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Kushwaha

2026-04-27T19:33:59Z

162.159.113.41: No major change

{{short description|Ethnic group/caste}}
'''{{Use Indian English|date=December 2013}}'''
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2013}}

{{Infobox caste
| caste_name = Kushwaha(upper caste)
| country =[[India]] [[Nepal]] [[Mauritius]]
| region = [[Eastern India]]
| populated_states =[[Bihar]] • [[Uttar Pradesh]]
| languages = {{unbulleted list|[[Hindi language|Hindi]] • [[Bhojpuri]]}}
| religions = [[Hinduism]]
| image =https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Mata_PrasRaja_Bodh_Ram_who_obtained_Raja_title_from_Asaf-ud-daula_who_was_Koiri_by_caste.jpg
| caption =Koiri a landowning upper middle caste
}}

'''Kushwaha''' (sometimes, '''Kushvaha''')<ref name="Pinch1996p91">{{cite book |title=Peasants and monks in British India |first=William R. |last=Pinch |publisher=University of California Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-520-20061-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uEP-ceGYsnYC |page=91}}</ref> is a upper middle caste of the Indo-Gangetic Plain which has traditionally been involved in agriculture (including [[beekeeping]]).<ref>{{cite book|last=Harper|first=Malcolm|title=Inclusive Value Chains: A Pathway Out of Poverty|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VODZCM5qblYC&pg=PA182|year=2010|publisher=World Scientific|isbn=978-981-4293-89-1|pages=182, 297}}</ref> The term has been used to represent at least four subcastes, being those of the , [[Koeri]]s and '''Muraos'''. They claim descent from the mythological [[Suryavansh]] (Solar) dynasty via [[Kusha (Ramayana)|Kusha]], who was one of the twin sons of [[Rama]] and [[Sita]]. Previously, they had worshipped [[Shiva]] and [[Shakta]].

== Origin ==
The Kushwaha claim descent from the Suryavansh dynasty through Kusha, a son of the mythological Rama, an [[avatar]] of [[Vishnu]], a myth of origin developed in the twentieth century. Prior to that time, the various branches that form the Kushwaha community - the Kachhis, Kachwahas, Koeris, and Muraos - favoured a connection with Shiva and Shakta.<ref name=Pinch1996pp91-92>{{cite book |title=Peasants and monks in British India |first=William R. |last=Pinch |publisher=University of California Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-520-20061-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uEP-ceGYsnYC |pages=12, 91–92}}</ref> Ganga Prasad Gupta, a proponent of Kushwaha sanskritization, claimed in the 1920s that Kushwaha families worshiped [[Hanuman]] - described by Pinch as "the embodiment of true devotion to Ram and Sita" - during [[Kartika (month)|Kartika]], a month in the [[Hindu calendar|Hindu lunar calendar]].<ref name=Pinch1996p98>{{cite book |title=Peasants and monks in British India |first=William R. |last=Pinch |publisher=University of California Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-520-20061-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uEP-ceGYsnYC |page=98}}</ref>

== Demographics and distribution ==
William Pinch notes a Kushwaha presence in [[Uttar Pradesh]] and [[Bihar]],<ref name=Pinch1996pp91-92 /> and they are also recorded in [[Haryana]].<ref name="ht"/> Outside India, they are found in the [[Terai]] of Nepal, where they have variously been officially recorded as ''Kushwaha'' and as ''Koiri''.<ref>{{cite book |title=Social Inclusion of Ethnic Communities in Contemporary Nepal |pages=109–110 |first=Monika |last=Mandal |publisher=KW Publishers |year=2013 |isbn=978-93-81904-58-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f0y6DQAAQBAJ&pg=PT108}}</ref> They also have significant presence among Bihari diaspora in [[Mauritius]]. The migration of [[Biharis]] to neighbouring countries was a phenomenon which became more pronounced in the post independence [[India]]. Thus, small island nations like Mauritius has significant population of people of Indian origin. The tradition and culture of [[Hindu]] migrants in countries like Mauritius is quite different from Indian subcontinent. This is so with ''[[Varna (Hinduism)|varna]]'' status and "social hierarchy" as both these terms have several variation in Mauritius vis a vis India. The traditional ruling elites like [[Rajput]]s and [[Brahmin]]s are politically and economically marginalised on the island while cultivating castes like Koeri, [[Ahir]], Kurmi, [[Kahar]] and others have improved their social and financial position.<ref name="Crispin">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_F7NCwAAQBAJ&q=koeri+in+Mauritius&pg=PA14|title=Community, Empire and Migration: South Asians in Diaspora|first=Crispin|last=Bates|publisher=Springer|page=14|year= 2016|isbn=978-0333977293|access-date=2020-07-01}}</ref> According to Crispin Bates:
{{quote|The Vaish are the largest and most influential caste group on the island. Internally the group is divided into Koeri, Kurmi, Kahar, Ahir the kshtriya, Lohar and other jatis. In the past many admitted to Chamar status (as shown by historical records), but recently this seems to have become completely taboo. This group, now commonly known as 'Rajputs', will also sometimes describe themselves as 'Raviveds.' An explanation may lie in the rapid economic growth of the 1980s and 1990s, as well as the lack of positive discrimination measures of the sort seen in India.<ref name="Crispin"/> |author=|title=|source=}}

==Economy==
According to Arun Sinha, the Koeris were known for their market gardening activities. Since [[Independence Day (India)|Indian independence]], the land reform movement was making it difficult for the erstwhile upper-caste landlords to maintain their existing holdings. The growing pressure from left-wing militants backed by [[Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist)|CPI(ML)]] and some local political parties, as well as the weakening of the [[Zamindar|Zamindari system]] was making it difficult for them to survive in the rural areas. Hence, the decades following independence were marked by the urbanization of upper castes. Their migration to cities was accompanied by selling off of their unproductive holdings, which were mostly bought by the peasants of cultivating middle castes, who were financially sound enough to purchase land. Some of the land was also bought from Muslim families who were migrating to [[Pakistan]]. The Koeris, along with [[Kurmi]]s and [[Yadav]]s were the main buyers of these lands.<ref name="Sinha">{{cite book | last=Sinha | first=A. | title=Nitish Kumar and the Rise of Bihar|publisher=Viking | year=2011 | isbn=978-0-670-08459-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rT2xWp_iTCYC|pages=80–84 | access-date=7 April 2015}}</ref>

However, since the peasant castes considered their land to be their most productive asset, they rarely sold it. The zeal of peasant castes to buy more and more land gradually changed their economic profile, and some of them became 'neo-landlords'. This transformation caused them to attempt to protect their new economic status from those below them, especially the Dalits, who were still mainly landless labourers. Thus they adopted many of the practices of their erstwhile landlords.<ref name="Sinha"/> The pattern of land reform in states like [[Bihar]] which mainly benefitted the middle castes like those of Koeris was also responsible for the imperfect mobilisation of backward castes in the politics. The space carved by backwards in electoral politics after 1967 was dominated mainly by these middle peasant castes and they were the biggest beneficiary of the ''politics of [[socialism]]'', the proponent of which were people like [[Ram Manohar Lohia]].<ref name="Sanjay 55">{{cite book |last=Kumar|first=Sanjay |title=Post mandal politics in Bihar:Changing electoral patterns|publisher=SAGE publication|pages=55|isbn=978-93-528-0585-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2zhODwAAQBAJ&q=jagdeo+prasad&pg=PA55|date=2018-06-05}}</ref> The unequitable political space at the disposal of other ''Backward Castes'' and [[Scheduled Caste]]s was thus an implicit implication of these land reforms as according to Varinder Grover:
{{quote|The pattern of land reforms in Bihar is one of the main reason for imperfect mobilisation of backward castes into the politics. The abolition of all intermediaries had definitely helped the hard working castes like Kurmi, Koeris and Yadav. These small peasant proprietors worked very hard on their land and also drive their labourers hard, and any resistance by agricultural labourers gives rise to the mutual conflicts and atrocities on [[Harijan]]s.<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=M4yABACTXw4C&pg=PA780|title=Indian Political System: Trends and Challenges, Volume 10
|isbn=8171008844|chapter=Political system and constitution of India|author=Verinder Grover|publisher=Deep and Deep Publications|year=1997|pages=780–781|access-date=2020-10-05}}</ref>}}

The differences between upper backward castes and the extremely backward castes and Dalits due to unequal distribution of the benefits of land reforms was thus a major challenge before the CPI(ML) in mobilisation of collective force of lower castes against the upper caste landlords. The upper backward castes like Koeri were initially less attached to the CPI(ML) due to their economic progress and the communists were successful in mobilising them only in some regions like [[Patna]], [[Bhojpuri region|Bhojpur]], [[Aurangabad]] and [[Rohtas District|Rohtas]] district. These success were attributed to the widespread [[dacoity]] and oppressive attitude of the upper caste landlords faced by these hardworking caste groups which propelled them to join the fold of revolutionary organisations.<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zA2rCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT178|title=Government of Peace: Social Governance, Security and the Problematic of Peace|chapter=Bihar 1990-2011|author=Ranabir Samaddar|date=3 March 2016|publisher=Routledge, 2016|isbn=978-1317125372|access-date=2020-10-05|page=178}}</ref>

==Political presence==
The Kushwaha also engaged in political action during these latter days of the Raj. Around 1933–1934,{{efn|The date of formation of the Triveni Sangh has been variously stated. Some sources have said it was the 1920s but Kumar notes recently discovered documentation that makes 1933 more likely,<ref>{{cite book |pages=43, 196 |title=Community Warriors: State, Peasants and Caste Armies in Bihar |first=Ashwani |last=Kumar |publisher=Anthem Press |year=2008 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=num2I4NFGqIC&pg=PA43 |isbn=978-1-84331-709-8}}</ref> whilst Jaffrelot has said 1934.<ref name="Jaffrelot197"/>}} the Koeris joined with the Kurmis and Yadavs to form the [[Triveni Sangh]], a caste federation that by 1936 claimed to have a million supporters. This coalition followed an alliance for the 1930 local elections which fared badly at the polls. The new grouping had little electoral success: it won a few seats in the 1937 elections but was stymied by a two-pronged opposition which saw the rival [[Indian National Congress|Congress]] wooing some of its more wealthy leading lights to a newly formed unit called the "''Backward Class Federation''" and an effective opposition from upper castes organised to keep the lower castes in their customary place. Added to this, the three putatively allied castes were unable to set aside their communal rivalries and the Triveni Sangh also faced competition from the [[All India Kisan Sabha]], a peasant-oriented socio-political campaigning group run by the Communists. The appeal of the Triveni Sangh had waned significantly by 1947<ref name="Jaffrelot197">{{cite book |title=India's silent revolution: the rise of the lower castes in North India |first=Christophe |last=Jaffrelot |edition=Reprinted |publisher=C. Hurst & Co. |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-85065-670-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OAkW94DtUMAC |pages=197–198}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |page=44 |title=Community Warriors: State, Peasants and Caste Armies in Bihar |first=Ashwani |last=Kumar |publisher=Anthem Press |year=2008 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=num2I4NFGqIC&pg=PA44 |isbn=978-1-84331-709-8}}</ref> but had achieved a measure of success away from the ballot box, notably by exerting sufficient influence to bring an end to the [[Veth (India)|begar]] system of forced unpaid labour and by providing a platform for those voices seeking reservation of jobs in government for people who were not upper castes.<ref>{{cite book |page=36 |title=Community Warriors: State, Peasants and Caste Armies in Bihar |first=Ashwani |last=Kumar |publisher=Anthem Press |year=2008 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=num2I4NFGqIC&pg=PA36 |isbn=978-1-84331-709-8}}</ref> Many years later, in 1965, there was an abortive attempt to revive the defunct federation.<ref>{{cite book |page=62 |title=Community Warriors: State, Peasants and Caste Armies in Bihar |first=Ashwani |last=Kumar |publisher=Anthem Press |year=2008 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=num2I4NFGqIC&pg=PA62 |isbn=978-1-84331-709-8}}</ref>

The Kisan Sabha was dominated by peasant castes like the Koeri, Kurmi and Yadav, which led some historians such as [[Gyanendra Pandey (historian)|Gyan Pandey]] to term them mainly movements of the middle peasant castes who organized against ''bedakhil'' (eviction), with limited participation of other communities. The reality, however, was more complex. Dalit communities like the Chamars and Pasis, whose traditional occupations were leatherwork and toddy-tapping respectively, formed a significant portion of the landless peasantry and were thus significant in the Kisan Sabha, and present were even members of the high castes such as Brahmins.<ref>{{cite book |title=Reconsidering Untouchability: Chamars and Dalit History in North India |first=Ramnarayan S. |last=Rawat |author-link=Ram Narayan Rawat |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-25322-262-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bz5dKC81O3IC&pg=PA12 |publisher=Indiana University Press |pages=12–15}}</ref>

The Koeris also had significant presence in the Naxalite movement of 1960's rural Bihar, particularly in [[Bhojpuri region|Bhojpur]] and nearby areas like [[Arrah]], where an economic system dominated by the upper caste landlords was still in place.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/politics/bihar-seat-sharing-amit-shah-had-no-time-to-meet-kushwaha-rlsp-leaders-upset|title= Bihar-seat-sharing-amit-shah-had-no-time-to-meet-kushwaha-rlsp-leaders-upset|website=[[National Herald]]|first=Suroor|last=Ahmed|access-date=2020-08-03}}</ref> For the lower castes, the issue was not merely economic but it was the question of ''Ijjat'' (honour), since upper caste men often raped lower-caste women with impunity. Here, the Communist upsurge against the prevalent feudal system was led by [[Jagdish Mahto]], a Koeri teacher who had read [[B. R. Ambedkar|Ambedkar]] and [[Marx]] and was sympathetic to the cause of [[Dalit]]s.<ref name="Santosh"/>

According to Santosh Singh, the [[Bhumihar]]s of the region beat him mercilessly when he was found voicing support for [[Communist Party of India|CPI]] in upcoming elections. After Mahto was discharged from the hospital he formed his own militant outfit with the help of his associates Ram Naresh Ram and Rameswar Ahir. Mahto's organisation was affiliated to [[Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) People's War|Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist)]], a radical faction of [[Communist Party of India]]. Mahto led his militia, which assassinated many upper-caste landlords in the region, until he was killed during a police raid. However, the action of Jagdish clearly demarcated the dividing lines between Koeris and [[Bhumihar]]s in the Ekwaari.<ref name="Santosh">{{cite book|title = Reinventing Revolution: New Social Movements and the Socialist Tradition in India|first=Gail|last= Omvedt|publisher=M.E.Sharpe |page=59|year=1993|isbn=0765631768|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wlxb0uacnRcC&q=Reinventing+Revolution:+New+So/jagdish+mahto&pg=PA59|access-date=2020-06-16}}^ Its first mass leader was Jagdish Mahto, a koeri teacher who had read ambedkar before he discovered Marx and started a paper in the town of arrah called Harijanistan("dalit land")..</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SVu8CgAAQBAJ&q=on+February+17+1967+jagdish+went+to+the+polling+booth+to+caste+his+vote&pg=PT142|title=Ruled or Misruled: Story and Destiny of Bihar|first=Santosh|last= Singh|publisher= Bloomsbury Publishing|year= 2015|isbn=978-9385436420|access-date=2020-07-19}}</ref>

For much of the 20th century, the Koeries were generally less politically effective, even less involved, than the Kurmis and Yadavs who broadly shared their socio-economic position in Hindu society. The latter two groups were more vociferous in their actions, including involvement in caste rioting, whilst the Koeris had only a brief prominence during the ascendancy of [[Jagdeo Prasad]]. This muted position changed dramatically in the 1990s when the rise to power of [[Lalu Prasad]] in Bihar caused an assertion of Yadav-centric policies that demanded a loud reaction.<ref name="Ashwini">{{cite book |pages=34–37 |title=Community Warriors: State, Peasants and Caste Armies in Bihar |first=Ashwani |last=Kumar |publisher=Anthem Press |year=2008 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=num2I4NFGqIC&pg=PA36 |isbn=978-1-84331-709-8}}</ref>

Earlier, the Koeris were given fair representation in Laloo Yadav as well as [[Rabri Devi]] regime. The backward politics unleashed by Laloo Prasad resulted in rise to political prominence of numerous backward castes, among which Koeri were prominent.<ref name="Ashwini"/> In this period, caste remained the most effective tool of political mobilisation and even leaders who were theoretically against caste-based politics also appealed to caste loyalties to secure their victory. The Rabri Devi government had appointed ten Koeris as minister in her cabinet, which was sought by many community leaders as a fair representation to the clan.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5-CavJF-EVEC&q=rabri+devi+government+had+10+koeri+minister&pg=PA166|title=Towards a New Era: Economic, Social and Political Reforms|first=M. L.|last= Sondhi|publisher=Har-Anand Publications|year= 2001|isbn=8124108005|access-date=2020-07-19}}</ref>
The portrayal of Laloo Yadav as a "Messiah of backward castes" lost the ground when the Yadav ascendancy in politics led other aspirational backward castes to move away from his party. In the meantime during 1990s, [[Nitish Kumar]], who was projected as the leader of Kurmi and Koeri communities formed the [[Samta Party]], leading to the isolation of Koeri-Kurmi community from Yadavs and Laloo Prasad.<ref name="Ashwini"/><ref name="Thakur">{{cite book|title=City, Society, and Planning: Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=odCJoIaDqZ0C&q=koeri+bihar+politics&pg=PA400|first=Baleshwar|last=Thakur|location =University of Akron. Department of Geography & Planning, Association of American Geographers|publisher=Concept Publishing Company|pages=393–400|year=2007|
isbn=978-8180694608|access-date=2020-06-16}} While Samta with its leader Nitish is considered to be the party of Koeri-Kurmi, Bihar people's party led by Anand Mohan is perceived to be a party having sympathy and support of Rajputs.</ref>

Thus, the decades following independence witnessed a complete shift of power from upper castes to the "upper backward castes": a term coined to describe castes like the Koeri, Yadav, Kurmi and [[Bania (caste)|Bania]] in Bihar. The transfer of power was also witnessed at the local level of governance. The upper caste were first to acquire education and they benefitted from it initially but with the expansion in electoral franchise and growth of "party system", they lost the ground to upper backward communities. Nepotism and patronage for fellow caste members in government, which had previously been an upper-caste phenomenon, was now available to the upper backward communities. This phenomenon continued with [[Karpoori Thakur]] in the 1970s, who had provided 12% reservation to lower backward castes and 8% to upper backwards in which Koeri were included. The peak of this patronage was reached during the tenure of Laloo Yadav.<ref name="Thakur"/>

From 1990 onwards the solidarity of backward castes was severely weakened due to division among the Koeri-Kurmi community and Yadavs. The former's voting pattern was in quite contrast to that of the latter. When Samta Party allied with the [[Bhartiya Janata Party]], Koeris voted for this alliance and thus in 1996 Lok Sabha elections BJP fared well, primarily with the support of Koeri and Kurmis. The division among backwards also costed their representation in the assemblies. It was seen that profile of Bihar legislative assembly was changing rapidly since 1967 and till 1995-96 the representation of upper caste was reduced to as lower as 17%. But, the division among backwards served as a hope to the upper castes to at least increase their representation. The success of BJP-Samta coalition however also consolidated the Koeris and the Kurmis, who now emerged as political force in 1996 elections.<ref>{{cite book|title=Caste and Democratic Politics in India|first=Ghanshyam|last=Shah|publisher=Orient Blackswan|year=2004|isbn=8178240955|pages=346, 350–354
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Aou17T8KaEEC&q=caste+and+bihar+politics&pg=PA346|access-date=2020-06-18}}</ref>

Since 1996 the Koeris voted en masse for the JD (U) and BJP coalition. The caste based polarisation in states like Bihar drifted the dominant backward castes away from the [[Rashtriya Janata Dal]] and distributed their votes to various political parties. The Koeris who constituted one of the most populous caste group were shifted first towards [[Janata Dal (United)|JD (U)]]-[[Bhartiya Janata Party|BJP]] coalition. Later after the expulsion of [[Upendra Kushwaha]] from the JD (U) and formation of [[Rashtriya Lok Samata Party]], their votes were distributed amongst the JD (U) on the one hand and the new social coalition made by BJP with [[Lok Janshakti Party]] and Rashtriya Lok Samata Party on the other hand.<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ONcNDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT158|title=Electoral Politics in India: The Resurgence of the Bharatiya Janata Party|chapter=7. The eastern gift, BJP's 2014 victory in Bihar|author1=Suhas Palshikar|author2=Sanjay Kumar|author3=Sanjay Lodha|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=2017|isbn =978-1351996914|access-date=2020-10-03}}</ref>
In 2015 [[Bihar Legislative Assembly]] elections the [[Janata Dal (United)]] allied with its rival [[Rashtriya Janata Dal]] due to differences with [[Bhartiya Janata Party]]. The social composition of these parties and the core voter base are such that this coalition drew immense support from the [[Yadav]], [[Kurmi]] and Kushwaha caste who hardly voted together after the 1990s. Consequently, the coalition emerged with massive victory with the number of legislators from these agrarian castes reaching higher as compared to previous elections.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thequint.com/videos/news-videos/bihar-caste-politics-data-analysis-nitish-kumar-advantage-nda-bjp-jdu-mahagathbandhan-rjd-return-as-cm#read-more|title=Which Caste Holds Key to Nitish’s Return as CM? Here’s the Data|website=[[The Quint]]|access-date=2020-11-24}}</ref> Later the coalition was ripped apart and in 2020 Assembly elections the disunity among the three castes and split of votes led to huge decline in number of Kushwaha legislators.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/elections/assembly-elections/bihar/one-in-every-four-members-in-new-bihar-assembly-will-be-from-upper-caste/articleshow/79214031.cms|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210129214537/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/elections/assembly-elections/bihar/one-in-every-four-members-in-new-bihar-assembly-will-be-from-upper-caste/articleshow/79214031.cms?from=mdr |title=One in every four new Bihar assembly members is from upper castes|website=[[Times of India]]|access-date=2020-11-24|archive-date=29 January 2021}}</ref>

==Culture and beliefs==
[[File:The women of Kushwaha caste celebrating Chhath Mahaparva in Bihar.jpg|thumb|Kushwaha women offering ''[[Prasad]]'' to Sun on ''[[Chhath]]''. ]]
In the central [[Bihar]] backward castes like Koeri are numerically and politically powerful and hence they reject the traditional ''[[Jajmani|Jajmani system]]'' which relies upon Brahmanical notion of purity and pollution.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pviHAwAAQBAJ&pg=PR18|title=Caste in Question: Identity Or Hierarchy?|author=Dipankar Gupta|publisher=SAGE Publications India|year=2004|isbn=8132103459|access-date=2020-10-09}}</ref> The backward caste groups in this region thus do not avail the services of [[Brahmin]] priests to perform their rituals. In most of the cases, Koeri households employ a Koeri priest to perform their rituals and their services are also availed by other backward castes like Yadav. These priest who belong to Koeri caste are different from the Brahmin priests in their approval of widow remarriage. They also promote non-vegetarianism and do not grow ''tuft'' like the Brahmins. The ''tika'' (liquid form of sandalwood on the head) which is made by the Brahmin priests on their forehead is also disapproved by them.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IHWKDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA97|title=Understanding Social Dynamics in South Asia: Essays in Memory of Ramkrishna Mukherjee|author1=Partha Nath Mukherji|author2= N. Jayaram|author3=Bhola Nath Ghosh|publisher=Springer|year=2019|page=97|isbn=978-9811303876|access-date=2020-10-07}}</ref>

== Classification ==

===Disputed varna status===
The Kushwaha were traditionally a peasant community and considered to be of the [[Shudra]] [[Varna (Hinduism)|varna]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Peasants and monks in British India |first=William R. |last=Pinch |publisher=University of California Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-520-20061-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uEP-ceGYsnYC |page=81}}</ref> Pinch describes them as "skilled agriculturalists".<ref name=Pinch1996p92>{{cite book |title=Peasants and monks in British India |first=William R. |last=Pinch |publisher=University of California Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-520-20061-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uEP-ceGYsnYC |page=92}}</ref> The traditional perception of Shudra status was increasingly challenged during the later decades of [[British Raj]] rule, although various castes had made claims of a higher status well before the British administration instituted its first census.{{efn|William Pinch records that, "... a popular concern with status predated the rise of an imperial census apparatus and the colonial obsession with caste. ... [C]laims to personal and community dignity appeared to be part of a longer discourse that did not require European political and administrative structures."<ref>{{cite book |title=Peasants and monks in British India |first=William R. |last=Pinch |publisher=University of California Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-520-20061-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uEP-ceGYsnYC |page=88}}</ref>}} The [[Kurmi]] community of cultivators, described by [[Christophe Jaffrelot]] as "middle caste peasants", led this charge in search of greater respectability.<ref name="Jaffrelot197"/> Pinch describes that "The concern with personal dignity, community identity, and caste status reached a peak among Kurmi, Yadav, and Kushvaha peasants in the first four decades of the twentieth century."<ref name=Pinch1996p83>{{cite book |title=Peasants and monks in British India |first=William R. |last=Pinch |publisher=University of California Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-520-20061-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uEP-ceGYsnYC |pages=83–84}}</ref>

===Identification as Kushwaha Kshatriya===
From around 1910, the Kachhis and the Koeris, both of whom for much of the preceding century had close links with the British as a consequence of their favoured role in the cultivation of the [[opium poppy]], began to identify themselves as Kushwaha [[Kshatriya]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Peasants and monks in British India |first=William R. |last=Pinch |publisher=University of California Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-520-20061-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uEP-ceGYsnYC |page=90}}</ref> An organisation claiming to represent those two groups and the Muraos petitioned for official recognition as being of the Kshatriya varna in 1928.<ref name="Jaffrelot199" />

This action by the All India Kushwaha Kshatriya Mahasabha (AIKKM) reflected the general trend for social upliftment by communities that had traditionally been classified as being Shudra. The process, which [[M. N. Srinivas]] called [[sanskritisation]],<ref>{{cite journal|last=Charsley |first=S. |s2cid=143948468 |year=1998 |title=Sanskritization: The Career of an Anthropological Theory |journal=Contributions to Indian Sociology |volume=32 |issue=2 |page=527 |doi=10.1177/006996679803200216 }}</ref> was a feature of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century caste politics.<ref name="Jaffrelot199">{{cite book |title=India's silent revolution: the rise of the lower castes in North India |first=Christophe |last=Jaffrelot |edition=Reprinted |publisher=C. Hurst & Co. |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-85065-670-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OAkW94DtUMAC |page=199}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=History of anthropological thought |first1=Vijay S. |last1=Upadhyay |first2=Gaya |last2=Pandey |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |year=1993 |isbn=978-81-7022-492-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SNw5zVN1V0oC |page=436}}</ref>

The position of the AIKKM was based on the concept of [[Vaishnavism]], which promoted the worship and claims of descent from Rama or Krishna as a means to assume the trappings of Kshatriya symbolism and thus permit the wearing of the [[sacred thread]] even though the physical labour inherent in their cultivator occupations intrinsically defined them as Shudra. The movement caused them to abandon their claims to be descended from Shiva in favour of the alternate myth that claimed descent from Rama.<ref>{{cite book |title=Daughters of the earth: women and land in Uttar Pradesh |first=Smita Tewari |last=Jassal |publisher=Technical Publications |year=2001 |isbn=978-81-7304-375-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T6gnJmoLRZQC |pages=51–53}}</ref> In 1921, Ganga Prasad Gupta, a proponent of Kushwaha Sanskritization, had published a book offering proof of the Kshatriya status of the Koeri, Kachhi, Murao and Kachwaha.<ref name=Pinch1996p92 /><ref>{{cite book |title=Fascinating Hindutva: saffron politics and Dalit mobilisation |first=Badri |last=Narayan |publisher=SAGE |year=2009 |isbn=978-81-7829-906-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8bJ_rhfu6yUC |page=25}}</ref> His reconstructed history argued that the Kushwaha were Hindu descendants of Kush and that in the twelfth century they had served Raja [[Jayachandra|Jaichand]] in a military capacity during the period of Muslim consolidation of the [[Delhi Sultanate]]. Subsequent persecution by the victorious Muslims caused the Kushwaha to disperse and disguise their identity, foregoing the sacred thread and thereby becoming degraded and taking on various localised community names.<ref name=Pinch1996p92 /> Gupta's attempt to prove Kshatriya status, in common with similar attempts by others to establish histories of various castes, was spread via the caste associations, which [[Dipankar Gupta]] describes as providing a link between the "urban, politically literate elite" members of a caste and the "less literate villagers".<ref>{{cite book |title=Caste in question: identity or hierarchy? |first=Dipankar |last=Gupta |publisher=SAGE |year=2004 |page=199 |isbn=978-0-7619-3324-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bgpEIb4tNjgC}}</ref> Some communities also constructed temples in support of these claims as, for example, did the Muraos in [[Ayodhya]].<ref name=Pinch1996p98 />
[[File:An elderly couple belonging to Koeri caste.jpg|thumb|An elderly couple belonging to ''Kushwaha'' caste from ''[[Bihar]]''.]]
Some Kushwaha reformers also argued, in a similar vein to Kurmi reformer Devi Prasad Sinha Chaudhari, that since [[Rajput]]s, [[Bhumihar]]s and [[Brahmins]] worked the fields in some areas, there was no rational basis for assertions that such labour marked a community as being of the Shudra varna.<ref>{{cite book |title=Peasants and monks in British India |first=William R. |last=Pinch |publisher=University of California Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-520-20061-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uEP-ceGYsnYC |page=110}}</ref>

William Pinch describes the growth of militancy among agricultural castes in the wake of their claims to Kshatriya status. Castes like Koeris, Kurmis and Yadavs asserted their Kshatriya status not merely by words but they joined the [[British Indian Army]] as soldiers in large number. The growing militancy among them turned rural Bihar into an arena of conflict in which numerous caste-based militias surfaced and atrocities against the Dalits became the new norm. The militias founded during this period were named after folk figures or popular personalities who were revered by the whole community.<ref>{{cite book |title=Rebels From the Mud Houses: Dalits and the Making of the Maoist Revolution...
|page=209,210 |first=George |last=kunnath|publisher=Taylor and Francis group |location=New york |year=2018 |isbn=978-1-138-09955-5|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=JkcrDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA209|access-date=2020-05-29}}</ref>

===Classification as Backward Caste===
{{See also|Other Backward Class}}

Kushwahas are classified as a Most Backward Caste (MBC) in some of the states of India.<ref>{{Cite web|title=17 Most Backward Castes May Play Kingmaker as Purvanchal Gears Up to Vote in Final Phase|url=https://www.news18.com/news/opinion/17-most-backward-castes-may-play-kingmaker-as-purvanchal-gears-up-to-vote-in-final-phase-2141707.html|access-date=2020-09-01|website=News18}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/lok-sabha-elections-2014/news/Upper-castes-rule-Cabinet-backwards-MoS/articleshow/35624877.cms |title=Upper castes rule Cabinet, backwards MoS |work=The Times of India |date=27 May 2014 |access-date=2020-06-15}}</ref> In 2013, the Haryana government added the Kushwaha, Koeri and Maurya castes to the list of backward classes.<ref name="ht">{{cite news |url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/three-castes-included-in-backward-classes-list/article1-1147408.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140415174249/http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/three-castes-included-in-backward-classes-list/article1-1147408.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-date=15 April 2014 |work=Hindustan Times |title=Three castes included in backward classes list |date=5 November 2013 |access-date=14 April 2014}}</ref> In Bihar they are categorized as [[Other Backward Class]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scbc.bih.nic.in/ObcList.htm|title=Central list of backward castes (Bihar)|website=scbc.bih.nic|access-date=2020-08-12}}</ref> The various subcastes of Kushwaha community viz Kachhi, [[Shakya]] and Koeri are categorized as OBC in [[Uttar Pradesh]] also.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ncbc.nic.in/user_panel/GazetteResolution.aspx?Value=mPICjsL1aLvxbegUDuc3MN4eB5E3Ecc1drRPAf1qXQ%2bl0IqIfhjN1xHrf4i2h5g0|title=Central list of OBC (Uttar Pradesh)|website=ncbc.nic.in|access-date=2020-08-12}}</ref>

== References ==
'''Notes'''
{{notelist}}

'''Citations'''
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A1qXDQAAQBAJ&q=rabri+devi+government+had+10+koeri+minister|title= Social Movements and the State in India: Deepening Democracy?|first=Kenneth Bo Nielsen|last= Alf Gunvald Nilsen|date= 23 November 2016|publisher=Springer|pages=2016|isbn= 978-1137591333|access-date=2020-07-19}}
*{{cite book|title=From popular movement to rebellion:The Naxalite dacade|page= 317,318|first=Ranbir|last=Samaddar|publisher=Routledge|location =New york|year=2019|isbn= 978-0-367-13466-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BjZ7DwAAQBAJ&q=jagdish+prasad+mahto+naxal&pg=PT317|access-date=2020-05-30}}

[[Category:Agricultural castes]]
[[Category:Shaktism]]
[[Category:Social groups of Bihar]]
[[Category:Social groups of Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:Suryavansha]]
[[Category:Vaishnavism]]

Kushwaha

2026-04-27T19:32:44Z

162.159.113.41: No major change

{{short description|Ethnic group/caste}}
'''{{Use Indian English|date=December 2013}}'''
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2013}}

{{Infobox caste
| caste_name = Kushwaha(upper caste)
| country =[[India]] [[Nepal]] [[Mauritius]]
| region = [[Eastern India]]
| populated_states =[[Bihar]] • [[Uttar Pradesh]]
| languages = {{unbulleted list|[[Hindi language|Hindi]] • [[Bhojpuri]]}}
| religions = [[Hinduism]]
| image =https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Mata_PrasRaja_Bodh_Ram_who_obtained_Raja_title_from_Asaf-ud-daula_who_was_Koiri_by_caste.jpg
| caption =Raja bodha ram who was koeri by caste
}}

'''Kushwaha''' (sometimes, '''Kushvaha''')<ref name="Pinch1996p91">{{cite book |title=Peasants and monks in British India |first=William R. |last=Pinch |publisher=University of California Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-520-20061-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uEP-ceGYsnYC |page=91}}</ref> is a community of the Indo-Gangetic Plain which has traditionally been involved in agriculture (including [[beekeeping]]).<ref>{{cite book|last=Harper|first=Malcolm|title=Inclusive Value Chains: A Pathway Out of Poverty|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VODZCM5qblYC&pg=PA182|year=2010|publisher=World Scientific|isbn=978-981-4293-89-1|pages=182, 297}}</ref> The term has been used to represent at least four subcastes, being those of the [[Kachhi (caste)|Kachhis]], [[Kachwaha]]s, [[Koeri]]s and '''Muraos'''. They claim descent from the mythological [[Suryavansh]] (Solar) dynasty via [[Kusha (Ramayana)|Kusha]], who was one of the twin sons of [[Rama]] and [[Sita]]. Previously, they had worshipped [[Shiva]] and [[Shakta]].

== Origin ==
The Kushwaha claim descent from the Suryavansh dynasty through Kusha, a son of the mythological Rama, an [[avatar]] of [[Vishnu]], a myth of origin developed in the twentieth century. Prior to that time, the various branches that form the Kushwaha community - the Kachhis, Kachwahas, Koeris, and Muraos - favoured a connection with Shiva and Shakta.<ref name=Pinch1996pp91-92>{{cite book |title=Peasants and monks in British India |first=William R. |last=Pinch |publisher=University of California Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-520-20061-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uEP-ceGYsnYC |pages=12, 91–92}}</ref> Ganga Prasad Gupta, a proponent of Kushwaha sanskritization, claimed in the 1920s that Kushwaha families worshiped [[Hanuman]] - described by Pinch as "the embodiment of true devotion to Ram and Sita" - during [[Kartika (month)|Kartika]], a month in the [[Hindu calendar|Hindu lunar calendar]].<ref name=Pinch1996p98>{{cite book |title=Peasants and monks in British India |first=William R. |last=Pinch |publisher=University of California Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-520-20061-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uEP-ceGYsnYC |page=98}}</ref>

== Demographics and distribution ==
William Pinch notes a Kushwaha presence in [[Uttar Pradesh]] and [[Bihar]],<ref name=Pinch1996pp91-92 /> and they are also recorded in [[Haryana]].<ref name="ht"/> Outside India, they are found in the [[Terai]] of Nepal, where they have variously been officially recorded as ''Kushwaha'' and as ''Koiri''.<ref>{{cite book |title=Social Inclusion of Ethnic Communities in Contemporary Nepal |pages=109–110 |first=Monika |last=Mandal |publisher=KW Publishers |year=2013 |isbn=978-93-81904-58-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f0y6DQAAQBAJ&pg=PT108}}</ref> They also have significant presence among Bihari diaspora in [[Mauritius]]. The migration of [[Biharis]] to neighbouring countries was a phenomenon which became more pronounced in the post independence [[India]]. Thus, small island nations like Mauritius has significant population of people of Indian origin. The tradition and culture of [[Hindu]] migrants in countries like Mauritius is quite different from Indian subcontinent. This is so with ''[[Varna (Hinduism)|varna]]'' status and "social hierarchy" as both these terms have several variation in Mauritius vis a vis India. The traditional ruling elites like [[Rajput]]s and [[Brahmin]]s are politically and economically marginalised on the island while cultivating castes like Koeri, [[Ahir]], Kurmi, [[Kahar]] and others have improved their social and financial position.<ref name="Crispin">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_F7NCwAAQBAJ&q=koeri+in+Mauritius&pg=PA14|title=Community, Empire and Migration: South Asians in Diaspora|first=Crispin|last=Bates|publisher=Springer|page=14|year= 2016|isbn=978-0333977293|access-date=2020-07-01}}</ref> According to Crispin Bates:
{{quote|The Vaish are the largest and most influential caste group on the island. Internally the group is divided into Koeri, Kurmi, Kahar, Ahir the kshtriya, Lohar and other jatis. In the past many admitted to Chamar status (as shown by historical records), but recently this seems to have become completely taboo. This group, now commonly known as 'Rajputs', will also sometimes describe themselves as 'Raviveds.' An explanation may lie in the rapid economic growth of the 1980s and 1990s, as well as the lack of positive discrimination measures of the sort seen in India.<ref name="Crispin"/> |author=|title=|source=}}

==Economy==
According to Arun Sinha, the Koeris were known for their market gardening activities. Since [[Independence Day (India)|Indian independence]], the land reform movement was making it difficult for the erstwhile upper-caste landlords to maintain their existing holdings. The growing pressure from left-wing militants backed by [[Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist)|CPI(ML)]] and some local political parties, as well as the weakening of the [[Zamindar|Zamindari system]] was making it difficult for them to survive in the rural areas. Hence, the decades following independence were marked by the urbanization of upper castes. Their migration to cities was accompanied by selling off of their unproductive holdings, which were mostly bought by the peasants of cultivating middle castes, who were financially sound enough to purchase land. Some of the land was also bought from Muslim families who were migrating to [[Pakistan]]. The Koeris, along with [[Kurmi]]s and [[Yadav]]s were the main buyers of these lands.<ref name="Sinha">{{cite book | last=Sinha | first=A. | title=Nitish Kumar and the Rise of Bihar|publisher=Viking | year=2011 | isbn=978-0-670-08459-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rT2xWp_iTCYC|pages=80–84 | access-date=7 April 2015}}</ref>

However, since the peasant castes considered their land to be their most productive asset, they rarely sold it. The zeal of peasant castes to buy more and more land gradually changed their economic profile, and some of them became 'neo-landlords'. This transformation caused them to attempt to protect their new economic status from those below them, especially the Dalits, who were still mainly landless labourers. Thus they adopted many of the practices of their erstwhile landlords.<ref name="Sinha"/> The pattern of land reform in states like [[Bihar]] which mainly benefitted the middle castes like those of Koeris was also responsible for the imperfect mobilisation of backward castes in the politics. The space carved by backwards in electoral politics after 1967 was dominated mainly by these middle peasant castes and they were the biggest beneficiary of the ''politics of [[socialism]]'', the proponent of which were people like [[Ram Manohar Lohia]].<ref name="Sanjay 55">{{cite book |last=Kumar|first=Sanjay |title=Post mandal politics in Bihar:Changing electoral patterns|publisher=SAGE publication|pages=55|isbn=978-93-528-0585-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2zhODwAAQBAJ&q=jagdeo+prasad&pg=PA55|date=2018-06-05}}</ref> The unequitable political space at the disposal of other ''Backward Castes'' and [[Scheduled Caste]]s was thus an implicit implication of these land reforms as according to Varinder Grover:
{{quote|The pattern of land reforms in Bihar is one of the main reason for imperfect mobilisation of backward castes into the politics. The abolition of all intermediaries had definitely helped the hard working castes like Kurmi, Koeris and Yadav. These small peasant proprietors worked very hard on their land and also drive their labourers hard, and any resistance by agricultural labourers gives rise to the mutual conflicts and atrocities on [[Harijan]]s.<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=M4yABACTXw4C&pg=PA780|title=Indian Political System: Trends and Challenges, Volume 10
|isbn=8171008844|chapter=Political system and constitution of India|author=Verinder Grover|publisher=Deep and Deep Publications|year=1997|pages=780–781|access-date=2020-10-05}}</ref>}}

The differences between upper backward castes and the extremely backward castes and Dalits due to unequal distribution of the benefits of land reforms was thus a major challenge before the CPI(ML) in mobilisation of collective force of lower castes against the upper caste landlords. The upper backward castes like Koeri were initially less attached to the CPI(ML) due to their economic progress and the communists were successful in mobilising them only in some regions like [[Patna]], [[Bhojpuri region|Bhojpur]], [[Aurangabad]] and [[Rohtas District|Rohtas]] district. These success were attributed to the widespread [[dacoity]] and oppressive attitude of the upper caste landlords faced by these hardworking caste groups which propelled them to join the fold of revolutionary organisations.<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zA2rCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT178|title=Government of Peace: Social Governance, Security and the Problematic of Peace|chapter=Bihar 1990-2011|author=Ranabir Samaddar|date=3 March 2016|publisher=Routledge, 2016|isbn=978-1317125372|access-date=2020-10-05|page=178}}</ref>

==Political presence==
The Kushwaha also engaged in political action during these latter days of the Raj. Around 1933–1934,{{efn|The date of formation of the Triveni Sangh has been variously stated. Some sources have said it was the 1920s but Kumar notes recently discovered documentation that makes 1933 more likely,<ref>{{cite book |pages=43, 196 |title=Community Warriors: State, Peasants and Caste Armies in Bihar |first=Ashwani |last=Kumar |publisher=Anthem Press |year=2008 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=num2I4NFGqIC&pg=PA43 |isbn=978-1-84331-709-8}}</ref> whilst Jaffrelot has said 1934.<ref name="Jaffrelot197"/>}} the Koeris joined with the Kurmis and Yadavs to form the [[Triveni Sangh]], a caste federation that by 1936 claimed to have a million supporters. This coalition followed an alliance for the 1930 local elections which fared badly at the polls. The new grouping had little electoral success: it won a few seats in the 1937 elections but was stymied by a two-pronged opposition which saw the rival [[Indian National Congress|Congress]] wooing some of its more wealthy leading lights to a newly formed unit called the "''Backward Class Federation''" and an effective opposition from upper castes organised to keep the lower castes in their customary place. Added to this, the three putatively allied castes were unable to set aside their communal rivalries and the Triveni Sangh also faced competition from the [[All India Kisan Sabha]], a peasant-oriented socio-political campaigning group run by the Communists. The appeal of the Triveni Sangh had waned significantly by 1947<ref name="Jaffrelot197">{{cite book |title=India's silent revolution: the rise of the lower castes in North India |first=Christophe |last=Jaffrelot |edition=Reprinted |publisher=C. Hurst & Co. |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-85065-670-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OAkW94DtUMAC |pages=197–198}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |page=44 |title=Community Warriors: State, Peasants and Caste Armies in Bihar |first=Ashwani |last=Kumar |publisher=Anthem Press |year=2008 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=num2I4NFGqIC&pg=PA44 |isbn=978-1-84331-709-8}}</ref> but had achieved a measure of success away from the ballot box, notably by exerting sufficient influence to bring an end to the [[Veth (India)|begar]] system of forced unpaid labour and by providing a platform for those voices seeking reservation of jobs in government for people who were not upper castes.<ref>{{cite book |page=36 |title=Community Warriors: State, Peasants and Caste Armies in Bihar |first=Ashwani |last=Kumar |publisher=Anthem Press |year=2008 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=num2I4NFGqIC&pg=PA36 |isbn=978-1-84331-709-8}}</ref> Many years later, in 1965, there was an abortive attempt to revive the defunct federation.<ref>{{cite book |page=62 |title=Community Warriors: State, Peasants and Caste Armies in Bihar |first=Ashwani |last=Kumar |publisher=Anthem Press |year=2008 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=num2I4NFGqIC&pg=PA62 |isbn=978-1-84331-709-8}}</ref>

The Kisan Sabha was dominated by peasant castes like the Koeri, Kurmi and Yadav, which led some historians such as [[Gyanendra Pandey (historian)|Gyan Pandey]] to term them mainly movements of the middle peasant castes who organized against ''bedakhil'' (eviction), with limited participation of other communities. The reality, however, was more complex. Dalit communities like the Chamars and Pasis, whose traditional occupations were leatherwork and toddy-tapping respectively, formed a significant portion of the landless peasantry and were thus significant in the Kisan Sabha, and present were even members of the high castes such as Brahmins.<ref>{{cite book |title=Reconsidering Untouchability: Chamars and Dalit History in North India |first=Ramnarayan S. |last=Rawat |author-link=Ram Narayan Rawat |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-25322-262-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bz5dKC81O3IC&pg=PA12 |publisher=Indiana University Press |pages=12–15}}</ref>

The Koeris also had significant presence in the Naxalite movement of 1960's rural Bihar, particularly in [[Bhojpuri region|Bhojpur]] and nearby areas like [[Arrah]], where an economic system dominated by the upper caste landlords was still in place.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/politics/bihar-seat-sharing-amit-shah-had-no-time-to-meet-kushwaha-rlsp-leaders-upset|title= Bihar-seat-sharing-amit-shah-had-no-time-to-meet-kushwaha-rlsp-leaders-upset|website=[[National Herald]]|first=Suroor|last=Ahmed|access-date=2020-08-03}}</ref> For the lower castes, the issue was not merely economic but it was the question of ''Ijjat'' (honour), since upper caste men often raped lower-caste women with impunity. Here, the Communist upsurge against the prevalent feudal system was led by [[Jagdish Mahto]], a Koeri teacher who had read [[B. R. Ambedkar|Ambedkar]] and [[Marx]] and was sympathetic to the cause of [[Dalit]]s.<ref name="Santosh"/>

According to Santosh Singh, the [[Bhumihar]]s of the region beat him mercilessly when he was found voicing support for [[Communist Party of India|CPI]] in upcoming elections. After Mahto was discharged from the hospital he formed his own militant outfit with the help of his associates Ram Naresh Ram and Rameswar Ahir. Mahto's organisation was affiliated to [[Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) People's War|Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist)]], a radical faction of [[Communist Party of India]]. Mahto led his militia, which assassinated many upper-caste landlords in the region, until he was killed during a police raid. However, the action of Jagdish clearly demarcated the dividing lines between Koeris and [[Bhumihar]]s in the Ekwaari.<ref name="Santosh">{{cite book|title = Reinventing Revolution: New Social Movements and the Socialist Tradition in India|first=Gail|last= Omvedt|publisher=M.E.Sharpe |page=59|year=1993|isbn=0765631768|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wlxb0uacnRcC&q=Reinventing+Revolution:+New+So/jagdish+mahto&pg=PA59|access-date=2020-06-16}}^ Its first mass leader was Jagdish Mahto, a koeri teacher who had read ambedkar before he discovered Marx and started a paper in the town of arrah called Harijanistan("dalit land")..</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SVu8CgAAQBAJ&q=on+February+17+1967+jagdish+went+to+the+polling+booth+to+caste+his+vote&pg=PT142|title=Ruled or Misruled: Story and Destiny of Bihar|first=Santosh|last= Singh|publisher= Bloomsbury Publishing|year= 2015|isbn=978-9385436420|access-date=2020-07-19}}</ref>

For much of the 20th century, the Koeries were generally less politically effective, even less involved, than the Kurmis and Yadavs who broadly shared their socio-economic position in Hindu society. The latter two groups were more vociferous in their actions, including involvement in caste rioting, whilst the Koeris had only a brief prominence during the ascendancy of [[Jagdeo Prasad]]. This muted position changed dramatically in the 1990s when the rise to power of [[Lalu Prasad]] in Bihar caused an assertion of Yadav-centric policies that demanded a loud reaction.<ref name="Ashwini">{{cite book |pages=34–37 |title=Community Warriors: State, Peasants and Caste Armies in Bihar |first=Ashwani |last=Kumar |publisher=Anthem Press |year=2008 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=num2I4NFGqIC&pg=PA36 |isbn=978-1-84331-709-8}}</ref>

Earlier, the Koeris were given fair representation in Laloo Yadav as well as [[Rabri Devi]] regime. The backward politics unleashed by Laloo Prasad resulted in rise to political prominence of numerous backward castes, among which Koeri were prominent.<ref name="Ashwini"/> In this period, caste remained the most effective tool of political mobilisation and even leaders who were theoretically against caste-based politics also appealed to caste loyalties to secure their victory. The Rabri Devi government had appointed ten Koeris as minister in her cabinet, which was sought by many community leaders as a fair representation to the clan.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5-CavJF-EVEC&q=rabri+devi+government+had+10+koeri+minister&pg=PA166|title=Towards a New Era: Economic, Social and Political Reforms|first=M. L.|last= Sondhi|publisher=Har-Anand Publications|year= 2001|isbn=8124108005|access-date=2020-07-19}}</ref>
The portrayal of Laloo Yadav as a "Messiah of backward castes" lost the ground when the Yadav ascendancy in politics led other aspirational backward castes to move away from his party. In the meantime during 1990s, [[Nitish Kumar]], who was projected as the leader of Kurmi and Koeri communities formed the [[Samta Party]], leading to the isolation of Koeri-Kurmi community from Yadavs and Laloo Prasad.<ref name="Ashwini"/><ref name="Thakur">{{cite book|title=City, Society, and Planning: Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=odCJoIaDqZ0C&q=koeri+bihar+politics&pg=PA400|first=Baleshwar|last=Thakur|location =University of Akron. Department of Geography & Planning, Association of American Geographers|publisher=Concept Publishing Company|pages=393–400|year=2007|
isbn=978-8180694608|access-date=2020-06-16}} While Samta with its leader Nitish is considered to be the party of Koeri-Kurmi, Bihar people's party led by Anand Mohan is perceived to be a party having sympathy and support of Rajputs.</ref>

Thus, the decades following independence witnessed a complete shift of power from upper castes to the "upper backward castes": a term coined to describe castes like the Koeri, Yadav, Kurmi and [[Bania (caste)|Bania]] in Bihar. The transfer of power was also witnessed at the local level of governance. The upper caste were first to acquire education and they benefitted from it initially but with the expansion in electoral franchise and growth of "party system", they lost the ground to upper backward communities. Nepotism and patronage for fellow caste members in government, which had previously been an upper-caste phenomenon, was now available to the upper backward communities. This phenomenon continued with [[Karpoori Thakur]] in the 1970s, who had provided 12% reservation to lower backward castes and 8% to upper backwards in which Koeri were included. The peak of this patronage was reached during the tenure of Laloo Yadav.<ref name="Thakur"/>

From 1990 onwards the solidarity of backward castes was severely weakened due to division among the Koeri-Kurmi community and Yadavs. The former's voting pattern was in quite contrast to that of the latter. When Samta Party allied with the [[Bhartiya Janata Party]], Koeris voted for this alliance and thus in 1996 Lok Sabha elections BJP fared well, primarily with the support of Koeri and Kurmis. The division among backwards also costed their representation in the assemblies. It was seen that profile of Bihar legislative assembly was changing rapidly since 1967 and till 1995-96 the representation of upper caste was reduced to as lower as 17%. But, the division among backwards served as a hope to the upper castes to at least increase their representation. The success of BJP-Samta coalition however also consolidated the Koeris and the Kurmis, who now emerged as political force in 1996 elections.<ref>{{cite book|title=Caste and Democratic Politics in India|first=Ghanshyam|last=Shah|publisher=Orient Blackswan|year=2004|isbn=8178240955|pages=346, 350–354
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Aou17T8KaEEC&q=caste+and+bihar+politics&pg=PA346|access-date=2020-06-18}}</ref>

Since 1996 the Koeris voted en masse for the JD (U) and BJP coalition. The caste based polarisation in states like Bihar drifted the dominant backward castes away from the [[Rashtriya Janata Dal]] and distributed their votes to various political parties. The Koeris who constituted one of the most populous caste group were shifted first towards [[Janata Dal (United)|JD (U)]]-[[Bhartiya Janata Party|BJP]] coalition. Later after the expulsion of [[Upendra Kushwaha]] from the JD (U) and formation of [[Rashtriya Lok Samata Party]], their votes were distributed amongst the JD (U) on the one hand and the new social coalition made by BJP with [[Lok Janshakti Party]] and Rashtriya Lok Samata Party on the other hand.<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ONcNDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT158|title=Electoral Politics in India: The Resurgence of the Bharatiya Janata Party|chapter=7. The eastern gift, BJP's 2014 victory in Bihar|author1=Suhas Palshikar|author2=Sanjay Kumar|author3=Sanjay Lodha|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=2017|isbn =978-1351996914|access-date=2020-10-03}}</ref>
In 2015 [[Bihar Legislative Assembly]] elections the [[Janata Dal (United)]] allied with its rival [[Rashtriya Janata Dal]] due to differences with [[Bhartiya Janata Party]]. The social composition of these parties and the core voter base are such that this coalition drew immense support from the [[Yadav]], [[Kurmi]] and Kushwaha caste who hardly voted together after the 1990s. Consequently, the coalition emerged with massive victory with the number of legislators from these agrarian castes reaching higher as compared to previous elections.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thequint.com/videos/news-videos/bihar-caste-politics-data-analysis-nitish-kumar-advantage-nda-bjp-jdu-mahagathbandhan-rjd-return-as-cm#read-more|title=Which Caste Holds Key to Nitish’s Return as CM? Here’s the Data|website=[[The Quint]]|access-date=2020-11-24}}</ref> Later the coalition was ripped apart and in 2020 Assembly elections the disunity among the three castes and split of votes led to huge decline in number of Kushwaha legislators.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/elections/assembly-elections/bihar/one-in-every-four-members-in-new-bihar-assembly-will-be-from-upper-caste/articleshow/79214031.cms|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210129214537/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/elections/assembly-elections/bihar/one-in-every-four-members-in-new-bihar-assembly-will-be-from-upper-caste/articleshow/79214031.cms?from=mdr |title=One in every four new Bihar assembly members is from upper castes|website=[[Times of India]]|access-date=2020-11-24|archive-date=29 January 2021}}</ref>

==Culture and beliefs==
[[File:The women of Kushwaha caste celebrating Chhath Mahaparva in Bihar.jpg|thumb|Kushwaha women offering ''[[Prasad]]'' to Sun on ''[[Chhath]]''. ]]
In the central [[Bihar]] backward castes like Koeri are numerically and politically powerful and hence they reject the traditional ''[[Jajmani|Jajmani system]]'' which relies upon Brahmanical notion of purity and pollution.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pviHAwAAQBAJ&pg=PR18|title=Caste in Question: Identity Or Hierarchy?|author=Dipankar Gupta|publisher=SAGE Publications India|year=2004|isbn=8132103459|access-date=2020-10-09}}</ref> The backward caste groups in this region thus do not avail the services of [[Brahmin]] priests to perform their rituals. In most of the cases, Koeri households employ a Koeri priest to perform their rituals and their services are also availed by other backward castes like Yadav. These priest who belong to Koeri caste are different from the Brahmin priests in their approval of widow remarriage. They also promote non-vegetarianism and do not grow ''tuft'' like the Brahmins. The ''tika'' (liquid form of sandalwood on the head) which is made by the Brahmin priests on their forehead is also disapproved by them.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IHWKDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA97|title=Understanding Social Dynamics in South Asia: Essays in Memory of Ramkrishna Mukherjee|author1=Partha Nath Mukherji|author2= N. Jayaram|author3=Bhola Nath Ghosh|publisher=Springer|year=2019|page=97|isbn=978-9811303876|access-date=2020-10-07}}</ref>

== Classification ==

===Disputed varna status===
The Kushwaha were traditionally a peasant community and considered to be of the [[Shudra]] [[Varna (Hinduism)|varna]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Peasants and monks in British India |first=William R. |last=Pinch |publisher=University of California Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-520-20061-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uEP-ceGYsnYC |page=81}}</ref> Pinch describes them as "skilled agriculturalists".<ref name=Pinch1996p92>{{cite book |title=Peasants and monks in British India |first=William R. |last=Pinch |publisher=University of California Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-520-20061-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uEP-ceGYsnYC |page=92}}</ref> The traditional perception of Shudra status was increasingly challenged during the later decades of [[British Raj]] rule, although various castes had made claims of a higher status well before the British administration instituted its first census.{{efn|William Pinch records that, "... a popular concern with status predated the rise of an imperial census apparatus and the colonial obsession with caste. ... [C]laims to personal and community dignity appeared to be part of a longer discourse that did not require European political and administrative structures."<ref>{{cite book |title=Peasants and monks in British India |first=William R. |last=Pinch |publisher=University of California Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-520-20061-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uEP-ceGYsnYC |page=88}}</ref>}} The [[Kurmi]] community of cultivators, described by [[Christophe Jaffrelot]] as "middle caste peasants", led this charge in search of greater respectability.<ref name="Jaffrelot197"/> Pinch describes that "The concern with personal dignity, community identity, and caste status reached a peak among Kurmi, Yadav, and Kushvaha peasants in the first four decades of the twentieth century."<ref name=Pinch1996p83>{{cite book |title=Peasants and monks in British India |first=William R. |last=Pinch |publisher=University of California Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-520-20061-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uEP-ceGYsnYC |pages=83–84}}</ref>

===Identification as Kushwaha Kshatriya===
From around 1910, the Kachhis and the Koeris, both of whom for much of the preceding century had close links with the British as a consequence of their favoured role in the cultivation of the [[opium poppy]], began to identify themselves as Kushwaha [[Kshatriya]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Peasants and monks in British India |first=William R. |last=Pinch |publisher=University of California Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-520-20061-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uEP-ceGYsnYC |page=90}}</ref> An organisation claiming to represent those two groups and the Muraos petitioned for official recognition as being of the Kshatriya varna in 1928.<ref name="Jaffrelot199" />

This action by the All India Kushwaha Kshatriya Mahasabha (AIKKM) reflected the general trend for social upliftment by communities that had traditionally been classified as being Shudra. The process, which [[M. N. Srinivas]] called [[sanskritisation]],<ref>{{cite journal|last=Charsley |first=S. |s2cid=143948468 |year=1998 |title=Sanskritization: The Career of an Anthropological Theory |journal=Contributions to Indian Sociology |volume=32 |issue=2 |page=527 |doi=10.1177/006996679803200216 }}</ref> was a feature of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century caste politics.<ref name="Jaffrelot199">{{cite book |title=India's silent revolution: the rise of the lower castes in North India |first=Christophe |last=Jaffrelot |edition=Reprinted |publisher=C. Hurst & Co. |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-85065-670-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OAkW94DtUMAC |page=199}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=History of anthropological thought |first1=Vijay S. |last1=Upadhyay |first2=Gaya |last2=Pandey |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |year=1993 |isbn=978-81-7022-492-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SNw5zVN1V0oC |page=436}}</ref>

The position of the AIKKM was based on the concept of [[Vaishnavism]], which promoted the worship and claims of descent from Rama or Krishna as a means to assume the trappings of Kshatriya symbolism and thus permit the wearing of the [[sacred thread]] even though the physical labour inherent in their cultivator occupations intrinsically defined them as Shudra. The movement caused them to abandon their claims to be descended from Shiva in favour of the alternate myth that claimed descent from Rama.<ref>{{cite book |title=Daughters of the earth: women and land in Uttar Pradesh |first=Smita Tewari |last=Jassal |publisher=Technical Publications |year=2001 |isbn=978-81-7304-375-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T6gnJmoLRZQC |pages=51–53}}</ref> In 1921, Ganga Prasad Gupta, a proponent of Kushwaha Sanskritization, had published a book offering proof of the Kshatriya status of the Koeri, Kachhi, Murao and Kachwaha.<ref name=Pinch1996p92 /><ref>{{cite book |title=Fascinating Hindutva: saffron politics and Dalit mobilisation |first=Badri |last=Narayan |publisher=SAGE |year=2009 |isbn=978-81-7829-906-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8bJ_rhfu6yUC |page=25}}</ref> His reconstructed history argued that the Kushwaha were Hindu descendants of Kush and that in the twelfth century they had served Raja [[Jayachandra|Jaichand]] in a military capacity during the period of Muslim consolidation of the [[Delhi Sultanate]]. Subsequent persecution by the victorious Muslims caused the Kushwaha to disperse and disguise their identity, foregoing the sacred thread and thereby becoming degraded and taking on various localised community names.<ref name=Pinch1996p92 /> Gupta's attempt to prove Kshatriya status, in common with similar attempts by others to establish histories of various castes, was spread via the caste associations, which [[Dipankar Gupta]] describes as providing a link between the "urban, politically literate elite" members of a caste and the "less literate villagers".<ref>{{cite book |title=Caste in question: identity or hierarchy? |first=Dipankar |last=Gupta |publisher=SAGE |year=2004 |page=199 |isbn=978-0-7619-3324-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bgpEIb4tNjgC}}</ref> Some communities also constructed temples in support of these claims as, for example, did the Muraos in [[Ayodhya]].<ref name=Pinch1996p98 />
[[File:An elderly couple belonging to Koeri caste.jpg|thumb|An elderly couple belonging to ''Kushwaha'' caste from ''[[Bihar]]''.]]
Some Kushwaha reformers also argued, in a similar vein to Kurmi reformer Devi Prasad Sinha Chaudhari, that since [[Rajput]]s, [[Bhumihar]]s and [[Brahmins]] worked the fields in some areas, there was no rational basis for assertions that such labour marked a community as being of the Shudra varna.<ref>{{cite book |title=Peasants and monks in British India |first=William R. |last=Pinch |publisher=University of California Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-520-20061-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uEP-ceGYsnYC |page=110}}</ref>

William Pinch describes the growth of militancy among agricultural castes in the wake of their claims to Kshatriya status. Castes like Koeris, Kurmis and Yadavs asserted their Kshatriya status not merely by words but they joined the [[British Indian Army]] as soldiers in large number. The growing militancy among them turned rural Bihar into an arena of conflict in which numerous caste-based militias surfaced and atrocities against the Dalits became the new norm. The militias founded during this period were named after folk figures or popular personalities who were revered by the whole community.<ref>{{cite book |title=Rebels From the Mud Houses: Dalits and the Making of the Maoist Revolution...
|page=209,210 |first=George |last=kunnath|publisher=Taylor and Francis group |location=New york |year=2018 |isbn=978-1-138-09955-5|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=JkcrDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA209|access-date=2020-05-29}}</ref>

===Classification as Backward Caste===
{{See also|Other Backward Class}}

Kushwahas are classified as a Most Backward Caste (MBC) in some of the states of India.<ref>{{Cite web|title=17 Most Backward Castes May Play Kingmaker as Purvanchal Gears Up to Vote in Final Phase|url=https://www.news18.com/news/opinion/17-most-backward-castes-may-play-kingmaker-as-purvanchal-gears-up-to-vote-in-final-phase-2141707.html|access-date=2020-09-01|website=News18}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/lok-sabha-elections-2014/news/Upper-castes-rule-Cabinet-backwards-MoS/articleshow/35624877.cms |title=Upper castes rule Cabinet, backwards MoS |work=The Times of India |date=27 May 2014 |access-date=2020-06-15}}</ref> In 2013, the Haryana government added the Kushwaha, Koeri and Maurya castes to the list of backward classes.<ref name="ht">{{cite news |url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/three-castes-included-in-backward-classes-list/article1-1147408.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140415174249/http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/three-castes-included-in-backward-classes-list/article1-1147408.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-date=15 April 2014 |work=Hindustan Times |title=Three castes included in backward classes list |date=5 November 2013 |access-date=14 April 2014}}</ref> In Bihar they are categorized as [[Other Backward Class]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scbc.bih.nic.in/ObcList.htm|title=Central list of backward castes (Bihar)|website=scbc.bih.nic|access-date=2020-08-12}}</ref> The various subcastes of Kushwaha community viz Kachhi, [[Shakya]] and Koeri are categorized as OBC in [[Uttar Pradesh]] also.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ncbc.nic.in/user_panel/GazetteResolution.aspx?Value=mPICjsL1aLvxbegUDuc3MN4eB5E3Ecc1drRPAf1qXQ%2bl0IqIfhjN1xHrf4i2h5g0|title=Central list of OBC (Uttar Pradesh)|website=ncbc.nic.in|access-date=2020-08-12}}</ref>

== References ==
'''Notes'''
{{notelist}}

'''Citations'''
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A1qXDQAAQBAJ&q=rabri+devi+government+had+10+koeri+minister|title= Social Movements and the State in India: Deepening Democracy?|first=Kenneth Bo Nielsen|last= Alf Gunvald Nilsen|date= 23 November 2016|publisher=Springer|pages=2016|isbn= 978-1137591333|access-date=2020-07-19}}
*{{cite book|title=From popular movement to rebellion:The Naxalite dacade|page= 317,318|first=Ranbir|last=Samaddar|publisher=Routledge|location =New york|year=2019|isbn= 978-0-367-13466-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BjZ7DwAAQBAJ&q=jagdish+prasad+mahto+naxal&pg=PT317|access-date=2020-05-30}}

[[Category:Agricultural castes]]
[[Category:Shaktism]]
[[Category:Social groups of Bihar]]
[[Category:Social groups of Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:Suryavansha]]
[[Category:Vaishnavism]]

Kushwaha

2026-04-27T19:31:59Z

162.159.113.41: No major change

{{short description|Ethnic group/caste}}
'''{{Use Indian English|date=December 2013}}'''
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2013}}

{{Infobox caste
| caste_name = Kushwaha(upper caste)
| country =[[India]] [[Nepal]] [[Mauritius]]
| region = [[Eastern India]]
| populated_states =[[Bihar]] • [[Uttar Pradesh]]
| languages = {{unbulleted list|[[Hindi language|Hindi]] • [[Bhojpuri]]}}
| religions = [[Hinduism]]
| image =https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Mata_PrasRaja_Bodh_Ram_who_obtained_Raja_title_from_Asaf-ud-daula_who_was_Koiri_by_caste.jpg
| caption =Raja bodha ram who was koeri by caste
}}

'''Kushwaha''' (sometimes, '''Kushvaha''')<ref name="Pinch1996p91">{{cite book |title=Peasants and monks in British India |first=William R. |last=Pinch |publisher=University of California Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-520-20061-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uEP-ceGYsnYC |page=91}}</ref> is a community of the Indo-Gangetic Plain which has traditionally been involved in agriculture (including [[beekeeping]]).<ref>{{cite book|last=Harper|first=Malcolm|title=Inclusive Value Chains: A Pathway Out of Poverty|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VODZCM5qblYC&pg=PA182|year=2010|publisher=World Scientific|isbn=978-981-4293-89-1|pages=182, 297}}</ref> The term has been used to represent at least four subcastes, being those of the [[Kachhi (caste)|Kachhis]], [[Kachwaha]]s, [[Koeri]]s and '''Muraos'''. They claim descent from the mythological [[Suryavansh]] (Solar) dynasty via [[Kusha (Ramayana)|Kusha]], who was one of the twin sons of [[Rama]] and [[Sita]]. Previously, they had worshipped [[Shiva]] and [[Shakta]].

== Origin ==
The Kushwaha claim descent from the Suryavansh dynasty through Kusha, a son of the mythological Rama, an [[avatar]] of [[Vishnu]], a myth of origin developed in the twentieth century. Prior to that time, the various branches that form the Kushwaha community - the Kachhis, Kachwahas, Koeris, and Muraos - favoured a connection with Shiva and Shakta.<ref name=Pinch1996pp91-92>{{cite book |title=Peasants and monks in British India |first=William R. |last=Pinch |publisher=University of California Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-520-20061-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uEP-ceGYsnYC |pages=12, 91–92}}</ref> Ganga Prasad Gupta, a proponent of Kushwaha sanskritization, claimed in the 1920s that Kushwaha families worshiped [[Hanuman]] - described by Pinch as "the embodiment of true devotion to Ram and Sita" - during [[Kartika (month)|Kartika]], a month in the [[Hindu calendar|Hindu lunar calendar]].<ref name=Pinch1996p98>{{cite book |title=Peasants and monks in British India |first=William R. |last=Pinch |publisher=University of California Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-520-20061-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uEP-ceGYsnYC |page=98}}</ref>

== Demographics and distribution ==
[[File:Twee Koeri mannen op een pad in Gorakhpur met gereedschap voor de landbouw Koerees. Low caste tribe, possibly aboriginal. Goruckpoor (titel op object), RP-F-2001-7-1122B-44.jpg|thumb|Two men from Koeree(Koeri) tribe in Goruckpoor([[Gorakhpur]]) (1858)]]
William Pinch notes a Kushwaha presence in [[Uttar Pradesh]] and [[Bihar]],<ref name=Pinch1996pp91-92 /> and they are also recorded in [[Haryana]].<ref name="ht"/> Outside India, they are found in the [[Terai]] of Nepal, where they have variously been officially recorded as ''Kushwaha'' and as ''Koiri''.<ref>{{cite book |title=Social Inclusion of Ethnic Communities in Contemporary Nepal |pages=109–110 |first=Monika |last=Mandal |publisher=KW Publishers |year=2013 |isbn=978-93-81904-58-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f0y6DQAAQBAJ&pg=PT108}}</ref> They also have significant presence among Bihari diaspora in [[Mauritius]]. The migration of [[Biharis]] to neighbouring countries was a phenomenon which became more pronounced in the post independence [[India]]. Thus, small island nations like Mauritius has significant population of people of Indian origin. The tradition and culture of [[Hindu]] migrants in countries like Mauritius is quite different from Indian subcontinent. This is so with ''[[Varna (Hinduism)|varna]]'' status and "social hierarchy" as both these terms have several variation in Mauritius vis a vis India. The traditional ruling elites like [[Rajput]]s and [[Brahmin]]s are politically and economically marginalised on the island while cultivating castes like Koeri, [[Ahir]], Kurmi, [[Kahar]] and others have improved their social and financial position.<ref name="Crispin">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_F7NCwAAQBAJ&q=koeri+in+Mauritius&pg=PA14|title=Community, Empire and Migration: South Asians in Diaspora|first=Crispin|last=Bates|publisher=Springer|page=14|year= 2016|isbn=978-0333977293|access-date=2020-07-01}}</ref> According to Crispin Bates:
{{quote|The Vaish are the largest and most influential caste group on the island. Internally the group is divided into Koeri, Kurmi, Kahar, Ahir the kshtriya, Lohar and other jatis. In the past many admitted to Chamar status (as shown by historical records), but recently this seems to have become completely taboo. This group, now commonly known as 'Rajputs', will also sometimes describe themselves as 'Raviveds.' An explanation may lie in the rapid economic growth of the 1980s and 1990s, as well as the lack of positive discrimination measures of the sort seen in India.<ref name="Crispin"/> |author=|title=|source=}}

==Economy==
According to Arun Sinha, the Koeris were known for their market gardening activities. Since [[Independence Day (India)|Indian independence]], the land reform movement was making it difficult for the erstwhile upper-caste landlords to maintain their existing holdings. The growing pressure from left-wing militants backed by [[Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist)|CPI(ML)]] and some local political parties, as well as the weakening of the [[Zamindar|Zamindari system]] was making it difficult for them to survive in the rural areas. Hence, the decades following independence were marked by the urbanization of upper castes. Their migration to cities was accompanied by selling off of their unproductive holdings, which were mostly bought by the peasants of cultivating middle castes, who were financially sound enough to purchase land. Some of the land was also bought from Muslim families who were migrating to [[Pakistan]]. The Koeris, along with [[Kurmi]]s and [[Yadav]]s were the main buyers of these lands.<ref name="Sinha">{{cite book | last=Sinha | first=A. | title=Nitish Kumar and the Rise of Bihar|publisher=Viking | year=2011 | isbn=978-0-670-08459-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rT2xWp_iTCYC|pages=80–84 | access-date=7 April 2015}}</ref>

However, since the peasant castes considered their land to be their most productive asset, they rarely sold it. The zeal of peasant castes to buy more and more land gradually changed their economic profile, and some of them became 'neo-landlords'. This transformation caused them to attempt to protect their new economic status from those below them, especially the Dalits, who were still mainly landless labourers. Thus they adopted many of the practices of their erstwhile landlords.<ref name="Sinha"/> The pattern of land reform in states like [[Bihar]] which mainly benefitted the middle castes like those of Koeris was also responsible for the imperfect mobilisation of backward castes in the politics. The space carved by backwards in electoral politics after 1967 was dominated mainly by these middle peasant castes and they were the biggest beneficiary of the ''politics of [[socialism]]'', the proponent of which were people like [[Ram Manohar Lohia]].<ref name="Sanjay 55">{{cite book |last=Kumar|first=Sanjay |title=Post mandal politics in Bihar:Changing electoral patterns|publisher=SAGE publication|pages=55|isbn=978-93-528-0585-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2zhODwAAQBAJ&q=jagdeo+prasad&pg=PA55|date=2018-06-05}}</ref> The unequitable political space at the disposal of other ''Backward Castes'' and [[Scheduled Caste]]s was thus an implicit implication of these land reforms as according to Varinder Grover:
{{quote|The pattern of land reforms in Bihar is one of the main reason for imperfect mobilisation of backward castes into the politics. The abolition of all intermediaries had definitely helped the hard working castes like Kurmi, Koeris and Yadav. These small peasant proprietors worked very hard on their land and also drive their labourers hard, and any resistance by agricultural labourers gives rise to the mutual conflicts and atrocities on [[Harijan]]s.<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=M4yABACTXw4C&pg=PA780|title=Indian Political System: Trends and Challenges, Volume 10
|isbn=8171008844|chapter=Political system and constitution of India|author=Verinder Grover|publisher=Deep and Deep Publications|year=1997|pages=780–781|access-date=2020-10-05}}</ref>}}

The differences between upper backward castes and the extremely backward castes and Dalits due to unequal distribution of the benefits of land reforms was thus a major challenge before the CPI(ML) in mobilisation of collective force of lower castes against the upper caste landlords. The upper backward castes like Koeri were initially less attached to the CPI(ML) due to their economic progress and the communists were successful in mobilising them only in some regions like [[Patna]], [[Bhojpuri region|Bhojpur]], [[Aurangabad]] and [[Rohtas District|Rohtas]] district. These success were attributed to the widespread [[dacoity]] and oppressive attitude of the upper caste landlords faced by these hardworking caste groups which propelled them to join the fold of revolutionary organisations.<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zA2rCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT178|title=Government of Peace: Social Governance, Security and the Problematic of Peace|chapter=Bihar 1990-2011|author=Ranabir Samaddar|date=3 March 2016|publisher=Routledge, 2016|isbn=978-1317125372|access-date=2020-10-05|page=178}}</ref>

==Political presence==
The Kushwaha also engaged in political action during these latter days of the Raj. Around 1933–1934,{{efn|The date of formation of the Triveni Sangh has been variously stated. Some sources have said it was the 1920s but Kumar notes recently discovered documentation that makes 1933 more likely,<ref>{{cite book |pages=43, 196 |title=Community Warriors: State, Peasants and Caste Armies in Bihar |first=Ashwani |last=Kumar |publisher=Anthem Press |year=2008 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=num2I4NFGqIC&pg=PA43 |isbn=978-1-84331-709-8}}</ref> whilst Jaffrelot has said 1934.<ref name="Jaffrelot197"/>}} the Koeris joined with the Kurmis and Yadavs to form the [[Triveni Sangh]], a caste federation that by 1936 claimed to have a million supporters. This coalition followed an alliance for the 1930 local elections which fared badly at the polls. The new grouping had little electoral success: it won a few seats in the 1937 elections but was stymied by a two-pronged opposition which saw the rival [[Indian National Congress|Congress]] wooing some of its more wealthy leading lights to a newly formed unit called the "''Backward Class Federation''" and an effective opposition from upper castes organised to keep the lower castes in their customary place. Added to this, the three putatively allied castes were unable to set aside their communal rivalries and the Triveni Sangh also faced competition from the [[All India Kisan Sabha]], a peasant-oriented socio-political campaigning group run by the Communists. The appeal of the Triveni Sangh had waned significantly by 1947<ref name="Jaffrelot197">{{cite book |title=India's silent revolution: the rise of the lower castes in North India |first=Christophe |last=Jaffrelot |edition=Reprinted |publisher=C. Hurst & Co. |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-85065-670-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OAkW94DtUMAC |pages=197–198}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |page=44 |title=Community Warriors: State, Peasants and Caste Armies in Bihar |first=Ashwani |last=Kumar |publisher=Anthem Press |year=2008 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=num2I4NFGqIC&pg=PA44 |isbn=978-1-84331-709-8}}</ref> but had achieved a measure of success away from the ballot box, notably by exerting sufficient influence to bring an end to the [[Veth (India)|begar]] system of forced unpaid labour and by providing a platform for those voices seeking reservation of jobs in government for people who were not upper castes.<ref>{{cite book |page=36 |title=Community Warriors: State, Peasants and Caste Armies in Bihar |first=Ashwani |last=Kumar |publisher=Anthem Press |year=2008 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=num2I4NFGqIC&pg=PA36 |isbn=978-1-84331-709-8}}</ref> Many years later, in 1965, there was an abortive attempt to revive the defunct federation.<ref>{{cite book |page=62 |title=Community Warriors: State, Peasants and Caste Armies in Bihar |first=Ashwani |last=Kumar |publisher=Anthem Press |year=2008 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=num2I4NFGqIC&pg=PA62 |isbn=978-1-84331-709-8}}</ref>

The Kisan Sabha was dominated by peasant castes like the Koeri, Kurmi and Yadav, which led some historians such as [[Gyanendra Pandey (historian)|Gyan Pandey]] to term them mainly movements of the middle peasant castes who organized against ''bedakhil'' (eviction), with limited participation of other communities. The reality, however, was more complex. Dalit communities like the Chamars and Pasis, whose traditional occupations were leatherwork and toddy-tapping respectively, formed a significant portion of the landless peasantry and were thus significant in the Kisan Sabha, and present were even members of the high castes such as Brahmins.<ref>{{cite book |title=Reconsidering Untouchability: Chamars and Dalit History in North India |first=Ramnarayan S. |last=Rawat |author-link=Ram Narayan Rawat |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-25322-262-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bz5dKC81O3IC&pg=PA12 |publisher=Indiana University Press |pages=12–15}}</ref>

The Koeris also had significant presence in the Naxalite movement of 1960's rural Bihar, particularly in [[Bhojpuri region|Bhojpur]] and nearby areas like [[Arrah]], where an economic system dominated by the upper caste landlords was still in place.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/politics/bihar-seat-sharing-amit-shah-had-no-time-to-meet-kushwaha-rlsp-leaders-upset|title= Bihar-seat-sharing-amit-shah-had-no-time-to-meet-kushwaha-rlsp-leaders-upset|website=[[National Herald]]|first=Suroor|last=Ahmed|access-date=2020-08-03}}</ref> For the lower castes, the issue was not merely economic but it was the question of ''Ijjat'' (honour), since upper caste men often raped lower-caste women with impunity. Here, the Communist upsurge against the prevalent feudal system was led by [[Jagdish Mahto]], a Koeri teacher who had read [[B. R. Ambedkar|Ambedkar]] and [[Marx]] and was sympathetic to the cause of [[Dalit]]s.<ref name="Santosh"/>

According to Santosh Singh, the [[Bhumihar]]s of the region beat him mercilessly when he was found voicing support for [[Communist Party of India|CPI]] in upcoming elections. After Mahto was discharged from the hospital he formed his own militant outfit with the help of his associates Ram Naresh Ram and Rameswar Ahir. Mahto's organisation was affiliated to [[Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) People's War|Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist)]], a radical faction of [[Communist Party of India]]. Mahto led his militia, which assassinated many upper-caste landlords in the region, until he was killed during a police raid. However, the action of Jagdish clearly demarcated the dividing lines between Koeris and [[Bhumihar]]s in the Ekwaari.<ref name="Santosh">{{cite book|title = Reinventing Revolution: New Social Movements and the Socialist Tradition in India|first=Gail|last= Omvedt|publisher=M.E.Sharpe |page=59|year=1993|isbn=0765631768|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wlxb0uacnRcC&q=Reinventing+Revolution:+New+So/jagdish+mahto&pg=PA59|access-date=2020-06-16}}^ Its first mass leader was Jagdish Mahto, a koeri teacher who had read ambedkar before he discovered Marx and started a paper in the town of arrah called Harijanistan("dalit land")..</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SVu8CgAAQBAJ&q=on+February+17+1967+jagdish+went+to+the+polling+booth+to+caste+his+vote&pg=PT142|title=Ruled or Misruled: Story and Destiny of Bihar|first=Santosh|last= Singh|publisher= Bloomsbury Publishing|year= 2015|isbn=978-9385436420|access-date=2020-07-19}}</ref>

For much of the 20th century, the Koeries were generally less politically effective, even less involved, than the Kurmis and Yadavs who broadly shared their socio-economic position in Hindu society. The latter two groups were more vociferous in their actions, including involvement in caste rioting, whilst the Koeris had only a brief prominence during the ascendancy of [[Jagdeo Prasad]]. This muted position changed dramatically in the 1990s when the rise to power of [[Lalu Prasad]] in Bihar caused an assertion of Yadav-centric policies that demanded a loud reaction.<ref name="Ashwini">{{cite book |pages=34–37 |title=Community Warriors: State, Peasants and Caste Armies in Bihar |first=Ashwani |last=Kumar |publisher=Anthem Press |year=2008 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=num2I4NFGqIC&pg=PA36 |isbn=978-1-84331-709-8}}</ref>

Earlier, the Koeris were given fair representation in Laloo Yadav as well as [[Rabri Devi]] regime. The backward politics unleashed by Laloo Prasad resulted in rise to political prominence of numerous backward castes, among which Koeri were prominent.<ref name="Ashwini"/> In this period, caste remained the most effective tool of political mobilisation and even leaders who were theoretically against caste-based politics also appealed to caste loyalties to secure their victory. The Rabri Devi government had appointed ten Koeris as minister in her cabinet, which was sought by many community leaders as a fair representation to the clan.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5-CavJF-EVEC&q=rabri+devi+government+had+10+koeri+minister&pg=PA166|title=Towards a New Era: Economic, Social and Political Reforms|first=M. L.|last= Sondhi|publisher=Har-Anand Publications|year= 2001|isbn=8124108005|access-date=2020-07-19}}</ref>
The portrayal of Laloo Yadav as a "Messiah of backward castes" lost the ground when the Yadav ascendancy in politics led other aspirational backward castes to move away from his party. In the meantime during 1990s, [[Nitish Kumar]], who was projected as the leader of Kurmi and Koeri communities formed the [[Samta Party]], leading to the isolation of Koeri-Kurmi community from Yadavs and Laloo Prasad.<ref name="Ashwini"/><ref name="Thakur">{{cite book|title=City, Society, and Planning: Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=odCJoIaDqZ0C&q=koeri+bihar+politics&pg=PA400|first=Baleshwar|last=Thakur|location =University of Akron. Department of Geography & Planning, Association of American Geographers|publisher=Concept Publishing Company|pages=393–400|year=2007|
isbn=978-8180694608|access-date=2020-06-16}} While Samta with its leader Nitish is considered to be the party of Koeri-Kurmi, Bihar people's party led by Anand Mohan is perceived to be a party having sympathy and support of Rajputs.</ref>

Thus, the decades following independence witnessed a complete shift of power from upper castes to the "upper backward castes": a term coined to describe castes like the Koeri, Yadav, Kurmi and [[Bania (caste)|Bania]] in Bihar. The transfer of power was also witnessed at the local level of governance. The upper caste were first to acquire education and they benefitted from it initially but with the expansion in electoral franchise and growth of "party system", they lost the ground to upper backward communities. Nepotism and patronage for fellow caste members in government, which had previously been an upper-caste phenomenon, was now available to the upper backward communities. This phenomenon continued with [[Karpoori Thakur]] in the 1970s, who had provided 12% reservation to lower backward castes and 8% to upper backwards in which Koeri were included. The peak of this patronage was reached during the tenure of Laloo Yadav.<ref name="Thakur"/>

From 1990 onwards the solidarity of backward castes was severely weakened due to division among the Koeri-Kurmi community and Yadavs. The former's voting pattern was in quite contrast to that of the latter. When Samta Party allied with the [[Bhartiya Janata Party]], Koeris voted for this alliance and thus in 1996 Lok Sabha elections BJP fared well, primarily with the support of Koeri and Kurmis. The division among backwards also costed their representation in the assemblies. It was seen that profile of Bihar legislative assembly was changing rapidly since 1967 and till 1995-96 the representation of upper caste was reduced to as lower as 17%. But, the division among backwards served as a hope to the upper castes to at least increase their representation. The success of BJP-Samta coalition however also consolidated the Koeris and the Kurmis, who now emerged as political force in 1996 elections.<ref>{{cite book|title=Caste and Democratic Politics in India|first=Ghanshyam|last=Shah|publisher=Orient Blackswan|year=2004|isbn=8178240955|pages=346, 350–354
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Aou17T8KaEEC&q=caste+and+bihar+politics&pg=PA346|access-date=2020-06-18}}</ref>

Since 1996 the Koeris voted en masse for the JD (U) and BJP coalition. The caste based polarisation in states like Bihar drifted the dominant backward castes away from the [[Rashtriya Janata Dal]] and distributed their votes to various political parties. The Koeris who constituted one of the most populous caste group were shifted first towards [[Janata Dal (United)|JD (U)]]-[[Bhartiya Janata Party|BJP]] coalition. Later after the expulsion of [[Upendra Kushwaha]] from the JD (U) and formation of [[Rashtriya Lok Samata Party]], their votes were distributed amongst the JD (U) on the one hand and the new social coalition made by BJP with [[Lok Janshakti Party]] and Rashtriya Lok Samata Party on the other hand.<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ONcNDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT158|title=Electoral Politics in India: The Resurgence of the Bharatiya Janata Party|chapter=7. The eastern gift, BJP's 2014 victory in Bihar|author1=Suhas Palshikar|author2=Sanjay Kumar|author3=Sanjay Lodha|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=2017|isbn =978-1351996914|access-date=2020-10-03}}</ref>
In 2015 [[Bihar Legislative Assembly]] elections the [[Janata Dal (United)]] allied with its rival [[Rashtriya Janata Dal]] due to differences with [[Bhartiya Janata Party]]. The social composition of these parties and the core voter base are such that this coalition drew immense support from the [[Yadav]], [[Kurmi]] and Kushwaha caste who hardly voted together after the 1990s. Consequently, the coalition emerged with massive victory with the number of legislators from these agrarian castes reaching higher as compared to previous elections.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thequint.com/videos/news-videos/bihar-caste-politics-data-analysis-nitish-kumar-advantage-nda-bjp-jdu-mahagathbandhan-rjd-return-as-cm#read-more|title=Which Caste Holds Key to Nitish’s Return as CM? Here’s the Data|website=[[The Quint]]|access-date=2020-11-24}}</ref> Later the coalition was ripped apart and in 2020 Assembly elections the disunity among the three castes and split of votes led to huge decline in number of Kushwaha legislators.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/elections/assembly-elections/bihar/one-in-every-four-members-in-new-bihar-assembly-will-be-from-upper-caste/articleshow/79214031.cms|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210129214537/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/elections/assembly-elections/bihar/one-in-every-four-members-in-new-bihar-assembly-will-be-from-upper-caste/articleshow/79214031.cms?from=mdr |title=One in every four new Bihar assembly members is from upper castes|website=[[Times of India]]|access-date=2020-11-24|archive-date=29 January 2021}}</ref>

==Culture and beliefs==
[[File:The women of Kushwaha caste celebrating Chhath Mahaparva in Bihar.jpg|thumb|Kushwaha women offering ''[[Prasad]]'' to Sun on ''[[Chhath]]''. ]]
In the central [[Bihar]] backward castes like Koeri are numerically and politically powerful and hence they reject the traditional ''[[Jajmani|Jajmani system]]'' which relies upon Brahmanical notion of purity and pollution.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pviHAwAAQBAJ&pg=PR18|title=Caste in Question: Identity Or Hierarchy?|author=Dipankar Gupta|publisher=SAGE Publications India|year=2004|isbn=8132103459|access-date=2020-10-09}}</ref> The backward caste groups in this region thus do not avail the services of [[Brahmin]] priests to perform their rituals. In most of the cases, Koeri households employ a Koeri priest to perform their rituals and their services are also availed by other backward castes like Yadav. These priest who belong to Koeri caste are different from the Brahmin priests in their approval of widow remarriage. They also promote non-vegetarianism and do not grow ''tuft'' like the Brahmins. The ''tika'' (liquid form of sandalwood on the head) which is made by the Brahmin priests on their forehead is also disapproved by them.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IHWKDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA97|title=Understanding Social Dynamics in South Asia: Essays in Memory of Ramkrishna Mukherjee|author1=Partha Nath Mukherji|author2= N. Jayaram|author3=Bhola Nath Ghosh|publisher=Springer|year=2019|page=97|isbn=978-9811303876|access-date=2020-10-07}}</ref>

== Classification ==

===Disputed varna status===
The Kushwaha were traditionally a peasant community and considered to be of the [[Shudra]] [[Varna (Hinduism)|varna]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Peasants and monks in British India |first=William R. |last=Pinch |publisher=University of California Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-520-20061-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uEP-ceGYsnYC |page=81}}</ref> Pinch describes them as "skilled agriculturalists".<ref name=Pinch1996p92>{{cite book |title=Peasants and monks in British India |first=William R. |last=Pinch |publisher=University of California Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-520-20061-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uEP-ceGYsnYC |page=92}}</ref> The traditional perception of Shudra status was increasingly challenged during the later decades of [[British Raj]] rule, although various castes had made claims of a higher status well before the British administration instituted its first census.{{efn|William Pinch records that, "... a popular concern with status predated the rise of an imperial census apparatus and the colonial obsession with caste. ... [C]laims to personal and community dignity appeared to be part of a longer discourse that did not require European political and administrative structures."<ref>{{cite book |title=Peasants and monks in British India |first=William R. |last=Pinch |publisher=University of California Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-520-20061-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uEP-ceGYsnYC |page=88}}</ref>}} The [[Kurmi]] community of cultivators, described by [[Christophe Jaffrelot]] as "middle caste peasants", led this charge in search of greater respectability.<ref name="Jaffrelot197"/> Pinch describes that "The concern with personal dignity, community identity, and caste status reached a peak among Kurmi, Yadav, and Kushvaha peasants in the first four decades of the twentieth century."<ref name=Pinch1996p83>{{cite book |title=Peasants and monks in British India |first=William R. |last=Pinch |publisher=University of California Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-520-20061-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uEP-ceGYsnYC |pages=83–84}}</ref>

===Identification as Kushwaha Kshatriya===
From around 1910, the Kachhis and the Koeris, both of whom for much of the preceding century had close links with the British as a consequence of their favoured role in the cultivation of the [[opium poppy]], began to identify themselves as Kushwaha [[Kshatriya]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Peasants and monks in British India |first=William R. |last=Pinch |publisher=University of California Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-520-20061-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uEP-ceGYsnYC |page=90}}</ref> An organisation claiming to represent those two groups and the Muraos petitioned for official recognition as being of the Kshatriya varna in 1928.<ref name="Jaffrelot199" />

This action by the All India Kushwaha Kshatriya Mahasabha (AIKKM) reflected the general trend for social upliftment by communities that had traditionally been classified as being Shudra. The process, which [[M. N. Srinivas]] called [[sanskritisation]],<ref>{{cite journal|last=Charsley |first=S. |s2cid=143948468 |year=1998 |title=Sanskritization: The Career of an Anthropological Theory |journal=Contributions to Indian Sociology |volume=32 |issue=2 |page=527 |doi=10.1177/006996679803200216 }}</ref> was a feature of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century caste politics.<ref name="Jaffrelot199">{{cite book |title=India's silent revolution: the rise of the lower castes in North India |first=Christophe |last=Jaffrelot |edition=Reprinted |publisher=C. Hurst & Co. |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-85065-670-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OAkW94DtUMAC |page=199}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=History of anthropological thought |first1=Vijay S. |last1=Upadhyay |first2=Gaya |last2=Pandey |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |year=1993 |isbn=978-81-7022-492-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SNw5zVN1V0oC |page=436}}</ref>

The position of the AIKKM was based on the concept of [[Vaishnavism]], which promoted the worship and claims of descent from Rama or Krishna as a means to assume the trappings of Kshatriya symbolism and thus permit the wearing of the [[sacred thread]] even though the physical labour inherent in their cultivator occupations intrinsically defined them as Shudra. The movement caused them to abandon their claims to be descended from Shiva in favour of the alternate myth that claimed descent from Rama.<ref>{{cite book |title=Daughters of the earth: women and land in Uttar Pradesh |first=Smita Tewari |last=Jassal |publisher=Technical Publications |year=2001 |isbn=978-81-7304-375-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T6gnJmoLRZQC |pages=51–53}}</ref> In 1921, Ganga Prasad Gupta, a proponent of Kushwaha Sanskritization, had published a book offering proof of the Kshatriya status of the Koeri, Kachhi, Murao and Kachwaha.<ref name=Pinch1996p92 /><ref>{{cite book |title=Fascinating Hindutva: saffron politics and Dalit mobilisation |first=Badri |last=Narayan |publisher=SAGE |year=2009 |isbn=978-81-7829-906-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8bJ_rhfu6yUC |page=25}}</ref> His reconstructed history argued that the Kushwaha were Hindu descendants of Kush and that in the twelfth century they had served Raja [[Jayachandra|Jaichand]] in a military capacity during the period of Muslim consolidation of the [[Delhi Sultanate]]. Subsequent persecution by the victorious Muslims caused the Kushwaha to disperse and disguise their identity, foregoing the sacred thread and thereby becoming degraded and taking on various localised community names.<ref name=Pinch1996p92 /> Gupta's attempt to prove Kshatriya status, in common with similar attempts by others to establish histories of various castes, was spread via the caste associations, which [[Dipankar Gupta]] describes as providing a link between the "urban, politically literate elite" members of a caste and the "less literate villagers".<ref>{{cite book |title=Caste in question: identity or hierarchy? |first=Dipankar |last=Gupta |publisher=SAGE |year=2004 |page=199 |isbn=978-0-7619-3324-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bgpEIb4tNjgC}}</ref> Some communities also constructed temples in support of these claims as, for example, did the Muraos in [[Ayodhya]].<ref name=Pinch1996p98 />
[[File:An elderly couple belonging to Koeri caste.jpg|thumb|An elderly couple belonging to ''Kushwaha'' caste from ''[[Bihar]]''.]]
Some Kushwaha reformers also argued, in a similar vein to Kurmi reformer Devi Prasad Sinha Chaudhari, that since [[Rajput]]s, [[Bhumihar]]s and [[Brahmins]] worked the fields in some areas, there was no rational basis for assertions that such labour marked a community as being of the Shudra varna.<ref>{{cite book |title=Peasants and monks in British India |first=William R. |last=Pinch |publisher=University of California Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-520-20061-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uEP-ceGYsnYC |page=110}}</ref>

William Pinch describes the growth of militancy among agricultural castes in the wake of their claims to Kshatriya status. Castes like Koeris, Kurmis and Yadavs asserted their Kshatriya status not merely by words but they joined the [[British Indian Army]] as soldiers in large number. The growing militancy among them turned rural Bihar into an arena of conflict in which numerous caste-based militias surfaced and atrocities against the Dalits became the new norm. The militias founded during this period were named after folk figures or popular personalities who were revered by the whole community.<ref>{{cite book |title=Rebels From the Mud Houses: Dalits and the Making of the Maoist Revolution...
|page=209,210 |first=George |last=kunnath|publisher=Taylor and Francis group |location=New york |year=2018 |isbn=978-1-138-09955-5|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=JkcrDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA209|access-date=2020-05-29}}</ref>

===Classification as Backward Caste===
{{See also|Other Backward Class}}

Kushwahas are classified as a Most Backward Caste (MBC) in some of the states of India.<ref>{{Cite web|title=17 Most Backward Castes May Play Kingmaker as Purvanchal Gears Up to Vote in Final Phase|url=https://www.news18.com/news/opinion/17-most-backward-castes-may-play-kingmaker-as-purvanchal-gears-up-to-vote-in-final-phase-2141707.html|access-date=2020-09-01|website=News18}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/lok-sabha-elections-2014/news/Upper-castes-rule-Cabinet-backwards-MoS/articleshow/35624877.cms |title=Upper castes rule Cabinet, backwards MoS |work=The Times of India |date=27 May 2014 |access-date=2020-06-15}}</ref> In 2013, the Haryana government added the Kushwaha, Koeri and Maurya castes to the list of backward classes.<ref name="ht">{{cite news |url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/three-castes-included-in-backward-classes-list/article1-1147408.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140415174249/http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/three-castes-included-in-backward-classes-list/article1-1147408.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-date=15 April 2014 |work=Hindustan Times |title=Three castes included in backward classes list |date=5 November 2013 |access-date=14 April 2014}}</ref> In Bihar they are categorized as [[Other Backward Class]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scbc.bih.nic.in/ObcList.htm|title=Central list of backward castes (Bihar)|website=scbc.bih.nic|access-date=2020-08-12}}</ref> The various subcastes of Kushwaha community viz Kachhi, [[Shakya]] and Koeri are categorized as OBC in [[Uttar Pradesh]] also.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ncbc.nic.in/user_panel/GazetteResolution.aspx?Value=mPICjsL1aLvxbegUDuc3MN4eB5E3Ecc1drRPAf1qXQ%2bl0IqIfhjN1xHrf4i2h5g0|title=Central list of OBC (Uttar Pradesh)|website=ncbc.nic.in|access-date=2020-08-12}}</ref>

== References ==
'''Notes'''
{{notelist}}

'''Citations'''
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A1qXDQAAQBAJ&q=rabri+devi+government+had+10+koeri+minister|title= Social Movements and the State in India: Deepening Democracy?|first=Kenneth Bo Nielsen|last= Alf Gunvald Nilsen|date= 23 November 2016|publisher=Springer|pages=2016|isbn= 978-1137591333|access-date=2020-07-19}}
*{{cite book|title=From popular movement to rebellion:The Naxalite dacade|page= 317,318|first=Ranbir|last=Samaddar|publisher=Routledge|location =New york|year=2019|isbn= 978-0-367-13466-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BjZ7DwAAQBAJ&q=jagdish+prasad+mahto+naxal&pg=PT317|access-date=2020-05-30}}

[[Category:Agricultural castes]]
[[Category:Shaktism]]
[[Category:Social groups of Bihar]]
[[Category:Social groups of Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:Suryavansha]]
[[Category:Vaishnavism]]

Pathaan (film)

2026-04-12T01:23:59Z

162.159.113.41:

{{short description|2023 Indian Hindi action thriller film}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2022}}
{{Use Indian English|date=October 2022}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Pathaan
| image = Pathaan film poster.jpg
| caption = Theatrical Release Poster
| director = [[Siddharth Anand]]
| screenplay = Shridhar Raghavan
{{Infobox | decat = yes | child = yes
| label1= Dialogues by
| data1 = [[Abbas Tyrewala]]
}}
| story = Siddharth Anand
| producer = [[Aditya Chopra]]
| starring = {{Plain list|
* [[Shah Rukh Khan]]
* [[Deepika Padukone]]
* [[John Abraham]]
* [[Dimple Kapadia]]
* [[Ashutosh Rana]]
}}
| cinematography = Satchith Paulose
| editing = Aarif Sheikh
| music = '''Score:''' [[Sanchit Balhara]]-[[Ankit Balhara]] '''Songs:''' [[Vishal–Shekhar]]
| studio = [[Yash Raj Films]]
| distributor = [[Yash Raj Films]]
| released = {{Film date|df=yes|2023|01|25}}
| runtime = 146 minutes{{efn|The theatrical runtime of the film was 146 minutes.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hungama |first=Bollywood |date=2023-01-17 |title=Pathaan runtime REVEALED! CBFC clears the Shah Rukh Khan starrer with UA certificate : Bollywood News - Bollywood Hungama |website=[[Bollywood Hungama]] |url=https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/bollywood/pathaan-runtime-revealed-cbfc-clears-shah-rukh-khan-starrer-ua-certificate/ |access-date=2023-03-22 |language=en |archive-date=17 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230117125659/https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/bollywood/pathaan-runtime-revealed-cbfc-clears-shah-rukh-khan-starrer-ua-certificate/ |url-status=live }}</ref> However, on [[Amazon Prime Video]], it was released with an extension of +2 minutes (148 minutes).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hungama |first=Bollywood |date=2023-03-22 |title=Pathaan's torture scene, Pathaan's stylish entry, Rubai's interrogation: Here's the list of the 3 deleted scenes from Shah Rukh Khan's Pathaan : Bollywood News - Bollywood Hungama |website=[[Bollywood Hungama]] |url=https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/features/pathaans-torture-scene-pathaans-stylish-entry-rubais-interrogation-heres-list-3-deleted-scenes-shah-rukh-khans-pathaan/ |access-date=2023-03-22 |language=en |archive-date=22 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230322114210/https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/features/pathaans-torture-scene-pathaans-stylish-entry-rubais-interrogation-heres-list-3-deleted-scenes-shah-rukh-khans-pathaan/ |url-status=live }}</ref>}}
| country = India
| language = Hindi<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pathaan |url=https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/pathaan-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0xmda4oty1 |website=[[British Board of Film Classification]] |quote=PATHAAN is a Hindi language action thriller in which an undercover cop and an ex-con work together to prevent the release of a deadly synthetic virus. |access-date=23 January 2023 |archive-date=23 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123124914/https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/pathaan-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0xmda4oty1 |url-status=live }}</ref>
| budget = {{INR|225}} [[crore]]<ref name="budget">{{Cite news |last=Kanabar |first=Nirali |date=25 January 2023 |title=How much did it cost to make Pathaan plus Deepika Padukone and John Abraham's acting fees, find out |work=India Today |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/movies/bollywood/story/how-much-did-it-cost-to-make-pathaan-plus-deepika-padukone-and-john-abrahams-acting-fees-find-out-exclusive-2326261-2023-01-25 |access-date=29 January 2023 |archive-date=29 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230129104654/https://www.indiatoday.in/movies/bollywood/story/how-much-did-it-cost-to-make-pathaan-plus-deepika-padukone-and-john-abrahams-acting-fees-find-out-exclusive-2326261-2023-01-25 |url-status=live }}</ref>
| gross = {{estimation}} {{INR|1050.3}} crore<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hungama |first=Bollywood |title=Pathaan Box Office - Bollywood Hungama |website=[[Bollywood Hungama]] |date=25 January 2023 |url=https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/movie/pathaan/box-office/ |url-status=live |access-date=2023-03-08 |language=en |archive-date=26 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230126084819/https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/movie/pathaan/box-office/ }}</ref>
}}

'''''Pathaan''''' ({{IPA-hns|pəʈʰaːn|pron}}) is a 2023 Indian [[Hindi]]-language [[action thriller film]] directed by [[Siddharth Anand]] and written by Shridhar Raghavan and [[Abbas Tyrewala]], from a story by Anand. The fourth installment in the [[YRF Spy Universe]], it stars [[Shah Rukh Khan]] in the titular role with [[Deepika Padukone]], [[John Abraham]], [[Dimple Kapadia]], and [[Ashutosh Rana]]. In the film, Pathaan (Khan), an exiled [[Research and Analysis Wing|RAW]] agent, works with [[Inter-Services Intelligence|ISI]] agent Rubina Mohsin (Padukone) to take down Jim (Abraham), a former RAW agent, who plans to attack India with a deadly virus.

Produced by [[Aditya Chopra]] of [[Yash Raj Films]], the film began principal photography in November 2020 in Mumbai. The film was shot over various locations in India, Afghanistan, Spain, UAE, Turkey, Russia, Italy and France. Two songs were composed by the duo [[Vishal–Shekhar]], while [[Sanchit Balhara and Ankit Balhara]] provided the score. The film was made on an estimated production budget of {{INRConvert|225|c|lk=c|year=2023}} with a further {{INRConvert|15|c}} spent on print and advertising.<ref name="budget" /> Against the norm, pre-release publicity was limited with no media interaction or public events.

''Pathaan'' was theatrically released in India on 25 January 2023, coinciding with the [[Republic Day (India)|Republic Day]] weekend, and received positive reviews from critics who praised its action sequences, music and cast performances.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pathaan teaser: Shah Rukh Khan finally announces comeback film, Deepika Padukone and John Abraham introduce him |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/pathan-teaser-shah-rukh-khan-finally-announces-comeback-film-deepika-padukone-and-john-abraham-introduce-him-101646201587385.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221013090504/https://www.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/pathan-teaser-shah-rukh-khan-finally-announces-comeback-film-deepika-padukone-and-john-abraham-introduce-him-101646201587385.html |archive-date=13 October 2022 |access-date=12 October 2022 |website=Hindustan Times|date=2 March 2022 }}</ref><ref name="NDTV">{{Cite web |title=Pathaan Teaser: Shah Rukh Khan Is Back "With A Bang" |url=https://www.ndtv.com/entertainment/pathaan-teaser-shah-rukh-khan-is-back-with-a-bang-3482476 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221120134359/https://www.ndtv.com/entertainment/pathaan-teaser-shah-rukh-khan-is-back-with-a-bang-3482476 |archive-date=20 November 2022 |access-date=20 November 2022}}</ref> The film holds the box office records for the highest opening day, highest single day, highest opening weekend and highest opening week for a Hindi film in India.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hungama |first1=Bollywood |title=All time top opening day - Bollywood Hungama |url=https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/all-time-top-opening-day/ |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Hungama |first1=Bollywood |title=All time top opening weekend - Bollywood Hungama |website=[[Bollywood Hungama]] |url=https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/all-time-top-opening-weekend/ |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Hungama |first1=Bollywood |title=All time top opening week - Bollywood Hungama |website=[[Bollywood Hungama]] |url=https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/all-time-top-opening-week/ |language=en}}</ref> It eventually became the highest grossing Hindi language film ever in India and set new records in all major overseas markets like US - Canada, UAE - GCC, United Kingdom and Australia.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hungama |first1=Bollywood |title=All Time Top Grossers - Bollywood Hungama |website=[[Bollywood Hungama]] |url=https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/all-time-top-grossers/ |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Highest grossing Indian films in the UK |url=https://cinemaniaworld.com/highest-grossing-indian-films-in-the-uk/ |website=CINEMANIA |date=7 October 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Shah Rukh Khan's Pathaan becomes Highest Grossing film in all four major Overseas markets |url=https://www.pinkvilla.com/entertainment/box-office/shah-rukh-khans-pathaan-becomes-highest-grossing-film-in-all-four-major-overseas-markets-1208208 |website=PINKVILLA |language=en |date=5 February 2023}}</ref> The film has grossed {{INRConvert|1050.3|c|year=2023}}<ref name=":1">{{cite web |title=Pathaan Box Office |url=https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/movie/pathaan/box-office/ |website=[[Bollywood Hungama]] |date=25 January 2023 |access-date=18 February 2023 |language=en |archive-date=17 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230217125316/https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/movie/pathaan/box-office/ |url-status=live }}</ref> worldwide, becoming the [[List of Indian films of 2023#Box office collection|highest-grossing Indian film of 2023]], [[List of highest-grossing Hindi films#Global gross figures|the second-highest-grossing Hindi film of all time]], [[List of highest-grossing Indian films#Global gross figures|the fifth-highest-grossing Indian film of all time]] and the twenty-third highest grossing film of 2023.<ref>{{Cite web |title=2023 Worldwide Box Office |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/world/ |access-date=2023-05-26 |website=Box Office Mojo}}</ref> The film set several other box office records in India and for a Hindi language film.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-01-27 |title=Pathaan: Every box office record shattered by Shah Rukh Khan's blockbuster film, which now stands at Rs 231 cr worldwide |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/pathaan-worldwide-box-office-records-shah-rukh-khan-deepika-padukone-8407315/ |access-date=2023-01-27 |website=The Indian Express |language=en |archive-date=27 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230127141249/https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/pathaan-worldwide-box-office-records-shah-rukh-khan-deepika-padukone-8407315/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="deadline.tartaglione.pathaan.2023.01.28">{{Cite web |last=Tartaglione |first=Nancy |date=28 January 2023 |title=Shah Rukh Khan's 'Pathaan' On Record-Breaking Box Office Spree In Comeback For Mega-Star |url=https://deadline.com/2023/01/shah-rukh-khan-pathaan-box-office-records-bollywood-1235243378/ |access-date=28 January 2023 |website=Deadline Hollywood |archive-date=28 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230128170358/https://deadline.com/2023/01/shah-rukh-khan-pathaan-box-office-records-bollywood-1235243378/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="records">{{Cite web |last=Tartaglione |first=Nancy |date=1 February 2023 |title=Shah Rukh Khan's 'Pathaan' Makes Box Office History For Bollywood & India Around The Globe – Opening Weekend Records List |url=https://deadline.com/2023/01/pathaan-shah-rukh-khan-deepika-padukone-north-america-india-uk-global-box-office-records-list-1235245190/ |access-date=31 January 2023 |website=Deadline Hollywood |archive-date=31 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230131165022/https://deadline.com/2023/01/pathaan-shah-rukh-khan-deepika-padukone-north-america-india-uk-global-box-office-records-list-1235245190/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="alltime">{{Cite web |title=Bollywood Top Grossers Worldwide: All Time |url=https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/box-office-collections/worldwide/all-time/ |access-date=7 February 2023 |website=Bollywood Hungama |archive-date=28 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230128100840/https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/box-office-collections/worldwide/all-time/ |url-status=live }}</ref> ''Pathaan'' became the first Hindi film to gross {{INRConvert|1000|c}} worldwide without a China release.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.koimoi.com/box-office/pathaan-box-office-day-27-worldwide-shah-rukh-khan-makes-history-by-becoming-the-only-hindi-film-to-earn-1000-crore-without-a-re-release-china-release/|title= Pathaan Box Office Day 27 (Worldwide): Shah Rukh Khan Makes History By Becoming The Only Hindi Film To Earn 1000 Crore Without A Re-release & China Release!|date=21 February 2023|website=koimoi.com}}</ref>

== Plot ==

In 2019, the [[Government of India|Indian Government]] [[Revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir|revokes Article 370]] of the Indian Constitution, which grants special status for [[Jammu and Kashmir (union territory)|Jammu and Kashmir]]. The news impacts a cancer-ridden [[Pakistan]]i [[General (Pakistan)|army general]] Qadir, who decides to exact vengeance against India and signs a contract with Jim, who leads "Outfit X", a private terrorist organization.

Meanwhile, Pathaan is a [[Research and Analysis Wing|RAW]] agent, who along with his senior officer Nandini Grewal open a unit dubbed "Joint Operations and Covert Research" (JOCR) in order to recruit former RAW agents who were forced to retire due to past trauma or injury, but want to continue serving the country. With RAW joint secretary, [[Colonel]] Sunil Luthra's acceptance, Pathaan and his team head to [[Dubai]] to stop Outfit X's suspected plans of attacking the [[President of India]] at a scientific conference. However, they realize that their actual plan was to kidnap two scientists Dr. Farooqui and Dr. Sahani and the information they received about the imminent attack on the President was just a ruse to mislead them.

Jim attacks the scientists' convoy and Pathaan tries to stop him. A fight ensues, where Jim manages to escape with Dr. Sahani. At the debrief back at the agency, Luthra reveals that Jim was a former RAW agent, who was awarded with the ''[[Vir Chakra|Vir Puraskar]]'' for his bravery after the agency could not find his body when [[Somalia]]n terrorists killed his wife and unborn child after the government refused to pay out the ransom demanded. He had apparently faked his death in order to seek vengeance against the agency and country for not saving his family.

Meanwhile, Pathaan learns about the codeword dubbed "Raktbeej" and also that the dead people in Dubai were ex-agents and their money was transferred from the account of Rubina Mohsin (Rubai), a Pakistani doctor in [[Spain]]. Pathaan travels to Spain and is captured by Jim's men, where he also learns that Rubai is an ex-[[Inter-Services Intelligence|ISI]] agent. When Jim leaves his hideout, Rubai attacks Jim's men and escapes with Pathaan. Rubai reveals that Raktbeej is in [[Moscow]], where they travel to steal it before Jim does. However, Rubai betrays Pathaan and has him captured by the Russian police. It is revealed that Jim used Rubai to make Pathaan steal the Raktbeej for himself. Pathaan is captured and taken to prison by train, but is saved by [[Tiger (franchise)|Avinash Singh "Tiger" Rathore]].

Three years later, Pathaan travels to [[Africa]] and captures Jim's henchman Raafe. He meets Nandini and reveals about Jim purchasing two [[Saber (cruise missile)|saber missiles]], while Nandini reveals Rubai's location in [[Paris]]. Pathaan meets Rubai, who reveals that the Raktbeej is a mutated [[smallpox]] virus, which was forcibly developed by a captive Dr. Sahani under Jim's orders. She also expresses guilt about betraying Pathaan without knowing that her country would plan such a heinous attack. They travel to Jim's lab in [[Siberia]] and manage to recover one orb containing the virus with great difficulty, while Jim escapes with the other orb. Luthra and Nandini reach Jim's lab to take the orb back to India in order to develop a [[vaccine]]. Luthra also has Rubai arrested for having questionable loyalties.

At the [[National Centre for Disease Control|Indian Institute of Contagious Diseases (IICD)]], Dr. Farooqui opens up the orb to Nandini without apparently finding anything. Jim calls them and reveals that the orb has already spread the virus in the facility. The infected scientists, along with Nandini die in the facility by shooting themselves, to curb the spread of the virus. Later, the facility is destroyed in a controlled blast. Jim provides an ultimatum to evacuate Indian soldiers out of [[Kashmir]] within 24 hours. Pathaan interrogates Raafe about the location of the missile and learns that the missile is situated in [[Afghanistan]]. After rescuing Rubai, they lure Jim's associates into a trap and attack Jim's base. Qadir is killed by Rubai after he activated the missile containing the virus. Pathaan chases after Jim with a [[Jet pack|jetpack]] and they both crash land into a cabin.

Meanwhile, Rubai deactivates the missile, but finds that Raktbeej is not in the missile, but instead in a passenger-bound airplane, which is about to land in [[Delhi]]. Rubai informs Pathaan, who finds that Jim has the detonator. Luthra calls the [[air traffic control]] to prevent the plane from landing in Delhi. In the cabin, an enraged Pathaan and Jim fight brutally, resulting in the cabin to begin sliding off a cliff. Despite getting stabbed by Jim, Pathaan steals the detonator, deactivates Raktbeej and kills Jim by throwing him out of the cabin as the foundation is about to break. Afterwards, Pathaan is reinstated into RAW and made as the head of JOCR, while Nandini is posthumously awarded with the ''Vir Puraskar'' for her bravery.

In a [[mid-credits scene]], Pathaan and Tiger are seen pondering about retiring and suggesting young agents who can replace them, but eventually decide to keep fighting the threats themselves.

== Cast ==
{{Cast listing|
*[[Shah Rukh Khan]] as Pathaan, a [[Research and Analysis Wing|RAW]] agent
*[[Deepika Padukone]] as Rubina "Rubai" Mohsin, an [[Inter-Services Intelligence|ISI]] agent
*[[John Abraham]] as Jim, leader of "Outfit X" and a former RAW Agent
*[[Dimple Kapadia]] as Nandini Grewal, head of the Joint Operations and Covert Research (JOCR)
*[[Ashutosh Rana]] as [[Colonel]] Sunil Luthra
*[[Prakash Belawadi]] as Dr. Sahani
*Prem Jhangiani as Dr. Farooqui
*[[Shaji Choudhary]] as Raza, member of JOCR
*[[Ekta Kaul]] as Shweta Bajaj, hacker and member of JOCR
*[[Diganta Hazarika]] as Joseph Mathews, sniper and member of JOCR
*[[Viraf Patel]] as Rishi Arya, intelligence analyst and member of JOCR
*Aakash Bhatija as Amol, member of JOCR
*Rajat Kaul as Raafe, Jim's henchman
*[[Manish Wadhwa]] as [[General]] Qadir
* Rumi Khan as Jim's henchman
* Mansi Taxak as Jim's wife
* Ashutosh Singh as Rubai's father
* Amanpreet Hundal as Rubai's mother
* [[Keith Sequeira]] as [[Captain (armed forces)|Captain]] Mehra (Pilot)
* Rakesh Khatri as ATC Supervisor
* Mustafa Aksari as Fayyed
*[[Nikhat Khan]] as Sabba, Pathaan's foster mother
* Grace Girdhar as Young Rubai
*[[Salman Khan]] as Avinash Singh "Tiger" Rathore ([[cameo appearance]])
}}

== Production ==
=== Development ===
[[Yash Raj Films]], [[Shah Rukh Khan]], [[Deepika Padukone]] and [[John Abraham]] officially announced ''Pathaan'' on 2 March 2022 on their social media accounts, revealing the release date with a first look teaser.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Chaubey |first=Pranita |title=Shah Rukh Khan Celebrates 30 Years In Films, Shares New Pathaan Look |url=https://www.ndtv.com/entertainment/shah-rukh-khan-celebrates-30-years-in-films-shares-new-pathaan-look-3099072 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221007172215/https://www.ndtv.com/entertainment/shah-rukh-khan-celebrates-30-years-in-films-shares-new-pathaan-look-3099072 |archive-date=7 October 2022 |access-date=12 October 2022 |website=[[NDTV]]}}</ref> It was previously teased by other cast members, including [[Salman Khan]] and [[Vishal Dadlani]], on various occasions before. Dadlani announced the film on Twitter, stating, "No number from the past matters, no number in the future is too big. The whole world is waiting for Shah Rukh, more importantly, we're all working on a kickass film with great songs."<ref>{{Cite web |date=24 March 2021 |title=Vishal Dadlani announces Shah Rukh Khan's Pathan. King is back, say fans |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/movies/bollywood/story/vishal-dadlani-announces-shah-rukh-khan-s-pathan-king-is-back-say-fans-1783148-2021-03-24 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005100826/https://www.indiatoday.in/movies/bollywood/story/vishal-dadlani-announces-shah-rukh-khan-s-pathan-king-is-back-say-fans-1783148-2021-03-24 |archive-date=5 October 2021 |access-date=5 October 2021 |website=[[India Today]]}}</ref> This film is YRF's first [[Dolby Cinema]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Mukherjee |first=Nairita |date=26 December 2022 |title=30 days to Pathaan, 30 things to know before Shah Rukh Khan-Deepika Padukone film drops |language=en |work=[[Times Now]] |url=https://www.timesnownews.com/entertainment-news/30-days-to-pathaan-30-things-to-know-before-shah-rukh-khan-deepika-padukone-film-drops-article-96519183 |access-date=27 January 2023 |archive-date=27 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230127065854/https://www.timesnownews.com/entertainment-news/30-days-to-pathaan-30-things-to-know-before-shah-rukh-khan-deepika-padukone-film-drops-article-96519183 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Casting ===
Shanoo Sharma was the casting director. Khan was cast in the film in September 2020.<ref>{{Cite web |date=12 August 2020 |title=BREAKING: Shah Rukh Khan starrer Pathan to go on floors in November 2020 in UK; Rajkumar Hirani's film in 2022! |website=Bollywood Hungama |url=https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/bollywood/breaking-shah-rukh-khan-starrer-pathan-go-floors-november-2020-uk-rajkumar-hiranis-film-2022/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220104182113/https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/bollywood/breaking-shah-rukh-khan-starrer-pathan-go-floors-november-2020-uk-rajkumar-hiranis-film-2022/ |archive-date=4 January 2022 |access-date=17 November 2021}}</ref> Padukone joined production that November,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Deepika Padukone to join Shah Rukh Khan for Pathan shoot in Mumbai |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/movies/bollywood/story/deepika-padukone-to-join-shah-rukh-khan-for-pathan-shoot-in-mumbai-1743292-2020-11-23 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005083835/https://www.indiatoday.in/movies/bollywood/story/deepika-padukone-to-join-shah-rukh-khan-for-pathan-shoot-in-mumbai-1743292-2020-11-23 |archive-date=5 October 2021 |access-date=5 October 2021 |website=[[India Today]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Deepika Padukone joins Shah Rukh Khan as a fellow agent in Pathan |url=https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/deepika-padukone-joins-shah-rukh-khan-as-a-fellow-agent-in-pathan/articleshow/79374247.cms |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005083835/https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/deepika-padukone-joins-shah-rukh-khan-as-a-fellow-agent-in-pathan/articleshow/79374247.cms |archive-date=5 October 2021 |access-date=5 October 2021 |website=[[Mumbai Mirror]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=John Abraham to Join Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone on the Sets of Pathan |url=https://www.filmfare.com/news/bollywood/john-abraham-to-join-shah-rukh-khan-and-deepika-padukone-on-the-sets-of-pathan-45047.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005083836/https://www.filmfare.com/news/bollywood/john-abraham-to-join-shah-rukh-khan-and-deepika-padukone-on-the-sets-of-pathan-45047.html |archive-date=5 October 2021 |access-date=5 October 2021 |website=[[Filmfare]]}}</ref> while Abraham rounded out the main cast in June, joining filming in [[Mumbai]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=30 June 2021 |title=In Pic: John Abraham joins Shah Rukh Khan-Deepika Padukone starrer 'Pathan' shoot |url=https://www.dnaindia.com/bollywood/report-in-pic-john-abraham-joins-shah-rukh-khan-deepika-padukone-starrer-pathan-shoot-2898126 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005083843/https://www.dnaindia.com/bollywood/report-in-pic-john-abraham-joins-shah-rukh-khan-deepika-padukone-starrer-pathan-shoot-2898126 |archive-date=5 October 2021 |access-date=5 October 2021 |website=[[DNA India]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=30 June 2021 |title=John Abraham joins YRF's Pathan shoot in Mumbai |url=https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/bollywood/john-abraham-joins-yrfs-pathan-shoot-mumbai/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005083834/https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/bollywood/john-abraham-joins-yrfs-pathan-shoot-mumbai/ |archive-date=5 October 2021 |access-date=5 October 2021 |website=[[Bollywood Hungama]]}}</ref> [[Dimple Kapadia]] was cast in December 2020.<ref>{{Cite web |date=4 December 2020 |title=Dimple Kapadia to star in Shah Rukh Khan's upcoming film 'Pathan' |url=http://www.bizasialive.com/dimple-kapadia-to-star-in-shah-rukh-khans-upcoming-film-pathan/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005103046/https://www.bizasialive.com/dimple-kapadia-to-star-in-shah-rukh-khans-upcoming-film-pathan/ |archive-date=5 October 2021 |access-date=5 October 2021 |website=BizAsia}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Did Dimple Kapadia start shooting for Shah Rukh Khan starrer 'Pathan'? - Times of India |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/did-dimple-kapadia-start-shooting-for-shah-rukh-khan-starrer-pathan/articleshow/79770785.cms |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005100826/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/did-dimple-kapadia-start-shooting-for-shah-rukh-khan-starrer-pathan/articleshow/79770785.cms |archive-date=5 October 2021 |access-date=5 October 2021 |website=[[The Times of India]]}}</ref> [[Salman Khan]] was confirmed to make a [[cameo appearance]] in November 2020, reprising his role as Avinash Singh Rathore from the ''[[Tiger (franchise)|Tiger]]'' franchise.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Salman Khan reserves 12 days for extended special appearance in Shah Rukh Khan's Pathan? |url=https://www.zoomtventertainment.com/bollywood/article/salman-khan-reserves-12-days-for-extended-special-appearance-in-shah-rukh-khan-s-pathan/679029 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005100828/https://www.zoomtventertainment.com/bollywood/article/salman-khan-reserves-12-days-for-extended-special-appearance-in-shah-rukh-khan-s-pathan/679029 |archive-date=5 October 2021 |access-date=5 October 2021 |website=[[Zoom (Indian TV channel)|Zoom]]|date=8 November 2020 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=10 November 2020 |title=Shah Rukh Khan's Film Pathan To Have Salman Khan's Cameo? Details Inside |url=https://www.zee5.com/zee5news/shah-rukh-khans-film-pathan-to-have-salman-khans-cameo-details-inside |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005100828/https://www.zee5.com/zee5news/shah-rukh-khans-film-pathan-to-have-salman-khans-cameo-details-inside |archive-date=5 October 2021 |access-date=5 October 2021 |website=[[ZEE5]]}}</ref>

=== Filming ===
[[Principal photography]] of the film began on 17 November 2020 in [[Mumbai]].<ref>{{Cite news |title=Exclusive: Shah Rukh Khan starts shooting for 'Pathan' today |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/exclusive-shah-rukh-khan-starts-shooting-for-pathan-today/articleshow/79276617.cms |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005122718/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/exclusive-shah-rukh-khan-starts-shooting-for-pathan-today/articleshow/79276617.cms |archive-date=5 October 2021 |access-date=5 October 2021 |website=[[The Times of India]]|last1=Lalwani |first1=Vickey }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=18 November 2020 |title=BREAKING: Shah Rukh Khan FINALLY begins shooting for Pathan from today! |url=https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/bollywood/breaking-shah-rukh-khan-finally-begins-shooting-pathan-today/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005122718/https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/bollywood/breaking-shah-rukh-khan-finally-begins-shooting-pathan-today/ |archive-date=5 October 2021 |access-date=5 October 2021 |website=[[Bollywood Hungama]]}}</ref> In January 2021, filming moved to [[Dubai]]. Some of the major action sequences including a long chase sequence were shot in the same schedule.<ref>{{Cite web |date=30 January 2021 |title=Shah Rukh Khan's fans share videos of high octane action scenes being shot for Pathan in Dubai. Watch |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/shah-rukh-khan-s-fans-share-videos-of-high-octane-action-scenes-being-shot-for-pathan-in-dubai-watch-101612002091180.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005125958/https://www.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/shah-rukh-khan-s-fans-share-videos-of-high-octane-action-scenes-being-shot-for-pathan-in-dubai-watch-101612002091180.html |archive-date=5 October 2021 |access-date=7 October 2021 |website=Hindustan Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=30 January 2021 |title=Shah Rukh Khan Spotted Shooting for Action Scene of Pathan in Dubai, See Pics and Videos |url=https://www.news18.com/news/movies/shah-rukh-khan-spotted-shooting-for-action-scene-of-pathan-in-dubai-see-pics-and-videos-3363455.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005122714/https://www.news18.com/news/movies/shah-rukh-khan-spotted-shooting-for-action-scene-of-pathan-in-dubai-see-pics-and-videos-3363455.html |archive-date=5 October 2021 |access-date=5 October 2021 |website=[[News18]]}}</ref> On 12 April 2021,<ref>{{cite news |title=Will Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone resume the 'Pathan' shoot next week? |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/will-shah-rukh-khan-and-deepika-padukone-resume-the-pathan-shoot-next-week/articleshow/83829987.cms |access-date=16 March 2023 |work=[[The Times of India]] |date=June 25, 2021 |archive-date=5 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210805084147/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/will-shah-rukh-khan-and-deepika-padukone-resume-the-pathan-shoot-next-week/articleshow/83829987.cms |url-status=live }}</ref> the crew took a two-day break. However, following the reports of some crew members of the film tested positive for [[COVID-19]] and subsequent [[COVID-19 lockdown in India|lockdown in Maharashtra]], further schedules of the film were postponed.<ref>{{Cite web |date=13 April 2021 |title=Here's the real reason why the shoot of Shah Rukh Khan starrer Pathan has come to a halt |url=https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/bollywood/heres-real-reason-shoot-shah-rukh-khan-starrer-pathan-come-halt/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005122714/https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/bollywood/heres-real-reason-shoot-shah-rukh-khan-starrer-pathan-come-halt/ |archive-date=5 October 2021 |access-date=5 October 2021 |website=[[Bollywood Hungama]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-04-15 |title=Maharashtra curfew: With no film shoots allowed in the state, Bollywood comes to a standstill |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/maharashtra-curfew-with-film-shoots-not-allowed-in-mumbai-bollywood-comes-to-a-standstill-7274836/ |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220821074826/https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/maharashtra-curfew-with-film-shoots-not-allowed-in-mumbai-bollywood-comes-to-a-standstill-7274836/ |archive-date=21 August 2022 |access-date=2023-02-07 |website=The Indian Express |language=en}}</ref> The filming resumed on 25 June at Yash Raj Studios in Mumbai.<ref>{{Cite web |date=25 June 2021 |title=Shah Rukh Khan resumes shooting of Pathan on 29 years of his debut film Deewana |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/movies/bollywood/story/shah-rukh-khan-resumes-shooting-of-pathan-on-29-years-of-his-debut-film-deewana-1819267-2021-06-25 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005122718/https://www.indiatoday.in/movies/bollywood/story/shah-rukh-khan-resumes-shooting-of-pathan-on-29-years-of-his-debut-film-deewana-1819267-2021-06-25 |archive-date=5 October 2021 |access-date=5 October 2021 |website=[[India Today]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=26 June 2021 |title=Shah Rukh Khan resumes Pathan shoot, Deepika Padukone and John Abraham to join next week |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/pathan-shah-rukh-khan-resumes-shoot-deepika-padukone-and-john-abraham-to-join-next-week-7375313/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005124007/https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/pathan-shah-rukh-khan-resumes-shoot-deepika-padukone-and-john-abraham-to-join-next-week-7375313/ |archive-date=5 October 2021 |access-date=5 October 2021 |website=The Indian Express}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Just in! Shah Rukh Khan resumes 'Pathan' shoot |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/just-in-shah-rukh-khan-resumes-pathan-shoot/articleshow/83834824.cms |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005122720/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/just-in-shah-rukh-khan-resumes-pathan-shoot/articleshow/83834824.cms |archive-date=5 October 2021 |access-date=5 October 2021 |website=[[The Times of India]]}}</ref> Later in July, another schedule of the film began.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Deepika Padukone starts shooting for the next schedule of 'Pathan'; simultaneously preps for 'Fighter' |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/deepika-padukone-starts-shooting-for-the-next-schedule-of-pathan-begins-prepping-for-fighter-simultaneously/articleshow/84642363.cms |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005124947/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/deepika-padukone-starts-shooting-for-the-next-schedule-of-pathan-begins-prepping-for-fighter-simultaneously/articleshow/84642363.cms |archive-date=5 October 2021 |access-date=5 October 2021 |website=The Times of India}}</ref> Padukone began filming in this schedule.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=4 July 2021 |title=Deepika Padukone starts shooting for Pathan with Shah Rukh Khan in Mumbai |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/movies/celebrities/story/deepika-padukone-starts-shooting-for-pathan-with-shah-rukh-khan-in-mumbai-1823692-2021-07-04 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005122719/https://www.indiatoday.in/movies/celebrities/story/deepika-padukone-starts-shooting-for-pathan-with-shah-rukh-khan-in-mumbai-1823692-2021-07-04 |archive-date=5 October 2021 |access-date=5 October 2021 |website=[[India Today]]}}</ref> A song was scheduled to be shot from 7 October in [[Mallorca]] and [[Cádiz]],<ref>{{Cite news |title='Pathan': Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone to jet off to Mallorca to shoot a song on October 7 |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/pathan-shah-rukh-khan-and-deepika-padukone-to-jet-off-to-mallorca-to-shoot-a-song-on-october-7/articleshow/86576183.cms |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005124945/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/pathan-shah-rukh-khan-and-deepika-padukone-to-jet-off-to-mallorca-to-shoot-a-song-on-october-7/articleshow/86576183.cms |archive-date=5 October 2021 |access-date=5 October 2021 |website=[[The Times of India]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Pathan: Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone to shoot a song in Mallorca |url=https://www.cinemaexpress.com/hindi/news/2021/sep/28/pathan-shah-rukh-khan-deepika-padukone-to-shoot-a-song-in-mallorca-26931.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005124939/https://www.cinemaexpress.com/hindi/news/2021/sep/28/pathan-shah-rukh-khan-deepika-padukone-to-shoot-a-song-in-mallorca-26931.html |archive-date=5 October 2021 |access-date=5 October 2021 |website=[[Cinema Express]]}}</ref> but the schedule was postponed.<ref>{{Cite news |title='Pathan': Makers of the Shah Rukh Khan-Deepika Padukone starrer postpone Spain schedule |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/entertainment/hindi/pathan-makers-of-the-shah-rukh-khan-deepika-padukone-starrer-postpone-spain-schedule/videoshow/86807092.cms |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211007093404/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/entertainment/hindi/pathan-makers-of-the-shah-rukh-khan-deepika-padukone-starrer-postpone-spain-schedule/videoshow/86807092.cms |archive-date=7 October 2021 |access-date=7 October 2021 |website=The Times of India}}</ref>

In February 2022, production moved to Spain to shoot action sequences including Khan, Padukone, and Abraham.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pathan: Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone Almost Done With Spain Schedule |url=https://www.outlookindia.com/art-entertainment/pathan-shah-rukh-khan-deepika-padukone-almost-done-with-spain-schedule-news-188481 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220912202158/https://www.outlookindia.com/art-entertainment/pathan-shah-rukh-khan-deepika-padukone-almost-done-with-spain-schedule-news-188481 |archive-date=12 September 2022 |access-date=12 October 2022}}</ref> Filming then took place in Mallorca and Cádiz.<ref>{{Cite web |date=15 February 2022 |title=BREAKING: Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, John Abraham to FINALLY head to Spain for Pathan's shoot in March : Bollywood News – Bollywood Hungama |url=https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/bollywood/breaking-shah-rukh-khan-deepika-padukone-john-abraham-finally-head-spain-pathans-shoot-march/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220304131734/https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/bollywood/breaking-shah-rukh-khan-deepika-padukone-john-abraham-finally-head-spain-pathans-shoot-march/ |archive-date=4 March 2022 |access-date=3 March 2022 |website=Bollywood Hungama}}</ref> The Spain schedule was completed in March 2022, with the Mumbai schedule completed in [[Yash Raj Studios]] as the [[Wrap (filmmaking)|film wrapped]]. In October 2022, reshoots and additional scenes were completed. The film was shot in multiple locations across [[India]], [[Afghanistan]], [[Spain]], [[United Arab Emirates|UAE]], [[Turkey]], [[Russia]], [[Italy]] and [[France]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Siddharth Anand: Went To Eight Countries To Shoot 'Pathaan' |url=https://www.outlookindia.com/art-entertainment/siddharth-anand-went-to-eight-countries-to-shoot-pathaan--news-241773 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221202163642/https://www.outlookindia.com/art-entertainment/siddharth-anand-went-to-eight-countries-to-shoot-pathaan--news-241773 |archive-date=2 December 2022 |access-date=2 December 2022 |website=Outlook}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2 December 2022 |title=Shah Rukh Khan's Pathaan was Shot In Eight Countries, Director Siddharth Anand Reveals Why |url=https://www.news18.com/news/movies/shah-rukh-khans-pathaan-was-shot-in-eight-countries-director-siddharth-anand-reveals-why-6519505.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221202164001/https://www.news18.com/news/movies/shah-rukh-khans-pathaan-was-shot-in-eight-countries-director-siddharth-anand-reveals-why-6519505.html |archive-date=2 December 2022 |access-date=2 December 2022 |website=News18}}</ref> It was the first Indian film to be shot in [[Siberia]]'s [[Lake Baikal]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Shah Rukh Khan starrer Pathaan becomes the first Hindi film to be shot at the frozen Lake Baikal in Siberia! |url=https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/features/shah-rukh-khan-starrer-pathaan-becomes-first-hindi-film-shot-frozen-lake-baikal-siberia/ |access-date=17 January 2023 |website=Bollywood Hungama |date=17 January 2023 |archive-date=17 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230117061109/https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/features/shah-rukh-khan-starrer-pathaan-becomes-first-hindi-film-shot-frozen-lake-baikal-siberia/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Music ==
{{Main|Pathaan (soundtrack)}}
The soundtrack album for Pathaan was composed by [[Vishal-Shekhar]], lyrics by Kumaar for the two songs "[[Besharam Rang]]" and "Jhoome Jo Pathaan". The original score was written and composed by [[Sanchit and Ankit Balhara]], two of their score pieces "Jim's Theme" and "Pathaan's Theme" were released with the soundtrack album by YRF Music on 22 December 2022.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2022-12-20 |title=A still of 'Jhoome Jo Pathaan' song from Pathaan unveiled, makes fans excited |work=The Economic Times |url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/new-updates/a-still-of-jhoome-jo-pathaan-song-from-pathaan-unveiled-makes-fans-excited/articleshow/96371137.cms |access-date=2023-02-28 |issn=0013-0389 |archive-date=28 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230228101106/https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/new-updates/a-still-of-jhoome-jo-pathaan-song-from-pathaan-unveiled-makes-fans-excited/articleshow/96371137.cms |url-status=live }}</ref> Apart from its original, the soundtrack album was released in Tamil and Telugu.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pathaan: Telugu releases get sidelined thanks to Shah Rukh Khan's rampage |url=https://www.ottplay.com/news/shah-rukh-khans-pathaan-sidelines-latest-telugu-releases-at-the-tollywood-box-office/01b378791a752 |access-date=2023-03-02 |website=OTTPlay |language=en |archive-date=2 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230302122101/https://www.ottplay.com/news/shah-rukh-khans-pathaan-sidelines-latest-telugu-releases-at-the-tollywood-box-office/01b378791a752 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Both the tracks – "Besharam Rang" and "Jhoome Jo Pathaan" – were conceptualized in a 'old-school' method,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-02-10 |title=Vishal – Shekhar Reveal The Inspiration Behind Pathaan Song 'Jhoome Jo Pathaan' |url=https://www.outlookindia.com/art-entertainment/vishal-shekhar-reveal-the-inspiration-behind-pathaan-song-jhoome-jo-pathaan--news-261065 |access-date=2023-03-02 |website=Outlook Magazine |archive-date=28 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230228101107/https://www.outlookindia.com/art-entertainment/vishal-shekhar-reveal-the-inspiration-behind-pathaan-song-jhoome-jo-pathaan--news-261065 |url-status=live }}</ref> the latter a modern [[qawwali]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-02-08 |title=Exclusive: 'Besharam Rang' secret REVEALED! Composer duo Vishal and Sheykhar decode the making of Deepika Padukone starrer song, watch |website=Bollywood Hungama |url=https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/features/exclusive-besharam-rang-secret-revealed-composer-duo-vishal-sheykhar-decode-making-deepika-padukone-starrer-song-watch/ |access-date=2023-03-02 |language=en |archive-date=2 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230302123604/https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/features/exclusive-besharam-rang-secret-revealed-composer-duo-vishal-sheykhar-decode-making-deepika-padukone-starrer-song-watch/ |url-status=live }}</ref> "Besharam Rang" was the only Bollywood track of 2022 to gather 100 million views on YouTube in the least number of days (five days).<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-12-22 |title=Besharam Rang Becomes The Fastest Bollywood Song To Cross 100 Million? Shah Rukh Khan & Deepika Padukone Fans Joke "Pura Desh Promotion Me Laga Hua Hai" |url=https://www.koimoi.com/bollywood-news/besharam-rang-becomes-the-fastest-bollywood-song-to-cross-100-million-shah-rukh-khan-deepika-padukone-fans-joke-pura-desh-promotion-me-laga-hua-hai/ |access-date=2023-02-28 |website=Koimoi |language=en-US |archive-date=28 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230228101106/https://www.koimoi.com/bollywood-news/besharam-rang-becomes-the-fastest-bollywood-song-to-cross-100-million-shah-rukh-khan-deepika-padukone-fans-joke-pura-desh-promotion-me-laga-hua-hai/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Upon its release, "Jhoome Jo Pathaan" crossed 5.1 million views and 738K likes on [[YouTube]] within four hours of release.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jhoome Jo: SRK, Deepika-starrer Pathaan's song creates new record, crosses 5.1 million views in 4 hours |url=https://newsable.asianetnews.com/entertainment/jhoome-jo-srk-deepika-starrer-pathaan-s-song-creates-new-record-crosses-5-1-million-views-in-4-hours-vma-rnaf3n |access-date=2023-02-28 |website=Asianet News Network Pvt Ltd |language=en |archive-date=28 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230228101106/https://newsable.asianetnews.com/entertainment/jhoome-jo-srk-deepika-starrer-pathaan-s-song-creates-new-record-crosses-5-1-million-views-in-4-hours-vma-rnaf3n |url-status=live }}</ref> Also, the song received 1 million views in less than 30 minutes after it was released.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |date=2022-12-23 |title=Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone's Jhoome Jo Pathan Song Gets 1 Mn Views in 30 Minutes |url=https://www.news18.com/news/movies/shah-rukh-khan-deepika-padukones-jhoome-jo-pathan-song-gets-1-mn-views-in-30-minutes-6678097.html |access-date=2023-03-02 |website=News18 |language=en |archive-date=2 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230302072317/https://www.news18.com/news/movies/shah-rukh-khan-deepika-padukones-jhoome-jo-pathan-song-gets-1-mn-views-in-30-minutes-6678097.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The song also received more than 18 million views within 20 hours of its release.<ref name=":6" />

Close to the film's release date, two promotional singles – "Pathaan – Teaser"<ref>{{Citation |title=Pathaan - Teaser - Single by Shah Rukh Khan, Sanchit Balhara & Ankit Balhara |date=2022-11-02 |url=https://music.apple.com/ng/album/pathaan-teaser-single/1652633206 |language=en-GB |access-date=2023-03-02 |archive-date=2 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230302122102/https://music.apple.com/ng/album/pathaan-teaser-single/1652633206 |url-status=live }}</ref> composed by Balhara and an Arabic version of "Jhoome Jo Pathaan" were released.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Shaikh |first=Afreen |date=2023-01-20 |title='Pathaan': Arab singers Grini and Jamila release Arabic version of Shah Rukh Khan starrer 'Jhoome Jo Pathaan' |url=https://me.mashable.com/entertainment/24244/pathaan-arab-singers-grini-and-jamila-release-arabic-version-of-shah-rukh-khan-starrer-jhoome-jo-pat |access-date=2023-02-28 |website=Mashable ME |language=en-ae |archive-date=28 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230228101107/https://me.mashable.com/entertainment/24244/pathaan-arab-singers-grini-and-jamila-release-arabic-version-of-shah-rukh-khan-starrer-jhoome-jo-pat |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Controversy ==
Right-wing [[Hindutva]] groups alleged that the song "[[Besharam Rang]]" promotes obscenity and that it disrespects the saffron colour as Padukone features in a saffron bikini in the song.<ref>{{Cite web |date=19 December 2022 |title=Besharam Rang': How the controversy surrounding the 'Pathaan' song refuses to die down |url=https://www.firstpost.com/explainers/besharam-rang-how-the-controversy-surrounding-the-pathaan-song-refuses-to-die-down-11834841.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221223084033/https://www.firstpost.com/explainers/besharam-rang-how-the-controversy-surrounding-the-pathaan-song-refuses-to-die-down-11834841.html |archive-date=23 December 2022 |access-date=23 December 2022 |website=Firstpost}}</ref> [[Madhya Pradesh]] home minister [[Narottam Mishra]] called the song objectionable and warned that his government may consider banning the film if costumes in the song are not corrected.<ref>{{Cite web |date=14 December 2022 |title=Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra on 'Besharam Rang': 'Deepika's costume in Pathaan's song objectionable' |url=https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/madhya-pradesh-home-minister-narottam-mishra-on-besharam-rang-deepikas-costume-in-pathaans-song-objectionable-11808431.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221223084549/https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/madhya-pradesh-home-minister-narottam-mishra-on-besharam-rang-deepikas-costume-in-pathaans-song-objectionable-11808431.html |archive-date=23 December 2022 |access-date=23 December 2022 |website=Firstpost}}</ref> Khan's effigies and posters were burnt in various cities of Madhya Pradesh as a symbol of protest against the film.<ref>{{Cite news |date=16 December 2022 |title=Opposing his movie Shahrukh's effigy, posters burnt |work=The Daily Pioneer |url=https://www.dailypioneer.com/2022/state-editions/opposing-his-movie-shahrukh---s-effigy--posters-burnt.html |url-status=live |access-date=23 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221223091537/https://www.dailypioneer.com/2022/state-editions/opposing-his-movie-shahrukh---s-effigy--posters-burnt.html |archive-date=23 December 2022}}</ref> TV actor [[Mukesh Khanna]] questioned the Censor Board for passing the song despite obscenity.<ref>[https://www.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/mukesh-khanna-on-besharam-rang-controversy-how-could-the-censor-board-pass-it-did-they-not-see-the-provocative-dressing-101671199116171.html Mukesh Khanna on Besharam Rang song controversy: 'How could the censor board pass it, did they not see ?'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221223085418/https://www.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/mukesh-khanna-on-besharam-rang-controversy-how-could-the-censor-board-pass-it-did-they-not-see-the-provocative-dressing-101671199116171.html |date=23 December 2022 }}''Hindustan Times''. 16 December 2022</ref> ''[[The News Minute]]'' termed the entire controversy as "shameless misreading for jingoism" and stated that there were five different costumes worn by Padukone in the song and the boycotters are criticizing this particular scene which features merely for 20 seconds as it suits their agenda.<ref>{{Cite news |date=19 December 2022 |title=Deepika's saffron bikini and 'Besharam Rang': A shameless misreading for jingoism |work=[[The News Minute]] |url=https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/deepika-s-saffron-bikini-and-besharam-rang-shameless-misreading-jingoism-171092 |url-status=live |access-date=23 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221223090540/https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/deepika-s-saffron-bikini-and-besharam-rang-shameless-misreading-jingoism-171092 |archive-date=23 December 2022}}</ref> A Muslim organization also objected to the song.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Now, Muslim outfit objects to Deepika, SRK-starrer Pathaan |url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2022/dec/16/now-muslim-outfit-objects-to-deepika-srk-starrer-pathaan-2528678.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221231004747/https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2022/dec/16/now-muslim-outfit-objects-to-deepika-srk-starrer-pathaan-2528678.html |archive-date=31 December 2022 |access-date=31 December 2022 |website=[[The New Indian Express]]}}</ref>

On 29 December 2022, the [[Central Board of Film Certification]] asked the filmmakers to make some changes in the film, including in its songs citing culture and faith.<ref>{{Cite news |date=29 Dec 2022 |title="Our Culture Is...": Censor Seeks Changes In Shah Rukh Khan's 'Pathaan' |work=NDTV India |url=https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/pathaan-besharam-rang-shah-rukh-khan-pathaan-row-censor-board-advises-changes-in-film-songs-3646912 |url-status=live |access-date=29 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221229160237/https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/pathaan-besharam-rang-shah-rukh-khan-pathaan-row-censor-board-advises-changes-in-film-songs-3646912 |archive-date=29 December 2022}}</ref> The film went through some minor changes though the saffron dress scene in the song "Besharam Rang" was reportedly retained.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Deepika Padukone's orange bikini not to be trimmed in Shah Rukh Khan's Pathaan: Reports |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/movies/bollywood/story/deepika-padukones-orange-bikini-not-to-be-trimmed-in-shah-rukh-khans-pathaan-reports-2317530-2023-01-05 |url-status=live |website=[[India Today]] |access-date=18 January 2023 |archive-date=29 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230129024607/https://www.indiatoday.in/movies/bollywood/story/deepika-padukones-orange-bikini-not-to-be-trimmed-in-shah-rukh-khans-pathaan-reports-2317530-2023-01-05 }}</ref> ''Pathaan'' was later granted a U/A certificate by the Board.<ref name="runtime">{{Cite web |date=17 January 2023 |title=Pathaan runtime REVEALED! CBFC clears the Shah Rukh Khan starrer with UA certificate |url=https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/bollywood/pathaan-runtime-revealed-cbfc-clears-shah-rukh-khan-starrer-ua-certificate/ |website=[[Bollywood Hungama]] |access-date=17 January 2023 |archive-date=17 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230117125659/https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/bollywood/pathaan-runtime-revealed-cbfc-clears-shah-rukh-khan-starrer-ua-certificate/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

On 4 January 2023, members of [[Bajrang Dal]] tore down the posters of the film at an [[Ahmedabad]] mall. They also warned them to not release the film in theatres.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pathaan controversy: Bajrang Dal vandalises Ahmedabad mall, tears posters of SRK, Deepika Padukone's upcoming film |url=https://www.businesstoday.in/trending/entertainment/story/pathaan-controversy-bajrang-dal-vandalises-ahmedabad-mall-tears-posters-of-srk-deepika-padukones-upcoming-film-358972-2023-01-05 |url-status=live |website=[[Business Today (India)|Business Today]] |date=5 January 2023 |access-date=24 January 2023 |archive-date=24 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230124041633/https://www.businesstoday.in/trending/entertainment/story/pathaan-controversy-bajrang-dal-vandalises-ahmedabad-mall-tears-posters-of-srk-deepika-padukones-upcoming-film-358972-2023-01-05 }}</ref> Gujarat Multiplex Association wrote a letter to Chief Minister [[Bhupendra Patel]] and Home Minister [[Harsh Sanghavi]] on the threats received by the theater owners in [[Gujarat]] from various groups. Sanghavi assured protection to multiplexes on the release of the film and instructed police chiefs of cities and districts to provide protection to the theatres.<ref>{{Cite web |title='Pathaan' release: Gujarat minister Harsh Sanghavi assures protection to multiplexes |url=https://www.indianexpress.com/article/cities/ahmedabad/pathaan-release-gujarat-harsh-sanghavi-protection-multiplexes-8389994/ |url-status=live |website=[[Indian Express]] |date=18 January 2023 |access-date=24 January 2023 |archive-date=24 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230124041636/https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/ahmedabad/pathaan-release-gujarat-harsh-sanghavi-protection-multiplexes-8389994/ }}</ref>

On 17 January 2023, during the BJP national executive meeting in New Delhi, Prime Minister [[Narendra Modi]] told his party workers and leaders to refrain from making unnecessary remarks on films.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Refrain from unnecessary remarks on films: PM Modi's diktat to BJP leaders |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/refrain-from-making-unnecessary-remarks-on-films-pm-modis-diktat-to-bjp-leaders-2322830-2023-01-17 |url-status=live |website=[[India Today]] |access-date=18 January 2023 |archive-date=18 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230118073202/https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/refrain-from-making-unnecessary-remarks-on-films-pm-modis-diktat-to-bjp-leaders-2322830-2023-01-17 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=PM Modi's stern message to BJP cadre amid row over films, says 'refrain…' |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/irrelevant-pm-narendra-modi-s-message-to-bjp-cadre-amid-controversies-over-films-pathaan-shah-rukh-khan-101673974527606.html |url-status=live |website=[[Hindustan Times]] |date=17 January 2023 |access-date=18 January 2023 |archive-date=18 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230118044649/https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/irrelevant-pm-narendra-modi-s-message-to-bjp-cadre-amid-controversies-over-films-pathaan-shah-rukh-khan-101673974527606.html }}</ref> Despite this, Bajrang Dal activists tore down posters of the film and set them on fire at a cinema hall which was about to screen the movie in [[Guwahati]]. [[Assam]]'s CM [[Himanta Biswa Sarma]] assured Shah Rukh Khan that his government would maintain the law and order in the state.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://scroll.in/latest/1042333/after-vandalism-in-guwahati-assam-cm-assures-shah-rukh-khan-of-smooth-screening-of-pathaan |title=After vandalism in Guwahati, Assam CM assures Shah Rukh Khan of smooth screening of 'Pathaan' ''scroll.in'' |date=22 January 2023 |access-date=24 January 2023 |archive-date=24 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230124143559/https://scroll.in/latest/1042333/after-vandalism-in-guwahati-assam-cm-assures-shah-rukh-khan-of-smooth-screening-of-pathaan |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Marketing ==
The release date of ''Pathaan'' was revealed on 2 March 2022 through an announcement teaser.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Shah Rukh Khan Is All Set To Rule The Silver Screen With Release Of 'Pathan' In Jan 2023, WATCH Teaser |url=https://news.abplive.com/entertainment/pathan-teaser-shah-rukh-khan-deepika-padukone-john-abraham-pathan-to-release-on-25-january-2023-1516668 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220302232147/https://news.abplive.com/entertainment/pathan-teaser-shah-rukh-khan-deepika-padukone-john-abraham-pathan-to-release-on-25-january-2023-1516668 |archive-date=2 March 2022 |access-date=2 March 2022 |website=ABP News|date=2 March 2022 }}</ref> A first look motion poster was revealed on 25 June.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Netizens say 'legend is back' as Shah Rukh Khan shares first motion poster of Pathaan |url=https://www.timesnownews.com/entertainment-news/netizens-say-legend-is-back-as-shah-rukh-khan-shares-first-motion-poster-of-pathaan-bollywood-news-entertainment-news-article-92454200 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625135244/https://www.timesnownews.com/entertainment-news/netizens-say-legend-is-back-as-shah-rukh-khan-shares-first-motion-poster-of-pathaan-bollywood-news-entertainment-news-article-92454200 |archive-date=25 June 2022 |access-date=24 June 2022 |website=Times Now}}</ref> The teaser of the film was released on 2 November, coinciding with Shah Rukh Khan's 57th birthday.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pathaan Teaser: Shah Rukh Khan unveils slick avatar as a suave spy in upcoming action-entertainer; rings in 57th birthday with comeback movie teaser |url=https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/bollywood/pathaan-teaser-shah-rukh-khan-unveils-slick-avatar-suave-spy-upcoming-action-entertainer-rings-57th-birthday-comeback-movie-teaser/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221102054804/https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/bollywood/pathaan-teaser-shah-rukh-khan-unveils-slick-avatar-suave-spy-upcoming-action-entertainer-rings-57th-birthday-comeback-movie-teaser/ |archive-date=2 November 2022 |access-date=2 November 2022 |website=Bollywood Hungama|date=2 November 2022 }}</ref> It received 22 million views and more than 1 million likes in less than 2 days on [[YouTube]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pathaan teaser: First glimpse of the Shah Rukh Khan starrer crosses 22M views in two days |url=https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/bollywood/pathaan-teaser-first-glimpse-shah-rukh-khan-starrer-crosses-22m-views-two-days/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221104044629/https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/bollywood/pathaan-teaser-first-glimpse-shah-rukh-khan-starrer-crosses-22m-views-two-days/ |archive-date=4 November 2022 |access-date=4 November 2022 |website=Bollywood Hungama|date=4 November 2022 }}</ref> The official trailer was released on 10 January 2023.<ref>{{Cite web |title=BREAKING: Trailer of Shah Rukh Khan's Pathaan to be FINALLY launched on January 10 |url=https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/bollywood/breaking-trailer-shah-rukh-khans-pathaan-finally-launched-january-10/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230104044708/https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/bollywood/breaking-trailer-shah-rukh-khans-pathaan-finally-launched-january-10/ |archive-date=4 January 2023 |access-date=4 January 2023 |website=Bollywood Hungama|date=4 January 2023 }}</ref> The film's trailer was also showcased on [[Burj Khalifa]] on 14 January 2023.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Trailer of Shah Rukh Khan starrer Pathaan to be screened on the iconic Burj Khalifa! |url=https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/bollywood/trailer-shah-rukh-khan-starrer-pathaan-screened-iconic-burj-khalifa/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230113150010/https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/bollywood/trailer-shah-rukh-khan-starrer-pathaan-screened-iconic-burj-khalifa/ |archive-date=13 January 2023 |access-date=13 January 2023 |website=Bollywood Hungama|date=13 January 2023 }}</ref> Against norm, pre-release publicity was limited with no media interactions or public events.<ref name="publicity">{{Cite news |last=Cyril |first=Grace |date=20 January 2023 |title=Pathaan saves Rs 15-20 crore with no publicity before release, is this the new way forward for films? |work=India Today |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/movies/bollywood/story/pathaan-saves-rs-15-20-crore-with-no-publicity-before-release-is-this-the-new-way-forward-for-films-exclusive-2323940-2023-01-20 |access-date=29 January 2023 |archive-date=29 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230129105352/https://www.indiatoday.in/movies/bollywood/story/pathaan-saves-rs-15-20-crore-with-no-publicity-before-release-is-this-the-new-way-forward-for-films-exclusive-2323940-2023-01-20 |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Release ==
===Theatrical===
''Pathaan'' was theatrically released, in standard, [[IMAX]] and [[4DX]] versions, in India on 25 January 2023, coinciding with [[Republic Day (India)|Indian Republic Day]] weekend along with dubbed versions in [[Tamil language|Tamil]] and [[Telugu language|Telugu]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2 March 2022 |title=Netizens Celebrate the Return of King as Shah Rukh Khan Announces Pathaan's Release Date |url=https://www.news18.com/news/movies/netizens-celebrate-the-return-of-king-as-shah-rukh-khan-announces-pathans-release-date-4826234.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220303055702/https://www.news18.com/news/movies/netizens-celebrate-the-return-of-king-as-shah-rukh-khan-announces-pathans-release-date-4826234.html |archive-date=3 March 2022 |access-date=3 March 2022 |website=News18}}</ref><ref name="NDTV" /> ''Pathaan'' was the first Indian film to release in the novel ICE theatre format.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pathaan creates history! Shah Rukh Khan starrer becomes the first Indian film to release on ICE theatre format |url=https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/bollywood/pathaan-creates-history-shah-rukh-khan-starrer-becomes-first-indian-film-release-ice-theatre-format/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221223135803/https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/bollywood/pathaan-creates-history-shah-rukh-khan-starrer-becomes-first-indian-film-release-ice-theatre-format/ |archive-date=23 December 2022 |access-date=23 December 2022 |website=Bollywood Hungama|date=23 December 2022 }}</ref> The film was released in 8000 screens worldwide, which included 5000 screens in Hindi and 450 screens in Tamil and Telugu versions within India.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pathaan Closing In On The 50 Cr Openers At The Big Multiplexes - Record Release |url=https://www.boxofficeindia.com/report-details.php?articleid=7496 |access-date=25 January 2023 |archive-date=25 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230125034204/https://www.boxofficeindia.com/report-details.php?articleid=7496 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The film was theatrically released in [[Bangladesh]] on 12 May 2023 and thus became the first Hindi film to release in the country.<ref>{{cite web |access-date=5 May 2023 |title=YRF's Pathaan becomes first Hindi film to release in Bangladesh! |url=https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/bollywood/yrfs-pathaan-becomes-first-hindi-film-release-bangladesh/ |website=Bollywood Hungama|date=5 May 2023 }}</ref> The film was released in [[Russia]] on 13 July 2023.<ref>{{cite web |access-date=9 June 2023 |title=Shah Rukh Khan starrer Pathaan to release in Russia and CIS on July 13; hit 3000+ screens |url=https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/bollywood/shah-rukh-khan-starrer-pathaan-release-russia-cis-july-13-hit-3000-screens/ |website=Bollywood Hungama|date=9 June 2023 }}</ref> The film is also scheduled to release in [[Japan]] on 1 September 2023.<ref>{{cite web |access-date=5 July 2023 |title=Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, John Abraham starrer Pathaan to release in Japan on September 1, 2023 |url=https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/bollywood/shah-rukh-khan-deepika-padukone-john-abraham-starrer-pathaan-release-japan-september-1-2023/ |work=Bollywood Hungama|date=5 July 2023 }}</ref>

===Home media===
The [[Streaming media|digital streaming rights]] of ''Pathaan'' were sold to [[Amazon Prime Video]] for {{INR}}100 [[crore]]. On the platform, the film's extended version was premiered on 22 March 2023 in [[Hindi]], [[Tamil language|Tamil]] and [[Telugu language|Telugu]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-02-20 |title=Pathan OTT Release Date: When, Where to Watch Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone Movie |url=https://tech.hindustantimes.com/how-to/pathan-ott-release-date-when-where-to-watch-shah-rukh-khan-deepika-padukone-movie-71676878203442.html |access-date=2023-03-30 |website=HT Tech |language=en |archive-date=30 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330063352/https://tech.hindustantimes.com/how-to/pathan-ott-release-date-when-where-to-watch-shah-rukh-khan-deepika-padukone-movie-71676878203442.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |access-date=15 March 2023 |title=Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, John Abraham starrer Pathaan to premiere on Prime Video on March 22; deleted scenes may be released on OTT version |url=https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/bollywood/shah-rukh-khan-deepika-padukone-john-abraham-starrer-pathaan-premiere-prime-video-march-22-deleted-scenes-may-released-ott-version/ |website=Bollywood Hungama|date=15 March 2023 }}</ref> The satellite rights of the film have been acquired by [[Disney Star|Star Gold]], where it was telecasted on 18 June 2023.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bharatvarsh |first=TV9 |date=2023-06-05 |title=शाहरुख खान की 'पठान' का वर्ल्ड टेलीविजन प्रीमियर, जानिए कब और कहां देखें |url=https://www.tv9hindi.com/entertainment/television/world-television-premiere-of-shah-rukh-khans-pathaan-know-when-and-where-to-watch-1901542.html |access-date=2023-06-08 |website=TV9 Bharatvarsh |language=hi}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=অপেক্ষার অবসান, এবার আপনার ড্রয়িংরুমে পাঠান! কবে কোথায় রইল বিস্তারিত |url=https://eisamay.com/entertainment/tv-news/pathaan-tv-premiere-shah-rukh-khan-deepika-padukone-john-abraham-telecast-date-time-here/articleshow/100744456.cms |access-date=2023-06-08 |website=Eisamay |language=bn}}</ref>

== Reception ==
=== Critical response ===
''Pathaan'' received positive reviews from critics and audiences, with praise for its action sequences, music and cast performances, with particular praise for Khan, Padukone and Abraham's performances.<ref>{{Cite web |date=25 January 2023 |title=Pathaan Box Office Estimate Day 1: Shah Rukh Khan starrer collects Rs. 53-55 crores; is the biggest opener in the history of Hindi cinema |url=https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/box-office-special-features/pathaan-box-office-estimate-day-1-shah-rukh-khan-starrer-collects-rs-53-55-crores-biggest-opener-history-hindi-cinema/ |website=Bollywood Hungama |access-date=25 January 2023 |archive-date=25 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230125203157/https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/box-office-special-features/pathaan-box-office-estimate-day-1-shah-rukh-khan-starrer-collects-rs-53-55-crores-biggest-opener-history-hindi-cinema/ |url-status=live }}</ref> On the [[review aggregator]] website [[Rotten Tomatoes]], the film has an approval rating of 83%, with an average score of 6.8/10, based on reviews from 30 critics. The site's critical consensus reads, "A slightly slapdash but still intoxicating blend of occasionally disparate ingredients, ''Pathaan'' offers over-the-top action thrills with Bollywood bells and whistles".<ref>{{cite Rotten Tomatoes|title=Pathaan|id=pathaan|type=m|access-date=6 February 2023}}</ref>

[[File:Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, John Abraham attend the press conference and success celebration of Pathaan.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|left|Abraham, Padukone and Khan (l-r) at an event celebrating ''Pathaan''{{'}}s box-office success]]

==== India ====
[[Taran Adarsh]] of ''[[Bollywood Hungama]]'' rated the film 4.5 out of 5 stars and termed the film a "complete entertainer replete with action, emotions, patriotism, humour, thrill, and of course, the star power of Shah Rukh Khan".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pathaan Movie Review |url=https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/amp/movie/pathaan/critic-review/pathaan-movie-review/pathaan-is-a-complete-entertainer-replete-with-action-emotions-patriotism-humour-thrill-and-of-course-star-power/ |access-date=25 January 2023 |website=[[Bollywood Hungama]] |date=25 January 2023 |archive-date=25 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230125063345/https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/amp/movie/pathaan/critic-review/pathaan-movie-review/pathaan-is-a-complete-entertainer-replete-with-action-emotions-patriotism-humour-thrill-and-of-course-star-power/ |url-status=live }}{{rating|4.5|5}}</ref> Sukanya Verma of ''[[Rediff]]'' gave the film a rating of 4 out of 5 stars and wrote, "Shah Rukh Khan's weathered intensity, grizzly charisma and trademark wit lends ''Pathaan's'' all-out, devil-may-care antics a sense of purpose that evades mindless acts of mayhem".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Verma |first=Sukanya |date=January 25, 2023 |title=Pathaan Review: Shah Rukh Wows And How! |language=en |work=[[Rediff.com]] |url=https://www.rediff.com/movies/review/pathaan-review/20230125.htm |access-date=25 January 2023 |archive-date=25 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230125090704/https://www.rediff.com/movies/review/pathaan-review/20230125.htm |url-status=live }}{{rating|4|5}}</ref> Devesh Sharma of ''[[Filmfare]]'' rated the film 4 out of 5 stars and called it a "visual spectacle" while also opining that the action choreography was "truly out of this world".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Sharma |first=Devesh |date=January 25, 2023 |title=Pathaan Movie Review |language=en |work=[[Filmfare]] |url=https://www.filmfare.com/reviews/bollywood-movies/pathaan-movie-review-56593.html |access-date=25 January 2023 |archive-date=25 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230125111855/https://www.filmfare.com/reviews/bollywood-movies/pathaan-movie-review-56593.html |url-status=live }}{{rating|4|5}}</ref> [[Saibal Chatterjee]] of ''[[NDTV]]'' rated the film 3.5 out of 5 and said, "Pathaan swings and strikes with all the style and aplomb in the world. It will be a hard act to follow".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Chatterjee |first=Saibal |author-link=Saibal Chatterjee |date=January 25, 2023 |title=Pathaan Review: Shah Rukh Khan Doesn't Miss A Trick In Phenomenally Entertaining Spy Thriller |work=[[NDTV]] |url=https://www.ndtv.com/entertainment/pathaan-review-shah-rukh-khan-doesnt-miss-a-trick-in-phenomenally-entertaining-spy-thriller-3722920 |access-date=25 January 2023 |archive-date=25 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230125085635/https://www.ndtv.com/entertainment/pathaan-review-shah-rukh-khan-doesnt-miss-a-trick-in-phenomenally-entertaining-spy-thriller-3722920 |url-status=live }}{{rating|3.5|5}}</ref> Renuka Vyavahare of ''[[The Times of India]]'' rated the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote, "''Pathaan'' has all the ingredients of a masala potboiler — slowmo entries, iconic battle of good versus bad and most importantly a sexy-smouldering Shah Rukh Khan, who can fight the good fight on and off the screen".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Vyavahare |first=Renuka |date=January 26, 2023 |title=Pathaan Review: An entertaining globetrotting spy thriller that's massy, messy and outlandish {{!}} Pathaan Movie Review |work=[[The Times of India]] |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/movie-reviews/pathaan/movie-review/97298218.cms |access-date=27 January 2023 |archive-date=26 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230126103533/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/movie-reviews/pathaan/movie-review/97298218.cms |url-status=live }}{{rating|3.5|5}}</ref> Tanisha Bagchi of ''[[The Quint]]'' gave the film a rating of 3.5 out of 5 and wrote, "If Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff's showdown in War kept you on the edge of your seats, Shah Rukh and John's fistfights and blows are nothing short of whistle-worthy".<ref>{{Cite web |title='Pathaan' Review: Fasten Your Seatbelt For Shah Rukh's Entertaining Comeback |url=https://www.thequint.com/amp/story/entertainment/movie-reviews/pathaan-review-shah-rukh-khan-deepika-padukone-siddharth-anand-john-abraham-yash-raj-films |access-date=25 January 2023 |website=[[The Quint]] |date=25 January 2023 |archive-date=25 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230125120012/https://www.thequint.com/amp/story/entertainment/movie-reviews/pathaan-review-shah-rukh-khan-deepika-padukone-siddharth-anand-john-abraham-yash-raj-films |url-status=live }}</ref> Abhimanyu Mathur of ''[[DNA India]]'' rated the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and praised the performances and score but termed some of the action scenes as "over-the-top and unbelievable".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Mathur |first=Abhimanyu |date=January 25, 2023 |title=Pathaan movie review: Shah Rukh Khan the superstar is back to revive Bollywood in his massiest, paisa vasool entertainer |language=en |work=[[DNA India]] |url=https://www.dnaindia.com/bollywood/report-pathaan-movie-review-shah-rukh-khan-the-superstar-is-back-to-revive-bollywood-in-paisa-vasool-entertainer-3019331/ |access-date=28 January 2023 |archive-date=28 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230128053102/https://www.dnaindia.com/bollywood/report-pathaan-movie-review-shah-rukh-khan-the-superstar-is-back-to-revive-bollywood-in-paisa-vasool-entertainer-3019331 |url-status=live }}{{rating|3.5|5}}</ref>

Ritika Handoo of ''[[Zee News]]'' rated the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and mentioned, "There is not even a single dull moment in this YRF actioner. The action sequences between SRK and John are over-the-top yet mind-numbing".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Handoo |first=Ritika |date=January 25, 2023 |title=Pathaan Movie Review: Blockbuster Shah Rukh Khan in a Face-off with John Abraham 2.0 |language=en |work=[[Zee News]] |url=https://zeenews.india.com/bollywood/pathaan-movie-review-blockbuster-shah-rukh-khan-in-a-face-off-with-john-abraham-2-0-deepika-padukone-is-kickass-in-high-octane-actioner-2565639.html |access-date=28 January 2023 |archive-date=26 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230126123052/https://zeenews.india.com/bollywood/pathaan-movie-review-blockbuster-shah-rukh-khan-in-a-face-off-with-john-abraham-2-0-deepika-padukone-is-kickass-in-high-octane-actioner-2565639.html |url-status=live }}{{rating|3.5|5}}</ref> Tushar Joshi of ''[[India Today]]'' rated the film 3.5 out of 5 and stated, "Shah Rukh is the heart of ''Pathaan''".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Joshi |first=Tushar |date=January 25, 2023 |title=Pathaan Movie Review: Shah Rukh's seat belt warning was serious! This bumpy ride is definitely worth your ticket |language=en |work=[[India Today]] |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/movies/reviews/story/pathaan-movie-review-shah-rukh-khans-seat-belt-warning-was-serious-this-bumpy-ride-is-definitely-worth-your-ticket-2326061-2023-01-25 |access-date=28 January 2023 |archive-date=28 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230128095524/https://www.indiatoday.in/movies/reviews/story/pathaan-movie-review-shah-rukh-khans-seat-belt-warning-was-serious-this-bumpy-ride-is-definitely-worth-your-ticket-2326061-2023-01-25 |url-status=live }}{{rating|3.5|5}}</ref> Pooja Biraia Jaiswal of ''[[The Week]]'' rated the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote, "Pathaan is a dishoom-dishoom joy ride between Khan and his perfectly beefed-up antagonist Abraham. The intention is not to let the narrative drive the story forward, but to let the larger-than-life magic of its lead superstars cast its spell".<ref>{{Cite web |title='Pathaan' review: Shah Rukh Khan shines in this action-packed joyride |url=https://www.theweek.in/review/movies/2023/01/25/pathaan-review-shah-rukh-khan-shines-in-this-action-packed-joyride.amp.html |access-date=25 January 2023 |website=Theweek |archive-date=27 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230127190708/https://www.theweek.in/review/movies/2023/01/25/pathaan-review-shah-rukh-khan-shines-in-this-action-packed-joyride.amp.html |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Shubhra Gupta]] of ''[[The Indian Express]]'' rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and opined that it has "finally cracked the requirements of an action movie — non-stop action, leavened by glamorous leads, topped by the guy who can save the world, a high-octane set piece and an emo line at a time".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gupta |first=Shubhra |author-link=Shubhra Gupta |date=25 January 2023 |title=Pathaan movie review: Shah Rukh Khan, and Bollywood, are back with this patriotic spy thriller |language=en |work=[[The Indian Express]] |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/movie-review/pathaan-movie-review-shah-rukh-khan-back-with-patriotic-spy-thriller-8403468/lite/ |access-date=28 January 2023 |archive-date=27 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230127190711/https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/movie-review/pathaan-movie-review-shah-rukh-khan-back-with-patriotic-spy-thriller-8403468/lite/ |url-status=live }}{{rating|3|5}}</ref> [[Anna M. M. Vetticad]] of ''Firstpost'' rated the film 2.5 out of 5 and wrote, "''Pathaan'' is so much fun when it's being fun especially with a smashing Salman Khan cameo – that it is tempting to overlook its play-it-safe politics".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Vetticad |first=Anna MM |author-link=Anna M. M. Vetticad |date=25 January 2023 |title=Pathaan movie review: Shah Rukh Khan zips around a slick, addictive version of the Akshay Kumar universe-Entertainment News, Firstpost |language=en |work=Firstpost |url=https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/pathaan-movie-review-shah-rukh-khan-zips-around-a-slick-addictive-version-of-the-akshay-kumar-universe-12046272.html |access-date=28 January 2023 |archive-date=28 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230128081503/https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/pathaan-movie-review-shah-rukh-khan-zips-around-a-slick-addictive-version-of-the-akshay-kumar-universe-12046272.html |url-status=live }}{{rating|2.5|5}}</ref>

Sajesh Mohan of ''[[Onmanorama]]'' stated that "Siddharth Anand's ''Pathaan'' lays out a perfect red-carpet entry for Shah Rukh Khan into the [[YRF Spy Universe]] with its right formula of high-octane death and logic-defying action sequences seasoned with desh bhakti (patriotism) and qurbani (sacrifice)."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Mohan |first=Sajesh |date=January 25, 2023 |title=Pathaan - SRK's king-style entry into YRF spyverse |language=en |work=[[Onmanorama]] |url=https://www.onmanorama.com/entertainment/movie-reviews/2023/01/25/pathaan-srk-king-style-entry-into-yrf-spyverse-movie-review.html |access-date=25 January 2023 |archive-date=25 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230125130036/https://www.onmanorama.com/entertainment/movie-reviews/2023/01/25/pathaan-srk-king-style-entry-into-yrf-spyverse-movie-review.html |url-status=live }}{{rating|3|5}}</ref> Monika Rawal Kukreja of ''[[Hindustan Times]]'' stated, "''Pathaan'' is your true-blue commercial, masala entertainer that's not trying to send across any message or be a social commentary on the current state of affairs in the country. It's fun, non-fussy and fantastic at the same time".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pathaan movie review: Shah Rukh Khan's comeback film is high on action, low on logic |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/pathaan-movie-review-shah-rukh-khan-s-comeback-film-is-high-on-action-low-on-logic-101674629520725-amp.html |access-date=25 January 2023 |website=Hindustantimes |date=25 January 2023 |archive-date=27 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230127190707/https://www.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/pathaan-movie-review-shah-rukh-khan-s-comeback-film-is-high-on-action-low-on-logic-101674629520725-amp.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Nandini Ramnath of ''[[Scroll.in]]'' wrote, "The film's greatest blaster is its hero itself, parleying his well-oiled impishness, time-tested charm and mesmeric screen presence for a cheesy but also entertaining save-the-nation exercise".<ref>{{Cite web |title='Pathaan' review: Shah Rukh Khan lights up an entertaining spy thriller |url=https://scroll.in/reel/1042466/pathaan-review-shah-rukh-khan-lights-up-an-entertaining-spy-thriller |access-date=25 January 2023 |website=Scroll.in |date=25 January 2023 |archive-date=25 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230125062938/https://scroll.in/reel/1042466/pathaan-review-shah-rukh-khan-lights-up-an-entertaining-spy-thriller |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== International ====
Cath Clarke of ''[[The Guardian]]'' rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and wrote, "This enjoyable high-octane action spy movie from India is possibly the most fun you can currently have at the cinema. Still, the cheers kept coming; the loudest whoop of all when Salman Khan made an entrance as Tiger, a hero from an earlier movie in the series".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Clarke |first=Cath |date=26 January 2023 |title=Pathaan review – daft Shah Rukh Khan spy caper is more fun than Bond |language=en |work=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/jan/26/pathaan-review-daft-shah-rukh-khan-spy-caper-is-more-fun-than-bond |access-date=1 February 2023 |archive-date=1 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230201051713/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/jan/26/pathaan-review-daft-shah-rukh-khan-spy-caper-is-more-fun-than-bond |url-status=live }}{{rating|3|5}}</ref> Conversely, Simon Abrams of ''[[TheWrap]]'' dismissed it as "an amateurish Indian super-spy thriller that's never as well-executed as it is conceptually goofy and politically dubious".<ref>{{Cite web |date=27 January 2023 |title='Pathaan' Review: A Goofy Comeback for Shah Rukh Kahn |url=https://www.thewrap.com/paathan-review-shah-rukh-khan/ |access-date=30 January 2023 |website=The Wrap |archive-date=29 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230129190619/https://www.thewrap.com/paathan-review-shah-rukh-khan/ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Owen Gleiberman]] of ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' was similarly not impressed, terming the film a "a sprawling, mountainous tangle of pulp that stacks one genre on top of the next with an arbitrary verve", but picked up the "iconic quality of its stars" Khan and Abraham for praise.<ref>{{Cite news |date=31 January 2023 |title='Pathaan' Review: A Bollywood Espionage Action Spectacular So Fast and Furious — and Chaotic and Derivative — It Makes 'RRR' Look Classical |work=Variety |url=https://variety.com/2023/film/reviews/pathaan-review-shah-rukh-khan-john-abraham-1235507420/ |access-date=1 February 2023 |archive-date=1 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230201094419/https://variety.com/2023/film/reviews/pathaan-review-shah-rukh-khan-john-abraham-1235507420/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Timon Singh of ''[[Empire (magazine)|Empire]]'' summarised, "''Pathaan'' delivers everything that an Indian blockbuster should: a guaranteed box office draw with Khan, exotic locales, crowd-pleasing cameos, stunning dance numbers and gravity-defying stunts that make the ''[[Fast & Furious|Fast and Furious]]'' franchise look restrained."<ref>{{Cite news |date=30 January 2023 |title=Pathaan Review |work=Empire |url=https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/pathaan/ |access-date=1 February 2023 |archive-date=31 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230131045309/https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/pathaan/ |url-status=live }}{{rating|3|5}}</ref>

===Box office===
''Pathaan'' broke several box-office opening records for a Hindi film.<ref name="records" /><ref name="deadline.tartaglione.pathaan.2023.01.28"/> Globally, it became the first [[Hindi cinema|Hindi]] film to gross {{INRConvert|100|c|year=2023}} on its first day.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Farooqui |first=Javed |title=Pathaan first Hindi movie to pocket ₹100 cr at box office in a day |work=The Economic Times |url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/media/entertainment/pathaan-first-hindi-movie-to-pocket-100-cr-at-box-office-in-a-day/articleshow/97357906.cms?from=mdr |access-date=2023-01-27 |archive-date=27 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230127172210/https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/media/entertainment/pathaan-first-hindi-movie-to-pocket-100-cr-at-box-office-in-a-day/articleshow/97357906.cms?from=mdr |url-status=live }}</ref> It earned {{INRConvert|106|c|year=2023}} worldwide on its opening day, including {{INRConvert|36.69|c}} overseas.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-01-26 |title=Pathaan box office day 1 worldwide collection: Shah Rukh Khan film continues to break records with ₹106 crore globally |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/pathaan-box-office-day-1-global-collection-film-break-records-with-106-crore-101674740916896.html |access-date=2023-01-27 |website=Hindustan Times |language=en |archive-date=27 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230127052244/https://www.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/pathaan-box-office-day-1-global-collection-film-break-records-with-106-crore-101674740916896.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Worldwide, the film crossed the {{INRConvert|200|c}} mark, in the first two days, the {{INRConvert|300|c}} mark in the first three days, and the {{INRConvert|400|c}} mark in its first four days, becoming the fastest Hindi film to do all.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pathaan live updates: ₹200 crore worldwide gross in 2 days |url=https://www.livemint.com/news/india/pathaan-movie-release-and-review-live-updates-11674613553137.html |url-status=live |access-date=27 January 2023 |website=[[Mint (newspaper)|Mint]] |date=25 January 2023 |archive-date=27 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230127084216/https://www.livemint.com/news/india/pathaan-movie-release-and-review-live-updates-11674613553137.html }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Pathaan box office collection Day 3: Shah Rukh Khan's superhit crosses Rs 300-cr mark worldwide |url=https://www.businesstoday.in/trending/box-office/story/pathaan-box-office-collection-day-3-shah-rukh-khans-superhit-crosses-rs-300-cr-mark-worldwide-367926-2023-01-28 |access-date=27 January 2023 |website=[[Business Today (India)|Business Today]] |archive-date=28 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230128114455/https://www.businesstoday.in/trending/box-office/story/pathaan-box-office-collection-day-3-shah-rukh-khans-superhit-crosses-rs-300-cr-mark-worldwide-367926-2023-01-28 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Pathaan director Siddharth Anand on delivering biggest opening weekend; says, "Feels incredible to deliver the biggest 3-day collection in the history of Hindi cinema!" |url=https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/amp/news/features/pathaan-director-siddharth-anand-delivering-biggest-opening-weekend-says-feels-incredible-deliver-biggest-3-day-collection-history-hindi-cinema/ |access-date=28 January 2023 |website=[[Bollywood Hungama]] |date=28 January 2023 |archive-date=28 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230128221920/https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/amp/news/features/pathaan-director-siddharth-anand-delivering-biggest-opening-weekend-says-feels-incredible-deliver-biggest-3-day-collection-history-hindi-cinema/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Shah Rukh Khan's Pathaan is fastest Bollywood film to enter Rs 400-crore club worldwide! |work=India Today |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/movies/bollywood/story/shah-rukh-khans-pathaan-is-fastest-bollywood-film-to-enter-rs-400-crore-club-worldwide-2327679-2023-01-29 |access-date=29 January 2023 |archive-date=29 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230129150105/https://www.indiatoday.in/movies/bollywood/story/shah-rukh-khans-pathaan-is-fastest-bollywood-film-to-enter-rs-400-crore-club-worldwide-2327679-2023-01-29 |url-status=live }}</ref> In India too, it became the fastest Hindi film to collect {{INRConvert|200|c}} and {{INRConvert|300|c}}, which it did within four and seven days, respectively.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1 February 2023 |title=Pathaan box office week 1 collection: Shah Rukh Khan's Bollywood film is fastest ever to cross ₹300 crore mark in India |work=Hindustan Times |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/pathaan-box-office-week-1-roundup-fastest-hindi-film-to-cross-300-cr-in-india-101675220224485.html |access-date=1 February 2023 |archive-date=1 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230201054020/https://www.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/pathaan-box-office-week-1-roundup-fastest-hindi-film-to-cross-300-cr-in-india-101675220224485.html |url-status=live }}</ref> It broke these records previously held by the Hindi version of the [[Kannada]] film ''[[K.G.F: Chapter 2]]'' (2022).<ref>{{Cite web |date=1 February 2023 |title=Pathaan Has Colossal First Week |url=https://boxofficeindia.com/report-details.php?articleid=7529 |access-date=1 February 2023 |website=Box Office India |archive-date=1 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230201084637/https://boxofficeindia.com/report-details.php?articleid=7529 |url-status=live }}</ref> By the second weekend, it became the first original Hindi film to net over {{INRConvert|400|c}} domestically, overtaking ''[[Dangal (film)|Dangal]]'' (2016).<ref name="deadline2"/>

Outside India, ''Pathaan''{{'s}} opening-weekend overseas gross totalled US$25.5 million in its five-day extended weekend.<ref name="records" /><ref name="deadlineint">{{Cite web |last=Tartaglione |first=Nancy |date=29 January 2023 |title='Avatar 2' Now No. 11 Among Top-Grossing US Pics Of All-Time, Bests 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' |url=https://deadline.com/2023/01/avatar-the-way-of-water-pathaan-shah-rukh-khan-deepika-padukone-bollywood-china-global-international-box-office-1235243672/ |access-date=29 January 2023 |website=Deadline Hollywood |archive-date=29 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230129195110/https://deadline.com/2023/01/avatar-the-way-of-water-pathaan-shah-rukh-khan-deepika-padukone-bollywood-china-global-international-box-office-1235243672/ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[IMAX]] grosses accounted for US$2.5 million, the highest for an Indian film.<ref name="deadlineint" /> In North America and Canada, it earned US$6.88 million in its opening weekend from 695 theatres, finishing third, for a total of US$9.48 million; a record for a Hindi film.<ref name="records" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Domestic 2023 Weekend 4 |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/2023W04/?ref_=bo_hm_rw |access-date=31 January 2023 |website=Box Office Mojo |archive-date=31 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230131130826/https://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/2023W04/?ref_=bo_hm_rw |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="deadlinedom">{{Cite web |last=D'Alessandro |first=Anthony |date=29 January 2023 |title='Avatar 2' Now No. 11 Among Top-Grossing US Pics Of All-Time, Bests 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' |url=https://deadline.com/2023/01/box-office-avatar-the-way-of-water-infinity-pool-cronenberg-1235243380/ |access-date=29 January 2023 |website=Deadline Hollywood |archive-date=28 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230128224534/https://deadline.com/2023/01/box-office-avatar-the-way-of-water-infinity-pool-cronenberg-1235243380/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In the United Kingdom and Ireland box office, it recorded the highest single-day gross for an Indian film with £319,348.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Dalton |first=Ben |date=27 January 2023 |title=UK-Ireland box office preview: 'The Fabelmans', 'Plane' take flight in cinemas |work=Screen Daily |url=https://www.screendaily.com/news/uk-ireland-box-office-preview-the-fabelmans-plane-take-flight-in-cinemas/5178583.article |access-date=30 January 2023 |archive-date=27 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230127234524/https://www.screendaily.com/news/uk-ireland-box-office-preview-the-fabelmans-plane-take-flight-in-cinemas/5178583.article |url-status=live }}</ref> Over the weekend, it earned £1.4 million, finishing second after ''[[Avatar: The Way of Water]]'', for a total of £2 million.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Dalton |first=Ben |date=30 January 2023 |title='Pathaan' opens second at UK-Ireland box office; 'Avatar: The Way Of Water' top for seven weekends |work=Screen Daily |url=https://www.screendaily.com/news/pathaan-opens-second-at-uk-ireland-box-office-avatar-the-way-of-water-top-for-seven-weekends/5178610.article |access-date=30 January 2023 |archive-date=30 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230130124233/https://www.screendaily.com/news/pathaan-opens-second-at-uk-ireland-box-office-avatar-the-way-of-water-top-for-seven-weekends/5178610.article |url-status=live }}</ref> It set further Hindi-film opening weekend records in UAE, Malaysia, Singapore, and Saudi Arabia, and Indian-film opening weekend records in Australia, New Zealand, and Germany.<ref name="records" /> With a US$582,000 gross in Germany, it became the highest-grossing Hindi film in the market in its opening weekend itself.<ref name="records" /> ''[[Box Office India]]'' reported that by grossing around US$31 million in its first eight days, it became the highest-grossing Hindi film in overseas, excluding China (where it did not release).<ref>{{Cite web |date=2 February 2023 |title=Pathaan Becomes Biggest Hindi Film Overseas In Eight Days |url=https://boxofficeindia.com/report-details.php?articleid=7534 |access-date=2 February 2023 |website=Box Office India |archive-date=2 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230202083051/https://boxofficeindia.com/report-details.php?articleid=7534 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2 February 2023 |title=Pathaan Crosses 650 Crore Worldwide On Day Eight |url=https://boxofficeindia.com/report-details.php?articleid=7535 |access-date=2 February 2023 |website=Box Office India |archive-date=2 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230202093220/https://boxofficeindia.com/report-details.php?articleid=7535 |url-status=live }}</ref>

By the second weekend, ''Pathaan'' emerged as the highest-grossing Hindi film in the US, earning over $13.4 million, overtaking ''Dangal'', and in the UK, it became the first Indian film to earn over £3 million, grossing $4.15 million.<ref name="deadline2">{{Cite web |last=Tartaglione |first=Nancy |date=5 February 2023 |title=Avatar 2' Sails Past 'Titanic' Overseas, Now No. 3 On All-Time Offshore Chart; 'Pathaan' Nears $100M WW, Sets More Records – International Box Office |website=Deadline Hollywood |url=https://deadline.com/2023/02/avatar-the-way-of-water-passes-titanic-overseas-pathaan-records-100-million-worldwide-shah-rukh-khan-knock-at-the-cabin-puss-in-boots-uk-china-global-international-box-office-1235249833/ |access-date=6 February 2023 |archive-date=5 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205233818/https://deadline.com/2023/02/avatar-the-way-of-water-passes-titanic-overseas-pathaan-records-100-million-worldwide-shah-rukh-khan-knock-at-the-cabin-puss-in-boots-uk-china-global-international-box-office-1235249833/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="deadline3"/> It also became the highest-grossing Indian film in UAE, Australia, and New Zealand.<ref name="deadline3">{{Cite web |last=Tartaglione |first=Nancy |date=7 February 2023 |title=Shah Rukh Khan's 'Pathaan' Tops $100M At Global Box Office |website=Deadline Hollywood |url=https://deadline.com/2023/02/pathan-100-million-global-box-office-shah-rukh-khan-deepika-padukone-1235251915/ |access-date=7 February 2023 |archive-date=7 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230207132503/https://deadline.com/2023/02/pathan-100-million-global-box-office-shah-rukh-khan-deepika-padukone-1235251915/ |url-status=live }}</ref> ''Pathaan'' emerged as the first Hindi film to gross over $100 million without a China release.<ref name="deadline3"/>

On its fourth Wednesday, ''Pathaan'' became the first Hindi film to earn {{INRConvert|500|c|year=2023|lk=c}} net in India.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-02-16 |title=Pathaan Box Office: Shah Rukh Khan-Starrer Becomes First Bollywood Film To Enter Rs 500 Crore Club In India, Collects THIS Much In 21 Days |url=https://english.jagran.com/entertainment/pathaan-box-office-shah-rukh-khanstarrer-becomes-first-bollywood-film-to-enter-rs-500-crore-club-in-india-collects-this-much-in-21-days-10065320 |access-date=2023-02-16 |website=English Jagran |language=en |archive-date=16 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230216094549/https://english.jagran.com/entertainment/pathaan-box-office-shah-rukh-khanstarrer-becomes-first-bollywood-film-to-enter-rs-500-crore-club-in-india-collects-this-much-in-21-days-10065320 |url-status=live }}</ref> On the twenty seventh day of its release, ''Pathaan'' became the fifth Indian film to gross {{INR}}[[1000 Crore Club|1000 crore]] worldwide and only the second Hindi film to do so.<ref name=":1" /> On the 37th day of its release, it crossed ''[[Baahubali 2: The Conclusion]]'' to become the highest grossing Hindi film in India.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-03-05 |title='Happy it was none other than Shah Rukh Khan': Baahubali 2 producer reacts as Pathaan breaks its box office record|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/baahubali-2-producer-reacts-after-pathaan-broke-its-record-101677996834358.html |access-date=2023-03-07 |website=Hindustan Times |language=en |archive-date=7 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307083947/https://www.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/baahubali-2-producer-reacts-after-pathaan-broke-its-record-101677996834358.html |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Box Office India]] declared the film as the 25th "All-Time Blockbuster" from the Hindi film industry.<ref>
{{cite web|date=2023-02-27| title=Pathaan Is 25th All Time Blockbuster Of The Hindi Film Industry| url=https://www.boxofficeindia.com/report-details.php?articleid=7596}}</ref>

{{As of|2023|04|06}}, the film has grossed {{INRConvert|654.28|c|year=2023}} in India and {{INRConvert|396.02|c|year=2023}} overseas for a worldwide gross collection of {{INRConvert|1050.3|c|year=2023}}.<ref name=":1" /> This made it the [[List of highest-grossing Hindi films|second-highest-grossing Hindi film]], [[List of highest-grossing Indian films|fifth-highest-grossing Indian film]], [[List of highest-grossing films in India|the fourth-highest-grossing film in the domestic market]] and the highest-grossing of [[Shah Rukh Khan filmography|Khan's career]].<ref name="alltime" />

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{IMDb title|id=12844910}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes|id=m/pathaan}}
*{{Bollywood Hungama movie|id=pathaan}}
{{YRF Spy Universe}}
{{Siddharth Anand}}
{{Portal bar|India|Film|Bollywood}}

[[Category:2020s Hindi-language films]]
[[Category:2020s spy thriller films]]
[[Category:2023 action thriller films]]
[[Category:2023 films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Siddharth Anand]]
[[Category:Films scored by Vishal–Shekhar]]
[[Category:Films shot in Dubai]]
[[Category:Films shot in Mallorca]]
[[Category:Films shot in Mumbai]]
[[Category:Films set in Afghanistan]]
[[Category:Films shot in Afghanistan]]
[[Category:Films shot in Spain]]
[[Category:Films set in Russia]]
[[Category:Films set in Siberia]]
[[Category:Films about terrorism in India]]
[[Category:Films based on Indo-Pakistani wars and conflicts]]
[[Category:Indian action thriller films]]
[[Category:Indian spy thriller films]]
[[Category:Yash Raj Films films]]
[[Category:IMAX films]]
[[Category:Film controversies in India]]
[[Category:Hinduism in pop culture-related controversies]]
[[Category:Obscenity controversies in film]]
[[Category:Religious controversies in film]]
[[Category:Religious controversies in India]]