1 \.
2 JAT, RAJPUT, AND ALLIED CASTES. 113
3 left their liome in Rajputiina in the time of Jlnhammad Crhori and settled in Bahawalpur, where
4 they were converted by Sher Shah of Uchli. Tlience they came to Jhang, where they founded an
5 imiMrtant colony and spread in smaller nuuihers up the Chaiiab and Ravi. Mr. Steedman describes
6 them as good agriculturists, and less given to cattle-theft than their neighbours.
7 The Sipra (No. 7) — appear to he a suh-division of the Gil tribe of Jats, which gives its name
8 to the famous hattle-fiehl of Sahr.aon. Tliey too are found cliiefly on the Jahlam and lower Chanab
9 and are most numerous in Jhaiig. They are not an important tribe.
10 The Bhatti, Sial, Punwar, Joya, Dhudbi, Khichi, and Wattu will be described under Rajputs.
11 The Langrial are not separately shown in the abstract. They are however curious as being a
12 nomad pa^t^lral tribe who fonn almost the sole inhabitants of the JIultan steppes. They appear to
13 be found also in Rawalpindi and Si'alkot, and tlicre to claim Solar Rajput origin. But in Multau
14 the Langrial say that their ancestor was a Rrahman Charan from Bi'kaner who was converted by
15 Sultan Samran.' Tliev originally settled in Rawalpindi ; thence they moved to Jhang, took some
16 country from the SiaC and settled at Kot Kamalia in Montgomery, whence they spread over the
17 Mult-in i«V. They derive their name from ?ony«r a " kitchen," because their ancestor used to
18 keep ojien house to all the beggars and faqirs of the neighbourhood.
19 The Nol and BhangU. — These appear to he among the earliest inhabitants of the Jhang
20 disti-ict. and to be perhaps aboriginal. The Bhangu do not even claim Rajput origin ! The Nol
21 held the country about Jhang and the Bhangu that about Shorkot when the Sial^ came to the
22 district, but the'y eventually fell before the rising power of the new comers. Tlie Si'alkot Bhangu
23 say they came from Nepal.
24 The Kharral, Harral, and Marral. — The Kharral will be discussed separately with the smaller
25 agricultural trilies. The Harral claim to be descended from the same ancestor, Rai Bliiipa, as the
26 Kharral, hut by another sou ; and to be Punwar R.ajputs who came from Jaisalmer to Uchh, and
27 thence to Kamalia in the Montgomery district. Mr. Steedman says that in Jliang, where only they
28 are found on the left bank of the Upper Chanab. tradition makes them a branch of the Ahi'rs, and
29 that they are almosk the worst thieves in the district, omiing large flocks and herds which they
30 pasture in the central steppes and heiiig bad cultivators. The Marral seem to have been once of
31 far greater importance than now in the Jhang district, which is their home. They claim to be
32 Chauhan Rajpvit^ by origin, and to have come to the Upper Chanab in the time of Akbar. They
33 are a tine bold-looking set of men, but with a bad repufcition for cattle-lifting, and are poor
34 cultivators.
35 The Hans, Khagga, Jhandir, &c. — Tliese tribes will be found described under Shekh, as they
36 claim Qurcshi origii , tliough often classed as Jats.
37 431. Jats of the western sub-montane. — The tribes which I shall next
38 discuss are those of the foot of the hills west of Lahore, that is, of the Gujrat,
39 Gujranwala and Sialkot districts. With them, however, I have included in
40 the Abstract the so-called Jat tribes of the Salt-range Tract ; for all thfi
41 tribes of sufficient importance to be discussed separately that have returned
42 themselves from this tract as Jats, are really Eajputs rather than Jats, the
43 greater number of their members have returned themselves as such, and they
44 will be discussed under Rajputs. Such are Dhanial, Bhakral, Janjiia, and
45 IVIanhas. After these came the Mekan, Gondal, and Ranjha, who belong to
46 the Salt-range sub-montane and will also be treated as Rajputs. Then
47 follow the true Jats, the Tarar, Varaich, Chima, &e., whom I have endea-
48 voured to arrange in order of locality from w-est to east. The Jats of the
49 Salt-range and of the great plains below it I have already described sufficient-
50 ly in the" preceding sections 427-8. But directly we leave the Salt-range
51 behind us and enter the Lahore and Amritsar divisions — directly, in fact, we
52 come within the circle of Sikh influence as distinguished from mere political
53 supremacy, we ffiid the line between Jat and Rajput sufficiently clearly
54 marked. The Jat indeed, here as elsewhere, claijns for himself Rajput origin.
55 But a Varaich does not say that he is now Rajput. He is a Jat and content
56 to be so. The fact is that within the pale of Sikhism Rajputs were at a dis-
57 count. The equality of all men preached by Guru Govind disgusted the
58 haughty Rajputs, and they refused to join his standard. They soon paid the
59 penaityof their pride. The Jats who composed the great mass of the Khalsa
60 X