Lohani
The Lohani, sometimes called Nuhani is a Pashtun tribe found in Pakistan especially in the region of Dera Ismail Khan, Tank, Lakki Marwat, Afghanistan and India. Nuhanis are not to be confused with Hindu caste of Lohana. Pashtun Nuhanis or Luhanis are descendents of a person by name of Nuhan or Luhan , great grandson of Ibrahim alias Lodi, who was resident of Ghor, Afghanistan.[1] Nuharnai or Nuhan, his descendants came to be known as Nuhani, variously corrupted by the Afghans into Luhani, Lohani and Lawani.[2] They were mostly pastoral and migratory tribe but nowadays most of them have settled down in the plains of DI Khan , Tank and Lakki Marwat. Lohanis have four branches, Marwat, Daulat Khel, Miya Khel and Tatoor.
Origin
Lohanis or Nuhanis are not be confused with Lohana caste of Hindus. Lohanis are descendents of a person by name of Nuhan who was son of Ismael, son of siarnaey, son of Ibrahim alias Lodi. Nuhan got mispronounced as Luhan and his descendents are called Nuhwanraey or Lowanraey in Pashto which changed into Nuhani and Lohani in India respectively. Though Lohanis did engage in trade like other Afghan tribes of the region , they were not restrictively merchant class like Hindu Lohanas and mostly engaged in military careers. Also unlike Lohanas, Nuhanis have extensive tribal branching, with lineage tree culminating on common ancestor. They show their kinship with other lodi tribes and Ghilzais. In Pashtun genealogy , they are in the category of Beittani tribes. There is no historical evidence which suggest that they migrated from Sindh.
History
Lohanis , like other Lodi tribes, were originally inhabitants of Ghor. From Ghor they descended into Ghazni and engaged in pastoral pursuits.Due to conflict with neighboring Ghilzais, they migrated to Katawaz and from there they moved to the plains of Daman in 16th century. A big portion of the tribe migrated to India on invitation of Lodi Sultans of Delhi where they became the most prominent participants in the sultanate administration and army. During Ibrahim Lodi's reign, the Lohanis of south Bihar rebelled and carved out an independent kingdom for themselves which was later incorporated into Suri empire. In their homeland, conflict arose between Lohani clans over distribution of land and revenue of Daman tract and after some battles, the Marwat and Miya Khel clans of Lohani migrated from Daman to Lakki and DI Khan tracts respectively.[3]