Banaphar

{{Short description|A clan of Indian subcontinent}}

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{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2019}}

{{Use Indian English|date=May 2019}}

Banaphar, also spelled Banafar and Banafer, is a clan native to the Indian subcontinent of mixed Ahir and Rajput descent.{{cite book |last1=Hiltebeitel |first1=Alf |author-link=Alf Hiltebeitel |title=Rethinking India's oral and classical epics: Draupadī among Rajputs, Muslims, and Dalits |pages=162–163 |date=May 1, 1999 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=9780226340500 |quote=Presumably it is an issue that would interest Ālhā audiences sensitive to the mixed-caste Kṣatrya-Ahir identity of the Banāphars... Ūdal (and the rest of the Banāphars) is susceptible to "mean caste" slurs and slights because of his combined Kṣatriya (Rajput) and cowherd (Ahir) background.}}

The legendary 12th century generals Alha and Udal, who appear in the Alha-Khand ballads, were said to belong to this clan. In the ballads, the Banaphars was susceptible to "mean caste" slurs from other Rajputs because of their "mixed" background.{{cite book|last=Crowley|first=Thomas|title= Fractured Forest, Quartzite City: A History of Delhi and its Ridge|date=7 September 2020|pages=277|isbn=9789353885564|quote=The Banaphars also identify themselves as Rajputs. Throughout this epic, though, they have various caste slurs hurled at them by higher-status Rajputs who claim that the Banaphar line is contaminated with the blood of Ahirs, a nomadic pastoral community.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jhP9DwAAQBAJ&dq=thomas+crowley+banaphar+rajput&pg=PA277}} Ballads referring to Alha and Udal describe great bravery in the medieval period.{{cite book |title=The Last Hindu Emperor: Prithviraj Cauhan and the Indian Past, 1200–2000 |first=Cynthia |last=Talbot |publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2016|isbn=9781107118560|page=203|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m3DjCgAAQBAJ&q=alha+udal+Rajput+bravery&pg=PA203 |accessdate=5 November 2020}}