Rajput: Tribes Jahlam

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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.

Tribes Jahlam

The Ranjha (No. 9) .— The Ranjha are chiefly found in the eastern uplands of Shahpur and Gujrat between the Jahlam and Chanab, though they have in small numbers crossed both rivers into the Jahlam and Gujranwala districts. They are for the most part returned as Jats except in Shahpur. They are however Bhatti Rajputs ; and though they are said in Gujrat to have laid claim of late years to Qurcshi origin as descendants of Abii Jahil uncle of the Prophet, whose son died at Ghazni whence his lineage emigrated to the Kerana bar, yet they still retain many of their Hindu customs. They are described by Colonel Davies as a peaceable and well-disposed section of population, subsisting chiefly by agriculture. In physique they resemble their neighbours the Gondals, with whom they intermarry freely.They would perhaps better have been classed as Jats.

The Gondal (No. 10) — The Gondal hold the uplands known as the Gondal bar, running Tip the centre of the tract between the Jahlam and Chanab in the Shahpur and Gujrat districts. They are also numerous in the riverain of the right bank of the former river in the Jahlam district, and a few have spread eastwards as far as the Ravi. They are said to be Chauhan Rajputs, and 1,388 in Jahlam and 6,674 in Shahpur have shown themselves as Gondal Chauhan, and appear in both columns in consequence. But I do not think these men have any connection with the Gondal whom our figures show as so numerous in Kangra and Hushyarpur. I have had the figures for these last districts examined, and there is no mistake about the name. Who the Gondal of the hills are I do not know, as I can find no mention of them ; but 3,451 of the Kangra Gondal have also returned themselves as Pathial.The Gondal of the plains are probably as much Jats as Rajputs, as they appear to intermarry with the sui-rounding Jat tribes. Colonel Davies writes of them : Physically they are a fine race, owing doubtless to the free and active life they lead and the quantities of animal food they consume ; and if we except their inordinate passion for appropriating the cattle of their neighbours which in then- estimation carries with it no moral taint, they must be pro « nounced free from vice.They say that their ancestor came from Naushahra in the south to Pak Pattan, and was there converted by Baba Earid j and if this be so they probably occupied their present abodes within the last six centuries.

The Mekan (No. 11) — The Mekan are a small tribe said to be of Punwar origin and spring from the same ancestor as the Dhudhi already described. They occupy the Shahpuur lying to the west of the Gondal territory, and are also found in smaller numbers in Jahlam and Gujrat. They are a pastoral and somewhat turbulent tribe.

The Tiwana (No. 12) The Tiwina hold the country at the foot of the Shahpur Salt-range and have played a far more prominent part in the Panjab history than their mere numbers would render probable. They are said to be Punwar Rajputs, and descended from the same ancestor as the Sial and Gheba (see Sial supra). They probably entered the

Mr. Anderson suggests that Gondal may be the name of one of the Brahmiuical gotras. This would explain the extraordinarily large numbers returned under this heading; but I cannot find a gotra of that name in any of the lists to which I have access. This much appears to be certain; that there is no Gondal tribe of Rajputs in Kangra which numbers over 17,000souls. Panjab together with tho Sial, and certainly before the closo of the 15th century. They first settled at Jahangir on the Indus, but eventually moved to their present abodes in the Shahpur that, where they built their chief town of Mitha Tiwana. The subsequent history of the family is narrated at pages 519 to 531) of Griflin's Panjab Chiefs and at pages 40 ff of Colonel Davies' Shahpur report. The Tiwana resisted the advancing forces of the Sikhs long after the rest of the district had fallen before it. They are now a half pastoral, half agricul tural tribe, and a fine hardy race of men who make good sold iers, though their good qualities are sadly marred by a remarkably quarrelsome disposition, which is a source of never-ending trouble to themselvcs and all with whom they are brought in contact.