The Chaush or Chaus are a
Muslim community of
HadhramiArab descent. They are found in the
Deccan region of present-day
India, particularly in the city of
Hyderabad, and have diaspora populations in
Pakistan as well.[1][2]
The Chaush or Chaus were brought from Yemen to work in the former
Hyderabad State as military men and body guards for the
Nizams. It is said that especially when it came to safe guarding his family, the
7th Nizam had absolute trust on these Arab bodyguards.
[3] They are most concentrated in
MarathwadaTelangana and
Hyderabad-Karnataka Regions of The Former
Princely State Hyderabad and most numbers of their population concentrated in the neighbourhood of
Barkas in
Hyderabad city and
Aurangabad city [3]
Among the cultural contributions of the Chaush to India are
Marfa music and dance, and
Hyderabadi haleem, both which are culturally important to the
Hyderabadi Muslim people, and seen at almost all wedding ceremonies.[5]
Culture
Cuisine
The Hyderabadi Haleem and
Mandi have been introduced in Hyderabad by the Chaush people.[6][7]
^Omar Khalidi,
The Arabs of Hadramawt in Hyderabad in Mediaeval Deccan History, eds Kulkarni, Naeem and de Souza, Popular Prakashan, Bombay, 1996, pg 63