Mandahar Rajput

This post will look at the clan of Rajputs called the Mandahar, which also pronounced as Mandhaar, Mughad or Madhad. The Mandahar are a clan of Ranghars, that at the beginning of the 20^th Century occupied a compact block of villages in Kaithal, with a, chaudhriat at Siwan, and almost confined to the Nardak of Karnal, Ambala and the neighbouring portion of Patiala and Jind states. A few Mandahar are found east of the Jumna in Sahranpur. Like other Ranghar groups, the partition of India in 1947 led to the Mandahar emigrating to Pakistan. I would ask the reader to look at my post on the Ranghar that give some general description of this Muslim community once found in Haryana.

The author of the Karnal Gazetteer wrote the following about the Mandahar:

they are said to have come from Ajudhia to Jind driving the Chandel and Barah Rajput who occupied the tract into the Siwaliks and across the Ghagger respectively. They then fixed their capital at Kalayat in Patiala, with minor centres at Safidon in Jind and Asandh in Karnal.

They lie more or less between the Tanwar and Chauhan of the tract. But they have in more recent times spread down below the Chauhan into the Yamuna riverine of KarnaI, with Gharaunda, as a local centre. They were settled in these parts before the advent of the Chauhan, and were chastised at Samana, now in Patiala, by Firoz Shah who carried of their Rana to Delhi, and made many of them Musalmans. The Safidon branch obtained the villages now held by them. In the Nardak in comparatively late times by intermarried with the Chauhans. And though they expelled the Chandel Rajputs from Kohand and Gharaunda when they first came into those parts of Karnal, yet the Chandels reconquered them, and the final occupation by the Mandhars coming direct from Kalyat, now in Patiala, is possibly of comparatively recent date

 

This account confirms the origin story told by the Mandahar themselves, that they came from Ayodhya and settled in Jind, driving out the Chandel and Varya Rajputs, and overpowering the Jats. The Mandahar claim to be Suryavanshi Rajputs, and claim descent from Lav, son of the Ram, and claim a common origin with the Bargujar and Gahlot Rajputs. They were intially settled mainly in the valley of Yamuna, mainly in and around Yamuna Nagar and Kaithal. According to Mandahar traditions, the Kandahar, Bargujar, Sankarwal, and Parihar Rajputs are also said to be descended from Lawa, the son of Ram Chandra, and therefore to be Solar Rajputs; and Hindu Mandahar in Karnal do not intermarry with these other clans. The Mandahar are by lineage Raghuvanshi, an ancient Indian dynasty. Raghuvanshi is believed to be a lineage of kings tracing their ancestry to Surya,  which included the god Ram, who provided the rulers of Ayodhya. More then any of other Haryana Rajputs, the Mandahar connect themselves with this dynasty.

This region of Jind became known  as Madadh Three Hundred and Sixty, as there were 360 villages of the clans. In Kaithal and Safidon, it seems that the Mandahar were longest settled, as other clans such as the Chauhan acknowledged there presence prior to there own settlement. The author of the Patiala State Gazetteer using hyperboly points to a presence dating backing to 21,000 years.

The Mandahars are found in tahsil Narwana, and are said to have migrated into the Bangar from Ajudhia 21,000 years ago, and to have taken the ancient town of Kalait from the Chandels. That place and Bata are now held by Hindus, Badsikri and Hittho being held by Muhammadan Mandahars. They call themselves Lachman. Socially they have 12 tapas (as they call their chhats) and 360 villages, the tapas in this State being Dhanauri, Kalait and Badsikrl.

The villages in tehsils Jind and Dadri of the Jind State, the Madadh region, were ancient settlements of Jats and Rajputs, Hindus and Muslims. These villages were grouped into tappas, some of which were named after the clan which bad founded or built the villages in the group.These tappas continued until the end of the Jind State in 1948. Each tappa had chaudhary, and it was customary for the brotherhood of a got within a tappa to assemble when disputes occured regarding marriages or deaths or customs of the brotherhood, and settle them among themselves. Among the Muslim Mandahar, their chaudhriat at Siwan in Kaithal.

Mandahar maintained a semi-independent status until they came to the attention of Firuz Shah Tughlaq (1309 – 20 September 1388), the Sultan of Delhi. The Sultan demanded a tribute, which was refused, and as such Sultan sent his army against them. The Mandahar chieftains, who used the title Rana were overwhelmed by Sultan’s forces. After their defeat, they were reduced to 60 villages largely in the Nardak, a hilly tract made up of the Nissing, Nilokheri and Assandh development blocks in Karnal district. In this hilly region, the Mandahar remained largely independent, plundering the plains near Delhi. In 1528-29, after series of Mandahar raids, the Mughal Emperor Babar sent an expeditionary fotce against Mohan, one of the rebellious ranas. However, despite attempts by the Delhi rulers to suppress the Mandahar, they remained in a state of semi-independence until the arrival of the British in the early 19th Century.

By the beginning of the 20th Centrury, most Mandahar followed Islam. As the passage below from the Jind gazetteer shows, the process of conversion took a very long time:

 

The Ranghars of Jind tehsil claim descent from Firoz, son of Bhura the first Hindu Rajput converted to Islam under Aurangzeb. They avoid one got in marriage, and the bridegroom wears a sehra on his forehead, not a maur or crown. They still have Brahman parohits, who give them Protective threads (rakshabandhan) to wear on the wrist

It seems, some Mandahar groups converted to Islam as early as the period of Firuz Shah Tughlaq, while some groups only converted during the period of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb (3 November 1618 – 3 March 1707). This allow for the contradictory accounts of when they converted to Islam. However, as the author of the Jind Gazetteer shows, the Mandahars still practiced many Hindu customs in the beginning of the 20th Century.

Hindu Mandahar are still  found in Chandigarh, Mohali, Yamuna Nagar, Patiala, Karnal, Panipat, Jind, Kurukshetra, Gurgaon, Kaithal, Faridabad in Haryana and Punjab. Some famous villages of Madadh Rajputs in Haryana are Saraswati Nagar (previously Mustafabad), Sadaura, Baltana, Rajound, Salwan, Ghauranda(Arainpura), Batta, Kalayat, Rahara, Singhana (Sarpdaman) and Muana. Among Muslim Mandahar of the Nardak, there most important village was Dachor, Gharaunda, Jalbana, and Urlana Kalan. The Muslim Mandahar are now found in South Punjab, such as Okara, Multan, Lodhran and Khanewal districts.

Distribution of the Mandahar Rajput According to 1901 Census of India

District / State	Muslim	Hindu	Total
Karnal	17,357	4,635	21,992
Patiala State	1,260	708	1,968
Jind State	1,178	239	1,417
Ambala	525	225	750
Hissar	514	66	580
Rohtak	429	51	480
Gurgaon	173	15	188
Other Districts
Total	21,734	6,030	27,764

 

 

 

Tarar Jats

In this post, I will look at the Tarar tribe of Jats. They have much in common with other Jat clans of the Chaj and Rechna Doab such as the Gondal, Ranjha and Warriach. They were largely a pastoralist tribe till the arrival of the British in the mid-19^th Century. The Tarars consider themselves and are considered as Jat by others. So, who exactly are these Tarars? According to their tribal traditions, their ancestor was Tarar, a Rajput originally from Hanumangarh in Rajasthan, who took service with Mahmud of Ghazna, and converted to Islam. His elder son Lohi is said to have stayed behind in Bhatner (now Hanumangarh in Rajasthan), inheriting the family lands, while Tarar settled in what is now Gujrat district. As in most posts, I will start off first by looking at British sources, then look at tribal traditions.

British Sources

The earliest reference in British sources to the Tarar occurs in the Report on the Revised Settlement of Gujranwala District 1860 by J. H Morris. He writes to the following about them:

This followed by their description in the Report on the Revision of Land Revenue Settlement of Gujranwala District 1874 by R. P Nisbett. Nisbett describes them as:

His description is more detailed, although he does not mention the three division of the Gujranwala Tarar, namely Gokul, Kalo and Ratta, referred to by Morris. The river Chenab divided the Tarar territory into half, with those in what is now Mandi Bahauddin having slightly different origin story. The current Mandi Bahauddin District was historically part of Gujrat. Captain W. G. Waterfield, author of the Report on the Second Regular Settlement of Gujrat District, describes the Tarar as follows:

In Waterfield’s account, Banni referred to by Nisbett becomes Bhatti, but in this account, the Tarar’s original homeland remains Bhatner (now Hanumangarh). It also acknowledges that one of the sons remained in Bhatner, which may the likely ancestor of the Hindu Tarar of Rajasthan.

The most detailed account appears in H. A Rose, an early 20th Century British colonial official who co-authored A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province, which is one of the most comprehensive glossaries on the tribes of Punjab, and a good source on many Punjabi tribes.

Jat tribe which often claims Rajput status, especially in Gujranwala and Shahpur. It claims 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 Bhatner to Gujrat whence the tribe spread. Another story dates their settlement from the time of Humayun. They intermarry with Gondal, Variach, Gill, 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 Chenab about the junction mid within the boundaries of the districts of Gujrat, Gujranwala and, Shahpur.

The account current in Gujranwala adds that their ancestor was Tarar, whose great-grandson Banni came from Bhatner (in the Patiala territory), with his sons, and settled in Gujrat. One of his sons Amrah, however, recrossed the Chenab, and founded the village of Amrah, and his descendants have now formed a colony of 62 villages in this district. The 7 sub-divisions of the tribe are named after the sons of Banni.

The custom of pagri-vand prevails. Adoption is not usually recognized among them, nor can an adopted son inherit ancestral property, although in a few instances this rule has been broken. The Gujrat account makes the Tarar descendants of Rajah Karan. Lohi’s descendant Bhatti had nine sons, Dhirak, Shahna, Amra, Uppal, Buta, Lakhanpal, Atra, Salmani and Gondra, Bhalli and they came to Gujrat.

Rose, Horace Arthur; MacLagan, Edward Douglas. A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province. Volume 2, Lahore: Samuel T. Weston at the Civil and Military Gazette Press.

Rose simply tries to pull together the various accounts. The various tribal genealogies in Punjab are based on bardic traditions of the Punjab, which classifies every Jat clan within the three sub-divisions of the Rajputs, the Suryavansh, Chandravanshi and Agnivanshi. From the British sources, it is clear, that the Tarar claim to be of the Suryavanshi branch. I will now look at some other sources, and then what the tribal traditions say.

Other Sources

In histories written by local historians of the Punjab, the British account is usually confirmed. Asad Salim Shaikh, author of Dulleh ki Bar, says that the tribe gets its name from Tarar, who was a soldier in the army of Mahmud of Ghazna. It was Tarar’s grandson Banni who first settled in Jokalian, from whom all the present Tarar descend. This account is identical to Rose’s. He only adds that the village of Vanike, or Banike Tarar in Hafizabad is named after Banni. This is said to be their original settlement in Hafizabad.

Tribal Traditions

Tribal traditions generally refer to the Tarar first settling in Mandi Bahaudin. They agree that their ancestor was called Tarar, but there is some confusion as to the name of his son, some traditions call him Bhatti, while others Banni. Banni settled in Jokalian, it is possible that Bani and Bhatti are one and the same person. However, the real progenitor of the tribe is Lohi, who, with his ten sons, settled at Jokalian. Three sons are said to have disappeared, going south; the remaining seven founded many villages south of Jokalian, in the Phalia tehsil of Mandi Bahaudin and in the Hafizabad district. The seven subdivisions of the Tarar claim descent from the seven sons. There are said to be a total of 83 Tarar villages in this region.

The Hafizabad Tarars have slightly different origin story, who claim direct descent from Banni or Vanni, third in descent from Tarar, and not Lohi. One of his sons, Amrah left Phalia and settled in what is now Hafizabad district, founding the village of Amrah. In Hafizabad, they are now found in sixty two villages, all whom claim descent from Amrah. This origin myth does seem to suggest that the Tarars are certainly one of the oldest of the settled Jat tribes. Most of their villages are found near the banks of the Chenab river, which does suggest a pastoral background.

Baba Bajwa, using mirasi records give the following genealogy:

Wacha (ancestor of the Surayvanshi tribes)

↓

Bhoj Raj (20^th in descent from Wacha, and ancestor of most the Punjab Suryavanshi)

↓

Mulraj (10^th in descent from Bhoj Raj, ancestor of the several tribes such as Dhudhi, Lak and Waseer)

↓

Unner Raj

↓

Unnar

↓

Lohi

↓

Tarar

↓

Taka + Tatri + Tobah + Turna + Turka

This genealogy makes Lohi not the grandson, but the father of Tarar. However, as the various British accounts state, as well as tribal traditions, Lohi it seems was the grandson on Tarar. Also the sons given in this family tree don’t correspond with the other traditions. Kaula, for example was said to descend from Amra, who was the son of Lohi.

Recent History

The Tarar had remained Hindu until the time of the Mughal Emperor Akbar (October 1542– 27 October 1605). According to a local tradition common among the Gujranwala Tarar, Akbar  sent a military expedition against them as a condequence of thir constant challenges to the Mughal ruler., The Tarar were defeated and Kaulo Tarar, the head of the Tarar Jat tribe was killed. His wife was pregnant, at that time fled to the jungles of his area, where she took refuge. Here she met a Fakir, who said that she was destined to bear a son and would be well, but advised her to bring him up in the true faith, he was named Mohammed Mirza. With the passage of time the Tarar Jat clans, descendants of Kaulo Tarar grew in numbers, and their possessions increased. The district flourished during Mughal rule, from the days of Akbar. The authorities built wells which were scattered over the whole country, and villages lay thickly dotted about the southern plateau, now a barren waste of grass land and scrub jungle. Their remains may still be found in the wildest and most solitary reaches of the Bar. With the breakdown of Mughal Empire, Sultan Muhammad a Tarar chieftain created a mini state that was destroyed by Ranjit Singh in the late 18th Century.

Distribution

In Hafizabad District, Tarar villages include Beri Wala, Vanike Tarar, Kolo Tarar, Sindhowan Tarar, Raja Tarar, Rasoolpur Tarar, and Muzaffar Tarar.

While in Mandi Bahauddin district, most Tarar villages are found in Mandi Bahauddin and Phali tehsils. In Phalia Tehsil there villages include Adda Pahrianwali, Agroya, Bahri, Bhagat, Bhekho, Bherowal, Bhoa Hassan, Bumbi, Burj Ghanian, Chak Abdulla, Chak Kamal, Chak Mitha, Charound, Chayto, Dhaboola, Dhal, Dharekan Kalan, Dhola Khurd, Dhunni Kalan, Dhunni Khurd, Ghanian, Ghoghanwali, Gujjan, Haigerwala, Jago Kalan, Jokalian, Haigerwala, Kala Shadian, Kot Hamid Shah, Kot Sattar Sharqi, Kuthiala Sheikhan, Ladher, Lakhia, Mailu Kohna, Mangat, Mano Chak, Melu, Mureed, Pejo Kot, Pindi Kaloo, Raike, Randiyali, Saida Sharif, Sainthal, Sarang, Sohawa Dilowana, Sulaiman, Tariqabad, Thatha Alia, Thathi Mureed, and Thatti Shah Muhammad. In Mandi Bauddin Tehsil and include Balhar, Chak Basawa, Chak Shabaz, Chak Mano, Barri Tarar, Kala Shadian, Kot Pundiwala, Lak, Ghanian, Rattowal, , Shaheedanwali, Takhat Mal Tarar and Wasu.  

Outside the core Tarar area, there are also several Tarar villages in Pind Dadan Khan Tehsil of Jhelum District such as Dhudhi Thal, Kot Umer and Sherpur. In Chakwal District they are found in Dhok Virk.

Distribution of Tarar by District According to 1911 Census of India

District	Population
Gujrat	14,365
Gujranwala	4,841
Shahpur (Sargodha)	1,716
Jhelum	745
Lyalpur (Faisalabad)	514
Lahore	170
Total Population	22,351

The Tarar of Lyalpur were largely settlers from Phalia, brought in by the British to settle the Bars of Punjab in the late 19th Century, while those of Lahore claimed descent from an ancestor who left Amrah in last days of Mughal rule (around 1700s).

Rathore Rajputs of Poonch

In this post I will look at a particularly interesting tribe, that of the Rathore of Poonch. The Rathore of the Poonch region have clear traditions of migrations from the Marwar region of Rajasthan. I shall start off my giving a general description of the history of the Rathore and then to look specifically at the Rathore of Poonch. Vogel and Hutchison in their history of the Punjab Hill States describe the state of Poonch as follows:

Punch State, in ancient times, was situated in the valleys of the Punch Tohi and its tributaries. It was bounded on the north by the Pir Panjal Range, on the west by the Jhelum, on the south probably by the plains and on the east by Rajauri (Rajapuri). The original name of the State was Pamotsa, of which Punch is a derivation, and the original capital was at Lohara, the present Lohrin to the north-east of the town of Punch.

Poonch was the western most of the Punjab Hill States, and was often incorporated into Kashmir. What made it standout was its royal family, and their origins in Marwar.

Map of Jammu and Kashmir showing Poonch: Source Pinterest

Origin of the Rathore

The Rathore were rulers of Jodhpur, historically called Marwar and latter extender their rule over Bikaner. Reference can be made to “khyats” (traditional accounts) written down in the seventeenth century, which refer to the fact that the Rathores were originally feudatories of the  Ujjain based Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty, and may perhaps have been domiciled in the vicinity of Kannauj in the heyday of that dynasty. Pratihara-ruled Kannauj was sacked by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1019 CE, which ushered in a chaotic period for that area. A family known to us as the Gahadvala gained control of Kannauj and ruled for nearly a century; their best-known ruler was Raja Jaichand, their last king. The Gahadvalas were displaced from Kannauj by the invasion, in 1194 CE, of Muhammad of Ghor. It is said that Sheoji, a surviving grandson of Jaichand, made his way into the western desert with a group of faithful followers, finally settling in the town of Pali in Marwar, which was ruled by another branch of the Pratiharas. Sheoji is regarded as the patriarch of the entire Rathore clan and all Rathores trace their patrilineage back to him. The tradition finds supports from a number of inscriptions found in the vicinity of Kannauj that mention several generations of a Rashtrakuta dynasty ruling there for two centuries. A very similar account is also mentioned in the “Rashtrayudha Kavya” of Rudrakavi, finished in 1595, who was the court poet in the court of the Rathore king, Narayana of Mayurgiri.

Marwar to Poonch

The Rathores gradually spread across Marwar, forming a brotherhood of landowners and village chieftains, loosely bound to each other by ties of clan and caste. An epoch in the history both of Marwar and of the Rathores was marked by Rao Jodha, a warrior who founded a kingdom that grew to encompass all of Marwar. He also founded the city of Jodhpur in 1459, and moved his capital from Mandore. One of his sons, Rao Bika, with the help of his uncle Rawat Kandhal, established the town of Bikaner in 1488, in the Jangladesh region lying to the north of Marwar; that town was to become the seat of a second major Rathore kingdom.

The various cadet branches of the Rathore clan gradually spread to encompass all of Marwar and later spread to found states in Central India and Gujarat. The Rathore were actually recruited as soldiers in the Mughal Army. In 1596, one such soldier of fortune, Raja Siraj-Ud-Din Rathore, the descendant of Rao Jodha and Rao Suraj Singh, was made by the Mughal emperor Jahangir the new ruler of Poonch. The establishment of the Rathore state led to the migration of several Rathore in the Poonch region. Not all the Rathore however converted to Islam, and there are several villages of Hindu Rathore Rajputs found mainly in Bhaderwah and Kishtwar areas of Jammu Province.

Rajahs of Poonch

Poonch was the western most of the Rajput Hill States that lay north of Punjab, and east Hazara, and stretched from Kangra in the east. It was said to be founded by Siraj-Ud-Din, a member of the royal family of Marwar. Its territory was annexed either by dynasties based in Punjab, and occasionally in Hazara, such as Turks, who briefly ruled the region. It was after the overthrow of the Chak Dynasty by the Mughals under Akbar, which was based in Kashmir, and whose territory included Poonch, that the region came under direct Mughal rule. In A.D, 1686, during the reign of Jahangir, Poonch was granted to the ancestor of the Rathore dynasty which ruled the country till 1819. The events of the finding of the state are narrated as such by Vogel and Hutchison:

The ancestor of the Musalman dynasty is said to have been Man-Singh, a cadet of the Jodhpur family. His son was Sarje Singh, who became a Musalman and received the name of Siraj-ud-din Khan. He came to Punch sometime in the reign of Jahangir and settled in Kahuta. There he became acquainted with the local official, whose title was Chaudhri, and married his daughter. Later he succeeded his father-in-law in the office of Chaudhri and this title still remains in the family.

Sometime afterwards the Emperor came by Punch on one of his visits to Kashmir, and it fell to the Chaudhri to arrange everything for the Imperial camp. This duty he discharged with such ability that he attracted the Emperor’s attention, and inquiries were made about his family, and on learning that he belonged to the Rathor family of Jodhpur he was appointed ruler of Punch. He probably assumed or received the title of Baja and continued to rule the State for some years. He was succeeded by his son, Fateh Muhammad Khan, who also had a long reign.

Mohammad Din Fauq, in his Tareekh Aqwam-Poonch gives a similar account. Siraj-ud-Din after his conversion to Islam married two wives, from his first wife’s son Raja Fateh Mohammad Khan (ruled – 1646-1700), descend the Rathore rulers of Poonch. From a second wife, who was a Chauhan Rajput had two sons Noor Mohammad and Khan Mohammad. His successors included Rajah Abdul Razak Rathore (1700-1747), on his death the throne of Poonch was usurped by Latifullah Tarkhan. With the help of Islam Yar Khan Kishthwaria, the Tarkhan was defeated and killed and Baqa Mohammad Rathore was made ruler of Sadhrun and Kahuta. Meanwhile the throne of Poonch passed to the Kishtwaria chieftain. On his death in 1760, the throne returned to the Rathores, with Raja Rustam Rathore becoming next Raja (ruled – 1760-1787). During this Poonch at times was a tributary of Rajauri. Vogel and Hutchison describe the situation during the 18^th Century as follows:

We can find no mention of the State in any of the histories of the Mughal period, but several references occur in the chronicles of Rajauri. It was in subjection to the Mughals from 1686 to 1752, like all the other Hill States of the Panjab. Rajauri seems to have acquired a kind of suzerainty over the State, especially during the reign of Aurangzeb, due to the fact that he was married to a Rajauri princess, who was the mother of his son and successor, Muazam or Bahadur Shah I.

Rajah Rustam Rathore was born as Ali Gohar, and his period was considered a golden age of the Poonch principality. The territory of the Rathore then covered all of Poonch, including what is now Haveli district of Azad Kashmir. He was succeed by Raja Shahbaz Khan who ruled from 1787-92, Raja Bahadur Khan who ruled from 1792-1798, who was overthrown by his vizier Ruhullah. The Rathore chiefs of Sarhoon, under Rajah Sher Baz Rathore expelled Ruhullah and assumed the thrown of Poonch. Sher Baz ruled from 1804-1808, when his state was conquered by the Sikhs. This put an end to the main line of the Rathore, but two branches continued as jagirdars until the end of the Jammu and Kashmir State in 1948.

Vogel and Hutchison describe the demise of the state as follows:

From A.D. 1762 to 1819, Punch, like the other Hill States, and especially those to the west of the Chenab, was under Afghan rule, and, as during the Mughal period, its history seems to have been uneventful. The ruling family and most of the population being of the same religion as the payment power, helped to encourage and maintain friendly relations and we read of no outbreaks such as were common among the Hindu States to the east of the Chenab.

With the rise of the Sikh power in the Punjab, this long period of comparative tranquillity came to an end. Before 1810, Ranjit-Singh had asserted his supremaly over all the Hill States, except those to the west of the Chenab, which still maintained political relations with Kabul. His main objective at that time was the conquest of Kashmir, which was still in the possession of the Afghans. The subjection of these hill tracts, containing the States of Bhimber, Rajauri Khari Khariyali, Kotli and Punch, thus became a necessary preliminary to any further advance.

Bhimber and Rajauri were reduced in 1810  and 1812 after much hard fighting, and in 1814 the Sikh army advanced to Punch, led by the Maharaja in person. The Baja of Punch at that time was Ruhallah Khan and his sympathies were with the Afghans. On the eve of the Sikh advance, Ranjit-Singh sent a letter to the Raja asking his co-operation in the invasion of Kashmir. To this an evasive answer was returned, pleading engagements with Kashmir and his inability to comply with the Maharaja’s wishes, as his son was a hostage in the hands of the Afghans.

This indecision led to the destruction of the Poonch State. Vogel and Hutchison describe its final end as such:

One division of the Sikh army,* under the Maharaja, advanced into the Tohi Valley, while the other followed the route over the Pir Panjal. The Raja of Punch with his forces fell back before them in the direction of the Tosa-Maidan Pass, after issuing orders to his people to abandon all towns and villages and harass the enemy in every way. Some delay occurred at Punch while the Sikhs waited for supplies, and, the rainy season having set in, they suffered much from damp and cold, and the troops of the Punch Raja, secretly aided by the Raja of Rajauri, hung on their flanks and cut off stragglers. On reaching the Tosa-Maidan Pass, on 18th July, it was found to be strongly held by the Afghans.

Punch continued to preserve its independence for a few more years, till the conquest of Kashmir in 1819 transferred the hill tracts to the Sikhs. On this occasion also, as in 1814, the Punch Raja supported the Afghans, and on their defeat he was expelled from his State

Soon after the conquest of Kashmir, Poonch was granted in fief to Raja Dhian Singh, younger brother of Raja Gulab Singh of Jammu, who latter went to found the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The exact date is uncertain, but it was before 1822. Poonch remained a semi-autonomous jagir under the rule of Dhian Singh’s family

The Chaudhary of Sadhrun and Kahuta

After the overthrow of the Rathore, the last representatives of the main line seem to be Sher Jang Khan and Shams-Khan, sons of Ruhallah Khan, who seem to have left no descendants. However, the head of a collateral branch of the family, Sher Baz Khan, was granted a jagir of Sadhrun and Kahuta in Poonch, by Ranjit- Singh, which his descendants still hold. The territory of Sadhrun and Kahuta is located north of Poonch city, and now lies largely within Pakistani Kashmir in what is now Haveli District. The Rathores of this chieftainship descend from the second son of Rajah Fateh Mohammad by the name of Mohammad Moazam Khan. This occurred in 1667, and the chieftainship lasted till 1787, when last chief Rajah Azamatullah Khan was defeated by the Sikhs. In 1846, the territory became part of the Dogra state of Jammu and Kashmir. Raja Sarandaz Rathore, the then ruler was granted a jagir within the Dogra state. His descendants maintained this position until the end of the Dogra state in 1948.

The Chaudharies of Shahpur and Mandhar District Poonch

This branch of the Rathore claims descent from Raja Noor Mohammad Khan, who was the son of Siraj-Ud-Din Khan. He was granted the jagir of Shahpur, that lies just south of the line of Control in Indian administered Kashmir. The Rathore of Shahpur descend from the eldest son of Raja Noor Mohammad Khan, while those of Mandhar, also located close to the line of control, descend from the younger brother. These two minor principalities were never independent, but were feudal states loyal to the rulers of Poonch. When the Poonch State was annexed by the Sikhs, they continued as jagirdars until the end of the Dogra State in 1948.

Distribution

The Rathore are now divided by the Line of Control, with Kahuta branch now found in Haveli District of Pakistani Kashmir, while those of Shahpur and Mandhar now found in Indian Kashmir.

In Haveli District and neighbouring Kotli, there are several Rathore villages such as Budh, Barengban, Chapa Najl, Jokan, Halan, Werha Khas, Padr, Palan Chaudriyan and Kalali.

Large number of Rathore are also found in Nakar Bandi (about 60 km East of Bagh) in Azad Kashmir.

Muslim Labana of Punjab

In this post I will look at Muslim members of the Labana caste. I will ask the reader to look at my post on the distribution of Labana caste according to the 1901 Census of India. The Muslim Labana often refer to themselves as Rahmani. They are one of the lesser known communities of Punjabi Muslims.

Etymologically, the word  labana is derived from two Sanskrit words, where lun from Lavana which means salt and Vana from Vani which means to trade. The Labana, Lobana or Libana  were those who were involved in salt-carrying and salt trading. Originally, the Labanas were traders and carriers and were largely nomadic, like Banjaras and Lambadis. They used animal-powered transportation and moved with entire families, cattle and dogs, around the Punjab.  During the Mughal period (16 and 17th centuries), the Labana groups in Punjab were employed by various empires for transportation of military material. The Banjaras are the traditional peddlers of North India, and their place has been taken by the Labanas in Punjab. Indeed, both groups served under empires of Mughals, British, and Sikhs as a commissariat. Sir Horace Rose, early 20th Century British ethnologists observed the following about the Labanas:

 

Indeed the Labana is occasionally called a Banjara. In Ambala he is also said to be called Bahrupia, on account of his versatility in adopting different avocations. Headmen among the Labanas are called Naik, and under them work is carried

 

This shows a very close connection between the two groups. However, the Punjab experienced war and famine throughout the 18^th Century, and many Labana settled down as agriculturists. By beginning of the 20^th Century, the Labanas were largely agriculturists group. A major setback to their traditional profession was the introduction of  railways by British, so there dependence on agriculture increased.

 

The Labana are of a very mixed background as shown by the fact different groups had different origin stories. In Ludhiana they claimed descent from Chauhan Rajputs of Jaipur and Jodhpur. In Gujrat Labana groups claimed that they were originally Raghubansi Rajputs, while in Kapurthala descent was claimed from Gaur Brahmans, who had come from Rohilkhand. The Labana were largely Sikh, with two exceptions. Those of Firupzur district were entirely Muslim, and were found in Abohar. A bit further down along the Sutlej, in Bahawalpur State, many Labanas were also Muslim. Their villages are found mainly along Sutluj near Minchinabad, extending towards Abohar in British territory. There was also a single Muslim Labana village in the Sirsa Tehsil of  Hissar District called Panniwala. In Abohar and Sirsa, the Muslim Labana were divided into 12 clans, the main ones being Panwar and Gujar, said to be the tribe from to which their ancestor belonged too. While in Bahawalpur, Muslim Labanas claimed to be Panwar Rajputs who had come from Delhi. The Labana spoke Labanki, which was very close Seraiki. This reflected a eastward migration from Bahawalpur towards Hissar.

 

After partition, Muslim Labanas from Firuzpur and Hissar migrated to Pakistan, where many are now found in Bhakkar District. I would ask the reader to look at Muhammad Alamgir’s excellent interview with a Muslim Labana from Hissar now settled in Multan.

 

Muslim Labana Population According to the 1921 Census of India

 

District / States	Population
Firuzpur	2,730
Bahawalpur State	1,009
Dera Ghazi Khan	66
Hissar	54
Multan	51
Other Districts	152
Total	4,062

 

 

 

Warraich/ Waraich Jat

In this post, I will look at the Warriach, the largest Muslim Jat clan according to the 1901 Census, and the second largest according to the 1911 Census, the last that tabulated the Jat clans. The Warraich  clan is concentrated in Gujrat and Mandi Bahaudin districts, in an area intermediate between the high  central plateau and the lowlands of the Chenab, both in the  Gujrat and the Phalia tehsils. Depending on the region, Warraich can also be pronounced as Baraich, Braich, Araich, and Varaich, depending on which Punjabi dialect is being used. They are also known as Chungh. In this post, I shall focus on the large Wariach community found in Gujrat and Mandi Bahaudin, where there customs were very similar to the other tribes such as the Gondal, in that they are a Muslim and followed a pastoral lifestyle. In East Punjab, the Wariach were and are largely Sikh, with a about 20% following Islam. The Muslim Wariach of Indian Punjab are now found scattered throughout Central Punjab in Pakistan.

Like most tribes, there are various theories as to the origin of the Warriach. According to Captain Hector McKenzie, the first British officer to administer Gujrat, the Warriach Jats were divided into two main tarafs, or sections, Abu and Jeo. His account of this division is as follows:

A Jat being killed in battle near Thanesar, his wife became a outcaste, took refuge in a tree, gave birth to a son and died. Raja Jaipal, when outhunting discovered the child, gave it protection. The tree under which it was found was a bargat: the most appropriate name for the child was therefore baraicha; the name of Waraitch was accordingly given to the boy. When he grew up to manhood, the Raja gave him his daughter in marriage,  and having no son was succeeded by him, and his descendants for three generations in his raj. Waraitch was a mighty man, worthy of his good  fortune. His descendants, therefore, continued to distinguish their family  by his name, Adversity came, then they fled to the Punjab, and settled  down as tillers of soil. Sixteen generations later, two men, named Abu and Jeo,  attained a pre-eminent position among the clans, and became Muslim, and  since their time there have been two tarafs or sub-divisions in the clan — one  composed of the descendants of Abu, and the other of Jeo

In another version, this time written by Captain Nisbet, author of the first Gazetteer of Gujranwala, which describes that Warraich was the son of one Mutta, who came  from Ghazni and settled in the Gujrat district, from where the tribe  spread to Gujranwala. While Captain Waterfield author of the second revised settlement report of Gujrat District gave a very different account. He wrote that the clan traces  its connection with Raja Karan of the Mahabharat. Twenty-seven generations, or 500 years previously, Warraich, the founder of the clan, came from the city of Kistah to Delhi,  and became an important courtier of the Sultan Jalal-ud-din Firoz Shah, and settled in the village of Taika, in the district of Hissar. He had five sons; among them, these three, Wadrah, Shahajrat and Tejrah, received permission of the Sultan to settle in Gujranwala. They called their village  Tarka Ladda. Gradually they expanded to control over 80 villages, and, crossing  the Chenab settled in Gujrat. Around the 1300s, in the time of Sultan Mahmud Tughlak (reign: 1394 – February 1413 CE), Jaits, a descendant of the eldest Wadrah, became famous. During one of the invasions of Amir Timur (9 April 1336 – 17–19 February 1405), he met Jaits in Multan, where he joined him with his family and dependents, and, coming to terms with Nawab Sayad Khan, one of the confidential followers of Taimur, attached himself to his army. They reached Kunjah, and there met and fought a local Raja called Jaspal, and defeated him, and took possession of the country. For his services it was made over to this Jaits, in order that he might colonise it and collect the revenue. On  the death of the Khokhar chieftain Malik Jasrat of Manawar by poison at the hand of his wife, the daughter of Mandeo, a Dogra chieftain, who the latter  descended from Jammu to take possession of the country. He was opposed by Jaits, but they came to terms, and agreed that the Tawi and Chenab should divide their territories; Jaits retaining the southern and western sides, Mandeo, the northern and eastern. Jaits remained in possession until his death, when his jagir was confiscated, and his son succeeded him ; about that time one- fourth of the area was cultivated, the rest was jungle. New villages were then founded by different members of the clan. Hariya and Gunia, two sons of Jaits, became the most powerful; Kardal and Hambo never acquired any position. From Hariya, descend the Jis Waraich, and from Gunia the Abu Waraitch. The Emperor Akbar is said to have formed the Waraitch into two tappas,  called after Abbo and Jis, who were given the position of chaudhry.

However, according to another British colonial historian Sir Lepel Griffin, the tribe migrated to Punjab during the reign of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna and settled in Gujrat, in present day Pakistan. In his“ Punjab Chiefs” (pages 410 — 11), Griffin gives two versions, — one substantially the same as that given by Mackenzie, the other an amplification of the  Ghazni story. In this version, however, it was not Warraich, but a  remote ancestor, named Shah, who was the first of the family to settle  in India. He is said to have accompanied Sultan Mahmud in his invasion of India in A. D. 1001, and to have been present at  the battle fought with Jaipal, the last Hindushahi ruler. Impressed with the fertility of the country around Gujrat, Shah settled near the  Gujar village of Kulachar, where for 350 years his family lived  in obscurity, until in the person of Waraitch, son of Mattu, it  rose to the surface, and expelling the Gujars expanded by  degrees to its present importance. This rise is said to have occurred during the rule of the Emperor Akbar.

According to the Epigraphica Indica, Volume I, page 29, a rock inscription at Chamak Harsati Balaghat mentions that “Bharhaich” Jats performed ten asvamedha yagnyas (Sanskrit “Horse sacrifice”) and, constructed ten ghats in Varanasi. Whether the reference to the current tribe is difficult to confirm. In terms of distribution, the complete absence of Wariach in Uttar Pradesh probably suggest that connecting the Wariach with the inscription would be incorrect.

According to a tribal tradition – Waraich, a Jat, had five sons who settled in the Chenab valley raising cattle. Three of brothers moved to Gujrat and the other two moved to Gujranwala. In or about the tenth century A.D. they moved down to the Jhelum River in large numbers and settled down there. Until the thirteenth century AD they continued to fight with Gujjar tribes. Today these Waraich occupy a very compact area comprising 360 villages in a region called Jatat. During the period of Feroz Shah Tughlaq, a certain Haria leader of these Waraich converted to Islam founding a village later called after him Hariawala. With the conversion to Islam, the Wariach of the Jhelum and Chenab valley converted to Islam. However, in the Gujranwala Bar, there remained several villages of Sikh Wariach until partition of Punjab in 1947.

In another tradition, Waraichs are the progeny of three brothers, Haria, Gunia and Kurtal, who were rulers of Bahraich principality (in what is now eastern Uttar Pradesh state of India). During Sher Shah Suri’s conquest of Bengal, they captured his treasure en-route to the province. It was believed that the Shah would not succeed in his campaign however to their surprise, Sher Shah conquered Bengal and established his rule over a large part of Northern India. Following their defeat these Waraichs left Bahraich and travelled westwards. They settled upon finding suitable grazing grounds on the banks of the Chenab river. This new home was on the lands previously used by Gujjars for grazing cattle. This settlement led to rivalry between the Waraich Jats and the established Gujjars. The Wariach eventually defeated the Gujars, and made themselves masters of Gujrat, in Punjabi a word meaning land of the Gujjars.

Both these traditions make reference to two facts, one that the centre of the tribe is Gujrat, and secondly, they original rulers of this region were the Gujjars.

They now occupy 141 villages in Gujrat (including Mandi Bahaudin district) and 84 villages in Gujranwala. By the 18th Century groups of Wariach had crossed the Jhelum and settled in the Pind Dadan Khan plain, while other groups moved settling in Sialkot and Gurdaspur. A significant number of this second group became Sikh.

Wariach Population According to the 1901

With regards to the Hindu Warraich, most were followers of the Sultani sect, and by the mid-twentieth century had converted to Sikhism. Today most Wariach are either Sikh or Muslim.

District / States	Muslim	Sikh	Hindu	Total
Gujrat	37,813	138	212	38,163
Gujranwala	8,106	1,537	1,425	11,068
Sialkot	4,368	468	678	5,514
Chenab Colony	3,703	616	215	4,534
Amritsar	492	1,893	32	2,417
Patiala State	11	631	1,653	2,300
Lahore	1,162	524	28	1,714
Gurdaspur	809	307	325	1,436
Malerkotla State		388	842	1,230
Ludhiana	98	109	616	823
Ambala	12	447	180	639
Jalandhar	33	165	272	470
Shahpur	443			443
Jhelum	388			388
Rawalpindi	347			347
Firuzpur	180	105	18	303
Bahawalpur State	287			287
Nabha State		53	114	220
Multan	216			216
Montgomery	149			149
Karnal	26	57	21	104
Other Districts
Total	58,936	7,483	6,652	73,071