Foreign races’ in the Punjab
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. |
’Foreign races’ in the Punjab
I have called the groups of which the figures are given On the next page* in Abstract No. 87 Foreign Races, because they bear *P- 207. titles properly foreign to India and for the most part lay claim to foreign origin. It will presently be seen how little real right many of them have to the names they bear. The Saiyads might have been included in the group, but they have been classed with the priestly castes. The present group is divisible into three sections, the Arab and Shekh, the Turk and Mughal, and the Ghulam and Qizilbash. The last two and probable many of the Arabs and Turks are tme foreigners, and have a good claim to the names they bear ; but the Shekhs and Mughals are for the most part mere pretenders. What Rajput is to the Hindu, Sheikh, Saivad, and in the west of the Paujab Mughal, are to the Musalman ; and every convert of low caste wlio wishes to glorify himself assumes one of these titles, while tribes whose origin is lowly or has been for gotten, trace their descent from the people of the Prophet or of one of the Mahomedan conquerors of India. As Mr. Thompson puts it : Pride of race leads to the invention of some royal progenitor, and pride of religion is a perpetual inducement to escape from the admission of an idolatrous ancestry.
The Arab
(Caste No. 140)
Arabs are returned in the Panjab chiefly from the Multan and Peshawar divisions. They are probably Arab merchants from Bombay, where I believe men of true Arab extraction are somewhat numerous. That they have not come direct from Arabia is shown by the language table, in which Arabic is returned as the mother-tongue of only 63 persons. More than half the Arabs in the Panjab are to be found in Peshawar itself. This is hardly to be wondered at, for Peshawar is a city in which may be found representatives of almost every Eastern nation, and is the half-way house between India and Asia. It is possible that some of our Shekhs, whether truly or falsely so called, may have returned themselves as Arab.s, but I do not think it likely. The true Shekhs are of course of Arab origin ; but I believe that such men when their settlement in the Pan j fib is of
any long standing, always call themselves Shekh or Qureshi, and not Arab.
The Shekh
(Caste No, 17)
Shekh is an Arabic word meaning an elder or Chief, and proliably corresponds very closely among the tribes of Arabia with Chandri among those of the Panjab. Thus the title should properly be confined to, and is very generally assumed by tribes of true Arab descent. But it has been degraded to a much more vulgar use. If a Rajput or Jat turn Mahomedan he retains his caste name, and is still a Rajput or Jat ; though I have known Musalman Rajputs who had fallen in life and taken to weaving call themselves Shekhs, though still recognized as relations by their brethren of the village whence they came. So if an outcast or man of impure calling becomes Musalman and retains his occupation, or at least substitutes for it another only slightly less degrading, he also retains his caste name or is known by an entirely new one, such as Dinddr or IMusalli. But the class which lie between these two extremes, and are neither so proud of their origin as to wish, nor so degraded by their occupa tion as to be compelled to retain their original caste name, very generally abandon that name on their conversion to Islam and adopt the title of Shekh,
There Is a Persian proverb : The first year I was a weaver (Julaha) ; the next year a Shekh. This year if prices rise I shall be a Saiyad.Moreover many of the inferior agricultural Musalman tribes of Indian descent have, especially in the west of the Province, set up a claim to Arab orig-in ; and though they are still known by their tribal name, have probably or almost certainly returned themselves as Shekhs in the present Census. In these last cases they will in all probalullty have often shown then- tribal name as the sub-division of the Shekhs to which they belong, and it is to be hoped that the detailed clan tribes will, when published, throw much light upon the tme composition of our figures for Shekhs. Meanwhile only a few of the largest sub-divisions can be examined. In one respect I myself am res ponsible for the uncenainty of meaning which attaches to these figures. There are certain agricultural tribes whose claims lo Qureshi origin appear to be valid, such as the Khagga and Hans of Montgomery ; and these men I included under the head Shekh. It was most certainly a mistake to do so, and I shall give separate figures for them below. With them I shall discuss some of the larger sub-divisions of Shekhs which have been returned in our papers. In many cases the titles here given are no less misleading than the original title of Shekh. The Shekhs who have returned themselves as Jats in the Multan and Derajat division are shown in Abstract No. 72, page no 224
Shekhs do not bear the best of characters in some parts. In Rohtak they are said to supply recruits to our armies and jails with praiseworthy indifference,and in Derail Ismail Khan the Naumuslim Shekhs are described as a lazy thriftless set of cultivators.The true Qureshis of the south western districts, however, are often possessed of great influence, and hold a high character for sanctity. Such are the descendants of Baha-ul-haqq the renowned saint of Multan, who are known as Hashmi Qureshis, and whose family is described at pages 490ff of Griffins Panjab Chifs. They are chiefly found in the Llultan, Jhang. and Muzaffargarh districts.
