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PANJAB CASTES
SIR DENZIL CHARLES JELF IBBETSON, K.C. S.I.
2014-04-29T07:24:47Z

Created page with " {| class="wikitable" |- |colspan="0"|<div style="font-size:100%"> This article is an extract from PANJAB CASTES SIR DENZIL CHARLES JELF IBBETSON, K.C. S.I. <br..."

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This article is an extract from 

PANJAB CASTES 

SIR DENZIL CHARLES JELF IBBETSON, K.C. S.I. 

Being a reprint of the chapter on 
The Races, Castes and Tribes of 
the People in the Report on the 
Census of the Panjab published 
in ''' 1883 ''' by the late Sir Denzil 
Ibbetson, KCSI 

Lahore : 

Printed by the Superintendent, Government Printing, Punjab, 

1916. 
''Indpaedia is an archive. It neither agrees nor disagrees '' 
''with the contents of this article.''
</div>
|}
[[Category:India|J]]
[[Category:Communities|J]]

==Jats: Western Sub-Montane==

The tribes which I shall next
discuss are those of the foot of the hills west of Lahore, that is, of the Gujrat,
Gujranwala and Sialkot districts. With them, however, I have included in
the Abstract the so-called Jat tribes of the Salt-range Tract ; for all the
tribes of sufficient importance to be discussed separately that have returned
themselves from this tract as Jats, are really Rajputs rather than Jats, the
greater number of their members have returned them.selves as such, arnd they
will be discussed under Rajputs. Such are Dhanial, Bhakral, Janjua, and
Manhas. After these came the Mekan, Gondal, and Ran j ha, who belong to
the Salt-range sub-montane and will also bo treated as Rajputs. Then
follow the true Jats, the Tirar, Varaich, Chima, &c., whom I have endea
voured to arrange in order of locality from Avest to east. The Jats of the
Salt-range and of the great plains below it I have already described sufficient
ly in the preceding sections 427-8. But directly we leave the Salt-range
behind us and enter the Lahore and Amritsar divisions — directly, in fact, we
come within the circle of Sikh influence as distinguished from mere political
supremacy, we find the line between Jat and Rajput sufficiently clearly
marked. The Jat indeed, here as elsewhere, claims for himself Rajput origin.

But a Varaich does not say that he is now Rajput. He is a Jat and content
to be so. The fact is that within the pale of Sikhism Rajputs were at a dis
count. The equality of all men preached by Guru Govind disgusted the
haughty Rajputs, and they refused to join his standard. They soon paid the
penalty of their pride. The Jats who composed the great mass of the Khalsa
rose to absolute power, and the Rajput who had despised them was the
peculiar object of their hatred. Their general policy led them to cut off such
poppy heads as had not spning from their own seed ; and their personal feeling
led them to treat the Rajput, who as a native-born leader of the people should
have joined them, and who would if he had done so have been a very import
ant element of additional strength to the cause, with especial harshness.

The
old Settlement Reports are full of remarks upon the decadence if not the
viitual disappearance of the Rajput gentry in those districts where Sikh sway
was most absolute. Thus the Jats we are considering are far more clearly
marked off from the Rajputs than are those of the Western Plains where
everybody is a Jat, or of the Salt-range Tract where everybody who is not an
Arab or a Mughal calls himself a Rajput ; indeed there is if anything a
tendency here to call those Jats who are admitted to be Rajputs further west.
Only on the edge of the group, on the common Ijorder line of the Sikh tract,
the Salt-range, and the great plains, do the Mekan, Gondal, Ranjha, and Tarar
claim some to be Jats and some to be Rajputs. The first two I have decided
to describe under Rajputs, the last under Jats ; but this is more a matter of
convenience than of ethnic classification. The Jat tribes now to be considered
are, except perhaps on the confines of the Gujranwala bar, essentially agricul
tural, and occupy the same social position as do those of the Eastern Plains,
whom indeed they resemble in all respects.

The most extraordinary thing abOut the group of Jat tribes found in
Sialkot is the large numher of customs still retained by them which are, so far
as I know, not shared by any other people. They will be found described in
Mr. Roe's translation of Amin Chand's Historiy of Sialkot, and I shall notice
one or two of them in the following paragraphs. Nothing could be more
instructive than an examination of the origin, practice, and limits of this
group of customs. They would seem to point to aboriginal descent. Another
point worthy of remark is the frequent recurrence of an ancestor Mai, which
may perhaps connect this group of tribes with the ancient Malli of Multan.
Some of their traditions point to Sindh ; while others are connected with the
hills of Jammu. The whole group strikes me as being one of exceeding
interest, and I much regret that I have no time to treat it more fully.

==Jat tribes of the western Sub -montane==
The figures for the tribe will be found in Ab
stract No. 74 on the next page.I have already explaired that the first seven tribes, which belong
to the Salt-range and it vicinity, will be treated as and dircussed with Rajputs. 17.

''' The Tarar (No. 8) ''' This is the only one of the tribes to be here discussed of which any con
siderable number of the members have returned themselves as Rajputs, about half the Gujranwala
and nearly all the Shahpur Tarar having adopted tins course. The Tarar claim Solar Rajput origin,
apparently from the Bhatti of Bhatner. They say that their ancestor Tarar took service with Mahmud
Ghaznavi and returned with him to Ghazni ; but that his son Lohi, from whom they are descended,
moved from Mhatner to Gujurat whence the tribe spread. Another story dates their settlement from
the time of Humayun. They intermarry with Gondal, Varaich, Gil, Virk, and other leading Jat
tribes of the neighbourhood ; and they have lately begun to intermarry within the tribe. Some of
them are still Hindus. They hold land on both sides of the Upper Chanab, about the junction and
within the boundaries of the three districts of Gujrat, Gujranwala, and Shahpur. They are describ
ed as invariably lazy, idle and troublesome,

''' The Varaich (No. 9)''' The Varaich is one of the largest Jat tribes in the Province. In
Akbars time they held two-thirds of the Gujurat district, though on less favourable terms than those
allowed to the Gujars who held the remainder ; and they still hold 170 villages in that district. They
have also crossed the Chanab into Gujranwala where they held a tract of 41 villages, and have
spread along under the hills as far as Ludhiana and Maler Kotla. They do not always even
pretend to be Rajputs, but say that their ancestor Dhudi, was a Jat who came into India with
MahmudGhaznavi and settled in Gujrat, where the tribe grew powerful and partly dispossessed the
original Gujar lords of the soil. Another story is that their ancestor was a Surajbansi Rajput who
came from Ghazni to Gujrat; while according to a third account their ancestor was a descendant of
Raja, Karan who went from tho city of Kisrah to Dehli and was settlerl by Jalal-ul-clin Piroz Shah
in Hissar, whence the tribe moved some five centuries ago to Gnjranwala. But thero is little doubt
that Gujurat was their first home, and that their movement lias been eastwards. The Wazirabad
family of this tribe rose to importance under the Sikhs, and its history is narrated by Sir Lepel
Griffin at pages 409 ff of hisPanjab Chiefs, They are almost all Musalmans, but retain all
their tribal and many of their Hindu customs. They marry with the best local tribes. They
appear to be known as Chung or Varaich indifferently in the Lahore district.

''' The Sahi (No. 10)''' . — The Sahi also claim descent from a Solar Rajput who went to Ghazni
with Mahmud, and returned to found the tribe, settling on the Ravi near Lahore. They are found
in any numbers only in Gujurat and Sialkot. They have, in common with the Sindhu and Chima of
these parts, some peculiar marrriage cutsoms, such as cutting a goat's ear and marking their fore
heads with the blood, making the bridegroom cut off a twig of the Jhand tree (Prosopis
sp'icigera) and so forth ; and they, like most of the tribes discussed in this section, worship
the Jhand tree.

''' TheHinjra (No. 11)''' — The Hinjra of the Gujranwala bar are a pastoral tribe, perhaps
of aboriginal extraction. They own 37 villages in Gujranwala which is their home, but have
spread both east and west under the hills. They claim to be Saroha Rajputs, and that their
ancestor Hinjrano came from the neighbourhood of Hisar to Gujranwala and lounded a city
called Uskhab, the ruins of which still exist. Their immediate ancestors are Hal and Dhol,
and they say that half their clans still live in the Hisar country. It would be interesting to
know the names of these clans, and to examine the alleged connection between the two sections
of the tribe. In the Hissar Settlement Report it is stated that the Hinjraon Pachhadas trace
'their origin to a Saroha Rajput ancestor called Hinjraon. They are all Muhammadans in this
district though in other places Hindu Hinjraon Pachhadas are to be found.Our figures
show no Hinjra in Hissar, and only 30 in Sirsa ; but they may have been returned as Hinjraon.

''' The Chima (No. 12).— The Chima are one of the largest Jat tribes in the Punjab. Thev
say that some 25 generations back their ancestor Chilma, a Chauhan Rajput, fled from Dehli
after the defeat of Prithi Raj by Shahab-ul-din Ghori, first to Kangra and then to Amritsar,
where his son founded a village on the Beds in the time of Ala-ul-din Ghoii. His grandson
was called Rana Kang, and Dhol (the same name as among the Hinjra) was the ancestor of
their present clans. The Chima have the pecnliar marriage customs described under the Sahi
Jats, and they are said to be served by Jogis and not by Rrihmans, both which facts point
strongly to aboriginal descent. They are a powerful and united tribe, but quarrelsome. They
are said to marry within the tribe aswell as with their neighbours. Many of them are Musal
mans, but retain their old customs. The Nagara is one of their principal clans. They are most
numerous in Sialkot, but hold 42 villages in Gujranwala, and have spread both eastwards and
westwards along the foot of the hills.

The Bajwa (No. 13). - The Bajwa or Bajju Jats and Rajputs have given their names to the
Bajwat or country at the foot of the Jammu hills in the Sialkot District. They say that they
are Solar Rajputs and that their ancestor Raja Shalrp was driven out of Multan in the time of
Sikandar Lodi. His two sons Kals and Lis escaped in the disguise of falconers. Lis went to
Jammu and there married a Rajput bride, while Kals married a Jat girl in Pasnir. The descen
dants of both live in the Bajwat, but are said to be distinguished as Bijwa Jats and Bajju
Rajputs. Another story has it that their ancestor Rai Jaisan was driven from Dehli by Rai
Pitora and settled at Karbala in Sialkot. Tho Bajju Rajputs admit their relationship with the
Bajwa Jats. The Bajju Rajputs are said to have had till quite lately a custom by which a
Musalman girl could be turned into a Hindu for purposes of marriage, by temporarily burying
her in an underground chamber and ploughing the earth over her head. In the betrothals of
this tribe dates are used, a custom perhaps brought with them from Multan ; and they have
several other singular customs resembling tht se of the Sahi Jats already described. They are
almost confined to Sialkot, though they have spread in small numbers eastwards as far as
Patiala.

==Jat Tribes of the Western Sub-Montane Continued==
The Deo (No. 14)

The Deo
are practically confined to the Sialkot District. They claim a very ancient origin but not Rajput.
Their ancestor's name is said to be Mahaj, who came from the Saki jungle in Hindustan,
and two of his sons were Aulakh and Deo who gave their names to two Jat tribes. But another
story refers them to Raja Jagdeo, a Surajbansi Rajput. They have the same marriage ceremony
as the Sahi, and also use the goat's blood in a similar manner in honour of their ancestors, and
have several very peculiar customs. They will not intermarry with the Mrin Jats, with whom
they have some ancestral connection.

''' The Ghumman (No. 15)''' — The Ghumman claim descent from Raja Malkir, a Lunar Rajput
and grandson of Raja Dalip of Dehli, from whom are descended the Jaujua Rajputs of the Salt
range Tract. One of his descendants Sanpal married out of caste, and his son Ghumman, who came
from Mukiala or Malhiana in the time of Frroz Shah and took service in Jammu, founded the pre
sent tribe. This tribe worships an idol made of grass and set within a square drawn in the corner.

of the house at weddings, and they cut the goat's ear and the Jhand twig- like the Sahi Jats.
Thev also propitiate their ancestors by pouring water over a goat's head so that he shakes it off.
They are chiefly found in Sialkot, though they have spread somewhat, especially eastwards.

''' The Kahlon (No. 16)b— The Kahlon claim descent from Raja Vikramajit of the Lunar line
through Raja Jagdeo of D aranagar. Under his descendant Soli or Sodi they left Daranagar and
settled near Batala in Gurdaspur, whence they spread into Sialkot. Their marriage customs are
very similar to those of the Sahi .Jats already described. They are almost confined to the southern
portion of the districts of Gurdaspur and Sialkot. They intermarry with Jat, not with Rajputs.

''' The Sarai (No. 17)''' — The Sarai Jats are, so far as our figures go, chiefly found in Gurdaspur
and Sialkot, though there are a few on the upper and middle Satluj also. I cannot identify these
people with certanity. There are said to he Sarai Rajputs in Sialkot, who are Bhattis descended
from an ancestor called Sarai who settled in the Hafizabad tahsil. There can hardly be any
connection between them and the Sarais of the Kalhora family of Derail Ghazi Khan, who are
discussed under the head Shekh and who claim to be Qureshi. The Sarai are raid to be a well
known Jat clan in .Talandhar and the neighbouring districts. Tod makes Sehrai the title of a
race of Punwar Rajputs who founded a dynasty at Aror in Sindh on the eastern bank of the
Indus, and gave their name Sehl or Sehras titular appellation to the country and its princes
and its inhabitants the Sehrais. . (See further the Sara Jats of the central districts, section 436.)
Of the Sarai of Gurdaspur 4,951 have entered themselves as tribe Sindhu, clan Sarai, and appear
again in the Sindhu figures which will be discussed presently.

''' The Goraya (No. 18)''' — The Goraya are said by one account to be descended from the Saroha
family of Lunar Rajputs, and to have come to Gujranwala are nomad and pastoral tribe from
Sirsa. Another story is that they are descended from a Sombansi Rajput called Gm'aya whose
grarndson Mal came from the Lakki thai some 15 generations ago. A third tradition is that
Rana their founder came from the Jammu liiUs in the time of the Emperors. They are now
found in Gujranwala, Sialkot, and Gurdaspur. They own 31 villages in Gujranwala and are
excellent cultivators, being one of the most prosperous tribes in the district. They have the
same peculiar marriage customs as the Sahi Jats already described. The word guraya is said to
be used for the Nilgai (Porcax picta) in Central India. They are sometimes said to be a clan of
the Dhillon tribe.

''' The Dhotar and Lodikebb — There are 1,454 Dhotar returned in our tables, of whom 1,428 are
found in Gujrdnwala. They are mostly Hindus, and claim to be descended from a Solar Rajput
who emigrated from Hindustan or, according to another story, from Ghazni some 20 generations
back. The Lodike are considered to be a clan of the Kharrals of the Montgomery district, who
are described separately. In Gujranwala they are said to be of Solar Rajput descent, and to
have come from the Rivi, the Kharral head-quarters, to the Gujranwala bar some ten generations
ago, and led a pastoral and marauding life till reverses at the hands of the Virk forced them to
settle down and take to agriculture. They do not give their daughters to the local Jat tribes.

''' The Chatta ''' — Appear to be confined to Gujranwala, in which district they hold 81 villages
and number 2,27 1 souls. They claim to be descended from Chatta, a grandson of Prithi Rai,
the Chauluin King of Dehli, and brother of the ancestor of the Chima. In the 10th generation
from Chatta or, as otherwise stated, some 500 years ago, was Dahru who came from Sambhal in
Moradabad, where the bards of the Karnal Chauhans still live, to the banks of the Chanab and
married among the Jat tribes of the Gujranwala District. They were converted to Islam about
1,600 A.D. They rose to considerable political importance under the Sikhs ; and the history of
their leading family is told by Sir Lepel Griffin at pages 402ff of his Panjab Chiefs.

Jats: Western Sub-Montane (Punjab) - Revision history

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