Turks in India


Turks in India are very small in number. They are believed to have migrated to India at the time of the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal Empire. There are barely 150 Turkish people from Turkey in India. These are recent immigrants. Descendants of Turkic rulers also exist in India. Mughals who are part Turkic people also live in India in significant numbers. They are descendants of the Mughal rulers of India. Karlugh Turks are also found in the Haraza region and in smaller number in Azad Kashmir region of Pakistan. Small amount of Uyghurs are also present in India. Turks also exist in Pakistan in similar proportions. One of the tribe in Hazara region of Pakistan is Karlugh Turks which is direct descendant of Turks of Central Asia. Turkish influence in Pakistan can be seen through the national language, Urdu, which comes from a Turkish word meaning "horde" or "army". They comprise Turkish expatriates and Turkish-origin people living in India. In the 1961 census, 58 people stated that their mother tongue was Turkish. According to the 2001 census, 126 residents of India stated their place of birth as Turkey. In a state visit during early 2010, Prime Minister Abdullah Gül of Turkey met Turkish expatriates living in India and handed out Hindi–Turkish dictionaries to Turkish students in New Delhi.
There is also a significant population of Turkic descendants who are known as Rowther. Rowther community is proud and former elite class. These were the sultans who ruled Madurai in Tamilnadu. Rowthers also known as "Brave cavaliers". They are believed to have migrated to India at the time of the Ottoman Empire. They are a highly assimilated community and their gene pool is highly diversified. They are mostly found in Southern India, especially in present-day Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Notable persons