Khokhar

{{See also|Battle of Jhelum (1206)}}

File:The murder of Muhammad Ghori, A.D. 1206.jpg

The word "Khokhar" itself is of Persian origin and means "bloodthirsty". In 1204–1205, the Khokhars revolted under their leader and conquered and plundered Multan, Lahore and blocked the strategic roads between Punjab and Ghazni. According to Tarikh-i-Alfi, traders had to follow a longer route due to the depradations of the Khokhars, under Raisal, who used to plunder and harass the inhabitants in such a way that not a single soul could pass along it.{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=oApDAAAAYAAJ |page=65 |title= Proceedings - Punjab History Conference |volume=29–30 |date=1998 |publisher=Department of Punjab Historical Studies, Punjabi University|via= University of Virginia|isbn=9788173804601}} As Qutubuddin Aibak was not able to handle the rebellion himself,{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nMWSQuf4oSIC&dq=khokhars+ghori&pg=RA1-PA75 |title=History of Medieval India |page=75 |author= Mahajan |year=2007 |publisher=S. Chand |isbn=9788121903646 }} Muhammad of Ghor undertook many campaigns against the Khokhars and defeated them in his final battle fought on the bank of Jhelum and subsequently ordered a general massacre of their populace. While returning back to Ghazna, he was assassinated at Dhamiak located in the Salt Range in March 1206 by the Ismailis whom he persecuted during his reign.{{cite book|last=Chandra|first=Satish|author-link=Satish Chandra (historian)|title=History of Medieval India:800–1700|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qHnHHwAACAAJ|year=2007|publisher=Orient Longman|page=73|quote=He resorted to large-scale slaughter of the Khokhars and cowed them down. On his way back to Ghazni, he was killed by a Muslim fanatic belonging to a rival sect|isbn=978-81-250-3226-7|access-date=27 September 2022|archive-date=10 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230310204403/https://books.google.com/books?id=qHnHHwAACAAJ|url-status=live}}{{Citation |author=C. E. Bosworth |title=The Political and Dynastic History of the Iranian World (A.D. 1000–1217) |date=1968 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-history-of-iran/political-and-dynastic-history-of-the-iranian-world-ad-10001217/024AA8933D346C06170E0D72EA6D71A4 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=168 |quote=The suppression of revolot in the Punjab occupied Mu'izz al-Din's closing months, for on the way back to Ghaza he was assassinated, allegedly by emissaries of the Isma'ils whom he had often persecuted during his life time (602/1206) |isbn=978-0-521-06936-6 |access-date=27 September 2022 |archive-date=29 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210129084214/https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-history-of-iran/political-and-dynastic-history-of-the-iranian-world-ad-10001217/024AA8933D346C06170E0D72EA6D71A4 |url-status=live }} Some later acoounts attributed the assassination of Muhammad of Ghor to the Hindu Khokhars, however these later accounts are not corroborated by early Persian chroniclers who confirmed that his assassins were from the rival Ismāʿīlīyah sect of Shia Muslims.{{sfn|Habib|1981|page=153–154}} Dr. Habibullah, based on Ibn-i-Asir's statement, is of the opinion that the deed was of a joint Bātini and Khokar affair.{{cite journal |quote=...implying that some of the accomplices were non-Muslims, probably Gakkhar or Khokhar and is, therefore, of opinion that the deed was a joint Qārāmitah (Bātini) Khokar or Gakkhar affair.|title=Patna University Journal, Volume 18 |journal=Patna University Journal|volume= 18|date=1963 |page=98 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4rmgAAAAMAAJ}} According to Agha Mahdi Husain, the Khokhars too might be called Malahida in view of their recent conversion to Islam.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HRKk6h8Q1DUC |title= Futūhuʼs Salāt̤īn:Volume 1|author=Āg̲h̲ā Mahdī Ḥusain |year= 1967|quote=It is also said that the assassinators were Khokhars, for the Khokhars too might be called Mulahid or Malahida. |page=181 }}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EMTXAAAAMAAJ |page=438 |title=Encyclopaedia of the World Muslims:Tribes, Castes and Communities · Volume 2 |author=Abdul Mabud Khan, Nagendra Kr Singh |date=2001 |publisher=Global Vision |isbn=9788187746058 |quote=malahida and fida'is (i.e., agents of the Alamut Isma'ilis), which is somewhat curious in view of the recent conversion of the Gakkhars to Islam. }}

During his final campaign, Muhammad also took many of the Khokars as prisoners who were later converted to Islam.{{sfn| Wink|1991|page=238}} During the same expedition, he also converted many other Khokhars and Buddhists who lived between Ghazna and Punjab. According to the Persian chroniclers "about three or four lakhs of infidels who wore the sacred thread were made Muslamans during this campaign".{{sfn|Habib|1981|page=133-134}} The 16th century historian Ferishta states - "most of the infidels who resided between the mountains of Ghazna and Indus were converted to the true faith (Islam)".{{sfn|Wink|1991|page=238}}

In 1240 CE, Razia, daughter of Shams-ud-din Iltutmish, and her husband, Altunia, attempted to recapture the throne from her brother, Muizuddin Bahram Shah. She is reported to have led an army composed mostly of mercenaries from the Khokhars of Punjab.{{sfnp|Syed|2004|p=52|ps=}} From 1246 to 1247, Balban mounted an expedition as far as the Salt Range to eliminate the Khokhars which he saw as a threat.{{sfnp|Basham|Rizvi|1987|p=30|ps=}}

Although Lahore was controlled by the government in Delhi in 1251, it remained in ruins for the next twenty years, being attacked multiple times by the Mongols and their Khokhar allies.{{sfnp|Chandra|2004|p=66|ps=}} Around the same time, a Mongol commander named Hulechu occupied Lahore, and forged an alliance with Khokhar chief Gul Khokhar, the erstwhile ally of Muhammad's father.{{sfnp|Jackson|2003|p=268|ps=}}

The Khokhars, who were among the earliest to convert to Islam, were further converted due to the influence of Baba Farid, who gave their daughters in marriage to the families of the head of the shrine. The Jawahar-i-Faridi records out of the twenty-three of such marriages, fourteen were Khokhars, whose names were prefixed with Malik, which implied an association with political power. The names of the tribes associated with the shrine of Pakpattan included twenty clans, the Khokhars, Khankhwanis, Bahlis, Adhkhans, Jhakarvalis, Yakkan, Meharkhan, Siyans, Khawalis, Sankhwalis, Siyals, Baghotis, Bartis, Dudhis, Joeyeas, Naharwanis, Tobis and Dogars.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZSGzDwAAQBAJ&dq=shaikha+khokhar&pg=PT245 |title= The Making of Medieval Panjab: Politics, Society and Culture C. 1000–c. 1500 |author=Surinder Singh|date=2019 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn= 9781000760682 }}

Ghazi Malik founded the Tughlaq Dynasty in Delhi by a rebellion with the support of the Khokhar tribes who were placed as advance-guards of the army.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yRJDAAAAYAAJ|page=74 |title= Proceedings - Punjab History Conference |volume=13 |date=1980 |publisher=Department of Punjab Historical Studies, Punjabi University|via= University of Virginia|isbn=9788173804601}} The Khokhars enjoyed the favours of the Tughluqs for a considerable period till the revolt of Gul Khokhar. The tribes then took the opportunity to raise the standard of rebellion whenever the chance offered itself.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BJY9AAAAMAAJ|title=People and Politics in Early Mediaeval India (1206-1398 A.D.) |page=92 |author=Asit Kumar Sen |date=1963 |publisher=Indian Book Distributing Company|via=the University of Michigan }} Ainul Mulk Multani, the governor of Multan, exclaimed anxiety about his family and his dependents' journey from Ajodhan (Pakpattan) to Multan, since an uprising of the Khokhars had made the road unsafe.{{cite book |quote= exclaimed anxiety about his family and his dependents' journey from Ajodhan (Pakpattan) to Multan, since an uprising of the Khokhars had made the road unsafe. |title= Economic History of Medieval India, 1200-1500 |author= Irfan Habib, Najaf Haider |date=2011 |page=119|publisher= Pearson Education India |isbn= 9788131727911 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K8kO4J3mXUAC&dq=khokhars+multan&pg=PA118 }} The Khokhars conquered Lahore in 1342 during the reign of Muhammad bin Tughlaq and again in 1394 led by the chief Shaikha Khokhar, the former governor of Lahore during the reign of Sultan Mahmud Tughlaq.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p6Wyim9sn98C&dq=shaikha+governor+of+lahore&pg=PA152 |title= The Frontier Policy of the Delhi Sultans |author= Agha Hussain Hamadani |date=1992 |publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Distributors (P) Limited }} They grew powerful during the period of Firuz Shah, who led an expedition against the Khokhar chief in Sambhal.{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=KYLpvaKJIMEC&pg=PA72 |title= Medieval Indian Literature: Surveys and selections |date=1997 |page=72 |author= Ayyappa Panikkar, K. Ayyappa Paniker |publisher= Sahitya Akademi |isbn= 9788126003655 }} Nusrat Khokhar, the governor of Lahore, was one of main important nobles in the Delhi Sultanate along with Sarang Khan, Mallu Iqbal and Muqarrab Khan, the latter who were nobles of convert origin.{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=h0_xhdCScQkC&pg=PA207 |title=Expanding Frontiers in South Asian and World History: Essays in Honour of John F. Richards |author1=John F. Richards |author2=David Gilmartin |author3=Munis D. Faruqui |author4=Richard M. Eaton |author5=Sunil Kuma |date=7 March 2013 |page=247 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781107034280 |quote=Mallu Khan (also known as Iqbal Khan), a former slave}} The governor of Nagaur, Rajasthan, appointed by the Tughlaq dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate was Jalal Khan Khokhar.{{Cite book |last1=Saran |first1=Richard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=plP7DwAAQBAJ&q=chunda+khokhar |title=The Mertiyo Rathors of Merto, Rajasthan: Select Translations Bearing on the History of a Rajput Family, 1462–1660, Volumes 1–2 |last2=Ziegler |first2=Norman P. |date=19 January 2021 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |isbn=978-0-472-03821-3 |pages=219 |language=en}} Jalal Khan Khokhar married the sister of the wife of Rao Chunda, the ruler of the emergent Marwar kingdom.{{Cite book |last=Kothiyal |first=Tanuja |url=|title=Nomadic Narratives: A History of Mobility and Identity in the Great Indian Desert |date=14 March 2016 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-08031-7 |language=en|page=100}}

There are dispute regarding origin of Khizr Khan, the viceroy of Timur in Delhi and founder of the Sayyid dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate. According to some scholars, Khizr Khan was a Khokhar chieftain,{{cite book |author=Richard M. Eaton |title=India in the Persianate Age: 1000–1765 |year=2019 |isbn=978-0520325128 |page=117 |publisher=University of California Press |language=en |quote=The career of Khizr Khan, a Punjabi chieftain belonging to the Khokar clan...}} who travelled to Samarkand and profited from the contacts he made with the Timurid society.{{Cite book |author=Orsini, Francesca |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/913785752 |title=After Timur left : culture and circulation in fifteenth-century North India |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford Univ. Press |isbn=978-0-19-945066-4 |pages=49 |language=en |oclc=913785752 |access-date=8 January 2023 |archive-date=18 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221118183411/https://worldcat.org/title/913785752 |url-status=live }}

Mustafa Jasrat Khokhar (sometimes Jasrath or Dashrath){{sfnp|Pandey|1970|p=223|ps=}} was the son of Shaikha Khokhar. He became leader of the Khokhars after the death of Shaikha Khokhar. Later, he returned to Punjab and conqured most of it. He supported Shahi Khan in the war for control of Kashmir against Ali Shah of Sayyid dynasty and was later rewarded for his victory. Later, he attempted to conquer Delhi, after the death of Khizr Khan. He succeeded only partially, while winning campaigns at Talwandi and Jullundur, he was hampered by seasonal rains in his attempt to take over Sirhind.{{sfnp|Singh|1972|pp=220-221|ps=}}

File:Punjabi Muslim soldiers, WW1.jpg

In reference to the British Raj's recruitment policies in the Punjab Province of colonial India, vis-à-vis the British Indian Army, Tan Tai Yong remarks: {{blockquote|The choice of Muslims was not merely one of physical suitability. As in the case of the Sikhs, recruiting authorities showed a clear bias in favor of the dominant landowning tribes of the region, and recruitment of Punjabi Muslims was limited to those who belonged to tribes of high social standing or reputation - the "blood proud" and once politically dominant aristocracy of the tract. Consequently, socially dominant Muslim tribes such as the Gakkhars, Janjuas and Awans, and a few Rajput tribes, concentrated in the Rawalpindi and Jhelum districts, ... accounted for more than ninety percent of Punjabi Muslim recruits.{{sfnp|Yong|2005|p=74|ps=}}|}}

• Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar
• Mohammad Nawaz Khokhar
• Shaikha Khokhar
• Jasrat

• Khokhar Confederacy
• List of Rulers of Pothohar Plateau
• Tribes and clans of the Pothohar Plateau
• List of Punjabi Muslim tribes

Citations

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{{refbegin|2}}

• {{citation |first1=Arthur Llewellyn |last1=Basham |first2=Saiyid Athar Abbas |last2=Rizvi |title=The Wonder that was India |volume=2 |publisher=Sidgwick & Jackson |location=London |year=1987 |orig-year=1954 |isbn=978-0-283-99458-6 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/wonderthatwasind0000rizv }}
• {{citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L5eFzeyjBTQC&pg=PA66 |title=From Sultanat to the Mughals-Delhi Sultanat (1206-1526) |first=Satish |last=Chandra |publisher=Har-Anand Publications |year=2004 |isbn=9788124110645 }}
• {{Cite book|last=Habib|first=Mohammad|author-link=Mohammad Habib|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iQ1uAAAAMAAJ|title=Politics and Society During the Early Medieval Period: Collected Works of Professor Mohammad Habib|date=1981|publisher=People's Publishing House|language=en}}
• {{citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lt2tqOpVRKgC&pg=PA268 |title=The Delhi Sultanate: A Political and Military History |first=Peter |last=Jackson |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2003 |isbn=9780521543293 |access-date=18 August 2021 }}
• {{citation |title=Early medieval India |first=Awadh Bihari |last=Pandey |edition=Third |publisher=Central Book Depot |year=1970}}
• {{citation |first=Fauja |last=Singh |title=History of the Punjab |volume=III |location=Patiala |year=1972}}
• {{citation |title=History of Delhi Sultanate |first=M. H. |last=Syed |publisher=Anmol Publications |location=New Delhi |year=2004 |isbn=978-81-261-1830-4}}
• {{citation |first=Tan Tai |last=Yong |year=2005 |title=The Garrison State: The Military, Government and Society in Colonial Punjab, 1849-1947 |publisher=Sage Publications India |page=74 |isbn=9780761933366}}

{{refend}}

• {{Cite book |last=Wink|first=Andre|author-link=Andre Wink|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=75FlxDhZWpwC |title=Al-Hind the Making of the Indo-Islamic World: The Slave Kings and the Islamic Conquest : 11Th-13th Centuries |date=1991 |publisher=BRILL| isbn=9004102361 |language=en}}

{{Ethnic groups, tribes and clans of the Punjab}}

Category:Social groups of Punjab, India

Category:Social groups of Haryana

Category:Surnames of Indian origin

Category:Surnames of Hindu origin

Category:Punjabi-language surnames

Category:Punjabi tribes

Category:Social groups of Punjab, Pakistan

Category:Sindhi tribes