Ahir: Difference between revisions

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

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Ahir or Aheer (derived from the Sanskrit word: abhira)^[1] is a community of traditionally non-elite pastoralists in India, most members of which identify as being of the Indian Yadav community because they consider the two terms to be synonymous. The Ahirs are variously described as a caste, a clan, a race, and/or a tribe.

The traditional occupations of Ahirs are cattle-herding and agriculture. Since late 19th century to early 20th century, Ahirs have adopted Yadav word for their community and have claimed descent from the mythological king Yadu. This is a part of a movement of social and political resurgence (sanskritisation) under the influence of Arya Samaj.^[2]^[3]^[4]

Ahirs are found throughout India but are particularly concentrated in the northern area. Apart from India, Ahirs have significant population in Nepal, Mauritius, Fiji, South Africa and the Caribbean especially Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Suriname. In Mauritius and Caribbean they are mostly the descendants of indentured servants who arrived between the 19th and 20th centuries from the former pre-partitioned sub-continent of India during the time of the British Raj.^[5]

Etymology

Ahir is believed to be a derivation of the Sanskrit word, "abhira", and the present term in the Bengali and Marathi languages is abhir.^[6]^[7]

History

Ahirs are believed to be a tribe descended from the ancient Abhira community, whose precise location in India is the subject of various theories based mostly on interpretations of old texts such as the Mahabharata and the writings of Ptolemy.^[8]

In Maharashtra and Gujarat, a Brahmin community uses the Abhira name which distinguishes them from tribal Abhira.^[9]

Early history

Theories regarding the origins of the ancient Abhira – the putative ancestors of the Ahirs – are varied for the same reasons as are the theories regarding their location; that is, there is a reliance on interpretation of linguistic and factual analysis of old texts that are known to be unreliable and ambiguous.^[11]

Some scholars consider the Abhira to be a Proto-Dravidian tribe who migrated to India and point to the Puranas as evidence. Other scholars say that the Abhira are recorded as being in India in the 1st-century CE work, the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. The Abhira coommunity can also be considered to be a race rather than a tribe.^[11] Epigraphical and historical evidence exists for equating the Ahirs with the ancient Yadava tribe.^[12]^[13]^[14]

Whether they were a race or a tribe, nomadic in tendency or displaced or part of a conquering wave, with origins in Indo-Scythia or Central Asia, Aryan or Dravidian – there is no academic consensus, and much in the differences of opinion relate to fundamental aspects of historiography, such as controversies regarding dating the writing of the Mahabharata and acceptance or otherwise of the Indo-Aryan migration (which is universally accepted in mainstream scholarship).^[19] Similarly, there is no certainty regarding the occupational status of the Abhira, with ancient texts sometimes referring to them as pastoral and cowherders but at other times as robber tribes.^[20]

Kingdoms

Veersen of Nasik^[21]
Ahir dynasty in pre-12th century areas in present-day Nepal^[22]
Ahir-Rajas of Sagar^[23]
Ahir Rajas of Gawror fort, Patna.^[24]

Military involvements

The British rulers of India classified the Ahirs of Punjab as an "agricultural tribe" in the 1920s, which was at that time synonymous with being a "martial race".^[27] This was a designation created by administrators that classified each ethnic group as either "martial" or "non-martial": a "martial race" was typically considered brave and well built for fighting,^[28] whilst the remainder were those whom the British believed to be unfit for battle because of their sedentary lifestyles.^[29] However, the martial races were also considered politically subservient, intellectually inferior, lacking the initiative or leadership qualities to command large military formations. The British had a policy of recruiting the martial Indians from those who has less access to education as they were easier to control.^[30]^[31] According to modern historian Jeffrey Greenhunt on military history, "The Martial Race theory had an elegant symmetry. Indians who were intelligent and educated were defined as cowards, while those defined as brave were uneducated and backward". According to Amiya Samanta, the marital race was chosen from people of mercenary spirit (a soldier who fights for any group or country that will pay him/her), as these groups lacked nationalism as a trait.^[32] Ahirs had been recruited into the army from 1898.^[33] In that year, the British raised four Ahir companies, two of which were in the 95th Russell's Infantry.^[34]^{[page needed]} In post-independence India, some Ahir units have been involved in celebrated military actions, such as at Rezang La in the 1962 Sino-Indian War that saw the last stand of Charlie company, consisting of 114 Ahirs of 13 Kumaon, and in the 1965 India-Pakistan War.^[35]^[36]^[37]^[38]

Challenges and opportunities

Recreating the past for new identity

It was from the 1920s that some Ahirs began to adopt the name of Yadav and created the Yadav Mahasabha, founded by ideologues such as Rajit Singh. Several caste histories and periodicals to trace a Kshatriya origin were written at the time, notably by Mannanlal Abhimanyu. These were part of the jostling among various castes for socio-economic status and ritual under the Raj and they invoked support for a zealous, martial Hindu ethos.^[39] Arya Samaj, a Hindu reformist organization also played an important role in ritual purification of Ahir/Yadavs and many low castes in order to incorporate them into Vedic Hinduism.^[40] In U.P, it was through shastrarth debates and with the help of reform movements like Arya Samaj and Vaishnava Ramanandi order in public debates that the Ahirs defended their claims to a higher social status.^[41] At the same time Ahir/Yadav intelligentsia also emphasized the socio-economic backwardness faced by their community and in 1927, a petition was sent to the Simon Commission describing how the Ahirs suffers from the same social disabilities and discrimination as the Chamars.^[42] Despite explicitly expressing their commitment against untouchability, it has been observed that these movements by Yadav caste associations have not been egalitarian enough to include communities who are under Scheduled Castes and have claimed connection with Krishna.^[43]

Participation in reactionary communal conflicts

The Ahirs in certain region of UP had been one of the more militant Hindu groups during pre-independent India. In one of the instances before independence, Hindu shudra caste groups such as the Ahirs actively participated in a counter-reactionary communal conflict orchestrated by Arya Samaj.^[44] Some writers are also of the opinion that many low-castes (including Ahirs) took to cow protection for asserting higher status since cow already had symbolic importance in Hinduism. This view of cow protection was different from the UP's urban elites.^[45]

Distribution

Ahirs in India are known by numerous other names, including Gauli^[46] and Ghosi or Gop in North India.^[47] In Gujarat and South India as Ayar, Golla and Konar.^[48] Some in the Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh are known as Dauwa.^[49] The Ahirs have more than 20 sub-castes.^[50]^{[better source needed]}

North India

They have a significant population in the region around Behror, Alwar, Rewari, Narnaul, Mahendragarh, Gurgaon^[51] and Jhajjar^[52]^{[page needed]}^[53] – the region is therefore known as Ahirwal or the abode of Ahirs.^[54]

Maharashtra

Ahirani dialect continues to be spoken today in the region and is widespread across Jalgaon, Dhule and Nashik. It is an admixture of Marathi, Gujarati, Hindi, ancient Magadhi, Saurashtri, Sauraseni, Lati, Maharashtri, Prakrit and Paishachi.^[55]^[56]

Culture

Ahir dancers decorated with cowrie shells for Diwali.

Ahir culture is rooted in pastoralism and closely associated to the worship of Krishna and Shiva.^[57]^[58] The Ahirs have three major classifications Yaduvanshi, Nandavanshi and Goallavanshi. Yaduvanshi claim descent from Yadu, Nandavansh claim descent from Nanda, the foster father of Krishna, and Goallavanshi claim descent from gopi and gopas of Krishna's childhood.^[59]^[60]

Diet

In 1992, Noor Mohammad noted that most Ahirs in Uttar Pradesh were vegetarian, with some exceptions who were engaged in fishing and raising poultry.^[61]

Language and tradition

Ahirs of Benares speak a Hindi dialect which is different from one used normally.^[62]^[63] Ahirs usually speak the language of the region in which they live. Some languages/dialects named after Ahirs are Ahirani, also known as Khandeshi, spoken in Khandesh region of Maharashtra, Ahirwati spoken in Ahirwal region of Haryana and Rajasthan. The Malwi spoken in the Malwa region of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh is also known as Ahiri. These dialects are named after Ahirs but not necessarily only spoken by Ahirs living in those areas or that all Ahirs in those regions speak these dialects.^{[citation needed]}

The Ahirs have three major classifications Yaduvanshi, Nandavanshi and Goallavanshi. Yaduvanshi claim descent from Yadu, Nandavansh claim descent from Nanda, the foster father of Krishna and Goallavanshi claim descent from gopi and gopas of Krishna's childhood.^[64]^[65]

Folklore

The oral epic of Veer Lorik, a mythical Ahir hero, has been sung by folk singers in North India for generations. Mulla Daud, a Sufi Muslim, retold the romantic story in writing in the 14th century.^[66] Other Ahir folk traditions include those related to Kajri and Biraha.^[67]

References

^ Shashi, Shyam Singh (1994). Encyclopaedia of Indian Tribes: The tribal world in transition. Anmol Publications. ISBN 978-81-7041-836-8.
^ Jaffrelot, Christophe (2003). India's silent revolution: the rise of the lower castes in North India. London: C. Hurst & Co. p. 189. ISBN 978-1-85065-670-8. Retrieved 16 August 2011. Ahirs willingly subjected themselves to Sanskritisation because of their special relation to sacred cow but alas because the Arya Samaj exerted significant Sanskritising influence over the Yadav movement. As early as 1895, the ruler of Rewari, Rao Yudhishter Singh ( the father of Rao Bahadur Balbir Singh), invited Swami Dayananda to his state. Branches of the Arya Samaj flourished soon after and Rewari provided a base from which Arya Samaj updeshaks (itinerant preachers) operated in neighbouring areas.
^ Jassal, Smita Tewari; École pratique des hautes études (France). Section des sciences économiques et sociales; University of Oxford. Institute of Social Anthropology (2001). "Caste in the Colonial State: Mallahs in the census". Contributions to Indian sociology. Mouton. pp. 319–351. Quote: "The movement, which had a wide interregional spread, attempted to submerge regional names such as Goala, Ahir, Ahar, Gopa, etc., in favour of the generic term Yadava (Rao 1979). Hence a number of pastoralist castes were subsumed under Yadava, in accordance with decisions taken by the regional and national level caste sabhas. The Yadavas became the first among the shudras to gain the right to wear the janeu, a case of successful sanskritisation which continues till date. As a prominent agriculturist caste in the region, despite belonging to the shudra varna, the Yadavas claimed Kshatriya status tracing descent from the Yadu dynasty. The caste's efforts matched those of census officials, for whom standardisation of overlapping names was a matter of policy. The success of the Yadava movement also lies in the fact that, among the jaati sabhas, the Yadava sabha was probably the strongest, its journal, Ahir Samachar, having an all-India spread. These factors strengthened local efforts, such as in Bhojpur, where the Yadavas, locally known as Ahirs, refused to do begar, or forced labour, for the landlords and simultaneously prohibited liquor consumption, child marriages, and so on."
^ Berti, Daniela; Kanungo, Pralay; Jaoul, Nicolas (2011). Cultural Entrenchment of Hindutva Local Mediations and Forms of Convergence (1st ed.). Routledge. p. 246. ISBN 978-1-138-65995-7. Marginalised groups, often considered as Shudras, like the Ahirs (Yadavs), Kurmis and the Gujars, began to redefine their emerging political and economic role in society by fighting on the same 'religious' grounds. In so doing, they refashioned their status as warriors and kings who had played a special role in history as guardians of Hinduism (Gooptu 2001 : 195; see also Pinch 1996 : 118–38). Gyanendra Pandey (1990: 66–108) describes how, since the end of the 19th century, such processes of Sanskritisation (adoption of 'higher' forms of Hinduism) among lower castes have joined up with Hindu nationalist movements, such as the cow protection movement, and how these interrelations have been central to the formation of a Hindu and a Muslim community in northern India.
^
*Claveyrolas, Mathieu (2015). "The 'Land of the Vaish'? Caste Structure and Ideology in Mauritius". South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal. doi:10.4000/samaj.3886. ISSN 1960-6060. S2CID 143034648.
- Moore, Brian L. (1977). "The Retention of Caste Notions among the Indian Immigrants in British Guiana during the Nineteenth Century". Comparative Studies in Society and History. 19 (1): 96–107. doi:10.1017/S0010417500008513. JSTOR 177986. S2CID 143278239.
- Jha, J. C. (1973). "Indian Heritage in Trinidad, West Indies". Caribbean Quarterly. 19 (2): 28–50. doi:10.1080/00086495.1973.11829152. JSTOR 23050197.
- Pradhan, Rajendra; Shrestha, Ava (June 2005). "Ethnic and Caste Diversity: Implications for Development" (PDF). Think Asia. Asian Development Bank. hdl:11540/3290. NRM Working Paper No. 4.
- "Indian Labour in British Guiana | History Today".
- "The legacy of Indian migration to European colonies". The Economist. 2 September 2017.
^ Garg, Gaṅga Ram, ed. (1992). Encyclopaedia of the Hindu world. Vol. 1. Concept Publishing Company. pp. 113–114. ISBN 978-81-7022-374-0.
^ "People of Maharashtra" (PDF).
^ Garg, Gaṅga Ram, ed. (1992). Encyclopaedia of the Hindu world. Vol. 1. Concept Publishing Company. pp. 113–114. ISBN 978-81-7022-374-0.
^ Garg, Gaṅga Ram, ed. (1992). Encyclopaedia of the Hindu world. Vol. 1. Concept Publishing Company. pp. 113–114. ISBN 978-81-7022-374-0.
^ Yadav, Kripal Chandra (1965). Rao Tula Ram, a Hero of 1857. Rao Tula Ram Smarak Samiti.
^ ^a ^b Bhattacharya, Sunil Kumar (1996). Krishna – Cult in Indian Art. M.D. Publications. p. 126. ISBN 978-81-7533-001-6.
^ Guha, Sumit (2006). Environment and Ethnicity in India, 1200–1991. University of Cambridge. p. 47. ISBN 978-0-521-02870-7.
^ Rao, M. S. A. (1978). Social Movements in India. Vol. 1. Manohar. pp. 124, 197, 210.
^ T., Padmaja (2001). Temples of Kr̥ṣṇa in South India: History, Art, and Traditions in Tamilnāḍu. Archaeology Dept., University of Mysore. pp. 25, 34. ISBN 978-8-170-17398-4.
^ Thapar, Romila (2006). India: Historical Beginnings and the Concept of the Aryan. National Book Trust. ISBN 978-81-237-4779-8.
^ Wendy Doniger (2017), "Another Great Story"", review of Asko Parpola's The Roots of Hinduism; in: Inference, International Review of Science, Volume 3, Issue 2
^ Girish Shahane (September 14, 2019), Why Hindutva supporters love to hate the discredited Aryan Invasion Theory, Scroll.in
^ Koenraad Elst (May 10, 2016), Koenraad Elst: "I am not aware of any governmental interest in correcting distorted history", Swarajya Magazine
^
Out of India aka Indigenous Aryans has no support:
- Romila Thapar (2006): "there is no scholar at this time seriously arguing for the indigenous origin of Aryans".^[15]
- Wendy Doniger (2017): "The opposing argument, that speakers of Indo-European languages were indigenous to the Indian subcontinent, is not supported by any reliable scholarship. It is now championed primarily by Hindu nationalists, whose religious sentiments have led them to regard the theory of Aryan migration with some asperity."^[16]
- Girish Shahane (September 14, 2019), in response to Narasimhan et al. (2019): "Hindutva activists, however, have kept the Aryan Invasion Theory alive, because it offers them the perfect strawman, 'an intentionally misrepresented proposition that is set up because it is easier to defeat than an opponent's real argument' ... The Out of India hypothesis is a desperate attempt to reconcile linguistic, archaeological and genetic evidence with Hindutva sentiment and nationalistic pride, but it cannot reverse time's arrow ... The evidence keeps crushing Hindutva ideas of history."^[17]
- Koenraad Elst (May 10, 2016): "Of course it is a fringe theory, at least internationally, where the Aryan Invasion Theory (AIT) is still the official paradigm. In India, though, it has the support of most archaeologists, who fail to find a trace of this Aryan influx and instead find cultural continuity."^[18]
^ Malik, Aditya (1990). "The Puskara Mahatmya: A Short Report". In Bakker, Hans (ed.). The History of Sacred Places in India As Reflected in Traditional Literature. Leiden: BRILL and the International Association of Sanskrit Studies. p. 200. ISBN 978-90-04-09318-8.
^ Jalgaon district. "JALGAON HISTORY". Jalgaon District Administration Official Website. Jalgaon district Administration. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
^ Yadav, Punam (2016). Social Transformation in Post-conflict Nepal: A Gender Perspective. Taylor & Francis. p. 57. ISBN 978-1-317-35389-8.
^ Sharma, A N (2006). The Beria (Rai Dancers)A Socio-demographic, Reproductive, and Child Health Care Practices Profile. Sarup & Sons. p. 13. ISBN 81-7625-714-1.
^ Historical Researches Series. 1963.
^ "Indian officers and non-commissioned officers from 'B' Company (Ahir), 1st Battalion, The 5th Light Infantry, Quetta, 1918 | Online Collection | National Army Museum, London". collection.nam.ac.uk. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
^ "Online Collection | National Army Museum, London". collection.nam.ac.uk. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
^ Mazumder, Rajit K. (2003). The Indian army and the making of Punjab. Orient Blackswan. p. 105. ISBN 978-81-7824-059-6.
^ Rand, Gavin (March 2006). "Martial Races and Imperial Subjects: Violence and Governance in Colonial India 1857–1914". European Review of History. 13 (1): 1–20. doi:10.1080/13507480600586726. S2CID 144987021.
^ Streets, Heather (2004). Martial Races: The military, race and masculinity in British Imperial Culture, 1857–1914. Manchester University Press. p. 241. ISBN 978-0-7190-6962-8. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
^ Omar Khalidi (2003). Khaki and the Ethnic Violence in India: Army, Police, and Paramilitary Forces During Communal Riots. Three Essays Collective. p. 5. ISBN 978-81-88789-09-2. Apart from their physique, the martial races were regarded as politically subservient or docile to authority
^ Philippa Levine (2003). Prostitution, Race, and Politics: Policing Venereal Disease in the British Empire. Psychology Press. pp. 284–285. ISBN 978-0-415-94447-2. The Saturday review had made much the same argument a few years earlier in relation to the armies raised by Indian rulers in princely states. They lacked competent leadership and were uneven in quality. Commander in chief Roberts, one of the most enthusiastic proponents of the martial race theory, though poorly of the native troops as a body. Many regarded such troops as childish and simple. The British, claims, David Omissi, believe martial Indians to be stupid. Certainly, the policy of recruiting among those without access to much education gave the British more semblance of control over their recruits.
^ Amiya K. Samanta (2000). Gorkhaland Movement: A Study in Ethnic Separatism. APH Publishing. pp. 26–. ISBN 978-81-7648-166-3. Dr . Jeffrey Greenhunt has observed that " The Martial Race Theory had an elegant symmetry. Indians who were intelligent and educated were defined as cowards, while those defined as brave were uneducated and backward. Besides their mercenary spirit was primarily due to their lack of nationalism.
^ Pinch, William R. (1996). Peasants and monks in British India. University of California Press. p. 90. ISBN 978-0-520-20061-6.
^ Rao, M. S. A. (1979). Social movements and social transformation: a study of two backward classes movements in India. Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-333-90255-4.
^ Press Information Bureau, Government of India (7 January 2007). "Remembering Rezang La heroes". Sainik samachar.
^ Col Dilbag Dabas (Retd) (15 December 2018). "Heroes of Rezang La 1962". The Tribune.
^ Guruswamy, Mohan (20 November 2012). "Don't forget the heroes of Rezang La". The Hindu. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
^ Singh, Jasbir (2010). Combat Diary: An illustrated history of operations conducted by 4th Kumaon. Lancer Books. p. 212. ISBN 978-1-935501-18-3.
^ Gooptu, Nandini (2001). The Politics of the Urban Poor in Early Twentieth-Century India. Cambridge University Press. pp. 205–210. ISBN 978-0-521-44366-1. One of the most politically active and vocal among the shudra castes was the ahirs or yadavs. In 1922, an ahir conference was held in Lucknow, followed by another ahir mahotsav (festival) in Allahabad in 1923, where a provincial Mahasabha was inaugurated, with the new name of Yadav Mahasabha. The term yadav, to denote the ahirs, gained currency from this period. Rajit Singh, a yadav born in the Deoria district in 1897, and educated at Gorakhpur and Shikohabad, was instrumental in the formation of the Yadav Mahasabha. He had briefly worked in the Excise Department in Kanpur, but had resigned from his job to devote himself to organising yadav associations from 1921. In 1925, Rajit Singh settled in Benares and inaugurated the Benares Yadav Mahasabha, which soon emerged as the centre of the yadav caste movement in UP. From Benares, Rajit Singh edited the journal Yadav, and also published a history of the yadav castes, entitled Yaduvamsa Prakash. Several other yadav histories were published in rapid succession in the 1920s, written by another younger yadav leader of Benares, Mannalal Abhimanyu, a lawyer who was the son of a school teacher. He wrote Ahir Vamsa Pradip (1925) and Yadukul Sarvasya (1928), in which he attempted to demonstrate the kshatriya origin of the yadavs, with extensive references from both religious texts and British ethnographic tracts.
^ Michuletti, Lucia (2008). The Vernacularisation of Democracy: Politics, Caste, and Religion in India. Routledge. p. 140. ISBN 978-0-415-46732-2. Hindu reformist organisations like the Arya Samaj which aimed to reform Hinduism and incorporate lower-caste groups within the fold of vedic Aryan Hinduism (see Rao 1979: 132-35), have a pivotal role in 'purifying' the customs of the Ahir/Yadavs and other lower castes through the adoption of Brahmanical Hindu practices. Brahmanical Hinduism emphasises vegetarianism, non-violence and ascetism (Fuller 1992: 88).
^ Adcock, C.S. (2014). The Limits of Tolerance:Indian Secularism and the Politics of Religious Freedom. Oxford University Press. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-19-999543-1. In U.P., the Ahir/Yadav castes, whom elites deemed Shudras, also used shastrarth debates to defend their claims to elevated, Kshatriya status from at least the 1890s. In the eastern districts of U.P., monks of the Vaishnava Ramanandi order defended the Ahirs' claims in public debate; in western U.P., their champions in debate were often members of the Arya Samaj.
^ Michuletti, Lucia (2008). The Vernacularisation of Democracy: Politics, Caste, and Religion in India. Routledge. p. 83. ISBN 978-0-415-46732-2. This emphasis on number and on Yadavness versus 'status' is also evident in colonial petitions which portray the Ahirs as a 'backward/ depressed category' in an attempt to get benefits from the reservation provisions. It looks as if the Yadav intelligentsia not only learnt that Yadav social and economic progress or backwardness could be determined by measuring their share in the number of graduates, official appointments and parliamentary seats (Chakrabarty 1994: 150), but also that economic and social disabilities were not 'enough' and that 'ritual' disabilities had also to be proved. The political leaders invoked arguments about the historical deprivation of their communities' (see Gooptu 2001: 11). The following is an extract from a petition sent in 1927 to the Simon Commission, in which a member of the Ahir community illustrates how the community suffers from the same disabilities and discriminations as the Chamars (an untouchable caste).
^ Michuletti, Lucia (2008). The Vernacularisation of Democracy: Politics, Caste, and Religion in India. Routledge. p. 149. ISBN 978-0-415-46732-2. Although Yadav caste associations organise Other Backward Classes meetings and explicitly express their commitment against untouchability, I never met an SC member attending or delivering a speech at such events. A recent controversy showed how, in practice, Yadav caste associations are not willing to encompass in their social category members of SC communities who claim to descend from Krishna. At the AIYM meeting held in Gurgaon in 1998, a member of the committee raised the issue that Jatavs in Agra and Rajasthan had begun to adopt the Yadav title. A member of the audience pointed out that he had already written to the Mahasabha secretary to inform him that in Bharatpur (Rajasthan) the local Jatavs were calling themselves Yadavs. Another pointed out that in Udaipur, Jatavs who worked as builders and did casual labour were also calling themselves Yadavs and had adopted the Kadamb Yadav clan.
^ Gooptu, Nandini (2001). The Politics of the Urban Poor in Early Twentieth-Century India. Cambridge University Press. p. 307. ISBN 978-0-521-44366-1. The spread of the tanzeem movement in Benares further fuelled the religious expansion of Hindu organisations, and contributed to an escalation in local competition and communal conflict. Khalil Das' movement elicited a counter-reaction from the Arya Samaj and from such Hindu shudra caste groups as the ahirs, who were active participants in volunteer corps and akharas, and who, in Benares, were involved in an especially active yadav caste movement.... The Ahirs in particular who played an important role in militant Hinduism, retaliated strongly against the Tanzeem movement. In July,1930, about 200 Ahirs marched in procession to Trilochan, a sacred Hindu site and performed a religious ceremony in response to Tanzeem processions.
^ Gould, William (2012). Religion and Conflict in Modern South Asia. Cambridge University Press. p. 70. ISBN 978-0-521-87949-1. Gyan Pandey's detailed research on the cow protection riots in eastern UP and Bihar in 1893 and 1917 relates the conflict to specific registers of caste difference and status assertion, in a context where the popular view of cow protection from the point of view of low-caste Ahirs, Koeris and Kurmis was quite different to that of UP's urban elites. For both Freitag and Pandey, cow protection became a means for relatively low-status communities to assert higher status via association with something of symbolic importance to Hinduism as a whole: in this case, the cow.
^ Mehta, B. H. (1994). Gonds of the Central Indian Highlands. Vol. II. New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company. pp. 568–569.
^ Michelutti, Lucia (2002). "Sons of Krishna: the politics of Yadav community formation in a North Indian town" (PDF). PhD Thesis Social Anthropology. London School of Economics and Political Science. pp. 94–95.
^
* Singh, Rajbir (1994). India's Unequal Citizens: A Study of Other Backward Classes. Manohar, 1994. pp. 34, 356, 390. ISBN 978-81-7304-069-6.
- Sharma, Shish Ram (2002). Protective Discrimination: Other Backward Classes in India. Raj Publications, 2002. pp. 153, 312, 410. ISBN 978-81-86208-23-6.
^ Jain, Ravindra K. (2002). Between History and Legend: Status and Power in Bundelkhand. Orient Blackswan. p. 30. ISBN 978-8-12502-194-0.
^ Patel, Mahendra Lal (1997). Awareness in Weaker Section: Perspective Development and Prospects. M. D. Publications Pvt. Ltd. p. 33. ISBN 978-8-17533-029-0.
^ Guru Nanak Dev University, Sociology Dept (2003). Guru Nanak Journal of Sociology. Sociology Department, Guru Nanak Dev University. pp. 5, 6.
^ Verma, Dip Chand (1975). Haryana. National Book Trust, India.
^ Sharma, Suresh K. (2006). Haryana: Past and Present. Mittal Publications. p. 40. ISBN 978-81-8324-046-8.
^ Michuletti, Lucia (2008). The Vernacularisation of Democracy: Politics, Caste, and Religion in India. Routledge. pp. 41, 42. ISBN 978-0-415-46732-2.
^ Pathak, A. S. (2009). "Maharashtra: Land and its people" (PDF). Maharashtra State Gazetteer. Government of Maharashtra.
^ Guha, Sumit (2006). Environment and Ethnicity in India, 1200–1991. University of Cambridge. p. 47. ISBN 978-0-521-02870-7.
^ .danielou, Alain (2005). The Beria (Rai Dancers)A Socio-demographic, Reproductive, and Child Health Care Practices Profile. Inner Traditions / Bear & Co. p. 56. ISBN 978-1-59477-048-7.
^ Kirshna, Nanditha (2009). Book of Vishnu. Penguin UK. p. 56. ISBN 978-81-8475-865-8.
^ Singh, Bhrigupati (2015). Poverty and the Quest for Life Spiritual and Material Striving in Rural India University of Chicago. University of Chicago Press. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-226-19468-4.
^ Michelutti, Lucia (2002). Sons of Krishna: the politics of Yadav community formation in a North Indian town (PDF). p. 89.
^ Mohammad, Noor (1992). New Dimensions in Agricultural ... Concept Publishing Company. p. 60. ISBN 978-81-7022-403-7.
^ .danielou, Alain (2005). The Beria (Rai Dancers)A Socio-demographic, Reproductive, and Child Health Care Practices Profile. Inner Traditions / Bear & Co. p. 56. ISBN 978-1-59477-048-7.
^ Kirshna, Nanditha (2009). Book of Vishnu. Penguin UK. p. 56. ISBN 978-81-8475-865-8.
^ Singh, Bhrigupati (2015). Poverty and the Quest for Life Spiritual and Material Striving in Rural India University of Chicago. University of Chicago Press. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-226-19468-4.
^ Michelutti, Lucia (2002). Sons of Krishna: the politics of Yadav community formation in a North Indian town (PDF). p. 89.
^ "Spectrum". The Sunday Tribune. 1 August 2010. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
^ Koskoff, Ellen, ed. (2008). The Concise Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: The Middle East, South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia. Routledge. p. 1026. ISBN 978-0-415-97293-2.

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

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

[socialesAnthropology2001-3] Jassal, Smita Tewari; École pratique des hautes études (France). Section des sciences économiques et sociales; University of Oxford. Institute of Social Anthropology (2001). "Caste in the Colonial State: Mallahs in the census". Contributions to Indian sociology. Mouton. pp. 319–351. Quote: "The movement, which had a wide interregional spread, attempted to submerge regional names such as Goala, Ahir, Ahar, Gopa, etc., in favour of the generic term Yadava (Rao 1979). Hence a number of pastoralist castes were subsumed under Yadava, in accordance with decisions taken by the regional and national level caste sabhas. The Yadavas became the first among the shudras to gain the right to wear the janeu, a case of successful sanskritisation which continues till date. As a prominent agriculturist caste in the region, despite belonging to the shudra varna, the Yadavas claimed Kshatriya status tracing descent from the Yadu dynasty. The caste's efforts matched those of census officials, for whom standardisation of overlapping names was a matter of policy. The success of the Yadava movement also lies in the fact that, among the jaati sabhas, the Yadava sabha was probably the strongest, its journal, Ahir Samachar, having an all-India spread. These factors strengthened local efforts, such as in Bhojpur, where the Yadavas, locally known as Ahirs, refused to do begar, or forced labour, for the landlords and simultaneously prohibited liquor consumption, child marriages, and so on."

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

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

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

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

"Indian Labour in British Guiana | History Today".

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Garg1992-6] Garg, Gaṅga Ram, ed. (1992). Encyclopaedia of the Hindu world. Vol. 1. Concept Publishing Company. pp. 113–114. ISBN 978-81-7022-374-0.

[7] "People of Maharashtra" (PDF).

[Garg19922-8] Garg, Gaṅga Ram, ed. (1992). Encyclopaedia of the Hindu world. Vol. 1. Concept Publishing Company. pp. 113–114. ISBN 978-81-7022-374-0.

[Garg19923-9] Garg, Gaṅga Ram, ed. (1992). Encyclopaedia of the Hindu world. Vol. 1. Concept Publishing Company. pp. 113–114. ISBN 978-81-7022-374-0.

[10] Yadav, Kripal Chandra (1965). Rao Tula Ram, a Hero of 1857. Rao Tula Ram Smarak Samiti.

[Bhattacharya1996p126-11] Bhattacharya, Sunil Kumar (1996). Krishna – Cult in Indian Art. M.D. Publications. p. 126. ISBN 978-81-7533-001-6.

[12] Guha, Sumit (2006). Environment and Ethnicity in India, 1200–1991. University of Cambridge. p. 47. ISBN 978-0-521-02870-7.

[13] Rao, M. S. A. (1978). Social Movements in India. Vol. 1. Manohar. pp. 124, 197, 210.

[14] T., Padmaja (2001). Temples of Kr̥ṣṇa in South India: History, Art, and Traditions in Tamilnāḍu. Archaeology Dept., University of Mysore. pp. 25, 34. ISBN 978-8-170-17398-4.

[15] Thapar, Romila (2006). India: Historical Beginnings and the Concept of the Aryan. National Book Trust. ISBN 978-81-237-4779-8.

[16] Wendy Doniger (2017), "Another Great Story"", review of Asko Parpola's The Roots of Hinduism; in: Inference, International Review of Science, Volume 3, Issue 2

[17] Girish Shahane (September 14, 2019), Why Hindutva supporters love to hate the discredited Aryan Invasion Theory, Scroll.in

[Elst_2016-18] Koenraad Elst (May 10, 2016), Koenraad Elst: "I am not aware of any governmental interest in correcting distorted history", Swarajya Magazine

[OIT_no_support-19] Out of India aka Indigenous Aryans has no support:
Romila Thapar (2006): "there is no scholar at this time seriously arguing for the indigenous origin of Aryans".^[15]

Wendy Doniger (2017): "The opposing argument, that speakers of Indo-European languages were indigenous to the Indian subcontinent, is not supported by any reliable scholarship. It is now championed primarily by Hindu nationalists, whose religious sentiments have led them to regard the theory of Aryan migration with some asperity."^[16]

Girish Shahane (September 14, 2019), in response to Narasimhan et al. (2019): "Hindutva activists, however, have kept the Aryan Invasion Theory alive, because it offers them the perfect strawman, 'an intentionally misrepresented proposition that is set up because it is easier to defeat than an opponent's real argument' ... The Out of India hypothesis is a desperate attempt to reconcile linguistic, archaeological and genetic evidence with Hindutva sentiment and nationalistic pride, but it cannot reverse time's arrow ... The evidence keeps crushing Hindutva ideas of history."^[17]

Koenraad Elst (May 10, 2016): "Of course it is a fringe theory, at least internationally, where the Aryan Invasion Theory (AIT) is still the official paradigm. In India, though, it has the support of most archaeologists, who fail to find a trace of this Aryan influx and instead find cultural continuity."^[18]

[25] Romila Thapar (2006): "there is no scholar at this time seriously arguing for the indigenous origin of Aryans".^[15]

[26] Wendy Doniger (2017): "The opposing argument, that speakers of Indo-European languages were indigenous to the Indian subcontinent, is not supported by any reliable scholarship. It is now championed primarily by Hindu nationalists, whose religious sentiments have led them to regard the theory of Aryan migration with some asperity."^[16]

[27] Girish Shahane (September 14, 2019), in response to Narasimhan et al. (2019): "Hindutva activists, however, have kept the Aryan Invasion Theory alive, because it offers them the perfect strawman, 'an intentionally misrepresented proposition that is set up because it is easier to defeat than an opponent's real argument' ... The Out of India hypothesis is a desperate attempt to reconcile linguistic, archaeological and genetic evidence with Hindutva sentiment and nationalistic pride, but it cannot reverse time's arrow ... The evidence keeps crushing Hindutva ideas of history."^[17]

[28] Koenraad Elst (May 10, 2016): "Of course it is a fringe theory, at least internationally, where the Aryan Invasion Theory (AIT) is still the official paradigm. In India, though, it has the support of most archaeologists, who fail to find a trace of this Aryan influx and instead find cultural continuity."^[18]

[20] Malik, Aditya (1990). "The Puskara Mahatmya: A Short Report". In Bakker, Hans (ed.). The History of Sacred Places in India As Reflected in Traditional Literature. Leiden: BRILL and the International Association of Sanskrit Studies. p. 200. ISBN 978-90-04-09318-8.

[21] Jalgaon district. "JALGAON HISTORY". Jalgaon District Administration Official Website. Jalgaon district Administration. Retrieved 7 February 2015.

[22] Yadav, Punam (2016). Social Transformation in Post-conflict Nepal: A Gender Perspective. Taylor & Francis. p. 57. ISBN 978-1-317-35389-8.

[23] Sharma, A N (2006). The Beria (Rai Dancers)A Socio-demographic, Reproductive, and Child Health Care Practices Profile. Sarup & Sons. p. 13. ISBN 81-7625-714-1.

[24] Historical Researches Series. 1963.

[25] "Indian officers and non-commissioned officers from 'B' Company (Ahir), 1st Battalion, The 5th Light Infantry, Quetta, 1918 | Online Collection | National Army Museum, London". collection.nam.ac.uk. Retrieved 3 November 2023.

[26] "Online Collection | National Army Museum, London". collection.nam.ac.uk. Retrieved 3 November 2023.

[27] Mazumder, Rajit K. (2003). The Indian army and the making of Punjab. Orient Blackswan. p. 105. ISBN 978-81-7824-059-6.

[rand-28] Rand, Gavin (March 2006). "Martial Races and Imperial Subjects: Violence and Governance in Colonial India 1857–1914". European Review of History. 13 (1): 1–20. doi:10.1080/13507480600586726. S2CID 144987021.

[Street-29] Streets, Heather (2004). Martial Races: The military, race and masculinity in British Imperial Culture, 1857–1914. Manchester University Press. p. 241. ISBN 978-0-7190-6962-8. Retrieved 20 October 2010.

[Khalidi2003-30] Omar Khalidi (2003). Khaki and the Ethnic Violence in India: Army, Police, and Paramilitary Forces During Communal Riots. Three Essays Collective. p. 5. ISBN 978-81-88789-09-2. Apart from their physique, the martial races were regarded as politically subservient or docile to authority

[Levine2003-31] Philippa Levine (2003). Prostitution, Race, and Politics: Policing Venereal Disease in the British Empire. Psychology Press. pp. 284–285. ISBN 978-0-415-94447-2. The Saturday review had made much the same argument a few years earlier in relation to the armies raised by Indian rulers in princely states. They lacked competent leadership and were uneven in quality. Commander in chief Roberts, one of the most enthusiastic proponents of the martial race theory, though poorly of the native troops as a body. Many regarded such troops as childish and simple. The British, claims, David Omissi, believe martial Indians to be stupid. Certainly, the policy of recruiting among those without access to much education gave the British more semblance of control over their recruits.

[Samanta2000-32] Amiya K. Samanta (2000). Gorkhaland Movement: A Study in Ethnic Separatism. APH Publishing. pp. 26–. ISBN 978-81-7648-166-3. Dr . Jeffrey Greenhunt has observed that " The Martial Race Theory had an elegant symmetry. Indians who were intelligent and educated were defined as cowards, while those defined as brave were uneducated and backward. Besides their mercenary spirit was primarily due to their lack of nationalism.

[33] Pinch, William R. (1996). Peasants and monks in British India. University of California Press. p. 90. ISBN 978-0-520-20061-6.

[34] Rao, M. S. A. (1979). Social movements and social transformation: a study of two backward classes movements in India. Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-333-90255-4.

[Remembering_Rezang_La_heroes-35] Press Information Bureau, Government of India (7 January 2007). "Remembering Rezang La heroes". Sainik samachar.

[Heroes_of_Rezang_La-36] Col Dilbag Dabas (Retd) (15 December 2018). "Heroes of Rezang La 1962". The Tribune.

[37] Guruswamy, Mohan (20 November 2012). "Don't forget the heroes of Rezang La". The Hindu. Retrieved 13 July 2014.

[38] Singh, Jasbir (2010). Combat Diary: An illustrated history of operations conducted by 4th Kumaon. Lancer Books. p. 212. ISBN 978-1-935501-18-3.

[39] Gooptu, Nandini (2001). The Politics of the Urban Poor in Early Twentieth-Century India. Cambridge University Press. pp. 205–210. ISBN 978-0-521-44366-1. One of the most politically active and vocal among the shudra castes was the ahirs or yadavs. In 1922, an ahir conference was held in Lucknow, followed by another ahir mahotsav (festival) in Allahabad in 1923, where a provincial Mahasabha was inaugurated, with the new name of Yadav Mahasabha. The term yadav, to denote the ahirs, gained currency from this period. Rajit Singh, a yadav born in the Deoria district in 1897, and educated at Gorakhpur and Shikohabad, was instrumental in the formation of the Yadav Mahasabha. He had briefly worked in the Excise Department in Kanpur, but had resigned from his job to devote himself to organising yadav associations from 1921. In 1925, Rajit Singh settled in Benares and inaugurated the Benares Yadav Mahasabha, which soon emerged as the centre of the yadav caste movement in UP. From Benares, Rajit Singh edited the journal Yadav, and also published a history of the yadav castes, entitled Yaduvamsa Prakash. Several other yadav histories were published in rapid succession in the 1920s, written by another younger yadav leader of Benares, Mannalal Abhimanyu, a lawyer who was the son of a school teacher. He wrote Ahir Vamsa Pradip (1925) and Yadukul Sarvasya (1928), in which he attempted to demonstrate the kshatriya origin of the yadavs, with extensive references from both religious texts and British ethnographic tracts.

[40] Michuletti, Lucia (2008). The Vernacularisation of Democracy: Politics, Caste, and Religion in India. Routledge. p. 140. ISBN 978-0-415-46732-2. Hindu reformist organisations like the Arya Samaj which aimed to reform Hinduism and incorporate lower-caste groups within the fold of vedic Aryan Hinduism (see Rao 1979: 132-35), have a pivotal role in 'purifying' the customs of the Ahir/Yadavs and other lower castes through the adoption of Brahmanical Hindu practices. Brahmanical Hinduism emphasises vegetarianism, non-violence and ascetism (Fuller 1992: 88).

[41] Adcock, C.S. (2014). The Limits of Tolerance:Indian Secularism and the Politics of Religious Freedom. Oxford University Press. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-19-999543-1. In U.P., the Ahir/Yadav castes, whom elites deemed Shudras, also used shastrarth debates to defend their claims to elevated, Kshatriya status from at least the 1890s. In the eastern districts of U.P., monks of the Vaishnava Ramanandi order defended the Ahirs' claims in public debate; in western U.P., their champions in debate were often members of the Arya Samaj.

[42] Michuletti, Lucia (2008). The Vernacularisation of Democracy: Politics, Caste, and Religion in India. Routledge. p. 83. ISBN 978-0-415-46732-2. This emphasis on number and on Yadavness versus 'status' is also evident in colonial petitions which portray the Ahirs as a 'backward/ depressed category' in an attempt to get benefits from the reservation provisions. It looks as if the Yadav intelligentsia not only learnt that Yadav social and economic progress or backwardness could be determined by measuring their share in the number of graduates, official appointments and parliamentary seats (Chakrabarty 1994: 150), but also that economic and social disabilities were not 'enough' and that 'ritual' disabilities had also to be proved. The political leaders invoked arguments about the historical deprivation of their communities' (see Gooptu 2001: 11). The following is an extract from a petition sent in 1927 to the Simon Commission, in which a member of the Ahir community illustrates how the community suffers from the same disabilities and discriminations as the Chamars (an untouchable caste).

[43] Michuletti, Lucia (2008). The Vernacularisation of Democracy: Politics, Caste, and Religion in India. Routledge. p. 149. ISBN 978-0-415-46732-2. Although Yadav caste associations organise Other Backward Classes meetings and explicitly express their commitment against untouchability, I never met an SC member attending or delivering a speech at such events. A recent controversy showed how, in practice, Yadav caste associations are not willing to encompass in their social category members of SC communities who claim to descend from Krishna. At the AIYM meeting held in Gurgaon in 1998, a member of the committee raised the issue that Jatavs in Agra and Rajasthan had begun to adopt the Yadav title. A member of the audience pointed out that he had already written to the Mahasabha secretary to inform him that in Bharatpur (Rajasthan) the local Jatavs were calling themselves Yadavs. Another pointed out that in Udaipur, Jatavs who worked as builders and did casual labour were also calling themselves Yadavs and had adopted the Kadamb Yadav clan.

[44] Gooptu, Nandini (2001). The Politics of the Urban Poor in Early Twentieth-Century India. Cambridge University Press. p. 307. ISBN 978-0-521-44366-1. The spread of the tanzeem movement in Benares further fuelled the religious expansion of Hindu organisations, and contributed to an escalation in local competition and communal conflict. Khalil Das' movement elicited a counter-reaction from the Arya Samaj and from such Hindu shudra caste groups as the ahirs, who were active participants in volunteer corps and akharas, and who, in Benares, were involved in an especially active yadav caste movement.... The Ahirs in particular who played an important role in militant Hinduism, retaliated strongly against the Tanzeem movement. In July,1930, about 200 Ahirs marched in procession to Trilochan, a sacred Hindu site and performed a religious ceremony in response to Tanzeem processions.

[45] Gould, William (2012). Religion and Conflict in Modern South Asia. Cambridge University Press. p. 70. ISBN 978-0-521-87949-1. Gyan Pandey's detailed research on the cow protection riots in eastern UP and Bihar in 1893 and 1917 relates the conflict to specific registers of caste difference and status assertion, in a context where the popular view of cow protection from the point of view of low-caste Ahirs, Koeris and Kurmis was quite different to that of UP's urban elites. For both Freitag and Pandey, cow protection became a means for relatively low-status communities to assert higher status via association with something of symbolic importance to Hinduism as a whole: in this case, the cow.

[46] Mehta, B. H. (1994). Gonds of the Central Indian Highlands. Vol. II. New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company. pp. 568–569.

[47] Michelutti, Lucia (2002). "Sons of Krishna: the politics of Yadav community formation in a North Indian town" (PDF). PhD Thesis Social Anthropology. London School of Economics and Political Science. pp. 94–95.

[48] * Singh, Rajbir (1994). India's Unequal Citizens: A Study of Other Backward Classes. Manohar, 1994. pp. 34, 356, 390. ISBN 978-81-7304-069-6.
Sharma, Shish Ram (2002). Protective Discrimination: Other Backward Classes in India. Raj Publications, 2002. pp. 153, 312, 410. ISBN 978-81-86208-23-6.

[58] Sharma, Shish Ram (2002). Protective Discrimination: Other Backward Classes in India. Raj Publications, 2002. pp. 153, 312, 410. ISBN 978-81-86208-23-6.

[49] Jain, Ravindra K. (2002). Between History and Legend: Status and Power in Bundelkhand. Orient Blackswan. p. 30. ISBN 978-8-12502-194-0.

[50] Patel, Mahendra Lal (1997). Awareness in Weaker Section: Perspective Development and Prospects. M. D. Publications Pvt. Ltd. p. 33. ISBN 978-8-17533-029-0.

[nannak$-51] Guru Nanak Dev University, Sociology Dept (2003). Guru Nanak Journal of Sociology. Sociology Department, Guru Nanak Dev University. pp. 5, 6.

[52] Verma, Dip Chand (1975). Haryana. National Book Trust, India.

[53] Sharma, Suresh K. (2006). Haryana: Past and Present. Mittal Publications. p. 40. ISBN 978-81-8324-046-8.

[54] Michuletti, Lucia (2008). The Vernacularisation of Democracy: Politics, Caste, and Religion in India. Routledge. pp. 41, 42. ISBN 978-0-415-46732-2.

[55] Pathak, A. S. (2009). "Maharashtra: Land and its people" (PDF). Maharashtra State Gazetteer. Government of Maharashtra.

[56] Guha, Sumit (2006). Environment and Ethnicity in India, 1200–1991. University of Cambridge. p. 47. ISBN 978-0-521-02870-7.

[57] .danielou, Alain (2005). The Beria (Rai Dancers)A Socio-demographic, Reproductive, and Child Health Care Practices Profile. Inner Traditions / Bear & Co. p. 56. ISBN 978-1-59477-048-7.

[58] Kirshna, Nanditha (2009). Book of Vishnu. Penguin UK. p. 56. ISBN 978-81-8475-865-8.

[59] Singh, Bhrigupati (2015). Poverty and the Quest for Life Spiritual and Material Striving in Rural India University of Chicago. University of Chicago Press. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-226-19468-4.

[60] Michelutti, Lucia (2002). Sons of Krishna: the politics of Yadav community formation in a North Indian town (PDF). p. 89.

[61] Mohammad, Noor (1992). New Dimensions in Agricultural ... Concept Publishing Company. p. 60. ISBN 978-81-7022-403-7.

[62] .danielou, Alain (2005). The Beria (Rai Dancers)A Socio-demographic, Reproductive, and Child Health Care Practices Profile. Inner Traditions / Bear & Co. p. 56. ISBN 978-1-59477-048-7.

[63] Kirshna, Nanditha (2009). Book of Vishnu. Penguin UK. p. 56. ISBN 978-81-8475-865-8.

[64] Singh, Bhrigupati (2015). Poverty and the Quest for Life Spiritual and Material Striving in Rural India University of Chicago. University of Chicago Press. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-226-19468-4.

[65] Michelutti, Lucia (2002). Sons of Krishna: the politics of Yadav community formation in a North Indian town (PDF). p. 89.

[66] "Spectrum". The Sunday Tribune. 1 August 2010. Retrieved 13 July 2014.

[67] Koskoff, Ellen, ed. (2008). The Concise Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: The Middle East, South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia. Routledge. p. 1026. ISBN 978-0-415-97293-2.

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{Short description|Social community of India}}
-{{pp-protected|reason=Persistent [[WP:Disruptive editing|disruptive editing]]|small=yes}}
+{{Merge|Ahir clans| date = November 2024|discuss=Talk:Ahir clans#Merge into Ahir}}
-{{Infobox caste
+{{for|the village in Turkey|Ahır, İpsala}}
+{{pp|small=yes}}
+{{Infobox caste
+| image            = The People of India 1868 Aheer.jpg
+| caption          = An Aheer from Shahabad, [[Bihar]]
 | caste_name       = Ahir/Aheer
+| subdivisions     = [[Yaduvanshi Aheer]], Nandvanshi, and Gwalvanshi Ahir
-| image            = Statue of Rao Gopal Dev, Rewari.jpg
+| populated_states = India and Nepal
-| caption          = Rao Gopal Dev, Rewari
-| subdivisions     = [[Yaduvanshi]], [[Nandvanshi]], and [[Gwalvanshi]] Ahir
-| populated_states = [[India]] and [[Nepal]]
 | religions        = [[Hinduism]]
+| languages        = Varies depending on region
 }}
+{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2019}}
+'''Ahir''' or '''Aheer''' (derived from the [[Sanskrit]] word: [[Abhira people|abhira]])<ref>{{Cite book |last=Shashi |first=Shyam Singh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=duIjAQAAIAAJ&q=Ahir |title=Encyclopaedia of Indian Tribes: The tribal world in transition |date=1994 |publisher=Anmol Publications |isbn=978-81-7041-836-8 |language=en}}</ref> is a [[community]] of traditionally non-elite pastoralists in India, most members of which identify as being of the Indian [[Yadav]] community because they consider the two terms to be synonymous. The Ahirs are variously described as a [[Caste system in India|caste]], a [[clan]], a [[Race (human classification)|race]], and/or a [[tribe]].
+The traditional occupations of Ahirs are cattle-herding and agriculture. Since late 19th century to early 20th century, Ahirs have adopted ''Yadav'' word for their community and have claimed descent from the mythological king [[Yadu]]. This is a part of a movement of social and political resurgence ([[sanskritisation]]) under the influence of Arya Samaj.<ref>{{cite book |title=India's silent revolution: the rise of the lower castes in North India |page=189 |first=Christophe |last=Jaffrelot |publisher=C. Hurst & Co. |location=London |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-85065-670-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OAkW94DtUMAC |access-date=2011-08-16|quote=Ahirs willingly subjected themselves to Sanskritisation because of their special relation to sacred cow but alas because the Arya Samaj exerted significant Sanskritising influence over the Yadav movement. As early as 1895, the ruler of Rewari, Rao Yudhishter Singh ( the father of Rao Bahadur Balbir Singh), invited Swami Dayananda to his state. Branches of the Arya Samaj flourished soon after and Rewari provided a base from which Arya Samaj ''updeshaks'' (itinerant preachers) operated in neighbouring areas.|language=en}}</ref><ref name="socialesAnthropology2001">{{cite book|last1=Jassal|first1=Smita Tewari|author2=École pratique des hautes études (France). Section des sciences économiques et sociales|author3=University of Oxford. Institute of Social Anthropology|title=Contributions to Indian sociology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jA0tAQAAIAAJ|year=2001|publisher=Mouton|pages=319–351|chapter=Caste in the Colonial State: Mallahs in the census}} Quote: "The movement, which had a wide interregional spread, attempted to submerge regional names such as Goala, Ahir, Ahar, Gopa, etc., in favour of the generic term Yadava (Rao 1979). Hence a number of pastoralist castes were subsumed under Yadava, in accordance with decisions taken by the regional and national level caste sabhas.  The Yadavas became the first among the shudras to gain the right to wear the janeu, a case of successful sanskritisation which continues till date.  As a prominent agriculturist caste in the region, despite belonging to the shudra varna, the Yadavas claimed Kshatriya status tracing descent from the Yadu dynasty.  The caste's efforts matched those of census officials, for whom standardisation of overlapping names was a matter of policy.  The success of the Yadava movement also lies in the fact that, among the jaati sabhas, the Yadava sabha was probably the strongest, its journal, ''Ahir Samachar'', having an all-India spread. These factors strengthened local efforts, such as in Bhojpur, where the Yadavas, locally known as Ahirs, refused to do ''[[begar]]'', or forced labour, for the landlords and simultaneously prohibited liquor consumption, child marriages, and so on."</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Berti |first1=Daniela |title=''Cultural Entrenchment of Hindutva'' Local Mediations and Forms of Convergence |last2=Kanungo |first2=Pralay |last3=Jaoul |first3=Nicolas |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-138-65995-7 |edition=1st |page=246 |language=English |quote=Marginalised groups, often considered as Shudras, like the Ahirs (Yadavs), Kurmis and the Gujars, began to redefine their emerging political and economic role in society by fighting on the same 'religious' grounds. In so doing, they refashioned their status as warriors and kings who had played a special role in history as guardians of Hinduism (Gooptu 2001 : 195; see also Pinch 1996 : 118–38). Gyanendra Pandey (1990: 66–108) describes how, since the end of the 19th century, such processes of Sanskritisation (adoption of 'higher' forms of Hinduism) among lower castes have joined up with Hindu nationalist movements, such as the cow protection movement, and how these interrelations have been central to the formation of a Hindu and a Muslim community in northern India.}}</ref>
-'''Ahir''' or '''Aheer''' is an ethnic<ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0AyDDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA22&dq=ahir+ethnic+group&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjszciO563jAhUIFXwKHb-OCEEQ6AEIOTAD#v=onepage&q=ahir%20ethnic%20group&f=false | title=The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names | publisher= Oxford University | work= Dictionary | date=2016 | author=edited by Patrick Hanks, Richard Coates, Peter McClure | pages=22}}</ref> group in India. Some members of which identify as being of the Indian [[Yadav]] community because they consider the two terms to be synonymous.<ref name="Garg1992">{{cite book|editor-first=Gaṅga Ram |editor-last=Garg|title=Encyclopaedia of the Hindu world|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w9pmo51lRnYC&pg=PA113|accessdate=2012-12-03|volume=1|year=1992|publisher=Concept Publishing Company|isbn=978-81-7022-374-0|pages=113–114}}</ref> The Ahirs are variously described as a [[caste]], a [[clan]], a [[community]], a [[Race (human classification)|race]] and a [[tribe]].
+Ahirs are found throughout India but are particularly concentrated in the northern area. Apart from India, Ahirs have significant population in [[Nepal]], [[Mauritius]], [[Fiji]], [[South Africa]] and the [[Caribbean]] especially [[Guyana]], [[Trinidad and Tobago]], and [[Suriname]]. In Mauritius and Caribbean they are mostly the descendants of indentured servants who arrived between the 19th and 20th centuries from the former pre-partitioned sub-continent of India during the time of the British Raj.<ref>*{{Cite journal|doi = 10.4000/samaj.3886|title = The 'Land of the Vaish'? Caste Structure and Ideology in Mauritius|year = 2015|last1 = Claveyrolas|first1 = Mathieu|journal = South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal|doi-access = free| s2cid=143034648 |issn = 1960-6060}}
-The [[Yaduvanshi]] Ahir also spelled Yadubansis, Yadubans, Yadavanshi, Yadavamshi) claim descent from the ancient [[Yadava]] tribe of Krishna.<ref name="Yadav2011">{{cite book|author=Sanjay Yadav|title=The Environmental Crisis of Delhi: A Political Analysis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Nvl1SFI1T8QC&pg=PA52|accessdate=17 August 2018|year=2011|publisher=Worldwide Books|isbn=978-81-88054-03-9|pages=52–}}</ref> The Yaduvanshi trace their origin to [[Yadu]].
+*{{Cite journal|jstor = 177986|title = The Retention of Caste Notions among the Indian Immigrants in British Guiana during the Nineteenth Century|last1 = Moore|first1 = Brian L.|journal = Comparative Studies in Society and History|year = 1977|volume = 19|issue = 1|pages = 96–107|doi = 10.1017/S0010417500008513|s2cid = 143278239}}
+*{{Cite journal|jstor = 23050197|title = Indian Heritage in Trinidad, West Indies|last1 = Jha|first1 = J. C.|journal = Caribbean Quarterly|year = 1973|volume = 19|issue = 2|pages = 28–50|doi = 10.1080/00086495.1973.11829152}}
-The traditional occupation of Ahirs are pastoralism and agriculture. They are found throughout India but are particularly concentrated in the northern areas. They are known by numerous other names, including '''Gauli''',<ref>{{cite book |last=Mehta |first=B. H. |title=Gonds of the Central Indian Highlands |volume=II |year=1994 |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |location=New Delhi |pages=568–569 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gu_cN0MhteMC&pg=PA568}}</ref> '''Ghosi, Gop, Rao Saab''' in the [[North India|north]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Michelutti|first=Lucia|title=Sons of Krishna: the politics of Yadav community formation in a North Indian town|date=2002|publisher=London School of Economics and Political Science University of London|pages=94, 95|url=http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/2106/1/U613338.pdf|accessdate=15 March 2016}}</ref> Some in the [[Bundelkhand]] region of [[Uttar Pradesh]] are known as '''Dauwa or Dau Saab'''.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fghQhiowlycC&pg=PA32 |title=Between History and Legend: Status and Power in Bundelkhand |publisher=Orient Blackswan |first=Ravindra K. |last=Jain |year=2002 |page=30 |isbn=978-8-12502-194-0}}</ref> In [[Gujarat]], they are also known as '''Ahad''' and '''Aayar'''
+*{{cite journal |url=https://think-asia.org/bitstream/handle/11540/3290/wp4.pdf?sequence=1 |title=Ethnic and Caste Diversity: Implications for Development |id=NRM Working Paper No. 4 |date=June 2005 |first1=Rajendra |last1=Pradhan |first2=Ava |last2=Shrestha |journal=Think Asia |publisher=[[Asian Development Bank]] |hdl=11540/3290}}
+*{{Cite web|url=https://www.historytoday.com/archive/indian-labour-british-guiana|title = Indian Labour in British Guiana &#124; History Today}}
-.<ref name="guj">{{cite book|title=Gujarat|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Cy_-FXW9BQC&pg=PA46|year=2003|publisher=Popular Prakashan|isbn=978-81-7991-104-4|pages=46}}</ref>
+*{{Cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/international/2017/09/02/the-legacy-of-indian-migration-to-european-colonies|title=The legacy of Indian migration to European colonies|newspaper=The Economist|date=2 September 2017}}</ref>
 == Etymology ==
+Ahir is believed to be a derivation of the [[Sanskrit]] word, "abhira", and the present term in the [[Bengali (language)|Bengali]] and [[Marathi language|Marathi]] languages is ''abhir''.<ref name="Garg1992">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w9pmo51lRnYC&pg=PA113 |title=Encyclopaedia of the Hindu world |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |year=1992 |isbn=978-81-7022-374-0 |editor-last=Garg |editor-first=Gaṅga Ram |volume=1 |pages=113–114}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=People of Maharashtra |url=https://www.gazetteers.maharashtra.gov.in/cultural.maharashtra.gov.in/english/gazetteer/land_and_people/L%20%26%20P%20pdf/Chapter%20II/2%20Major%20Castes%20and%20Tribes.pdf?}}</ref>
-Gaṅga Ram Garg considers the Ahir to be a tribe descended from the ancient [[Abhira tribe|Abhira community]], whose precise location in India is the subject of various theories based mostly on interpretations of old texts such as the ''[[Mahabharata]]'' and the writings of [[Ptolemy]]. He believes the word ''Ahir'' to be the [[Prakrit]] form of the [[Sanskrit]] word, ''Abhira'' meaning fearless, though later the word may have become a general term for ''Gopa'' or pastorlists, and he notes that the present term in the [[Bengali (language)|Bengali]] and [[Marathi language|Marathi]] languages is ''Abhir''.<ref name="Garg1992" />
+== History ==
-Garg distinguishes a Brahmin community who use the ''Abhira'' name and are found in the present-day states of [[Maharashtra]] and [[Gujarat]]. That usage, he says, is because that division of Brahmins were priests to the Abhira tribe.<ref name="Garg1992" />
+Ahirs are believed to be a tribe descended from the ancient [[Abhira tribe|Abhira community]], whose precise location in India is the subject of various theories based mostly on interpretations of old texts such as the ''[[Mahabharata]]'' and the writings of [[Ptolemy]].<ref name="Garg19922">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w9pmo51lRnYC&pg=PA113 |title=Encyclopaedia of the Hindu world |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |year=1992 |isbn=978-81-7022-374-0 |editor-last=Garg |editor-first=Gaṅga Ram |volume=1 |pages=113–114}}</ref>
+In [[Maharashtra]] and [[Gujarat]], a Brahmin community uses the ''Abhira'' name which distinguishes them from tribal Abhira.<ref name="Garg19923">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w9pmo51lRnYC&pg=PA113 |title=Encyclopaedia of the Hindu world |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |year=1992 |isbn=978-81-7022-374-0 |editor-last=Garg |editor-first=Gaṅga Ram |volume=1 |pages=113–114}}</ref>
-Ahirs in Gujarat came from the [[Soomra dynasty|Sumra Dynasty]] and claim to be descended from the [[Yadava]] race of [[Lord Krishna]].<ref name="guj"/>
-== History ==
-[[File:Asirgarh Fort1.jpg|thumb|[[Asirgarh Fort]], built by King Asa Ahir in [[Madhya Pradesh]] ]]
 === Early history ===
+[[File:Raja Rao Puran Singh.jpg|thumb|An Ahir - Raja Rao Puran Singh of Rewari<ref>{{Cite book |last=Yadav |first=Kripal Chandra |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xzI-AAAAMAAJ |title=Rao Tula Ram, a Hero of 1857 |date=1965 |publisher=Rao Tula Ram Smarak Samiti |language=en}}</ref>]]
-Theories regarding the origins of the ancient [[Abhira]]&nbsp;— the putative ancestors of the Ahirs&nbsp;— are varied for the same reasons as are the theories regarding their location; that is, there is a reliance on interpretation of linguistic and factual analysis of old texts that are known to be unreliable and ambiguous.<ref name="Bhattacharya1996p126"/> [[S. D. S. Yadava]] describes how this situation impacts on theories of origin for the modern Ahir community because {{quote|Their origin is shrouded in mystery and is immersed in controversy, with many theories, most of which link the Ahirs to a people known to the ancients as the Abhiras.<ref name="Yadava2006p1">{{cite book |title=Followers of Krishna: Yadavas of India |first=S. D. S. |last=Yadava |publisher=Lancer Publishers |year=2006 |isbn=9788170622161 |page=1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p69GMA226bgC |accessdate=2012-12-03}}</ref>}} Some, such as James Tod say Abhira are a scythian tribe who migrated to India and point to the ''[[Purana]]s'' as evidence. Others, such as Sunil Kumar Bhattacharya, dismiss this theory as anachronistic and say that the Abhira are recorded as being in India in the 1st-century CE work, the ''[[Periplus of the Erythraean Sea]]''. Bhattacharya considers the Abhira of old to be a race rather than a tribe.<ref name="Bhattacharya1996p126">{{cite book |title=Krishna&nbsp;— Cult In Indian Art |first=Sunil Kumar |last=Bhattacharya |publisher=M.D. Publications |year=1996 |isbn=9788175330016 |page=126 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SyyNIL7Ug2kC |accessdate=2012-12-03}}</ref> [[M. S. A. Rao]] and historians such as P. M. Chandorkar and T. Padmaja say that epigraphical and historical evidence exists for equating the Ahirs with the ancient [[Yadava]] tribe.<ref>{{Cite book|first = Sumit | last = Guha |title=Environment and Ethnicity in India, 1200-1991| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=GSa5blriOYcC&pg=PA47|year = 2006| publisher = University of Cambridge|page=47|isbn=978-0-521-02870-7}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book| first = M. S. A. | last=Rao |title=Social Movements in India |volume=1| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=SODZAAAAMAAJ&dq=MSA+Rao+Social+movements+and+social+transformation&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=124|year=1978 | publisher =Manohar|pages=124, 197, 210}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | first = Padmaja|last= T. |title=Temples of Kr̥ṣṇa in South India: History, Art, and Traditions in Tamilnāḍu|url =https://books.google.com/books?id=pzgaS1wRnl8C&pg=RA1-PA35|year = 2001 | publisher = Archaeology Dept., University of Mysore|pages=25, 34|isbn=978-8-170-17398-4}}</ref>
+Theories regarding the origins of the ancient [[Abhira tribe|Abhira]] – the putative ancestors of the Ahirs – are varied for the same reasons as are the theories regarding their location; that is, there is a reliance on interpretation of linguistic and factual analysis of old texts that are known to be unreliable and ambiguous.<ref name="Bhattacharya1996p126" />
+Some scholars consider the Abhira to be a [[Proto-Dravidian]] tribe who migrated to India and point to the ''[[Purana]]s'' as evidence. Other scholars say that the Abhira are recorded as being in India in the 1st-century CE work, the ''[[Periplus of the Erythraean Sea]]''. The Abhira coommunity can also be considered to be a race rather than a tribe.<ref name="Bhattacharya1996p126">{{cite book |title=Krishna – Cult in Indian Art |first=Sunil Kumar |last=Bhattacharya |publisher=M.D. Publications |year=1996 |isbn=978-81-7533-001-6 |page=126 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SyyNIL7Ug2kC}}</ref> Epigraphical and historical evidence exists for equating the Ahirs with the ancient [[Yadava]] tribe.<ref>{{Cite book|first = Sumit | last = Guha |title=Environment and Ethnicity in India, 1200–1991| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=GSa5blriOYcC&pg=PA47|year = 2006| publisher = University of Cambridge|page=47|isbn=978-0-521-02870-7}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book| first = M. S. A. | last=Rao |title=Social Movements in India |volume=1| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=SODZAAAAMAAJ&q=124|year=1978 | publisher =Manohar|pages=124, 197, 210}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | first = Padmaja|last= T. |title=Temples of Kr̥ṣṇa in South India: History, Art, and Traditions in Tamilnāḍu|url =https://books.google.com/books?id=pzgaS1wRnl8C&pg=RA1-PA35|year = 2001 | publisher = Archaeology Dept., University of Mysore|pages=25, 34|isbn=978-8-170-17398-4}}</ref>
-In Padma-puranas and certain literary works Abhiras are mentioned as belonging to the race of Lord Krishna.<ref>{{cite book |first= Padmaja |last= T | page    =34  |title= Ay velirs and Krsna|publisher= University of Mysore|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=pzgaS1wRnl8C&pg=RA1-PA34&dq=Abhiras+ay++yadavas&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi8jdzyhqzaAhUIH6wKHQffAiwQ6AEIMDAC#v=onepage&q=abhiras&f=false}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first= Dr Ganga Ram |last= Garg | page    =113  |title= Encyclopedia of Hindu world |publisher= Concept Publishing|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=w9pmo51lRnYC&pg=PA113&dq=Abhiras+yadava&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjf_fzoh6zaAhUFTKwKHZSCBfQ4ChDoAQgrMAE#v=onepage&q=Abhiras%20yadava&f=false}}</ref> According to [[K. P. Jayaswal]] the abhiras of Gujarat are the same race as Rastrikas of Emperor Asoka and Yadavas of the Mahabharatha.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gPAdAAAAMAAJ&dq=devagiri+abhira&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=Abhiras| title=The Glory that was Gūrjaradeśa, Volume 1| publisher= Bharathiya Vidya Bhavan | work= History | author= Mularaja solanki | pages=30}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.499265| title= Hindu Polity| publisher= Bangalore Print | work= History | author= K P Jayaswal | pages=141}}</ref>
-Whether they were a race or a tribe, nomadic in tendency or displaced or part of a conquering wave, with origins in Indo-Scythia or Central Asia, Aryan or [[Dravidian peoples|Dravidian]]&nbsp;— there is no academic consensus, and much in the differences of opinion relate to fundamental aspects of historiography, such as controversies regarding dating the writing of the ''Mahabharata'' and acceptance or otherwise of the [[Out of India theory|Aryan invasion theory]].<ref name="Yadava2006p1" /> Similarly, there is no certainty regarding the occupational status of the Abhira, with ancient texts sometimes referring to them as pastoral and cowherders but at other times as predatory tribes and rulers.<ref>{{cite book |first=Aditya |last=Malik |chapter=The Puskara Mahatmya: A Short Report |page=200 |title=The History of Sacred Places in India As Reflected in Traditional Literature |editor-first=Hans |editor-last=Bakker |location=Leiden |year=1990 |isbn=9789004093188 |publisher=BRILL and the International Association of Sanskrit Studies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wPgBdyxD5MkC&pg=PA200 |accessdate=2012-12-03}}</ref>
+Whether they were a race or a tribe, nomadic in tendency or displaced or part of a conquering wave, with origins in Indo-Scythia or Central Asia, Aryan or [[Dravidian peoples|Dravidian]] – there is no academic consensus, and much in the differences of opinion relate to fundamental aspects of historiography, such as controversies regarding dating the writing of the ''Mahabharata'' and acceptance or otherwise of the [[Indo-Aryan migration]] (which is universally accepted in mainstream scholarship).{{refn|name="OIT no support"|Out of India aka Indigenous Aryans has no support:
+* Romila Thapar (2006): "there is no scholar at this time seriously arguing for the indigenous origin of Aryans".<ref>{{cite book |last=Thapar |first=Romila |date=2006 |title=India: Historical Beginnings and the Concept of the Aryan |publisher=National Book Trust |isbn=978-81-237-4779-8 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=sDBuAAAAMAAJ&q=indigenous+aryans}}</ref>
+* Wendy Doniger (2017): "The opposing argument, that speakers of Indo-European languages were indigenous to the Indian subcontinent, is not supported by any reliable scholarship. It is now championed primarily by Hindu nationalists, whose religious sentiments have led them to regard the theory of Aryan migration with some asperity."<ref>Wendy Doniger (2017), [https://inference-review.com/article/another-great-story "Another Great Story"]", review of Asko Parpola's ''The Roots of Hinduism''; in: ''Inference, International Review of Science'', Volume 3, Issue 2</ref>
+* Girish Shahane (September 14, 2019), in response to Narasimhan et al. (2019): "Hindutva activists, however, have kept the Aryan Invasion Theory alive, because it offers them the perfect strawman, 'an intentionally misrepresented proposition that is set up because it is easier to defeat than an opponent's real argument'&nbsp;... The Out of India hypothesis is a desperate attempt to reconcile linguistic, archaeological and genetic evidence with Hindutva sentiment and nationalistic pride, but it cannot reverse time's arrow&nbsp;... The evidence keeps crushing Hindutva ideas of history."<ref>Girish Shahane (September 14, 2019), [https://scroll.in/article/937043/why-hindutva-supporters-love-to-hate-the-discredited-aryan-invasion-theory ''Why Hindutva supporters love to hate the discredited Aryan Invasion Theory''], Scroll.in</ref>
+* Koenraad Elst (May 10, 2016): "Of course it is a fringe theory, at least internationally, where the Aryan Invasion Theory (AIT) is still the official paradigm. In India, though, it has the support of most archaeologists, who fail to find a trace of this Aryan influx and instead find cultural continuity."<ref name="Elst_2016">Koenraad Elst (May 10, 2016), Koenraad Elst: "I am not aware of any governmental interest in correcting distorted history", ''Swarajya Magazine''</ref>}} Similarly, there is no certainty regarding the occupational status of the Abhira, with ancient texts sometimes referring to them as pastoral and cowherders but at other times as robber tribes.<ref>{{cite book |first=Aditya |last=Malik |chapter=The Puskara Mahatmya: A Short Report |page=200 |title=The History of Sacred Places in India As Reflected in Traditional Literature |editor-first=Hans |editor-last=Bakker |location=Leiden |year=1990 |isbn=978-90-04-09318-8 |publisher=BRILL and the International Association of Sanskrit Studies |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wPgBdyxD5MkC&pg=PA200}}</ref>
 === Kingdoms ===
+{{Expand section|date=November 2024}}
-Ahir Kingdoms included:
+*Veersen of [[Nasik]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://jalgaon.gov.in/history/ | title=JALGAON HISTORY | publisher=Jalgaon district Administration | work=Jalgaon District Administration Official Website | access-date=7 February 2015 | author=Jalgaon district}}</ref>
+*Ahir dynasty in pre-12th century areas in present-day [[Nepal]]<ref>{{cite book|first=Punam |last=Yadav|title=Social Transformation in Post-conflict Nepal: A Gender Perspective|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3QQRDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT57|year=2016|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-317-35389-8|page=57}}</ref>
-* Balaramvanshi king of [[Rewari]]<ref>{{cite web | url=http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/2106/1/U613338.pdf | title=Sons of Krishna: the politics of Yadav community formation in a North Indian town | publisher=London School of Economics and Political Science University of London | work=PhD Thesis Social Anthropology | date=2002 | author=Lucia Michelutti | pages=83}}</ref>
+*Ahir-Rajas of [[Sagar, Madhya Pradesh|Sagar]]<ref>{{cite book |first= A N |last= Sharma | page    =13  |title= The Beria (Rai Dancers)A Socio-demographic, Reproductive, and Child Health Care Practices Profile
-* Veersen Ahir of [[Nasik]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://jalgaon.gov.in/history/ | title=JALGAON HISTORY | publisher=Jalgaon district Administration | work=Jalgaon District Administration Official Website | accessdate=7 February 2015 | author=Jalgaon district}}</ref>
+|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=YX1siOYKthgC&dq=ahir+Rajas+sagar&pg=PA13|isbn=81-7625-714-1|year= 2006|publisher= Sarup & Sons }}</ref>
-* Ahir dynasty in pre-12th century areas in present-day [[Nepal]]<ref>{{cite book|author=Punam Yadav|title=Social Transformation in Post-conflict Nepal: A Gender Perspective|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3QQRDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT57|year=2016|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-317-35389-8|pages=57–}}</ref>
+*Ahir Rajas of Gawror fort, [[Patna district|Patna]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nAO2AAAAIAAJ&q=ahir++rajas |title=Historical Researches Series |date=1963 |language=en}}</ref>
-*[[Chudasama dynasty]] of Junagadh:<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sjVmAAAAMAAJ&q=ahir+rana+kings&dq=ahir+rana+kings&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiRh_WTldfbAhVaHjQIHXvTB5cQ6AEIOzAE| title=Invisible people: pastoral life in proto-historic Gujarat, Volume 1464 | publisher= John and Erica Hedges Ltd | date= 2006 | author=S. Swayam| page=20}}</ref> The Chudasama kings of Junagadh [[Navaghana (late 11th century king)|Navaghana]] and Khengar described as Ahir Rana, Abhira Ranaka in [[Hemchandra]]'s ''Dvyashraya'' and [[Merutunga]]'s ''[[Prabandha-Chintamani]]'', as their ancestors were placed on the throne by Ahirs.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MDUkAQAAIAAJ|title=Encyclopaedia of folklore and folktales of South Asia|last=|first=|last2=|first2=|publisher=Anmol Publications|year=2003|isbn=978-81-261-1400-9|editor-last=Sushil|editor-first=Kumar|volume=10|location=|pages=2771|editor-last2=Kumar|editor-first2=Natesh}}</ref> The Dynasty was formed by alliance between ruling house and Ahirs<ref>{{cite book|author=Harald Tambs-Lyche|title=Transaction and Hierarchy: Elements for a Theory of Caste|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AOsrDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT98&dq=chudasama+dynasty+ahir&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjO15-hsaTjAhVE7J4KHb4KB5QQ6AEILDAA#v=onepage&q=chudasama%20dynasty%20ahir&f=false|year=2018|publisher= Manohar|isbn=978-1-138-09546-5|pages=57–}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Sree Padma|title=Inventing and Reinventing the Goddess: Contemporary Iterations of Hindu|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9Jn_AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA189&dq=chudasama++ahir&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjuzsnasaTjAhU1Ln0KHbJrCPAQ6AEISDAG#v=onepage&q=chudasama%20%20ahir&f=false|year=2018|publisher= Lexington Books|isbn=978-0-7391-9001-2|pages=189}}</ref> Later it became a Rajput dynasty<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.co.in/books?id=I68WAQAAMAAJ&q=Chudasama+Rajput+junagadh&dq=Chudasama+Rajput+junagadh&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj3rYXy2PzhAhVF_XMBHYJoAboQ6AEILDAB|title=Junagadh|last=Gujarat|first=India (Republic) Superintendent of Census Operations|date=1964|publisher=Director, Government Print. and Stationery, Gujarat State|year=|isbn=|location=|pages=5|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.co.in/books?id=BTppDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT425&dq=Chudasama+Rajput+junagadh&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj3rYXy2PzhAhVF_XMBHYJoAboQ6AEINzAE#v=onepage&q=Chudasama%20Rajput%20junagadh&f=false|title=The Man Who Saved India|last=Sengupta|first=Hindol|date=2018-08-31|publisher=Penguin Random House India Private Limited|isbn=9789353052003|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.co.in/books?id=6k4iAQAAMAAJ&dq=Chudasama+Rajput+junagadh&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=Chudasama+|title=The Indian Year Book|last=|first=|date=1924|publisher=Bennett, Coleman & Company|year=|isbn=|location=|pages=154|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.co.in/books?id=ZRIeAAAAIAAJ&dq=Chudasama+Rajput+junagadh&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=Chudasama+|title=Survey of Industrial Development Potentialities in Pilot Project Areas|last=|first=|date=1959|publisher=The Office|year=|isbn=|location=|pages=xxvi|language=en}}</ref>
-*Ahir Kingdom of [[Jalesar]] and [[Karauli]]<ref>{{cite book|author=Lucia Michelutti|title=Sons of Krishna: The Politics of Yadav community formation in a North Indian town|url= http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/2106/1/U613338.pdf |year=2018|publisher= London School of Economics|isbn=Phd Thesis Social Anthropology|pages=47}}</ref>
 === Military involvements ===
+[[File:'B' Company (Ahir), 1st Battalion, The 5th Light Infantry.jpg|thumb|'B' Company (Ahir), 1st Battalion, The 5th Light Infantry, Quetta, 1918<ref>{{Cite web |title=Indian officers and non-commissioned officers from 'B' Company (Ahir), 1st Battalion, The 5th Light Infantry, Quetta, 1918 {{!}} Online Collection {{!}} National Army Museum, London |url=https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?q=searchType=simple&resultsDisplay=list&simpleText=Ahirs&pos=2&total=10&page=1&acc=1960-12-120-4-95 |access-date=2023-11-03 |website=collection.nam.ac.uk}}</ref>]]
-The [[British Raj|British]] rulers of India classified the Ahirs of Punjab as "[[martial race]]" in the 1920s.<ref>{{cite book|first=Rajit K. |last=Mazumder|title=The Indian army and the making of Punjab|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8G8COTxOUkgC&pg=PA105|year=2003|publisher=Orient Blackswan|isbn=978-81-7824-059-6|page=105}}</ref> They had been recruited into the army from 1898.<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> In that year, the British raised four Ahir companies, two of which were in the [[95th Russell's Infantry]].<ref>{{cite book|first=M. S. A. |last=Rao |title=Social movements and social transformation: a study of two backward classes movements in India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tZAiAAAAMAAJ|year=1979|publisher=Macmillan}}</ref> The involvement of a company of Ahirs from 13 Kumaon Regiment in a last stand at [[Rezang La]] in 1962 during the [[Sino-Indian War]] has been celebrated by Indian Army & Govt. and in remembrance of their bravery the war point memorial has been named as Ahir Dham.<ref>{{cite news|first=Mohan |last=Guruswamy |url=http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/dont-forget-the-heroes-of-rezang-la/article4112584.ece |title=Don’t forget the heroes of Rezang La |work=The Hindu |date=20 November 2012 |accessdate=2014-07-13}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/-nobody-believed-we-had-killed-so-many-chinese-at-rezang-la.-our-commander-called-me-crazy-and-warned-that-i-could-be-courtmartialled-/1023745/0 |title=‘Nobody believed we had killed so many Chinese at Rezang La. Our commander called me crazy and warned that I could be court-martialled’ |work=The Indian Express |date=30 October 2012 |accessdate=2014-07-13}}</ref>
+[[File:Indian officers, 'B' Company (Ahir), 1st Battalion, 5th Light Infantry.jpg|thumb|Indian officers, 'B' Company (Ahir), 1st Battalion, 5th Light Infantry, Quetta 1918.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Online Collection {{!}} National Army Museum, London |url=https://collection.nam.ac.uk/results.php?searchType=simple&resultsDisplay=list&simpleText=Ahirs |access-date=2023-11-03 |website=collection.nam.ac.uk}}</ref>]]
-During the [[1965 India-Pakistan War]], the 4 Kumaon Regiment, which is an Ahir company, played a key role. The Indian Army renamed Point 8667 to Yadav Hill in memory of the soldiers who were killed in capturing it from Pakistani forces.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4SBWc27AVmwC&pg=PA212| title=Combat Diary: An illustrated history of operations conducted by 4th Kumaon| publisher=Lancer Books |work=History |year=2010 |first=Jasbir |last=Singh |page=212}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zwSqCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA84| title=Roar of the Tiger: Illustrated History of Operations in Kashmir  |publisher=VIJ BOOKS |year=2010 |page=84}}</ref>
+The [[British Raj|British]] rulers of India classified the Ahirs of Punjab as an "agricultural tribe" in the 1920s, which was at that time synonymous with being a "[[martial race]]".<ref>{{cite book|first=Rajit K. |last=Mazumder|title=The Indian army and the making of Punjab|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8G8COTxOUkgC&pg=PA105|year=2003|publisher=Orient Blackswan|isbn=978-81-7824-059-6|page=105}}</ref> This was a designation created by administrators that classified each ethnic group as either "martial" or "non-martial": a "martial race" was typically considered brave and well built for fighting,<ref name=rand>{{Cite journal |last=Rand |first=Gavin |title=Martial Races and Imperial Subjects: Violence and Governance in Colonial India 1857–1914 |journal=European Review of History |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=1–20 |date=March 2006 |url= |doi=10.1080/13507480600586726|s2cid=144987021 }}</ref> whilst the remainder were those whom the British believed to be unfit for battle because of their sedentary lifestyles.<ref name="Street">{{cite book |title=Martial Races: The military, race and masculinity in British Imperial Culture, 1857–1914 |last=Streets |first=Heather |year=2004 |publisher=Manchester University Press |location= |isbn=978-0-7190-6962-8 |page=241 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BscnZT_1po8C |access-date=20 October 2010}}</ref> However, the martial races were also considered politically subservient, intellectually inferior, lacking the initiative or leadership qualities to command large military formations. The British had a policy of recruiting the martial Indians from those who has less access to education as they were easier to control.<ref name="Khalidi2003">{{cite book|author=Omar Khalidi|title=Khaki and the Ethnic Violence in India: Army, Police, and Paramilitary Forces During Communal Riots|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B-NtAAAAMAAJ|year=2003|publisher=Three Essays Collective|quote= Apart from their physique, the martial races were regarded as politically subservient or docile to authority|page=5|isbn=978-81-88789-09-2}}</ref><ref name="Levine2003">{{cite book|author=Philippa Levine|title=Prostitution, Race, and Politics: Policing Venereal Disease in the British Empire|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=It1lPzFCG9EC|year=2003|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0-415-94447-2|pages=284–285|quote=The Saturday review had made much the same argument a few years earlier in relation to the armies raised by Indian rulers in princely states. They lacked competent leadership and were uneven in quality. Commander in chief Roberts, one of the most enthusiastic proponents of the martial race theory, though poorly of the native troops as a body. Many regarded such troops as childish and simple. The British, claims, David Omissi, believe martial Indians to be stupid. Certainly, the policy of recruiting among those without access to much education gave the British more semblance of control over their recruits.}}</ref> According to modern historian Jeffrey Greenhunt on military history, "The Martial Race theory had an elegant symmetry. Indians who were intelligent and educated were defined as cowards, while those defined as brave were uneducated and backward". According to Amiya Samanta, the marital race was chosen from people of mercenary spirit (a soldier who fights for any group or country that will pay him/her), as these groups lacked nationalism as a trait.<ref name="Samanta2000">{{cite book|author=Amiya K. Samanta|title=Gorkhaland Movement: A Study in Ethnic Separatism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J4GqdfG0EU8C&pg=PA26|year=2000|publisher=APH Publishing|isbn=978-81-7648-166-3|pages=26–|quote=Dr . Jeffrey Greenhunt has observed that " The Martial Race Theory had an elegant symmetry. Indians who were intelligent and educated were defined as cowards, while those defined as brave were uneducated and backward. Besides their mercenary spirit was primarily due to their lack of nationalism.}}</ref> Ahirs had been recruited into the army from 1898.<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://archive.org/details/peasantsmonksinb0000pinc |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/peasantsmonksinb0000pinc/page/90 90]}}</ref> In that year, the British raised four Ahir companies, two of which were in the [[95th Russell's Infantry]].<ref>{{cite book|first=M. S. A. |last=Rao |title=Social movements and social transformation: a study of two backward classes movements in India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tZAiAAAAMAAJ|year=1979|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=978-0-333-90255-4 }}</ref>{{page needed|date=May 2020}} In post-independence India, some Ahir units have been involved in celebrated military actions, such as at [[Rezang La]] in the 1962 [[Sino-Indian War]] that saw the last stand of Charlie company, consisting of 114 Ahirs of 13 Kumaon, and in the [[1965 India-Pakistan War]].<ref name="Remembering Rezang La heroes">
-=== Karantikari Hinduism ===
+{{cite news |author=Press Information Bureau, Government of India | title=Remembering Rezang La heroes |date=7 January 2007 |newspaper=Sainik samachar |url=http://sainiksamachar.nic.in/englisharchives/2007/oct01-07/h4.htm}}
-The Ahirs have been one of the more Karantikari Hindu groups, including in the modern era. For example, in 1930, about 200 Ahirs marched towards the shrine of Trilochan and performed ''[[puja (Hinduism)|puja]]'' in response to Islamic ''tanzeem'' processions.<ref>{{cite book |first=Nandini |last=Gooptu |title=The Politics of the Urban Poor in Early Twentieth-Century India |page=307 |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=wZTLEEGmZfQC&pg=PA307 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2001}}quote: The Ahirs in particular who played an important role in militant Hinduism, retaliated strongly against the Tanzeem movement. In July,1930, about 200 Ahirs marched in procession to Trilochan, a sacred Hindu site and performed a religious ceremony in response to Tanzeem processions.</ref> It was from the 1920s that some Ahirs began to adopt the name of ''Yadav'' and various [[mahasabha]]s were founded by ideologues such as Rajit Singh. Several caste histories and periodicals to trace a Kshatriya origin were written at the time, notably by Mannanlal Abhimanyu. These were part of the jostling among various castes for socio-economic status and ritual under the Raj and they invoked support for a zealous, martial Hindu ethos.<ref>{{cite book |first=Nandini |last=Gooptu |title=The Politics of the Urban Poor in Early Twentieth-Century India |pages=205–210 |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=wZTLEEGmZfQC&pg=PA205 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2001}}</ref>
+</ref><ref name="Heroes of Rezang La">
+{{cite news |author= Col Dilbag Dabas (Retd) | title=Heroes of Rezang La 1962 |date=15 December 2018 |newspaper=The Tribune |url= https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/archive/haryanatribune/heroes-of-1962-rezang-la-battle-698535}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|first=Mohan |last=Guruswamy |url=http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/dont-forget-the-heroes-of-rezang-la/article4112584.ece |title=Don't forget the heroes of Rezang La |work=The Hindu |date=20 November 2012 |access-date=13 July 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4SBWc27AVmwC&pg=PA212| title=Combat Diary: An illustrated history of operations conducted by 4th Kumaon| publisher=Lancer Books |year=2010 |first=Jasbir |last=Singh |page=212| isbn=978-1-935501-18-3}}</ref>
+== Challenges and opportunities ==
-== Subdivisions ==
+===Recreating the past for new identity===
-Traditionally Ahirs are divided into subdivisions such as [[Yaduvanshi]], [[Nandvanshi]] and Gwal (Gwalvanshi).<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gupta|first1=Dipankar|title=Caste in question identity or hierarchy?|date=2004|publisher=Sage Publications|location=New Delhi|isbn=978-8-13210-345-5|pages=49, 58 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pviHAwAAQBAJ&&pg=PA49}}</ref> They have more than 20 sub-castes.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=58G8PPAN48cC&pg=PA33 |title=Awareness in Weaker Section: Perspective Development and Prospects |publisher=M. D. Publications Pvt. Ltd |first=Mahendra Lal |last=Patel |year=1997 |pages=33 |isbn=978-8-17533-029-0}}</ref>
+It was from the 1920s that some Ahirs began to adopt the name of ''Yadav'' and created the [[All-India Yadav Mahasabha|Yadav Mahasabha]], founded by ideologues such as Rajit Singh. Several caste histories and periodicals to trace a Kshatriya origin were written at the time, notably by Mannanlal Abhimanyu. These were part of the jostling among various castes for socio-economic status and ritual under the Raj and they invoked support for a zealous, martial Hindu ethos.<ref>{{cite book |first=Nandini |last=Gooptu |title=The Politics of the Urban Poor in Early Twentieth-Century India |pages=205–210 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wZTLEEGmZfQC&pg=PA205 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2001|isbn=978-0-521-44366-1|quote=One of the most politically active and vocal among the shudra castes was the ahirs or yadavs. In 1922, an ahir conference was held in Lucknow, followed by another ahir ''mahotsav'' (festival) in Allahabad in 1923, where a provincial Mahasabha was inaugurated, with the new name of Yadav Mahasabha. The term yadav, to denote the ahirs, gained currency from this period. Rajit Singh, a yadav born in the Deoria district in 1897, and educated at Gorakhpur and Shikohabad, was instrumental in the formation of the Yadav Mahasabha. He had briefly worked in the Excise Department in Kanpur, but had resigned from his job to devote himself to organising yadav associations from 1921. In 1925, Rajit Singh settled in Benares and inaugurated the Benares Yadav Mahasabha, which soon emerged as the centre of the yadav caste movement in UP. From Benares, Rajit Singh edited the journal ''Yadav'', and also published a history of the yadav castes, entitled ''Yaduvamsa Prakash''. Several other yadav histories were published in rapid succession in the 1920s, written by another younger yadav leader of Benares, Mannalal Abhimanyu, a lawyer who was the son of a school teacher. He wrote ''Ahir Vamsa Pradip'' (1925) and ''Yadukul Sarvasya'' (1928), in which he attempted to demonstrate the kshatriya origin of the yadavs, with extensive references from both religious texts and British ethnographic tracts.|language=en}}</ref> Arya Samaj, a Hindu reformist organization also played an important role in ritual purification of Ahir/Yadavs and many low castes in order to incorporate them into Vedic Hinduism.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8OIUAQAAIAAJ |title=The Vernacularisation of Democracy: Politics, Caste, and Religion in India |last=Michuletti|first=Lucia|publisher=Routledge |year=2008 |page=140 |isbn=978-0-415-46732-2|quote=Hindu reformist organisations like the Arya Samaj which aimed to reform Hinduism and incorporate lower-caste groups within the fold of vedic Aryan Hinduism (see Rao 1979: 132-35), have a pivotal role in 'purifying' the customs of the Ahir/Yadavs and other lower castes through the adoption of Brahmanical Hindu practices. Brahmanical Hinduism emphasises vegetarianism, non-violence and ascetism (Fuller 1992: 88).|language=en}}</ref> In U.P, it was through shastrarth debates and with the help of reform movements like Arya Samaj and Vaishnava Ramanandi order in public debates that the Ahirs defended their claims to a higher social status.<ref>{{cite book|title=''The Limits of Tolerance'':Indian Secularism and the Politics of Religious Freedom|page=46|first= C.S.|last= Adcock|publisher= Oxford University Press|year=2014|isbn=978-0-19-999543-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DvMVDAAAQBAJ&dq=ahirs+The+Limits+of+Tolerance:+Indian+Secularism+and+the+Politics+of+Religious+Freedom+By+C.S.+Adcock&pg=PA46|quote= In U.P., the Ahir/Yadav castes, whom elites deemed Shudras, also used shastrarth debates to defend their claims to elevated, Kshatriya status from at least the 1890s. In the eastern districts of U.P., monks of the Vaishnava Ramanandi order defended the Ahirs' claims in public debate; in western U.P., their champions in debate were often members of the Arya Samaj.|language=en}}</ref> At the same time Ahir/Yadav intelligentsia also emphasized the socio-economic backwardness faced by their community and in 1927, a petition was sent to the [[Simon Commission]] describing how the Ahirs suffers from the same social disabilities and discrimination as the [[Chamar]]s.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8OIUAQAAIAAJ |title=The Vernacularisation of Democracy: Politics, Caste, and Religion in India |last=Michuletti|first=Lucia|publisher=Routledge |year=2008 |page=83 |isbn=978-0-415-46732-2|quote=This emphasis on number and on ''Yadavness'' versus 'status' is also evident in colonial petitions which portray the Ahirs as a 'backward/ depressed category' in an attempt to get benefits from the reservation provisions. It looks as if the Yadav intelligentsia not only learnt that Yadav social and economic progress or backwardness could be determined by measuring their share in the number of graduates, official appointments and parliamentary seats (Chakrabarty 1994: 150), but also that economic and social disabilities were not 'enough' and that 'ritual' disabilities had also to be proved. The political leaders invoked arguments about the historical deprivation of their communities' (see Gooptu 2001: 11). The following is an extract from a petition sent in 1927 to the Simon Commission, in which a member of the Ahir community illustrates how the community suffers from the same disabilities and discriminations as the Chamars (an untouchable caste).|language=en}}</ref> Despite explicitly expressing their commitment against untouchability, it has been observed that these movements by Yadav caste associations have not been egalitarian enough to include communities who are under Scheduled Castes and have claimed connection with Krishna.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8OIUAQAAIAAJ |title=The Vernacularisation of Democracy: Politics, Caste, and Religion in India |last=Michuletti|first=Lucia|publisher=Routledge |year=2008 |page=149 |isbn=978-0-415-46732-2|quote=Although Yadav caste associations organise Other Backward Classes meetings and explicitly express their commitment against untouchability, I never met an SC member attending or delivering a speech at such events. A recent controversy showed how, in practice, Yadav caste associations are not willing to encompass in their social category members of SC communities who claim to descend from Krishna. At the AIYM meeting held in Gurgaon in 1998, a member of the committee raised the issue that Jatavs in Agra and Rajasthan had begun to adopt the Yadav title. A member of the audience pointed out that he had already written to the Mahasabha secretary to inform him that in Bharatpur (Rajasthan) the local Jatavs were calling themselves Yadavs. Another pointed out that in Udaipur, Jatavs who worked as builders and did casual labour were also calling themselves Yadavs and had adopted the ''Kadamb'' Yadav clan.|language=en}}</ref>
+=== Participation in reactionary communal conflicts ===
+The Ahirs in certain region of UP had been one of the more militant Hindu groups during pre-independent India. In one of the instances before independence, Hindu ''[[shudra]]'' caste groups such as the Ahirs actively participated in a counter-reactionary communal conflict orchestrated by Arya Samaj.<ref>{{cite book |first=Nandini |last=Gooptu |title=The Politics of the Urban Poor in Early Twentieth-Century India |page=307 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wZTLEEGmZfQC&pg=PA307 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2001|isbn=978-0-521-44366-1 |quote=The spread of the tanzeem movement in Benares further fuelled the religious expansion of Hindu organisations, and contributed to an escalation in local competition and communal conflict. Khalil Das' movement elicited a counter-reaction from the Arya Samaj and from such Hindu shudra caste groups as the ahirs, who were active participants in volunteer corps and akharas, and who, in Benares, were involved in an especially active yadav caste movement.... The Ahirs in particular who played an important role in militant Hinduism, retaliated strongly against the Tanzeem movement. In July,1930, about 200 Ahirs marched in procession to Trilochan, a sacred Hindu site and performed a religious ceremony in response to Tanzeem processions.|language=en}}</ref> Some writers are also of the opinion that many low-castes (including Ahirs) took to cow protection for asserting higher status since ''cow'' already had symbolic importance in Hinduism. This view of cow protection was different from the UP's urban elites.<ref>{{cite book|first=William|last=Gould|title=Religion and Conflict in Modern South Asia|year=2012|page=70|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|quote=Gyan Pandey's detailed research on the cow protection riots in eastern UP and Bihar in 1893 and 1917 relates the conflict to specific registers of caste difference and status assertion, in a context where the popular view of cow protection from the point of view of low-caste Ahirs, Koeris and Kurmis was quite different to that of UP's urban elites. For both Freitag and Pandey, cow protection became a means for relatively low-status communities to assert higher status via association with something of symbolic importance to Hinduism as a whole: in this case, the cow.|isbn=978-0-521-87949-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K2oexn_mLPIC&q=Religion+and+Conflict+in+Modern+South+Asia+By+Williiam+gould|language=en}}</ref>
 == Distribution ==
+Ahirs in India are known by numerous other names, including Gauli<ref>{{cite book |last=Mehta |first=B. H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gu_cN0MhteMC&pg=PA568 |title=Gonds of the Central Indian Highlands |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |year=1994 |volume=II |location=New Delhi |pages=568–569}}</ref> and Ghosi or Gop in [[North India]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Michelutti |first=Lucia |year=2002 |title=Sons of Krishna: the politics of Yadav community formation in a North Indian town |url=http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/2106/1/U613338.pdf |work=PhD Thesis Social Anthropology |publisher=London School of Economics and Political Science |pages=94–95}}</ref> In [[Gujarat]] and [[South India]] as Ayar, Golla and Konar.<ref>* {{cite book |last=Singh |first=Rajbir |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jn3aAAAAMAAJ |title=India's Unequal Citizens: A Study of Other Backward Classes |publisher=Manohar, 1994 |year=1994 |isbn=978-81-7304-069-6 |pages=34, 356, 390}}
+* {{cite book |last=Sharma |first=Shish Ram |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T3PaAAAAMAAJ |title=Protective Discrimination: Other Backward Classes in India |publisher=Raj Publications, 2002 |year=2002 |isbn=978-81-86208-23-6 |pages=153, 312, 410}}</ref> Some in the [[Bundelkhand]] region of [[Uttar Pradesh]] are known as Dauwa.<ref>{{cite book |last=Jain |first=Ravindra K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fghQhiowlycC&pg=PA32 |title=Between History and Legend: Status and Power in Bundelkhand |publisher=Orient Blackswan |year=2002 |isbn=978-8-12502-194-0 |page=30}}</ref> The Ahirs have more than 20 sub-castes.<ref>{{cite book |last=Patel |first=Mahendra Lal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=58G8PPAN48cC&pg=PA33 |title=Awareness in Weaker Section: Perspective Development and Prospects |publisher=M. D. Publications Pvt. Ltd |year=1997 |isbn=978-8-17533-029-0 |page=33}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=May 2022}}
 === North India ===
-They are majority in the region around [[Behror]], [[Alwar]], [[Rewari]], [[Narnaul]], [[Mahendragarh]], [[Gurgaon]]<ref name="nannak$">{{cite book|last1=Guru Nanak Dev University|first1=Sociology Dept|title=Guru Nanak Journal of Sociology|date=2003|publisher=Sociology Department, Guru Nanak Dev University|pages=5, 6|url=https://books.google.co.in/books?redir_esc=y&id=03_ZAAAAMAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=ahir|accessdate=25 January 2017|language=en}}</ref> and [[Jhajjar]]<ref>{{cite book|first=Dip Chand |last=Verma|title=Haryana|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6JY5AQAAIAAJ|year=1975|publisher=National Book Trust, India}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Suresh K. |last=Sharma|title=Haryana: Past and Present|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VE71IqAC0YYC&pg=PA40|year=2006|publisher=Mittal Publications|isbn=978-81-8324-046-8|page=40}}</ref> which is therefore known as [[Ahirwal]] or the abode of Ahirs.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8OIUAQAAIAAJ&q=ahirwal&dq=ahirwal&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjCsIfI3rjKAhWCA44KHa5CBtQQ6AEINDAE |title=The Vernacularisation of Democracy: Politics, Caste, and Religion in India |publisher=Routledge |year=2008 |pages=41, 42 |isbn=978-0-41546-732-2}}</ref>
+They  have a significant population in the region around [[Behror]], [[Alwar]], [[Rewari]], [[Narnaul]], [[Mahendragarh]], [[Gurgaon]]<ref name="nannak$">{{cite book|last1=Guru Nanak Dev University|first1=Sociology Dept|title=Guru Nanak Journal of Sociology|publisher=Sociology Department, Guru Nanak Dev University|pages=5, 6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=03_ZAAAAMAAJ&q=ahir|date=2003|language=en}}</ref> and [[Jhajjar]]<ref>{{cite book|first=Dip Chand |last=Verma|title=Haryana|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6JY5AQAAIAAJ|year=1975|publisher=National Book Trust, India}}</ref>{{page needed|date=May 2020}}<ref>{{cite book|first=Suresh K. |last=Sharma|title=Haryana: Past and Present|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VE71IqAC0YYC&pg=PA40|year=2006|publisher=Mittal Publications|isbn=978-81-8324-046-8|page=40}}</ref> – the region is therefore known as [[Ahirwal]] or the abode of Ahirs.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8OIUAQAAIAAJ&q=ahirwal |title=The Vernacularisation of Democracy: Politics, Caste, and Religion in India |last=Michuletti|first=Lucia|publisher=Routledge |year=2008 |pages=41, 42 |isbn=978-0-415-46732-2}}</ref>
+=== Maharashtra ===
-Delhi has 40 villages. Till 1990s Ahirs used to be in major group most of North India and Nepal Madhesh, since then Muslim overtook them due to high birth rates. <ref>{{cite journal|jstor=1152898|first=M. S. A. |last=Rao|title=Urbanization and Social Change: A Study of a Rural Community on a Metropolitan Fringe|journal=Economic Development and Cultural Change|volume=22|issue=1|year=1973|pages=170–172 }}</ref> Neighbouring Gurgaon has 106 villages<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ai0uAAAAMAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=ahir |title=A geo-economic evaluation for micro level planning: a case study of Gurgaon District |publisher=Centre for the Study of Regional Development, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, and Concept Pub. Co. |first1=M. H. |last1=Qureshi |first2=Ashok |last2=Mathur |year=1985 |pages=38, 45, 48}}</ref> and Noida has around 12 villages.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2009-01-08/delhi/28043082_1_garhi-chaukhandi-noida-authority-great-india-place |title=No moral compass for village between two worlds |work=The Times of India |date=8 January 2009 |accessdate=2011-03-28}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.tehelka.com/story_main23.asp?filename=Ne121606_I_am_CS.asp |title=I am CS |work=Tehelka |date=16 December 2006 |accessdate=2011-03-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716203303/http://www.tehelka.com/story_main23.asp?filename=Ne121606_I_am_CS.asp |archive-date=16 July 2011 |dead-url=yes |df=dmy-all }}</ref>
+[[Ahirani]] dialect continues to be spoken today in the region and is widespread across [[Jalgaon]], [[Dhule]] and [[Nashik]]. It is an admixture of [[Marathi Language|Marathi]], [[Gujarati Language|Gujarati]], [[Hindi]], ancient [[Magadhi]], [[Saurashtra language|Saurashtri]], [[Sauraseni]], Lati, [[Maharashtri]], [[Prakrit]] and [[Paishachi]].<ref>{{cite periodical |url=https://gazetteers.maharashtra.gov.in/cultural.maharashtra.gov.in/english/gazetteer/land_and_people/L%20&%20P%20pdf/Chapter%20III/3%20Distinctive%20Features%20of%20Sub-regional%20Culture%20of%20Maharashtra.pdf| title = Maharashtra: Land and its people |last=Pathak|first=A. S.|publisher=Government of Maharashtra |year=2009|periodical= Maharashtra State Gazetteer}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|first = Sumit |last=Guha|title=Environment and Ethnicity in India, 1200–1991| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=GSa5blriOYcC&pg=PA47|year=2006| publisher = University of Cambridge|isbn=978-0-521-02870-7|page=47}}</ref>
-=== Rajasthan and Gujarat ===
-[[File:Map GujDist Kuchchh.png|thumb|Kachchh (Kutch) District, State of [[Gujarat]]]]
-There are six main Clan of Ahirs in [[Kutch]]: [[Sorathiya]], [[Ahir machchhoya|Machhoya]], Parathariya, [[Ahir Boricha|Boricha]], [[Ahir pancholi|Pancholi]] and Vagadiya.
-Ahirs in Gujarat are vegetarian and they speak and write [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]]. There are four groups of Ahirs in Saurashtra:<ref name="guj"/>
-* Machchhoiya Ahirs who settled along [[Machchhu River]] (now mainly distributed in [[Rajkot district]] and some areas of [[Junagadh district]])
-* Sorathiya Ahirs of [[Sorath prant|Sorath]] Area
-* Pancholi Ahirs of Panchal area i.e. [[Jhalawar prant|Jhalawad]]
-* Kutchi Ahirs who came from Kutch.
-* Boricha ahir who settled near rajkot and kutch
-In all areas of Gujarat the
-Sorathiya Ahir have bigger population then other casts.Now they live in all parts of saurashtra and kutch.After this machchhoya ahir take 2nd place in population.The other casts are small population in some prants.
 == Culture ==
+[[File:AhirDecoratedWithCowriesDiwali.jpg|thumb|280px|Ahir dancers decorated with [[cowrie]] shells for [[Diwali]].]]Ahir culture is rooted in pastoralism and closely associated to the worship of Krishna and Shiva.<ref>.{{cite book |last=danielou |first=Alain |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ua6yuxBPQdQC&q=ahir |title=The Beria (Rai Dancers)A Socio-demographic, Reproductive, and Child Health Care Practices Profile |publisher=Inner Traditions / Bear & Co |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-59477-048-7 |page=56}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Kirshna |first=Nanditha |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pIFFEJXx7L8C&q=ahirs |title=Book of Vishnu |publisher=Penguin UK |year=2009 |isbn=978-81-8475-865-8 |page=56}}</ref> The Ahirs have three major classifications Yaduvanshi, Nandavanshi and Goallavanshi. Yaduvanshi claim descent from Yadu, Nandavansh claim descent from Nanda, the foster father of Krishna, and Goallavanshi claim descent from gopi and gopas of Krishna's childhood.<ref>{{cite book |last=Singh |first=Bhrigupati |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FhnRBgAAQBAJ&dq=ahirs+yaduvanshi&pg=PA21 |title=Poverty and the Quest for Life Spiritual and Material Striving in Rural India University of Chicago |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-226-19468-4 |page=13}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Michelutti |first=Lucia |url=http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/2106/1/U613338.pdf |title=Sons of Krishna: the politics of Yadav community formation in a North Indian town |year=2002 |page=89}}</ref>
 === Diet ===
+In 1992, Noor Mohammad noted that most Ahirs in Uttar Pradesh were vegetarian, with some exceptions who were engaged in fishing and raising poultry.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ln6_PodhWC0C&pg=PA60 |title=New Dimensions in Agricultural ... |first=Noor |last=Mohammad |page=60|isbn=978-81-7022-403-7 |year=1992 |publisher=Concept Publishing Company }}</ref>
-Anthropologist [[Kumar Suresh Singh]] noted that the Rajasthani Ahir are non-vegetarian, though cooking their vegetarian and non-vegetarian foods on separate hearths. Though they eat mutton, chicken, and fish, they do not eat beef or pork. Their staple is wheat, they eat millet in the winters, and rice on festive occasions. They drink alcohol, smoke ''[[Beedi]]s'' and cigarettes, and chew [[betel]] leaves.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nqvloPNdEZgC&pg=PA44 |title=The People of India: Rajasthan |editor1-first=Kumar Suresh |editor1-last=Singh |editor-link=Kumar Suresh Singh |page=44}}</ref> In Maharashtra, however, Singh states that the Ahir there are largely vegetarian, also eating wheat as a staple along with pulses and tubers, and eschewed liquor.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OmBjoAFMfjoC&pg=PA58 |title=The People of India: Maharashtra|editor1-first=Kumar Suresh |editor1-last=Singh |editor-link=Kumar Suresh Singh |page=58}}</ref> Noor Mohammad noted that in Uttar Pradesh that most Ahirs there were vegetarian, with some exceptions who engaged in fishing and raising poultry.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ln6_PodhWC0C&pg=PA60 |title=New Dimensions in Agricultural ... |first=Noor |last=Mohammad |page=60}}</ref> In Gujarat, Rash Bihari Lal states that the Ahirs were largely vegetarian, ate Bajra and Jowar wheat with occasional rice, and that few drank alcohol, some smoked [[Beedi]]s, and some of the older generation smoked [[hookah]]s.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Cy_-FXW9BQC&pg=PA46 |title=Gujarat |first=Rash Bihari |last=Lal |page=46}}</ref>
+=== Language and tradition ===
+Ahirs of Benares speak a [[Hindi dialect]] which is different from one used normally.<ref>.{{cite book |first= Alain |last= danielou | page    =56  |title= The Beria (Rai Dancers)A Socio-demographic, Reproductive, and Child Health Care Practices Profile
+|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Ua6yuxBPQdQC&q=ahir|isbn= 978-1-59477-048-7
+|year= 2005|publisher= Inner Traditions / Bear & Co }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first= Nanditha |last= Kirshna | page    =56  |title= Book of Vishnu
+|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=pIFFEJXx7L8C&q=ahirs|isbn= 978-81-8475-865-8
+|year= 2009|publisher= Penguin UK }}</ref> Ahirs usually speak the language of the region in which they live. Some languages/dialects named after Ahirs are Ahirani, also known as [[Khandeshi]], spoken in [[Khandesh]] region of Maharashtra, Ahirwati spoken in [[Ahirwal]] region of Haryana and Rajasthan. The Malwi spoken in the Malwa region of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh is also known as Ahiri. These dialects are named after Ahirs but not necessarily only spoken by Ahirs living in those areas or that all Ahirs in those regions speak these dialects.{{citation needed|date=January 2021|reason=current citation is a Raj-Era source, please add a non-raj era source for this claim}}
+The Ahirs have three major classifications Yaduvanshi, Nandavanshi and Goallavanshi. Yaduvanshi claim descent from Yadu, Nandavansh claim descent from [[Nanda (Hinduism)|Nanda]], the foster father of [[Krishna]] and Goallavanshi claim descent from [[gopi]] and gopas of [[Krishna's childhood]].<ref>{{cite book |first= Bhrigupati |last= Singh| page    =13  |title= Poverty and the Quest for Life Spiritual and Material Striving in Rural India University of Chicago |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=FhnRBgAAQBAJ&dq=ahirs+yaduvanshi&pg=PA21|isbn=978-0-226-19468-4|year= 2015|publisher= University of Chicago Press}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first= Lucia|last= Michelutti| page    = 89  |title= Sons of Krishna: the politics of Yadav community formation in a North Indian town|url= http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/2106/1/U613338.pdf|year= 2002}}</ref>
 === Folklore ===
-The oral epic of [[Veer Lorik]], a mythical Ahir hero, had been sung by folk singers in North India for generations. Mulla Daud, a [[Sufi Muslim]] retold the romantic story in writing in the 14th century.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20100801/spectrum/art.htm |title=Spectrum |work=The Sunday Tribune |date=2010-08-01 |accessdate=2014-07-13}}</ref> Other Ahir folk traditions include those related to [[Kajri]] and Biraha.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0415994047 |title=The Concise Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: The Middle East, South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia |editor-first=Ellen |editor-last=Koskoff |isbn=978-0-41597-293-2 |publisher=Routledge |year=2008 |page=1026}}</ref>
+The oral epic of [[Veer Lorik]], a mythical Ahir hero, has been sung by folk singers in North India for generations. Mulla Daud, a [[Sufi Muslim]], retold the romantic story in writing in the 14th century.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20100801/spectrum/art.htm |title=Spectrum |work=The Sunday Tribune |date=1 August 2010 |access-date=13 July 2014}}</ref> Other Ahir folk traditions include those related to [[Kajri]] and [[Biraha]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0415994047 |title=The Concise Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: The Middle East, South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia |editor-first=Ellen |editor-last=Koskoff |isbn=978-0-415-97293-2 |publisher=Routledge |year=2008 |page=1026}}</ref>
 == See also ==
 * [[Ahir clans]]
+* [[Ahir Regiment agitation]]
 == References ==
-{{Reflist|30em}}
+{{Reflist}}
-== External links and Sources ==
-* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071024172609/http://maharashtra.gov.in/english/gazetteer/JALGAON/his_early.html Maharashtra History] at Maharashtra.gov.in
-* [http://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/gazetteer/pager.html?objectid=DS405.1.I34_V15_171.gif Imperial Gazetteer, on DSAL.UChicago.edu - here Kathiawar, listing princely states]
-* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoSupN2LwRE YouTube - Gujarati Ahir Folk]
 {{Ahir clans |state=collapsed}}
-{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2011}}
 [[Category:Ahir| ]]
-[[Category:Hindu communities]]
 [[Category:Social groups of Bihar]]
 [[Category:Social groups of Haryana]]
-[[Category:Tribes of Kutch]]
-[[Category:Indian castes]]
-[[Category:Sindhi tribes in India]]
-[[Category:Ahir history]]