Rajputs: Western Hills - Revision history

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This article is an extract from
PANJAB CASTES
SIR DENZIL CHARLES JELF IBBETSON, K.C. S.I.
2014-04-29T08:48:37Z

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

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This article is an extract from <br/>

PANJAB CASTES <br/>

SIR DENZIL CHARLES JELF IBBETSON, K.C. S.I. <br/>

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

Lahore : <br/>

Printed by the Superintendent, Government Printing, Punjab, <br/>

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

=Western Hills=

I have already described the
position occupied by Rajputs in the Salt-range Tract. The dominant tribes,
such as the Janjua, have retained their pride of lineage and their Rajput title.
But many of the minor tribes, although probably of Rajput descent, have
almost ceased to be known as Rajputs, and are not nnfrequenlly classed as Jat.

Especially the tribes of the Hazara, Murree, and Kahuta hills, though almost
certainly Rajputs, are, like the tribes of the Chibhal and Jammu hills, probably
of very impure blood. The tribes of the Salt-range Tract are exceedingly
interesting, partly because so little is known about them. The names of many
of them end in al, which almost always denotes that the name is taken from
their place of origin; and a little careful local enquiry would probably throw
much light on their migrations. The great Janjua tribe appears to be Rathor ;
and from the fact of the old Bhatti rale which lasted for so long in Kashmir, we
should expect the hill tribes, most of whom come from the banks of the Jahlam,
to be Bhatti also. But there is perhaps some slight ground for beheving that
many of them may be Punwar (see Dhund infra). If these tribes are really
descendants of the original Jadubansi Rajputs who fled to the Salt-range after
the death of Krishnas they are probably, among the Aiyan inhabitants of the
Panjab proper, those who have retained their original territory for the longest
period, unless we except the Rajputs of the Kangra hills.

The grades and
social divisions of the Hill Rajputs are dwelt upon in the section treating of the
tribes of the eastern hills. The same sort of classification prevails, though to a
much less marked extent, among the western hills ; but the Janjua are probably
the only one of the tribes now under consideration who can be ranked as Mian
Sahu or first-class Rajputs. Abstract No. 81 on the next page shows the
distribution of these tribes. They are divisible into three groups, roughly
arranged in order from north and west to south and east. First came the
tribes of the hills on the right bank of the Jahlam, then the Salt-range tribes,
then those of the cis-Jahlam sub-montane, and last of all the Tarars who have
been already discussed as Jats. I had classed as separate castes those persons
who returned themselves as Dhunds and Kahuts, under Nos. 74 and 103 in
Table VIII A. But I have brought those figures into this Abstract alongside
of the Dhunds and Kahuts who returned themselves as Rajputs.

The figures for these tribes are probably more imperfect than those for
any other group of the same importance, at any rate so far as the tribes of the
Salt-range are concerned. In that part of the Panjab it has become the
fashion to be Qureshi or Mughal or Awan, rather even than Rajput ; and it is
certain that very many of these men have returned themselves as such. Till
the detailed clan tables are published the correct figures will not be ascertain
able.