Pic from Open source/ Internet
Mohyal Brahmins are originally from Punjab area. There are seven clans amongst them. Dutt Brahmins are known as warriors amongst Mohyal Brahmins. There is a sub class of Mohyals which originates from a Dutt warrior Rahab Sidh Dutt. They are devout Hindus for all practical purposes and follow all Hindu rituals and traditions. At the same time they show reverence to Islam and specially to Prophet Muhammad’s grandson Hazrat Imam Hussain.
Rahab Dutt was the chief of a group of Mohyal warriors residing in a place called Dar Al Hindiya,not far from Karbala and Kufa. Al Hindiya,a town is still in existence there. It is believed that about 1400 Mohyal Hindus were living in and around Bagdad during Caliphate Rashidun (7th century AD). Some of them were warriors and others were engaged in trading. When the power in the Islamic order was shifting to Ummaid Caliphate and Yazid was using his brutal force to subjugate the Prophet’s grandsons to satisfy his thirst of power,Rahab Dutt who was in a very good relationship with the Prophet’s descendants decided to come to fight for Hazrat Imam Hussain. Hazrat Imam Hassan was already killed by Yazid and before that Hazrat Ali was also slain by a Khirjite follower of Ummaids in Kufa.The battle of Karbala was in the offing. Actually Hazrat Imam Hussain was proceeding to Kufa from Hejaj to liberate it from the tyranny and misrule of Yazid,being requested in earnest by Kufa residents. On the way,their small army was encircled near Karbala by a huge band of Yazid’s men. Their supply line was cut and they were running short of food and drinking water. Imam Hussain was desperate to break Yazid’s cordon and gain access to the river Dazla Forat(Euphrates) flowing nearby. The fight was very unequal.Yazid’s Kufa governor Ubaidullah ibn Ziyad was far ahead in brute numbers.Rahab considered it as a battle between good and evil as in his Mahabharata and decided to side with his friend Hazrat Imam Hussain. He came to fight with his seven sons and other Mohyals to save Hussain in Karbala which he knew was a losing battle. Still,he thought he should stand for justice. It was in 680 AD. All his seven sons are known to have sacrificed their lives in Karbala. It is said that before his Shahadat Hazrat Hussain advised Rahab to retreat with his men to save their clan from extinction. Hussain affectionately called him Dutt Sultan. After the debacle in Karbala Rahab is said to have met Imam Hussain’s sister Zaynab bint Ali who came to know about the Mohyals’ great sacrifice. She told Rahab that from then on they were not only Brahmins,they were Hussainis as well. Mohyal legends say that the Mohyals of Bagdad area took part in the battle of storming of Kufa while the town was finally freed in 683 AD when Ziyad fled to Syria. After that the Mohyal Dutt clan dispersed and moved to Bukhara,Balkh and Kandahar and finally back to their origin,the Punjab. A few of them stayed back in Persia and some in Afganistan and NWFP. Meantime,due to their close association with Hazrat Imam Hussain,they got the nomenclature of Hussaini Brahmins.
They observe the month of Muharram with their Shia brethren lamenting for their beloved Imam Hussain. Like Shia muslims they refrain from merry making and even arranging weddings during month.They are known to participate in Tazia processions and Marsia songs. It is also known that during Mundan and thread ceremonies of young boys and even during their weddings Hazrat Imam Hussain is remembered with due respect. Until the partition of India,their main concentration was in Lahore and Sind which are in present day Pakistan. But the 1947 partition has taken heavy toll on this community. In Pakistan they were thought to be non muslims and in India they were taken as sympathetic to muslims. They suffered in both the countries. Their concentration thinned in Lahore,Sindh and Amritsar and they got scattered to different places like Lucknow,Pune,Jammu,Ajmer,Muzaffarpur,Delhi,Allahabad,etc. A sect called Bhumihar Brahmins in Bihar claim ancestry to Hussaini Brahmins. In and around Ajmer and Pushkar Hussaini Brahmins can be located. In Hindi/Urdu a saying goes as follows:
Wah Dutt Sultan,Hindu ka Dharam,Musalman ka Imaan,adha Hindu,adha Musalman. It is a part of folklore now.
The very nomenclature Hussaini Brahmin is quite confusing and bound to raise eyebrows.
Logically,the question comes whether the incident of Hindu Mohyal Brahmin Rahab Dutt taking Hazrat Imam Hussain’s side and fighting for the Imam is true or a myth. Some islamic scholars have raised the question and have put forward the point that no such reference is found in Islamic literature. But well known Shia cleric Maulana Zafar Naqvi of Lahore has emphatically declared that it is an established truth to them. The Mohyal oral history is full of legendry achievements of Hussaini Brahmins. Besides legends,we find supports to the story in the 1911 writings of T P Russell Stracey. Ethnologist Denzil Ibbetson also supports the narration.
Hussaini Brahmins are not difficult to find. Here we go with a few names. Sunil Dutt and Sanjoy Dutt of Bollywood are well known representatives of the clan. Famous writers Kashmiri Lal Zakir,Sabir Dutt and Nand Kishor Vikram also belong to this group of Hussaini Brahmins. Sunil Dutt is on record claiming his Hussaini Brahmin ancestry while making a handsome donation for Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital in Lahore. He stated that as their forefathers have fought in Karbala and shed their blood,he was also prepared to do everything good for his forefather’s land Lahore. The above discussion reveals a thrilling history of plurality and unity in diversity. It can act as a bridge of bondage between the two main religions of our subcontinent.
