The Khap(Hindi:खाप, IAST: khāpa) and Sarv Khap (सर्व खाप) was a system of social administration and organization in the republics of Northwestern Indian states such as Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh since ancient times. Khap is a term for a social - political grouping and used in a geographical sense. Other parallel terms are Pal, Ganasangha, Janapada or republic.
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The Indian social fabric was organized around the village unit, from time immemorial, as making shifted from nomadic to settled agricultural practices. Throughout the last few millennium the society of the Indian sub continent, was organized in various forms, tribal, village, monarchical or republican the mode of governing was that of a council of five, which in time was called a Panchayat. We find that the republican form of society existed from the most ancient times known to us. In various times the society coalesced around monarchical forms, but the republican societies did not die out, but maintained their existence with remarkable resilience. We find references to the republican sources in our ancient literature, some of the most ancient as being the Rig Veda. The dating of this work in now generally accepted to be in the circa 2500 BCE period. The forms of governing society are that of the `Sabha’(Hindi: सभा) or `samiti’ (Hindi: समिति) i.e. gathering/assembly. The Sabhapati, the president of the Sabha was elected.[1] · [2]
The term `Rajan, Rajanaya' has been taken to denote a monarchical system. A closer look shows the term was used at that time for the householder, the head of the household, and he would participate in the Sabha or assembly. In later times this took on a monarchical connotation, as Raja, Maharaja, a term familiar to most of us.
In the texts of Pāṇini and later Buddhist texts we find references to 16 republics or Great Republics Janapadas, or Mahajanpadas' and the reference are to the period circa 600 BCE (conventional dating). We find references to names of republics like Mall, Licchavi, Sakya, Yaudheya, Agreya, and so on. We find Indian and Western sources referring to these republics e.g. in the invasion of Alexander (circa 325 BCE) where Alexander comes wars with the Malloi or Malli, Kshudrak, Paur, Puru, Kathi republics. We continue to find the republics referred to as the Yaudheyas, Malls etc are found dominating the Northern Indian landscape in what is now Punjab, Sindh, Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
The Sarv Khap (or all Khap) Panchayat (council) represented all the Khaps. The individual Khaps would elect leaders who would send delegates, who would represent the Khaps at the Sarv Khap level. It was a political organization, composed of all the clans, communities, and castes in the region. The republics of the Yaudheyas who dominated this region from 600BCE to 400 CE preceded it. They had there a similar system of governance, and their coins and seals are found in this whole region, Rohtak Haryana was one of the capitals and a major coin mint.[3]
After the fall of Kushan Empire northwest India was divided in to small republics. These small republics could not defend against invaders. So there were formed federations of republics known as Ganasanghas. One such Ganasangha was on the banks of Sutlej River. Another Gansangha of Arjunayana was in the region between Agra and Bharatpur. Dr Budh Prakash says that the Yaudheyas are related with present Dahiya clan and Arjunayana Ganasanghas were the present Joon clans.[4]
The ancient kshatriyas have always organized themselves into clans or under Panchayat system; both typically Aryan. A clan was based on one large gotra (clan) or a number of closely related gotras under one elected leader whose word was law. Mutual quarrels of any intensity could be settled under his orders. In time of danger, the whole clan rallied under the banner of the leader.
A number of villages grouped themselves into a Gohand. A number of Gohands formed a ‘Khap’ (covering an area equal to from a Tehsil to a District) and a number of Khaps formed a 'Sarva Khap' embracing a full province or state. For example, there was a "Sarva Khap" each for Haryana and Malwa. At what level a Panchayat should gather depended upon the magnitude of the problem and the territory it involved.
One of the terms used to denote the republic was the `Khap'. Others were Pal, Janapada, and Ganasangha etc. The Khap consisted a unit of 84 villages. The individual villages were governed by an elected Council, which was known as the Panchayat. A unit of seven villages was called a Thamba and 12 Thambas would form the unit of 84 Villages. We also find Khaps of 12 and 24 villages. Their elected leaders would determine which units would be represented at the Khap level. These Khaps are found to be spread all the way from Northwest India down to Madhya Pradesh, Malwa, Rajasthan, Sindh, Multan, Punjab, Haryana, and modern Uttar Pradesh.[5]
This region from Western Uttar Pradesh through Agra, Mathura, to the Sutlej River in the Punjab was known as Haryana, dominated by Jats and it is of this region that we speak, when refer to the Sarv Khap of Haryana. The influence of the Sarv Khap extended to the Malwa province in Central India, Rajasthan and Sindh. With the ebb and flow of history, the boundaries also expanded and receded.
Under the backdrop of political rumblings over the sanctity of the Institution of 'Sarva Khap Panchayat', the institution has been critiqued as one in dire need of 'reinterpretation & adaptation, to the extent its integrity and basic structure remains totally uncompromised'.[6]
In recent times, the Khap system has attracted criticism from groups, citing the stark prejudice that such groups allegedly hold against others. Women's Organisation AIDWA has made allegations, in some cases where the Khaps are alleged to have initiated threats of murder and violence to couples who marry outside of the circle.[7][8]These allegations however have not been supported with any evidence.
The Supreme Court has declared illegal ‘khap panchayats' which often decree or encourage honour killings or other institutionalised atrocities against boys and girls of different castes and religions who wish to get married or have married.
“This is wholly illegal and has to be ruthlessly stamped out. There is nothing honourable in honour killing or other atrocities and, in fact, it is nothing but barbaric and shameful murder. Other atrocities in respect of the personal lives of people committed by brutal, feudal-minded persons deserve harsh punishment. Only this way can we stamp out such acts of barbarism and feudal mentality. Moreover, these acts take the law into their own hands, and amount to kangaroo courts, which are wholly illegal,” said a Bench of Justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Misra. [9]
Some well known occasions, when armies and funds were marshaled under the aegis of Sarva Khaps, are: