Hussaini Brahmin

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Hussaini Brahmins are a Mohyal Brahmin community of the Punjab region.

The Mohyal community comprises seven sub-clans named Bali, Bhimwal, Chhibber, Datt, Lau, Mohan and Vaid.

However, as consistent with their Hindu tradition, they have adopted non-Indic traditions. This has led to a small sub-set of the Moyhal community paying reverence to Islam, most notably to the third Imam Hussain.^[1]

According to V. Upadhyaya^[2] they were influenced by the Chisti Sufis. While they wear the yajnopavita and the tilak, they take alms from only the Muslims, and not from Hindus.^[3] Some of them are found in Pushakar, Ajmer, where Mu'in al-Din Chishti is buried.^[4] According to another tradition, Yazid's troops had brought Imam Husain's head to their ancestors home in Sialkot. In exchange for his head, the ancestor exchanged his own sons' heads.^[5]

Few families can still be found in parts of Iraq but most families of Hussaini Brahmins are now settled in Pune,^[6] Delhi,^[7] Chandigarh, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu region in India. Sindh, Chakwal and Lahore in Pakistan and Kabul and South Afghanistan in Afghanistan. Some of them also observe Muharram every year.

A sect of Bhumihar Brahmins in the Muzaffarpur district of Bihar also claim ancestry from Hussaini Brahmins and take part in Muharram each year.^[8]

History

As per Mohyal oral history, a Mohyal Brahmin of the Dutt clan had fought on behalf of Imam al-Husayn in the Battle of Karbala (680 C.E.), more specifically in the storming of Kufa—sacrificing his seven sons in the process.^[9] According to legend, Rahab Sidh Dutt (also mentioned as Rahib Sidh or Sidh Viyog Datt in some versions) was the leader of a small band of career-soldiers living near Baghdad around the time of the battle of Karbala.^[10] The legend mentions the place where he stayed as Dair-al-Hindiya, meaning "The Indian Quarter", which matches an Al-Hindiya in existence today.^[10]

Other

In Ajmer, Rajasthan, a place of Sufi pilgrimage, where Moinuddin Chishti lived and passed his last days, there is even today a class of people who call themselves Hussaini Brahmins, who are neither 'orthodox Hindus' nor orthodox Muslims. Hussaini Brahmins practiced a mixed blend of orthodox Vedic and Islamic traditions. A saying in Hindi/Urdu language refers to the Hussaini Brahmans thus: "Wah Datt Sultan, Hindu ka dharm, Musalman ka Iman, Adha Hindu adha Musalman" (Well Datt Sultan, declaring Hindu Dharma and following Muslim practice, Half Hindu and Half Muslim.^[11]

See also

• Punjabi Hindus
• Mohyal Brahmins
• Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb
• Hindu–Islamic relations
• Hindu–Muslim unity
• Religious syncretism

References

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