Sidhu

Sidhu (Punjabi: ਸਿੱਧੂ, siddhū) is a prominent and influential Jat/Jatt gotra (clan). The Sidhu clan is mainly found in the state of Punjab in India.

When Mohammed of Ghor invaded India, he was given maximum support by Rao Hemraj and his followers. Rao Hemraj was rewarded with the control of the Sirsa, Hisar and Bathinda areas. Rao Hemraj built a fort in Hisar. He ousted the Panwar Rajputs from the area of Muktsar. He died in 1214.

Origin of Sidhu

The ruling Sikh families of Patiala, Jind, Faridkot & Nabha in the Punjab, which after Independence, shortly came together as the Patiala and East Punjab States Union(PEPSU), were the famed Sidhu-Brars who traced their origin to the Bhattis / Bhatis. Kiwha was a descendant of Rawal Jasial. Kiwha's son Sidhu is the ancestor of the Sidhu Jats. Brar was the tenth descendant of Sidhu and is considered to be the ancestor of the Brar Sikhs. The heads of these families are said to have received baptism and initiation into the Khalsa fold from Guru Gobind Singh himself during his stay at Muktsar and areas in the vicinity.

Sidhu was also married into a Gill Jat tribe. He sired six sons from this marriage:

• Dahar's descendants are know as Bhaike of Kainthal and Jhumba.
• Dhar's descendants are know as Pirkotias.
• Roop's progeny are Rosse of the village of Tehna in Faridkot.
• Suro's progeny are know as Meharmia.
• Mano's descendants are settled in Malkana and Naurang villages and known as Manokes.
• Bhura's descendants are known as Harikas and Brars.
• Hari Rao was born in the family of Sita Rao, the elder son of Bhura. He was the founder of the Harkike Sidhu branch. Kaonke, Attari, Harike and Fattanke belong to this lineage. They are not of Brar lineage.
• Jarth, the second son of Sita Rao, sired Brar who founded the Brar Clan.

Thus, Sidhus have seven sub-clans:

1. Brar
2. Harike
3. Bhaike
4. Pirkotiye
5. Rosse
6. Jaid
7. Manoke

The Brars

Brar was the fifth generation descendant of Sidhu. He was a known marauder and warrior. He regained Bathinda after defeating the Bhattis. He also rebelled against the Delhi government. He made Bidowali in Bathinda as his stronghold. He died around 1415 BCE in Bidowal. Brar's family was then known as a strong warlike family that were overwhelmingly loyal, brave, fearless, and courageous. During Timur's raid on Northern India in 1398, the Brars robbed Timur in the area of Tohana in today's Haryana. After marauding, the Brars used to take shelter in the jungles of the area. The enraged Timur started deforestation on a large scale. Timur killed a large number of Brars and avenged his losses. Also, the Brars were once involved in a feud with the Bhullar, who did not like the Brars on their territory. A large battle was fought between the Brars and Bhullars at Bidowali, with Dull leading the Brars to victory.

Brar had six sons but only Dull and Paur could attain fame. Brar had three brothers whose descendants also call themselves as Brars. The Harike Sidhus also claim to be Brars although they are not. Faridkotiye and Sangharke belong to the lineage of Dull while Phoolke, Mehrajke and Ghurajke are from the lineage of Paur. They are mostly settled in the Bahia area of Bathinda.

Dull sired four sons named Ratan Pal, Lakhan Pal, Binay Pal and Sehan Pal.

Ratan Pal's descendants are settled in the villages of Abloo, Daan Singh Wala, Kotli, Kili, Mehma Sarja and Kundal. Lakhan Pal’s descendants are called Deonke. Sehan Pal's progeny is settled Nagedi Sran and Fidde while Binay Pal’s in Matta, Doda, Kauni, Bhagsar and Jhutti Patti of Bathinda. Sanghar from the lineage of Binay Pal attained eminence. He had fourteen sons including Bhallan. Other Sub-clans formed, starting from the 16th century onwards, including Attariwalla and others.

The Famous BRARs
1. Khushpreet Singh Brar- A burgeon researcher of Department of Library and Information Science (DLIS), Punjabi University, Patiala. He is University Gold Medalist in BLIS and University Silver Medalist in MLIS. His hometown is Muktsar in Punjab. He has Participated and member of organizing team of many International workshops and conferences . He is a life time member of ILA, IATLIS and PLA.
2. Gurpreet Singh Brar - A budding Political Scientist, ICSSR Research Fellow in the Department of Political Science, Punjabi University, Patiala. He belongs to village Gaggar, P.O. Badal, Teh. Lambi, Dist. Muktsar. He has written two books: Politics in Punjab and Gram Panchayats in India. He has also won Gold Madel in All India Inter-University Youth festival. He has presented many papers in various National and International Seminars.
3. Bhupinder Singh Brar
4. Jagwinder Singh Brar- Elder brother of Bhupinder Singh Brar.
5. Balwinder Singh Brar- Chairman of Mai Bhago group of Colleges.

Sidhus and Brars during the lifetime of the Sikh Gurus

Balhan

Akbar appointed Bhallan Brar as Chaudhry of his area. He died in 1543.

Bidowali (or Bidowal) is the original village of the famed Sidhu-Brars. The sixth Sikh Guru, Guru Har Gobind, along with his family, were granted a visit to Mohan in Vikrami Samvat 1688.

Mohan and Kala

According to the Bathinda Gazette, the Choudhar (landlordship) of this area was given by the Mughals to a Sardar (Chief) named Bairam of Brar lineage. After his death in 1560, the same was handed over to Mehraj. Mehraj’s grandson Mohan was pestered by Muslim Bhattis and he left Bidowali for some time in 1618 and came to the Bathinda area. According to one description, Mohan and his son Roop Chand laid their lives in 1632 during a fight with Muslim Bhattis. Mohan’s son Kala was also an ardent follower of the sixth Guru. When Shah Jehan’s army attacked the Guru in 1635 at Lehra near Mehraj, Kala along with his clan sided firmly with him. The Guru ended victorious. A happy Guru Har Gobind asked Kala Brar to fence as much land he wanted to. By evening, Kala had marked twenty-two villages and put his fence (Morhi) into the ground. The Bhullar Jats, who considered themselves to be the original dwellers and owners of this area removed his fence and threw it into a well. When Kala complained against this to the Guru, he remarked: "Bhai Kala, your roots have reached to the other world." Hence, Kala founded a village and named it as Mehraj.

Phool

When Guru Har Rai visited this area, Kala along with his cousins, Phool and Sandal appeared for his service. The Guru blessed Phool and Sandal with the privilege of affording to take his horse to the Ganges and Yamuna rivers for drinking water. On growing up, Phool founded the village of Phool and captured the areas surrounding it. Chowdhary Phool sired Tarlok Singh and Ram Singh who avenged his death from Nawab Isa Khan. They were baptized at the hands of the tenth Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh.

During Guru Gobind Singh's time, the Brars dominated the Malwa region of the Punjab. Aurangzeb too dreaded the Brars and did not dare enter Malwa. Guru Gobind Singh in his Zafarnama referred to the Brars saying that all the Brars supported him.

Sidhu and Brar kingdoms

Main article: Phulkian Sardars Sidhu-Brar bans

Sidhus and Brars had five principalities of their own in the Malwa region of the Punjab prior to the Partition. These were Patiala, Nabha, Jind, Kaithal and Faridkot. After the Partition, Patiala, Nabha, Jind and Faridkot, along with three other princely states (Kapurthala, Malerkotla and Kalsia) formed the short-lived Patiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU), with the Maharja of Patiala, Yadavindrah Singh as the Rajpramukh and the capital at the city of Patiala. PEPSU was later incorporated into the new state of Punjab, from which Himachal Pradesh and Haryana were later separated due to the reorganization of Indian states on a linguistic basis.

Patiala, Nabha and Jind

Phool Brar

The descendants of these two brothers ruled over the principalities of Patiala, Nabha and Jind. These three were known as the Phoolkian principalities after Phool Brar. Among these three, Baba Ala Singh expanded his principality far and wide. He was an ardent Sikh and a statesman of high calibre. He was the Misldar of the Phoolkian Misl. Baba Ala Singh died in 1765.

Faridkot

The ancestor of the Faridkot principality, Bhallan was also an ardent follower of Guru Har Gobind. He had also helped the Guru in the battle of Mehraj. He died issueless in 1643.

Kapura, who was a nephew of Bhallan, succeeded him. Kapura founded the town of Kot Kapura in 1661. Kapura was the Chaudhry of eighty-four villages. He was also a Sikh but did not want to earn the ire of the Mughals. In the battle of Muktsar in 1705, Kapura helped Guru Gobind Singh ji in an underhand manner. Kapura was slain by Isa Khan Manj in 1708. He had three sons named Sukhia, Sema and Mukhia. Mukhia killed Isa Khan and took control of the entire area. Sema was also killed in this battle in 1710. Kapura’s elder son Sukhia again came into power in 1720.

In 1808, Maharaja Ranjit Singh captured the principality of Faridkot up to Muktsar. Later Maharaja Ranjit Singh agreed to vacate this area to the British after signing an agreement with the British to settle the border with the Satluj river as a boundary between Sikh and British rule. As result the area of Muktsar was added into the Faridkot Riast by the British. Pahara Singh Brar during the Anglo-Sikh Wars helped the British to end the Sikh rule after the death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. That one of the Deputy Commissioner's of Faridkot (S.Bhagat Singh) during his visit to Fresno CA, USA, when asked about the famous things in Faridkot, answered that Faridkot is famous for Tall Brars.

Kaithal

The principality of Kaithal (today in Haryana), was founded by Bhai Bhagtu(he was also revered as saint). This state had wide areas in its control. Due to the 1857 Mutiny, the British took over this principality in 1858. The villages of Bidowali, Jhumba, Kot Bhai, Channu, Faqaarsar, Thehri in the Tehsil of Muktsar were part of this principality. After the anexture of the state, royal lineage came to settle in the prominent villages of Bhaike Sidhus included Fafre, Chakk Bhaika, Bhucho, Selbrah, Dialpura, Bambiha Bhai, Thehri, Bhaika Kera and Kot Bhai. Each of the villages was the manor of a greater cluster of smaller villages. For example the three brothers from Bhucho had close to 73 villages which included Fatenwala, Kundal, Dabwali etc a majority of the villages were still closer to their homeland in Kaithal till after independence and the cealing act. The Bhaikas also presented themselves as feudal lords and hence helped sustain masses under them through times of economical and social distress. The presented malwa with an option of governance, which was later picked up by the British as revenue generation module and the sardars of prominent villages were taxed rather than the entire populations. The lords in turn generated enough income to sustain themselves and their people primarily through economy of scale in large scale agriculture practices.

Villages

The most well-known villages of Brar's are Kotla Raika, Khote, Burj Jawahar Singh Wala, Patto Hira Singh, Bare Wala, Didare Wala, Ladhai ke, Mari Mustafa, Alam wala, Rode, Lande, Langeana. The progeny of Baba Jalal, a Sidhu-Brar, founded the villages of Aaklia, Gurusar, Bhodipura, Koir Singh Wala, Hakam Singh wala, Sandhwan, Hamirgarh and Ram Singh wala, Mange Wala[Moga], Wadda Ghar

Besides three Sidhwans, Sidhus have also many villages in the tehsil of Jagraon in the Ludhiana district, such as Malsihan Bhaike, etc. Sidhus also have their villages in the area of Moga; Chuhar Chak; Bagha Purana; Bathinda such as Bangi Rughu and Gaatwali originated from Mehraj.

The Sidhu-Harike are famous in the villages of Sekhe, Adalti Wala,Bakshiwala and countless other villages in Barnala and Patiala district.

Religion

• Sidhu in India are Sikh but a considerale population in Pakistan are Muslim like Kapoorpur Village in Sialkot.

See Also

• List of Jat Clans of West Punjab