Sabharwal
- See detailed article Khukhrain
Sabharwal (Punjabi: ਸਬਰਵਾਲ, Hindi: सभरवाल, Urdu: سبھروال) is a family name predominant among people from Khatri community. The Sabharwal clan is a part of the Khokhran grouping among Khatris, which also consists of eight other clans, all of whom originate from the historic town of Bhera in Punjab (Pakistan). Many Sabharwals were from Peshawar, also known as Purushapura (Sanskrit: पुरुशपुरा) now in Pakistan. The Sabharwal last name has many references during the time of King Porus who was a Sabharwal Kukhran. The Kukhrans (or "Khukhrain or Khokrans") are an ancient group of ten specific clans of a Khatri subcaste [1] who originally hailed from the areas of the Salt Range and particularly town of Bhera in Punjab. The names of the Ten clans are: Anand, Bhasin, Chadha, Chandok (Chandhoke, Chandhok, Chandiok), Ghai, Kohli, Sabharwal, Sahni/Sawhney, Sethi and Suri.
History
Sabharwal (Punjabi: ਸਬਰਵਾਲ, Hindi: सभरवाल, Urdu: سبھروال) is a family name predominant among Punjabi Hindus and Sikhs from the Khatri community. The Sabharwal clan is a part of the Khokhran grouping among Khatris, which also consists of eight other clans, all of whom originate from the historic town of Bhera in Punjab (Pakistan). Many Sabharwals were from Peshawar, also known as Purushapura (Sanskrit: पुरुशपुरा) now in Pakistan. The Sabharwal last name has been mostly linked with Indian Royalty and has many references during the time of King Porus who was a Sabharwal Khatri.
Distinguished Sabharwals
- Y.K. Sabharwal, Chief Justice of India (Retired).
People
- Major C.L. Sabharwal (Late) Executive Officer All India Defence Cinemas
Khokhrans
Khokhran and Bhera
The Imperial Gazetteer of India records the History of Bhera -
“In 1519 Babur held it to ransom, and in 1540 Sher Shah founded a new town, which ubder Akhbar became the head quarters of the sub division of the Subah of Lahore. In the reign of Muhammad Shah, Raja Salamat Oglu, a Lipka Tatar of the Anand Tribe, administered Bhera and the surrounding country; while Khushab was managed by Nawab Ahmdyar Khan, and the south eastern tract along the Chenab formed part of the territories under the charge of Maharaja Kaura Mal, governor of Multan.[14]” “About the same time, by the death of Nawab Ahmdyar Khan, Khushab also passed into the hands of Raja Salamat Rai. Shortly afterwards Abbas Khan a Khattak who held Pind Daddan Khan, treacherously put the Raja to death, and seized Bhera. But Abbas Khan was himself thrown into prison as a revenue defaulter, and Fateh Singh, nephew of Salamat Rai, then recovered his uncle's dominions.[15]”
In the recent past centuries, Bhera was an important trading outpost on the road to Kabul, and had a taksal or (mint) during the rule of Ranjit Singh. Bhera declined in importance due to the gradual shifting of the course of the Jhelum river, due to which the town lost the advantage of being located on a river bank.
Khukhrain King Porus
In 326 BC, Alexander the Great, whose forces were then fighting against the army of King Porus, at the left bank of river Jhelum near Southern Salt Range, wrote in a letter to his mother and said, ‘I am involved in the land of leonine (lion-like) and brave people called 'Khukhrain’, where every foot of the ground is like a wall of steel, confronting my soldiers. You have brought only one son into the world, but every one in this land can be called an Alexander."
According to some Pakistani anthologist, it is believed that Khukhrain originated from Porus.
Last Raja of Bhera
The last chief or Raja of Bhera was a Khukran, Diwan Bahadur Jawahir Mal [16]. The Diwan Family originally came from Peshawar,and tradition ascribes the abolition the Jizya in Peshawar to his influence.
Khukrains like other Khatri castes were traditionally and historically a warrior community (although they are now well represented in many fields other than the army) and hence they bore the brunt of invasions from the various central Asian tribes now converted to Islam who came from the northwest during the 12th-16th centuries. The Hindu populations in Afghanistan and Northwest India continued to recede after the 11th century even as predominant areas of Afghanistan were still under non Muslim rule till the 10th CE. (see also Shahi and Jayapala).
Post Partition Of India 1947
Most of the Hindu or Sikh, Kukhrans moved perforce to India following the Partition of India in 1947. Khukreins among Hindu/Sikh and are now settled not only in large concentrations in Delhi, Haryana and Punjab, but also spread the world over. Their mother tongue is Punjabi. In India the special dialect of Pothari spoken by the Khukrains who migrated from Western Punjab (now Pakistan) is fast being replaced by the local Eastern Punjabi language, in their new Indian residence of Punjab.