1 146 PANJAB CASTES.
2 ailjoiiiiiip; pai'ts of Jloiitgoincrv mid 'Raliitwrlpur, from Iiaggolii 16 miles above Fazilka, to Piiulalii
3 70 miles below H. Above tbem lie tlie Dogars, belon- tliem tlie Joya. Tbey are saiil to bave crossed
4 from Uie right bank of tlie river and spread into the then almost uninhabited prairies of Sirsa
5 only smie five generations ago, when F;'zil Palel R'ma came from Jliang near Haveli and settled
6 the unoccupied riverain. There is also a small section of tbem on tbe lliivi in the Montgomery
7 district. It is not impossible that some of the Wattu have retui'ued themselves as IShatti simply,
8 for some few bave returned tbemselves under both heads. The tribe was formerly almf>st purely
9 pastoral, and as turbulent and as great marauders as other pastoral tribes of the iieiglibiuirbood ;
10 and the habits of the R:ivi 'Vattu.Vbo gave trouble in : 857, bave hardly changed. Rut the Satluj
11 Wattu who possess but little jungle have taken very ger.erally to agriculture, and Captain Elphln-
12 stone says that "some of their estates are well cultivated, their herds have diminished, and many of
13 " them cannot now be distii-guisbed in appearance frjm pcaieful ArniriS or Khokhars. Tlic change
14 ''in their habits has indeed been remarkable, as tlicy still speak with cxultatiin of the Kardavs they
15 "used to kill during the Sikh rule, and the years in which they paid no revenue because the Sikhs
16 " were unable or at: aid to collect it." Mr. ' Pui'ser describes the Wattu as "priding themselves
17 "upon their piditeness and hospitality. They are of only moderate industry, profuse in expenditure
18 • on special occasions, indifferent to education and exceedingly fond of cattle." He classes tbem
19 however with the Katbia, Kharral, Sial, Rabniwiil, liiloch and Joya as "essentially robber tribes
20 •' and more or less addicted to cattle-stealing." This I suspecl simply means that these are the domi-
21 nant tribes of the tract, who look upon a pastoral as higher than ail agricultiu'al life.
22 The Joya (No. 4) and Mahar.— The Joya is one of the 36 royal races of Ra.iputs, and is des-
23 cribed in ) he ancient chronicles as " Lords of tlic Jangal-des," a tract which comprehended Hariana,
24 _Bha'ti:iria, Rhatner, and Nagor. They also held, in common with the Dehia with whom ti.eir name
25 is alw.ays coupled, the banks of the Indus and Satluj near their confluence. Some -even centuries
26 ago they were apparently driven out of the Indus tract and partly subjugated in the Bagar country
27 by the Rhatti ; and in the middle of the 16th century they were' expelled from the Joya canton
28 of l!ik:iner by the Rather rulers for attempting to regaiu their independence. Tod remarks that
29 " the Rajpi'its carried fire and sword into this country, of which they made a desert. Ever since
30 " it has remained desolate, and the very name of Joya is lost, though the vestiges of considerable
31 "towns bear testimony to a remote antiquity." The Joya however have not disappeared. They
32 still hold all the hanks of the Satluj from the Wattu border nearly as far down as its confluence
33 with the Indus, thongb the Rhatti turned them out of Kahror, and they lost their semi-inde-
34 pendence when their possessions formed 3 part of the Bahawalpur State; they hold a tract in
35 Vi'kfvner on the bed of the old Gbaggar just below Rhatner, their ancient scat ; and they are found
36 in no inconsiderable numbers ou the middle Satluj of Lahore and Fi'rozpur and on the lower Indus
37 of the Derajat and Jluzaffargarh, about a third (f their whole number being retm'ued as Jats.
38 The Multan Idt- is known to this day as the Joya bar. General Cunningham says that they ai'c to
39 be found in some numbers in the Salt-range or mountains of Jud. and identifies them with the Jodia
40 or Yodia, the warrior class of India in Pani'ni's time (450 I'..C.), and indeed our figures show some
41 2,700 Joya in Shahpur. Rut Panini's Jodia wi uld perhaps mii'c probably be the modern Cxlieba,
42 whose original tribal name is said to be Jodi-a, and Glieba a mere title. The Joya of the Satluj
43 and of Hissar trace their origin from Rhatner, and have a ciu'ious tradition current apparently from
44 Hissar to Montgomery, to the effect that they cannot trace their Rajput descent in the main line.
45 The Hissar ,Toya make themselves descendants in the female line of S.ameja, who accompanied the
46 eponymous ancestor of the Rhatti from Mathra to Bhatner. The ^Montgomery Joya have it that
47 a lineal descendant of Benjamin, Joseph's brother, came to Rikdner, married a Raja's daughter, begot
48 their ancestor, and then disappeared as a /cgiV. Tlie tradition is perhaps suggested by the w ml
49 jot meaning "wife." The Montgomery Joya say tliat they left liikaner in tht'middleof the 1-ith
50 century and settled in Rahawalpnr, where they became allies of the Latigab dynasty of Multan, but
51 were subjugated by the Dauipotra in the time of Nadir Shah. The Multan Joya say that they went
52 from Bi'kaner to Siudh and thence to Multan. This is probably due to tlie fact of their old posses-
53 sions on the Indus having died out of the tribal memory, and been re placed by their later holdings
54 in Bi'kaner. They are described by Captain Elphir.stone as " of smaller stature than the great Ravi
55 '■ tribes, and considered inferior to them in regard of the qualities iu which the latter especially
56 " piide themselves, namely bravery and skill in cattle-stealing. I'liey possess large herds of cattle
57 " aad are bad cultivators."
58 The Mahar are a small tribe on the Satluj opposite Fazilka, and are said to be descended from
59 Mahar. a '• brother of the Joya. They f I'o said to be quarrelsome, silly, thievish, foud of cattle,
60 " and to care I'ttle for agricultural pursuits."
61 The Khicbi (No. 5). — The Khfchi are a Cbauhdu clan, and are said to bave ome originally
62 from Ajuier, the old seat of the Chauhsin power, thence to Dehli, and from Uehli to the Satluj
63 during the Mughal rule. This is probably a mere tradition, of the movement of the Chauhan centre
64 from Ajmerto liehli. They are found along (he lower and middle Sa'Iuj, and the Ravi from
65 Multan to LabcTe, there are a few of them on the Clianab, and tlierc are considerable numbers of
66 them iu the Dehli district. In Montgomery they are found ihielly ou the RuA'i. where tliey used to
67 be haud-iu-glove with the Kharral but mended their ways under the later Sikh rule aud are now
68 peaceful busbandmen.