Kulhaiya: Difference between revisions

The '''Kulhaiya''' ({{lang-ur|کلاہ حیا}}) is a [[Muslim]] community found in the northeastern part of the Indian state of [[Bihar]] as well as the terai region of south-east [[Nepal]].<ref>People of [[India]] Bihar Volume XVI Part-II edited by Surendra Gopal and Hetukar Jha, pages 587-589</ref>   

The founding members of this community belonged to the [[Hadhrami people|Hadhrami]]-origin tribe of [[Yemen]] settled on the  coast of [[Horn of Africa]] who came as [[mercenaries]] and [[sellsword]] to North-east Bihar via [[Sindh]] and [[Kutchh]], on the invitation of the [[Bengal Sultanate]] for reinforcement of [[Purnea]] Division army bastion. The mercenaries started marrying local [[Rajput]] women in large numbers as well as the womenfolks from [[Rajbongshi people|Rajbongshi]], [[Kayastha]], and [[Yadav]] communities. In the later stages the [[Gurjara]] nomads of [[Kutchh]] and [[Gujarat]], [[Jats]] of [[Sindh]] and [[Kurmis]] of present-day [[Uttar Pradesh]] who were renowned for their agricultural acumen were invited by local powerful [[vassals]], with the permission of the Bengal Sultanate which had the marital relations with the [[Nawab of Junagadh]], as the surplus pasture and arable lands were turning into barren wastelands due to incessant floods and [[subsistence agriculture]] practiced by indigenous locals. Together all of these migrant communities along with the local indigenous populace intermarried extensively amongst themselves, gradually evolving into a unique and intra-genetically diverse but single ethnicity, which over the time became structurally rigid and endogamous. With a distinct culture as well as a [[Maithili language|Maithili]] and [[Kutchi language|Kutchhi]]-based [[lingua franca]] and eventual acceptance of Islam as the common religion, the community came to be known as 'Kulhaiya'.