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==Tarkhans and Lohars==
==Tarkhans and Lohars==
[[File:Sardar_Mangal_Singh_Ramgarhia_of_Amritsar.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Sardar Mangal Singh Ramgarhia of [[Amritsar]]]]

Historically,the Sikh tarkhan's occupation was carpentry as well as being blacksmiths.Many administrators of the [[British Raj]] period who also wrote books&nbsp; - such as [[H. A. Rose]]<ref>{{note|Rose}} ''see'' [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=1QmrSwFYe60C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false H.A. Rose. ''A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province 1919]</ref> and [[Denzil Ibbetson]]<ref>{{cite book|last=Ibbetson|first=Denzil|title=Panjab Castes|year=1916|publisher=Low Price Publications, 1916|location=Lahore|isbn=8185557551, 9788185557557|pages=349|url=http://books.google.co.in/books/about/Panjab_castes.html?id=VWhuAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y|edition=reprint|accessdate=2 December 2012|pages=309–314|chapter=Workers in wood,iron,stone and Clay}}
Historically,the Sikh tarkhan's occupation was carpentry as well as being blacksmiths.Many administrators of the [[British Raj]] period who also wrote books&nbsp; - such as [[H. A. Rose]]<ref>{{note|Rose}} ''see'' [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=1QmrSwFYe60C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false H.A. Rose. ''A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province 1919]</ref> and [[Denzil Ibbetson]]<ref>{{cite book|last=Ibbetson|first=Denzil|title=Panjab Castes|year=1916|publisher=Low Price Publications, 1916|location=Lahore|isbn=8185557551, 9788185557557|pages=349|url=http://books.google.co.in/books/about/Panjab_castes.html?id=VWhuAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y|edition=reprint|accessdate=2 December 2012|pages=309–314|chapter=Workers in wood,iron,stone and Clay}}
</ref> -&nbsp;referred to the blacksmith communities as ''[[Lohar]]s'', although in fact that term refers to a specific group of people [[sikligar]] and is not the synonym that they supposed.<ref>{{cite book |title=Strategies of social change in India |first1=Paramjit S. |last1=Judge |first2=Gurpreet |last2=Bal |publisher=M.D. Publications |year=1996 |isbn=978-81-7533-006-1 |url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=7lKM4aWhIH0C |page=54 |accessdate=2012-03-21}}</ref>
</ref> -&nbsp;referred to the blacksmith communities as ''[[Lohar]]s'', although in fact that term refers to a specific group of people [[sikligar]] and is not the synonym that they supposed.<ref>{{cite book |title=Strategies of social change in India |first1=Paramjit S. |last1=Judge |first2=Gurpreet |last2=Bal |publisher=M.D. Publications |year=1996 |isbn=978-81-7533-006-1 |url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=7lKM4aWhIH0C |page=54 |accessdate=2012-03-21}}</ref>

Revision as of 13:43, 7 December 2013

This article is about Tarkhan, a Northern Indian tribe. For other uses, see Tarkan (disambiguation)
Tarkhan (Punjab)
File:Giani Zail Singh1.jpg
Giani Zail Singh, Chief Minister of Punjab and First Sikh President of India.
Regions with significant populations
Punjab
Languages
Punjabi, Hindi, English[citation needed]
Religion
Sikhism, Hinduism, Islam[citation needed]
Related ethnic groups
other Indo-Aryans

The Tarkhan (Template:Lang-pa (Shahmukhi), तरख़ान (Devanagari) tarkhān) are considered a Punjabi tribe. They are carpenters by occupation.[1]

H.A. Rose[1] supposed that they are descended from the Saka tribes, and originally settled in Taxila. Scholars such as Khalsa have analysed the work of ethnographers such as Ibbetson, Cunningham, and Elliot, and have concluded that agrarian and artisan communities in Punjab such as Tarkhans may be of Scythian origin.[2]

Further analysis has suggested that Tarkhans may be descended from Scythic tribes who settled in north-western India in successive waves between 500 B.C. too 500 AD.[3]

History

Sikh Tarkhans are more commonly referred to 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 India. Historically, the Sikh Tarkhans' occupation was Carpentry, Tarkhans have served couragously in crack Commando units of the Punjab and Sikh Regiments of the Indian Army, as brave fighter pilots and in the Navy. They were made famous on the silver screen in the Bollywood film, “Border” , which depicted their brave actions in the Battle of Longowal, a battle fought during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. The Tarkahan occupation, carpentry, normally consisted of 15 - 18 hours a day of cutting down trees for wood, and making tables, desks, chairs, wardrobes and other woodwork items. If the wood was not used to make these items, they would get sold to the farmers, who used the wood to make fences for their areas.

Tarkhan clans

According to Sir Denzil Ibbetson[2], the major Twelve Tarkhan clans (Based on 1881 census) of the Punjab and the Northwest Frontier Province in the order as they occur from east to west are:

  • Jhangra - found in Delhi and Hissar
  • Dhaman/Dhiman - found in Karnal, Ambala, Jalandahar, Sialkot, Patiala, Nabha, Faridhkot and Firozpur.
  • Khatti - found in Karnal, Ambala, Jalandahar, Sialkot, Patiala, Nabha, Faridhkot and Firozpur.
  • Siawan - Jallandhar and Sialkot
  • Gade - Amritsar
  • Matharu - Ludhiana, Amritsar and Lahore.
  • Netal - Hoshiarpur
  • Janjua - Rawalpindi
  • Tharu - Gurdaspur and Sialkot
  • Khokar - Lahore, Rawalpindi and Multan
  • Bhatti - Lahore, Rawalpindi and Multan
  • Begi Khel - Hazara.
  • Ubhi - Ludhiana, Haryana, Amritsar, Jalandahar
  • Bachoo - Ludhiana, Jalandahar

Ibbetson notes further that:

"The carpenters of Sirsa are divided into two great sections: the Dhaman/Dhiman and Khatti 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."

Tarkhans and Lohars

Sardar Mangal Singh Ramgarhia of Amritsar

Historically,the Sikh tarkhan's occupation was carpentry as well as being blacksmiths.Many administrators of the British Raj period who also wrote books  - such as H. A. Rose[4] and Denzil Ibbetson[5] - referred to the blacksmith communities as Lohars, although in fact that term refers to a specific group of people sikligar and is not the synonym that they supposed.[6]

[3]Template:Quoter

Rulers

See also

Dhiman

References

  1. ^ W. H. McLeod, Exploring sikhism: aspects of Sikh identity, culture and thought, Oxford University Press, 2000 ISBN 978-0-19-564902-4, p. 214.
  2. ^ http://rajputana.htmlplanet.com/scy_raj/scy_raj1.html
  3. ^ www.worldmultimedia.biz/Culture/yuechih%20sakas%20kushans.pdf
  4. ^ ^ see H.A. Rose. A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province 1919
  5. ^ Ibbetson, Denzil (1916). "Workers in wood,iron,stone and Clay". Panjab Castes (reprint ed.). Lahore: Low Price Publications, 1916. pp. 309–314. ISBN 8185557551, 9788185557557. Retrieved 2 December 2012. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
  6. ^ Judge, Paramjit S.; Bal, Gurpreet (1996). Strategies of social change in India. M.D. Publications. p. 54. ISBN 978-81-7533-006-1. Retrieved 2012-03-21.
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