Dhar (surname)

Dhar is a surname commonly found among the Hindu Bengali Kayastha community in West Bengal, India. Dhar or Dar is also used by some Kashmiri clans and communities native to the Kashmir Valley in Jammu and Kashmir, India, and common today among Kashmiri Hindus and Kashmiri Muslims.

Quotes

• With the advent of Islam many such Dara's had converted and to differentiate themselves from Brahmin Dara's, convertee's modified it to Dar while Brahmins persisted with Dhar. ... It is essential to understand that Dhar and Dar is question of writing these in then prevalent script Sharda (then Upbrahmbasha), which could have introduced this subtle discrepancy in pronunciation more so if it was uttered in Sanskrit, which got distorted while speaking Kashmeeri.
  • Bhatt, Saligram (2008). Kashmiri Scholars Contribution to Knowledge and World Peace: Proceedings of National Seminar by Kashmir Education Culture & Science Society (K.E.C.S.S.), New Delhi. APH Publishing. p. 134. ISBN 978-81-313-0402-0.

• Now, why was it at all necessary for Ghiyasuddin Ghazi to change his name to Ganga Dhar? Dhar is a well-known Kashmiri Hindu surname. Many of these 'Dhars' were forced converted into Islam; their names were then changed to 'Dar' just to distance themselves from the Hindu 'Dhar'.
  • M. K. Singh - Encyclopaedia of Indian War of Independence 1857-1947, Vol. 13. Gandhi Era, Mahatma Gandhi and National Movement