History of Ahir Community

"Ahir" (Sanskrit Abhira अभीर "fearless"). is a Hindu caste, which is subgroup of Yadav."Ahir" may also be derived from "ābhīr"which means cowherd .

There are also Hindu and Sikh clan of Aheers/Ahirs among Gujjar,Rajputs and Jats of Punjab, India.Heer (clan) of Jats are assosiated with Ahir Clan, according to genealogical table it came under Chandarvanshi Aryans.[8] Aheer is also a principal Muslim Jat clan found in various regions of Pakistan. Heer and Ahir hold a number of Jatt villages after their clan name both in Eastern and Western Punjab. Sir Denzil Ibbetson, in his book ‘Punjab Castes’ (published in 1883) has mentioned the Total population of Heer Jats as 23,851 (21,281 in British Territory and 2,570 in Native States Province). He has written that of the total number shown, 5812 was entered as Ahir, of whom 2786 were in Hoshiarpur. Further he has mentioned that ‘Aheer’ is merely another way of spelling ‘Heer’. Somehow they retained themselves as Aheer Jats, instead of Ahirs by caste.

Greek historians' reference of Abisares are thought to be of Abhira Chief.Max Muller, Christian Lassen, Mrs. Manning and many others have identified Abhira to be Ophir of Bible, which is the name of a country and also the name of a tribe.Moreover as per Ghirshman, the Kushan King Heraus (Heraios) sat on their throne in about 20 B.C. also belongs to this clan. There are compelling proofs of both Mauryan and Guptas being Abhirs.

In the opinion of Dr. Budh Prakash,the name of the State of Haryana may have been derived from Abhirayana, its ancient inhabitants having been Ahirs.Ahirs ruled the whole of Haryana under the Mogul rule and later were declared as independent kings.