How will a young Kayastha of the present generation react when asked if he or she has ever heard of ‘Kayastha Muslim . And a young, today’s Mathur if he or she has heard of ‘Mathur Vaish’. Perhaps with a wide eyed disbelief first and then with some curiosity.
Questions on the two said topics were recently put to me by two internet surfers, a Ajay Mathur from Hyderabad and a Smt. Bhatnagar from Delhi respectively who had seen articles on Mathurs and Kayasthas in our MAB website and felt like seeking answers to their queries through the medium of MAB. What therefore I replied to them, (based on the knowledge on these and similar subjects I used to get from our biradri buzurgs of yester years) is now presented in this write up, as my perception on the two aforesaid subject which the readers of our Newsletter may find informative and interesting.
At the outset it may be stated that conversion of Hindus to Islam, mostly in North India, had been taking place ever
since the start of Muslim rule in India from year 1206 (Slave dynasty, followed by Khiljis, Tughlaks, Lodhis, Suris ), finallly
to the end of Mughal empire in year 1857. While most of the conversions are believed to have been forced ones under
the sword, many may have been voluntary. Among the latter, few could have been by a Hindu himself getting attracted
to Islam or lured into it by a Muslim master or friend. In some other cases a Shudra (Dalit) Hindu may have opted to
convert as a better bet against persecution by the higher caste Hindus, as was the main reason of many Dalit Hindus
converting to Christianity. The rest of the so called ‘voluntary’ conversions of Hindus were usually under some unwilling
and compelling circumstances.
During various aforesaid Muslim regimes in India there used to be different laws for taxation and penal offences for
Muslims and Hindus – harsher for the latter. At a slightest excuse a Hindu could be severely punished and charged
under Islamic laws with blasphemy, punishable only by death. However, it is said that towards the end of the Mughal
regime, and especially after the brutal, ransacking attack on Delhi by Irani invader Nadir Shah in January 1739, there
was some softening in the ruler’s attitude and intolerance towards Hindus. This led to the emergence of a more
congenial atmosphere and a compromising practice under which a Hindu convicted of a crime could be spared harsh
punishment (even death penalty) if he opted to convert to Islam. This used to lead many convicted Hindus on death row
to the only option of converting to Islam as fate accompli, just to save precious life. A mother of such a condemned
Hindu convict would typically say, ‘ jaa beta Musalmaan ho jaa. kam se kam mere samne zinda to rahega’.
Among convicts of all four Hindu vernas , Kayasthas (then classified as Shudras) were no exception. However, even
as Shudras, Kayasthas had a comparatively elevated status in society firstly because professionally they were not
consigned to low level manual, petty and menial service jobs performed hereditarily by the other touchable /
untouchable Shudras. Second, Kayasthas as a literate class with most of them proficient in Urdu, Persian and Arabic
languages and many on clerical or administrative jobs, (some even in Government service), were treated by the Muslim
rulers and elites with a small bit of dignity, not generally bestowed upon other Hindus. Kayasthas were also known for
adoption of Muslim life style in matter of dress and food habits in day to day life which brought them closer to the
Muslim rulers, as also in the Society in general. A Kayastha voluntarily accepting Islam (either willingly or under life
saving situation) would therefore be called ‘Kayastha Muslim’ as a separate category, clearly distinguished from the
converts from the other Hindu varnas. A ‘Kayastha Muslim would thus receive a comparatively better welcome and
ready acceptance in the Muslim Society of the day. Muslim nobles and other higher ups would welcome friendship and
matrimonial alliances with 'Kayastha Muslims’. Brides from ‘Kayastha Muslim’ families were specially sought after by
Muslim elites (often in preference even over other normal, status Muslims ) for their inherited Muslim oriented culture,
culinary talent and more importantly, an inbuilt Hindu bridal mind set of an unbroken, life long companionship to
husband ( in contrast to a Muslim wife religiously permitted to seek Talaq after marriage) she brings with her, besides
obedience and unshakable loyalty to husband. A Kaystha converted to Islam (especially if in course of time he is able to
build up good relations with high status Muslims) was thus considered one step higher in society than converts from
other varnas. In some such cases of conversion it may be a sort of ‘Consolation Prize’ for the converted Kayastha, and a
reconciliation to the loss of his original family connection and his ‘Kayasthaship’.
This however, is not to say that it was necessarily all goody goody for each and every Islam adopting Kayastha. Many
would continue to be at their original social status without any privilege gained by conversion. It is important to state
here that it was the custom then that if one convicted person in a family gets converted to Islam, only he, his wife and
their children were to be taken in as Muslims. The rest of the family and other relatives of his own as well as of his
extended family, (i.e., his parents, uncles, brothers and sisters, cousins etc.) would continue to be Hindus. The two thus
divided clans (one Hindu and the other Muslim) though poles apart religiously, would generally keep up family
connection in private for a generation or two, more so if both happened to be living in the same town or nearby. Blood,
after all, is thicker than water.
In the walled city of old Delhi the area bound roughly by Chandni Chowk-Nai Sarak- Dariba was, till not very distant past, inhabited largely by Mathurs and other Kayasthas. Cheera Khana, a Mohalla in this area has an old Dargah ( a Muslim shrine and a mosque) revered by Hindus and Muslims both. Old Delhites of this area may remember that next to the Dargah there used to be a Muslim owned mutton shop (it may or may not be there now) known for its famous ‘Pasandey’ meat cuts) which had most of the Kayasthas of the area as its permanent customers. I had learnt from some biradri buzurgs and old residents of the area that the Muslim shop owner was a third or fourth generation descendants of a Mathur family once residing in the same area, later adopting Islam under some compelling circumstances during Mughal days.
a) It is reliably understood and believed that a definite class known as 'Kayastha Muslims’ did come up during the Mughal rule in India and continued to exist as such, notably in Delhi and other parts of North India till the later part of the Mughal regime , say, in the 1700s till perhaps early 1800s.
b) In actual practice the creation, usage and utility of the word ‘Kayastha Muslim’ existed only during and until the later Mughal period in India and thereafter only in memory, say for a generation or so. With passage of time it faded out and now it remains merely as a long lost and forgotten token of past social and cultural history of Mughal period in India. Today it is irrelevant for Muslims and Kayasthas both, even to the descendants of the so called and the then Kayastha-Muslim faction of the past, as all of them today are ignorant about its origin and the then significance.
As the legend goes, Mathur Kaysthas hailed originally from the 'kingdom' of Mathura (which in ancient historic old
included parts of present Rajasthan, M.P, and U.P) where they were settled in a total of 84 villages in the kingdom,
giving name to the 84 Mathur Al's. They were thus called 'Mathuriya", named after Mathura, their place of origin. The
word in course of time got shortened to 'Mathur', as is known today. Reliable, hearsay versions of existence of 'Mathurs'
in Mathura during Mehmood Ghaznavi’s invasions in 11th century AD, as handed down from generation to generation,
are known.
But that is another story.
In those olden days, as also today, Mathura was an important holy Hindu religious center, drawing pilgrims and
visitors from nearby and far off places. In course of time in addition to a pilgrimage town it gradually got developed into
a big business and trading center. The important commodities, so the version goes, were textiles, food grains. jewelry,
precious stones, metal works, etc., procured from far and near places in India and exported mainly via Gujarat ports to
western countries through Arab traders who had already developed regular sea links to Gujarat coast. The business and
trade in Mathura was initially in the hands of the Mathura based Vaish (Bania) community which soon made a name for
itself in far off places for quality of its merchandise, mutual trust and fair business practice. Materials exported by them
were always of best quality, getting something like a recognized 'Quality Hallmark' and unquestioned acceptance
overseas. Vaish merchants would often supply goods to known Arab traders on credit, so also the traders would often
pay in advance to the Vaish merchants for goods ordered. Such was the level of mutual trust developed in course of
time between the two.
With passage of time however, people from other parts of India started coming and settling down in Mathura. A
number of competitive business houses (owned and operated by other Vaish community members, marwaris, etc.
among the newly arriving ones from outside of Mathura) sprang up. These new comers not only set their own and new
business practices, but some of them also started exporting materials of inferior quality and adopting unfair trade
practices. This was a serious setback to the already established trustworthy commercial relations and healthy business
practice the original Vaish traders had built up over a long period. Their foreign customers who were long accustomed to
quality material and fair trade from the original Mathura Vaish merchants were confused as to with whom to continue
trade as there were so many new exporters in the field.
At this stage and in order to retrieve their already hurt and endangered reputation and position with their old,
satisfied foreign customers, members of the said original Vaish community of Mathura thought of forming a separate
group by creating a different identity for themselves so as to be clearly distinguished from the outsider Vaishs. So they
named themselves as 'Mathuriya Vaish', i.e., the original Vaish of Mathura - a separate class different from the new
(outsider) Vaish settled in Mathura. They renamed their business houses as “XYZ Mathurya Vaish Company” and their
Association fiercely guarded their new identity against being usurped by their competitors, i.e., the outsider Vaish
traders. They soon regained their old business and trust of their old customers abroad who would once again deal only
with the ‘Mathurya Vaish Company’, their old friends in a new garb. In course of time their name got shortened to
‘Mathur Vaish., i.e., a community with a Quality Hallmark in trade and business.
As time passed, the nature and volume of all types of business in Mathura underwent a complete overhaul and
business rivalries cooled down. But the ‘Mathur Vaish’ word, coined in ancient times was to last for much longer as a
specific and separate identity for them in the general Vaish community of the country.
Readers will be surprised to know that a “Mathur Vaish Sabha’ does exist in Agra (U.P.) even today. It has its
branches in various cities and regularly issues its own Patrika and Newsletters to its members. Though today they
interact culturally and matrimonially with the Vaishh community as a whole, they still take pride in their ancient
Mathuriya origin. During his visit to Agra some twenty years back the author had met an office bearer of the said Sabha
and much of the input in this write up is from the firsthand information gathered during the said meeting.
Mention in conclusion must be made that Mathur Kayasthas had no role to play In the initial formation of the
‘Mathur Vaish’ group at Mathura. Mathur Vaish and Mathur Kayastha are two entirely different communities and have
nothing whatsoever in common, except that both hail Mathura as their place of origin.