhi, Saurashtri,
Sauraseni, Lati,
Maharashtri,
Prakrit and
Paishachi.
Culture
shells for
Diwali.]]Ahir culture is rooted in pastoralism and closely associated to the worship of Krishna and Shiva.
[.] Through Sanskritization,
the Ahirs adopted the modern-day ‘Yadav’ surname and linked themselves to the
Yadava by claiming descent from Yaduvanshi, Nandavanshi, and Goallavanshi, elevating their status within the caste hierarchy.
[Ahirs division through Sanskritization :
]
Diet
In 1992, Noor Mohammad noted that most Ahirs in Uttar Pradesh were vegetarian, with some exceptions who were engaged in fishing and raising poultry.
Language and tradition
Ahirs of Benares speak a
Hindi dialect which is different from one used normally.
[.] Ahirs usually speak the 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.
Folklore
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.
See also
Notes
