Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Bindlish network

Just wanted to start a blog on Bindlish, since I couldn't find much Bindlish history available online.

I'm a bindlish (but go by one of the superset names such as Gupta/Agarwal), and am interested to know about our ancestrol lineage.

This is what I know about Bindlish (a lot of it is hear-say from multiple sources):

It is said that the Bindlish gotra started sometime in the 16th century from a Bindal family. Sher Shah Suri had come to power in Delhi in 1540 to rule for 5 years. Within these 5 years, one of his reforms was to extend the famous Grand Trunk Road into present day Pakistan. The lead engineer for the GT road construction was a Bindal, and Sher Shah was so impressed with his work that he gave away his daughter in marriage.

This family changed the name of their gotra from Bindal to Bindlish to mark the arrival of Sher Shah's daughter into the family.

Many Bindlish families have their roots in Kaithal, Harayana. It will be interesting to hear stories from people who know about Sher Shah's connections to Kaithal.

Even though Bindlish are devout hindu Agarwals, I have heard through my parents/grandparents that there are some bindlidh families (especially around Deradun) who will still go to a mosque to light diyas on certain days (diwali/id?). It'll be great if people can post stories related to this as well.