Piracha
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Paracha (Urdu: پراچہ) is a family name in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and India.
Paracha's (known by the individual prefixes of the seven groups) are wealthy Muslim traders of NWFP (North West Frontier Province) and northwestern Punjab of Pakistan. This term came from Parcha meaning cloth, one of the principle items of their trade. This wealthy class is found in large number at Lahore (Mochi Darwaza) Sargodha, Makhad, Attock(malahi tola)(Haji Shah), Kohat, Mangowal, Shahpur, Khushab, Quetta, Peshawar and Nowshera. They used to trade as far as Central Asia, chiefly in Cloth, Silk, Indigo and Tea.
The Paracha tribe, which is one of the largest in Pakistan and today scattered all over the country and even in India, is said to have become a large clan in Makhad in the 10th Century of the common era. The tribe which today mostly speak Hindko as well as Pothohari dialect of Punjabi, migrated from northern Yemen in the time of Prophet Muhammad (in 7th Century C.E.) and traveled to Iran where they were called Ferashas or people who were direct descendants of one Ali Yamani, a cloth trader who used to prepare the ground for Prophet Muhammad to pray upon. Ferash in Persian means ground.
From Persia, many from this clan traveled to Afghanistan and western India, known today as Pakistan. Most of them settled in Makhad in the 12th Century C.E. In India and Pakistan they became to be known as Parachas. It is believed that the clan settled in what is presently northern Pakistan under the rule of the mughal emperor Akbar.
Today, the Parachas are scattered all over the world in various professions. Some believe Parachas to be of Shahi Turkish descent.
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