During the revolt of 1857, the ‘Movable Columns’ that marched to Delhi consisted largely of irregular units comprising of Pathans, Balochis, Punjabi Muslims (PMs), Jats, and Sikhs. It is wrongly believed that these ethnic groups were rewarded by elevating them to a superior category of soldiers that the British termed as ‘martial’. The concept of martial races was not an invention of the British. It was a part of Hinduism long before the arrival of the Muslims or British and already existed in the social fabric of India from the Vedic period which identified the Kashatriayas as a ruling and military class. The thought process of accepting these groups from the area of ‘Greater Punjab’ which stretched from Delhi till Peshawar, and elevating them to a marital status was initiated well before 1857 and took 50 years of debate to be accepted and completed. Since 90 per cent of the Army of Bengal had revolted in 1987, the British were hesitant in creating a fresh army of soldiers from the north who may repeat the same.
The model of the martial race was never fully codified. It evolved through reports by committees and correspondence between administrators and generals with new ethnic groups or classes being added and excluding some of the previous. The 1925 Annual Class Return of the army identified 34 ethnic groups / classes that were being recruited on the basis of possessing a strong identity and loyalty centred on their tribes. They were also better suited for operations in the Northwest Frontier and Afghanistan because they were physically stronger.
Edmund Candler in his book ‘The Sepoy’ says, “….. for generations, he [the Punjabi] had played a conspicuous part in every war the army fought in, and in every frontier campaign. ……in gallantry, coolness, endurance, dependability, he is every bit as good as the best”.
However compared to the Sikhs, Gurkhas, and Pathans, the PM remained relatively obscure for a number of reasons but most of all because he was modest. During the First World War, a seasoned major was all praise for his PM soldiers. “Here’s the old PM sweating blood, all through the show, slogging away, sticking it out like a good ‘un, and as modest as you make ’em. Never bukhs; never comes up after a show and tells you what he has done. You don’t know unless you see him.[i] He considered the Punjabi, “……better to-do going to the cavalry, but often to be found in the mountain artillery and the infantry, and in many ways forming the back-bone and the back-ground of the modern army.” The main clans and tribes of PMs in the army were the Awans, Janjuas, Gakkhars, Tiwanas, and the hill tribe of the Sattis. There were also some remnants of the Mughal armies from the clans of the Barlas, Chugtais (the original Jagatai Turks from Central Asia), Mirzas and the Begs, who had settled in the Potohar Plateau and the adjoining Salt Range.
The Awans were part of the core Muslim group recruited by the British during the First and Second World Wars and remains the most heavily recruited of clans in the Pakistan Army. Their origin is debatable. Some historiographers trace their lineage to either Jats or Rajputs, while others assert that Kutab Shah, whom the Awan claim as their common ancestor, came from Ghazni and assisted Sultan Mahmud in the conquests of Afghanistan and North-western India. For their service, he and his sons were bestowed with the title of Awan, meaning ‘helper.
The bulk of Awans are concentrated around Rawalpindi, Attock, Chakwal, Jhelum, Khushab (particularly the Soon Valley), and Mianwali. A number of Awan sub-clans gave their names to various localities such as Golera in Islamabad, Khewra in Jhelum District, Banjara in Sialkot, Jand in Attock, and Dhudial in Chakwal. The Awans of the Salt Range were described by Wikeley as “being a brave, high-spirited people with frank, engaging manners, at the same time headstrong and irascible to an unusual degree”. The Awans also populate KPK and are found in the Hazara Division as well as across the Indus, in the Peshawar valley and districts of Nowshera, Mardan, and as far away as Swat. Two sons of Kutub Shah settled in Tirah and their decedents are known as the Pirs or Syeds of Tirah.
Sir Michael O’Dwyer, Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab Province (British India) joined the Indian service as Magistrate, Civil Judge, Superintendent of the Jail and Treasury Officer. In 1885, he was posted first to Shahpur, Pakistan in Punjab. Writing about the tribes of Salt Range, he writes; “Of these perhaps the most interesting were the Awans of the Salt Range…………….It occurred to Wilson and me, who spent much time among them and every year had to send hundreds of them to prison for violent breaches of the peace, that it would be for their good and ours to open a career for the young” bloods” in the Army. A new battalion was then being raised. We induced the Commandant to come down to the great Horse Fair in 1888 or 1889, and persuaded the AWAN greybeards to bring in some hundreds of their young men- preferably the wilder spirits. Recruiting caught on like wild-fire, and in twenty years the Awan soldier had made his name and was to be found in nearly every Mohammedan company or squadron recruited in the Punjab. The material benefits were of no small value to a poor and frugal tribe; but they valued even more the increased izzat (honour) which military service confers in the Punjab. In the Great War nearly every fit man of military age came forward from these Awan villages, and an inspiring sight was to see the batches of young recruits escorted for miles on their way by their mothers, wives, and sisters, singing songs of the brave deeds of their forefathers and urging the young men to emulate them.”[2] India as I knew it, 1885-1925, by Sir Michael O’Dwyer p.41
Though a much smaller ethnic group than the Awans, the Janjuas were also recruited in large numbers with Jhelum and Rawalpindi Districts supplying the maximum recruits. They are a Rajput clan who settled mainly in the Salt Range east of Jhelum and in other parts of the Potohar Plateau. In the 12 century, their Raja Mal re-conquered the Salt Range and established his capital near Dina, north of Jhelum. Though the Janjuas resisted the early Mughal emperors, Malik Darwesh Khan Janjua became a trusted general of Emperor Akbar and renamed his capital Jalalpur in honour of the emperor whose first name was Jalaluddin. The fortunes of the Muslim tribes in the Punjab were eclipsed by the rise of the Sikhs in the 18 century and the Janjuas lost control of the salt mines at Khewra, which was their most valued possession. Consequently, during the Second Anglo-Sikh War, the Janjuas (as well as the Gakkhars and Awans) aided the British. The Janjuas consider themselves to be ‘the only really pure Rajputs in the plains of Punjab’ and consequently when they were initially recruited into the British India Army, they refused to serve in any company not commanded by either a Janjua or a commander of equal social standing. According to the 1907 Gazetteer of Jhelum District, “The Janjúas of the Salt Range are considered second to none in Martial Spirit and Tradition; and with the Gakkars and Tiwánás form the élite of the Punjábi Musalmáns”. They were also “much given to military service, especially in the cavalry,” and “make fine soldiers, most suitable for cavalry, as they are of light build.”[i] Following Independence, the Janjuas continue to be well represented and well respected in the army both amongst the officer corps as well as the rank and file.
Intermixed and competing with the Janjuas in the northern part of the Potohar Plateau was an aristocratic and warlike clan called the Gakkhars, who also extend into Azad Kashmir and further into the mountainous region. Sir Densil Ibbetson was of the opinion that “The Gakkhars are in popular estimation rank socially above all other Musalman tribes in which they are found”. Some historians believe that in 1008, Sultan Mahmud was nearly defeated by the impetuosity of an attack made on his camp by a large force of Gakkhars. The Gakkhars also battled successive invaders including Shahab ud Din Ghori, but from the 13 century till the 15 century, the history of the Salt Range was ‘a sickening record of wars between the Janjuas, and the Gakkhars for political ascendancy’. After subjugation by Babur, who stormed and captured their fort at Pharwala (on the banks of the River Soan) in 1519, they remained loyal to the Mughal emperors and were allowed to govern as feudal chiefs.
[i] Wikeley, J. M: op. cit. p.99.
As the Mughal power weakened, the Gakkhars maintained control over Rawalpindi, and parts of Hazara and Jhelum districts till they were defeated by the Sikhs at Gujrat in 1765. They initially resisted the British annexation of the Punjab, but later gave them total allegiance and were accepted into the fold. The British had a very high opinion of them and the historian PD Bonarjee in his compilation ‘A Handbook of the Fighting Races of India’, states that “They are an exceptionally fine race, proud, brave, high-spirited, and self-respecting. They are regarded in the localities they occupy as Sahu or gentlemen. Their leading men display a high-bred courtesy, and are very gentlemanly in their features and deportment”.[i] With these credentials, they were readily recruited into the army. According to the Gazetteer of Rawalpindi District, “They make first rate soldiers, in the cavalry especially, and in general no recruits are more approved of than true Gakkhars”.
Like the Gakkhar and Janjuas, the Sattis were a warlike clan but far smaller in number. They were the largest and most important tribe in the foothills of Murree and make up almost all the population of the Tehsil of Kotli Sattian, which covers the upper reaches of the River Sohan, and they share the hilly portion of Kahuta Tehsil with others. The clan claims a Persian origin dating back to 900 AD and the word Satti means ‘essence’ but can also mean steel or strong. In more recent times, the Sikhs subjected the Sattis to unprecedented atrocities and therefore they sided with the British during the Anglo-Sikh Wars. However, in 1857, they first sided with the Dhund and other tribes in a plot to attack Murree but held back when they became aware that the British were prepared to crush the revolt. Due to their proximity to Kashmir, the Sattis served in the Dogra army of the State of Jammu and Kashmir and from the First World War onwards, they were heavily recruited into the British India Army.
Though not strictly settled in the Salt Range, the Tiwanas reside just below it. Like the Janjuas, the Tiwanas are another relatively small ethnic group recruited into the army. They originally belonged to Madhya Pradesh but migrated to the Punjab and established a number of villages in Patiala. In the 11 century, part of the clan moved towards Central Punjab, and en route was converted to Islam by Hazrat Baba Fariduddin Ganjshakar. They ultimately settled in the Doaaba of the River Chenab and Jhelum in the district of Shahpur, where they farmed cattle and developed a strong culture of horse breeding. An off-shoot of the Tiwanas are the Noons who moved further north and settled in the area of Bhalwal and Bhera. In the Annual Class Return of the British India Army, they are referred to as the Noon Tiwanas. During the events of 1857, they supported the British in the Central and Eastern Punjab, with a force of 1000 horsemen that formed the Tiwana Horse Risala. So well did they perform that the first Native Officer promoted to risaldar major was Jehan Khan, a Mundyal Tiwana from the village of Hadali. The Maliks of the Tiwana clan were well rewarded by the British and became landlords. The two big villages, which were inhabited by them in the Shahpur District, were Hadali and Mitha Tiwana, both near Juharabad.
[i] Bonarjee. P. D: A Handbook of the Fighting Races of India. p.53.
