*Tracing lineage: Muslims in eastern UP village use ‘Brahmin’ surnames.*

*Tracing lineage: Muslims in eastern UP village use ‘Brahmin’ surnames.* NAMITA BAJPAI at Lucknow on 11/12/2024 DEHRI, a nondescript village, 35-40 km away from Jaunpur district headquarters in eastern UP, is in the limelight for a rare phenomenon. A predominantly Muslim village, Dehri has over 7,000 Muslims and 5,000 Hindus living together in harmony for ages. Suddenly, a new trend is emerging in the village. Around 70 Muslims of the village have added ‘Brahmin’ surnames to their names. However, they claim that have not reconverted to Hinduism. Naushad Ahmad of this village in Kerakat tehsil has drawn attention when he mentioned his name as Naushad Ahmad ‘Dubey’ on the wedding card of his daughter. In the same village, lives Pande ji - Irshad Ahmad Pandey - who is just two houses away from Naushad Ahmed Dubey. Many others like Naushad and Irshad are following the same practice by adding the surnames ‘Mishra, Pandey, Tiwari’ to their names. “We started this practice two years back when we came to know about our ancestry. We got to know that we all were Hindus who got converted generation ago,” says Naushad Ahmad. He adds that he came to know his forefathers especially Lal Bahadur Dubey had converted to Islam eight generations back. “As people use to address senior members of my family as ‘Panditji’, I was curious about my ancestry. My great grandfather told me that eight generations back our ancestor Lal Bahadur Dubey of Rani ki Sarai, had arrived Dehri and purchased a ‘zamindari’ from Hazari Singh. When he came here, he had already converted to Islam,” says Naushad mentioning that his quest to know the condition under which Lal Bahadur embraced Islam is on. “After getting the info about my ancestry, I decided to put my original surname ‘Dubey’ with my name”, says Naushad. However, no one else in his family has added Dubey surname. Similarly, Ehtesham Ahmed of the same village claims that he also has the Hindu lineage. “My ancestors were also Brahmin but I have not added their surname to my name yet,” he says, adding that many Muslim men have started using other Brahmin surnames. Dehri village head Farhan says he traced his ancestors four generations back and found out that they were Hindus. Similarly, Abdullah Shaikh is now Abdullah Sheikh Dubey, Mohammad Gufran is now Thakur Gufran and those with Sayyad as surnames are now Shandilya. They all follow the Islamic practices but go to temple as well to pay obeisance to Hindu deities.