Lyuli

Lyuli (Russian: Люли) or Jughi living in Central Asia, primarily Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. They speak a Tajik dialect. The Lyuli practice Islam. They have a clan organization (the Lyuli word for ‘clan’ is tupar, the Jughi word - avlod). Division into sub-clans is also practiced. The Lyuli community is extremely closed towards non-Lyuli.

Traditional occupations: crafts, including jewelry, cattle trading, mendicancy and music.

Names

There are several names for the Lyuli: Jughi, Multani or Luli. However, they refer to themselves as Mugat or Mughat (Persian: مغان‎‎, derived from Old Persian magi, "fire-worshipper"), as well as Ghurbat (Arabic: غربات‎), which means "lonely". The term Multani signifies a person who originates from the city of Multan (in modern-day Pakistan), because some of the Lyuli emigrated from Multan around 1380 AD.

According to Professor Khol Nazarov, the ancestors of the Lyuli belonged to a caste of singers, musicians and dancers. Faced with hardship in their homeland, they were forced to leave and disperse.