Mikrani

Mikrani मिकरानी, Urdu: مکرانی‎) are a Muslim community found in the Sarlahi and Rautahat districts of Nepal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat in India, Rajshahi, Gaibandha, Dinajpur, Old Dhaka in Bangladesh as well as in Pakistan and Afghanistan.[1] They are also known as Mukeri, Makrani, Mekrani, Barmaki, Ranki and Muzkeri.[2] They belong to the Muker tribe and the Mikrani title is mostly used in Nepal, India and Bangladesh while some also use Mukeri or Miya Mukeri.

History and origin

The word Muker is said to have derived from Arabic makeri, meaning those who helped in the construction of Mecca. They were initially called Makkai, which referred to residents of Mecca, which was later corrupted to makeri. They are divided into two endogamous groups, the Mukeri and Shaikh Banjara. They rank themselves as Shaikh. The Shaikh Banjara are further divided into the Mikrani, Muqri, Barmaki, Siddiqui and Shaikh. Different groups have different traditions to their origin.[3]

The Mukeri or Muker in Bihar and Nepal claim to be descendants of early Arab settlers, whose initial area of settlement in South Asia was the Makran region Balochistan . According to their tradition they arrived in Bihar during the period of Khalji ruler, and were initially known as Makrani, which was eventually shortened to Muker.[4] They are found in Sarlahi district (Malangwa, Bhadsar, Masaili, Khutauna, Pakadi, Murtiya, Parsa, Haripur, Lalbandi, Hariyon, Ishworpur villages) Rautahat district (Gaur and kattarban villages).[5] They speak Urdu, Nepali and the local Angika language.[6] Those who lives in Bangladesh speaks in Bengali. Sarlahi district is the district of Nepal, where majority of Mikrani community lives.

Tradition

The Muker were traditionally businessman, moving from place to place, selling goods. They historically traded scented oil, aromatic goods, food grains, tobacco, leather products and cattle. Many are now settled agriculturalists. The community are Muslim of the Sunni sect.[7] Some of them were the Islamic Dayee (inviter), a caller who notifies the others from dangers.

Notable Person

See also

References
  1. People of India Gujarat Volume XXI Part Two edited by R.B Lal, P.B.S.V Padmanabham, G Krishnan & M Azeez Mohideen pages 828–833
  2. People of India Uttar Pradesh Volume XLII Part Two edited by A Hasan & J C Das pages 995 to 999
  3. Journal of Asiatic society of Bengal. Bishop's College Press. 1845. pp. 158-159.
  4. People of India Bihar Volume XVI Part One edited by S Gopal & Hetukar Jha pages 692 to 693 Seagull Books
  5. Niroula 1998.
  6. People of India Bihar Volume XVI Part One edited by S Gopal & Hetukar Jha pages 692 to 693 Seagull Books
  7. People of India Uttar Pradesh Volume XLII Part Two edited by A Hasan & J C Das pages 995

Bibliography
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.