Rajput: Tribes Salt–Range
This article is an extract from PANJAB CASTES SIR DENZIL CHARLES JELF IBBETSON, K.C. S.I. Being a reprint of the chapter on Lahore : Printed by the Superintendent, Government Printing, Punjab, 1916. |
Tribes Salt –range
The Kahut (No. 7) and Mair
I have classed the Kahut as a separate caste under No. 103 of Table VIIIA. But they probably belong to the group we are now considering, and I therefore show them in Abstract No. 81 and discuss them here. With them I notice the Mair, for whom I have no separate figures ; and with these two are commonly associated the Kasar, who will bo described under the head Mughal. These three tribes occupy the Dhain country in tahstl Chakwil of Jahlam j the Kahuta holding Kahutani or its southern portion, the Mair the centre, and the Kasar the north. All three state that they came from the Jammu hills, joined Babar's army, and were located by him in their present abodes which wcre then almost uninhabited. They seem to have been ever violent and masterful, and to have retained their independence in a singular degree.
A graphic description of their character by Sir. Thomson is quoted at length under the head Mughal, to which I must refer the reader. They most probably belong to the group of Rajput or quasi-Rajput tribes who hold the hills on either hank of the Jahlam, and the Kahuta hills of Rawalpindi now held by the Ketwal and Dhanial, and the town of Kahuta now in the hands of the Janjua, still bear their name. They now belong to the Salt-range and not to the Jahlam hills, but I have put them in the Abstract among the tribes with whom they are probably connected by origin. They are sometimes said to be Awan, as indeed are the Dhund also. Their bards claim for them Mughal origin, and it is quite possible that some of them may have returned themselves as either Awan or Mughal. Of the 8,766 Kahut returned from Jahlam, all but 293 have shown Mughal as their clan. Besides the Kahut shown under No. 103, Table VIIIA., 177 Rajputs have returned their tribe as Kahut. The more respectable Mair call themselves Minhas, probably the same word as the well-known Manhas tribe presently to be described ; and it may be that the Mair have been returned as Manhas Rajputs.
The Jodra and Gheba — I have no separate figures for these tribes, the only Gheba who have returned themselves as such being apparently 105, of whom 89 are in the Peshawar division They may have returned themselves as Mughal or some caste other than Rajput, or as some other Rajput tribe, or as Rajput simply without specifying any tribe. The tradition which makes the Sial, Tiwana, and Gheba descendants of Saiuo, Teno, and Gheo, the three sons of Rai Shankar Punwar, has already been noticed under the head of Sial. An amended genealogy is given at page 520 of Griffin's Punjab Chiefs. The Sial and Tiwana appear to admit the relationship, and, as already noticed under the head Dhund, it is not at all impossible that this group of Rajput tribes may be of Punwar origin. The Gheba are said to have come to the Pan jab some time after the Sial and Tiwana, and to have settled in the wild hilly country of Fateh Jhano and Pindi Gheb in Rawalpindi. Here they held their own against the Awans, Gakkhars and neighbouring tribes till Ran jit Singh subdued them. The Jodra are said to have come 'from Jammu, or according to another story from Hindustan, whence also Colonel Cracroft says that the Gheba traditions trace that tribe, and to have held their present tract before the Gheba settled alongside of them. They now occupy the eastern half of the Pindi Gheb, and the Gheba the western half of the Fateh Jhang tahsil in Rawalpindi, the two tracts marehing with each other.
I am informed, though unfortunately I cannot remember who was my authority, that the Gheba is really a branch of the original Jodra tribe that quarrelled with the others, and took the name of Gheba which till then had been simply a title used in the tribe ; and the fact that the town of Pindi Gheb was built and is still held by the Jocka, and not by the Gheba, lends some support to the statement. The history of the Gheba family is told at pages 538 ff and of the Jodra family at pages 535 ff of Sir Lepel Griffin's Punjdb Chiefs. Colonel Cracroft describes the Jodra as fine, spirited fellows who delight in Held sports, have horses and hawks, are often brawlers, and are ever ready to turn out and fight out their grievances, formerly with swords, and now with the more humble weapons of sticks and stones.The same writer says that the Gheba are a fine, hardy race of men, full of fire and energy, not addicted to crime, thou^'h their readiness to resent insult or injury, real or imagined, or to join in hand-to-hand fights for their rights in land, and their factions with the Jodra and Alpial, are notorious.
The Januja (No. 8) — The head-quarters of the Janjua are the eastern Salt-range, but they are foimd in small numbers throughout the Multan and Derajat divisions, and in°Hushyarpar General Cunnhigham thinks that they are Aryan, and a branch of the Anuwan, Awan, or sons of Anu, and connects Janj the first syllable of their name, and Chach a tract in Rawalpindi, with the old kings of the Hund on the Indus who are said by Masaudi to have borne the name of Chach or Jaj. Six Lepel Griffin is inclined to think that they are a branch of the Yadubansi Rajputs, now chiefly represented by the Bhatti, who held Kashmir iill the Mahommedan conquest of the Panjah, and whose history has been brieily sketched under the head Bhatti ; and Abu Fazl also make-; theni a branch of the Yadu stock. They themselves say they are descedants of Raja Mai Rathor, who migrated about 980 A. P, either from Jadhpur or from Kanauj to the Jahlam and built Malot; and the Janjua genealogies show a striking unifor mity in only giving from 18 to 23 generations since Raja Mal.
One of his sons is said to have been called Jud, the old name of the Salt-range ; and Mr. Brandreth states that only the descend ants of his brother Wrr are now known as Janjua. If this be so, and if the identification by General Cunningham of Bibar's .Jud with the Awan bc accepted, the connection of the two tribes by traditional decent from a common ancestor follows. The Janjua once held almost the whole of the Salt-range Tract, but were gradually dispossessed by the Gakkhars in the north and by the Awans (if they be a separate people) in the west ; and they now bold only the central and eastern parts of the range as tribal territory, which is exactly what they held at the time of Babar's invasion. They still occupy a social position in the tract which is second only to that of the Gakkbars, and are always addressed as Raja. They do not permit widow marriage. The history of the tribe is told fully at paragraphs 50 ff of Hrandreth's Jahlam Report, and that of its leading family at pages 602 ff of the Panjah Chiefs. The tribe is very fully described by Mr. Thomson in his Jahlam Report. Ho too makes them Rathor Rajputs from Jodhpur, and says they are the only undoubtedly and admittedly Rajput tribe in Jahlam. He describes them as physically well-luuking, with line hands and feet; mucb given to military service, especially in the cavalry ; poor agriculturists, bad men of business, and with great pride of race.
