The Chaush or Chaus are an Indian Muslim community who are of HadhramiArab descent. They are found in the Deccan region of India.[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 Marathwada, Telangana and Hyderabad-Karnataka regions 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, Marag(Mutton Stew) 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