Dhakaiyas

The Old Dhakaites (Bengali: পুরান ঢাকাইয়া, romanized: Puran Dhakaiya) are an Indo-Aryan cultural group viewed as the original inhabitants of Dhaka. They are sometimes referred to as simply Dhakaites or Dhakaiya. Their history dates back to the Mughal period with the migration of Bengali cultivators and merchants to the city. The cultivators came to be known as Kutti and they speak Dhakaiya Kutti, a dialect of Bengali and the merchants came to be known as Khoshbas and speak Dhakaiya Urdu. There are sizeable populations in other parts of Bangladesh. The Old Dhakaiyas maintain a distinct regional identity in addition to their ethnic Bengali identity, due to cultural, geographical and historical reasons. They have been described as a wealthy but very closed-off community; evidently being a minority in their own hometown. It is said that some people living in Greater Dhaka are even unaware of the existence of an Urdu-speaking non-Bihari minority community although their presence dates back centuries.