Ahir

Ahir/Aheer
Ahir/Aheer
	An Aheer from Shahabad, Bihar
Religions	Hinduism
Languages	Varies depending on region
Populated states	India and Nepal
Subdivisions	Yaduvanshi Aheer, Nandvanshi, and Gwalvanshi Ahir

Ahir or Aheer (derived from the Sanskrit word: abhira)^[1] 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 a caste, a clan, a race, and/or 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.^[2]^[3]^[4]

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 between the 19th and 20th centuries from the former pre-partitioned sub-continent of India during the time of the British Raj.^[5]

^ Shashi, Shyam Singh (1994). Encyclopaedia of Indian Tribes: The tribal world in transition. Anmol Publications. ISBN 978-81-7041-836-8.
^ Jaffrelot, Christophe (2003). India's silent revolution: the rise of the lower castes in North India. London: C. Hurst & Co. p. 189. ISBN 978-1-85065-670-8. Retrieved 16 August 2011. Ahirs willingly subjected themselves to Sanskritisation because of their special relation to sacred cow but alas because the Arya Samaj exerted significant Sanskritising influence over the Yadav movement. As early as 1895, the ruler of Rewari, Rao Yudhishter Singh ( the father of Rao Bahadur Balbir Singh), invited Swami Dayananda to his state. Branches of the Arya Samaj flourished soon after and Rewari provided a base from which Arya Samaj updeshaks (itinerant preachers) operated in neighbouring areas.
^ Jassal, Smita Tewari; École pratique des hautes études (France). Section des sciences économiques et sociales; University of Oxford. Institute of Social Anthropology (2001). "Caste in the Colonial State: Mallahs in the census". Contributions to Indian sociology. Mouton. pp. 319–351. 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."
^ Berti, Daniela; Kanungo, Pralay; Jaoul, Nicolas (2011). Cultural Entrenchment of Hindutva Local Mediations and Forms of Convergence (1st ed.). Routledge. p. 246. ISBN 978-1-138-65995-7. Marginalised groups, often considered as Shudras, like the Ahirs (Yadavs), Kurmis and the Gujars, began to redefine their emerging political and economic role in society by fighting on the same 'religious' grounds. In so doing, they refashioned their status as warriors and kings who had played a special role in history as guardians of Hinduism (Gooptu 2001 : 195; see also Pinch 1996 : 118–38). Gyanendra Pandey (1990: 66–108) describes how, since the end of the 19th century, such processes of Sanskritisation (adoption of 'higher' forms of Hinduism) among lower castes have joined up with Hindu nationalist movements, such as the cow protection movement, and how these interrelations have been central to the formation of a Hindu and a Muslim community in northern India.
^
*Claveyrolas, Mathieu (2015). "The 'Land of the Vaish'? Caste Structure and Ideology in Mauritius". South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal. doi:10.4000/samaj.3886. ISSN 1960-6060. S2CID 143034648.
- Moore, Brian L. (1977). "The Retention of Caste Notions among the Indian Immigrants in British Guiana during the Nineteenth Century". Comparative Studies in Society and History. 19 (1): 96–107. doi:10.1017/S0010417500008513. JSTOR 177986. S2CID 143278239.
- Jha, J. C. (1973). "Indian Heritage in Trinidad, West Indies". Caribbean Quarterly. 19 (2): 28–50. doi:10.1080/00086495.1973.11829152. JSTOR 23050197.
- Pradhan, Rajendra; Shrestha, Ava (June 2005). "Ethnic and Caste Diversity: Implications for Development" (PDF). Think Asia. Asian Development Bank. hdl:11540/3290. NRM Working Paper No. 4.
- "Indian Labour in British Guiana | History Today".
- "The legacy of Indian migration to European colonies". The Economist. 2 September 2017.

[1] Shashi, Shyam Singh (1994). Encyclopaedia of Indian Tribes: The tribal world in transition. Anmol Publications. ISBN 978-81-7041-836-8.

[2] Jaffrelot, Christophe (2003). India's silent revolution: the rise of the lower castes in North India. London: C. Hurst & Co. p. 189. ISBN 978-1-85065-670-8. Retrieved 16 August 2011. Ahirs willingly subjected themselves to Sanskritisation because of their special relation to sacred cow but alas because the Arya Samaj exerted significant Sanskritising influence over the Yadav movement. As early as 1895, the ruler of Rewari, Rao Yudhishter Singh ( the father of Rao Bahadur Balbir Singh), invited Swami Dayananda to his state. Branches of the Arya Samaj flourished soon after and Rewari provided a base from which Arya Samaj updeshaks (itinerant preachers) operated in neighbouring areas.

[socialesAnthropology2001-3] Jassal, Smita Tewari; École pratique des hautes études (France). Section des sciences économiques et sociales; University of Oxford. Institute of Social Anthropology (2001). "Caste in the Colonial State: Mallahs in the census". Contributions to Indian sociology. Mouton. pp. 319–351. 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."

[4] Berti, Daniela; Kanungo, Pralay; Jaoul, Nicolas (2011). Cultural Entrenchment of Hindutva Local Mediations and Forms of Convergence (1st ed.). Routledge. p. 246. ISBN 978-1-138-65995-7. Marginalised groups, often considered as Shudras, like the Ahirs (Yadavs), Kurmis and the Gujars, began to redefine their emerging political and economic role in society by fighting on the same 'religious' grounds. In so doing, they refashioned their status as warriors and kings who had played a special role in history as guardians of Hinduism (Gooptu 2001 : 195; see also Pinch 1996 : 118–38). Gyanendra Pandey (1990: 66–108) describes how, since the end of the 19th century, such processes of Sanskritisation (adoption of 'higher' forms of Hinduism) among lower castes have joined up with Hindu nationalist movements, such as the cow protection movement, and how these interrelations have been central to the formation of a Hindu and a Muslim community in northern India.

[5] *Claveyrolas, Mathieu (2015). "The 'Land of the Vaish'? Caste Structure and Ideology in Mauritius". South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal. doi:10.4000/samaj.3886. ISSN 1960-6060. S2CID 143034648.
Moore, Brian L. (1977). "The Retention of Caste Notions among the Indian Immigrants in British Guiana during the Nineteenth Century". Comparative Studies in Society and History. 19 (1): 96–107. doi:10.1017/S0010417500008513. JSTOR 177986. S2CID 143278239.

Jha, J. C. (1973). "Indian Heritage in Trinidad, West Indies". Caribbean Quarterly. 19 (2): 28–50. doi:10.1080/00086495.1973.11829152. JSTOR 23050197.

Pradhan, Rajendra; Shrestha, Ava (June 2005). "Ethnic and Caste Diversity: Implications for Development" (PDF). Think Asia. Asian Development Bank. hdl:11540/3290. NRM Working Paper No. 4.

"Indian Labour in British Guiana | History Today".

"The legacy of Indian migration to European colonies". The Economist. 2 September 2017.

[6] Moore, Brian L. (1977). "The Retention of Caste Notions among the Indian Immigrants in British Guiana during the Nineteenth Century". Comparative Studies in Society and History. 19 (1): 96–107. doi:10.1017/S0010417500008513. JSTOR 177986. S2CID 143278239.

[7] Jha, J. C. (1973). "Indian Heritage in Trinidad, West Indies". Caribbean Quarterly. 19 (2): 28–50. doi:10.1080/00086495.1973.11829152. JSTOR 23050197.

[8] Pradhan, Rajendra; Shrestha, Ava (June 2005). "Ethnic and Caste Diversity: Implications for Development" (PDF). Think Asia. Asian Development Bank. hdl:11540/3290. NRM Working Paper No. 4.

[9] "Indian Labour in British Guiana | History Today".

[10] "The legacy of Indian migration to European colonies". The Economist. 2 September 2017.

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Ahir

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