Mughal people

{{Short description|Ethnic group in South Asia}} {{for|the people of Central Asia|Moghol people}} {{Use British English|date=November 2025}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2025}} {{Infobox ethnic group | group = Mughal | image = File:Aquil Hussain Barlas.jpg | image_caption = [[Aqil Hussain Barlas|Mirza Aqil Hussain Barlas]] | region1 = {{flagicon|Pakistan}} [[Pakistan]] | region2 = {{flagicon|India}} [[India]] | region3 = {{flagicon|Bangladesh}} [[Bangladesh]] | langs = [[Urdu]], [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]], [[Bengali language|Bangla]]<br/>[[Persian language|Persian]] (formerly),[[Sindhi]],[[pashto]], | rels = [[Sunni Islam]] | related = [[Indian people]], [[Bangladeshi people]], [[Punjabi Muslims]], [[Sindhis]] }} The '''Mughal people''' or '''Mughals''' are a [[Muslim]] [[ethnic group]] in [[South Asia]], primarily in [[Bangladesh]], [[India]] and [[Pakistan]].<ref name=Levin>{{Cite encyclopedia |first=S. F.|last=Levin|title=Mughal|url-access=registration|url=http://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofpa0000unse_u8i3 |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Pakistan|editor-first1=Hafeez|editor-last1= Malik |editor-last2=Gankovsky|editor-first2=Yuri V.|editor1-link=Hafeez Malik|date=2006 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-597735-6}}</ref> They are descended from the [[Mongolic peoples|Mongolic]]-origin [[Barlas]] tribe<ref>{{Cite web |last=Newspaper |first=From the |date=2010-12-22 |title=Who were the Mughals? — another view |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/592643/who-were-the-mughals-another-view |access-date=2026-04-16 |website=Dawn |language=en}}</ref> and historically settled in the [[Indian subcontinent]] during the [[Mughal India|Mughal Empire]] and mixed with the native Indian population.<ref name="Levin" /><ref name=":Genetic Genealogy">{{Cite journal|author = Сабитов Ж. М., Баймуханов Н. Б.|editor= |format= |url= https://www.academia.edu/17004570|title= Y-STR гаплотипы узбеков, уйгуров, таджиков, пуштунов, хазарейцев, моголов из базы данных Family Tree DNA|type= |orig-year= |agency = |journal= The Russian Journal of Genetic Genealogy|year= 2015|volume= |number= 2|pages = 22–23|series= |issn = |doi = |bibcode = |arxiv = |pmid = |language= ru|quote= }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Atlas Of World History|author=Liz Wyse and Caroline Lucas|year=1997|publisher=Geddes & Grosset|location=Scotland}}</ref>

== Etymology == The term ''Mughal'' literally means Mongol.<ref>{{cite book|title=Collins Compact Dictionary|year=2002|publisher=HarperCollins|location=Glasgow|isbn=0-00-710984-9}}</ref>

== History ==

=== Pakistan === In Pakistan, Mughal people are mostly settled in the region of Azad Kashmir, and in the provinces of [[Punjab, Pakistan|Punjab]] and [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]].<ref name="Levin" />{{Page needed|date=June 2025}} In India, the Mughals commonly use "Mirza" as their surname.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jBOh24IJ9t8C&dq=mughal+caste&pg=PA71 | title= Indian Society, Institutions and Change |author= Rajendra K. Sharma | date= 2004 |page= 71 | publisher= Atlantic Publishers & Dist | isbn= 978-81-7156-665-5 }}</ref> They are also sometimes referred to as [[Chughtai]]s or Chagatai Turks named after [[Chagatai language|Chagatai Turkic language]] spoken by the [[Barlas]] and other Central Asian tribes.{{cn|date=July 2025}}

=== India === In [[Uttar Pradesh]], the Sambhal, who claim Turkic descent, identify as a Biradari, literally translating to "brotherhood", which is the word used for a social unit based on kinship such as tribe or clan.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=umNgDwAAQBAJ&dq=biradari+tribe&pg=PT93 |title=Forging the Ideal Educated Girl:The Production of Desirable Subjects in Muslim South Asia |author= Shenila Khoja-Moolji |date=2018 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-97053-3 }}</ref> The chief of the Biradari is the [[Sardar]], who is usually an elder man annually elected as the greatest man in the Biradari. Decisions on important matters are taken only after consulting the Biradari, and once taken binding on every member.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.ernet.25924/page/n573/mode/2up |title=Agriculture and Live Stock In India Vol-viii |author=Khan Amanat |date=1938 |page=485 |publisher=The Imperial Council Agriculture Research}}</ref> In Gujarat, the community had traditionally served as soldiers in the armies of the various Indo-Muslim dynasties which ruled the [[Indian subcontinent]]. They were and still are a community of small to medium-sized farmers. A good many are also traders. Like other [[Gujarati Muslim]]s, they have a caste association known as the Jamat, which acts both as a welfare organisation and an instrument of social control.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=djb5zQEACAAJ |title=People of India: Gujarat, Volume XXI, Part Three |publisher=Anthropological Survey of India / Popular Prakashan |year=2003 |isbn=9788179911068 |editor1-last=Lal |editor1-first=R. B. |volume=XXI |location=Mumbai |pages=1394–1399 |editor2-last=Padmanabham |editor2-first=P. B. S. V. |editor3-last=Krishnan |editor3-first=G. |editor4-last=Mohideen |editor4-first=M. Azeez}} </ref> In North India, the term Mughal refers as Gürkani or [[Timurid dynasty|Timurids]].

== See also == * [[Turco-Mongol tradition]] * [[Gurkani (disambiguation)|Gurkani]] * [[Changezi]] * [[Qizilbash]]

== References == {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mughal}} [[Category:Mongol peoples]] [[Category:Turkic peoples]] [[Category:Surnames]] [[Category:Punjabi tribes]] [[Category:Mughal clans of Pakistan|*]] [[Category:Tribes of India]] [[Category:Tribes of Pakistan]] [[Category:India–Mongolia relations]] [[Category:Ethnic groups in India]] [[Category:Mongolia–Pakistan relations]]