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Tarkhan (Punjab)

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Tarkhan (Punjab)
Giani Zail Singh (right), 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 namely 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. [4]

Most Tarkhans are commonly found residing in various parts of Punjab, India. Especially in places like Ludhiana, Jalandahar, Harayana, Firozpur and Sialkot.

Clan system

Mangal Singh Ramgarhia, Maharaja of Amritsar

For many years the Tarkhans have organized themselves into clan systems. This was to tell and separate their different jobs. One clan would be the people who cut the trees, another clan would be the ones to turn them into wood, and another would be the ones to turn sell the wood or make furniture out of them. there have also been some religious clans within the Tarkhan community, these where the once who were the heads of the Gurudwaras.

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.

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

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[5] and Denzil Ibbetson[6] - 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.[7]

[3]Template:Quoter

Tarkhan culture and society

Military

A large number of the Tarkhans fought courageously in World War 1 and World War 2. Currently there are many Tarkhans who serve in the Indian Army, including in the Sikh Regiment, Rajputana Rifles. Historically, the Sikh Tarkhans fought in the Sikh Wars, Battle of Longowal, and were members of Dal Khalsa. They were seen as a Martial Race during the British Raj, and were recognized as highly decorated soldiers and warriors.

Rulers and Warriors

Ajay Devgan an Indian actor. A Degan Tarkhan

Diet

The Tarkhans were well known to be fierce, intimidating and independent people. Recent sources indicate that they were known to be the heaviest consumers of alcohol. By and large they were said to be non-vegetarians, this was due to the vast amounts of meat available in the Tarkhan regions of Punjab. The main courses of meat were usually; chicken; pork; lamb; deer. This was due to the fact that the Tarkhans themselves would go out to hunt their own food, using the weapon known as the Gandasa

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. ^ http://www.sikhiwiki.org/index.php/Tarkhan
  5. ^ ^ see H.A. Rose. A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province 1919
  6. ^ 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)
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dal_Khalsa_(Sikh_Empire)
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