Punjab and the Rebellion of 1857

[Tergon18]

Why you felt the need to target Pashtuns by throwing a taunt of Mughals marrying Pashtuns?........

Well, to be fair, you too threw 'insult' of Mughals not sending marriage proposal to Punjabi Muslims despite there was Punjabi Muslim queen of Jarral clan who was the mother of Emperor Bahadur Shah-I.

 

[Kabira]

Calm down guys, Mughals were weird. They married outside but never married off their daughters to anyone. The result was many of Mughal princess had to conform with eunuch servants.

 

[Braith]

Well, to be fair, you too threw 'insult' of Mughals not sending marriage proposal to Punjabi Muslims despite there was Punjabi Muslim queen of Jarral clan who was the mother of Emperor Bahadur Shah-I.

Insult? i said that Mughals would not have gained any thing, militarily speaking, by forming matrimonial alliances with petty zamindars of Punjab (Punjab did not have rajas like Rajputana)........I did mention that Ghakkars were exceptions, its because they were powerful in those times and had done a lot for Mughal cause. Nawab bai, a Kashmiri, was not a daughter of some petty zamindar, her father was a Raja...........Rajauri is not Punjab and she is mentioned as 'Kashmiri' in Mughal sources.

Calm down guys, Mughals were weird. They married outside but never married off their daughters to anyone. The result was many of Mughal princess had to conform with eunuch servants.

Akbar put ban on marriage of Mughal princesses as his brother-in-law rebelled against him and put claim to sovereignty on the basis of being husband to daughter of Humayun. Even Aurangzeb did not abolish this unislamic rule of their family

 

[Tergon18]

Insult? i said that Mughals would not have gained any thing, militarily speaking, by forming matrimonial alliances with petty zamindars of Punjab (Punjab did not have rajas like Rajputana)........I did mention that Ghakkars were exceptions, its because they were powerful in those times and had done a lot for Mughal cause. Nawab bai, a Kashmiri, was not a daughter of some petty zamindar, her father was a Raja...........Rajauri is not Punjab and she is mentioned as 'Kashmiri' in Mughal sources.

Rajauri is right next to Mirpur and the entire AJK area is just an extension of Potohar, which in turn is part of Punjab. Secondly, there are many Jarrals in Punjab as well. Idk what you mean by Punjab not having 'rajas'.

 

[Braith]

Idk what you mean by Punjab not having 'rajas'.

........Powerful rulers with sizable areas under them , like those of Mewar, Marwar, Amber etc.....each of which could muster a sizable army..........

Indian Rajputs, The Hindus of Rajputana, were backbone of Mughal army.......

 

[Tergon18]

........Powerful rulers with sizable areas under them , like those of Mewar, Marwar, Amber etc.....each of which could muster a sizable army..........

Indian Rajputs, The Hindus of Rajputana, were backbone of Mughal army.......

There were some e.g Kapurthala Bhattis, Jarrals, Janjuas, but in general, I would agree with you.

 

[mughal arslan shah mirza]

...........Rajauri is not Punjab and she is mentioned as 'Kashmiri' in Mughal sources.

she has been described as a punjabi woman in some sources, i'll try to find if there's any online. Even William dalrymple calls her a punjabi-speaking woman

 

[Tergon18]

she has been described as a punjabi woman in some sources, i'll try to find if there's any online. Even William dalrymple calls her a punjabi-speaking woman

Yeah, people of AJK area (Mirpur, Rajauri etc.) speak a dialect of Punjabi identical to Potohari. Only the Dards of the Valley are considered 'Kashmiris' and speak Dardic.

 

[Kharral]

Do you claim to be jatts? because the kharrals of Kamalia,Gugera and even Pindi Bhattia claim to be Rajputs..

A friend of mine has a Kharral friend (direct descendant of Rai Ahmed Khan) and they proudly claim to be Rajputs and maintain that they dont marry outside their community.

You have raised a very interesting point here, some years ago I came across a fellow kharral from Multan through a common friend in London, the man had a go at me for not having Rai as the title & instead having Chaudhary as title ( I personally don't give a toss about either of these title ) untill I explained to him that in Gujrat, Mandi Bahaudin,Sialkot & Gujranwala districts claiming Rajput ancestory would mean inviting people to queue up for head,face & arm pit shaves outside ones house. Even Bhatti Rajputs don't use titles of Rai or Raja in the above motioned districts and are identified as Jutts in mentioned districts.
The situation however is different in Hafizabad, Sheikhupura, Sargodha & further south in Punjab. However Mirza Jutt ( the character in one of Punjabi folklore ) was also a kharral originating in down south the Ravi bar.
All my relations and all those that I know of are in to Jutt clans, like Warraich, Sandhu, Gondal, Ghumman, Cheema & such, I am yet to see any one from my side marrying a janjua, kiyani, chib, jaral or such Rajput tribes.
According to whatever little information I have gathered so far & research done the concept of Rajput & a related title remained untill one remained a Hindu.
Nearly all the jutt tribes & clans claim Rajput ancestory.

One interesting thing that I came across was an election census or report listing the representation gained by different Qaums ( castes or tribes ) in elections back in 60s. The interesting point being that we Kharrals were neither counted in/under Jutt or Rajput categories but a completely separate category of our own. This was a couple of years ago and I have since then tried to get my hands on to that peice of paper for some further insight but I have been unsuccessful so far.

Another example being Sir Zafar ULLAH Khan, who like me hailed from the Sahi sub clan of Kharrals while his mother being from a Bajwa ( Jutt ) family in modern day Narowal.

I hope I have made some sense & cleared any doubts that you may have.

 

[mughal arslan shah mirza]

Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah I's mother was the daughter of Raja Tajuddin Khan, the Jarral chief of Rajauri (which is near Mirpur), and was the wife of Aurangzeb.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahadur_Shah_I



Punjab at that time was de-facto independent under Punjabi Musalman ruler Adina Khan Arain, who only paid some indemnity to the Marathas for a few years, but was otherwise autonomous.



While many Punjabi Muslims offered resistance and fought the Misls during the rise of Sukerchakia Misl of Ranjit Singh..

.

Not just that, there were fights between sikhs and Gakkhars/ Janjuas. Sikhs fought Gakkhars initially in gujarat . Janjuas at the time were divided into three different sub-clans and all of them fought valiantly, sikhs carried out a sikh-month siege of one of their forts where Ranjit singh himself fought ? (read it ages ago, would post here if i find it).
Also, Adina beg's armies had Gakkhars and Janjuas and were backed by these and other punjabi clans.

Some writer I was reading mentioned that imagine if all these clans had united? The big question is as to why there was hardly much unity amongst punjabi muslims. In fact there were sub-clan rivalries that cost them let alone uniting across clan lines

Yeah, people of AJK area (Mirpur, Rajauri etc.) speak a dialect of Punjabi identical to Potohari. Only the Dards of the Valley are considered 'Kashmiris' and speak Dardic.

True. As for Jarrals,my friend told me that there's a village called 'jarral' in potohar from where the tribe claims to have originated from. It might just be one of those origin myths though lol

 

[Tergon18]

Not just that, there were fights between sikhs and Gakkhars/ Janjuas. Sikhs fought Gakkhars initially in gujarat . Janjuas at the time were divided into three different sub-clans and all of them fought valiantly, sikhs carried out a sikh-month siege of one of their forts where Ranjit singh himself fought ? (read it ages ago, would post here if i find it).
Also, Adina beg's armies had Gakkhars and Janjuas and were backed by these and other punjabi clans.

Some writer I was reading mentioned that imagine if all these clans had united? The big question is as to why there was hardly much unity amongst punjabi muslims. In fact there were sub-clan rivalries that cost them let alone uniting across clan lines

Yeah at first Gakhars captured Gujrat

Which later fell to the Bhangi Misl

As for Punjabi Muslims, they were first united under Adina Khan Arain when the Rohillas invaded Punjab and were driven out

And after on a greater scale against the Sikh Misls

He could have been like Abdali, who united Pashtuns, for Punjabi Muslims but unfortunately he died from a disease and after that there was no attempt at unity or any alliance.

 

[Kabira]

^^
Sikhs defeated Mukharab Khan and captured Gujrat fort in 1765.

this is from 1797

@Braith shahanchibashi mentioned here was Afghan?

 

[Tergon18]

^^
Sikhs defeated Mukharab Khan and captured Gujrat fort in 1765.

this is from 1797

@Braith shahanchibashi mentioned here was Afghan?

Shahanchibashi was general of Zaman Shah Durrani, though not sure if he was Afghan. His surname is interesting but doesnt sound Afghan.
Hayat Khan Warraich captured Islamgarh 1797 and Shahanchibashi made it his base of operations, so was he allied with Waraich?

 

[Braith]

@Braith shahanchibashi mentioned here was Afghan?

Dont know whether he was an ethnic Afghan, but he surely was from Afghanistan

 

[Kabira]

Hayat Khan Warraich captured Islamgarh 1797 and Shahanchibashi made it his base of operations, so was he allied with Waraich?

Yes. Chattahs of Gujranwala also allied with Afghans in 1797 against sikhs.

BY LEPEL H. GRIFFIN

Nur Muhammad was bom in 1704. When he grew up his friendship was sought by Raja Banjit Deo of Jammu and by the chiefs of Multan, for the Chattahs had now grown powerful and Nur Muhammad was their acknowledged chief. When Nur Muhammad ^^97 old^ Ahmad KAan^ his younger son, a brave and skilful soldier led the Chattahs to battle. The great enemies of the tribe were the Sukarchakia chiefs of Gujranwala, who were ever striving to extend their possessions. In the time of Sardar Charrat Singh the Chattahs held their own, and Ahmad Khan, in 1765^ captured the celebrated Bhangi gun which Charrat Singh had placed in Gujranwala.

Soon after this Ahmad Khan and his brother Pir Muhammad quarreled, and fought for some time with varying success and among the killed were Bahram Khan and Kadar Baksh sons of Ahmad Khan^ and Fatah Muhammad his nephew. At last Pir Muhammad sought help from Gujar Singh and Sahib Singh Bhangi who invited Ahmad Khan to a conferencei captured him and shut him up without water till he agreed to resign the great gun which was carried to the fort of Gujrat.​

​

Mir Manuj the viceroy of Ahmad Shah Duranii laid siege to the fort of Manchar for some months without success^ but when the Emperor himself invaded the Panjab, he seems to have treated
the Chattah chiefs with consideration and to have confirmed them in their possessions. Sirdar Charrat Singh, the Chattah enemy died in 1774^ closely followed by Nur Muhammad and his son Pir Muhammad.​

​

The towns founded in the Gujranwala district by these chiefs are neither few nor unimportant. Among those founded by Nur Muhammad were Ahmadnagar, Ghadhi Gul Muhammad and Rasul-
nagar, renamed by the Sikhs Ramnagar^ while Pir Muhammad built three difibrent forts called after his own name, also Kot Mian Khan^ Alipur, renamed by the Sikhs Akalghar, Naiwala^ Kot Salim^ Kot Ali
Muhammad and Fatahpur. Ghulam Muhammad^ who succeeded to the estate succeeded also to the hatred of the Sukarchakias.

Both Sirdar Mahan Singh son of Charrat Singh and Ghulam Mukammad were able
and brave men^ and it was clear that peace could only result from the death of one or the other. For a long time the advantage lay with the Chattahs and Mahan Singh was defeated on several occasions. Once he
besieged Jhokian, held by Mian Khan, uncle of Ghulam Muhammad^ who came down in haste to reUeve it. After some hard fighting, peace was agreed upon, but in an unguarded moment the treacherous Sikh seized
Mian Khan carried him off prisoner and blew him from a gun.

At length, in 1790, Mahan Singh, having become very powerful, assembled his forces and besieged Manchar. The siege lasted for more than six months, and the Sikhs lost a large number of men. The young Ranjlt Singh himself was in great danger, for Hanhmat Khan uncle of Ghulam Muhammad^ charged bis escort with a few sowars and climbing upon bis elephant, was about to kill the child, when he was stiack down by the attendants. Ghulam Muhammad seeing that he could no longer hold the fort, offered to surrender if he were allowed to leave for Mecca in safety. This Mahan Singh promised solemnly, but he had hardly sworn his truth, than one of his men, by his orders or with his connivance, shot the brave Chattah chief through the head. Mahan Singh then gave up Manchar to plunder, and seized the greater part of the Chattah territory.​

​

Jan Muhammad son of Ghulam Muhammad escaped to Kabul, from whence he returned in 1797, with Shah Zaman, and by the aid of the Afghans recovered his possessions on the Chenab ; but when his protec-
tor had returned to Afghanistan, Ranjit Singh attacked Rusulnagar, determined to destroy for ever the Chattah power. The besieged made a gallant resistance, but day by day their numbers and their strength
diminished. Unlike the divine twin brothers who fought so well for Bome by Lake Begillus, the Muhammadan saints abandoned their followers, for the story is that the Chattahs asked a famous fakir who
lived at Rasolnagar to aid them. '^ How can I help you,'' wis his reply, *^ when I see the holy ^ Mahbub Subhani, dressed in green, fighting on the side of Ranjit Singh." At length Jan Muhummad was killed by
a cannon shot and the fort surrendered.​

​

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