Ahir, also spelt Aheer, is a community in India traditionally associated with pastoralism. The name is generally traced to the Sanskrit term abhira. Ahirs have been variously described as a caste, clan, race or tribe, and their customary occupations have centred on cattle-herding and agriculture.
From the late 19th to the early 20th century, members of the community widely adopted the surname Yadav, treating the terms Ahir and Yadav as synonymous and claiming descent from the mythological king Yadu. This shift formed part of a wider movement of social and political resurgence, often described as sanskritisation, which was influenced by the Arya Samaj.
Ahirs are found across India, with a particular concentration in the northern regions of the country. Outside India, communities identifying as Ahir are present in Nepal, Mauritius, Fiji, South Africa and parts of the Caribbean, notably Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Suriname. In Mauritius and the Caribbean, members of the community are largely descended from indentured labourers who travelled from the pre-partition Indian subcontinent during the British Raj in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Adapted from the English Wikipedia article on Ahir.