https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=BhaibandBhaiband - Revision history2026-07-30T10:40:21ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Bhaiband&diff=467792&oldid=prevClayAcosta at 10:41, 9 January 20252025-01-09T10:41:28Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Hindu jāti within the Sindhi caste of India and Pakistan}}<br />
'''Bhaiband''', ({{Langx|sd|ڀائيبند}} ([[Perso-Arabic]]); ([[Devanagari]]) भाईबंद;) meaning “brotherhood”,<ref>{{cite book |title=Cosmopolitan Connections: The Sindhi Diaspora, 1860-2000 |first=Mark-Anthony |last=Falzon |publisher=BRILL |location=Leiden |year=2004 |page=33 |isbn=9789004140080 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ljbS-I5Y8WMC}}</ref> are a [[Hindu]] [[jāti]] within the [[Lohana|Sindhi]] caste of India and Pakistan.<br />
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==History==<br />
The [[Sindh]] region was ruled by various Muslim dynasties from 711 until the conquest by the [[East India Company|British]] in 1843, when it became a part of [[Bombay Presidency]]. During that period, Hindus were a significant minority of the population although accurate figures continued to be unavailable until after 1947. Mark-Anthony Falzon notes that, "Due to the shifting criteria of categorisation and the complex politics of census in general, the decennial colonial censuses of pre-independence Sindh must be read with caution."<ref>{{cite book |title=Cosmopolitan Connections: The Sindhi Diaspora, 1860-2000 |first=Mark-Anthony |last=Falzon |publisher=BRILL |location=Leiden |year=2004 |pages=30–31 |isbn=9789004140080 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ljbS-I5Y8WMC}}</ref> Of these Hindus, most were broadly designated as members of the Lohana [[caste]], with the exceptions being those considered to be [[Bhatia (caste)|Bhatia]]s or [[Brahmin]]s. Although some now considered to be [[Vaishya]] in the Hindu ritual ranking system known as [[Varna (Hinduism)|varna]], the Lohanas trace their origin as members of the [[Lohana]] varna from [[Raghuvanshi]] clan.<ref name="Falzonp32">{{cite book |title=Cosmopolitan Connections: The Sindhi Diaspora, 1860-2000 |first=Mark-Anthony |last=Falzon |publisher=BRILL |location=Leiden |year=2004 |pages=32–33 |isbn=9789004140080 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ljbS-I5Y8WMC}}</ref> <br />
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Among the Lohana jatis - a social grouping based on birth and kinship - are the Bhaibands, who by the time of the [[British Raj]] were held in a lesser useful than the [[Amils|Amil]] subgroup of Lohanas but who were the wealthiest as a result of their mobility and participation in trade. Although most of the Bhaibands around [[Nawabshah]], [[Tando Adam Khan]] and [[Hyderabad, Sindh|Hyderabad]] in Sindh were ancestral [[Zamindaar]] and [[Jagir]]dars. They were also known for their fierce attitude and very well respected in surrounding Muslim population. Falzon considers their trade-sourced wealth to be their "distinguishing characteristic" among the Hindus of Sindh.<ref name="Falzonp32" />{{efn|Falzon notes that traders in small localities might be called bania or hatvania. It is unclear whether he is including the Bhaibands in this nomenclature.<ref>{{cite book |title=Cosmopolitan Connections: The Sindhi Diaspora, 1860-2000 |first=Mark-Anthony |last=Falzon |publisher=BRILL |location=Leiden |year=2004 |page=34 |isbn=9789004140080 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ljbS-I5Y8WMC}}</ref>}} Although it was generally uncommon, there was intermarriage between Amils, Bhaibands and another Lohana jati, the [[Sahiti (Lohana)|Sahiti]]s. The ritual prohibitions of caste, such as restrictions on eating and worshipping together, permeate life in south India but did not play a great role in the life of Sindhis. Nonetheless, a hierarchy existed and, according to Falzon, "still today, Bhaibands are seen by Amils as unpolished, having poor aesthetic tastes, and given to vulgar displays of wealth".<ref>{{cite book |title=Cosmopolitan Connections: The Sindhi Diaspora, 1860-2000 |first=Mark-Anthony |last=Falzon |publisher=BRILL |location=Leiden |year=2004 |page=35 |isbn=9789004140080 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ljbS-I5Y8WMC}}</ref> While Bhaibands always saw Amils as subservient to rulers or government and doubt their own ability to be rich and successful.<br />
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==See also==<br />
*[[Khudabad]]<br />
*[[Khudabadi script]]<br />
*Purswani<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
'''Notes'''<br />
{{notelist}}<br />
'''Citations'''<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
<br />
==Further reading==<br />
* {{cite book<br />
| last = Malkani<br />
| first =KR<br />
| title = THE SINDH STORY<br />
| publisher = Urbana-Champaign : Nadeem Jamali<br />
| year = 1984<br />
| oclc = 48506292 }}<br />
* {{cite journal<br />
| last = Falzon<br />
| first = Mark-Anthony<br />
| title = Bombay, Our Cultural Heart': Rethinking the relation between homeland and diaspora<br />
| journal = Ethnic and Racial Studies<br />
| volume = 26<br />
| issue = 4<br />
| pages = 662–683<br />
| date = July 2003<br />
| doi =10.1080/0141987032000087352<br />
}}<br />
* {{cite journal<br />
| last = Markovits<br />
| first = Claude<br />
| title = Indian Merchant Networks outside India in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: A Preliminary Survey<br />
| journal = Modern Asian Studies<br />
| volume = 33<br />
| issue = 4<br />
| pages = 883–911<br />
| date = October 1999<br />
| doi =10.1017/S0026749X99003467<br />
}}<br />
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[[Category:Lohana]]<br />
[[Category:Sindhi tribes]]</div>ClayAcosta