Naushad Dubey, Irshad Pandey… what’s within the surname? This Indian village has a narrative to inform

A village in Uttar Pradesh’s Jaunpur is drawing consideration from far and close to over a pattern that would shock many. Nearly each Muslims household in Jaunpur’s Dehri village have began utilizing Hindu surnames, comparable to Dubey and Pandey.

However why?

These Muslim households declare that they’ve Hindu ancestry. In keeping with a report revealed in The Occasions of India (ToI), some amongst them say that they’ve been utilizing Hindu surnames to “bridge” the communal divide.

A historical past recalled

Naushad Ahmed, who’s now Naushad Ahmed Dubey, mentioned that senior members of his household have been known as “Pandit ji” of their village.

The report quoted Naushad as saying that his great-grandfather informed him that their ancestor Lal Bahadur Dubey arrived in Dehri and bought a zamindari (feudal property) from one Hazari Singh. “He transformed to Islam,” he mentioned.

Naushad additional mentioned that he nonetheless wonders what prompted his ancestor to transform.

‘No eyebrows have been raised’

Naushad went on to say that there are numerous Muslims who had been utilizing Hindu surnames comparable to Chaudhary, Solanki, Tyagi, Patel, Rana, Sikarwar for many years and “no eyebrows have been raised”.

“However using titles like Dubey and Thakur have drawn consideration. I by no means used ‘Sheikh’ with my identify, like my relations, because it’s an Arabic title and never Indian,” Naushad was quoted as saying by ToI.

‘No want to reconvert’

Naushad, as per the report, practises Islamic rituals and provides namaz 5 occasions a day. He additionally owns seven cows and loves tending them.

Although he isn’t averse to making use of tilak on his brow, Naushad says he has “no want to reconvert”.

Muslims with Brahmin ancestors?

The report additional talked about Naushad recalling assembly historian and president of Vishal Bharat Sansthan Rajiv Srivastava a few years in the past and sought assist to hint his ancestry.

Srivastava cited information to conclude that Naushad’s ancestors have been Brahmins and their gotra was “Vatsa”.

Muslims with Hindu forefathers

As per the report, Sheikh Abdullah took up “Dubey” claiming he had “discovered that his forefathers have been Hindus” who used the identical surname.

One other villager, Ehtesham Ahmed, mentioned he discovered his forefathers have been “Brahmins”. Nonetheless, Ehtesham has not adopted a Hindu surname until now as he’s but to seek out out which surname his forefathers used. “Many households within the village have began adopting Hindu titles,” he was quoted as saying by ToI.

In the meantime, Gufran, a villager, is Thakur Gufran, Irshad Ahmed is Irshad Ahmed Pandey and Abdullah is Adbullah Dubey.