Chaush

The Chaush or Chaus are a Muslim community of Hadhrami Arab descent. They are found in the Deccan region of present-day India, particularly in the city of Hyderabad, and have diaspora populations in Pakistan as well.

The Chaush or Chaus were brought from Yemen to work in the former Hyderabad State as military men and body guards for the Nizams. It is said that especially when it came to safe guarding his family, the 7th Nizam had absolute trust on these Arab bodyguards. They are most concentrated in Marathwada Telangana and Hyderabad-Karnataka Regions of The Former Princely State Hyderabad and most numbers of their population concentrated in the neighbourhood of Barkas in Hyderabad city and Aurangabad city

The founders of both the Qu'aiti and Kathiri states in Hadhramawt had previously served as jemadars in Hyderabad.

Among the cultural contributions of the Chaush to India are Marfa music and dance, and Hyderabadi haleem, both which are culturally important to the Hyderabadi Muslim people, and seen at almost all wedding ceremonies.