In this post I will look at the Phaphra clan of Mughals, found mainly in Pind Dadan Khan Tehsil of Jhelum. Like all post, I start off with British sources, and then move on tribal and oral sources.
British Sources
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. He writes the following in his first entry:
A small tribe of Jat status, occupying a compact area of about 25 square miles at the foot of the Salt Range, east of Pind Dadan Khan in Jhelum ; and to this small block of 10 or 11 villages they are almost entirely confined. They were described by Mr. R. G. Thomson as a “semi-Jat tribe,” but have long claimed to be of Mughal descent, and of course have no difficulty in producing a pedigree showing their descent from Taimur : the only other evidence adduced forward is a sanad of a kardar of Mughal times, conferring an assignment on the headmen of Mauza Dhudhi, still one of their principal villages, in which the grantees are referred to as ” Mughal zamindar ” : but examination shows the word Mughal to be a clumsy interpolation : and the interpolator has also thought fit to alter the year from 1133 to 1033 H., overlooking the fact that the document bears a seal with the date 1133. The sanad thus proves no more than that the tribe was well established in its present location in 1133 H, or 1720 A.D., and tends to prove that in Mughal times they were considered to be zamindars not Mughal. For the rest, their Mughal origin is not admitted by the surrounding tribes : and they intermarry with such tribes as the Lillas, Gondals, Waraich, etc., who are almost certainly Jats. Their claim must therefore be rejected, and they must be regarded as probably of Jat origin, though it should be added that in popular estimation they rank somewhet above those who are admittedly Jats. They state that they came to Jhelum from the direction of Faridkot and settled in that District as traders and agriculturists: the name of their leader at that time is said by some to have been Phaphra, from whom the tribe derived its name, but by others Nittharan, some fifteen generations back according to the pedigree-table, while Phaphra is shown nine generations earlier. In character, customs and physique they do not seem to differ from the other minor agricultural tribes of Jhelum, they are good farmers. The earlier part of the pedigree table now
Rose, Horace Arthur; MacLagan, Edward Douglas. A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province. Lahore: Samuel T. Weston at the Civil and Military Gazette Press.
In a second entry, he adds the following about the tribe:
A Musalman Jat tribe, found in Gujrtit. It claim’s a Chaughatai Mughal origin, and says that its eponym came from the south to settle in Jhelum.
The second reference really refers to a the Phaphra settled in three villages in Mandi Bahauddin District. Rose is harsh on the Phaphra, who generally maintain a claim to Mughal origin, as can be seen in both accounts. Anjum Sultan Shahbaz, author of Aqwam-e-Pakistan ka encyclopaedia however claims that the Phaphra are a branch of the Warraich Jats, who get their name from their ancestor Phaphra. This goes against the Phaphra’s own tribal traditions, which connect the tribe with the Barlas Mughals.
Tribal Origins
The tribe itself claims to be Barlas Mughals, and get its name from an ancestor named Phaphra, who settled in the district in the 15th Century. So who exactly are the Barlas, and I shall briefly look at this group of medieval Mongols. According to the Secret History of the Mongols, written during the reign of Ögedei Khan [r. 1229-1241], the Barlas shared ancestry with the Borjigin, the imperial clan of Genghis Khan and his successors, and other Mongol clans. The leading clan of the Barlas traced its origin to Qarchar Barlas, head of one of Chagatai’s regiments. Qarchar Barlas was a descendant of the legendary Mongol warlord Bodonchir (Bodon Achir; Bodon’ar Mungqaq), who was also considered a direct ancestor of Genghis Khan. Due to extensive contacts with the native population of Central Asia, the tribe had adopted the religion of Islam, and the Chagatai language, a Turkic language of the Qarluq branch, which was heavily influenced by Arabic and Persian. Timur, the ancestor of the Mughal dynasty belonged to the Barlas clan, and therefore that would connect the Paphra with the Mughals.
According to Phaphra traditions, they came to this district from the direction of Faridkot, in what is now in East Punjab India. They settled in India around 15th Century, slightly earlier then the Mughal takeover of the Punjab. The Phaphra settled here as agriculturists, getting their name from their leader at that time Phaphra. However some other traditions claim he was called Nittharan. According to a family tree kept by Chaudharies of Gharibwal, the largest landowners among the tribe, gives their genealogy as follows:
Harbans or Shah Ibrahim (a descendent of Timur), Tilochar, Shah, Mal, Phaphra, Pheru, Vatra, Jatri, Harsh or Arif, Tulla, Nado, Hardev, Mahpal, and finally Nittharan.
Nittharan is said to have five sons namely; Gharib, (descendants in Gharibwal), Samman (Sammanwal), Ichhin (son’s name Sau, descendants in Sauwal), Rao (Rawal), and Dhudhi (Dhudhi, and Qadarpur). Some of the earlier names are clearly Hindu, although this does not itself preclude their claim to Barlas ancestry. But there position in Jhelum society was more akin that of the Jats then the Mughals. Their headmen use the title Chaudhary, and their customs are very similar to the Gondals, the largest Jat tribe in their vicinity. The Phaphra are now divided into two rival clans, the Dhudhial, from the village of Dhudhi Paphra and Sadowalia from those who belong to the village of Sadowal.
As their little historic evidence to connect the Phaphra with the Mughals, there is some scepticism as to their claim of Mughal ancestry. British authors such as Rose already mentioned, and Arthur Brandreth author of the second settlement report for Jhelum, refer to them as a “semi-Jat tribe”. As I have already mentioned elsewhere, the word Jat in the Jhelum region often means a cultivator. The fact that the Phaphra often intermarry with neighbouring tribes such as the Lilla and Gondal, who are considered as Jat often reinforces the perception that the Phaphra are Jat.
Distribution
The Paphra occupy a compact area of about 25 square miles at the foot of the Salt Range, east of Pind Dadan Khan in Jhelum District .The main Mughals Phaphra villages are Chak Danial, Chak Shadi, Chakri Karam Khan, Dewanpur, Dhudi Paphra, Ghareebwal, Fattehabad, Jutana, Karimpur, Kaslian, Kot Phaphra, Kot Shumali, Rawal, Sidhandi, Sammanwal, Sadowal, Saowall, Shah Kamir, Qadirpur, Thil, Warnali, and Warra Phaphra, all in Pind Dadan Khan Tehsil of Jhelum District. In Chakwal District they are found in Dhok Virk and Jotana. Mohra Phaphra is a lone Phaphra village in Rawalpindi District. Across the Jhelum, in Mandi Bahauddin District the Paphra are also found in villages of Phaphra, Chak No 29 and Nurpur Piran.
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