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Tribes and clans of the Pothohar Plateau[/H1]
The
Potohar plateau, or sometimes pronounced
Pothohar Plateau, is a large region of plateau situated in northern Punjab, Pakistan. It is bounded on the east by the
Jhelum River, on the west by the
Indus River, on the north by the
Kala Chitta Range and the
Margalla Hills, and on the south by the Salt Range[. The terrain is undulating. The Kala Chitta Range rises to an average height of 450-900 metres (3,000 ft) and extends for about 72 kilometres (45 mi). The
Swaan River starts from nearby
Murree and ends near
Kalabagh in the Indus river. Sakesar is the highest mountain of this region. The region roughly covers the modern day
Punjab districts of Attock, Chakwal, Jhelum and Rawalpindi and the
Islamabad Capital Territory.
Map of the Pothohar Region
The Pothohar region is home to a number of tribal groupings, many of whom occupy distinct tracts. The author of the
Jhelum District Gazetteer gave the following account of the tribal groupings at the beginning of the 20th Century.
The population is generally clearly sub-divided into tribes (quoms or zats), having a common name and generally supposed to be descended from a traditional common ancestor by agnatic descent, i.e through males only. Some of the tribes are very homogenous, as for instance the Awans, who number 16 percent of the total population. Others again, such as the Jat, who are returned as numbering 12 percent of the population, are a loose congeries of clans than a compact tribe
The author further goes on to say:
Almost every tribe is again sub-divided into clans (muhi), or smaller groups of agnates, distinctly recognized as descended from a somewhat remote ancestor and usually bearing a common name.
More recent works by the British anthropologist
Pnina Werbner have confirmed the continuing strength of tribal feelings among emigrant Pothoharis in the United Kingdom. This region was and still is an important source of recruitment into the old colonial British Indian army, and its successor, the Pakistan Army. Official recruitment policies have also encouraged the sense of tribal belonging among the Pothoharis. According to the 1931 Census of India, the last to collect data on castes, the largest tribes of the Rawalpindi Division, starting with the largest numerically, were the
Rajput, Awan, Jat, Gujjar and Kashmiri. Here is a list of the major tribes:
| Tribe | Attock District | Jhelum District | Rawalpindi District | Total |
| Rajput | 36,192 | 78,013 | 212,418 | 326,623 |
| Awan | 204,295 | 61,321 | 46,627 | 312,243 |
| Jat | 10,429 | 85,459 | | 112,261 |
| Pathan | 47,589 | 14,722 | 6,675 | 68,986 |
| Gujar | 13,246 | 20,526 | 27,485 | 61,257 |
| Maliar | 10,521 | 21,348 | 17,295 | 49,164 |
| Sayyad | 14,935 | 14,832 | 14,578 | 44,345 |
| Mughal | 6,459 | 18,830 | 16,446 | 41,735 |
| Kashmiri | 7,517 | 11,507 | | 25,793 |
| Dhund Abbasi | | | 29, 423 | 29, 423 |
| | | | |
| Gakhar | 437 | 11,507 | | 25,793 |
| Qureshi | 2,965 | 10,522 | 9,053 | 22,540 |
| Satti | | | 15,343 | 15,343 |
| | | | |
| Khattar | 4,548 | | 445 | 4,993 |
| Paracha | 1,117 | | 1,142 | 2,259 |
| Aheer | | | 173 | 173 |
PLEASE NOTE: The present
Chakwal District was created out of the merger Talagang Tehsil of Attock District and Chakwal Tehsil of Jhelum District in 1985. The Islamabad Capital Territory was carved out of Rawalpindi District in 1959.
Distribution
The Plauteau portion of the Pothohar region is held by the
Rajput, Jat, Maliar, Gujar and Mughal. The
Salt Range is held entirely by the Awan tribe. While the Murree Hills are held by the Dhund, Dhanyal, Kethwal and Jasgam. Along the Indus river, the Pathan hold the Chhachh illaqa, and the Makhad region, where the Kala Chita mountains meet the Indus river. In terms of population, the Awan and Rajput together accounted two-thirds of the total population of the Pothohar. The Jat, Gujars and Maliars then made remainder of the village population.
Awan
In terms of the general distribution, the Awan are perhaps the most widely distributed of the tribes, found in almost every district of the Pothohar region. The western portion of the Salt Range is in fact referred to as the Awankari, or country of the Awans.
Gakhar
The
Gakhar or Kayani are a tribe local to the Pothohar region, found only in Rawalpindi, Jhelum and Mirpur.
Gujar
The Pothohar Gujar are found mainly in Taxila, Rawalpindi and Gujar Khan tehsils of Rawalpindi District.[11]. In Jhelum District, they are found in the east district, along the Jhelum river valley, where they hold eighty villages, Kala Gujran being the most important. [12]. In Attock District, they are found mainly in Attock Tehsil and Fateh Jang Tehsil. They are almost absent in Chakwal District.
Jat
The Pothohar Jat, are found mainly in the Gujar Khan Tehsil of Rawalpindi District, with a few also found in Rawalpindi Tehsil. In Attock District, they are found mainly in Fateh Jang Tehsil and Pindigheb Tehsil, mainly along the border with Rawalpindi District. In Chakwal and Jhelum, they form an important element of the population.
Murree Hills tribes
The plateau is bordered in the east by the Murree Hills. Unlike the tribes settled on the Plateau, for the tribes of the Murree Hills, paternity is not the only fact worth considering. The author of the Rawalpindi District Gazetteer wrote the following:
The family bulks much less largely. Family pride is much weaker and more uncommon. Every family is split with feuds which generally have their origin in the domestic disputes to which polygamy gives rise. All the hillmen are democratic and no respect is paid to family pretensions.
The northern half of the Murree Tehsil is held entirely by the Dhund, who claim to be Abbasi Arabs, claiming descent from the Prophet Mohammad's uncle Abbas ibn Abdul Mutalib. The Satti tribe, which claims Rajput ancestry is found confined to the hilly Kotli Sattian Tehsil. In between these two tribes, are wedged the Kethwal, who claim descent from the Greek general Alexander the Great. The Dhanyal hold the western half of the Murree Tehsil, known as the Karor illaqa, as well as villages in the Islamabad Capital Territory. Like the Awan, the Dhanyal claim descent from the Prophet Mohammed's son in-law Ali. The smallest of the Murree Hill tribes are the Jasgam, who hold several villages in the hilly portion of the Kahuta Tehsil. Like the Dhund, they claim to be Abbasi Arabs.
Rajput
The Rajputs are found in greatest numbers in the Rawalpindi, Kahuta and Gujra Khan tehsils of Rawalpindi District, Fateh Jang and Pindi Gheb tehsils of Attock District, and found through out Jhelum and Chakwal districts.
Principal tribes Full Discription
Here is a brief description of the main tribes of this region.
Aheer
The Aheer have been referred to as "an ordinary Musalman peasents, like their neighbours." They are essentially a tribe of the Thal region, with villages in Khushab, Sargodha and Mianwali districts. They are differing and conflicting theories about their origin, as is the case with many other Punjab tribes. One of the tradition connects them to Qutab Shah, the ancestor of the Awan and Khokhar tribes. According to another tradition, they are Yaduvanshi Rajputs, and descended from the Krishna. In the Pothohar region, the Aheer have a small presence, with just two villages, Bher Ahir and Ahir in the Gujar Khan Tehsil.
Alpial
The Alpial are a Rajput tribe, found mainly in Attock District. According to 1931 census of India, their approximate population was 4,500.[16]
The Alpials claim descent from the Manj Rajputs, and their claim to Rajput origin is generally admitted. They appear to have settled in their present locality about the same time as the Jodhras and Ghebas, that is about the 15th Century, having first wandered through the country now contained in the Khushab and Chakwal districts before settling down in the southern corner of Fateh Jang. [16] The author of the 1929 Attock District Gazetteer had this to say about them:
Hard-working and excellent cultivators, generally tilling their own land and working laboriously on their wells, they have taken only a small part in the more lurid history of the district. Socially they rank high, intermarrying freely with the Mughals. They are a bold, lawless set of men, of fine physique, much given to violent crime, sturdy, independent and wonderfully quarrelsome.
The Alpials occupy a compact block of villages on both banks of the Swaan River, in Rawalpindi Tehsil, Rawalpindi District and the in the Sil Sohan circle of the Fateh Jang Tehsil,Attock District. They own 32 villages in all. The main Alpial villages are Adhwal, Chak Beli Khan, Chakri, Dinal, Dhullial, Dinal, Khilri, Mala Kal, Parial and Raika Maira, all in Fateh Jang Tehsil.
Awan
Most Awans maintain (and have always maintained) they are descended from an individual named Qutb Shah, a ruler of Herat and a general in the army of Mahmud of Ghazni, who himself was a Hashemite descendant of the Prophet Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, Ali (but by a wife other than the Prophet's daughter, Fatimah).
It is asserted that Qutb Shah and six of his sons accompanied and assisted Mahmud in his early eleventh century conquests of what today forms parts of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Northern India. It is claimed that in recognition of their services and valour, Mahmud bestowed upon Qutb Shah and his sons (who, according to tribal traditions, settled primarily in the Salt Range) the title of Awan, meaning "helper".[18]
The Awan, more than any of other tribes referred to are a Pothohar tribe. In numbers, they came only second to the Rajputs. In Rawalpindi District, they are two be found in every tehsil. In the Islamabad Capital Territory, almost all the villages around the town of Golra Sharif are held by the Awan. In Gujar Khan Tehsil, they hold almost all the villages along the Grand Trunk Road, north of the town of Gujar Khan, Pandar Kala being the most important.The Budhal muhi (clan) occupies several villages in this tehsil. They are also found in numbers in villages between Kahuta and Kallar Syedan. The Golra Awans, historically gave great trouble to the British colonial authorities, and permanent police post was maintained in their territory. The recent building of the new capital, Islamabad, and has some impact on this once fearsome tribe. Other important Awan villages are Banda and Rawat, both in Rawalpindi District.
In Jhelum District, they are found along the start of the Salt Range, in Pind Dadan Khan Tehsil, where the village of Nurpur has been the centre of the tribe. Isolated Awan villages are found through out Jhelum District, but there is no compact territory held by the tribe.
In Chakwal District, the Awan hold the whole of the Talagang Tehsil, the western Salt Range and the Thal Desert, and extend in the neighbouring Khushab District. Indeed this region is referred to as the Awankari or Awan country. Their main muhi or clans in the district are the
Mumnal, Saghral, Shial, Gang and Mund. Important Awan villages include Tamman, who headmen are seen as the chiefs of the tribe, in the district. Other villages include
Lawa, Trap, Dhermund, Pihra Fattial, Thoa, Chinji, Jhatla, Sangwala, Saghar, Dhaular, Bhudial, Patwali, Multan, Pachnand, Nila, Dhurnal and Danda Shah Bilawal.
In Attock District, their villages dominate the centre Pindigheb Tehsil in a strip from the Swaan River to the Kala Chita mountains. In Fateh Jang Tehsil, almost all the villages in the Swaan River valley are held by the Awans. In Attock Tehsil, they share the Chhachh illaqa with the Pathans and the Sarwala, with the Khattars. The principal muhis found in Attock are the Qutubshahi, Sadkal, Bugdial, Chajji, Saidan, Parbar and Ballial. Like the Golra Awan of Rawalpindi District, the Trer Awan of Attock Tehsil gave some difficulty to the British colonial authorities.Important Awan villages in the district, include Dhak, Jalwal, Maira, Jand, Jangla and Narwara in Pindigheb Tehsil, and Jhan and Bathu in Fateh Jang Tehsil, and Shamsabad and Bhallar Jogi in Attock Tehsil.[22] The village of Shamsabad is another important centre of the Awan tribe, and the chiefs of Shamsabad also wield considerable influence in Attock District.
The Potohar plateau, or sometimes pronounced Pothohar Plateau, is a large region of plateau situated in northern Punjab, Pakistan. It is bounded on the east by the Jhelum River, on the west by the …
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