Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s7.2

c48.s7.2

§ 104. (a) **Arabian** (25,441,900). The small number returning themselves as Arab, without detail, might be still further reduced were the Kalhōrā to be treated as an indigenous body, bringing the total down to about 75,000. The returns of Mother-tongue would justify still further diminution, but in the west of India, where the Arab is chiefly found, the community is divided into the Vilāyatī, or foreigners, principally from Hadramāt, and the Muvallad, or native-born, the latter being the progeny of Arab or sometimes Makrānī fathers by wives taken from some local Sunni caste, in whose household the current vernacular is Hindūstānī. The Arabs settled in India permanently are generally guards in the service of native Chief or kept by the principal bankers in the same capacity. The others, true to their secular connection with India, are merchants and traders, with the modern addition of horse-dealing, in connection with the ports on the Persian Gulf. The two small tribes of Hans and Khaggā, in the Panjāb, are also said to be Arabs who came by land and settled north of Multān. They are now apparently merged in the Paṭhān or Jaṭ tribes. The title of Sēkh is widely spread over the country, and, except in the Panjāb and Kashmīr, predominates more or less over all Muslim designations. The common practice just referred to, of taking this name on conversion is justified by