Arabs in India

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Arabs in India
Total population
54,947 (Arabic speaking)[1]
large number of Indians with partial or full Arab ancestry [2][3][4][5]
Regions with significant populations
Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Telangana, Punjab, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Sindh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Delhi, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu
Languages
Currently spoken:
Various Indian languages and English
Traditional:
Arabic
Religion
Islam, Christianity

Arabs in India are people with Arab origins who have over a long period of time, settled in the Indian subcontinent. There have been extensive trade and cultural links between India and the Arab world spanning several millennia.[6][7] The west coast region of India, especially Malabar, Gujarat and Konkan coasts were active trading hubs, where Arab merchants frequently used to visit on their way to Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia.[8] Over a span of several centuries, migrants from different Arabian nations immigrated to various regions and kingdoms of the Indian subcontinent as merchants, missionaries and through intermarriages.

Communities

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Tyabji family of North Yemeni origin
Haveli of the Sheikh family of Tungipara
Sayed Muhammed Ali Shihab Thangal of the Pukkoya family of Panakkad, of Yemeni origin.

The earliest immigrants from the Arab world arrived as merchants to the Malabar coastal region of South West India, today consisting of the state of Kerala.[9] Many of these Arab merchants married local women. Concentrations of these mixed-race descendants of Arab merchants can be found especially in the Kozhikode and Malappuram districts of Kerala. There also have been historic and close links between the Orthodox churches of South-West India and the Christian Arab orthodox churches in the middle east for several centuries, especially among the Orthodox Christians in India and Syria, which they maintain until this day and many of the Christians from these communities have claimed their ancestors are Arabs and the DNA results support this claim with Haplogroup G-M201 and Haplogroup J-M304 being prominent.[10]

Descendants of Arabs also live in the villages of Variav and Rander in Gujarat. In Hyderabad, Chaush are an Arab community of Hadhrami descent whose ancestors were recruited as soldiers by Nizam of Hyderabad.[11] Some Konkani Muslims trace their ancestry to traders from Hadhramaut (in Yemen or South Arabia).[12] In coastal Karnataka, a group of Persian speaking Sunni Muslims from Iraq having Assadi surname arrived in Mangalore during the reign of Tipu Sultan. They claim their ancestry from Banu Assad. These population migrations may have been favoured by both the Nizam of Hyderabad and Tipu Sultan of Mysore because both had their ancestral linkages to these populations. In Kerala, Syed Thangals of Hadhrami descent settled around the 17th century as missionaries to propagate Islam.

There are also Shia Sayyids in the Northern region of the country who claim descent from Wasit, Iraq like Zaidis.

Arab ancestry among Indians

[edit]

It is estimated that several groups in India have Middle Eastern ancestry, including arab ancestry. Certain Muslim groups, like the Dawood Bohra, and various populations in western India have at least some Middle Eastern ancestry. Genetic analyses show that West Asian lineages could be detected at varying degrees among Indians.[13][14] Although West Asian gene flow into the Subcontinent was not recent, as it occurred primarily during the Mesolithic period(Iranian hunter gatherer migration into the Indus Valley).

Arabic speakers in India
YearPop.±%
197123,318—    
198128,116+20.6%
199121,975−21.8%
200151,728+135.4%
201154,947+6.2%
Source: Language Census of India (2011)

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Language" (PDF). Census of India. 2011.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference https://www.gatewayhouse.in/globalised-dawoodi-bohra-bombay/ was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference https://archive.today/20210123035914/https://themuslim500.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/TheMuslim500-2021_Edition-low_res_20201028.pdf was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference thehindu.com was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Miller1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Pillalamarri, Akhilesh. "India and the Gulf States Share a Long History". thediplomat.com. Retrieved 2020-09-05.
  7. ^ Observer, Oman (2017-12-25). "Ancient Oman had trade links with Indus Valley". Oman Observer. Retrieved 2020-09-05.
  8. ^ Mohamed, K.M.; Mohammad, K.M. (1999). "ARAB RELATIONS WITH MALABAR COAST FROM 9th TO 16th CENTURIES". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 60: 226–234. ISSN 2249-1937. JSTOR 44144090.
  9. ^ Koya, S.M. Mohamad (1976). "Muslims of the Malabar Coast as Descendants of the Arabs". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 37: 195–200. ISSN 2249-1937. JSTOR 44138933.
  10. ^ "Familytree - Syrian Christians DNA Project Information Nasranis". 18 February 2007.
  11. ^ "Hadhramis present a slice of Yemen in India's Hyderabad". Al Arabiya English. 2018-12-13. Retrieved 2020-09-05.
  12. ^ Khalidi, Omar (1996). "The Arabs of Hadramawt in Hyderabad". In Kulkarni; Naeem; De Souza (eds.). Mediaeval Deccan History. Bombay: Popular Prakashan. ISBN 978-8-1715-4579-7.
  13. ^ Belle, Elise M. S.; Shah, Saima; Parfitt, Tudor; Thomas, Mark G. (2010-09-01). "Y chromosomes of self-identified Syeds from the Indian subcontinent show evidence of elevated Arab ancestry but not of a recent common patrilineal origin". Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences. 2 (3): 217–224. doi:10.1007/s12520-010-0040-1. ISSN 1866-9565. S2CID 16195047.
  14. ^ Yelmen, Burak; Mondal, Mayukh; Marnetto, Davide; Pathak, Ajai K; Montinaro, Francesco; Gallego Romero, Irene; Kivisild, Toomas; Metspalu, Mait; Pagani, Luca (August 2019). "Ancestry-Specific Analyses Reveal Differential Demographic Histories and Opposite Selective Pressures in Modern South Asian Populations". Molecular Biology and Evolution. 36 (8): 1628–1642. doi:10.1093/molbev/msz037. ISSN 0737-4038. PMC 6657728. PMID 30952160.