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Who are Mohyals? Mohyals are a class of Brahmins whose origin is shrouded in mystery.
They
are
a distinct category of Brahmins who
combine military knowledge with wise learning and never pretended to do
any priestly duties.
This militant Brahmin race is
divided into seven clans known as Datt, Bali,
Chhibber, Vaid, Mohan, Lau and Bhimwal.
Any authentic history of their origin is not
available. However, mention about them is made in historical records from the
earliest times. During the time of the British East India Company , in the early part of the
last century, TP Russell Tracey made
a serious effort and wrote the history of this class , which was
gratefully acknowledged
by the General Mohyal Sabha at
Lahore on 30 June1911.
He mentions that the Mohyals are primarily
a military class,
divided into seven clans claiming
their origin from the Raj Rishis, who figured long before the
Mahabharat, they have been
prominently associated with the
government of the country whether military or civil, in the days of
universal Hindu rules.
They have also figured at some early
period of history in the affairs of Arabia, Central Asia Afghanistan
and Persia . At
the time of his writing he states
that they were spread from Afghanistan, Punjab to Bihar. In UP and Bihar they were known as Bhumihars. The Bhumihars also claim their descent from
Parshu Ram from whom the Chibbers also claim descent.
Mohyals
claim their origin from the Raj Rishis who figured long before the
Mahabharata. Being
of pre-vedic origin the ancient
Mohyals paid homage to their spiritual leaders like Parshu Ram. Their
basic religion was the
belief in the laws of morality as
enunciated by the sages Vyasa and Vashishtha.
The Mohyals claim
that they are the
progenies of the great Raj Rishis
who were distinctly different from the class of Brahm Rishis because
besides being high
priests of spiritualism, they also
wielded temporal powers. In fact, Parshu Ram was the first Brahmin in history to wear
arms and to conquer territories.
There
are other theories about the origin of Mohyals. They have figured in
Arabia
as citizens and rulers of the land.
They lived in Arabia like free citizens. The word 'Misr' in the Arabic
script is inscribed
on the antiques found in the
possession of certain Mohyal families.
Values Mohyals
are paragons of valor
and virtuosity and are always ready
to sacrifice their lives for the sake of dharma or the nation. They have
fought determinately
against fanaticism, religious
bigotry and social injustice. They have adapted themselves to the
successive rules of the Mughals,
the Sikhs and the British with no
recorded instance of treachery.
Mohyals abhor 3 things : 'the
taking of charity',
'the handling of scales(trading)'
and 'living a life of laziness'. Though numerically unimportant, they
are a stirring and
enterprising race, and frequently
rise to prominence in the service of the government which they enter in
large numbers. They
are remarkable among the Hindu
population in being hereditary agriculturists seldom practicing trade
and specially despising
the life of indolence led by the
ordinary Brahmin who lives by charity and with whom the Mohyals, though
admitting a common
origin, strongly object to be
classed with. top
The word 'Mohyal' The
word Mohyal comes from
the Prakrit form of the Sanskrit
word 'mahipal' and does not seem to be more than 6-7 centuries old. With
the passage of times,
over the generations, a distinct
class of Brahmins arose who discarded the priestly vocation in favour of
administrative and
military careers and became the
ruling elite. It was a custom in those days that government servants
were paid their wages
in the form of land grants. The land
given remained with the recipient family in perpetuity which led to the
evolution of
a new social order of the landed
aristocracy. The Mohyals and the Bhumihars of East-Up were an off-shoot
of this phenomenon.
The word Mohyal is accepted as being
the corrupted form of 'Mahiwal' or 'Mahipal' meaning 'the owner of
land'.
There
is another interpretation of its
being derived from the word 'Muhin'. 'Muhin' symbolizes the 7 castes
into which the community
is divided. In ancient dialect
'Mohi' or 'Mahi' denoted land while 'al' meant respectable man. Mohyals
were the masters of
the land and their deity was 'Hal
Ram' alias 'Bal Ram' alias 'Bal Dev'. He is the Aryan God of
agriculture; in one hand he
holds the plough and in the other
the pestle. top
Habitat
From
times immemorial till
the partition of Bharat in 1947, the
main habitat of the Mohyals was northern India, notably West Punjab
(now part of Pakistan)
, the erstwhile NWFP and Jammu &
Kashmir. There were many districts like Rawalpindi, Jhelum , Gujrat ,
Sargodha and Gurdaspur
in West Punjab which had large
concentration of the community. There were villages in these districts
in which a certain caste
of the Mohyals dominated and the
place was known with that caste as a suffix (e.g. 'Kanjrur Dattan',
'Tehi Balian' , 'Dera
Bakshian' and so on..). Kanjrur
itself was a conglomeration of half a dozen villages. Each one of them
had a good number of
Mohyals. The river Ravi was regarded
as the limit of Mohyal country as there were very few Mohyals living on
the east-side
of the river.
In the ancient
abodes, the 7 castes of the communities lived a closely knit life. Many
families shared
a common terrace or a balcony and
their members lived on first-named terms with each other. In the early
decades of this century,
when the reclaimed 'Bar' area was
being colonized many Mohyal families settled down in districts of
Shekhupura, Lyallpur and
Montogomerry and became owners of
large agricultural farms and orchards. Lahore which was the seat of
govt. and center for
education drew hordes of Mohyals and
they distinguished themselves in diverse professions. The city even
boasted of a 'Kucha
Balian'. Many adventurous Mohyals
became citizens of Kabul, Burma and Nairobi. After 1947, Mohyals spread
in all directions
making the whole of India their
home. Outside the country, there are a sizable number of Mohyals in UK,
USA and Canada.
During
the partition, the entire Mohyal
community migrated to India but 2 valiant families decided to stay on in
their ancestral
Karyala. One was headed by Bhai
Dalip Singh who was later shot dead by hired Muslim goons. The other
Bhai Jagat Singh continued
to stay there. He married a Brahmin
girl of 'Pind Dadan Khan' whose parents also refused to leave Pakistan.
Their children
are still living there. top
Lifestyle
The
Mohyals believed in the joint family system. The grandfather was the
chief patriarch
and the grandmother, the source of
all inspiration. The women carried on with the traditions, observed
fasts and represented
the family in the community weddings
and mourning.
The birth of son was heralded with the firing of
crackers. When
the boy was three years or five
years old ,his Mundan (Jhand) was performed. The festivity and feasting
on this occasion were
on a scale next only to that of a
wedding. A male lamb , with jet black head and spotlessly white body,
its head washed in
water and smeared with Vermillion
and Curd was taken to a Jhand (prosopic spicigera) tree. The lobe of its
ear was pierced
and with its blood a `tikka' marked
on the child's forehead. This was a symbolic baptism with blood and
ordained the child
to endure the wounds that might be
inflicted in the battles to come. An earthen `diya' was lit and a wicker
basket, turned
upside down, was placed on it. It
was surrounded by `thuthis'(earthen cups) The child in his bridal finery
sat on the basket,
and after the ceremony Was over, he
would trample on the `thuthis', smashing them-signifying the crushing of
the enemies.
The sacrificial lamb was then
slaughtered in one blow. It was eventually feasted upon, none but
Mohyals being permitted to
share it. It was considered as
`prasad' And even the women, howsoever rigid vegetarians, had to take a
morsel. Later on, some
families substituted the lamb with
it's effigy made out of `halwa.'
In the case of Sikh Mohyals
,instead of Mundan,
Kesh Gunthan or coiffuring of hair
was resorted to. The Jhand ceremony derived its name from Jhand tree
which was the focus
of the function. When the Pandavas
were defeated by the Kauravas and exiled, they hid their weapons in the
hollow of the Jhand
tree. Ever after, the tree has been
an object of worship by warrior tribes. These rites clearly show that
from the earliest
days a Mohyal youth was impressed
with one object in life and that was that he was born to fight. The
Mundans are still performed
with great pomp but are shorn of the
traditional rites.
Another auspicious ceremony in the life of a
boy, before he
grew 12 years old, was Yagyopavit.
The function was performed in front of the sacramental fire,accompanied
by the chanting
of Vedic hymns. The sacred thread,
made from spun wool, girdled the neck and the loins of the child
suggestive of the cross-belt
of a soldier and marked his
anointment as a Brahmin. The thread was renewed Half- yearly, at the
time of the Navratra Ashtmi.
On all ceremonial occasions,
Mohyals prepared Mitteran-da-Halwa, which was distributed amongst the
members of the
clan. At the time of a girl's
marriage, the brother gave puffed rice to his sister which she threw
back over her head to symbolize
that the bride will flourish in her
new environs as the rice does on transplantation.
Every Mohyal
family had its
own Purohit ,a Bhat and a barber
(Nai). The Purohit Solemnized all religious ceremonies, the Bhat used to
recite ballads recalling
the valiant deeds of the family's
ancestors while the Nai was the traditional envoy for carrying messages.
The old
Mohyals were very proud of the
purity of their racial blood and never courted marriages outside their
own fraternal fold.
A divorce was never heard of. As
they lived close to the battle scarred frontiers, in areas dominated by
the Muslims, there
was a definite stamp of the customs
and ways of life of the Latter on Mohyals; e.g. they were by and large
meat-eaters, the
shalwar was a common dress of both
men and women , Urdu was the medium of education. But whatever the
political and environmental
compulsions, the Mohyals faithfully
preserved their racial identity, their social conventions and their
inherent graces. They
are a self- respecting class and
resent injustice and insult.top
MOHYALS AS WARRIORS
A Mohyal is a Brahmin as well as a warrior. This paradox runs in every Mohyal family.
Their history is an unending saga of sacrifice and gallantry.
When Alexander the Great invaded India in 326 BC he
was challenged near Taxila by a mere chieftain. He was King Porus, a Vaid Mohyal.
After his encounter with Porus, Alexander
met with more resistance near Multan
where the forces were predominantly Mohyal. Multan in those days was
the capital of Bali
rulers. They engaged Alexander's
army in skirmishes in which many senior Generals died. The long and
bitter fighting forced
Alexander to call of his dream of
conquering India and order a retreat.
The Mohyals also used
their fighting prowess
to uphold nobler values of life.
They shed their blood at Karbala in 681 AD to show their solidarity with
the Prophet's kin.
In 1527, they were slaughtered to
the last man, just to safeguard the viriginity of a Khatri girl.
During
the Mughal
and Sikh rule, they were bestowed
with titles like Bakshi, Dewan, Mehta etc. in reward for their bravery.
Maharaja Ranjit
Singh appointed many Mohyals to his
famous Vadda Risala-the Life Guards of the Lion of Punjab. During the
British period,
fifty percent of the Mohyal
commisioned officers, were decorated with awards for their distinguished
services.
After
independence Mohyals have won
laurels during the wars with China and Pakistan. When the Military
Academy results are published
Mohyals figure in large number
amongst the successful candidates. When gallantry awards are announced,
they form a sizeable
number. top
COURTESY TITLES
All
castes of Mohyals have the rare privilege of using certain titles with
their
names that were bestowed on them by
the Mogul and Sikh rulers for their bravery and unimpeachable loyalty.
These appellations
which are still in use are:- Bakshi,
Bhai, Chaudhri, Dewan, Malik, Mehta and Raizada. These epithets have a
Persian connotation
and imply status.
'Bakshi' means benevolent,
'Chaudhri' means head of the family or village,
'Dewan' means
a landlord,
'Mehta' means the in charge of finance/property
'Raizada' means a wise man or adviser.
The
title
of 'Bhai' was specially conferred on
the Chibbers of Karyala by the Sikh Gurus for their great sacrifices
and devotion to
dharma. The Dewans (prime ministers)
of all the ten Gurus were Chibbers of Karyala. The title of Chaudhri
was a mark of distinction
of the Datts of Kanjrur, Veeram and
Zaffarwal. The title of Dewan was used by the Datts hailing from Guliana
and certain other
places, Raizada was used mostly by
Balis and occasionally by Vaids. The prefixes of Mehta and Bakshi are
commonly used by
the various castes of Mohyals. As
some of the titles currently used by the Mohyals are also used by
certain non-Mohyal communities,
it is desirable to mention both the
courtesy title as well as the caste with the name, to clearly denote the
Mohyal identity.
top
CASTES
A
few centuries ago, the family of Mohyals was part of a conglomeration
of 52 castes although they
fraternized with only have a dozen castes apart from their own guild of
seven castes. Even in their
own circle of seven castes, the
Mohyals in the past were rather cool towards the Laus and Bhimwals, in
the matter of marriages,
but this attitude is now wearing
off. The Mohyal community was facing serious difficulty in finding
matches for their children
in their own fraternity, even before
partition. Somehow they were able to manage the alliances amongst
themselves and thus
preserve the genealogical purity of
the clan. This was possible because the community almost in its entirety
lived in the
Punjab, in formidable strength in
numerous mandis. However after partition, the demographic map nderwent a
change with only
about 10% Mohyals left in the
Punjab, nearly 20% settled in Delhi, around 30% living in Haryana,
Himachal Pradesh and UP and
the rest scattered in small numbers
all over the country and in foreign lands. As a result of these changes,
an already critical
matrimonial problem confronting the
Mohyal society was further aggravated. This led to marriages being
courted not only with
non Mohyal Brahmins but even with
non-brahmins.
Some of the counterparts of the Mohyals in
different states are: Tyagis,
Purohit, Vyas, Chitpavans, Mishra,
Sinha, Bhaduri, Chakravart, Ganguly, Goswami, Maitra, Sanyal, Dass,
Iyers. top
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Proud to be a Mohyal
ReplyDeleteMohyals have a glorious history.It is definitely proud to be a Mohyal. Rajiv Dutta Delhi
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
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