Multani (caste)

The Multani are a community of India who belong to Multan and historically specialised in the transport and dealer of diamond.[1]

Not to be confused with Saraiki people.

History

The Multan city derives its name from the multani tribe, brought up in Pakistan. Multani literally means an inhabitant of the city of Multanbut all people or residents of Multan have not multani caste. It is true they have emigrated from Multan during the reign of Sultan Mahmud Begada. The Multani are rich from their roots as they originally belonged to the Gold/Diamond traders community. They were also Horses Caravans and Rock salt trader they have export mine salt which was very useful for arms. They are further divided into four territorial groupings, the Zalawad (those from Ahmadabad, the Gohilvad (from Surat), the Chorasi (from Rajkot) and the Kathiawad (from Kathiawar). Each division consists of ten to twelve clans. For example, the Zalawad Multanis have the following clans, the Hamad, Makhiyala, Chauhan, Phor, Ghori, Vakani, Babar Phanota and Solanki Like many Gujarati Muslim communities, they maintain the principles of gotra exogamy. While labanans Sikh multani are only one type they use there tribe name as their surname. Multani caste is Suriyavanshi as they used to worship at Ancient Sun Temple in Multan During this era, the Multan Sun Temple was noted by the 10th century Arab geographer Al-Muqaddasi to have been located in a most populous part of the city.[7] The Hindu temple was noted to have accrued the Muslim rulers large tax revenues,[9][10] by some accounts up to 30% of the state's revenues.[11] During this time, the city's Arabic nickname was Faraj Bayt al-Dhahab, ("Frontier House of Gold"), reflecting the importance of the temple to the city's economy.[11] which clearly states that how rich were Multani People. Then in mughal Era they were moved towards Agriculture which was referred to as Dar al-Aman (Abode of Peace). The Khakwani Nawabs of Multan gave it a lot of financial stability and growth to the local farming sector. It was at this time that Multan was ruled by Nawab Ali Mohammad Khan Khakwani.

Present Situation

Most of the multanis live in new York, New Jersey, Los Angeles and many more cities and states in United States of America U.S.A in Europe Italy is a for or ruling area of multanis as well as Germany is capital of Multan labanas there are so many businesses of multanis in Spain and Belgium moreover 10% restaurants in Munich are property of Multanis Many modern day Multanis are of the Lubana caste. The community's are now occupied in cotton carding or ginning, but they are distinct from the Mansoori, another community associated with this occupation. Many Multanis are also employed in the diamond industry that has sprung up in the city of Surat. Like other Gujarati Muslims, they have their own caste association, which maintains social control over the community. In fact, each of the four divisions have their own caste associations.

Current day members of the Multani caste are involved in modern-day applications. Many members of the Multani caste live in both India and Pakistan, due to the creation of Pakistan, many migrated to India after the Partition of India.

See also

References
  1. Habib, Irfan (1990). "Merchant Communities in Precolonial India". In Tracy, James D. (ed.). The Rise of Merchant Empires: Long-Distance Trade in the Early Modern World, 1350-1750. Cambridge University Press. pp. 371–99. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511563089. ISBN 978-0-52145-735-4.

[1]

  1. Flood, Finbarr Barry (2009-05-03). Objects of Translation: Material Culture and Medieval "Hindu-Muslim" Encounter. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-12594-7.
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