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2. GUJJAR HISTORY - SOME REFLECTIONS
By Ali Husan Chauhan
Author of Tareikh-e-Gujran (Urdu in 5 volumes)
Undated traditions serve immense sources of information to history, observes F.G. Pargitar in his History of Ancient India.
In the vast country of sub-continental dimension, which had been familiar as Aryavarat, regional provincial and religious fervour influence variously to shape customs,
manners, behaviour and political ideologies. Genesis of ubiquitous in saying testify observation of F.G. Pargitar. According to the saying a bride married to family living
at distant places as far as 50 miles, while taking leave of her parents address plaintively with tears rolling down from their eyes to asks her father why she has been
given in marriage to a family at a far off place, and how she could be able to maintain and uphold common traditions of the same stock, spread from Hindukush to Arakan. It
is, however, remarkably striking to note that the Gujjars all over the sub-continent claim to be natives of the land since time immemorial. Learned among them also claim
with confidence that they are Kshtriyas by origin, without having any traces of tradition of so called foreign origin.
In districts Jhalwan and Lasbela of Baluchistan, I met the Gujjars. The Jhalwan Gujars speak both Baluchi and Sindhi languages and claim to be natives of these areas
without having origin of any foreign element in so far as their ethnic traditions are concerned. This was revealed to me by elderly Gujjars at Hab of District Lasbela. In
the area the Zamindars (landlords) are called Baluch so we too are by the same name although they belong to Gujjar tribe. The other Pakistani Blauch and adjoining Irani
Bluches are of one stock but against this we hail from separate Gujjar community. According to one tradition we have come from Delhi to this region and speak Sindhi
language. In Markan, near border of Iran, the Gujjars are Ziki by faith and claim to have come from Mewar during the time of Akbar, the elderly Gujjars added.
In the North-Western Frontier Province, the Gujjars are no less in number than the Pathans. Every Gujjar remembers his gotra (family name or sub-caste). Gujjars of almost
all gotras are found here. Their pronunciation is quite the same as in other parts of the sub-Continent. The language, they speak among themselves, is Hindi according to
Sir Alexender Grierson and Moulvi Abu Barkat Abdul Malik Chohan (Shahan-e-Gujar page 494 ). In Peshawar proper, this language is called Hindky. It is spoken side by side
with Pashto. In Kashmir the Gujjars speak the same language. Here it is called Gurjari having the difference that Gojari in Hindi spoken in the tone of Mewari or Brij
Bhasha in which oftenly “a” is changed into “o” and Hindky is Hindi inter-loaded with Punjabi words.
In Hazara district of the Frontier Province, it is noticeable that Jats and Ahirs are included among the Gujjars. They marry together, speak the same language and claim
their ancestory from the common Indian stock, the Kashatriyas. The most remarkable tradition of all those I have noted in my life is of that Khatana Gujjar family. In 1938,
Bashir Ahmed Khatana, a big landlord of Dam Jhera village, district Saharanpur and a license holder of a double barrel gun, in reply to my question disclosed the Khatanas
do not kill peathingy nor eat its meat, according to prevailing gotra tradition. He however could not elucidate the reason and said simply “ I do not know “. He
also said “ Our ancestor was Jaipal, as we know it generation by generation “. On the occasion of Victory Prade of World War II, in 1945 I came across a Khatana
Gujar of Jalon, namely Bishamber Singh. He narrated to me a traditional story implying they were More (Peathingy) Khatana. He could not however explain convincingly why More
(Peathingy) was annexed to Khatana. He said kingdom of our ancestor Jaipal was conquered by Mahmud, so our family crossed the river Satluj and settled in Marwar. After some
generations our forefathers migrated and occupied a territory East of Ganges and we built a fort at Puwayan. In Shahjahan’s time the Moghul forces after a fierce
fight demolished the Fort and on its ruins found Shahjahanpur. From there our family migrated to Chambal valley and found the present Samthar State with its capital
Shamsher Garh, he also stated.
In district Gujrat (West Punjab), there are forty villages of Khatana Gujars whose Headman informed me in 1951 that by tradition they being More Khatana, are heirs of
Jaipal who fought against Mahmud of Ghazni, but the peathingy theory could not be solved by them.
In 1968, I was transferred to Peshawar where I had a meeting with the Gujars of district Mardan under the headmanship of Mr. Bostan Khan, More Khatana, the then Assistant
Inspector General of Police, Frontier Province, During conversation, they firmly claimed that they were descendants of Jaipal’s family and revealed that More
(Peathingy) was their royal insignia. I was fully convinced by their arguments because I know that different families of the royal Gujars had different insignia.
To the people of mountainous region from Kashmir to Afghanistan, peathingy was loveable bird. Shah Mir who claimed his descendancy from Pandu, in Mahabharat family, was the
first local Muslim ruler. By and by, the Muslims from aboard poured in Kashmir and began hunt of the peathingys. Shah Zain-ul-Abdin, the grandson of Shah Mir put a ban on the
killing of the peathingys. Severe punishment was imposed on the defaulters (see Tarikhi-i-Farishta.) Except at Zoo, the peathingy is now extinct in Pakistan but at Katas in
district Jhelum, there is a Hindu temple around which there are peathingys since long. On request of the Hindu custodians of the temple, the Government of Pakistan has
prohibited the killing of the bird in the area around the temple.
On 23rd March, 1969 Saturday it was holiday being Pakistan’s Resolution Day. Thus Mr. Bostan Khan and myself had two holidays (Saturday and Sunday) at our disposal.
In a jeep we started on Friday the March 22nd in the afternoon from Peshawar for Dir which penetrates into Afghanistan and from there for Chitral whose borders are 10 to 12
miles distant from Central Asia in the North. In the cities, towns and villages where we halted for rest, we had a talk with the local Gujars about their traditions. About
the origin some of them said we are local people of these areas since the time immemorial and most of them told us that their forefathers came to those places from Punjab.
None of them lifted their finger towards the nearest territories of Central Asia as being their original homeland.
On way back from Chitral, we came across a nomadic Gujar family in 2 tents near Mangora town in Swat valley where there are two foot prints of Shri Ram Chandra Ji on a
horizontal rock. We went into the Men’s tent and talked with their headman Mr. Noor, when the old man knew about us he grasped us both in his arms with tears of joy
in his eyes. During the talk, he stated that his gotra was Yadu and that some Gujar families from Kashmir wandering towards North acrossed the Pamir some generations ago.
The Central Asian people call us Hindus (natives of Hind) who live in the South of Hindu Kush and the river Oxus. The body structure and facial features of Central Asian
reflect Chinese or Mongolian glimpse. We are distinguished by them from afar.
By Ali Husan Chauhan
Author of Tareikh-e-Gujran (Urdu in 5 volumes)
Undated traditions serve immense sources of information to history, observes F.G. Pargitar in his History of Ancient India.
In the vast country of sub-continental dimension, which had been familiar as Aryavarat, regional provincial and religious fervour influence variously to shape customs,
manners, behaviour and political ideologies. Genesis of ubiquitous in saying testify observation of F.G. Pargitar. According to the saying a bride married to family living
at distant places as far as 50 miles, while taking leave of her parents address plaintively with tears rolling down from their eyes to asks her father why she has been
given in marriage to a family at a far off place, and how she could be able to maintain and uphold common traditions of the same stock, spread from Hindukush to Arakan. It
is, however, remarkably striking to note that the Gujjars all over the sub-continent claim to be natives of the land since time immemorial. Learned among them also claim
with confidence that they are Kshtriyas by origin, without having any traces of tradition of so called foreign origin.
In districts Jhalwan and Lasbela of Baluchistan, I met the Gujjars. The Jhalwan Gujars speak both Baluchi and Sindhi languages and claim to be natives of these areas
without having origin of any foreign element in so far as their ethnic traditions are concerned. This was revealed to me by elderly Gujjars at Hab of District Lasbela. In
the area the Zamindars (landlords) are called Baluch so we too are by the same name although they belong to Gujjar tribe. The other Pakistani Blauch and adjoining Irani
Bluches are of one stock but against this we hail from separate Gujjar community. According to one tradition we have come from Delhi to this region and speak Sindhi
language. In Markan, near border of Iran, the Gujjars are Ziki by faith and claim to have come from Mewar during the time of Akbar, the elderly Gujjars added.
In the North-Western Frontier Province, the Gujjars are no less in number than the Pathans. Every Gujjar remembers his gotra (family name or sub-caste). Gujjars of almost
all gotras are found here. Their pronunciation is quite the same as in other parts of the sub-Continent. The language, they speak among themselves, is Hindi according to
Sir Alexender Grierson and Moulvi Abu Barkat Abdul Malik Chohan (Shahan-e-Gujar page 494 ). In Peshawar proper, this language is called Hindky. It is spoken side by side
with Pashto. In Kashmir the Gujjars speak the same language. Here it is called Gurjari having the difference that Gojari in Hindi spoken in the tone of Mewari or Brij
Bhasha in which oftenly “a” is changed into “o” and Hindky is Hindi inter-loaded with Punjabi words.
In Hazara district of the Frontier Province, it is noticeable that Jats and Ahirs are included among the Gujjars. They marry together, speak the same language and claim
their ancestory from the common Indian stock, the Kashatriyas. The most remarkable tradition of all those I have noted in my life is of that Khatana Gujjar family. In 1938,
Bashir Ahmed Khatana, a big landlord of Dam Jhera village, district Saharanpur and a license holder of a double barrel gun, in reply to my question disclosed the Khatanas
do not kill peathingy nor eat its meat, according to prevailing gotra tradition. He however could not elucidate the reason and said simply “ I do not know “. He
also said “ Our ancestor was Jaipal, as we know it generation by generation “. On the occasion of Victory Prade of World War II, in 1945 I came across a Khatana
Gujar of Jalon, namely Bishamber Singh. He narrated to me a traditional story implying they were More (Peathingy) Khatana. He could not however explain convincingly why More
(Peathingy) was annexed to Khatana. He said kingdom of our ancestor Jaipal was conquered by Mahmud, so our family crossed the river Satluj and settled in Marwar. After some
generations our forefathers migrated and occupied a territory East of Ganges and we built a fort at Puwayan. In Shahjahan’s time the Moghul forces after a fierce
fight demolished the Fort and on its ruins found Shahjahanpur. From there our family migrated to Chambal valley and found the present Samthar State with its capital
Shamsher Garh, he also stated.
In district Gujrat (West Punjab), there are forty villages of Khatana Gujars whose Headman informed me in 1951 that by tradition they being More Khatana, are heirs of
Jaipal who fought against Mahmud of Ghazni, but the peathingy theory could not be solved by them.
In 1968, I was transferred to Peshawar where I had a meeting with the Gujars of district Mardan under the headmanship of Mr. Bostan Khan, More Khatana, the then Assistant
Inspector General of Police, Frontier Province, During conversation, they firmly claimed that they were descendants of Jaipal’s family and revealed that More
(Peathingy) was their royal insignia. I was fully convinced by their arguments because I know that different families of the royal Gujars had different insignia.
To the people of mountainous region from Kashmir to Afghanistan, peathingy was loveable bird. Shah Mir who claimed his descendancy from Pandu, in Mahabharat family, was the
first local Muslim ruler. By and by, the Muslims from aboard poured in Kashmir and began hunt of the peathingys. Shah Zain-ul-Abdin, the grandson of Shah Mir put a ban on the
killing of the peathingys. Severe punishment was imposed on the defaulters (see Tarikhi-i-Farishta.) Except at Zoo, the peathingy is now extinct in Pakistan but at Katas in
district Jhelum, there is a Hindu temple around which there are peathingys since long. On request of the Hindu custodians of the temple, the Government of Pakistan has
prohibited the killing of the bird in the area around the temple.
On 23rd March, 1969 Saturday it was holiday being Pakistan’s Resolution Day. Thus Mr. Bostan Khan and myself had two holidays (Saturday and Sunday) at our disposal.
In a jeep we started on Friday the March 22nd in the afternoon from Peshawar for Dir which penetrates into Afghanistan and from there for Chitral whose borders are 10 to 12
miles distant from Central Asia in the North. In the cities, towns and villages where we halted for rest, we had a talk with the local Gujars about their traditions. About
the origin some of them said we are local people of these areas since the time immemorial and most of them told us that their forefathers came to those places from Punjab.
None of them lifted their finger towards the nearest territories of Central Asia as being their original homeland.
On way back from Chitral, we came across a nomadic Gujar family in 2 tents near Mangora town in Swat valley where there are two foot prints of Shri Ram Chandra Ji on a
horizontal rock. We went into the Men’s tent and talked with their headman Mr. Noor, when the old man knew about us he grasped us both in his arms with tears of joy
in his eyes. During the talk, he stated that his gotra was Yadu and that some Gujar families from Kashmir wandering towards North acrossed the Pamir some generations ago.
The Central Asian people call us Hindus (natives of Hind) who live in the South of Hindu Kush and the river Oxus. The body structure and facial features of Central Asian
reflect Chinese or Mongolian glimpse. We are distinguished by them from afar.