In this post, I shall look at
two tribes, namely the Bib and Sarrara that are found in the Hazara region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Hazara is located in the North-Eastern part of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, east of the Indus River and comprises six districts: Abbottabad, Battagram, Haripur, Mansehra, Kohistan, and New District Torghar. The region is bounded on the north and east by the Northern Areas and Azad Kashmir. To the south are the Islamabad Capital Territory and the province of Punjab, whilst to the west lies the rest of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The river Indus runs through the division in a north-south line, forming much of the western border of the division. The total area of Hazara is 18,013 km².
Hazara region shaded: Source Wikipedia
Hazara lies in a region which is a crossroads of cultures, where the plains of the Punjab meet the Central Asia. Its population consists of numerous tribes, many of whom claim and are of Pashtun ancestry. However the tribes looked at in this post make no such claim. It is likely that they are of Hindu ancestry, but all claim Arab ancestry. Like most of the population of Hazara, all these tribes speak the
Hindko language, which main be descended from the ancient language of the
Gandhara civilization. The population are referred to as
Hindkowan, meaning people who speak Hindko.
Bib
I start this post with one of the least known of the
Hazara tribes, the Bib. The origin of the Bib is subject to some argument. According to their own traditions, the Bib are a branch of the Awan tribe, a claim generally not accepted by the Awans. They, like the Awans claim descent from the fourth Caliph of Islam, Ali. Their customs are similar to neighbouring Hindkowan communities, and they are entirely Sunni.
The are found in the Abbotabad District, occupying two villages between the Rash plains and Thandiani range. This region is extremely mountainous, located in the northeast of Abbottabad District in the foothills of the Himalayas. To the east beyond the Kunhar River lies the Pir Panjal mountain range of Kashmir. Cut from the other the Awans of the Haripur plain, the Bib have much in common with their neighbours the Karlal and Sarrara, rather then the Awans.
Sarrara
The other tribe I will look at are the Sarrara, who closely connect themselves to the Dhund, a tribe found mainly in the Murree hills. Some traditions make the Sarrara a branch of the Dhund, like the Dhund, the Sarrara claim to be Abbasi Arabs.
British Sources
Like many other tribes in the region, there are a number of theories about the origin of the Sarrara tribe. Horace Arthur Rose was an early 20th Century British colonial official who co-authored A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province, which is one of the most comprehensive glossaries on the tribes of Punjab, and a good source on many Punjabi tribes. He describes the Sarrara as follows:
A tribe found in Hazara which belongs to a race inhabiting Chibhal, or the hill country of Kashmir on the Hazaraa border, and, according to Wace, akin to the same ethnic group as the Dhund, Satti, and Karral of the same tract. They are chiefly found in the Abbottabad tehsil, where they are purely agricultural. They are all Muslim and are probably quite distinct from the Sarera of the eastern hills.
Rose connects the Sarrara with the people of the
Chibhal, the region that starts across the
Jhelum River, in what the is now the central and southern parts of Azad Kashmir, as the well the districts of Rajouri and Poonch in Indian administered Kashmir. Most of these tribes speak Pahari,and in Hazara the Sarrara like their neighbours the Dhund and Karral tribes speak the
Dhundi-Karali dialect of Hindko, which is very close to the Pahari spoken in Chibhal. While J. M Wikely, author of a military manual, the Punjabi Musalmans has this to say about them:
This tribe is met with only in the Boi tract, between the Thamdiani range and the Kunhar river, in the Hazara district. They connect themselves with both the Dhunds and the Tanaolis, but say at the same time that they came from Pakpattan in the Montgomery district. The tribe is classed as Sahu and inter-marry on equal terms with the Dhunds.
The Sarrara share a common tradition with Dhund, Jasgam and Khatreel tribes, claiming to be descended from the Abbasi dynasty, which was the second dynasty of the Islamic Caliphate. However, the tradition of coming from Pakpattan does not appear in their own traditions.
Local Traditions
The story of the Sarrara starts with Zarab Khan, who said to have come to the
Pothohar region with Qutb Shah, the ancestor of the Awan. He was said to have given the task of arranging an agreement with the king of Kashmir. He completed this task and after signing a treaty with the king of Kashmir, was on the way back. He reached Kahuta in the Rawalpindi district and decided not to go further for some reasons. From those of Zarab Khan's family that remained in the Murree and Kahuta hills descend the Dhund, Jasgam and Khateel tribes. The reason Zarab Khan is said to left Baghdad was that the Abbasids caliphate were disintegrating, his enemies were powerful and sought refuge in Herat. According to another tradition, Zarab Khan is said descend from a person by the name of Adil, who is said to have to come to India from Baghdad and settled down in Delhi permanently. Adil's sixth or seventh descendent was Zarab Khan bin Mutaaf. The resting place of Zarab Khan and his son Akbar Gai Khan is in Darab Kot Rawalpindi district of Pakistan.
The Sarrara get their name from their ancestor Sarrara Khan, also known as Sultan Sakhi Sarwar. He was said to be son of Akbar Gai Khan, who was the son of Zarab Khan, and lived in Darab Kot in Kahuta tehsil. These names also appear in the ancestry of the Dhund, Jasgam and Khatreel tribes. This Akbar Gai Khan is said to have had twelve sons, namely:
Kahonder Khan (forefather of Dhund)
Tanoli Khan (forefather of Tanolis in area of Tanawal and Amb Durband)
Chajjar Kanal
Salal
Agar Khan
Kool or Koor
Hakim Khan
Sarrara (ancestor of the Sarraras)
Hans Khan
Molam Khan
Dilhawas
Barra Hazaria
Sarrara Khan then left Kahuta and lived for many years at someplace in Potohar Plateau and which saw his clan expand in numbers. However, the Sarrara soon came into conflict with the original occupants of the area. The Sarrara left the Pothohar region and entered Hazara, arriving in what is now Abbottabad, and eventually settling on the west side of the mountain range called Thandyani. Most of this region was said to uninhabited and Sarrara Khan settled in place in the Thandyani now called Chamyali, He chose a spot near a stream called Salol, and this has been the home of the Sarrara ever since. Their original village was named Pattan, which means a river crossing.
After the collapse of Mughal authority, Hazara passed to the Sikhs. The Sarrara resisted the rule of Ranjit Singh. With coming of the British in 1848, the legendary Major Abbott pacified the region and founded the town of Abbottabad. The 1931 Census, the last that counted caste, the Sarrara numbered 10,000, all in the Abbotabad tehsil.
Distribution
The Sarrara are still only found in the Boi tract between the Thandiani range and Kunhar river in the Abbottabad District. The largest Sarrara village is Pattan Kalan and other important villages include Pattan Khurd, Chamiali, Bandi Sarrara, Darer, Batangi, Sialkot, Kotlian, in Kukmang Union Council. Each village is inhabited with a different clan, descended from one of the sons of Sarrara Khan
Clan | Villages |
Behlumal, descended from Behlum Khan | Main villages are Chamyali, Drer and Batangi. Other villages include Chak Pattan, Bagla, Khuhi, Bunna Khaiter, Salol, Aziz Gran, Barwala, Sunda Jabri area, and are also found in Tarhora and Pattan Khurd. |
Tatral, descended from Tatar Khan | Chak Pattan, Bagla, Khuhi and Jabri area and are in majority in Masina. |
Dumal, descended from Dumat Khan | Chak Pattan, Utla Khaiter, Jabban, Jabri , Barwala, Dhaki and are scattered in other part of Pattan |
Lashkaryal, descended from Lashkari Khan | Kotlian Gehar and Duwata area |
Posted on
May 24, 2022 by
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Tribes of Hazara Division,
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In this post, I will look at the Bangial, sometimes spelt Bangyal, tribe of the
Potohar region of Pakistan. A few Bangyal are also found in the Mirpur District of Azad Kashmir. The Bangyal claim ancestry from the Panwar, and I will start off with a brief note of the Panwar, or sometimes pronounced as Parmar or Puar. In the Pothohar region, the correct pronunciation is Panwar. I would also refer the reader to the Facebook page Mirpur and Dadyal Heritage Society (accessible through
mirpurheritage.com), which has some excellent information on these tribes.
Rajah Jagdev and the Panwar Rajputs
The Panwar were dynasty that in early medieval India ruled over the Malwa region in central India. Like the Chauhans, the Panwar are from the fire born or Agnivansh branch of the Rajputs. Quite a number of tribes in Pothohar and neighbouring Chibhal region claim descent from the Panwars, all having some tradition of migration from central India, followed by conversion to Islam at the hands of a particular Sufi saint. Many of these tribes also have traditions of initially settling in the region known as
Chibhal. The key figure that appears in the origin story of Chibhali Panwar is Raja Jagdev Panwar, who has an almost semi-mythical. According to tribal myths of, he became the ruler of Malwa after death of his father Udayaditya, but he handed over the throne to his brother owing to family-dispute and settled at Jarg, somewhere in present day Okara District. He is said to have slain a demon who used to eat a human-being daily in a fort near
Dipalpur, also in Okara. The local king Raja Kankhar bestowed upon him half his kingdom and gave his daughter in marriage. He is said to have struck off his own head on the demand of a witch-wife of the court-bard of Raja Jai Chand of Lambargaon but this was miraculously restored. Jagdev then migrated to the Chibhal territory, where he founded
Akhnoor State, ruled by Panwar Dynasty of his descendants for over six centuries. Many of the local Dogra clans claim descent from the Raja such as the Ambarai.
Akhnoor lies in the heart of Chibhal located on the banks of the
Chenab River. The territory of
Chibhal lies between
Tawi River and Jhelum rivers, with the Pir Panjal Mountains forming its northern boundary and gets its name from the
Chib tribe. Presently, Chibhal is divided by the line of control, with Mirpur and Bhimber districts within Pakistani Kashmir, and districts of Rajauri, Reasi, and parts of Jammu (including Akhnur) west of the
Manawar Tawi in Indian administered Jammu and Kashmir. The Bangial have traditions of leaving the region and settling in plains territory of northern Punjab in Gujarkhan, Jhelum, and Kharian. Rajah Jagdev Panwar is also seen as a common ancester of the Panwars of this region, such as the Hon and Sahnsral.
Bangial
So who are the
Bangial, sometimes written as Bangyal, and we have go back to my first post on the
Pothohar tribes. The word al means son of in number of dialects that fall within Lahnda, such as
Pothohari and Pahari. J. M Wikely, author of the army recruitment guide Punjab Musalmans describes them as such:
Male population: Approximately 2,000 (Census 1931).
Locality: The tribe is found chiefly in the Rawalpindi district, where they occupy five villages in the Gujar Khan tehsil. There appear to be a few also in the Jhelum, Gujrat and Gujranwala districts
Particular: Bangial and Baghial appear to be the same tribe, those members of it which are in the Rawalpindi district are classed as Rajputs, while in Gujrat, Gujranwala and Jhelum they are Jats. They describe themselves as being Panwar Rajputs. The first ancestor of Musalman faith was Bangash Khan.
Other then this brief mention, British sources have been quite on the Bangial. According to the Bangials themselves, they are descended from a
Rajah Bangash Khan, a
Panwar Rajput, who arrived in the Pothohar region from
central India, hence the name
Bangash al, shortened to Bangyal. According to other traditions, the Raja came from Delhi. This Bangash Khan is also seen as ancestor by the closely related
Baghial tribe. Changa Bangial in
Gujarkhan Tehsil is said to be their first settlement in the region, and according to some traditions Changa was a son of Bangash Khan.
A bit more detail description of the comes largely from the book
Tazkira Pothohar by Mohammad Artsab. Bangash Khan is said to come from the lineage of Raja Jagdev Panwar, who had three sons, Rokha Khan, Chhanga Khan and Sanbar Khan. The Bangial all claim decent from one of these three brothers, and generally consider the town of Changa Bangyal as there first settlement. The brothers were said to have come from Sialkot, during the period of Gakhar rule, which could be anything between the 14th and 18th Century. Most Bangial generally connect themselves with Changa Bangial as their ancestral village. In Mirpur, the Bangyal claim descent from two brothers, Raj Khan and Shahu Khan, who are said to have come from Changa Bangial.
Like many of their neighbours such as the
Kalyal, some groups of
Bangial consider themselves as Jats, while other see themselves as Rajputs. In
Gujranwala, Gujrat and Jhelum districts of Punjab, and
Mirpur District of Azad Kashmir, the Bangial strongly identify themselves as
Jat, and intermarry with tribes of Jat status, such as the Warriach and Tarar. But as we move towards
Dina and neighbouring Gujar Khan tehsils, almost all the
Bangial claim Rajput ancestry, so briefly we can summarize, that the
Jhelum River divides these two groups.
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