Thind

Thind is the most prominent clan name found among the people living in Greater Punjab. The Thinds are well known in the areas of agriculture, military, sports and Punjabi literature. Thinds are numerously found as Sikhs, Hindus and the Muslims. Over 92% of the total Thinds of Punjab, India belong to Khatri clan (mostly Khatris of Tarkhan (Punjab) and Kamboj sub-grouping), 7% are Jats and 1 % are Saini.

Notable Thinds

Thinds according to H. S. Duleh

Jatt writer, H. S. Duleh, says that

The people of Thind tribe, along with other Jatt tribes,came into India from the Shakastan in Middle Asia in 150 BC. The founding father of this clan was Thind Rai. Due to their enmity with Lodhis, they left Delhi at the end of 14th century to settle along the banks of Sutlej in the district of Ludhaina. Thind Jatts are found in large numbers in Ludhiana and Sangrur in Malwa but are few in numbers in Majha and Doaba. Kamboj of Thind sub-caste are mostly in Doaba. Akalai leaders Sardar Atma Singh and Sardar Balwant Singh were Kamboj of Thind clan. Some Tiwanas are also found among the Kamboj in Mahja. Some Kaura Jatts are also Kamboj. The Thinds, Tiwanas and Kaura Jatts who entered into matrimonial alliance with the Kamboj later on merged with the Kamboj community. Some of the people of Thind clan had also settled beyond Majha in Montgomery (now Pakistan). Thinds of Montgomery were both Jatts as well as Kamboj. The people of Thind clan in Punjab are very hard working, self restrained and sagacious.....Jatts of Thind clan are numerous in Punjab. The Kamboj of Thind caln are found in large numbers. Dr Karnail Singh Thind from this clan is a noted historian.[2]

The above views of H. S. Duleh have historical problems since the Kambojs (including Thind clan) are historically documented to have had very good relations with the Lodhis and there were many Kamboj "nobles, Generals, Amirs and men of learning" in the courts of the Lodhi emperors.[3] Secondly, Duleh is confusing the Thind Kamboj of Majha and Montgomery with the Jatts. H. A. Rose confirms in his Glossary of Tribes that all Thinds in Montgomery belonged only to Kamboh (Kamboj) agricultural clan and there were no Thinds of Jat background there.[4]

In Montgomery and Multan, all agriculturists no matter what caste, were known as Jatts or Arains. Author of Glossary of Tribes and Castes of Punjab while writing about Jatt Thinds remarks: "Thind is a small Jatt clan found in Ludhiana and their ancestor is Bichhu whom they adore".[5] Thus the ancestor or originator of the Ludhiana Thinds is someone called Bichhu and not Thind Rai as H. S. Duleh writes without quoting any evidence. Bichhu, the elder of the Ludhiana Thind must have belonged to Thind clan and must have migrated to Ludhiana in earlier time from the Kamboj area of Ghaggar/Ambala. Contrary to what Duleh writes, the Thind Kamboj are found in large numbers in Doaba (Jullundur, Kapurthgala), Majha (Amritsar, Tarn-Taran), and Malwa (Ferozepor, Patiala). They were also found in good numbers in Lyallpur and Montgomery districts before partition. According to Glossary of H. A. Rose, all Thinds in Montgomery belong only to Kamboj agricultural clan and there are no Jatt Thinds in Montogomery

Kamboj writer H. S. Thind is more closer to historical truth when he writes that numerous of the Kamboj including the Kamboj Thinds had fled Delhi around 1290 AD to avoid persecution by Muiz ud din Qaiqabad (1286–1290) --- a Muslim Turkic ruler and the tenth Sultan of Delhi of medieval India of the Mamluk dynasty (or Slave dynasty) since the chiefs of the Kamboj clans including the Kamboj Thinds had refused to give their daughters in marriage to the Sultan.[6] After leaving Delhi, they had moved to north-west direction and first settled on the banks of river Ghaggar between Ambala and Patiala from where they later slowly and gradually spread to Kapurthala, Jullundur and Amritsar.

References

  1. ^ http://www.pbs.org/rootsinthesand/i_bhagat1.html
  2. ^ See: clan name THIND in Jattan Da Itihaas, by H. S. Duleh.
  3. ^ Few illustrations are given here: Hazrat Shaikh Alamsayakh Makhdum Sama'al-Din Kamboh patron saint of the Lodi dynasty; Maulana Ishaaq Kamboh, venerable religious leader of Lodhi era, Malak-Alamsayakh v Alhalama according to the evidence furnished by Shaikh Jamali Kamboh. Was a great scholar of Islam and of Asgar-i-Mahrfat.; Shaikh Nasir'ud-Din Delhwi was Shaikh-ul-Aslam from the times of Sikandar Lodhi down to Mughal emperor Babar; Shaikh Jamali Kamboh (Shaikh Jamal-uddin Kamboh Dehlwi) was a towering personality of the age that covered the periods of Lodhi and Mughal rule [36]. A noted Sufi of the Suhrawardiyya sect, an illustrious pupil of Poet Jami, a regular disciple of Shaikh Sama'al-Din Kamboh and the greatest poet of his time; Umar Khan Kamboh Amir-i-Ahur of Sultan Sikandar (Religious and Intellectual History of the Muslims in Akbar's Reign, with Special Reference to Abu?l Fazl, 1556-1605: with special reference to Abul Fazi: (1556-1605), 1975, p 186, Saiyid Ather Abbas Rizvi); Miyan Ladan Khan A renowned scholar and philosopher himself, numerous of his students also turned out to be great scholars, intellectuals and educationists; Mufti Jamal Khan (Kamboh) Dehlwi was the most eminent scholar and teacher of Kamboh tribe. According to Bada'uni, he was one of the greatest intellectual and most learned men of his time (Twilight of the Sultanate, 1963, p 248, Kishori Saran Lal); Hasan Khan Kamboh, governor of Pargana of Indri during Sultan Skinadar Lodhi ( The Muslims of Indian Origin: During the Delhi Sultanate, 2005, p 190, Sukhdev Singh - History); Miyan Makhan (Makan), Faujdar of the fort of Kandar in Rajputana during Sultan Lodhi's reign; Shaikh Abdul Aziz Kamboh Prime Minister of emperor Ibrahim Lodhi (Tarikh-i-Kambohan, p 202, Chauhdri Wahhab ud-din Kamboh Amritsari, Nurpur, Layalpur); General Kamal Khan Kamboh; Khan Jahan Amad-ul-Mulk or Imadul Mulk Kamboh; Maulana Jumman Khan Kamboh, Hajib-i-Khas (Chamberlain= Special Lord of the Bed-chambers) of emperor Sikandar Lodhi (Medieval India: A Miscellany, 1972, p 31, edited by K.A. Nizami - History; History of Sher Shah Sur, 1971, p 137, Iqtidar Husain Siddiqi); General Malik Taj'ud-Din Kamboh, Shaikh Daud Khan Kamboh Judicial Magistrate of Chanderi Iqta during Ibrahim Lodhi (The Muslims of Indian Origin: During the Delhi Sultanate : Emergence, Attitudes, and Role, 1192-1526 A.D., 2005, p 190, Sukhdev Singh - History; Some Aspects of Afghan Despotism in India, 1969, Iqtidar Husain Siddiqi - Lodi dynasty) etc etc.
  4. ^ Glossary of Tribes and Castes of the Punjab anbd North-West Frontirer Province, Vol 3, 1915, p 465, H. A. Rose, E. D. Maclagan.
  5. ^ Glossary of Tribes and Castes of the Punjab anbd North-West Frontirer Province, Vol 3, 1915, p 465, H. A. Rose, E. D. Maclagan.
  6. ^ Kamboj Itihaas, 1972, p 145, H. S. Thind.