Wednesday 9 September 2015

THEY CAME ! THEY SAW ! THEY CONQUERED!



The Great Rawthers  Part 1 and Part 2



                                                     Part 1

As a descendant of the ‘Rawthers, I ventured deep into the annals of history to get a clear description of the Rawther clan. It is also said that Rawthers were horsemen and warriors of the Moghuls who eventually settled in South India. Then, they diverted their attention to become businessmen.

As I said in the earlier post, the community has Turkish ancestry and history. To prove my point, Rawthers follow the Hanafi school of Fiqh like that of the Turks. And they too use the Turkish word 'Ata/Atha' for father, just like Turks who called their first president- Mustafa Kemal Pasha as 'Ata Turk'.
 But whatever the dispute, the Rawthers were indeed a credible and proud Islamic community of horsemen.

Going back to Hanafi School of fiqh, it is the fiqh with the largest number of followers among Sunni Muslims. The Turkish rulers were some of the earliest adopters of relatively more flexible Hanafi fiqh, and preferred it over the traditionalist Medina-based fiqhs.
It is predominant in the countries that were once part of the historic Ottoman Empire and Sultanates of Turkic rulers in the Indian subcontinent, northwest China and Central Asia. In the modern era, Hanafi is prevalent in the following regions: Turkey, the Balkans, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Egypt, parts of Iraq, the Caucasus, parts of Russia, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, parts of India and China, and Bangladesh.

In Malaysia, many, and even children born to fathers of Hanafi fiqh follow the Shafii fiqh. There are a lot of small differences in the way people pray, and marry between the schools. Asr prayer is calculated an hour earlier in Shafii than Hanafi. Women need a wali as a requirement to marry in Shafii while they need only a witness in Hanafi to get married. 
The majority of Sunni Muslims believe that all four schools have correct guidance, and the differences between them lie not in the fundamentals of faith, but in finer judgments and jurisprudence, which are a result of the independent reasoning of the imams and the scholars who followed them. 
Because their individual methodologies of interpretation and extraction from the primary sources were different, they came to different judgments on particular matters. 
For example, there are subtle differences in the methods of prayer among the four schools, yet the differences are not so great as to require separate prayers by the followers of each school. In fact, a follower of any school can usually pray behind an imam of another school without any confusion.
So, do not confuse fiqh to sect and let us, as Muslims, not deviate from the actual teaching of Islam. 
I just compared it to show that the Rawthers indeed had Turkish ancestry.

Part 2
CONVERSION OF NORTH INDIAN RAJPUT RATHORS TO ISLAM DURING THE TURKISH SULTANATE
During the Turkish Sultanate at Delhi ( 1206-1526 AD), sizeable population of the north Indian Rajput Rathor community converted to Islam. Rathors/Rathods are Rajaputra warrier ruling class mostly inhabited in Rajastan and nearby areas. Hindu and Muslim segments of this community are still prevalent in all parts of north India. 
Muslim Rathors, converted to Islam under the auspices of Turkish Hanafi-Soofi school call their fathers- ATTHAAH- meaning Father in Turkish language and keep a distinct identity. They have been following a pacifist and compassionate religious view having soofi lineages.

JOURNEY OF MUSLIM RATHOR PLATOONS TO MADURAI IN TAMILNADU AND THEIR EVOLUTION AS TAMIL-RAWTHERS.
At a time when the Pandiya kingdom at Madurai in Tamilnadu became week due to internal conflicts among the descendants, Army of the Turkish sultanate from the north established their rule in Madurai. Turkish rule in Madurai was short lived. It began in 1355 A.D and collapsed in 1378 A.D with the coming in of the Vijayanagar Dynasty. During the Turkish rule in Madurai, platoons of Muslim Rathors as well had been arrived and settled at Madurai and nearby places. Muslim Rathors were in the elite Horse Corps of the Turkish Army and they began to be known as ‘Rawthers’ in Tamil.
Koothanalloor was a prominent early center of inhabitation of Rawthers in Tamilnadu. This was a religious place as well. There were a number of copper plates with Turkish inscriptions in the Periya Mosque of Koothanalloor and some of them are still available at the Madras Museum. It deserves further research.

SPREAD OF RAWTHERS TO DIFFERENT PARTS OF TAMILNADU
The Turkish rule in Madurai remained only for around fifty years. Fall of this kingdom witnessed much blood shed and migration of people as usual. Rawther people who were basically associated with the Turkish rule got shattered and they migrated to many a parts of Tamilnadu including Tirunelveli and Coimbatore areas. It is interesting to see that even after such a flee from power at Madurai, groups of those migrating population established their own hubs of inhabitation as local Chiefdoms in many parts of Tamilnadu. They were in fact moving as self-sufficient units of society with all inherent structures and hierarchy as in a mini state. At the helm were Shahs of Turkish origin. Rawthers were military men on horses. Mawthers lead Elephant corps.Labbas performed priest duties. There were certainly low cast Muslim workforce as well in those moving republics. Such hubs of inhabitations though with only limited traditions still exists in many parts of Tamilnadu. 
I understand that the popular story of seven brothers and a younger sister, prevelant universally among the Rawther community as a hereditary anecdote had its origin at the time of the aforesaid flee from Manamadurai near Madurai. The seven brothers on their own put to death their adolescent and beautiful sister apparently to rescue her from the impending captivity of the approaching enemy forces. They escaped with their clan dignity intact though the life of their beloved sister had to be terminated !. However, the spirit of this sister, perhaps innumerable sisters so annihilated over the long historical sojourn, continue to haunt the genetic mind of the Rawthers still.

MIGRATION OF RAWTHERS TO KERALA AND EASTERN COUNTRIES
During the last three centuries, innumerable Rawthers from Tamilnadu have migrated to the nearby state of Kerala. Malaysia and other eastern countries as well were their prominent destinations of migration.

Rawther is basically a genetic baggage of rich inheritance. His human history spread far beyond the Muslim identity of eight centuries. He is basically a dignified tribe with unique mental features. He has in his blood hundreds of battles of survival he had fought, innumerable terrains he surpassed and plenty of spiritual encounters he underwent.


21 comments:

  1. It feels so nice to here about history.

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  2. A GREAT CHANCE FOR ME TO UNDERSTAND MYSELF

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  3. Many assert that most of the about 70 lakh Tamil speaking Muslims of Tamil Nadu were once Harijans(Dalits), say may be 400 to 600 years ago but ask the present Tamil Muslims the origin of their original Hindu castes, they have absolutely no idea,

    But if one poses the same question to Tamil Christians and they proudly say that I am a Nadar Christian, I am a Devar Christian and I am a Dalit Christian, I am a Mudaliar Christian etc

    so would the readers on this forum agree to a large extent that conversion of Dalits to Islam eliminated the caste barriers and unlike Dalit Christians Muslim converts do not have a separate burial grounds and that are not discriminated or segregated in the Mosques in prayers,

    many recent Dalit Muslim have become prayer conducting Imams (leaders in the Mosques) So there is quite a bit of egalitarianism here which High caste Hindus should adopt in the case of Dalits all over India and laws do not serve to destroy castes.

    There is much of talk about reconverting the Indian minorities to Hinduism by
    Radical hindu outfits, the idea is not wrong in a democracy Let us voluntarily convert Tamil Speaking Muslims to Hinduism please? So the RSS may say but if that happens into what caste the Muslim converting to Hindus be placed, back to become Dalits?

    By reconverting to beome dalits they may lose their social status , their business acumen, their educational and economic development and the respect and dignity they hold among other communities now Is it worth it?

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  4. Many Hindu brothers say that 90% of the Muslim converts were Parias and Harijans a few hundred years ago


    Okay for argument sake let it be a reality

    Take the case of some 69 lakh Tamil speaking Muslims whose ancestrors were Parias and harijans


    And look at their social status now, their business acumen, their educational and economic development and the respect and dignity they hold among other communities.


    This would not have happened to them had they remained Harijans


    Compare this with Harijans ( about 10 lakhs) who were converted to Christianity in Tamil Nadu

    Unfortunately they still remain Dalits, still discriminated, still drink from separate cups, still unable to be buried in the same grave yard where high caste Christians are buried


    Islam brought a revolution in uplifting the downtrodden in india .



    If the harijan converts want to go back to original caste based Hinduism volutarily let them do by all means No force on religious or ideological thoughts. Do we not have atheist Hindus in Indian communist ideology What do we do with them?

    There are some 5 million Tamil Speaking Muslims in Tamil Nadu who had been converted from several castes in the State.

    The names of Hindu castes in the State for the benefit of others:

    Pariah, Pallan, Sakkilia, Dalit, Harijans, Mudaliar, Nadar, Pillai, Devar, Maravar, Vanniar, Naidu, Vellalar, Kallar, Naidu, Brahmins and Kaundas,

    Many academic researchers have done profound research on this in Tamil Nadu


    Walk into any Muslim college in Tamil Nadu or Trivandram ask the Muslim students to indicate their original Hindu caste on a plain piece of paper… you will come up with zero information. Over a period of about 800 years, they have destroyed the castes.

    You do the same thing in a Christian college, every Christian student knows his Hindu caste. This is the revolution that Islam has brought about in parts of India including Hyderabad

    Hindu rightists like you are scared if the revolution spread and make the 200 million low caste Hindus to convert to islam and destroy the caste system over the next 200 years or so.


    It is true South Indian Christians loyally, faithfully, and proudly stick to their castes such as Mudaliar, Nadar, Pillai, Devar, Maravar, Vanniar, Naidu, Vellalar, Kallar, etc but in spite of the fact that South India Muslims had been converted from all castes right across the board, deep research shows that their original Hindu castes had totally disappeared ..



    Can any researcher point out right now which Muslim belonged to which Hindu caste

    It is simply impossible.

    Muslims in North India should achieve this first.

    Reservations are immaterial Islamic principles take precedence.


    Let us build Islam based Ikhwanul Muslimeen first based on terh Quran and Hadis

    Let us sacrifice a lot and destroy castes among Muslims before we go for material benefits based on castes


    This has been one of the biggest achievements of Islam in TN, Kerala and Assam

    Dalits can raise their dignity, respect, economy and status by becoming Muslims.


    But look at Christian Dalits in TN They are segregated even inside the church right in front of God


    Do we want this in Islam?


    Well educated Dalit leaders and politicians should have the courage to think about it and take a bold decision to suffer in the short run to achieve recognition in the future. The other way is migration and inter-racial marriages may be with Europeans etc, but the channces are extremely limited.
    It may be partly true there are a few caste berriers among Muslims in North India, but that will disappear in course of time, but in Hindusim it is part of manu and hindu scriptural law and laws on redemption after death and rebirth.

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  5. Via Shafi Mohideen

    The best example in the Muslim world of a community whose pre Islamic roots as low caste Hindus whose conversion to Islam saw them scale great heights are the Bengali speaking Muslims initially during the British Raj as an underclass in united Bengal to the ruling Brahmins in Calcutta

    subsequently as second class citizens in east Pakistan but now proud citizens of independent Bangladesh

    I personally interacted with many of them in Australia and also in China.

    They are very smart intelligent and resourceful people in spite of coming from a poor nation like Bangladesh.

    A great Bengali Muslim scholar Humayun Kabir was the personal secretary to the first PM of India Shri Jawaharlal Nehru.

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  6. What are your sources? What are you basing your research on?

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  7. Merican and rowther never converted from dalit or whatever so called harijan..I am not sure about other subgroups..https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowther

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  8. Excellent outreach of article I am from the Rowther community, I am doing a lots of research in it, it is Possibly the most right plot of historical of rowther s alias rathoots...

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  9. My great grand father RAWTHER FROM SOUTH INDIA. ENABM FAMILY IN KLANG SELANGOR .IBRAMAM SHAH THE OWNER OF BATU 4 ESTATE KLANG.THIS THE HISTORICAL OF ENA FAMILY IN KLANG.

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    Replies
    1. Your ancestors might be from Tanjore district where from thousands migrated to Malaysia and Singapore long back.

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  10. Hai, Bro, pleasure to read your web! My maternal grandfather from Turky's Tradition as RAWTHER! This genetic quality made me an adventurer!

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  11. Discovering our lineage help to understand our quality and purpose of life! A true horseman can only fight against injustice and human atrocities! I am environmentalist and depopulationist (birth control required for a better environment). Please visit my website www.Questmenism.com. I am a proud Indian Muslim but understand that Islam has so many superstitions like other religions! God (Allah) exists but what man experience on any planet because his wrong actions (Karma). Thanks.

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  12. It is so much great that i come to know about my ancient history. But i have a question to ask that rawher and the reign of osman empire are related to each other. If yes can u get the complete history regarding this.

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  13. Hmmmm...no such thing as Dalits, Hindus, Rawthers, Turks etc....for we are now united by Covid....welcome to the human race...only education can save your soul ...and Kamala Harris will tell you that..

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  14. Good article.Iam a Rawther from Thrissur, Kerala..and my ancestors knew Tamil well.My grandma used to tell the story of seven brother's and their young sister.. Thanks for the post.

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    1. I am from Pathanamthitta and my paternal Grandmother tells the exact story.

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    2. Great brother . Appreciate your comments. I was in Kerala before Covid last Year

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    3. i heard the story of seven bros and one sister some 25years back. but a bit different verson. bros killed sister as she had illicit relationship and they did honour killing by put her onto Kudil, a paddy storage room. Then bros flee elsewhere in Tamil nadu or kerala to avoid prosecution.

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  15. Above mentioned 7 brother's story is about my ancestors history they lived in nathampulliyangudi in madurai; i heared that they killed their sister because the king who attracted with their sister and ordered to marry her but the 7 brothers didn't allow; at last they had to kill their only one sister by putting her in a closed store room and they flee at that night to kerala in bullock cart.

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