A Forgotten Hero Named Jassa

Sameer-ji,

You have written one of the best articles I have ever read on Chowk.

I will post fully at a later time because at present I am busy, but thank you for illuminating the path again with your wisdom.....

regards

Harpreet

Sameer, thanks for a very interesting article. The reality is that the muslim rulers at Delhi always looked down upon South Asian muslims. During the Sultanate times, Central Asians, Turks etc. were the elite that ruled the subcontinent, while desi hindus and muslims barely got the crumbs. The Mughals initially had a very low opinion about all desis, irrespective of religion. In Babarnama, Babar repeatedly refers to everyone east of Kabul as Hindustanis !! This is in spite of the fact that the area of Afghanistan and Pakistan had long converted to Islam. Moreover, Babar considered desis to be really ugly people and writes very derogatory stuff about the physical characterisitics of desis. Of course, in the later years, Mughal rulers were almost secular in nature, when they included everyone including hindus in the administration.

Your point about the survival of the fittest leading to conversions is well taken. However, I think that there were three factors that played a key role. First was definitely the socio-economic opportunities in coverting to the ruler`s religion. Second was the strength of hinduism in a particular region. Hinduism was very strong in the Indo-gangetic plains, while it was relatively weak in Pakistan and Bangladesh areas, which had seen the rise of Buddhism earlier. Hence the Sufis were able to make a lot of inroads in these places with their message. Third was the extent of coercion on the people. The muslim rulers at Delhi were not very coercive about forcing their religion. However, the Afghans in Afghanistan were particularly brutal towards Pakistan. They would raid every other year and commit enormous loot, plunder and violence. This added tremendous pressure on the local people to convert.

Why did the muslim rulers in Delhi stay away from spreading Islam ? I believe the answer lies in one word - racism. They looked down on desis. If everyone converted to Islam, they would ask for equality based on the faith. This was something that the muslim rulers were not willing to grant. Also it was easy to rule socially fragmented hindus as compared to an all muslim India. I hope that there is more study and research in this area, as we learn to undo some of the myths prevalant in both India and Pakistan.

Very intersting read. I had bumped into Jasrat`s name in pre-sikh history of Punjab but not with much detail. This will certainly make me more curious about that era of our history in future.

Another Jassa who chased Afghan warlord Ahmad Shah Abdali in the plains of Punajb in 1762 and afterwards was from village Ahlluwaal of Lahore district. His fore fathers were kalals(wine makers and sellers, so much for wine being gora influence on us:-)), hence he is also refered as Jassa Singh Kalal but after he freed about 2200 Hindu women from Abdali`s captivity when Abdali was returning home after paying his yearly visit to Delhi, Jassa was named Sardar Jassa Singh Ahlluwalia(Ahluwalia). He was also declared King of lahore for few days by his comrades. but his glory was standing up to Afghans. this was long before when Ranjit singh was not even born.

Sameer, finding our roots and role models in local history is what makes people proud and have the courage to stand up to tyranny of the rulers, their own and foreigners. I will share a story with you how much dulla bhatti is revered by Punjabis particularly and ironically by Indian Punjabis. East Punjab witnessed a very strong Marxist/Nexalite movement in the 60s and 70s. Communist workers used to go to every village and city and motivate people for revolution, laal inqlab, they used to call it. I was born in late 60s so don`t rememeber any of it only heard and read about it. Gursharan Singh is a leading play writer and performer who has his own group of people which to this day perform some of his inqlabi plays on stages. I attened one of these called (nagaara something..) in mid 80`s. It was based upon Dulla Bhatti`s story. The characters of Jaimal, maaN Ladhi and dulla etc were so native that in audience entirely made of Sikhs and Hindus only, I don`t think anyone even thought for a moment that Dulla was a rajput muslim. Gursharan Singh mentioned that he considers Dulla Bhatti the first real revolutinery of Pujnab from working peasant class.

I was also told that this play was very popular during Nexalite movement days and lot of those Punjabi comrades took inspiration from it.

and thus Abdulla lives on in Punjab. It is not uncommon to hear ``Dullay di waar`` from Punjabi farmers ploughing their fields in the early mornings along with Puran Bhagat and MaaN IshraN`s marsiyas.

Reply # 12 and 13

A separate Column by One and Only One hamidm!

AYE

Sameer:

Thanks for an interesting read.

hamidm:

If the chowk folks don`t give you a more permanent role, maybe you can entertain us in the interactions a little more actively. BTW how many days do you think the hapless CE has left?

later

-sac

`` He is considered one of the leading gorilla leader of the fifteenth century.....``

Damn, you turned the poor guy into a hairy ape. :) Do you mean guerrilla by any chance?

I`m not a fan of old world history or folklore, so I could not fully appreciate your article. The paragraphs that I read were the first two, and the last. Pretty good.

Dionysus: I was wrong when I said that no place is named after Jasrat. There are several villages in district Sargodha with names like Jasrat, Jassowal, Jassopura etc. I also checked the names starting with Khokhar and Gakhar. They are all over the place. Gakhar- in Rawalpindi, Sialkot, Bahawalnagar etc. while Khokhar- also in Rawalpindi, Sialkot but many of them in district Sargodha also.

Great link for those wishing to locate their town/ village down to longitude, latitude, current weather conditions, weather forcast etc.

http://www.calle.com/world/pakistan/

just pick the first two letters from the list, e.g., Ga, Kh or Ja

Sameer

My last post was based on memory. I do not have any family book in my possession here. However, the family books elaborate all the events related to Sultans of Delhi and Mughal Emperors and history before that. Most of the literature is in Persian and some in Arabic; very little has been done to translate it. One of my cousin is knee deep into history and he tries to translate whatever he can. Therefore,personally, I wont be able to contribute much (with proper references).

According to history (our) the Khokhars are Sooraj Bansi Rajputs who are said to be the descendents of Brahma Sooraj Bansi-the Sun god. Whereas Gakhars, who are also a ``cousin-clan`` are said to be the descendents of a lesser god. As one interactor said that Khokhars looked down upon Gakhars; that is one of the reasons. (This is also one main reason that the pre-Islamic history is nothing but utter shame for us; and I am always reluctant to associate myself with all so-called heroes and rajas of pre-Islamic dark ages).

Traditionaly, Khokhars inhabited the plains East of River Jehlum whereas Gakhars inhabited West of river-the Potohar Platue. Khokhars refer to Gakhars as `Pahariayay` which is equivalent to a slur.

Dionysus: Having read your previous interacts, I would be damned if I do not take your post seriously. This is exactly the kind I hoped for feedback for better understanding.

I will still be interested in knowing more before making a permanent image (good or bad) of Jasrat on my mind. I think without loot and plunder, he would not have survived. The governments can collect revenue from taxation but a rebel, a gorilla leader hiding in mountains for years? How would a person can provide food, shelter and arms for more than 10,000 people on the run?

The founder of Syed Sultanate was Syed Khizar Khan son of a wealthy person Syed Malik Sulaiman. Syed Khizar Khan was third generation of Turkish (or Afghan?) immigrants. He was born and raised in Multan, became subedar of Multan, sided with Timur in his invasion and rewarded the governorship of Lahore and Multan. He ruled in the name of Timur and later his son Shah Rukh until he captured Delhi from another Afghan Daulat khan who briefly occupied Delhi at the end of Tughlaq dynasty. You are right about him being a Punjabi? by birth and the only Sultanate started by a person born in sub-continent. However, most history book clearly state Sultanates to be essentially Turkish with two interludes of Afghans, Lodhis being the one and Syed or Daulat Khan being the other.

Khokhar/ Gakhar: I am not sure which arabic book of history you are referring to-might be Al-Beruni`s accounts of earlier history. Most of the books are actually in Persian and should have no problem with ``Kh or G``. Farishta, S. M. Habib and M. Habib call them Gakhars while others, particularly Indians call them Khokhars. The Hindu/ Sikh historian rely on the presence of large number of Khokhars on both side of river Jhelum from Mianwali to Jhang. They are further sub-divided into eight clans. Another source, they rely is very old, accounts of Panini who refers to people on the west and east sides of river Sindh as Parashkara and Karaskara respectively. Indian historians think Karaskara are Khokhars. There might be added dimention of Jat-Rajput here. Rajputs are generally more appreciated by Indian historian which may have something to do with connotation of Rajput with Hindus. I think Gakhar are Jats and Khokhar Rajputs, though I am not sure. It is also possible that the term Khokhar refers to the people of Karaskara (on both sides of river Jhelum), irrespective of their tribes because neither Gakhar nor Khokhar, at present, are numerous enough to cause so much trouble for Ghaznavi to Babar.

Thanks again for your reply.

Ustruly # 14, 15: I was hoping for your post. It was actually one of your post, mentioning your dislike for Shahab-ud-Din Ghauri that made me curious to know about who killed Ghauri. One thing led to another and I happened to have ``History of the Punjab`` by L. M. Joshi and Fauja Singh (3 volumes). The only controversy was between Gakhar and Khokar and I knew that you would be the best source to clarify it. I wrote a short post about Khilji`s taxation policies and Balban (extracted from the above mentioned source) and thought about writing an article with the purpose of making a clear distinction between rulers and Muslim subjects because some Indians unnnecessarily lump Pakistanis with past history as if their fore-fathers were partially responsible for subjugation. I used the newly found historical figure as metaphore to bring home the point.

Yes, Jasrat is the same person who is mentioned in your family tree as Malik Feroz. It was common practice for famous converts to have an ``Islamic`` name but a nickname given affectionately by followers which did not sound religious (because the followers were not monolithic in religion). Most of the historians copy from previous source and it appears to me that Tareekh-e-Firoz Shahi by Zia-ud-Din Barni, and Tareekh-e-Mubarak Shahi were the source for Mulla Qasim Farishta`s Tareekh-e-Farishta which was the source by S. M. Habib and Muhammad Habib in their history books. Whoever said Jasrat for the first time stuck permanently on his character.

I hope you will enlighten us and increased our knowledge from your family and traditional sources. As I have mentioned earlier that I have no vested interest in turning a petty dacoit or just a trouble maker into a hero. Moreover, is it Khokhar or Gakhar?

P.S. I am not a qadiyani and have no knowledge of Qadyani Laws. That was a supposition for the sake of disproportionality. I first thought of 7:2:1 and later changed it to 17:2:1 to make ruling elite look worse. I am thankful to you for inadvertantly inspiring to read something very intersting and even being sure of your praiseworthy ancestors, I would have never mentioned it like, ``yeah, I know who you are and whether an interactor is male or female and what not``.

hamidm#8 Thanks for your back-to-office report following your visit to Islamabad. All does seem to be well there it appears. Although the theft of the manhole covers by Afghans is something serious. Perhaps we should have a military guard protecting every manhole in the country from those Godless Afghans...if you know what I mean...

Error.

Please replace Ghaznavi with GHauri.

According to family history, which was written before TNT and Quadiani Laws, the 17:2:1 ratio doesnt apply at least to our clan because Ghauri was already beaten and Malik Sheikha was able to establish an independent area when he accepted Islam.

Sameer

According to our family history and family tree(based on manuscripts in our possession, the oldest, available, was written sometime in 1500s) the person whom you are referring to as Jassa is Feroz ud Din Sahib son of Malik Sheikha. He called himself Malik Feroz; Malik being a self assumed title.

Malik Sheikha was the first to accept Islam at the hands of a scholar (forgetting his name)who came with Ghaznavi, but he was not of Turkic origin, probably he was from the present day Attock area. He was burried in Dhaamaa which is somewhere in between present day Lala Musa and Kharian. The part of our clan which still lives in Dhaamaa calls themselves Malik.

In our family tree Malik Sheikha and his peers are listed with both their new Islamic names and pre-Islamic names. But there is no mention of name Jassa-the events that you described in your article are however, mentioned in relation with Malik Feroz. Could you please verify with your source of info.

Re: Ras Siddiqui #12

Chowk Staff: I second the motion. All those in favor say, ``Aye.``

Sameer, I like all of your role models/heroes
and respect them very much. I agree with you that
Pakistanis do not need to identify with remote
cultures and should be proud of what they are.

RE: Hamidm # 8
CHOWK STAFF, PLEASE GIVE THIS MAN HIS OWN COLUMN!
Let us title it ``I Love Mullah Umar``.

Ras

Prem #7: Although your remarks are very flattering but there is some truth to it. The thinking and politics on both sides of the border does influence the politics of each other-kargill crisis did influence to some extent the outcome of last Indian elections.

To me it is a win-win situation if we (Pakistanis) become more proud of being true Pakistanis by including and assimilating the traditions and cultural heritage into our identity. I will not accept it as a less patriotic than solidly sticking to a selective identification. To me, this is more patriotic, better for peace within different religious and ethnic communities in Pakistan and perhaps better relations with India. As a result, if RSS or Hindutva loses or weakens their rhetoric regarding Muslims and Pakistan; it is a bonus. Some very intelligent people like Hassan Gardezi, Qazi Issa, Dr. Mubarak Ali, Prof. Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad and Ahtizaz Ahsan have been writing about it in Pakistan. One of the Issue, Sangh Parivar to lose is branding sub-continent Muslims as foreigners, because of their strong identification with the past Turkish/ Afghan empires. There is nothing better to counter it with identifying yourself with land, people and culture and in the process becoming more proud of yourself.

Who needs Ghaznavi, Ghauri, Abdali and Aurangzeb when we have Jasrat, Khushal Khan Khattack, Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai and many more truly admiring personalities.

And why select Muslims only. If Indians can happily accept and elevate people of Muslim background, like Kabeer and Dadu (Bhakti Movement) to sainthood, why can`t we admire all those famous Indus people (or northwest sub-continent people) like Panini, Ashoka and Porus.