Jats of the Sikh Tract
This article is an extract from PANJAB CASTES SIR DENZIL CHARLES JELF IBBETSON, K.C. S.I. Being a reprint of the chapter on Lahore : Printed by the Superintendent, Government Printing, Punjab, 1916. |
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Jats: Sikh Tract
The group of Jats we have now to con sider are the typical Jats of the Panjab,, including all those great Sikh Jat tribes who have made the race so renowned in recent history. They occupy the central districts of the Panjabj the upper Satlujs and the great Sikh States of the Eastern Plains. All that I have said in the preceding sec tion (§ 481) regarding the absence of any wish on the part of the Jats of the Khalsa to be auglit but Jats aapihes here with still greater force. A Sidhu claims indeed Rajput origin; anil apparently with good reason.
But he is now a Sidhu Jat and holds that to be a prouder title than Bhatti Rajput. The only tribe among this group of which any considerable numbers have returned themselves as Rajputs are the Virk ; and among them this has happened only in Gujranwala on the extreme outskirts of the tract. These men are the backbone of the Pan jab by character and physique as well as by locality. They are stalwart, sturdy yeomen of great indepen deuce, industry, and agricultural skill, and collectively form perhaps the finest peasantry in India. Unfortunately the Settlement Reports of this part of the country are often poor or even absent altogether, while much of the tract consists of Native States. Thus except regarding such tribes as have risen to political importance, I can give but scanty information. The Jats of the Sikh tract are essentially husbandmen, and the standard of agricultural practice among those at any rate of the more fertile northern districts is as high as is reached in any portion of the Province. I would call special attention to the curious traditions of the Bhular, Man, and Her tribes, an examination of which might produce interesting and valuable results.
Abstract No. 75 on the opposite page gives the distribution of the tribes so far as it is shown by our figures. I have an'anged them roughly in the order to which they appear to occur from west to east.
The Jat tribes of the Sikh tract
The Dhillon
(No. 1)
The Dhillon is one of the largest and most widely distributed Jat tribes in the Province. Their head-quarters would appear from our figures to be Gujraiivvala and Amritsar ; but they are found in large numbers along the whole courc e of the Satluj from Frrozpur upwards, and under the hills to the east of those two districts. The numbers returned for the Delhi District are curiously large, and I doubt somewhat whether they really refer to the same tribe. Like the Goraya they claim to be Saroha Rajputs by origin, and to have come from Sirsa. If this be true they have probably moved up the Satluj, and then spread along westwards under the hills. But another story makes them descendants of a Siirajbansi Rajput named In who lived at Kharmor in the Malwa, and held some office at the Dehli court. They are said to be divided into three great sections, the Baj, Saj, and Sanda.
The Virk
(No. 2)
The head-quarters of the Virk appear to be the Giijranwala and Lahore Districts, especially the former in which they own 132 villages. They claim origin from a Manhas Rajput called Virak, who left Jammu and settled at Ghuchli in Amritsar ; and in Gujranwala nearly a third of them have returned themselves as Rajputs, but they marry freely with the Jat tribes of the neighbourhood. They say that their ancestor Virak was descended from Manhan Nams (Mai again !) the founder of the Manhas tribe of Rajputs, and was connected with the Rajas of Jammu. Leaving Parghowal in Jammu, he settled in Amritsar and married a Gil .Jat girl. His de-cendants shortly afterwards moved westwards into Gujranwala. There are three main sections of the tribe, the Jopur, Vachra, and Jau. The tribe rose to some political import ance about the end of last century, ruling a considerable tract in Gujranwala and Lahore till subdued by Ranjit Singh.
The Sindhu
(No 3)
The Sindhu is, so far as our tigures go, the second largest Jat tribe, being surpassed in numbers by the Sidhu only. Their head-quarters are the Amritsnr and Lahore districts, but they are found all along the upper Satluj, and under the hills from Ambala in the east to Sialkot and Gujranwala in the west. They claim descent from the Raghobansi branch of the Solar Rajputs through Ram Chandar of Ajudhia. They say that their ancestors were taken by or accompanied Mahmud to Ghazni, and returned during the thirteenth century or in the reign of Firoz Shall from Afghanistan to India. Shortly afterwards they settled in the Manjha near Lahore. Some of the Sindhu say that it was Ghazni in the Deccan, and not in Afghanistan, from which they came ; while others have it that it was Ghadni in Bikaner. The Jalandhar Sindhu say that they came from the south to the Manjha some two or three centuries ago when the Pathans dispossessed the Manj Rajputs, and shortly afterwards moved from Amritsar to Jalandhar at the invitation of the Gils to take the place of the ejected Manj. Sir Lepel (iriffin is of opinion that the real origin of the tribe is from North-Western Rajputana. The political history of the tribe, which was of capital importance under the Sikhs, is given is great detail at pages 225 ff, 360 ff, and 417 to 428 of the same writer's Panjab Chiefs. The Sindhu have the same peculiar marriage customs already described as practised by the Sahi Jats. The Sindhu of Karnal worship Kala Mahar or Kala Pir, their ancestor, whose chief shrine is said to be at Thana Satra in Sialkot, their alleged place of origin.
The Bhular
(No 4)
— The Bhular, Her, and Man tribes call themselves asl or original Jats, and are said to have sprung from the Jat or Matted hair of Mahadeo, whose title is Bhula Mahadeo. They say that the Malwa was their original home, and are commonly reckoned as two and a half tribes, the Her only counting as a lialf. But the bards of the Man, among which tribe several famihes have risen to political importance, say that the whole of the Man and Bhular and half the Her tribe of Rajputs were the earhest Kshatriya immigrants from Rajputana to the Panjdb. The head-quarters of the Bhular appear to be Lahore and Frrozpur, and the conflnes of the Manjha and Malwa ; but they are returned in small numbers from every division in the Panjab except Dehli, Rawalpindi, and Peshawar, from almost every district, and from every Native State of the Eastern Plains except Dujana, Loharu, and Pataudi.
The Man
(No. 5)
The Man. the second of the art Jat tribes, do sometimes claim, as has just Been stated, Rajput ancestry ; and it is said that Thakur Rajputs of the Man tribe are still to be found in .Jaipur (see further Dalai in section 440). Several of the leading Sikh famihes belong to this tribe, and their history will he found at pages 177 to 183 and 307 to 314 of Sir Lepel Griffin's Panjab Chiefs. That writer states that there is a popular tradition in the Panjab which makes all of the Man tribe brave and true.The home of the Man is in the northern Mulwa, to the cast of that of the Bhular ; but they too are widely distributed, being found in every district and state of the Panjab east of Lahore, especially in the northern districts and along the Satluj. From the fact that the Man both of Jalandhar and of Karnal trace their origin to the neighbourhood of Bhatinda, it would appear probable that there was the original home of the tribe.
The Her
(No. 6)
— The Her is the third of this group of tribes, and their home appears to be north of the Satluj ; indeed had not it been that I wished to keep the three together, I should have taken the Her with theJatsof the eastern sub-montane. They are found however in con siderable numbers under the hills from Ambala in the east to Gujrat in the west, and throughout the whole upper valley of the Satluj. Of the number shown, 5,812 were entered in my tables as Aher, of whom 2,786 were in Hushyarpur, but I am informed that this is merely another way of spelling Her. Of course they returned themselves an AherJats, not as Aher or Ahir by caste. There is a very old village called Her in the Nakodar tasi; of Jalandhar which is still held by Her Jats, who say that they have lived there for a thousand years, in other words for an indefinite period.
The Buttar
(No. 7)
The Buttar are a small tribe found, so far as om- figures go, chiefly on the Upper Satluj. I am not quite sure that they are distinct from the Bhutta Jats of the Western Plains, which have been .already described in section 429, or from the Buta of Hushyarpur to be described in section 438. They are said to be descended from a Surajbansi Rajput who came from the Lakki jungle and settled first in Gujranwala.
The Odi
(No. 8)
— The Odi would appear from our figures to be confined to the Firozpur District. They appear to be a clan of the Dhariwal tribe, as 8,715 of the 8,722 Odi in Firozpur and 787 more in Nabha have returned themselves as Dhariwal Odi. They are shown in the Abstract under both headings. On the other hand the 390 Odi of Gujrat have returned them selves as Tiirar Odi, as have 417 in Gujranwala.
The Bal
(No. 9)
— The Bal are another tribe of the Beas and Upper Satluj, and are said to be a clan of the Sekhu tribe with whom they do not intermarry. Their ancestor is also said to have been a Rajput of royal race who came from Malwa. The name Bal, which is derived from a root meaning strength,is a famous one in ancient Indian History, and recurs in all sorts of forms and places.
== The Pannun (No. 10) == — claim Solar Rdjput ancestry. They are chiefly found in Amritsar and Gurdaspur so far as our figures show ; but they also own five villages in Sialkot. They say that theu' ancestors came from Ghazni ; or according to another story, from Hindustan.
The Mahal
(No. 11)
— is a small tribe which appear to be chiefly found in .jalandhar and Amritsar. Their ancestor is said to have been a Rajput from Modi in the Malwa,
The Aulak
(No. 12)
— The head-quarters of the Aulak Jats would appear to be in the Amritsar District ; but they are found in the northern Malwa, as well as in the Manjha and west of the Ravi. They are said to be of Solar descent, and their ancestor Aulak lived in the Manjha. But another story makes their .ancestor one Raja Lui Lak, a Lunar Rajput. They are related to the Sekhu and Deo tribes, with whom they will not intermarry.
The Gil
(No. 13)
— The Gil is one of the largest and most important of the Jat tribes. So far as our figures show, their head-quarters are the Lahore and Firozpur Districts ; but they are found all along the Beas and Upper Satluj, and under the hills as far west as Sialkot. Gil, their ancestor, and father of Shergil, the founder of another Jat tribe, was a jat of Raghobansi Rajput descent who lived in the Firozpur District ; he was a lineal descendant of Rirthi Pal, Raja of Garb Mithila and a Waria Rajput, by a Bhular Jat wife. The tribe rose to some importance under the Sikhs, and the history of its principal family is told at pages 352 ff Griffin's Panjab Chiefs.
See The Sidhu and Barar tribes
The Dhariwai
(No. 16) + — The Dhariwal, Dhaniwal, or Dhaliwal for the name is spelt in all three ways, are also said to be Bhatti Rajputs, and to take their name from their place of origin Daranagar. They say that Akbar married the daughter of their Chief Mahr Mithra. They are found chiefly on the Upper Satluj and in the fertile district to the west, their head-quarters being the north-western corner of the Malwa, or Ludhiana, Firozpur, and the adjoining parts of Patiala. Mr. Brandreth describes them as splendid cultivators, and the most peaceful and contented portion of the population of the tract.
The Sara
(No. 17)
— The Sara Jats are, so far as our figures go, chiefly found in the Upper Malwa, in Ludhiana, Faridkot, and the intervening country ; but they also have crossed the Satluj into the fertile district to the north-west. They are said to he descended from a Bhatti Rajput who 13 generations ago left the Malwa and settled in Gujranwala. But another tradition traces them to Raja Salon (Salvahan), a Lunar Rajput who lived in .Jammu, and whose two sons Sara and Basra were the eponymous ancestors of two Jat tribes. I presume that they are distinct from the Sarai noticed underJatsof the western sub-montane.
The Mangat
(No. 18)
— The Mangat would appear from our figures to be almost confined to Ludhiana and the adjoining portion of Patiala. I have no information to give about them, unless indeed they are the same as the Man, described under .Jats of eastern sub-montane.
The Dhindsa
(No. 19)
— The Dhindsa would appear to be confined to Ambala, Ludhiana, and the adjoining portion of Patiala. They claim to be descended from Saroha Rajputs.
The Gandhi
(No. 20)
— The Gandhi seem to be chiefly found in the same tract with the Mangat just mentioned. About them also I have no particulars to give.
The Chahil
(No. 21)
— The Chahil appear to be one of the largest Jat tribes in the Province . They are found in greatest numbers in Patiala, but are very numor nis in Ambala and Lulhiana, Amritsar, and Gurdaspur, and extend all along under the hills as far west as Gujraawala and Sialkot. It is said that Raja Agarsen Sarajhansi had four sons Chahil, Chhina. Chima, and Sahi, and that the four J.at tribes who bear these names are sprung from them. Their original liome was Malwa, whence they migrated to the Panjab. According to another story their ancestor was a Tunwar Rdjpiit called Raja Rikh, who came from the Deccau and settled at Kahlor. His son Birsi married a Jat woman, settled at Matti in the Malwa about the time of Akbar, and founded the tribe.
