|
|
| (One intermediate revision by one user not shown) |
| Line 67: |
Line 67: |
| | return. | | return. |
| | | | |
| − | ''' The Karral (Caste No. 101) '''
| + | ==The Karral == |
| | + | |
| | + | Caste No. 101 |
| | | | |
| | The Karrals are returned for Hazara | | The Karrals are returned for Hazara |
| Line 94: |
Line 96: |
| | Sials, Tiwanas, Ghebas, and Karrals. They intermarry with Gakkhars, | | Sials, Tiwanas, Ghebas, and Karrals. They intermarry with Gakkhars, |
| | Saiyads, and Dhunds. | | Saiyads, and Dhunds. |
| − |
| |
| − | ''' The Gakkhar (Caste No. 68) '''
| |
| − |
| |
| − | The Gakkhars are the ancient rulers
| |
| − |
| |
| − | of the northern portion of the cis-Indus Salt-range Tract, just as are the
| |
| − | Awans and Janjuas of the southern portion of the same tract ; and it appears
| |
| − | probable that they at one time overran Kashmir, even if they did not found a
| |
| − | dynasty there. Their own story is that they are descended from Kaigohar
| |
| − | of the Kayani family then reigning in Ispahan ; that they conquered Kashmir
| |
| − | and Tibet and ruled those countries for many generations, but were eventually
| |
| − | driven back to Kabul, whence they entered the Panjab in company with
| |
| − | Mahmud Ghaznavi early in the 11th century. This last is certainly untrue,
| |
| − | for Ferishtah relates that in 1008 Mahmud was attacked by a Gakkhar army
| |
| − | in the neighbourhood of Peshawar. Sir Lepel Griffin thinks that they were emigrauts from Khorasan who settled in the Panjab not later than 300
| |
| − | A.D., and points out that, like the Persians and unlike the other tribes of
| |
| − | the neighbourhood, they are still Shiahs. It is at any rate certain that they
| |
| − | held their present possessions long before the Mabomedan invasion of India.
| |
| − | Ferishtah writes of them during Muhammad Ghoris invasion in 1206
| |
| − | A.D. :—
| |
| − |
| |
| − | During the residence of Muhammad Ghori at Lahore on this occasion, the Ghakkars who
| |
| − | inhabit the country along the lanks of the Nrlab up to the foot of the mountains of Siwalik,
| |
| − | exercised unheard of cruelties on the Muhammadans and cut off' the couimimication between the
| |
| − | provinces of Peshawar and Multan. These Ghakkars were a race of wild barbarians, without
| |
| − | either religion or morality. It was a custom among them as soon as a female child was born, to
| |
| − | carry her to the door of the house and there proclaim aloud, holding the child in one hand and a
| |
| − | knife in the other, that any person who wanted a wife might take her otherwise she was im
| |
| − | mediately to be put to death. By this means they had more men than women which occasioned
| |
| − | the custom of having several husbands to one wife. When this wife was visited by one of her
| |
| − | husbands she left a mark at the door, which being observed by any of the other husbands, he with
| |
| − | drew till the signal was taken away. This barbarous people continued to make incursions on the
| |
| − | Muhammadans till in the latter end of this king's reign their chieftain was converted to the true
| |
| − | faith while a captive. A great part of these mountaineers, having very little notion of any
| |
| − | religion, were easily induced to adopt the tenets of the true faith ; at the same time most of the
| |
| − | infidels who inhabited the mountains between Gliazni and the Indus were also converted, some
| |
| − | by force and others by persuasion, and at the present day (1609 A.D.) they continue to profess
| |
| − | the faith of Islam. Briggs' feristab , i, 183ff
| |
| − |
| |
| − | The Gahkhars however did not hesitate to assassinate Muhammad Ghori
| |
| − | on his return from Lahore.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | General Cunningham identifies the Gakkhars with the Gargaridse of
| |
| − | Dionysius, and holds them to be descendants of the great Yueti or Takhari
| |
| − | Scythians of the Abar tribe, who moved from Hyrkania to Abryan on the
| |
| − | Jahlam under either Darius Hystaspes (circa 500 B.C.), or still earher under
| |
| − | one of the Scytho-Parthian Kings. The whole origin and early history of
| |
| − | the tribe will be found discussed at pages 22 to 33, Vol. II of the Arehaeolo
| |
| − | gical Reports, and at pages 574 to 581 of Griflin's ranjdh Chiefs; while
| |
| − | much information as to their early history is given in Brandreth's Settle
| |
| − | ment Report of the Jahlam District. As Mr. Thomson says : The
| |
| − | Turanian origin of the Gakkhars is highly probable ; but the rest of the
| |
| − | theory is merely a plausible surmise. On the whole there seems little use in
| |
| − | going beyond the sober narrative of Ferishtah, who represents the Gakkhars
| |
| − | as a brave and savage race, living mostly in the hills, with little or no religion,
| |
| − | and much given to polyandry and infanticide. They have now, in
| |
| − | apparent imitation of the Awans, set up a claim to Mughal origin ; and
| |
| − | many of the Rawalpindi Gakkhars returned themselves as Mughals, while
| |
| − | I am told that some of the Gakkhars of Chakwal entered themselves as
| |
| − | Rajputs.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | At present the Gakkhars are practically confined to the Rawal
| |
| − | pindi, Jahlam, and Hazara Districts, where they are found all aloug the
| |
| − | plateaus at the foot of the lower Himalayas, from the Jahlam to Haripur
| |
| − | in Hazara. To the figures given in Table VIII-A should be added 1,543
| |
| − | persons who returned themselves in Rawalpindi as Mughal Gakkhar, and
| |
| − | perhaps 4,549 others who returned themselves as Mughal Kayani, of whom
| |
| − | 3,861 were in Rawalpindi, 592 in Jahlam, and 93 in Kohat. This would
| |
| − | raise the total number of Gakkhars to 31,881, of whom about half are in
| |
| − | Rawalpindi. They are described by Mr. Thomson as compact, sinewy, and
| |
| − | vigorous, but not large boned ; making capital soldiers and the best light
| |
| − | cavalry in Upper India ; proud and self-respecting, but not first-class agriculturists ; with no contempt for labour, since many work as coohes on
| |
| − | the railway ; but preferring service in the army or police.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | Their race feeling
| |
| − | is strong, and a rule of inheritance disfavours Gakkhars of the half-blood.
| |
| − | Colonel Craeroft notes that they refuse to give their daughters in marriage
| |
| − | to any other elass except Saiyads, that they keep their women very strictly
| |
| − | secluded, and marry only among the higher Rjijputs, and among them only
| |
| − | when they eannot find a suitable match among themselves. Some of their
| |
| − | principal men are very gentlemanly in their bearing, and show unmistake
| |
| − | ably their high origin and breeding. They still cling to their traditions
| |
| − | and, though the Sikhs reduced them to the most abject poverty, are looked up to in the district as men of high rank and
| |
| − | position, and in times of commotion they would
| |
| − | assuredly take the lead one way or the other.
| |
| − | Thus the character of the savage Gargars seems to have been softened and improved by
| |
| − | time. The Gakkhars do not seem always to
| |
| − | have returned their clans, which are very well
| |
| − | marked. I give in the margin the figures for
| |
| − | a few of the largest. Their local distribution
| |
| − | in the Jahlam District is fully described in Mr. Thomson's Settlement Report.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | ''' The Awan (Caste No. 12) ''' .- The Awans, with whom have been
| |
| − | included all who returned themselves as Qutbshahi, are essentially a tribe of
| |
| − | the Salt-rang;', where they once held independent possessions of very con
| |
| − | siderable extent, and in the western and central portions of which they
| |
| − | are still the dominant race. They extend along the whole
| |
| − | length of the range from Jahlam
| |
| − | to the Indus, and are found in
| |
| − | great numbers throughout the
| |
| − | whole country beyond it up to
| |
| − | the foot of the Sulemans and
| |
| − | the Safed Koh ; though in
| |
| − | Trans-Indus Bannu they partly
| |
| − | and in Dehra Ismail almost
| |
| − | wholly disappear from our
| |
| − | tables, being included in the
| |
| − | term Jat which in those parts means not very much more than et catera.
| |
| − | Thus we find among the Jats of our tables no fewer than 30,015 who returned
| |
| − | Awan as their tribe and who should probably be classed as Awan, of whom
| |
| − | the details are given in the margin.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | The eastern limits of their position as a dominant tribe coincide approxi
| |
| − | mately with the western border of the Chakwal and Pind Dadan Khan
| |
| − | tahsils. They have also spread eastwards along the foot of the hills as far east
| |
| − | as the Sutlej, and southwards down the river valley into Multan and Jhang.
| |
| − | They formerly held all the plain country at foot of the western Salt-range,
| |
| − | but have been gradually driven up into the hills by Pathans advancing from
| |
| − | the Indus and Tiw.uias from the Jahalm.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | Their story is that they are descended from Qutb Shah of Ghazni, him
| |
| − | self a descendant of Ali, the son-in-law of Mahomet, but by a wife other
| |
| − | than the Prophet's daughter, who came from Hirat about 1035 A.D. and
| |
| − | settled in the neighbourhood of Peshawar. Thence they spread along the Salt-range, forming independent clans by whom the Chief of Kalabagh was
| |
| − | acknowledged as the head of the tribe. Mr. Brandreth is of opinion that
| |
| − | they are more probably descendants of the Bactrian Greeks driven south
| |
| − | from Balkh by Tartar hordes, and turning from Hirat to India, and that
| |
| − | they entered the Panjab not more than some 250 years ago as a conquering
| |
| − | army under leaders of their own, and dispossessed the Janjua Rajputs of the
| |
| − | Salt-range country. General Cunningham, on the other hand, is inclined to
| |
| − | identify them with the Jud, whom Babar mentions as being descended from
| |
| − | the same ancestor as the Janjuas and occupying the western Salt-range at
| |
| − | the time of his invasion, and who were so called from the old name of Mount.
| |
| − | Sakesar which is still the tribal centre of the Awan race. He would make
| |
| − | both the Awans and the Janjuas Anuwan or descendants of Anu ; and thinks
| |
| − | it probable that they held the plateaus which he north of the Salt-range at
| |
| − | the time of the Indo-Scythian invasion which drove them southwards to take
| |
| − | refuge in the mountains. [ArehcBological Reports, Vol. II, page 17ff
| |
| − | Babar describes the Jud and Janjuas as having been from of old the lords
| |
| − | of the Salt-range and of the plain country at its foot between the Indus and
| |
| − | the Jahlam, and mentions that their minor Chiefs were called Malik, a title
| |
| − | still used by the headmen of those parts. The Jalandhar Awans state that
| |
| − | they came into that district as followers of one of the early Emperors of Dehli
| |
| − | who brought them with him from the Salt-range ; and it is not impossible
| |
| − | that they may have accompanied the forces of Babar. Many of them
| |
| − | were in former times in the imperial service at Dehli, keeping up at the same
| |
| − | time their connection with their Jalandhar homes. It is almost certain that
| |
| − | Mr. Brandreths theory is incorrect. The Awans have been almost the sole
| |
| − | occupants of the Mianwali Salt-range Tract for the last 600 years. Mr.
| |
| − | Thomson considers the whole question in sections 73-74 of his Jahlam Settle
| |
| − | ment Report, and adduces many strong reasons in support of his conclusion
| |
| − | that the Awans are a Jat race who came through the passes west of Derah
| |
| − | Ismail Khan and spread northwards to the country near Sakesar, a conclusion
| |
| − | towards which some of the traditions of Derah Ismail Khsm also are said to
| |
| − | point. I may add that some of the Awans of Gujrat are said to trace their
| |
| − | origin from Sindh. Major Wace also is inclined to give the Awans a Jat
| |
| − | origin. In the genealogical tree of the Kalabagh family which used to be the
| |
| − | chief family of the tribe, in which tree their descent is traced from .Qutb
| |
| − | Shah, Several Hindu names, such as Rai Harkaran, occur immediately below
| |
| − | the name of Qutb Shah. The Awans still employ Hindu Brahmans as
| |
| − | family priests.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | Mr. Thomsoii describes the Awans as frank and pleasing in their
| |
| − | manners, but vindictive, violent, and given to faction ; strong and broad
| |
| − | shouldered, but not tall ; strenuous but slovenly cultivators ; and essentially
| |
| − | a peasant race. Colonel Davies thinks scareely more favourably of them.
| |
| − | He writes : The Awans are a brave high-spirited race but withal exceeding
| |
| − | ly indolent . In point of cliaracter there is little in them to admire ; headstrong
| |
| − | and irascible to an unusual degree, and prone to keeping alive old feuds, they
| |
| − | are constantly in hot water ; their quarrels leading to affrays and their affrays
| |
| − | not unfrequently ending in bloodshed. As a set-off against this it must
| |
| − | be allowed that their manners are frank and engaging, and although they
| |
| − | cannot boast of the truthfulness of other hill tribes, they are remarkably
| |
| − | free from crime. Mr. Steedman says : The Awans hold a high, but
| |
| − | not the highest place among the tribes of the Rawalpindi District. As a rule
| |
| − | they do not give their daughters in marriage to other tribes, and the
| |
| − | children of a low-caste woman by an Awan are not considered true Awans.
| |
| − | In Jahhiin their position would scareely seem to be so high as in Rawalpindi,
| |
| − | as Mr. Thomson describes them as distinctly belonging to the zamindar or
| |
| − | peasant class, as opposed to the Gakkhars and .Tanjuas who are Sahu or gentry.
| |
| − | The history of the Awans is sketched by Sir Lepel Griffin at pages 570// of his
| |
| − |
| |
| − | Panjab Chiefs. The Awans have returned
| |
| − | sub-divisions
| |
| − | figures for some
| |
| − | in the margin.
| |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| − | few large give the very I of the largest
| + | See [[The Gakkhar]] |
| − | Of the Khokhar 5,663 are in Rawalpindi,
| + | |
| − | 2,362 in Jahlam, 3,949 in
| + | |
| − | Shahpur, 2,438 in Bannu, and
| + | |
| − | 3,301 in Hazara ; while of the
| + | |
| − | Khattar 10,916 are in Rawal
| + | |
| − | pindi. These men are probably really Khattars and Khokhars rather than
| + | |
| − | Awans, but have returned themselves thus in pursuance of the tradition of all
| + | |
| − | the three tribes having a common origin.
| + | |
