The Ror
Contents |
1883: "Caste No. 55"
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. |
The real seat of the Panjab Rors is in the great dhak jungles south of Thanesar on the borders of the Karnal and Ambala districts, where they hold a chaurasi nominally consisting of 84 villages, of which the village of Amin, where the Pandavas arranged their forces before their last fight with the Kauravas, is the tika or head village. But the Rors have spread down the Western Jamna Caual into the lower parts of Karufil and into Jind in considerable numbers. They are said also to hold 12 villages beyond the Ganges. They are fine stalwart men, of very much the same type as the Jats, whom they almost equal as husbandmen, their women also working in the fields. They are more peaceful and less grasping in their habits than the Jats, and are consequently readily admitted as tenants where the latter would be kept at arm's length.
Of their origin I can say nothing certain. They have the same story as the Aroras, of their having been Rajputs who escaped the fury of Paras Ram by stating that their caste was aur or another.'The Aroras are often calleil Roras in the east of the Panjab; yet I can hardly believe that the frank and stalwart Ror is of the same origin as the Arora. The Amin men say that thev came from Sambhal in Muradabad : but this may only be in order to connect themselves with their neighbours the Chauhan Rajputs, who certainly came from there. But almost all the Rors alike seem to point to Badli in the Jhajjar tahsil of Rohtak as their immediate place of origin, though some of them say they came from Rajputana. Their social status is identical with that of Jats ; and they practise karewa or widow-marriage, though only, they say within the caste. Their sub-divisions seem to be exceedingly numerous. A few of the largest are given in the margin. The Ambala Rors would appear to be mostly Sagwal.
Caste status
Are Rors considered to be Dalits?
Information previously provided in Research Response IND34295 in February 2009 states that the Ror caste is not included on the ‘List of Scheduled Castes in Haryana State’ provided by the Directorate of Social Justice & Empowerment of the Government of Haryana.
Neither are the Ror on the list of ‘Other Backward Classes in Haryana’ provided by the Indian National Commission for Backward Classes (Directorate of Social Justice & Empowerment, Government of Haryana (undated), ‘List of Scheduled Castes in Haryana State’ http://socialjusticehry.nic.in/list_sc.htm – Accessed 14 January 2009 – Attachment 1; Government of India 2008, ‘Central List of Other Backward Classes’, National Commission for Backward Classes website, updated 27 June http://ncbc.nic.in/backwardclasses/haryana.html – Accessed 14 January 2009 –
Distribution in 1901
Distribution of the Tagah/Tyagi, Ror and Reya castes according to the 1901 Census
In this post, carrying from the theme of distribution of different communities according to the 1901 Census, I look at the distribution of the Tyagi (then known as Tagah) … and Ror castes. While the Tyagi were split between Hinduism and Islam, the other two castes are almost entirely Hindu.
Tagah Distribution in Punjab
In 1901, the total Tyagi population was 13,590, which was .06% of the total population. They were a small population, found entirely in the Ambala Division, that now form the state of Haryana. Most were found in Sonepat, a region which was part of Delhi District in 1901. In terms of percentage of the total population per district, they were 1.3% in Delhi and 0.5% in Karnal, both these districts together were home to 97% of the total Tyagi population. There numbers outside these two districts were neglible. In terms of religion, 8,376 (62%) were Hindu, and 5,214 (38%) were Muslim. The Muslim Tyagis of Haryana all migrated to Pakistan in 1947. The last census that collected info on the Tyagi was that of 1921, and they numbered 12,020, a slight fall, of which 6,750 (56%) were Hindu and 5,270 (44%) were Muslim.
Ror Caste in Punjab
In 1901, the total Ror population was 44,771, which was 0.2% of the total population of Punjab. They were largely Hindu (44,511), with only a smaller number being Sikh (142) or Muslim (118). In 1901, they were found in Rohtak, Delhi and Karnal Districts and the princely state of Jind State. The real seat of the Ror is located in the great Dhak jungles south of Thanesar in the Karnal District. Pandit Harkishan Kaul, the Census Commisioner of Punjab in 1911 wrote the following:
They claim a Rajput origin and their social status is the same as that of Jats. Their chief occupation is agriculture and they have been declared an agricultural tribe in the districts of Rohtak, Delhi and Karnal. The above figures include 214 males and 204 females returned under Aroras opposite Rohtak in Imperial Table XIII, which has since been found to belong to Rors. These persons have been returned mostly from one village Jawahra in the Gohana Tahsil of the Rohtak District.
Most of the Ror (about 94%) were found in single district Karnal, where they formed 5% of the total population. In neigbhouring Jind State, they made 0.5% of the population. The last census that counted the Ror was that of 1921, when they numbered 42,045.
Ror population in the United Provinces
In UP, the Ror were found largely in the Doaba region.
See also
See The Taga
