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Podcast: Bharatvaarta
Episode: 196 - Pasmanda Movement In India | Faiyaz Ahmad Fyzie | Sharan Setty | Bharatvaarta
Description: Muslims in India are broadly categorised into three social groupings — Ashraf (the 'noble' or 'honourable ones'), Ajlaf (backward Muslims) and Arzal (Dalit Muslims). ‘Pasmanda’, a Persian word, means the ‘ones left behind’, and is used to describe depressed classes among the Muslims, while underlining their deliberate or conscious exclusion. Ashraf are seen as the traditionally dominant social group. Scholars believe that this group comprises families that can either trace their lineage to Muslim conquerors or were upper caste Hindus that converted to Islam very early on. Ajlaf and Arzal are collectively known as the Pasmanda -- a Persian wo...