Pathans in Bihar


The Pathans of Bihar in India are said to have settled in the region from the 13th century CE onwards. These Pashtun people are known as Pathan in the Hindustani language. Another common name for the community is Khan, which also a common surname. Lohani Pashtuns ruled a princely state within Bihar.
The name Pathan in Bihar refers to two distinct but related Muslim communities, the Nasli and Divani. The former are descendants of various Pashtun settlers in Bihar, while the latter are Hindu converts to Islam from Rajput and Bhumihar castes. They are considered one of the Ashraf communities meaning they have a powerful status among the Muslims of the state.
Sher Shah Suri was born in Rohtas district.

Present circumstances

The Pathan proper of Bihar belong to eleven sub-groups, the main ones being the Suri, Sherwani, Yousafzai, Bangash, Afridi, Khattak, Bettani, Lodhi, Tanoli, Orakzai and Ghori, all of whom are well known Pashtun tribes. Most of them have intermarried into local Muslim communities and are undistinguishable from local population. But there's an exclusivist and superior sense of tribalism and Casteism in some erstwhile landowner families even though those are now involved in small farming. They now speak Hindustani as well as local dialects such as Awadhi and Bhojpuri. Like other communities in the region, the Pathan are endogamous, and tend to marry close kin. They practice both parallel cousin and cross cousin marriages. Those who live in the larger cities, such as Patna, Darbhanga. Many villages of Yusufzai and Sherwani Pathans are found in Mithilanchal especially Darbhanga as well as Sitamarhi and near Brauni Refinery area. Many villages of Koderma, Jharkhand especially Jainagar and there nearby area Pathan or Khan are found.