1 1.54 • PANJAB CASTES.
2 Rrtjputs, now cliicfly rcprcscutecl by the FliaUi, who held Kashniir till the Malioniineilaii
3 eonquest of the l'au"i;ib, ami whose history has 1)ceii brietly skctclied uikU'I' tlie head IJliatti ;
4 and Abu Fazl also makes them a branch of the YMdu stock. They themselves say they are
5 descendants of Raja Mai Riithor, who migrated aliout 9S0 A. D. either from ,1 idhpur or from
6 Kanaujtothe .Jahlam and built Maljt; and the Janjiia genealogies show a striking unifor-
7 mity in only giving from 18 to 23 generations since Raja Mai. One of his sons is said to have
8 been called Ji'ul, the old name of the Salt-range ; and Mr. Brandreth states that only the descend-
9 ants of his brother Wi'r are now known as Janjua. If this be -o, and if the identifu-ation by
10 General Cunningham of Babar's Jiid with the Awau lie accepted, tlie connection of the two tribes
11 by traditional de-cent from a common ancestor follows. The Jaujiia once held almost the whole
12 of the Salt-range Tract, but were gradually dispossessed by the Gakkhars in the north and Ijy the
13 Aw.4,ns (if they bo a separate people) in the west ; and they now hold only the central and eastern
14 parts of the range as tribal territory, which is exactly what they held at the time of Babar's
15 invasion. They still occupy a social position in tlie tract which is second only to that of the
16 Gakkhars, and are always addressed as Raja. They do not iierniit widow marriage. The
17 history of the tribe is tol.i fully at paragraphs hO ff of lirandreth's .fablam Reiiort, and that of
18 its leading family at pages 002 fj of the Panjiib Chiefs. The tvilie is very fully described by
19 Mr. Thomson in bis Jahlam Report. He too makes them Rathor Rajputs trmn .lodhpur, and says
20 they are the only undoubtedly and admittedly Ilajpiit tribe in Jaldam. He describes them as
21 physically well-looking, with tine hands and feet ; much given to military service, especially in
22 the cavalry ; poor agriculturists, bad men of business, and with great pride of race.
23 455. Rajput tribes of the Jammu border. — The Manhas (No. 9). — The Mauhas or Jamwal
24 claim ^olar origin by direct descent from Ram Cliandra. They say that tbeii' ance-tor came from
25 Ajudhia and conquered Jammu, and founded the city of that name. Some say that before this
26 conquest they first settled in Sialkot; others, that they went first to Kashmir, then to Sialkot, and
27 then to .lammu. All seem agreed that they moved into Jammu from the plains. The name
28 Jamwal ajipear; to ba\'c been the old name of the whole trllie, but to be now confined to the royal
29 branch who do not engage in agriculture, and look down upon their cultivating brethren who are
30 commonly styled Manhas. The Manba? intermarry with the Salahria and other sceond-clais
31 Rajputs of the neighbourhood. They call their eldest son Raja and the younger ones Jlian, and
32 use the salutation Jai ! They arc for tVie uio^t part Hindus at least in the ci>Jahlam tract.
33 They pour water on a goat's head at mukldwa, and consider that hii shaking his head in consequence
34 is pleasing to their ancestors. The Jlanbas are found in large numbers throughout the country
35 below the Jammu border, in Rawalpindi, Jahlam, Sialkot, and Gurdii-pur, but especially in the
36 two lirot. In Sialkot 765 Manluis have retiu'ncd themselves also as Bliatti, 741 as Salahria, and
37 775 as Raghbansi ; while in Gurdaspur 2,080 are also shown as Raghban-i l^ooftheJat Manhas
38 of Gujranwiila, 1,325 are Virk who have shown themselves as ilanbas also. The Manhas are
39 real husbandmen, and therefore occupy a very inferior position in the local scale of Rajput
40 precedence.
41 The Chibh (No. 10). — The Chibh claim to be descended from the Katoch Rajputs of Kangra,
42 at least (jn tlie female side. 2 If so, their po-itiou must once have been much higher than it now
43 is ; but the story is probably untrue. I have suggested under the head Dhiind that the Chibh may
44 jierbap- be Punwar. Their ancestor Chib Chand is said to have left Kangra some 1,400 years ago,
45 and lia\e settled at Bhimbar in the Jammu hills. The first Chibh to become a Musalman was one
46 Siii Sadi of the time of Aurangzeb. He died a violent death and is stiU venerated as a martyr,
47 and the Mahomedan Chibh oii'er the scalplocks of their male children at bis tomb, till which
48 ceremony the child is not considered a true Chibh, nor is the mother allowed to eat meat. Within
49 the Panjab the Chibh are found almost entirely in the northern portion of Gujrat under the
50 Jammu hills. The hills above this territory are their proper liome, and are attached to the State
51 of Kashmir. The tribe has also given its name to the Cbibhal, or hill country of Kashmir on the
52 left bank of the Jahlam along the Hazdra border, though I believe that they do not now occupy
53 those hills. The Chibh is a tribe of good position ; they, like the Janjua, enjoy the title of
54 Raja ; Saiyads and Gakkhars do not hesitate to marry their daughters ; and tUl the Sikh rule
55 they did not cultivate themselves. Novv-a-days, however, they follow the plough. The
56 history of the Chibh chiefs is related at page 583 of the Funjai Chiefs. The Chibh are ideutiticd
57 by some with the Sibu3 of the ancients.
58 The Thaliar (No. 11). — The Thakar Rajputs shown in the Abstract are almost all Salabrio
59 Rajputs of Sialkot, where 5,279 men returned them elves as Rajput Salaria Thakar. They art
60 shown again under the head Salahria. 8)921 of the Nabha Thakar are Chauban. The signiri-
61 cance of the expression Thakar is di^cussed under the head of Rajputs of the Eastern Hills ; but
62 ' Mr. Brandreth says that Major Tod comes to the same conclusion ; but I have been unable to
63 find the passage.
64 ' They have however a wonderful s-Un-y about a son of one of the kings of Persia marrying the
65 daughter of a Raja in thi Oi i can, and having by her de cendants, one of whom Nah;ir Chand ^? j be-
66 came king of Kangia. His son Chibb (.'hand became ruler of Bbimbar; hence the Chibh.