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Tarkhan (Punjab)

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This article is about Tarkhan, a Northern Indian tribe. For other uses, see Tarkan (disambiguation)

The Tarkhan (pronounced Terr-khaan) ethnic tribe inhabits the Punjab area of Northern India and Punjab area of Pakistan. They are a separate cultural and ethnic people that by historical tribal custom associate within their own Tarkhan community. Some are also found in Kashmir. Scholars such as H.A. Rose state that they are descended from the Saka tribes, and originally settled in Taxila. The Tarkhans are a minority in the Punjab, with numbers estimated at around 1,000,000 at least to 2,000,000 maximum. Tarkhans have close ethnic and genetic relations with Jat, Khatri, Gujjar, Rajput, Kamboj and Lohar tribes.

Contents

History

Hindu Tarkhans are regarded to be of the Vaishya Varna (as they are artisans) and worship the Vedic deity, Vishwakarma.[1] This is namely due to following the traditional Vaishya (Rathakara [1]) occupation of carpentry.

Sikh Tarkhans are more commonly known as Ramgarhias because of their reverence for the famous Misl leader, Jassa Singh Ramgarhia(1723-1803), who was a Tarkhan.

A very proud and fiercely independent people, they are amongst the wealthiest and most educated clans of the Punjab region. Historically, Tarkhan occupations have included carpentry, landowning, farming, engineering, politics, science, medicine, and military.[2].

Tarkhans have served courageously in crack Commando units of the Punjab and Sikh Regiments of the Indian Army, as well as brave fighter pilots and in the Navy. They were made famous on the silver screen in the Bollywood film, Border for their brave actions in the Battle of Longowal, a battle fought during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.

Ramgarhia/Tarkhan tribes

According to Sir Denzil Ibbetson[3], the major Twelve Tarkhan tribes of the Punjab and the Northwest Frontier Province include

Ibbetson
—
  • 1) Jhangra - found in Delhi and Hissar
  • 2) Dhaman - found in Karnal, Ambala, Jalandahar, Sialkot, Patiala, Nabha, Faridhkot and Firozpur.
  • 3) Khattia - found in Karnal, Ambala, Jalandahar, Sialkot, Patiala, Nabha, Faridhkot and Firozpur.
  • 4) Siawan - Jallandhar and Sialkot
  • 5) Gade - Amritsar
  • 6) Matharu - Ludhiana, Amritsar and Lahore.
  • 7) Netal - Hoshiarpur
  • 8) Janjua - Rawalpindia
  • 9) Tharu - Gurdaspur and Sialkot
  • 10)Khokar - Lahore, Rawalpindi and Multan
  • 11)Bhatti - Lahore, Rawalpindi and Multan
  • 12)Begi Khel - Hazara.

Ibbetson notes further that[4]:

Ibbetson
—"The carpenters of Sirsa are divided into two great sections: the Dhaman and Khati proper, and the two will not intermarry. These are two great tribes of the Lohars (q.v.). The Dhamans again include a tribe of Hindu Tarkhans called Suthar, who are almost entirely agricultural, seldom working in wood, and who look down upon the artisan sections of their caste. They say they came from Jodhpur, and that their tribe still holds villages and revenue free grants in Bikaner."

It should be noted that the artisan sections of Tarkhans look down upon the agricultural sections of their tribe too.

Tarkhans and Lohars

Lohars are blacksmiths. According to HA Rose and Denzil Ibbetson, Lohars are descended from Rajputs and Jats. Although considered a lower caste than Tarkhans, Lohars have been accepted into Tarkhan tribal affiliations.

[5]

Ibbetson
— In Hushyarpur They are said to form a single caste called Lohar-Tarkhan, and the son of a blacksmith will often take to carpentry and vice versa; but it appears that the two castes were originally separate, for the joint caste is still divided into two sections who will not intermarry or even eat or smoke together, the Dhaman, from dhamna "to blow", and the Khatti from khat "wood". In Gujranwala the same two castes exist; and they are the two great Tarkhan tribes also (see section 627). In Karnal a sort of connection seems to be admitted, but the castes are now distinct. In Sirsa the Lohars may be divided into three main sections; the first, men undoubted and recent Jat and even Rajput origin who have generally by reason of poverty, taken to work as blacksmiths; secondly the Suthar Lohar or members of the Suthar tribe of carpenters who have similarly changed their original occupation; and thirdly, the Gadya Lohar, a class of wandering blacksmith not uncommon throughout the east and south east of the Province, who come up from Rajputana and the North West Provinces and travel about with their families and implements in carts from village to village, doing the finer sorts of iron work which are beyond the capacity of the village artisan. The tradition runs that Suthar Lohars, who are now Musalman, were originally Hindu Tarkhans of the Suthar tribe (see section 627); and that Akhbar took 12,000 of them from Jodhpur to Delhi, forcibily circumcised them, and obliged them to work in iron instead of wood. The story is admitted by a section of the Lohars themselves, and probably has some substratum of truth. These men came to Sirsa from the direction of Sindh, where they say they formerly held land, and are commonly known as Multani Lohars.

This would explain why some Tarkhans/Lohars have similar surnames to Jats and Rajputs.

The Ramgarhia Misl

The founder of the Ramgarhia Misl was Khushal Singh of Guga village near Amritsar. Khushal Singh was succeeded, Nand Singh, who belonged to the village of Sanghani near Amritsar. He was succeeded by a much more enterprising and valiant man, named Jassa Singh, under whose stewardship the band assumed the status and the name of the Misl. He took over the floundering Misl and made it into one of the greatest fighting armies of the Punjab.

Hardas Singh

Hardas Singh, the grandfather of Jassa Singh, a carpenter by caste, was the resident of Sur Singh which is situated about nineteen miles east of Khem Karan, in the present district of Amritsar. Hardas Singh was initiated into the Khalsa faith by Guru Gobind Singh himself from whose hands he took pahul and fought some battles at the Guru's side. When Banda Bahadur organised the Sikhs to fight against the Mughals, Hardas Singh joined his followers and participated in most of the battles fought by him. He died in the battle of Bajwara AD 1715.

Jassa Singh

One of the known warriors from punjab jassa singh came from the zamindars/landlord family. Bhagwan Singh, the only son of Hardas Singh, was of a still more adventurous disposition. He had also mastered the Adi Granth. He shifted to the village of Ichogil which lay about twelve miles east of Lahore. He preached the Sikh faith in the neighbouring villages. He was an intrepid soldier. Bhagwan Singh had five sons, named Jai Singh, Jassa Singh, Khushal Singh, Mali Singh and Tara Singh. In 1739, during the invasion of Nadir Shah Bhagwan Singh saved the life of the governor of Lahore at the cost of his own. To reward his brave deed the governor gave a village each to all of his five sons. The villages gifted were Valla, Verka, Sultanwind, Tung and Chubhal. Of these villages Valla came to the share of Jassa Singh. [6]. Ramgharia Sikhs today (often referred to as Tarkhans) derive this name from the very same aristocratic Jassa Singh Ramgharia, who was renowned for his bravery in battle.

The Ghallughara

When Prince Timur, son of Ahmad Shah Abdali, marched against Adina Beg, the latter retreated towards the hills to the north and Sardar Jassa Singh and his brothers left him and went to Amritsar, where they joined the forces of Nand Singh Sanghania. The younger brother of Sardar Jassa Singh was at this time killed in action with the Afghans near Majitha. After the terrible blow dealt to the Sikhs by Abdali, in the Battle of Ghallughara ('Holocaust'), in which 17,000 Sikhs fell, the three brothers, Jassa Singh, Mali Singh and Tara Singh, with Jai Singh Kanhaiya (Leader of the Kanhaiya Misl), were reduced to the necessity of hiding in jungles and subsisting on whatever chance threw in their way. They had, however, the temerity to visit Amritsar to bathe in the sacred tank, and pillaged the suburbs of the city. When attacked by the Shah's troops they fired off their matchlocks and fled to the jungles. After the departure of Ahmad Shah, Jassa Singh with his brothers Mali Singh and Tara Singh, and Jai Singh Kanhaiya emerged from their jungle retreat, and collecting their followers ravaged the country far and wide, building forts and establishing military outposts. When Khawaja Obed, the Governor of Lahore, attacked the Sikh fort at Gujranwala, he was opposed by the united forces of the Ramgarhias and Kanhaiyas and the guns, ammunition and treasure left by the Governor were equally divided by the leaders of the two Misls.

Tarkhan Gotras (Clans)

Main article: List of Tarkhan Clans

Many Tarkhan clans are also cross-listed as Khatri, Kamboj, Lohar,, Jat, Gujjar and Rajput, due to Tarkhans having the same racial lineage and racial type as these ethnic tribes. In the context of secular classification they can be classed a Eurasian due to central Asian ancestral lineage contributions. Eventually Hephthalites (coalition between many tribes with different origins, including Mongolian and Turkic) and Huns (it is proven Rajputs have also an east-Asian ancestor-line). It is probable that Tarkhan, Gujjar, Jats, Kamboj, Khatris and Rajputs, have varying degrees of both foreign and indigenous Indian stock. In many parts, it is largely due to familial tradition that some members of a certain clan dub themselves Rajput and others of the same clan are Gujjar, Jat, Khatri, Kamboj and Tarkhan. This is more often the case in the Punjab, where there was already a large indigenous ethnic tribal population when the invading tribes arrived. Within the religion of Hinduism, it is not entirely clear in the case of many clans and surnames as to which subdivision of the religious Kshatriya classification they belong to. They were absorbed into the Hindu religious Kshatriya classification, given their warlike nature, and thus became one of the subgroups or in many cases, assimilated completely into older Indo-Aryan clans.

Tarkhan - Ramgharia Personalities

 The lists in this article may contain items that are not notable, encyclopedic, or helpful. Please help out by removing such elements and incorporating appropriate items into the main body of the article. (August 2008)
Monty Panesar was born into the Tarkhan Panesar Clan.

Political, Religious and Miscellaneous Figures

Eminent Writers

Sports Personalities

Film, Television & Media Personalities

Music Personalities

Eminent Painters/Artists

  • Sobha Singh - Artist and Famous Religious Painter.
  • GS Thakur Singh - Landscape artist par excellence
  • S. Sohan Singh Saggu (Popular as G. S. Sohan Singh) - Famous Artist.
  • Kirpal Singh - Artist who painted the bulk of the Sikh Museum at the Golden Temple, Amritsar
  • Dr. Surjit Kaur - A well known woman painter of Punjab, established Fine arts Department in Apeejay college of Fine Arts, Jalandhar.
  • Bhai Gian Singh Saggu - Artist and Fresco Painter.
  • Avtarjeet Dhanjal - famous artist based in London
  • Gurcharan Singh - Amongst the most sought after India painters based in Mumbai
  • Phoolan Rani - Amongst the better known women painters of Punjab
  • Rajesh Kalsi - Eminent artist, a product of Art College, Chandigarh, is famaous for his Printmaking, Digital Art and Photography

Successful Entrepreneurs

  • Sardar Ganda Singh - the man who played a decisive role in developing the railway network in the North-East in the 20s

Eminent Academicians

References

  1. ^ http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=w9aZOmVeD0IC&pg=PA412&lpg=PA412&dq=ayogava+artisan&source=bl&ots=nCqRX4vQ1U&sig=VNTd275_5WVBCj8IYqan0gKnYhs&hl=en&ei=n7s-SrioCuSfjAfons0F&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5
  1. ^  see H.A. Rose. A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province; Manu Smriti
  2. ^  Patwant Singh. The Sikhs.
  3. ^  Prof Sahib Singh - Adhi Bir Barai - page 198
  4. ^  H.A. Rose. A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province.
  5. http://www.punjabilok.com/land/origin_of_saka_race1.htm
  6. ^  Patwant Singh. The Sikhs.
  7. ^  Sir Denzil Ibbetson. Panjab Castes - page 313.
  8. ^  Sir Denzil Ibbetson. Panjab Castes - page 313.
  9. ^  Sir Denzil Ibbetson. Panjab Castes - page 312.

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