The Kharral
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. |
Caste No. 77
The Kharrals would appear to be a true Rajput tribe, though a very consider able portion of them have been returned as Jat. The figures in the margin show the total number returned under the several headings of Jat, Rajput, and Khar ral. Of the Rajput Kharrals of Bahawalpur 1,613 have returned their main tribe as Bhatti. The few Kharrals of Jalandhar are there re cognised as Rajputs, and the Kharrals of Mont gomery claim descent from Raja Karan. They are found in large num bers only along the valley of the Ravi, frOm its junction with the Chanab to the boundary between Lahore and Mont gomery ; while a few have spread up the Deg river into the Lahore and Gujranwala bar and smaller numbers are found all along the Satluj valley as high up as Firozpur. The tribes of this portion of the Ravi are divided into two classes, the Great Ravi tribes and the Little Ravi tribes. The former are pastoral rather than agricultural, and include the Kharrals, Kathias, and many of the great tribes of Mahomedan Jats. They look down upon the little Ravi tribes who live within their limits, and who are agri cultural rather than pastoral, consisting of Arans, Kambohs, and similar tribes common in the Eastern Pan jab. The great Ravi tribes are notorious for their propensity to cattle- stealing, and among the in a young man is not allowed to wear a turban or to marry a wife till he shows by stealing a buffalo that he is able to support her, while a headman who has not a number of dependants ready to steal for or with him is popularly known as an orphan.'
Among the tribes of the great Ravi the Kharrals are the most northernly and one of the most important. They are themselves divided into two factions, the upper Ravi and lower Ravi, the head-quarters of the latter being at Kot Kamalia. The two are at bitter feud, and the only tie between them is their hatred of their common enemy, the Sial Rajputs of Jhang. The Kamalia Kharrals rose to some prominence in the time of Alamgir, and still hold remains of grants then made them, but the upper Kliarrals are now the more powerful branch of the two. The Kharrals have ever been notorious for turbulence, and Mr. Purser's Montgomery Report contains details of their doings lief ore and under Sikh rule, while the history of the family is narrated in full at pages 509/ of Grilfin^s Panjab Chiefs. They trace their origin from one Bhupa a descendant of Raja Karan, who settled at Uchh and was there converted by Makhdam Shah Jahania. From Uchh they moved up to their present territory. There are now very few in the Multan district ; But the fact of their being found along the Satluj, though in small numbers Only lends some support to the story of their having come upwards from below. Captain Elphinstone thus describes the Kharrals in his Gugaira Report : —
The ' Kbari-als ' are the most northernly of the ' Great Ravi * tribes. They occupy a great portion of the land hetwcen Gugaira and the Lahore district, on both sides of the river, and extend some distance into ttc Gujranwala district. In turbulence and courage they have been always considered to excel nil the others except the Kathias ; but the tract occui/ied by them has been gralually denuded by the rapid extension of cultivation, of what formerly constituted their greatest strength, — heavy jungle. In case of disturbances, therefore, they have had at more recent periods tu evacuate their on lands on the approach of large military forces, thus sustaining much damage by the destruction of their villages. Their most celebrated leader, Ahmad Khan, who was killed in September 1857 by a detachment under Captain black, headed the combined tribes, however, in no less than five insurrections, which to a certain extent all jiroved successful, their chief object — the plunder of the Khatris and llitidns — having usually been accomplished at the expense of a moderate fine imposed on them under the name of ' Nazarana,' after the conclusion of peace. This success had spread hi-; renown far and wide, and had given him a groat influence over the whole of the ' Great Ravi,' as was proved by the outbreak of 1857, which appears to have been mainly planned and organized by him. In stature the Kharrals are generally above the average height, their features are very marked, and their activity and endurance are remarkable. Like all the other .Jats they pretend to a descent '• from the Rajputs, and like that class look down with some contempt upon men who handle the plough. The cultivation in their villages is, therefore, almost exclusively left to the Vysiwans and inferior castes, the Kharral proprietors contenting themselves with realizing their shai-e of the produce. They only possess land in tracts inundated by the rivers, mere well-cultivation being too laborious a task even for their dependants.
Mr Purser adds that they are wasteful in marriage expenditures hos pi table to travellers, thievish, and with little taste for agriculture ; and that they still follow many Hindu customs, especially on the occasion of marriage. In Lahore they appear to bear a no better character than in Montgomery ; and there is a Persian proverb : The Dogar, the Bhatti, the Wattu, and the Kharral are all rebellious and ought to be slain. Sir Lepel Griffin writes of them : *' Through all historic times the Kharrals have been a turbulent, savage, and thievish tribe, ever impatient of control, and delighting in strife and plunder. More fanatic than other Mahomedan tribes, they submitted with the greatest reluctance to Hindu rule ; and it was as much as Diwan Sawan Mal and the Sikhs could do to restrain them j for whenever an organised force was sent against them they retired into the marshes and thick jungles, where it was almost impossible to follow them.' In Gujranwala they are said to be idle, troublesome, bad cultivators and notorious thieves, their persons generally tall and handsome, and their habits nomad and preadatory.
