Gakhars (Hindu): Difference between revisions

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	] '''Gakhars''' (also '''Gakkhar''' or '''Ghakhar''' or '''Ghakkar''') form the Hindu branch of the ] clan.

	The Gakhar ] is an ancient clan now located in ], ], ], ], ], ] (]), ], and ] regions in modern day ] and ] (in the latter case a substantial population are Hindu. According to the Gakhar legends, they are an ] clan (a racial designation first used by ]) of Persian descent.

	Before the ], the Gakhar hindus shared their ancestral homes with the rest of the clan. However, at the time of the partition in 1947 the Gakhar Hindus were uprooted from their ancestral homes and moved to India on account of the communal exchange of populations. They now live in various parts of North India .

	==Conversion to Islam==
	After the arrival of Islam into the subcontinent a predominant section of ] converted to Islam. The Muslim ] in Pakistan are a prominent community in that country.

	Ferishta records the conversion of the Gakhars to Islam by Mahomed Ghory
	{{cquote\|This barbarous people continued to make incursions on the Mohomedans till in the latter end of this kings reign , their chieftain was converted to the true faith when a captive . After becoming a proselyte he procured his release from the king , who endeavored to persuade him to convert his followers <ref> History of the rise of the Mohomedan Power in India –translated by John Briggs from the original Persian of Mohomed Kasim Ferishta – Vol1 Page104 </ref>}}

	Ferishta goes on to record about the conversion of the Gakhars and other local people at the hands of Ghory - {{cquote\|most of the infidels who inhabited the mountains between Ghizny and the Indus were also converted, some by force and others by persuation <ref> History of the rise of the Mohomedan Power in India –translated by John Briggs from the original Persian of Mohomed Kasim Ferishta – Vol1 Page104 </ref>}}


	Hindu Marriage customs are recorded prevelant among Muslim Gakhars as late as the 18th century in the district gazetteer of Rawalpindi " old religious customs , obviously of Hindu origin are still observed by the Gakhars , or were until within a very short period , such as customs at marriage of ''lawa-pherna'' and ''Khari par baithana'', and the Kazi and the Brahman are both present on such occasions . Further it is curious that their headmen always call themselves '']'' and not by any other distinctively Musalman title . The name Gakhar too , seems to partake more of a Hindu than of Persian or Arabic form " •<ref> Gazetteer of the Rawalpindi District 1893-94, Punjab Government, 2001 Sang-e-Meel Publications, Lahore. Page 114 </ref>

	According to S A A Rizvi " the motives of Muizzuudin's conquests were no different from those of Mahmud of Ghazni . Both were in need of plunder from India to maintain their slave armies and to attract the wandering bands of Islamicized mercenaries known as "ghazis" to their forces . The Islamicization of India was not their main objective, although some tribal leaders such as the Gakkhars were encouraged to embrace Islam " <ref> The wonder that was India II on page 22. Picador </ref>

	While a significantly large majority of Gakkhars did convert to Islam from Hinduism ,during the medieval period many Gakhar Hindus did not convert and continued to live in their traditional homelands of Jhelum, Kashmir, and West Punjab (which now falls in the Pakistan Punjab).

	==See also==
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	*

	=References=
	{{Reflist}}


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Latest revision as of 17:53, 12 August 2021

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