Johiya

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Johiya
Joiya
Jāti Rajput, Jat
ReligionsPredominantly Star and Crescent.svg Islam
Languages Rajasthani, Punjabi
CountryFlag of Pakistan.svg Pakistan Flag of India.svg India
Region Punjab, Rajasthan
Ethnicity Rajasthani, Punjabi

The Johiyas are a social group native to the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent. The Johiyas are classified as Rajputs [1] [2] and Jats. [3] [4]

Contents

History

The dilapidated remains of Fateh Khan Jat (Johiya)'s tomb Fateh khan Jats Tomb.jpg
The dilapidated remains of Fateh Khan Jat (Johiya)'s tomb

Alexander Cunningham derived the term "Johiya" from "Yaudheya", and theorized that the modern Johiyas were representatives of the ancient Yaudheyas. A.B.L. Awasthi, however, connected modern Rajputs to Yaudheyas instead; historian R. C. Majumdar finds Awasthi's identification more probable. [5] Yet another theory connects the Admera sub-group of the Johiyas to the ancient Audumbaras. [6]

Between the 8th and 12th centuries, the Johiyas were among the dominant communities of northern Rajasthan (historically known as Jangladesh), along with other Rajput [7] and Jat [8] clans. They were especially powerful in the Bikaner area. [9] By the 13th century, the Johiyas had begun converting to Islam under the influence of the famous Sufi preacher Baba Farid, with the 17th century Jawahir-i-Faridi listing the Johiyas as one of the Jat clans converted by him. [3] [4]

By the 16th century, most of the Muslim Johiya chieftains were vassals of the Rathores of Bikaner State. They routinely fought with the Bhattis, who were also vassals of Bikaner, over the territories of Sirsa, Fatehabad, Rania and Hisar. [10] According to the Tarikh-i-Sher Shahi , a prominent Johiya warlord, Fateh Khan Jat, had taken advantage of the chaos caused by the sudden rise of the Surs, plundering the main roads up to Panipat and briefly capturing Multan from the Baloch. [11] [12]

In the later half of the 18th century, the Sotar valley was held by Muslim tribes claiming a Rajput origin, [2] chief among them being the Johiyas and Bhattis. In 1768, the Johiya chief Kamruddin was commissioned by Maharaja Gaj Singh of Bikaner to retake Rania, Fatehabad and Sirsa from the Bhattis. In 1774, Amar Singh of Patiala had captured those territories from the Bhattis. in 1781, after a series of conflicts, a treaty was signed at Jind, wherein Tosham, Hisar, Hansi, Meham and Rohtak would be restored to the Mughals, Fatehbad and Sirsa would be restored to the Bhattis under Bikaner state, and the Jat Sikhs would keep the rest of the territories they annexed. Raja Jai Singh was then appointed as the Nazim of Hisar Sarkar. [13]

References

  1. Rima Hooja 2006, p. 424.
  2. 1 2 Gupta 1991, p. 41.
  3. 1 2 Cug̲h̲tāʼī, Muḥammad Ikrām (2006). Babaji: Life and Teachings of Farid-ud Din Ganj-i Shakar. Sang-e- Meel Publications. ISBN   978-969-35-1824-5.
  4. 1 2 Shri, Satya. Demystifying Brahminism and Re-Inventing Hinduism: Volume 2 - Re-Inventing Hinduism. Notion Press. ISBN   978-1-946515-56-8.
  5. Kunjilal Dubey; Rajbali Pandey; Ramesh Chandra Majumdar (1971). Svargīya Padmabhūshaṇa Paṇḍita Kuñjīlāla Dube smr̥ti-grantha. Svargīya Padmabhūshaṇa Paṇḍita Kuñjīlāla Dube Smr̥ti-Grantha Samiti. p. 256. OCLC   23568539.
  6. Parmanand Gupta (1989). Geography from Ancient Indian Coins & Seals. Concept. p. 20. ISBN   9788170222484.
  7. Rima Hooja 2006, p. 280.
  8. Sharma, Dasharatha (1966). Rajasthan Through the Ages: From the earliest times to 1316 A.D. Bikaner: Rajasthan State Archives. pp. 287–288. There is good reason to believe that parts of the present north-eastern and north-western Rajasthan were inhabited by Jat clans ruled by their own chiefs and largely governed by their own customary law.
  9. Rima Hooja 2006, p. 386.
  10. Gupta 1991, pp. 38–41.
  11. Sarvānī, ʻAbbās Khān (1974). Tārīk̲h̲-i-Śēr Śāhī. Translated by Brahmadeva Prasad Ambashthya. K. P. Jayaswal Research Institute, 1974. Archived. Quote: "[Suri] ordered Habibat Khan to be rid of Fath Khan Jat who was in QABūLA and who had once laid the entire country right upto PANIPAT to pillage and plunder in the time of the Mughals and had made them desolate, and had also brought MULTAN under his control after wresting it from the Balūcīs."
  12. Qanungo, kalikaranjan (1965). Sher Shah And His Times.
  13. Gupta 1991, pp. 41–48.

Bibliography