1 182 PANJAB CASTES.
2 To this Mr. Channing adds : —
3 " KhanzaJas are a race wIkj were forinorly of much more importance tlan at present ; thej
4 " claim to have heen fonnerly Jadu Rajputs, and that their ancestors Lakhau Pal and Sumitr
5 " Pal. who dwelt at Tahangarh in Bharatpur, were converted to Islam in the reign of Firoz Shah
6 " (A.D. 1351 to 1388), who gave Lakhan Pal the name of Xahir Khan and Sumitr Pal the name of
7 " Bahadur Khan, and in recognition of their high descent called them Khanzad.ahs and made them
8 " bear rnle in Jlewat. At first thej are said to have lived at Sarahta near Tijara, and afterwards
9 " according to tradition, they possessed 1,48-1 villages. However this may he, there is no doubt
10 " that they were the ruling race in llewat down to the time of Rabnr ; since then they have
11 " gradually declined in importance, and now in this district own only a fe-.v villages near Xiih and
12 " to the north of Firozpur. Traces of their former importance exist at Sahua, Biind^i, and Kotila.
13 " Kotila was one of their chief fortresses ; the village is situated in a small valley, wholly
14 " surrounded by the hiU, except where a small funnel-like pass gives entrance to it. In front of
15 " this pass is the Kotila jhil, and when this is tilled with water tae only road tii the pass lies
16 " along a narrow strip of land between the lake and the hill. The remains of a breastwork along
17 " the face of the hill and across the mouth of the pass still exist, while on the hill above the
18 " village is a small ruined fort. The vUlage now belongs to Meos. Some of the buildings bear
19 " witness to its former greater importance. I have a suspicion that they ai'e more intimately
20 " connected than they acknowledge with the ileos, whom they seem to me to resemble in personal
21 " appearance. They do not ordinarily intermarry with Meos, but the Meo iidiabitants of five
22 " villages inthe Fu'ozpur tahsil professs to have been formerly Khanzadahs, and to have become Meos
23 " by intermarriage. Their traditions also, which point to Sarahta a^ their ancient home, agree, I
24 " think it will be found, with those of more than one clan of Meos. If my supposition that the
25 " Meos are converted Minas is correct, I am inclined to suspect that the Khanzadas are the repre-
26 " sentativcs of the noble class among the abiriginal population. Tod mentions an Asil or un-
27 " mixed class among the Minas known as Mainas. "
28 The Khanzadahs of Gurgaon have retiu'ued themselves as Jadubansi in
29 the column for elan, and they eonunonly say that tliis is their only got.
30 Khanzadah, or " the son of a Khan " is precisely the Musalman equivalent to
31 the Hindu Rajput or " son of a Raja ; " and there can be little doubt that the
32 Khanzadahs are to the Meos what the Rajputs are to the Jats.
33 480. The Gujjar (Caste No. 8) . — The Gujars are the eighth largest caste
34 in the Panjab, only the Jats, Rajputs, and Pathans among dominant castes, the
35 mixed caste of Araius, and the Brahmans, Chamars, and Chuhras exceeding
36 them in point of number. They are identified by General Cunningham with the
37 Kushan or Yiichi or Tochaii. a tribe of Eastern Tartars. About a century before
38 Christ then- Chief conquered Kabul and the Peshawar country ; while his son
39 Hima Kadphises. so well known to the Panjab Numismatologist, extended his
40 sway over the whole of Upper Panjab and the banks of the Jamua as far down
41 as Mathi-a and the Vindhyas, and his successor the no less familiar king
42 Kanishka, the first Buddhist Indo-Scythian prince, annexed Kashmir to the
43 kingdom of the Tochari. These Tochari or Kushan are the Kaspeii-iei of Ptolemy ;
44 and in the middle of the second centm-y of our lera, Kaspeira, Kasyapapiira, or
45 Multan, was one of their chief cities. Probably about the beginning of the
46 3rd century after Christ, the attacks of the White Huns recalled the last king
47 of the united Yiichi to the west, and he left his son in charge of an independent
48 pi-oviuce whose capital was fixed at Peshawar ; and fi'om that time the Yuchi
49 of Kabul are known as the Great Yuchi, and those of the Panjab as the Kator
50 or Little Yiichi. Before the end of the 3rd century a portion of the Gujars
51 had begun to move southwai'ds down the Indus, and were shortly afterwards
52 separated from then- northern brethren by Indo-Scythian wave from the north.
53 In the middle of the oth centm-y there wa'f a Gujar kingdom in south-
54 western Rajputana, whenje they were driven by the Balas into Gujarat of the
55 Bombay Presidency ; and about the end of the 9th century, Ala Khana the
56 Gujar king of Jammu, ceded the present Gujar-des, corresponding very nearly
57 with the ihe Giijrat district, to the king of Kashmir. The town of Gujrat is [p. 263j