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Gazetteer Jhang

The document provides a summary of the Jhang District Gazetteer from 1883-84. It describes the district's location in Punjab Province and its boundaries. It is divided into 3 tehsils - Chiniot, Jhang, and Shorkot. The district contains 2 towns with over 10,000 residents, Maghiana and Chiniot. The district is crossed by the Chenab and Jhelum Rivers and has varying terrain including river valleys, uplands, and agricultural lands. It provides statistics on area and population for the district and its tehsils and towns.
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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
80 views180 pages

Gazetteer Jhang

The document provides a summary of the Jhang District Gazetteer from 1883-84. It describes the district's location in Punjab Province and its boundaries. It is divided into 3 tehsils - Chiniot, Jhang, and Shorkot. The district contains 2 towns with over 10,000 residents, Maghiana and Chiniot. The district is crossed by the Chenab and Jhelum Rivers and has varying terrain including river valleys, uplands, and agricultural lands. It provides statistics on area and population for the district and its tehsils and towns.
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Gazetteer

Of the

JHANG DISTRICT

1883-84

SANG-E-MEEL PUBLICATIONS
LAHORE, PAKISTAN
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

CONTENTS

Chap. No Name of the Chapter Page No.


1 THE DISTRICT 3
A Descriptive 3
B Geology, Fauna and Flora 13
2 HISTORY 22
3 THE PEOPLE 37
A Statistical 37
B Social and Religious Life 43
C Tribes, Castes, and Leading Families 52
D Village Communities and Tenures 66
4 PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION 87
A Agriculture and Arboriculture 87
B Domestic Animals 107
C Occupations, Industries, and Commerce 111
D Prices, Weights and Measures and Communication 114
5 ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE 120
A General 120
B Land and Land Revenue 124
6 TOWNS 147
7 STATISTICAL TABLES 156

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

CHAPTER 1.

Descriptive.
General
THE DISTRICT.
description. SECTION A-DESCRIPTIVE.
The Jhang district is northernmost of the four districts of the Mooltan division,
and lies between north latitude 30 35 and 32 4, and east longitude 71 39 and 73 38. It is
in shape triangular, with its apex to the south-west and its base to the north-eastt. The
acute angle of the apex is contained between the districts of Muzaffargarh and Dera
Ismail Khan, and the base line marches with Shahpur and Gujranwala. The south-eastern
side is bounded for the greater part of its length by the Montgomery district. The
remaining portion adjoins Mooltan and Muzaffargarh. The north-western side, which is
more irregular in direction than the south-eastern, is bounded by the Dera Ismail Khan
and Shahpur districts. The length of a line drawn from the bi-section point of the base to
the apex where the three districts meet is about 124 miles; while another drawn at right
angles to the above, trough kot Isa Shah, Khiwa and Samundri, is a little under 70 miles
in length.
Tahsil. AREA IS
Acres. Square miles.
Chiniot … … … 1,453,822 2,271.60
Jhang … … … 1,513,842 2,365,37
Shorkot … … … 781,017 1,220.34
River Chenab 76,005 96,076 15012
River Jhelum, 17,582
River Ravi… 2,489

TOTAL … 3,844,757 6,007 43


From the apex to the north-east and north-west base angles, the distances are respectively
152 and 124 miles. The area of the district is given in the margin. The district is divided
into three tehsils by two lines running right across the district parallel to the base. The
north-eastern portion so cut off constitutes the tahsil of Chiniot, the small triangle lying
to the south-west that of Shorkot, and the central portion of the district that of Jhang. The
uplands of the district are for the most part Government waste, and not included in any
village boundary; indeed only some 40 percent of the total area is so included. The
remaining 60 percent is inhabited only by wild pastoral tribes whose flocks graze at large
over the wide-spread plains, while there habitations are mere temporary hamlets of
thatched huts, today occupied and tomorrow Deserted.
Some leading statistics regarding the district and the several tahsils into which it is
divided are given in Table No. I as a frontis spiece. The district contains two towns of
more than 10,000 souls, viz. : ___
Maghiana … … … 12,574
Chiniot … … … 10,731

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

The administrative head-quarters are situated at Maghiana, distant only some


three miles from the town of Jhang, form which the district takes its name.
Jhang stands fourth in order of area, and twenty-sixth in order of population,
among the 32 districts of the province,
Feet above sea
Town. N.Latitude E. Latitude
Level.
Jhang (Maghiana) 31 16 72 22 570*
Chiniot … 31 44 73 1 831
Shorkot … 30 50 72 7 560

Comprising 5:35 percent. Of the total area, 2.10 percent. Of the total population, and
1.52 percent. Of the urban population, of British territory. The latitude, longitude, and
height in feet above the sea of the principal places in the district area shown in the
margin.

The district is traversed by two rivers, the Chenab and the Jhelam. The Chenab enters the
Physical district a little west of the bi-section point of the base line, and after receiving the waters
formation. of the Jhelum, leaves
The district about 12 miles east of the district apex. The course of the Chenab is
steadily to the south-west, and the river consequently divides the district into two very
nearly equal portions. The Jhelum enters the district at a point about 56 miles distant, and
very nearly due west from where the Chenab first touches the Jhang border. The river
flows in a course nearly due south, and is absorbed into the Chenab 40 miles below
where it leaves the Shahpur district. The tract between the two rivers is a lesser triangle
within the greater of the district boundary. Physically the formation of the district is that
of an old alluvial flat, the remains of which are found in the high plateaux of the Sandal
Bar, the Kirana Bar, and the Thal, traversed by the river valleys of the Chenab and the
Jhelum. The Sandal Bar is situate to the east of the Chenab, the Kirana Bar between the
Chenab and the Jhelum, and the Thal west of the Jhelum. Between the Bar and the Thal
uplands, and the lowlands or Hithar annually flooded by the rivers, there is an
intermediate tract called the Utar, and there can be little doubt but that all three represent
different ages of geological formation. The Bars and Thal are the oldest formations, and
even they are of distinctly alluvial origin. These tracts are probably identical, and
geologically synchronous with the great plain of the Punjab made up of the various
Doabs, each consisting of an elevated tract sloping down to the river valleys on either
side.
The Sandal Bar. In the northern portion of the district, the Sandal Bar rises abruptly from the Utar, and the
summit of the dividing ledge is from 10 to 30 feet above the plain below. From the
Gujranwala border to the village of Pabbrwala, the ledge (Nakka, Dhaya, Dah) runs near
and parallel to the river, and forms the boundary between the lands included in villages
and the Government waste. South of Pabbarwarla the ledge runs at some distance from
the river into the Government waste, and does not any longer form a quasi boundary
between private property and that of the State. As one travel south, the bank
imperceptibly disappears, until at length it is impossible to say where the Bar ends or
where begins. There is, however, a gradual rise in the country from the river to the Bar,

4
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

evidenced by the increasing depth to water as the river recedes, and also by the direction
of the surface drainage. The whole the vast extent of country included within this Bar is,
with a few traifing exceptions, the property of Government.
The private rights that are now enjoyed by the sinkers of wells on leases from
Government will be separately noticed. There are no village estates in this tract. The only
cultivation that exists is attached to wells that are held under lease from Government; or,
in a year of good rainfall, patches of rain cultivation will be found scattered sparsely hear
and there. In point of soil the northern portion of the Bar is generally good. There is a
marked and obvious deterioration to the south. The most general distinction between
good and bad land is that between sweet and sour. No grass grows kindly on kallar, and
practically the quality of the Bar soil depends solely upon its power of producing
pasturage. Among the sweet soils it is noticeable that a good loam with a slight
sprinkling of sand on the top, as is often seen in the Bar, makes the best grassland. The
reason is at once apparent. When the first summer rains fall, the ground has been parched
and burnt by the heats of May and June into the constituency of iron. Last year’s grass
has been grazed down to the roots, and the surface is almost perfectly bare. Besides the
natural power of absorption possessed by the soil, there is nothing to prevent the rain as
it falls from draining away into the nearest depression. Where the soil is sandy and
friable, the rain sinks, where it falls; but on clayey lands it does not penetrate far into the
soil, and is either carried away by surface drainage or evaporated by a burning sun. Not
only is the soil poorer and kallar plains more frequent in the southern portion of the Bar,
but even the better class of grasses, such as Dharman, are hardly ever found. Chhember
is about the only. Good grass that can be got to grow on kallar. The other natural
productions of the Bar are the pilu, the jand, the phog, and the karil, with here and there a
few jar ashes growing where surface drainage collects, and various salsolaceous plants.
The khar lam, from which sajji is made, is rarely found north of the road from Jhang to
Ghapni. There are a few small hills near and between Sangla and Shahkot in the north of
the Bar.
The Kirana Bar, a portion of the Ghaj Doab, takes it name from the Kirana hills found
The Kirana Bar. here. These hills are not,as generally supposed, and as stated by Mr.Monckton ,outliers
of the Salt Range. The following description is taken from Medlicott and Blanford’s
Manual of Geology: __”Far to the north-west of the “Hissar country some hills occur on
both sides of the Chenab at “Chiniot and Kirana. These hills are only 40 miles distant
from “the Salt Range, but the rocks are totally different from any that “occur there, and
correspond well with the character of the transition rocks of the Arvali series. They
consist of strong quarzites “with associated clay slates, forming steep ridges, with a
north-east “to south-west strike. The highest summit is stated by Doctor “Fleming to be
957 feet above the plain. The oldest rocks “of the Salt Range are probably very much
younger than the “strata of Kirana. The rocks at Shahkot and Sangla belong to the same
formation as the Kirana hills. Just above Chiniot the Chenab runs most picturesquely
through a couple of gorges in these hills.
The lands of the Kirana Bar to the south and east of the hills are of superb quality.
After slight showers of rain, the whole country is carpeted with grass. Better rain crops
are grown here than in the Sandal Bar. To the west of Kirana and westwards, until the
villages near the Jhelum are reached, the Bar soil deteriorates, and more and more kallar
is found. The Kirana Bar is demarcated from the Utar by the same fall or slope as the

5
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Sandal Bar. Generally this ledge forms the boundary between the villages and the
Government waste. But few villages possess lands beyond the high bank, or Nakka, as it
is called. The flora of this Bar is much the same as that of the Sandal. Sajji is produced to
the South West of Kirana. Some peculiar grasses grow on and near the hills that are held
to be of most excellent quality.
The Thal. The strip of Thal attached to this district is of inconsiderable area, 246,554 acres. To the
north the strip is exceedingly narrow, but it widens out considerably to the south of the
Jhang and Dera Ismail Khan road .The Thal apparently is a high platau simlar to the
Bars, with this difference that it is more or less completely covered with hills and dunes
of blown sand. The soil below the sand is good enough, but it only crops out here and
there. Where the Jhelum enters the district it runs alongside, and is cutting away the high
bank of the Thal. Thence, due west as far as the Indus Kachhi, there is nothing but the
most sterile waste of monotonously parallel sand dunes. In the Thal attached to the Jhang
district there is little or no cultivation. The distance to water is so great as to render well
farming much less profitable than in the portions of the Thal nearer to the Indus. The
aspect of this tract is dreary in the extreme. Rolling sand hills, running in an almost
uniform direction, alternating with hollows of fairly good soil studded with pilu bushes,
are the only features of a landscape unsurpassed for its monotony. The one prevailing tint
of the soil is a light reddish-brown, which after rain becomes rufous. The only greenery
is that of the pilu bushes and trees. There is no lana or lani. Here and there, phog and
karil bushes are seen, but the distinctive feature of the Jhang Thal is the pilu. The effect
of the Thal is one of unrelieved depression. The Bar has a directly contrary influence.
Grass grows luxuriantly in the Thal after heavy rain, but it is seldom seen in this happy
state.
The tract intermediate between the uplands of the Bar and Thal and the lowlands (Hithar)
The tracts of the river valleys presents considerable variety. This tract is the more interesting,in that
between it contains villages that play the land revenue of the district. The characteristics of the
the Bars and tracts intermediate between the Sandal Bar and the Chenab, the Kiryana Bar and the
Thal and the Chenab, the Kiryana Bar and the Jhelum, and the Thal and the Jhelum and Jhelum-
rivers. Chenab, are sufficiently strongly marked to render separate descriptions necessary.

The tract between the Chenab and the Sandal Bar extends from the borders of
Between the Gujranwala to the villages on the Ravi. It varies in width form four to sixteen miles, but
sandal the average distance from the river to the Government Bar is usually eight miles. Signs
Bar and the of its fluvial formation are to be seen everywhere. As in the Bar, so in this tract, the
Chenab Hithar gradual deterioration as one goes south is distinct and obvious. From Gujranwala to the
Lauds. boundary of the Jhang tahsil, the difference is not so clearly marked; but thence
southwards, the inferior quality of the soil, the infrequency of good grass-land, the
constant occurrence of kallar flats, at once strike the observer. Mr. Mockton writes:
_’The Jhang district may “be described in general terms as a region destitute of living
brooks “ and shady groves, and with exception of the rivers Jhelum and “Chenab, and the
fringes of cultivation on their banks, the country “is a dry waterless tract, covered with a
sparse jangal of bushy “trees. The march from Khiwa to within a mile of Jhang stands
“probably unrivalled in the world for its combination of the most “disagreeable features a
landscape is capable of affording.” The best way to describe this tract and its varying
character is to take three sections from the river to the Bar, one for each tahsil. The

6
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

starting point will be the bank of the Utar, beyond which the river floods have been never
known to pass. In Chiniot, with an unimportant break here and there, this bank is
bordered by a fringe of well cultivation that constitutes the prettiest and most fertile
portion of the tahsil. Each well is bowered in a cluster of trees, generally kikars and
shishams. Near the bank the cultivation is almost continuous, and there is hardly any
patch of waste. Passing onwards, the wells open out, and the intervening patches of
waste become more frequent. These wells too are good in quality, and some discretion
has been exercised in selecting their sites. Beyond these wells comes a stretch of
wasteland, where the cattle of the village graze while at home. The soil varies.
Depressions with a clavey bottom, uplands of light loam, sandy tracts, with here and
there a sand-hill, and patches of kallar, continually alternate. Then come the wells of the
villages beyond the river rain estates, and beyond them again are the villages lying under
the Bar. The wells are scattered, and each is a small hamlet in itself. The only wells
whose cultivated lands adjoin are, as a rule round the village if there is a village.The
waste between the wells is a good quality, and produces, with the assistance of
wonderfully little rain, first-rate crops of grass. Next come the villages under the Bar.
Here the distance to water is great, and without rain, or the assistance, of surface
drainage, they do but poorly. Consequently the
Wells are found in lines parallel with the bank of the Bar, and the zamindars use every
contrivance to conduct on to these lands the silt-charged water that rushes down from the
Bar uplands after rain. The aspect of this country and its wells is, as may be easily
supposed, subject to the greatest changes. In seasons of good rainfall, no wells or tracts
look so bright and smiling. In seasons of drought, a more desolate country and wells
more poverty-stricken in appearance cannot well be imagined. The areas of the wells are
lying untilled, parched, and hardened by a relentless sun. The surrounding wastelands
afford not one blade of grass. Everything presents a dul brown scorched appearance. In
Jhang, the fringe of well cultivation along the flood bank betrays by its many breaks and
its irregularity in breadth, that the soil is not what it is in Chiniot. Nor are the wells in
themselves so prospectus in look as those lying farther north. The farming is responsible
for this. There is not any very great difference in the soil where the wells are placed.
Where there are no wells, the Utar plain above the river lands generally consists of a
kallar flat, its uniformity broken here there by small mounds that have collected and are
now forming round the stunted karir or jand bushes. There is also a hick growth of lana
or lani, or of both intermixed. The wells beyond are more scattered, as good land is
scarce. No use is made of surface drainage. The wells and country are uninviting. There
are few trees round the wells. There is but little grass in the waste. Lana is the only plant
that really seems to enjoy the soil and climate. Khar is found the south of the tahsil. It
seems to be a plant somewhat capricious in its choice of locality. The upper part of
Shorkot is very similar to the lower portion of Jhang. Kallar, lana, lani, and khar are
more diffused and good grassland is less common.Traces of river action is here more
numerous. Depressions and tracts covered with sand.
Dunes are met with more frequently .Trees there are none, except here and there, near
some depression in which water collects during the rains. To the south the Chenab
widens out, and the Utar tract becomes very narrow, and the soil in parts reaches a
climax of sourness. Between the Utar land and the tract that is ordinarily flooded by the
Chenab, comes a strip of country peculiar to the southern half of Shorkot. It is evidently

7
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

a recent river formation. The soil is light and sandy.Water is very near the surface: and
where not cultivated, the ground is covered with a dense growth of sar grass.
Between the The country on the right bank of the Chenab, from the river to the high bank of the Bar is
Kirana very similar in character to that on the other side. Near the river, there is the same band
Bar And the of well cultivation, gradually widening out to the scattered wells and large stretches of
Chenab Hithar. waste of the tract adjoining the Bar. The high bank of the Bar dies away a little distance
east of the boundary between the Chiniot and the Jhang tahsils , opposite the village of
Kot Mohla. To the portion of the Utar lying between this ridge and the Chenab; the
description of the country and the Chenab may be unreservedly applied. Further west the
aspect of the country, here called the Shah Jiwana Tallulah, changes. Speaking generally,
the face of the country is either half concealed by a sparse growth of sar grass, or appears
revealed in all the ugliness of a kallar plain. Mr. Monckton writes of this tract: __Here
the soil is singularly “sterile: for miles one may ride over tracts impregnated with
“saltpeter, and producing only dirty coarse grass, unfit for any useful purpose.” The
wells, as might be expected in a tract of this description are found scattered here and
there over the face of the country. There are a few well-to-do villages, but most are poor,
badly farmed, and owned by extravagant thriftless Sayads. This inhospitable waste does
not end until the Jhelum villages are reached. The lower part of the triangle contained
between the two rivers is termed in common parlance the Vichanh. Towards the apex of
the traiangle the country may be described as a dorsal ridge, covered with efflorescent
saltpeter, between the fertile low-lying alluvial lands of the two rivers. This backbone of
extra sour soil extends as far as Kadirpur Bakhsha, and its continuity suffers hut very few
and very slight breaks. The country round Kot Isa Shah, between the Jhelum and the
tongue of Bar that runs down southwards, is probably the most fertile and most
picturesque in the district. The soil is good; agriculture flourishes, and trees are abundant
for some distance away from the river. Beyond comes another infertile tract, containing
much kallar, and then the Bar is reached. Here there is no high edge well defined. The
expanse of kallar is broken in some parts by curiously fertile patches. Such a one is the
village of Bhairo, bounded on the east by the Bar, and on the west by a kallar plain that
for extent and nakedness is unequalled.
Between the The tract between the Thal and the Jhelum the Kachhi. Kachhi is also the name of the
Thal alluvial lands of the Indus valley, as distinct from the Thal and Daman. The word means
And the Jhelum a country that is contained within some strongly marked boundary, here the Thal. It is
and Jhelum- distinct from and must not be confounded with the Urdu kachcha __ (unripe, unformed).
Chenab Hithar To the north, the Jhelum is now flowing immediately under the Thal, and the higher
portion of does not start fairly until the village of the Kachhi, i.e that out of reach of the
Jhelum and Chenab floods does not start fairly until the village of Sherowana is reached.
Thence, as far as the Muzaffargarh boundary the tract of Kachhi runs unbroken. This
strip is, on an average, about nine miles broad. As is the case with the whole of the
district, the soil gradually deteriorates to the south, and becomes worse on the
Muzaffargarh border. Here the only cultivation to be found, except a well or two, lies
immediately under the Thal bank in a little talla grass, and a good deal of sar, grow in
and near the depression. Between the Thal and the river, the country is almost desolate.
Rolling sand dunes, on which a few scant patches of sar grass only thrive, flat plains of
the hardest and most unfruitful clay, strips glistening with the salt efflorescence, and
patches of black kallar, locally known as bishi ___(poisonous), from its deadly effect on

8
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

all vegetable life, alternate in dreary succession. Vegetation is represented by a few


starved karir bushes and lani plants. Northwards there is a decided improvement in the
soil. Notably there is very much less kallar. Near the river the well cultivation is dense,
the country is well wooded, and agriculture flourishes. Towards the Thal cultivation
becomes sparser. The wells are found in line, the direction being determined by the
presence of some depression, into which the surface drainage of the country finds its
way. The soil is more fertile and cooler than the higher-lying lands. The depression under
the Thal here again is studded with wells. The soil is good loam of a reddish tint. Near
the river karir is the predominant scrub, while near the Thal the jal bushes are so
numerous and so large as to form a stunded forest. The separate distribution of those two
shrubs is very marked. Where the two zones omeet they are found intermixed; but near
the Thal hardly a karir, and in the river villages hardly a pilu, will be found. The absence
of grass is the distinguishing feature of the kachhi. In the cold weather grass sufficient to
feed half a dozen horses certainly could not be procured, and probably does not exist.
The bareness of the surface is most remarkable. The soil is clayey. Water does not
penetrate, but drains away into some depression, where again, when the water is
evaporated, the salts left behind prevent the growth of any vegetation. There is very little
uncultivated land anywhere in the Kachhi that is free from the kallar taint.
Mr. Monkton in a few happy sentences gives a description of the Chenab that cannot be
improved upon:__ The Chenab “is a broad shallow stream, with a sluggish current and a
The Upper licentious course. Its deposits are sandy, but its flood is extensive, “and from the loose
Chenab texture of the soil on its banks the moisture “penetrates far inland.” The above
Valley. description was made with reference to the upper Chenab in Tehsil Chiniot. Of the lower
Chenab, Mr. Monckton wrote:__ “The country on the banks of Chenab is generally low
and moist .The river flood extends “in many places as much as three and four miles
inland at its highest” rise.” The great difference in the character of the Chenab above and
below its junction with the Jhelum has never been thoroughly recognized. Above the
Trimmu ferry the Chenab is confined within well-marked banks, over which its waters
rarely, and only at a few known points, ever spill. The country between the two
containing banks varies considerably in width. Where the river has cut away a larger
slice of the Utar, the banks become necessarily farther apart. The width and depth of the
riverbed has naturally an important effect on the extent and height of the floods. Often do
the zamindars complain that the bed is far too big. Where the banks are near and the real
bed of the river is not excessive in width, the greater portion of the lands between will be
flooded annually. Where the distance from bank to bank is considerable, and the river
channel runs in tortuous course through the center, the action of the floods becomes
uncertain. In places the bela land between the river and the high bank is only naturally
inundated when the set of the stream is directly towards it. When the course of the river
is less favorable, the needful supply of floodwater is obtained by throwing embankments
across the nalahs by which such lands are invariably intersected, and thereby raising the
water level. The deposits of the upper Chenab are usually very sandy. The zamindars
have a saying that “it takes gold and gives copper,” apropos of the difference between the
land carried away and that thrown up. The upper Chenab deposits require successive
deposits of silt before they become fit for cultivation. The inundations of the Chenab
appear to be fairly regular. Mr.Cust’s picture of “wells, villages and culturable area being
carried away by a merciless torrent” is an exaggerated and unfavorable representation of

9
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

the Chenab. It does possess enormous powers of erosion, but except under particular
circumstances, it takes years to cut away a village.
The lower From the point of junction with the Jhelum the breadth annually inundated begins to
Chenab expand, until in the lower portion of the Shorkot Tehsil, near Ahmad pur and Jalalpur,
Valley. the river spreads out almost in fan shape, and its water flows far inland. Large islands,
belas or bindis as they are called, form more frequently than to the north. The Dingi bela
opposite Ahmad pur has already a length of 8 miles, and exhibits signs of further growth
to the south. The aspect of the sailab lands adjoining the river is much the same on the
lower and upper Chenab. Along the bank is found a dense belt of dark lai (jhau or
pilchhi) jangal, often so thick and strong that a horse could with difficulty pass through.
This is intersected by numerous channels of the river, dry during the greater portion of
the cold weather. But filling with any slight rise in the river. There is but little
cultivation, and what there is consists of patches of wheat, nassar, peas, or gram scattered
here and there amongst the underwood. The soul is generally good, and has t recently
accreted. Still its quality varies greatly. In one place the accretion has taken place only
lately, and more silt must be deposited before the soil can be termed good. In another
spot the soil was formed long ago; but it is still little better than a sand bank covered with
a thin layer of clay, sometimes hardly more than a mere film, and here and there the sand
itself crops out. Beyond this strip of jangal and cultivation intermixed, and between it
and the bank, which bounds the inundations, come the cultivated lands of the alluvial
tract. The soil varies from stiff clay to sand, but is generally a good light loam, easily
worked and retentive of moisture. Rabi crops are chiefly grown, only the higher and
lighter soils being devoted to the production of autumn crops. Below Shorkot the bank of
the Utar is either wanting, or else is situate at some distance from the stream. Instead of
finding a comparatively narrow strip of cultivation between the new deposits and the
Utar bank, one is at once struck by the absence of any high land beyond which no flood
ever passes. The country is traversed by numerous channels that carry the flood water far
inland. There are broad expanses of rich sailab land near the river; but these do not
extend far. Beyond, high-lying strips and patches of wasteland of a sandy texture,
covered with a growth of sar grass, become common. The cultivated lands are found in
between, wherever there is a depression that is reached by the floodwater. As the river
recedes, wells become more numerous. Near it there are but few. In February or March
the view of this cis-Chenab portion of the district from an Old mound or eminence has a
peaceful beauty peculiar to itself, A sea of yellow grass rippling in the breeze, edged on
the west by a sliver ribbon of river, are the features that first strike the eye. Dotted over
the surface are dark clumps of trees round the wells, and here and there a few groves of
date palms. Towards the river long stretches of green wheat are to be seen, while nearer
in the cultivation is hidden from view, or only peeps out near a well or where a piece of
sailab cultivation larger than usual is found. Beyond the river rise dark against there
horizon the trees growing round villages that fringe the further bank. Trans-Chenab from
the junction of the rivers to Ahmadpur, the sailab lands are bounded by a high bank
separating them from the Kachhi tract described above. At Ahmadpur the level of the
country seems to sink, the bank to disappear, and the flood water of the river are passing
to the west of Ahmad pur finds its way by depression and canals into the Kandiwal lake
(jhil) lying immediately under the high wall of the Thal.
The Jhelum The Jhelum has a course of about 45 miles in length from the point where it first touches

10
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

valley. the Jhang District down to its point of junction with the Chenab, the Domel as it is
called.As compared with the Chenab , Jhelum contains a much smaller volume of water,
and flows in a much more confined channel. The area subject to inundation form the
Jhelum is much less extensive, though in flood season the rise in the river must be
considerably higher than that of the Chenab. The erosive action of the Jhelum is quite as
powerful as that of the Chenab , but its deposits are far richer in argillaceous matter.
There is more mud and less sand. A deposit of Jhelum silt often bears a good crop of
coarse rice the first year it is formed. The country on the banks of the Jhelum is fertile,
well wooded, densely cultivated, and supports a larger population than any other portion
of the district. There is hardly any wasteland. The Jhelum being a narrow stream, islands
(belas or bindis) are seldom met with.
The Ravi The Ravi, which is almost everywhere fordable, first touches the district at a point
Valley. only11 miles from where it falls into the Chenab, but the length of its singularly tortuous
course between these two points must be nearly double that distance. Judging from the
description of the Ravi given by Mr.Purser in the Montgomery Settlement Report, the
character of the lower Ravi varies considerably form that of the upper. On the Jhang side
of the river the Ravi sailab lands are separated by a very high bank from the lands of the
Utar. The outline of this bank is most irregular in its twists and turns, carved out as it has
been by the action of this most erratic river. Below this bank lies a considerable tract of
bet of a very uneven surface quality, and intersected by numerous old channels of the
Ravi. These are called Budh, or Dhan, and in the cold weather such of them as have not
subsequently silted up and become dry, afford both water to the jhalras and excellent
duck shooting. At the end of one weather it is impossible to predict where the river will
be at the beginning of the next, beyond that it will be below the Utar bank. It courses is
the most capricious and inconstant of all the rivers of this district. Ordinarily it does not,
like the Chenab, flood the whole of the sailab lands. The extent and the locality of the
floods depend solely upon the direction of the river. If it is flowing under the left bank,
the chances are that the lands under the right bank will not get a drop of flood water,
except the lowest-lying strips in the old channels of the river. The Ravi alluvial lands are
composed of a stiff soil, very productive if it gets floodwater, but hardly pervious, and
but little benefited by percolation except where it is unusually sandy. The stream runs in
a deep bed. The highland between the Ravi and the Chenab is curiously similar to that
between the Jhelum and Chenab. The same bare unfruitful plain with a surface stratum of
kallar efflorescence is found. The presence of much coarse dabh grass, a few patches of
sar grass, and some infrequent lai bushes, give the Shorkot Vichanh a slightly more
hospitable aspect. About two miles from the Ravi and close the Mooltan border, a thick
forest of jand is found. This forest extends some way into the Mooltan district. Only a
small portion is included in Jhang. The ground appears to be nothing but kallar of the
rankest nature, yet the jand grows with a luxuriance never seen elsewhere. The site is
apparently a depression, for not only does water flow down from the Utar and collect
here, but sometimes the flood water of the Ravi, spilling over the bank above Chicha
watni, flows across some fifty miles of country, and the finds its way by here into the
Chenab. The Ravi side does not present that appearance of fertility that characterises the
Jhelum valley and the alluvial lands of the Chenab. The uplands wells are extremely
poor, and there is much kallar. The Hithar lands betray the uncertainty of the supply of
flood water.

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Present Canals. Irrigation works of modern date in Jhang compare but unfavorably with the remains of
those of the past. The only canal now at work is one in Shorkot, called the Wakefield
wah. Its history is apparently this: __ In 1872 Niamat Rai devised a scheme for cutting a
canal from Buddhowana to Manga Afghanan. Mr. Walkfield approved of the plan, and
by the 1874 a canal sixteen miles long had been excavated at their own cost by the
Zamindars of the villages through which it passed. The canal has not been doing so well
during the last few years. This is due partly to a change in the Chenab stream, but more
so to lack of management. Annual clearances are affected under the supervision of the
Tahsildar, but proper distribution of the water there is none. The villages near the head
not only take more than their share, but allow the water to run waste in a scandalous
manner. There are a few other cuts from the river in various villages made to assist and
guide the flow of the floodwater inland, and they welcome signs of the birth of some
enter prise among the Zamindars. These dutches are to be found at basti Waryam and
Jalalpur, Kakkuwala, Ahmadpur, Sultan Bahu, and Haveli Bahadur Shah in Shorkot. In
Jhang there is one made by the Chelas of Wasu Astana, and an other started by Mr.
Wakefield near Jhang that has never flowed since the first year. In Chiniot there are
about the same number.
The Old Canals The old canals are three. In the Vichanh remains of an old canal of considerable size are
to be seen. Local tradition says that it was a portion of the Raniwah canal that leaves the
Jhelum in the Bhera Tehsil of Shahpur.Nothing is known as to when the canal was
constructed. The story goes that it was the work of a rich banker of Bhera, whose
daughter was married to a resident of one of the Jhang Vichanh villages. The daughter,
when she reached her husband’s home, complained of the scanty supply of water, and
her father at once cut the canal to put an end to her trouble. Another version is that the
daughter vowed that she would not marry the man to whom she was betrothed, unless
she could get to his hose by water without putting foot to the ground’s so her father
forthwith proceeded to excavate this canal. The remains of the canal opposite Kadirpur
Bakhsha are perhaps in the best state of preservation, and show that it was a work of
some magnitude, and aligned considerably above the level of the country. In the Shorkot
Tehsil the banks of an old canal that left the Chenab a short distance east of Mirak Sial
are still recognizable. The people have no tradition what ever as to its construction. The
fact that the Chenab must have been running at a very much higher level than now, and
in a very different bed, before water could have been supplied to the canal, is the best
evidence of its antiquity. The head of the canal takes off the old bed of the Chenab lying
between Mirak Sial and Kaim Bharwana, into which now-a-days the water of the river in
highest flood hardly penetrates. All vestiges of the canal are lost about a mile from the
village of Shorkot. The third canal is that of Uch, constructed by Fakir Gul Imam. It
leaves the river Jhelum close under Machhiwal, and tails off into Uch. It ceased to run
about the end of the 18th century, after flowing some sixty years. There are also traces to
be seen in the Bar of an old canal Nannanwa, concerning which little or nothing is
known by the people.
Rainfall, The climate of Jhang does not differ from that of the remainder of the southern Punjab.
Temperature, Mr. Blanford states that during June, July and August the highest mean temperature
and climate. prevailing in any part of India is that of the comparatively rainless tract about Mooltan,
Montgomery and Dera Ismail Khan. The intensely hot weather commences shortly after
the 1st June. The kikar and ber trees lose all their leaves in the burning heat. There is

12
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

generally a fall of rain by the 15th July. A hot wind blows more or less steadily from the
south and south-west during the month of June, until the advent of the monsoon current
is felt, and then the winds are very variable. The nights are, if not cool, at least
comfortable up to the last ten days of June, and then day and night are both equally
intolerable. Jhang after general rain has a most pleasant climate. The thermometer falls,
and there is little or none of that close muggy atmosphere that characteristics the rain in
stations with a large rainfall and moist soil. Calms are rare. If the rain ceases, as it
sometimes does, or if the breaks are long, the heat becomes again intense, and hot winds
have been experienced in the later part of July. There is always a change in August in
this part of the Punjab. The nights and mornings get cooler. I f there is no range in
August and September, this cooling proceeds very gradually, until the cool weather
commences and pankahs area abandoned about the 10th October. With rain about the
middle of September, the cold weather comes in much quicker. The cool bright days, the
frosty nights and the crisp fresh mornings of the cold weather of the Punjab proper, are to
be found at Jhang as elsewhere. October and November are rainless. During the last
week in December and in January and February rain usually falls. By the end of March
the weather grows perceptibly warmer. April is hot and dry; May is hotter and drier.
Table No. III shows in tenths of an inch the total rainfall registered at each of rain-gauge
stations in the district fro each year, from 1866-67 to 1882-83. The fall at head-quarters
for the four preceding years is shown in the margin. The distribution of the rainfall
through out the year is shown in Tables Nos.IIIA and IIIB.
Year Tens of an Inch
1862-63 238
1863-64 185
1864-65 135
1865-66 117
Disease The district is a particularly healthy one. There is ordinary but little fever. Cholera
seldom appears and never badly. The drinking water at Jhang, and generally along the
banks of the Chenab, is excellent. Goitre, however, is prevalent in the neighborhood of
Chiniot and the tract lying to the north-east of that town. Tables Nos. XI, XIA, XIB and
XLIV give annual and monthly statistics of births and deaths for the district and for its
towns during the last five years; while the birth and death-rates since 1868, so for as
available, will be found at pages 42, 43 for the general population, and in Chapter VI
under the heads of the several large towns of the district. Table No. XII shows the
number of insane, blind, deaf-mutes, and lepers as ascertained at the Census of 1881;
while Table No. XXXVIII shows the working of the dispensaries since 1877.
Geology. SECTION B-GEOLOGY, FAUNA AND FLORA.
Fauna and
Flora.
Our knowledge of Indian geology is as yet so general in its nature, and so little has
been done in the Punjab in the way of detailed geological investigation, that it is
impossible to discuss the local geology of separate districts. But a sketch of the geology
Geology
of the Province as a whole has been most kindly furnished by Mr. Medlicott,
Superintendent of the Geological Survey of India, and is published in extenso in the
Provincial volume of the Gazetteer series, and also as a separate pamphlet. And the
following discussion taken from Mr. Stedman’s Settlement Report, is of such an
interesting character that it is inserted here:__

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

“It has always been to me a curious problem __ origin of his Thal sand. If there were
any continuous stretches of sand hills on the left bank of the Jhelum, the question might
be more easily understood, But there are not. I only know of one small portion of the
Vichanh Bar where there are sand dunes, and this is due east of Kadirpur Bakhsha. To
the east of the Chenab, below its junction with the Jhelum there are no doubt sand hills
here and there, such as are met with east of Gilmala, in Pirwala elsewhere; but otherwise
the tract in no way resembles the Thal. The sand hills of Gilmala and pirwala seem to
have most probably been formed from sand deposited in an old bed of the Chenab that is
found near. The remarks at pages 436-439 of the Manual of Indian Geology should be
consulted for a further insight into the formation of deserts such as those found in Sindh
and Rajputana, which do not apparently differ much from the Thal, except that there the
direction of the parallel lines of sand hills is north-east and south-west, while, according
to the Shahpur Settlement Report, p. II, they here run north-east and south-east. Native
traditions attribute the presence of the sand to the action of the strong south wind that
prevails during the greater part of the year, in blowing up the sand of the Indus bed. The
authors of the Manual write of the Rajputana desert;_, It appears difficult to believe that
all the sand found in the desert can have been derived from the Indus.; The same
difficulty occurs in respect of the Thal sand. ‘The most probable theory appears to be that
the Ran of cutch, and the lower portion of the Indus valley” have been occupied by the
sea in post tertiary times, and that the sand of the desert was derived from the shore. The
most sandy tracts, as has also been shown, are on the edge of the Indus valley and these
portions of the country were all probably situated on the coast; ‘ It is probable that the
central portion of the desert was land, whilst the Indus valley, the Ran (of Cutch) and the
Luni valley were occupied by sea The accumulation of sand in a desert region is
evidently due to the low rainfall and the consequent absence of steams, the effect being
intensified by the accumulation of sand and the porous nature of the resulting surface. In
other parts of India, the sand blown from the river channels or the son sea coast is either
driven by the wind into other river channels, or is swept into them again by rain.
“It is easy to follow these remarks in connection with the presence of sand in the upland
of the Sindh saugor Doab, but what in the ease of the Jhang district requires an
explanation, is the comparative absence of sand in the two neighbouring Doabs between
the Jhelam, Chenab and Ravi rivers. In fact the comparative absence of sand between the
Thal and the Bikanir desert on the east of the Sutlej. The alluvium of the Kirana and
Sandal Bars and that of the Sindh saugor Thal on which the sand dunes rest, are probably
of the same age, though I speak with extreme difference; and if this is the case, why are
there not the same accumulations of sand? Did the sands of the bikanir desert and those
of the Thal once join, and have the Punjab rivers since cut their way through them, the
uplands of the Bar having been first deposited and subsequently cut through at later
period? Where the Jhelum enters the district it runs alongside, and is cutting away the
high bank of the Thal. Thence due west, as far as the Indus Kachhi, there is nothing but
the most sterile waste of monotonously parallel sand dunes. Cross the river, and with the
exception of the few mounds of sand mentioned previously, a flat plain of stiffish soil,
here and there lightening down to sandy loam transverse until the Chenab is met. It
seems possible to account for the absence of sand by the decreting action of the rivers, on
the hypothesis that the sands of the Bikanir desert and those of the Thal were in past ages
continuous, and that the Chaj and Rachna Doabs, lying as they do at lower level, were

14
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

subsequently deposited by fluvial action that had first eroded and carried away the sands.
This however, gives a higher position in the geological era to the Sind Saugor Doab than
is allowed by the Indian geologists; and of course my suggestions is little else than a
guess suggested by the levels, the lie of the country, and the identical character of the
sand in the two deserts, separated from each other by the Punjab portion of the Indus
drainage system.”

Mineral There are no mines in the district. There are several quarries in the hills near Chiniot,
Products. where millstones, postal and mortars, dabgars and mochis blocks, kneading boards, oil
pans for lamps, & c, are made. There are no other metal or mineral products. There are
no kankar beds in the district. The kirana hills are stated to contain iron or, but it has
never been worked. Some freestone was quarried near Chiniot and sent to Lahore for use
in some of the Government buildings.

Trees. Among the trees of the district the kikar (Acacia Arabica) is the most common and the
The kikar. most useful. It grows most luxuriantly in the Hithar villages on both the rivers, but is
found in greater quantities on the Jhelum and upper Chenab than further south. Kikar
wood is of excellent quality, and is used for almost every agriculture purpose. More
especially it is almost invariably used for the horizontal and vertical wheels, the axle of
the vertical wheels, and other portions of the machinery of a Persian-wheel. As a young
tree, it is exposed to some danger from frost, but as it ages, cold has less effect. It grows
wonderfully quickly, and this is the principal reason why zamindars prefer it to the
shisham (tahli). A number of young kikars will be found on almost every well scattered
over the area attached, but the shishams will only be close round the well. The pods of
the kikar and the loppings are eaten greedily by sheep and goats, and in years of drought
the tree is hacked and pruned in a most unmerciful manner. The shade of the kikar is
peculiarly harmful to vegetation. Nothing will grow under it. The bark is used for tanning
and distilling spirits. The eypress-formed or kabuli kikar (Acacia cupressiformis) is also
found scattered over the district; it is valued less than the kikar.
The Shisham. The shisham or tahli (Dalbergia sissu) is found wherever there is cultivation, but is more
abundant in the lowlands fringing the rivers than in the Utar. The tree does not do well
until its roots get down to water, and this takes place much sooner in the tract near the
rivers than in the uplands. Shorkot way, almost every well in the Hithar boasts a clump
of shishams, and many are extremely fine trees. There are apparently two varieties of the
tahli, one growing straight, and the other with the boughs drooping. The Ber (Zizyphus
jujuba) is a hardly tree, and will grow anywhere, though it prefers the soil or of the
Hithar. It is considered unlucky to cut down a ber, and its fruit, when ripe, is gathered by
every passer-by. The fruit is highly esteemed and largely eaten by the poorer
agriculturists. Careful housewives collect and store large quantities of the berries when
the crop is a good one. The fruit has a not unpleasant rough acid taste. It ripens about
march. The siris (Acacia speciosa) is rarely met with, and only near wells. It is a useless
tree, but affords a good shade. The Ukanh or Khagal, or Frash, Tamarix orientalis is not
common any where except in the Bar and the kachhi. Those in the Kachhi are of a
gnarled stunted growth and never attained any size except near wells, and the zamindar
does not often choose to grow the ukanh on his cultivated lands. In the Bar, wherever
water collects or the soil is better and more moist than usual, the Ukanh is sure to be

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

found. A typical instance is to be found on the Chichawatni road to the east of


Roranwali. The wood of the ukanh is hard, and is used in a variety of ways. Lai, the jhau
The Bar, siris of Hindustan, is found in great quantities along the riverbanks. It is used to make the
and Fardsh. wattle cylinders with which kachcha wells are usually lined. Near Jhang and Maghiana it
is cut and used for firewood. In the Jhang tahsil the sohanjna____ horse radish. Tree
Moringa pterygosperama) ___ is found on almost every well. The fruit is preserved and
used for chatnis and as a pickle. The tree is pruned regularly every year until it resembles
a polled willow more than anything else. In Shorkot and Chiniot this tree is found, but
not so abundantly. In the Civil Station some very find old jand (Acacia Levcoophelt)
trees are to be seen. Elsewhere the stunted bush is usually the form in which this tree
presents itself.

The Jand. A jand shrub is always a sure sign of good soil, whether in the Hithar or Utar. It is
unusual to find jand scrub in the Hithar, but there are a few such tracts in the southern
Tehsil. Like the ukanh, the jand in the Bar prefers a moist lowlying position. The jand is
usually a bush, but in the more favorable localities it becomes a small tree. The
peculiarly dense growth of jand jangal in the south-east corner of the Shorkot Tehsil has
already been noticed. Here, though the surface of the soil is covered with kallar, the soil
itself is good. The kallar has been washed on as a foreign substance in suspension and
solution by the Ravi flood water or by the drainage from the saline upland of the Bar, and
subsequently deposited by evaporation in or on the soil. The jand makes very good
firewood, and affords capital grazing to camels, sheep, and goats. The wan, jal, or pilu
(Salvadora oleoides) ___ for by all three names is this tree known___ is found in every
The jal or pilu. part of the district. Individual trees of the largest size are found in the Kachhi and the
Bar. There are two kinds of jal___the sweet and the sour, but the sour is very seldom
found. The leaves of the Koura jal and are darker in colour and longer and broader then
those of the mitha jal. The tree is much used by the cattle thieves of the Bar as a place of
concealment for stolen animals. It is impossible to discover the animal except by the
closest scrutiny, and precautions are carefully taken against any movements on his part.
The roots of the tree are the fourite home of the cobra. As fuel the wood is detestable. It
leaves an enormous quantity of ash, has an extremely disagreeable smell, and gives but
little heat. Its leaves are the favourite diet of camels during the first quarter of the hot
weather. They act as a cooling alterative. The fruit, the berry called pilu, is much prized
by the poorer classes. Pilu is used both of the tree and the fruit. It is equally correct to
speak of the pilu tree and of eating pilu, but it is incorrect to talk of eating wan or jal. The
berry usually ripens shortly after the 15th Jeth (1st June). In 1880, there was a
magnificent crop of berries that ripened a month earlier than usual, and thoroughly
appreciated it was by the poor classes, with wheat selling at 10-12 seers for the rupee,
and harvest below the average. They lived for nearly two month among the jal trees with
their flocks, and consumed scarcely anything but pilu berries and milk. The berry is
supposed to be a cooling diet. The shade of the jal is esteemed as being particularly cool
and a thoroughly good protection against the sun, and the day is passed there in. The
flocks are very found of the berry also, and it is supposed to increase both the sweetness
and the supply of milk. Quantities of the fruit are dried and stored.
The Karir. The karir bush (Capparis ophaylla) is found alongside the jal in every portion of the
district. The Kachhi and the Bar are its favorite habitats. It affords grazing to sheep and

16
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

goats, and when hard pressed, cattle eat or chew the twigs. It bears a pinky white flower,
bata, and when in blossom the Bar assumes for a few days quite a gay appearance. The
fruit Dehla is but little used in this district. It is eaten when ripe, but the zamindars hardly
talk about the crop; or if they do, never in the same terms or with the same interest as the
ber and pilu berry crop is discussed. The unripe berry is made into pickle, and also is
much esteemed as a tonic (masalah) for horses. The karir wood suffers less from white
ants than other indigenous timber, but it does not enjoy perfect freedom from their
attacks. It is used as rafters for houses, and for the spokes of the wheel on which the well
pots are strung. All the more important indigenous trees and shrubs have been
enumerated and described above. Among the other trees besides the fruit-bearing ones,
are the bohar (Ficus Indica), the pipal (Ficus Religiosa) the bakain (Melia Azedarach).
The bohar thrives in a wonderful way in the tract near the rivers. One celebrated tree, pir
ka bohar, was carried away by the river Chenab some 11 years ago. It was situated in the
village of Haveli Mohangir, and its shade covered over half an acre not the many acres
mentioned by the correspondent of the Agri-Horticultural Society, noted at page 213,
Stewart’s Punjab Plants. The pipal is found, like the bohar, throughout the district, but
less frequently. The bokain is found here and there alongside a well, but not often. Other
less common trees are the barna, the amaltas (Catharitcarpus fistula), the phulahi(Acacia
Modesta), the white siris (Acacia elata) and the jaman (Sizygium Jambolanum). In some
of the belas, and more especially just above the junction of the Jhelum and Chenab, a few
specimens of the bahn (populas euphratica) are found. In Jhang the local name is ubhan.
The mango, mulberry peach, apple, orange, lime, pomegranate lemon, grape,
plum,guava, &c, are the fruit trees. The mangoes are generally inferior. Most of the
Other Trees. better zamindars have each his bagh or mango orchard. Oranges and limes succeed very
well, but the other fruits are not good. The date palms of the district will be noticed in
Chapter V.
Among plants are found the ak. Buin, khip, phog, lana, lani,khar, jawanh or camel-thorn,
munjkana, khan, harmal, bhukil, thistrl. The ak can hardly be termed a useful plant.
When reduced to great extremity, goats and deer eat the leaves. Buin and khip no animal
eats. Mr. Monckton says paper was made of khip in the Jhang jail. It certainly is not put
to this use now, though experiments may have been made with the plant in former days.
All enquiries have been met with one answer, that it is valueless. Phog comes in the same
category. It is found chiefly in the Thal or the sandy tracts of the Bar. It is seldom eaten
by cattle. Lana, lini and khar are all found in this district. There are two kinds of lana,
gora and mithar. Mr. Steedman writes:__
Land,Lani,Khar “Lana is evidently the gora lana of the Montogomery Settlement Report, and lani the
. mithar lana. I cannot quite follow the notes in the Punjab Plants, and I fancy the writer
was not perfectly clear as to his facts. Anabasis multiflora is apparently mithar lana or the
lani of Jhang; but what salsolas are the Garoxylon fetidum, and Sweeda fruiticosa/. The
latter is probably the lana or gora lana. Garoxylon Griffithi is the khar. There is a
considerable disagreement as to what plant or plants sajji is made from. In the Jhang
district sajji is made from Khar only. I have made repeated enquiries, and have always
received the same answers, that sajji is made from khar, but that sometimes, as sugar is
sanded, and as a verity of jams are partly made from turnips and diseased figs, so is the
bulk of the sajji increased by burning lana with the khar. I have been constantly in camp at
the time the khar is cut, and I have never seen a single bundle of cut lana, and such

17
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

adulteration is very uncommon. All four plants are excellent grazing for camels. Khar is
the best, and lani the wrost. khar, Mr.Monckton happily rases it, forms a useful alternative
in the diet of camels that graze in the Bar. Lana forms the staple food of the camel for at
least 8 months in the year. During May, June and July the jal is browsed, and then lana
grazing commences”.
The process of manufacturing sajji is described in the Shahpur Gazetteer, and in Punjab
products,” pp. 86-88. Jawanh , jawasa camel-thorn, is found most abundantly in the waste
Other Shrubs. and popular error to suppose that camels eat it. As a rank weed, it does much harm to
cultivation. The thistle, leh, is another weed that springs up in old sailab lands. Harmal
and bhukil are two weeds characteristics of the Kachhi well cultivation. Harmal grows
chiefly on fallow lands. Bhukil loves a light sandy soil, springs up with the crop, and
chokes it.
Sar, Munj, The plant saccharum munja is so characteristic of the Chenab valley, and plays so
Kand. important a part in agriculture, that it deserves separate and special notice. It is found but
infrequently on the Jhelum. The Jhelum soil is too good to be left to grow sar only, Along
the Chenab there is hardly a single village in which it is not to be seen. The area under sar
increases as one goes south. There is more sar in Shorkot than in Jhang, in Jhang than in
Chiniot. The difference in the country before and after the kand or flower stems are cut is
astonishing. In October and November, in the tracts where this plant grows, the view is
closed in on every side by the flower stems, and a bird’s-eye view of the lie of a village is
impossible. The leaves sar, the flower stems kana and tili, the stem sheaths manj, are all
parts of the same plant, buta. The leaves are used for thatching houses, the kina reeds
being bound round the edges and across to strengthen the thatch. In the cold weather they
are often the only pasturage of the cattle. They are also cut, chopped up, and mixed like
bhusa with grain, oil cake, or green stuff. In the early spring the grass is fired, and the
cattle graze on the green shoots that quickly sprout again. Only the inferior patches of sar
are treated thus, as the plant seldom produces munj kana after being burnt. The dry sar
leaf is not very fattening, but it serves to keep the cattle in condition, and to have buta
plants inside the village boundary is always considered a great advantage. The kana reeds
are used for a variety of purposes, for strengthening thatch for making chairs, couches,
and stools, for the framework of bhusa stacks, palla, &c. The upper portion of the stem,
tili, is the portion off, of the sheat of which is made into munj.The sheat of the lower
portion of the stem is never so used. The tili is made into sirki and mats, and is also used
for the manufacture of winnowing trays, basket, &c. Munj is the most valuable of all the
products of this plant. The manufacture of the munj into rope may be seen almost any day
in any jail in the western Punjab . The lower ends of a bundle of the petioles are first
burnt, then they are pounded into fibres, and lastly twisted into a rope. The ropes used in
agriculture are made almost entirely of munj. The well ropes, the ties that attach the well
pots to the rungs of the well rope, the string portion of charpais, are all made of munj.
Several villages have of late commenced to sell their munj kana, and large sums are
realized. The zamidars say there are two kinds of sar, ___the white and black. The black
has a broader and darker colored leaf, and gives the longest and stoutest kana. The white
sar plant is better grazing, and produces better munj. It is, however, probable that they are
one and the same plant under different conditions. The white sar is found in lighter soils
than the other kind. The kana (sacclurun spontaneum) is only found in the moistest
portions of lands adjoining the rivers. It is most valuable pasture for buffaloes. The

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

zamindars go so far as saying that if there were no kanh there would be no buffaloes. It
Khar makes the thickest jangal in the district, and is much liked on that account by wild pig.
Pens are made from it. It is too valuable to be used for thatch.

Grasses. As the well-being of the people of this district is so intimately connected with the
existence of good pasturage, it will be useful to give a list of the principal grasses, with a
few remarks. Chhimbar is the most common grass in the Bar, and appears to thrive in
every kind of soil, sandy, clayey, or saline. With good rain it attains a fair height, and is
very dense in growth. It is one of the best. Lamb is a feathery grass of average quality, and
is found growing in colour. Kurya is uncommon. It is a first class grass. Horses do
particularly well on it. Lunak is a tall upstanding grass, requires a good deal of rain for a
good crop, grows in hallar, and is first-class grass. Garham is not unlike lunak in
appearance, but grows higher and stronger. It is not found in kallar, but usually under
bushes and where dung has fallen, and is inferior in quality. Khar madhana is a small
grass, with seed shaped like a wood-louse, inferior in quality. Dhaman is the best of all
grasses. It is found in the largest quantities in the north of the district. To the south it is
rare. It requires a good soil, and will not grow in kallar. The zamindars complain that the
dhaman is becoming scarcer and scarcer, and attribute the scarcity to the frequent failure
of the rains d-------uring late years, but it is doubtful whether this idea is correct. It is a
thick juicy, pale green grass, and grows to a considerable height in favorable years. This
grass, the zamindars believe, if in good condition, gives a semi-intoxicating effect to the
milk of the buffaloes who graze on it. Pilan is another good grass. It is the principal grass
of the police rakh not far from Jhang, and makes excellent sweet hay, not as fragrant or
tender as English hay, but still not to be despised. It is found mixed with chhimbar and
kheo. Kheo is remarkable for the speed with which it springs up after rain, resembling
murak in this quality, but otherwise it is a better and larger grass. Murak sprouts out in
lowying moist places after rain. Its leaves are not unlike those of the dabh, but are
narrower and grow straight up. Among the prostrate grasses are the aleti, dodhak, and
kilan. All three are very hardy and seem to do best in seasons of drought. They are dug up
and given to cattle. Sheep and goats graze them on the ground. There are only two other
grasses of the Bar that require notice, the khawi and panhi. The khawi grows in hollows
where water collects, and seems to prefer kallar. There is any quantity of it round Toba
Tek Singh. It has a peculiar fragrant smell, and is of a dark brownish-red colour. Cows
graze upon it if hard pressed, but not otherwise. It contains little nutrition. The Bar
housewives use wisps of this grass to clear out vessels used for churning or holding milk.
The panhi is a very different plant, and is described roughly at P. 253, “Punjab Plants.” It
like the khawi, grows in hollows and depressions, but selects only the best soils. It is
never seen in kallar. It grows in tussocks like the sar grass, but instead of drooping its
leaves, stands out straight and stiff. Its roots are very long and tough. They are used for
making ropes and also for the brushes used by the weavers for arranging the threads of the
web. Khas khas is obtained from the roots of the khawi.
Wild animals The beasts of prey found in the district are the wolf, the hyena the wild cat, and Lvnx.
and Wolves are numerous both in the Sandal, and the Kirana- bar. The hyena is not so often
game. seen. The name of the bar-billa is applied both to the long and short-tailed wild cats. The
one is the domestic animal run wild, and the other is a true lynx. The first attains a much
larger size than the domestic cat, and is remarkably fast. The lynx is a stouter animal.

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Another animal frequently met with is a kind of badger, a most hideous-looking creature -
--vernacular name dijju. In the interior of the Sandal bar and between Ghapni and
Khurianwala, there are some droves of wild ponies. They are the offspring of escaped
domesticated animals. Major Harcourt had one that was driven with another horse in a
pony carriage. A remarkable but a true story is told of another of these ponies that got
loose at Sialkot and found his way back to his old haunts at Ghapni. The parents of these
wild ponies are said to have escaped in the fights between the Kathias and Bharwanas. For
the five years ending 1882, Rs.1,195 were paid in rewards for the destruction of 345
wolves, and 570 snakes.
As a sporting district, Jhang is not particularly good, and yet not bad. Black buck are
only found in one portion of the district, between the kirana hills and the shahpur district.
There are none in the Sandal Bar included in this district, except perhaps a few near the
Gujranwala boundary. Ravine deer are plentiful in the Bar. They especially affect the tract
near Toba Tek Singh and Ghapni, where there is very little cover. They are extremely
wary, and it is very difficult to get within shot of them. In the Kirana Bar also, ravine deer
are common, but not in such quantities as on the other side of the Chenab. There are one
or two places in the Kachhi near the Thal where they are generally to be found. Pahra or
hog deer are found in almost all the large belas on the Chenab. There are good numbers in
Shorkot, a few in Jhang, and hardly any in Chiniot. Jackals are found in great numbers
along the Chenab. There are not very many in the Bars. The kirana hill swarms with them,
and the fakirs give them a daily dole. Seeing the jackals fed is a remarkable sight. One of
the fakirs stands on the edge of the wall and shouts, O gidro, ao! Ao! Ao!” and the jackals
seem to spring out of the ground by magic. Where nothing could be seen but a steep bare
hill side, is suddenly thronged by 20 or 30 jackals. Bits of chupati are then down to them,
and the way in which they scamper down hill after the pieces is wonderful. Foxes are
found all over the district. There are two distinct kinds, one fox is of a very light
yellowish-brown colour, so as to be almost indistinguishable from the colour of the
ground after drought, with a curved sabreshaped brush of a darker shade on the upper than
on the lower side, and ending in a white tag. The second kind is very much darker in hue,
and has a perfectly straight brush with a black tag. This species is more compact in form,
with a stouter body than the first. Both foxes give capital sport, but the light-coloured one
has better staying powers, and is also faster than the other. Numbers are to be found in the
tract of Bar adjoining the civil station. Hares are found more or less all over the district.
In Chiniot there are but few, except in the interior of the Bar beyond Shahkot, where they
are plentiful. In the Vichanh they are seldom met with. There is a very good supply all
along the Chenab on the left bank. On the right bank the cultivation is too dense. The hare
found in the moist alluvial lands adjoining the rivers is small in size, and does not afford
good coursing. It has neither speed nor stamina. The hares of the Utar and Bar give
excellent sport, but the Kachhi and Thal hares are supposed to be the hardiest of all. There
are a great number of pig in the jand jangal of Bhera and the adjoining portion of Mooltan.
From here they spread into the dense jangal that extends from jalalpur to Allah yar Juta,
and the vario1us thick belas on the river. But the country is bad for riding. Pig are found
now and again in Bela Baggar near the junction of the two rivers, and in one or two places
above Jhang, and there are pig in the Sandal Bar near Saugla.
Among game birds, the bustard, tukdar, the houbara, gurain, guraini, sand grouse, coulon,
geese, ducks and quail are annual visitors. The larger bustard is found in the Sandal Bar,

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

but is very rare. The houbara (pronounced obara here) is plentiful in the cold weather all
over the district. They are found in the Kallar plain round Toba Tek Singh in a great
numbers as anywhere. The lesser bustard is also seen near the sadr station. Coulon (kunj)
come in with the cold weather in great numbers. They are found principally in the Hithar.
Geese come in later then coulon, and are particularly found of the banks of the Jhelum and
lower Chenab. They seem to like particular localities, and may be seen in great numbers in
Alikhanana and Rashidpur west of the Chenab, and in Dabh Kalan and Kachha Kabira on
the left bank. There are very few duck, and still fewer snipe in the district. There is only
one small pond in the whole of the Chiniot tahsil where duck are, as a rule to be found. In
Jhang they are equally scarce. It is only in Shorkot on the budhs of the Ravi that good
shooting can be obtained. The best dhans are in the Nalera and khutpur sanda. Teal,
spotted-bills, mallard, white-eyes, shovellers, gadwalls, are the commonest kinds. Quail
are plentiful both in spring and autumn. The autumn shooting is the best and certainly the
most enjoyable. The larger sand grouse is found in large numbers all over the district in
November and December. It is quite a sight to see the flocks flying to and from the
Chenab for their morning’s drink. After December a fair number still remain, but not so
many as before. The pin-tailed grouse has also been shot in the district, and the common
sand grouse stays all the year round. There are very few black partridges in the district. In
the Shorkot Tehsil, but nowhere else, are there places where a few shots can always be
got. The grey partridge is found infrequently all over the district.
Fish and Fishing is not practiced generally as a profession, upon either the Jhelum or the Chenab.
Fisheries At Lalera, however, in the extreme south of the district, a few families devote themselves
to fishing, and fish are sent from this place for sale at Mooltan.
Reptiles. The snakes most common in Jhang are the Karet and Cobra. In the Bar many and
wondrous snakes are said to exist. The following are among the most venomous; karundia,
khapra, khan, Sangchure, phanniar or Chhajliwala, the Cobra, bindo- a and Garra.

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

CHAPTER II.
History
Ancient ________
History.
HISTORY
Considerable interest attaches to the early history of this district, from the identification,
now placed beyond a doubt, of the ruins upon a small rocky hill, near the border of the
district towards Gujranwala, with the Sakala of the Brahmans, the Sagal of Buddhism,
and the sangla are of the Alexander, historians. The identity of the three places had long
ago been recognized, but the position has been only recently determined. Fortunately for
the cause of history, the place was visited, in A.D. 630, by the Chinese pilgrim Hwen
Thsang. Both Arrian and curtius apparently place Sangala to the east of the Ravi, but the
itinerary of Hwen Thsang shows that it was to the west of that river, as nearly as possible
in the position of the small hill known in modern times as Sanglawa Tibba. The
discrepancy is probably to be thus accounted for: Alexander is stated by both Curtious
and Arrian to have been in full march for the Ganges, when he heard “that certain free
Indians and Kathaeanst were resolved to give him battle if he attempted to lead his army
thither.” He no sooner heard this than he immediately directed his march against the
Kathaeans that is he changed the previous direction of his march and proceeded towards
Sangala. This was the uniform plan on which he acted during his campaign in Asia, to
leave no enemy my behind him. When he was in full march for Persia, he turned aside to
besiege Tyre; when he was in hot pursuit of Bessus, the murderer of Darius, he turned to
the south to subdue Drangiana and Archosia; and when he was longing to enter India, he
deviated from his direct march to besiege Aornos. With the Kathaens the provocation
was the same. Like the Tyians, the Drangians, and the Bazarians of Aorons, they wished
to avoid rather than oppose Alexander; but, if attacked, they were resolved to resist.
Alexander was then on the eastern bank of the Hydrates or Ravi and, on the day after his
departure from the river, he came to the city of Pimprama where he halted to refresh his
soldiers, and on the third day reached Sangala. As he was obliged to half after his first
two marches, they must have been forced ones of not less than 25 miles each, and his last
may have been a common march of 12 or 15 miles. Sangala therefore, must have been
about 60 or 65 miles from the camp on the bank of the Hydrates. Now, this is the exact
distance of the Sangala Hill from Lahore, which was most probably the position of
Alexander’s camp of when heard of the recusancy of the Kathaei. General Cunningham
believes therefore, that Alexander at once gave up his march to the Ganges and redressed
the Ravi to punish the people of Sangala for daring to withhold their submission.
Sangala Tibba is a small rocky hill forming two sides of a triangle, with the open side
towards the south-east. The north side of the hill rises to a height of 215 feet, but the
Sanglawala north-east side is only 160 feet. The interior area of the triangle slopes gradually down to
Tibba. the south-east, till it ends abruptly in a steep bank 32 feet above the ground. This bank
was once crowned with a brick wall, which can still be traced at the east end where it
joined the rock. The whole area is covered with brick ruins. The bricks are of very large
size, 15*9*3 inches. During the last fifteen years these bricks have been removed in great
numbers. Nearly 4,000 were carried to the large village of March, six miles to the north,

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

and about the same number must have been taken to the top of the hill to from it tower
for the survey operations. The base of the hill to form a tower for the survey each side, or
just one mile in circuit. On the east and south sides the approach the hill is covered by a
large swamp, half a mile in length and nearly a quarter of a mile in breadth, which dries
up annually in the summer, but during the seasonal rains has a general depth of about
three feet. In the time of Alexander is must have been a fine sheet of water, which has
been gradually lessened in depth by the annual washings of silt from the hill above. On
the north-eastern side of the hill there are the remains of two large buildings from which
old bricks were obtained by General Cunningham, of the enormous size of 17-1/2 *11 *
3 inches. Close by there is an old well, which was lately cleared out by some of the
wandering tribes. On the north-western side, 1,000 feet distant, there is a low ridge of
rock called Munda-ka-pura, from 25 to 30 feet in height and above 500 feet in length,
which has once been covered with brick buildings. At 1-3/4mile to the south there is
another ridge of three small hills called Arna or little Sangala. All these hills are formed
of the same. Dark grey rock as that of Chiniot and the Kirana hills to the west of the
chenab, which contains much iron, but is not worked on account of the want of fuel. The
production of iron is noticed by Hwen Thsang.
The Brahminical accounts of Sakala have been collected from the Mahabharata by
Professor Lassen.Accoridng to that poem, Sakala, the capital of the Madras, who are also
called Jartikas, and Bahikas was situated on the Apaga rivulet to the west of the Iravati or
Ravi river. It was approached from the east side by pleasant paths through the pilu forest.
The country is still well known as Madrades or the district of the Madras, which is said
by some to extend from the Bias to the Jhelum but by others only, to the Chenab. The
Apaga rivulet, General Cunningham recognizes in the Ayak Nadi, a small stream which
has its rise in the Jammu hills to the north-east of Sialkot. Near Asarur (in Gujranwala)
the bed of this stream divides into two branches, which, after passing to the east and west
of Asarur, rejoin at 2-1/2 miles to the south of Sanglawala Tibba. Near Asarur and
Sangala, the Ayak is now quite dry at all seasons, but there must have been water in at
Dhakawala only 24 miles above Asrur even so late as the reign of Shah Jahan, when his
son Dara Shikoh drew a canal from that place to his hunting seat at Shekhupura, which is
also called the Ayak or Jhilri Canal.
The Buddhist notices of Sakala refer chiefly to its history in connection with Buddhism.
A legend is told of seven kings who went towards Sagal to carry off Prabhavati, the wife
of king kusa; but the king, mounting an elephant, met them outside the city and cried out
with so loud a voice, “I am Kusa,” that the exclamation was heard over the whole world,
and the seven kings fled away in terror. But there is no other mention of Sakala until
A.D. 633, when it was visited by Hwen Thsang, who describes the neighbouring town of
Tse-kia as the capital of a large kingdom, which extended from the Indus to the Bias and
from the foot of the hills to the confluence of the five rivers.
The classical notices of Sangala are confined to the two historical accounts of Arrian
and Curtius and a passing mention by Diodorus. Curtius simply calls it “a great city
defended not only by a wall but by a swamp (palus),” But the swamp was a deep one, as
some of the inhabitants afterwards escaped by swimming across it (paludem
transnavere). Arrian calls it a lake, but adds that it was not deep, that it was near the city
wall, and that one of the gates opened upon it. He describes the city itself as strong both
by art and nature, being defended by brick walls and covered by the lake. Outside the

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

city there was a hill which the Kathaeans had surrounded with a triple line of carts for the
protection of their camp. This little hill may probably be identified with a low ridge to
the north-west called Mundakapura, which would certainly appear to have been outside
the city walls. The camp on the hill must have been formed chiefly by the fugitives from
other places, for whom there was no room in the already crowded city. The Greeks
attacking this outpost carried the first and second line of carts, and drove the defenders
back within the city walls. Then using the carts to form a barrier round the margin of the
lake, they commenced the siege of the city itself. The Katheans made an attempt to
escape by night across the lake but were cheked by the barrier of carts, and driven back
into the city. The walls were then breached by undermining, and the place was taken by
assault. The loss of the Kathaens is stated by Arrian to have been 17,000 slain and
70,000 prisoners. Curtius with more probability gives it as 8,000 slain:
Hwen Thsang, when he visited Sakala in A.D. 630, found the walls completely ruined
but their foundations still remained. Showing a circuit of about 3 -1/2miles. In the midst
of the ruins was a small portion of the old city, still inhabited, about one mile in circuit.
There was a Budhist Monastery of 100 monks, and two Buddhist topes, or stupus, one of
which was the work of the famous king Asoka.
Shorkot Another town of considerable historical interest in this district is that of Shorkot. It is
identified with great probability by General Cunningham with one of the towns of the
Malli, attacked and taken by Alexander, and with a city visited in the 7th contury by the
same Hwen Thsaug to whom history owes the identification of Sangala. The narrative of
the campaign against the Malli has been given in the account of Mooltan. For an account
of the city, see Chapter VI, heading “Shorkot” At the time of Hwen Thsang , Shorkot was
the capital town of the central district of the Punjab, bounded on the north by the Province
of Taki, on the south by Mooltan, and on the west and east by the Indus and the Sutlej.
The circuit, as stated by Hwen Thsang was 833 miles but General Cunninghan shows that
it cannot have exceeded about 530 miles.
Location of For a clear account of what little is known of the modern history of this district, it is first
tribes. necessary to describe the localities of the various tribes who have from time to time
played their small parts. The Sials occupy the whole of the country on the left bank of the
Chenab, from the southern boundary of Tehsil Chiniot to the Ravi. On the right bank of
the upper Chenab a comparatively small tract only is held by them, lying south of a line
drawn from the boundary of Kot khan, to the southern boundary of Shah Jiwana .On the
Jhelam’s right bank,below a point opposite to the northernm boundary of Kot Khan, the
Sial viallages are few; but from its point of junction with the Chenab down to the
Muzaffargarh district there is along the river an almost unbroken chain of Sial villages
.Away from the river most of the of the villages are the property of the Beloches.In what
is nowthe Chiniot tahsil on the left bank of the Chenab, the Chaddhars inhabit the tract
between the Sial country and the villages of the Sayads of Rajoa. Beyond them come a
motley mixture of Sayads,Harals, khokhars, and miscellaneous Jats. The tribal limits west
of the Chenab in the Chiniot tahsil are remarkably clearly demarcated. The Bhattis, Lalis,
and Nissowanas hold the whole of the northern portion in the above order, from a few
miles beyond the Jhang tahsil boundary to that of the Shahpur district. Below these tribes
along the river bank come the Gilotars next to the Shahpur boundary; then Harals,
Sayads and unimportant Jats, until the Jhang tehsil boundary is again reached, coinciding
with that of the Shah Jiwana ilaqa. This tract the property of the two Sayad families, the

24
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

descendants of Pir Fatah Khan and Shah Jiwana, extends to the country held by the Sials
in the Vichanh in the south-west, and northwards to the Khokhar villages above. North of
the Sial country, bounded by Kot Khan, come the Akera, a jat tribe of no historical interest
but of considerable present influences. Beyond them, Khokhars, Jats, and Baloches along
the river, and Khokhars in the upland villages, are the proprietors as far as the Shahpur
boundary. West of the Jhelum above the Sial country, almost all the villages belong to
Location of tril. Baloches.

Preliminary The history of Jhang is the history of the Sial, and until the reign of Walidad Khan, in the
sketch first half of the 18th century, the annals of the district and its tribes are enveloped in
of the moder’s Cimmerian darkness. Apparently no facts are forthcoming, for the simple reason that
history of the there are none. Passing by the expedition of Alexander and the march of Hephaestus
district. down the left bank of the Jhelum and lower Chenab, through the country now included in
this district, the first tangible facts are gained from Babar’s memoirs. In the year 1504-5
A.D, when Babar passed through the Khaibar pass and advanced on Peshawar, he wrote:-
“The Government of Bhera, “Khushab and Chenab was held by Sayad Ali Khan. He read
the “Khutba in the name of Iskandar Bahlol, and was subject to him. “Being alarmed at
my inroad, he abandoned the town of Bhera, “Crossed the river Behat (Vehat is still the
local name for the Jhelum) “and the made Shorkot (Shorkot?), a place in the district of
Bhera, his “capital. After a year or two, the Afghans having conceived suspicious against
Sayad Ali on my account, he became alarmed at their “hostility, and surrendered his
country to Daulat Khan, who was “Governor of Lahore. Daulat Khan gave Bhera to his
eldest son “Ali Khan, by whom it was now (1519), held.” Ali Khan and his father were
governors under the Lodi dynasty of Delhi, then represented by Ibrahim Lodi, the last of
his line. Shortly before the above passage, Babar speaks of the country of Bhera,
Khushab, Chenab and Chiniot as having been long in the possession of the Turkas, and
ruled over by the family of Temur Beg and his adherents and dependants ever since his
invasion of India in 1398. The matter of most interest to the historian of Jhang is the
locality and limits of these countries. Where was the Chenab country? Is the Shorkot
where Sayad Ali Khan fled, the Shorkot of to day? If so, how could Babar write of it as
being in the district of Bhera, for the Khushab country must have intervened? Mr.
Steedman inclined to identify Shirkot with Shorkot,and to place the Chenab country
south of Chiniot and Khushab. Whether this is right or wrong, Jhang and the Sials were
not of sufficient importance to be mentioned at the commencement of the 16th century
A.D. They remained equally unknown and unnoticed during the two centuries that
elapsed between Babar’s first invasion and the accession to the throne of Muhammad
Shah in 1720 A.D. It was until the times during which the dynasty of the Mughals
tottered and fell, the half century that witnessed the rise of the Sikhs and the Marhattas,
and the devastating inroads of Ahmad Shah that the Sials can be said to have been even
temporarily independent. Previous to Walidad’s accession, the Sials probably were a
pastoral tribe, but little given to husbandry, dwelling on the banks of the rivers and
grazing their cattle during the end of the cold and the first months of the hot weather in
the lowlands of the Chenab, and during the rainy season in the uplands of the Bar. The
greater portion of the tract now occupied by them was probably acquired during the
stormy century that preceded the conquest of Hindustan by the Mughals. During this

25
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

period the country was dominated from Bhera and sometimes from Mooltan. The
collection of revenue from a nomal population inhabiting the fastnesses of the Bar and
the deserts of the Thal could never have been easy, and was probably seldom attempted.
Left alone, the Sials applied themselves successfully to dispossessing those that dwelled
in the land, ___ the Nauls, Bhangus, Mangans, Mararls, and other old tribes, ___
amusing themselves at the same time with a good deal of internal strife and quarrelling,
and now and then with stiffer fighting with the Kharlas and Beloches. Then for 200 years
there was peace in the land, and the Sials remained quiet subjects of the Lahore Suba, th
seats of local government being Chiniot and Shorkot. Walidad Khan died in 1747, one
year before Ahmad Shah Abadali made his first inroad and was defeated before Delhi. It
is not known when he succeeded to the chieftainship, but it was probably early in the
century, for a considerable time must have been taken up in the reduction of minor chiefs
and the introduction of all the improvements with which Walidad is credited.It was
during Walidad’s time that the power of the Sials reached its Zeanith. The country
subject to Walidad extended from Mankera in the Thal eastwards to Kamalia on the
Ravi, from the confluence of the Ravi and the Chenab to the ilaqa of Pindi Bhattian
beyond Chiniot. He was succeeded by his nephew Inayatullah, who was little if at all
inferior to his uncle in administrative and military ability. He was engaged in constant
warfare with the Bhangi Sikhs on the north, and the chiefs, of Mooltan to the south. His
near relations, the Sial chiefs of Rashidpur gave him constant trouble and annoyance.
Once indeed a party of forty troopers raided Jhang and carried off the Khan prisoner. He
was a captive for six months. The history of the three succeeding chieftains is that of the
growth of the power of the Bhangis and of their formidable rival the Sukarchakia misl,
destined to be soon the subjugator of both Bhangis and Sials. Chiniot was taken in 1803,
Jhang in 1806. Ahmad Khan, the last of the Sial Khans, regained his country shortly after
in 1808, but in 1810 he was again captured by the Maharaja, who took him to Lahore and
threw him into prison. Thus ended whatever independence the Sial Khans of Jhang had
ever enjoyed.

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Early history of The previous paragraph contains a brief sketch of the the history of the Sials and there
the Sial clan uprule over the southern portion of the country now comprise in the Jhang District. It is
to Walidad now necessary to filled in the details so far as they have been ascertained. The sources
Khan’s from which the information now given has been compiled, Are the history of the Sials
reign. by Maulvi Nur Muhammad Chela, Griffin’s “Punjab Chiefs”’and the local stories and
traditions. The sials are descended from Rai Shankar, a Panwar Rajput, a resident of
Dharangar between Allahadad and Fatehpur. A branch of the Panwar had previously
emigrated from their native country to Jaunpur, and it was there that Rai Shankar was
born. One story has it that Rai Shankar had three sons ___Seu, Teu and Geu, from whom
have desconded the Sials of Jhang, the Tiwanas of Shahpur, and the Ghebas of Pindi
Gheb.An other traditions states that Sial was the only son of Rai Shankar, and that the
ancestors of Tiwanas and Ghebas were only collectors relation of Shankar and Sials. On
the death of Rai Shankar we are told that great dissendsions arose among the members of
the family, and his son Sial emigrated during the arign Ala-Ud-Din Ghori to the Punjab.
It was about this time that many Rajput families emigrated from the province of
Hindustan to the Punajb, including the ancestors of the Kharals, Tiwanas, Ghebas, and
Panwar Sials. Chaddhars and Panwar Sials. It was the fashion in those days to be
converted to the Muhammadan religion by the eloquent exhortations exhortations of the
sainted Bawa Farid of Pak Pattan, and accordingly we find that Sial in his wanderings
came to Pakpattan, and there renounced the religion of his ancestors. The saint blessed
him, and prophesied that his son’s seed should reign over the tract between the Jhelum
and Chenab rivers. This prediction was not very accurate. Bawa Farid died about 1264-
65. Sial and his followers appear to have wandered to and fro in the Rachna and the Ghaj
Doabs for some time before they settled down with some degree of permanency on the
right bank of the Jhelum. It was during this unsettled period that Sial married one of the
women of the country, Sohag, daughter of Bahi Khan Mekan of Sahiwal in the Shahpur
district, and is also said to have built a fort at Sialkot while a temporary resident there. At
their first settlement in this district, The Sials occupied the tract of country lying between
Mankera in the Thal and the river Jhelum, east and west, and from Khushab on the north
to what is now called the Garh Maharja ilaqa on the south. Mankera is said to have been
founded by Manak, and Amowani, now called Haiderabad, by Amo, sons of Diraj. The
tomb of Chuchak a leading man of the Kohli branch, is at Kotli Bakir Shah, and Maggun,
the ancestor of the Maginas emigrated to Maginas from Lohabhir. About the year 1462,
Mal Khan: __ ninth in deciscended from Sials, founded Jhang Sial on the banks of the
Chenab. The old town of Jhang was situate west of the tomb of Nur Sha, South-west of
the model town, and was subsequently carried away by the river. There are still some
traces of the old town to be seen. Mr. Monckton wrote of Mal Khan:- “He was “the first
of a race of rulers who, under the title of khan, exercise “an extensive sway over the
neighboring countries, till the rising “fortune of the Sikhs, guided by the genius of Ranjit
Singh, “successively aborted all the minor principalities within the “territory of the five
rivers. But Mr. Monckton much over-estimated the power and info of the Sials before the
reign of Walidad Khan.
Early history of At this period the throne of dehli was occupied by the Lodhis, and this part of the Punjab
the Sial clan up was included in the governments of Chiniot and Shorkot and Khushab. There were,
to Wallidad however, no resident governors, and the Sial paid in their revenue to the Nauls, who were
Khan’s reign. the dominant tribe in the country round Jhang. Mal Khan, after the foundation of Jhang,

27
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

visited Lahore, and obtained the farm of the Jhang revenues from the governor. Another
account is that he met the Governor at Chiniot. Mal Khan belonged to the Chuchkana
branch of the Sials. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Daulat Khan, who was killed
near the Thal while repelling a Beloch raid. His tomb is still to be seen at Wasu Asthana.
The chieftainship descended to his son Ghazi Khan, whose first act was to revenge his
father’s death inflect severe punishment on the beloches. He built a fort on the banks of
the Jehlam, a short distance above its junction with the Chenab, where the village of
chauntra now stands. It is related that Ghazi Khan was the first Sial chief who established
a standing army. The next prince was Jalal Khan, son of Ghazi Khan. He appears to have
been deficient in ability as a governor, and unable to restrain his unruly tribesmen. The
minor chiefs of Khiwa and Paharpur now first appear on the scene. Rashidpur was
founded by Jalal Khan’s, son Rasheed, and Pahar pur by Pahar Khan, a nephew of Jalal
Khan, who had quarreled with his uncle, and set up an independent chief ship. Pahar
Khan treacherously slew his uncle while on a visit to him, made with the object of
effecting reconciliation. He was succeeded by his Rashid Khan, who abdicated in favour
of his son Firoz Khan. Feroz Khan’s first enterprise was to exact retribution for his
grandfather’s murder. His brother Kabir Khan collected the youth of Jhang and took by
storm the fort of Paharpur. All the descendants of Pahar Khan who were taken were put
to the sward. The remnant that escaped founded the fort of Gilmala, about 15 miles to the
south-west of Jhang. After this exploit Kabir Khan and Firoz Khan ruled jointly, and
when Firoz Khan died his brother ascended the throne. The next chief was Jahan Khan.
The eight sons of Jahan Khan were superseded, and their cousin Ghazi Khan obtained
the chief tainship. Ghazi Khan lost his sight, and abdicated in favour of his son Sultan
Muhammad, between whom and the Kharals there was constant hostility. The story told
at page 510 of the “Punjab Chiefs” does not agree with the account given by Maulvi Nur
Muhammad. Prince Maujullin. At Kamalia on his way to Mooltan and Dera Ghazi
Khan. He was at the time leading an expedition to punish some rebellious Beloches.
Saadatyar Khan, the Kharal chief, complained to the prince of the conduct of the Sials
and their leader Sultan Mahmud. The prince ordered Sultan Mahmud to be thrown into
confinement, but deferred enquiry, into the charges until his return from the frontier. The
nobleman who was deputed to arrest Sultan Mahmud and take him to Mooltan was so
pleased with his manners and address that he interceded with Maujuddin for him. The
prince then sent for Sultan Mahmud, but Saadatyar Khan, fearing that the true cause of
the enmity between himself and the Sial chief leak out and the groundless nature of his
accusation be exposed, intercepted the messenger and beguiled him into adding to his
message the advice that it was Sultan Mahmud’s best policy to make friends with the
Kharal and give him his sister in marriage. The Sial was so exasperated at his proposal
that he then and there killed the
Messenger with his fists, and was saws himself slain in the melee that ensued. All this
took place at Mooltan, for Sultan Mahmud’s tomb is there. Sultan Mahmud left no
children, and was succeeded by his brother Lal Khan.Whose mother was a prostitute.He
was taunted by Saadat yar Khan for this taint in his ancestry, and the revenge plundered
up to the was of Kamalia, and the revaiged the Kharal country.Lal Khan died childless,
and was succeeded by his brother Mahram Khan, of whom nothing is known .He met his
death at the hands of a herdsman, who shoot him in mistake for a robber, and his son
Walidad reigned in his stead.

28
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Walidad Khan was by far the most able chieftain that ever ruled the Sials. His talent
Walidad Khan for civil administration was only equallled by his skill and success as a military leader.
Under his beneficent rule a rude people first learnt what justice was; sever
punishments and a rigorous enforcement of the track law put a stop to crime; a
moderate assessment of land revenue resulted in an extension of cultivation and the
construction of a number of wells that now seems fabulous; while the kingdom of the
Sials advanced to limits that it never knew before, and has never reached since. When
Walidad Khan succeeded his father, the boundaries of his kingdom were most narrow.
Within a few miles of Jhang fort to the north lay lands that acknowledged the sway of
the mahni chief of Khiwa. Southwards another and more powerful chief, a Nithrana
Sial, with his head quarters at Mirak Sial, 26 miles from Jhang, ruled over the country
from Shorkot to 12 within 15 miles of Jhang. In the vichanh was the independent chief
of Massan, a Sahibana Sial, whose terrritory marched with that of the Bhairo
Khokhars to the north and with the villages of Shah Jewana ilaka, subject to the Sayad
Latif Shah, a descendant of Pir Fatah Khan, on the north east. Beyond the Sayad came
the lands of the Rihan chief of Kalowal. Across the Chenab Rashidpur was the seat of
Sial Chiefs, sprung from the same stock as Walidad, and whom he never in the height
of his power regarded as other than allies. Eastward the sovereignty of the bar was
disputed by the Kharals, represented by te Kamalia chief. The relation in which these
chiefs stood to the ruling power in the first quarter of the 18th century is not clear; but
this much appears, that they were independent of the Jhang Sials, and probably paid
(or often did not pay) their revenue direct to the governors of Chiniot and Mooltan. As
was the custom, as his ancestor Mal Khan had done with the Nauls, so did Walidad
Khan with these neighboring chiefs of Khiwa, Massan, Shorkot, Mirak and Kamalia.
He first obtained from the Lahore governor the right to collect their revenure or
tribute, and his next step was to make them subject to himself. His first object was
scoured by stratagem. The Dehli empire was fast hastening to its.

And when the time came for payment of revenue, Walidad pretended to be ill, and
delayed payment. At the same time he contrived to have hints conveyed to the
neighboring chiefs that he was a defaulter only because the government of the day was
too weak to enforce the collection of its dues. The rival chiefs fell into the snare refused
payment. No sooner had they thus publicly thrown off the yoke than Walidad Khan
repaired to Chiniot and paid in his revenue. The Dehli governor complained of the
conduct of the other chiefs, and Walidad at once offered to pay up their revenue also, if
their countries were made over to him. His offer was accepted. A small force of cavarly
was deputed to assist him, and Wali dad then sent for the chiefs, who obeyed the
summons. They were thrown into prison for a short time, but were subsequently released
and service jagirs. The subjection of these chiefs was followed by the reduction of the
sayad ruler of rajoa, Latif Shah, and of the Khokhars of Mari and bhairo. An invasion of
the Beloches of Sahiwal in aid of the Khokhars was also repelled with loss by his
general, Sharif Khan Aliana; Izzat Bukhsh Rian was his deputy in Kalowal. It is not
known how Walidad acquired the Kalowal ilaka, but most probably he obtained it as a
portion of the chiniot province. The governorship of the Chiniot province was next
bestowed upon the loyal (for he never professed himself other than the slave of the Dehli
empire) and fortunate Sial chief. His suptremacy was now acknowledged over the whole

29
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

of the country included in the district of Jhang as it at present exists, together with large
slices of the neighboring districts of Montgomery and Dera Ismail Khan.He died in 1747
at Sodra, near Wazirabad, while in attendance on Maharaja Kaura Mal, the governor of
Multan.
His successor Inayatullah Khan was his nephew, and had also married his daughter. This
Inayatullah chief was little inferior as an administrator to his uncle, and in military genius was
Khan probably more than his equal. He is said to have fought and won 22 battles. He reigned 40
years, from 1747 to 1787. Able as he was, he could not stem the resistless wave of Sikh
success, and at his death the Sial escemdancy was clearly on the wane. Amid
emcroacghments of the Bhangi Sardars from the north, inroads from Multan on the south,
successive raids by the plundering free booters that accompanied Ahmad Shah’s
invasions, attacks by the Beloches and Tiwanas, and disunion and dissensions among the
Sials themselves, it was no easy matter to steer the ship of Sial rule safely into haven. We
have more facts about Inayatullah Khan’s reign than any other. At the commencement he
associated his brother-in law Shahadat Khan with him in the chieftainship. They sat on
one throne, sheathed their swords in one scabbard, ate and drank together, and in a word
rivaled in their friendship the most renowned examples afforded by antiquity. This
fraternal affection did not last long. A quarrel took place. Shahdat Khan left Jhang and
withdrew to Kadirpur. He got an army together there, and marched upon Jhang. After
crossing the Chenab he was met at Sultanpur by Inayatullah Khan, and was there defeated
and slain. Meanwhile named Din Muhammad had seized upon Mari beyond Kot Isa Shah,
but Inayatullah, after disposing of Shadat Khan, marched against the invader and defeated
and drove him to of the Jhang terrritory. The Sials of Rashidpur had now become
powerful, and were noted for their turbulence and bravery. To punish them for some
disobedience, Inayatullah obtained the aid of some Durrani horsemen from the governor
of the day, and harried their lands. In return for this, forty horsemen of the Sials of
Rashidpur gave the chief a taaste of their quality by taking him prisoner at Jhang, and
carrying him off under the eyes of his army to Rasshidpur. They kept him in confinement
in the castle of Sat in the Thal for some six months. Apparently neither during this nor the
previous reign he the rule of the Sials extended very far down the right bank of the
Chenab, for among Inayatullah‘s achievements is reckoned his defeat of the two Sikhs
who were the sub-governors of Islamabad and the annexation of their charge. This
incensed the Governor of Multan, and an ambuscade was laid for Inayatullah while on a
visit to Shorkot. He, however; got word of the plan from the Sarganas of kund Sarganas,
collecting an army of Rathias and Kamlana, Rajbana, an Sargana Sials, defeated the
Multan troops with great slaughter at Kotla Afghana close by Shorkot. At one time
Inayatullah found it plitie to pay Malik Sher Tiwana black mail as the cheapest way of
protecting the outlying prargana of Mari. Subsequently, thinking himself strong enough,
he discontinued the payment. Sher Khan then assembled his clan, and driving the Sials out
of Khai, a few miles north of the present district boundary on the right bank of the Jehlam,
laid siege to Kot Langar, now Thatti Langar, just inside the present boundary. Here
Inayatullah met and defeated the Tiwana force. Both sides are said to have had some Sikh
chiefs as auxiliaries. At another period the Sial chief defeated and subdued the Beloches
of Haidarabad in the Thal. He also took the fort of Uch founded by a Belot Sayad who had
settled in the Kachhi during his reing. It was in this reign that the Bhangi Sardars first
made their power felt. About 1760.Hari Singh revaged Jhang and imposed a tribute.

30
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

About 1778, Inayatullah ceased to pay tribute and recaptured chiniot, but it had apparently
again fallen into the hands of the Bhangis before his death. It is related of Inayatullah that
he met Jahan Khan, the grandfather of Dost Muhammad Khan of Kabul, while on his way
back from Hindustan, who asked for one of his sisters in marriage. There were three or
four unmarried, but the proud Sial sent word to Bhawani das, his divan, to have them all
married at once, and declined the proffered alliance on the ground that he had no sisters’
unmarried.
Inayatulla Inayatullah died in 1787, and was succeeded by his imbecile son Sultan Mahmud,
Khan’s whose weakness only served to set off the great force of character possessed by his wife
successors. Mussammat Niamat Khatun, the daughter of Shahadat Khan. Manh Singh, father of Ranjit
Singh, nourished designs on Jhang, but the army collected by Mussammat Niamat Khatun
was so formidable that he postponed his invasion. Shortly after, Sahib Khan, half brother
of Sultan Mahmud, who was constantly endeavoring to dethrone Sultan Mahmud, sought
assistance from Manh Singh, and was promised aid; but the promise was not carried out,
as Timur Shah was advancing on Multan. Finally, Shib Khan obtained an entry to Jhang
by treachery, and with 85 men only at his back, captured the fort and put Niamat Khautun
and Bhawani Das, the Divan, to death. Sultan Mahmud was absent from Jhang and
marched against the usurper, but he was inveigled to a meeting, seized and imprisoned at
the fort of chauntra, and shortly afterwards Sahib Khan put him to death. Saheb Khan was
himself assassinated at a marriage feast a few months after. Saheb Khan left a son by a
women of the prostitute class, Sultan Mahmud was absent from Jhang and marched
against the usurper, but he was inveigled to a meeting, assassinated at a marriage feast a
few months after,who died three years after at Uch; his successor was Kabir Khan of the
line of Jahan Khan, who married Sahib Khan’s widow, the daughter of Umr Khan Sial.
After a peaceful and uneventful rule, the clam preceding the storm, he was dethroned by,
or abdicated in favour of his son Ahmad Khan, the last of the Sial Khans. This was in
1801. Kabir Khan fled to Uch, where he was besieged unsuccessfully for two months by
Ahmad Khan. When the siege was raised, Kabir Khan fled to Rangpur, where he died.
Seven months after the accession of Ahmad Khan, Ranjit Singh laid siege to and took
Chiniot, then held by Jassa Singh, the son of Karam Singh Dulu, a chief of the Bhangi
confederacy. It is difficult to glean any clear account of the varying fortunes of Chiniot
between the death of Walidad Khan and its capture by Ranjit Singh, but the town seems to
have been held almost continuously by the Bhangi Sardars. After making himself master
of Chiniot, Ranjit Singh turned towards Jhang, but Ahmad Khan bought him off by
agreeing to pay Rs.70, 000 a year and a mare. The first instalment was sent through Fatah
Sing, Kalianwala. Ahmad Khan Paid the tribute for two or three years, and then in S.1862,
A.D.1805-6, the Maharaja again invaded Jhang with a large army. The sial chef again
endeavored to stop the Sikh advance by a payment of nazarana, but his offers were
rejected. Jhang was invested, and after some hard fighting the town and fort were
captured. Ahmad Khan fled to Multan, where he found an asylum with Muzaffar Khan,
who granted him an allowance of Rs. 25 a day. From Jhang the Maharaja crossed the
Chenab existed Rs.3, 000 as nazarana from the Sayad ruler of Uch. Thence the Sikh leader
turned south and marched on Multan, and his progress was only stopped within a short
distance of the city by a payment of Rs.70, 000. Jhang, with the exception of the vichanh,
was made over on farm to the sikh chief Fatah Singh, Kalianwala, the Vichanh tract being
entrusted to Dyal Singh and Fatah Singh Lamah. Fatah Singh appointed Dal singh as his

31
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

sub-governor. The following year Ahmad Khan, with the assistance of a Pathan force
given him by the Nawab of Multan, made an effort to recover his kingdom. He captured
Shorkot, and having established his authority in the southern portion of Jhang, he
advanced on the capital, only to retire on the arrival of Fatah Singh with a force. He next
crossed the chenab and took refuge in the Uch fort, where he was pursued by Fatah Singh.
There they came to terms, and Fatah Singh restored what portion of Jhang he held to
Ahmad Khan on his agreeing to pay an annual rent of Rs.70, 000. Ahmad Khan was
reinstated, and shortly after drove out the Sikh governors of the Vichanh. The next ten
years were passed in peace and quietness. Ranjit Singh was too fully engaged on other
expeditions to give any attention to the affairs of Jhang. In 1810 the Maharaja had made
an unsuccessful attack on Mooltan, and on his way back to Lahore he visited his chagrin
on Ahmad Khan who had accompanied him as his feudatory, and whom he suspected of
favouring the Multan Nawab. He threw him into confinement, and carried him away to
Lahore. The government of Jhang was entrusted to Lala Sujan Rai. Ahmad Khan’s eldest
son, Inayat Khan, fled to Haidarabad in the Thal, where he was followed by Nang Sultan,
the Fakir ruler of Uch. Sujn Rai then took possession of Uch. Eventually Ahmad Khan
was released from prison and granted a jagir of Rs.1, 200 at Mirowal, in the Amirtsar
district, on Inayatulla Khan was being made over to the Maharaja as a hostage. Ahmad
Khan died in 1820 on his way back from Multan at Ali Khanana, and was burried at
Jhang. His son Inayatulla Khan succeeded to his father’s allowance and jagirs, and was
killed in 1838, near Rasulpur, fighting on the side of Divan Sawan Mal against Raja Gulab
Singh. Ismail Khan, the younger brother of Inayat Khan, and the present head of the
family, went to Lahore on the death of his brother in the hope of obtaining a grant of
succession to his brother’s jagir. But owing to the machinations of Gulab Singh, the jagir
was confiscated, and all that he got was an allowance of Rs.100 a month. He remained at
Lahore for five years, and then his pension was discontinued. He then returned to Jhang
and lived there in great poverty on an allowance of Rs.2 or Rs.3 a day granted him by
Divan Sawan Mal until the Multan rebellion and the annexation of the Punjab.
Of his services during the campaign of 1848-49, and again in 1857, Sir Lepel Griffin
writes (“Punjab Chiefs,”) pages 506,507):-
“In October 1848, Major H. Edwardes wrote to Ismail Khan directing him to raise
troops in behalf of Government, and to collect the revenue of the district. The poor chief,
hoping the time was come when loyalty might retrieve his fortunes, raised a force, and
descending when loyalty might retrieve his fortunes, raised a force, and descending the
river attacked and defeated the rebel Chief Ata Muhammad at Nekokara. Afterwards,
when Sardar Sher Singh Atariwala had passed through Jhang and had left Deoraj in
command of 1,000 men there, Ismail Khan attacked this detachment several times with
varying results. His Jamadar, Pir Kamal of Kot Isa Shah, captured at the fort of Taraka
another rebel chief called Kahan Das. Thus Ismail Khan, the representative of a long and
illustrious line of chiefs, stood out bravely on the side of Government. His influence,
which was great in the district, was all used against the rebels, and his services were
especially valuable at a time when it was inexpedient to detach a force against the petty
rebel leaders. After annexation Ismail Khan was made Risalddar of the Jhang Mounted
Police, but his services were through inadvertence overlooked, and it was not till 1856
that he received a pension of Rs. 600 for life. Three wells were also released to him and
his male heirs in perpetuity. In 1857 the services of the chief were conspicuous. He aided

32
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

in raising a force of cavalry, and served in person against the insurgents. For his loyalty
he received a khilat of Rs. 500 and the title of Khan Bahadur, and his yearly grant of Rs.
600 was raised to Rs. 1,000, with the addition of a jagir of Rs. 350 for life. In 1860 his
pension was at his own desire exchanged for a life jagir. He has recovered many of his
old zamindari rights in different villages, and although his estate is only old held on life
tenure, yet the Government on his death will take care that this illustrious family does not
sink into poverty. Kabir Khan, the son of Ismail Khan, is an Honorary Police Officer of
the Jhang district; Jahan Khan, brother of Ahmad Khan and uncle of Ismail Khan, holds
a jagir at Chund Bharwana and Budhi Thatti worth Rs. 887, an old grant of Ranjit Singh
to his father, confirmed in perpetuity by the British Government.
Jahan Khan died on 9th November 1870.
The names of the persons who formed the revenues of the Jhang province, including
The farmers of Pindi Bhattian, Faruka, and Sayadwala, and excluding Kalowal and Garh Maharaja and
the Jhang Year Contract
district revenue. Name of Former. Money.
Sambat.
A.D.

1873 1816 Sujan Rai … …


Rs.
375000
1874 1817 Sukha Dial … ...
400000
1875-761877 1818-19 Jowala Singh … …
400000
1878 1820 Sukha Dial …
410000
1879 1821 Sahib Ditta and Sham Sing …
400000
1880 1822 Sham Singh, Jowala Das, Lala Ram …
420000
1881 1823 Jassa Singh, Daulat Ram, Sham Singh…
325000
1882 1824 Bakar and Jalla Bharwana …
440000
1883 1825 Sham Singh, Abdul Rehman …
435000
1884 1826 Afzal Khan, Jowahir Singh …
440000
1885 1827 Jiwand Singh …
340000
1886 1828 Maharaj Attar Singh, Hhola Nath …
445000
1887 1829 Dal Singh, Devi Bakhsh …
455000
1888 1830 Dal Singh …
456000
1889-1900 1831 Ram Kaur of Jhang …
467000
1901-1903 1832-44 Divan Sawan Mal …
435000
1903-4 1845-47 Divan Mul Raj …
435000
1904 1847-48 Rallia Ram …
500000
1848-49 First Summary Settlement by Mr.
Cocks…

Ahmadpur, from Sambat 1873 to 1903, are given below:-


The amount of revenue shown includes the Chabutra tax, and is an approximation on
returns furnished by Kanungos. Too much credit should not be attached to the figures.
The Jhang province contained the tract that constituted the old district of Jhang. The
Kalowal ilaka belonged to Bhera and those of Garh Maharaja and Ahmadpur to the
province of Multan. Raja Gulab Singh held the farm of Kalowal for many years, and the
severity of his exactions was such that his name is still execrated. Garh Maharaja and
Ahmadpur were under Sawan Mal. The results of Sawan Mal’s rule on the welare of this
district will be discussed with the past fiscal history of the district (Chap. V, Sec. B). For
an account of his rise to power, his administration of the Multan province, and his death,
pp. 272-285 of the “Punjab Chiefs,” should be consulted. There also will be found the
history of Mul Raja’s short pro-consulship and his downfall. Some further historical
details will be found in the notices of the leading tribes in Chapter III, Section C.

33
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Before the treaty of Bhairowal, the British Government undertook to maintain the
Annexation. authority of the Lahore Darbar, and to administer the affairs of the Punjab during the
minority of the young Maharaja Dalip Singh. Officers from the Company’s service were
selected to carry out a summary settlement of the land revenue. The Jhang district, with
the exception of the Garh Maharaja and Ahmadpur ilakas, had been occupied in 1846 by
the darbar during the contest between the Lahore Government and Mul Raj; and when
peace was made it was retained, although it had previously formed a portion of the
Multan province and been held by Sawan Mal. The two excepted ilakas, however,
continue to form a part of the territory held by Mul Raj. Upon the annexation of the
Punjab in 1849 the whole district became British territory. The area comprised within the
Jhang district as first constituted is described below.
The following account of the events of 1857 is taken from the Punjab Mutiny
Report:-
“Jhang is a wild rural district, chiefly in the Bar above described, and tenanted by the
wild races, of whom mention has just been made. The population is comparatively
The Mutiny. scanty. The treasury guard was a Company of the 16th Native infantry Grenadiers. It was a
mere hindrance; and at the request of Captain Hawes, Officiating Deputy Commissioner,
was withdrawn to its head –quarters at Lahore, where it was disarmed. Two parties of
mutineers were destroyed in this district, one numbering 10 men of the 14th Native
Infantry; the second, the party of the 9th Irregular cavalry. The villagers rendered good
service in tracking this last detachment; but when on the 17th September the Bar tribes
rose, the villagers of this district maintained biut a doubtful neutrality. Communications
between Jhang and Lahore were cut off. For some time great anxiety was felt at Lahore
as to what had occurred there. It was known that many of the minor police stations had
been rifled, ands that the tribes around were all in rebellion. In a few days, however,
captain Hockin’s force, 250, of the 17th Irregular Cavalry, was thrown into the disturbed
region; it was supported by a party of the Leiah and Gujranwala New Levies, while
Major Chamberlain, with a force from Multan, advanced on Jhang from the south. Mr.
Me Mahon, Extra Assistant Commissioner, was sent out to Kot Kamalia in the Gugera
district with a party of police horse; but it had been pillaged before his arrival, and he
was soon after recalled by Captain Hawes. Lieutenant Lane, Assistant Commissioner,
had command of the Leiah Levy; while Captain Hawes joined Major Chamberlain’s
force, and remained with it as Civil Officer till the return to Jhang, Lieutenant Lane was
detached to Shorkot, where he did excellent service in apprehending rebels and seizing
their cattle.”
The first tehsil The old fiscal divisions of the Sikhs were to a certain extent retained within the tehsil
divisions and boundaries. The old tahsils were three besides the Peshkari of Uch. Chiniot was much the
taalukahs. same as it is now, minus the villages that came over from Shahpur. Tahsil Jhang lay on
the left bank of the Chenab, and included the country from the Chiniot boundary down to
the Ravi, and also the lowest portion of the Vichanh known as the Massan taalukah West
of the Chenab was the Peshkari of Uch, bounded by the garhMaharaja ilaka on the south,
and extending up to the right bank of the Jhelam to a few miles beyond Machhiwal. The
Kadirpur tahsil contained the remaining country on the right bank of the Jhelam, and
between the Jhelam from the Massan taalukah to the Shahpur boundary. The sub-
divisions into taalukahs were as follows in the old tehsils:-

34
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Chiniot Jhang Kadirpur. Uch.


Sipra. Wara. Mari. Chauntra.
Chiniot. Jhang. Kot Shakir. Uch.
Kurk. Gilmala. Kot Isa Shah. Nekokara.
Bhowana. Shorkot. Kadirpur.
Kalowal. Massan. Bharmi Wara.
Ahmadnagar. Shah Jiwana.
Lalian. Bhattian.

Subsequent At first the Jhang district, compared with the present boundaries, contained the
changes of Faruka taalukah in the Chaj Doab, transferred to Shahpur in 1854, and a considerable
boundary. strip of country on the right bank of the Ravi, between the present boundary and that
river, transferred to the Mooltan district about the same time; and did not contain the
Garh Maharaja and Ahmadpur ilakas transferred from Muzaffargarh in 1861, and the
Kalowal ilaka transferred from Shahpur in the same year. The existing division of the
district into the three tahsils of Shorkot, Jhang and Chiniot dates from this period. In
1880 five villages on the Ravi were transferred from Shorkot to the Sarai Siddhu tehsil of
Mooltan in order to give the Deputy Commissioner of the latter district complete control
of the Ravi sailab.
The following is a list of the Deputy Commissioners who have held charge of the
List of District district since annexation:-
Officers. LIST OF DEPUTY COMMISSIONERS FROM ANNEXATION.
From To Names.
May, 1849 … February, 1850 … G.W. Hamilton.
March, 1850 … February, 1851 … J.Clarke.
March, 1852 … January, 1853 … G.W. Hamilton.
February, 1853 … March, 1853 … J.W. Bristow.
April, 1853 … January, 1857 … H. Monckton.
February, 1857 … March, 1858 … H. S. Hawes.
April, 1858 … December, 1858 … C. P. Elliot.
January, 1859 … April, 1859 … W. G. Davies.
May, 1859 … July, 1859 … A. Levien.
August, 1859 … May, 1861 … W. E. Blyth.
June, 1861 … August, 1861 … F. Macnaughten.
September, 1861 … October, 1862 … W. B. Jones.
November, 1862 … December, 1862 … W. M. Lane.
January, 1863 … March, 1863 … W. E. Blyth.
April, 1863 … March, 1864 … H. D. Dwyer.
April, 1864 … April, 1866 … W. M. Lane.
May, 1866 … 17 May, 1870
th
… R. J. D. Ferros.
18th May, 1870 … 25th August, 1873 … G. E. Wakefield.
26 August,1873 …
th
21 September, 1875 …
st
T. W. Tolbort.
22ndSeptember,1875.. 2nd December, 1875 … A. Harcourt.
3rd December, 1875... 1st March, 1876 … T.W. Tolbort.
2 March, 1876…
nd
20 January, 1878
th
… A. Harcourt.
21st January, 1878… 7th March, 1880 … G.M. Oglivie.

35
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

8th March, 1880… 13th January, 1882 … R. Bartholomew.


14 January, 1882… 8 May, 1882
th th
… M. Macauliffe.
9th May, 1882… to date … R. Bartholomew.
Some conception of the development of the district since it came into our hands may be
Development gathered from Table No. II, which gives some of the leading statistics for five-yearly
since periods, so far as they are available; while most of the other tables appended to this work
annexation. give comparative figures for the last few years. In the case of Table No. II, it is probable
that the figures are not always strictly comparable, their basis not being the same in all
cases from one period to another. But not figures may be accepted as showing in general
terms the nature and extent of the advance made.
The following figures show the revenue of the district under certain heads in 1851,
1861, 1871 and 1881:-
IMPERIAL REVENUES, 1851-52, 1861-62, 1871-72, 1881-82.
Year Land Revenue

Salt and

Miscellane
and drugs.

Assessed
(spirits).
customs

Stamps.
Opium
Excise

Taxes

ous.
Proper Flue-
tuating.
Rs. Rs. .. Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs.
1851-52 … 240635 11418 .. 852 465 .. 11271 2443
1861-62 … 310402 27668 .. 2021 1223 .. 26435 ..
..
1871-72 … 269650 150520 .. 3360 2467 13916 29177
..
1881-82 … 314668 129805 .. 3150 2818 .. 56031

36
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

CHAPTER NO III

Statistical.
THE PEOPLE
Distribution of SECTION-A STATISTICAL
Population. Table No.V gives separate statistics for each tahsil and for the whole district, of the
distribution of population over towns and villages, over area, and among houses and
families; while the number of houses in each town is shown in Table No. XLIII. The
statistics for the district as a whole give the following figures. Further information will
be found in Chapter II of the Census Report of 1881 :-
Percentage of total population Persons … … … 90.64
Who live in villages Males … … … 91.02
Females … … … 90.20
Average rural population per village … … … … 474
Average total population per village and town … … 519
Number of villages per 100 square miles … … … 13
Average distance from village to village, in miles … … 2.98
Total area Total population … 69
Rural population … 63
Density of population Cultivated area Total population… 615
Per square mile of Rural population… 557
Cultural able area Total population.. 86
Rural population… 78
Number of resident families per occupied house villages … 1.22
Towns … 1.94

Number of persons per occupied house Villages … 5.74


Towns … 8.05
Number of persons per resident family Villages … 4.71
Towns … 4.14
As has already been stated, more than three- fifths of the whole district consists of
arid steppes seantily inhabited by nomad pastoral tribes, and almost wholly deserted at
certain seasons of the year; and as most of this area has been returned as culturable, the
figures for density of population, both upon total and upon culturable area, are in a
manner misleading.
Table No. VI shows the principal districts and States with which the district has
Migration and exchanged population, the number of migrants in each direction, and the distribution of
birth place of immigrants by tehsils. Further details will be found in Table No. XI and in
population supplementary Tables C to H of the Census Report for 1881, while the whole subject is
discussed at length in Part II of chapter III of the same report. The total gain and loss to
the district by migration is shown in the margin.
GAIN LOSS
Persons …….. 18 91
Males …….. 49 101

37
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Females ……. 48 78
The total number of residents born out of the district is 18,989, of whom 10,381 are
males and 8,608 females. The number of people born in the district and living in the
parts of the Punjab is 35,688, of whom 21,628 are males and 14,060 females. The
figures below show the general distribution of the population by birth-place:-
Born in PROPORTION OF PER MILES OF RESIDENT POPULATION
RURAL POPULATION URBAN TOTAL
POPULATION POPULATION

Person

Person

Person
Males.

Males.
Femal

Femal

Femal
Males

es.

es.

es.
s.

s.

s.
The District 954 954 954 932 952 939 952 952 953
The 999 1000 999 983 996 991 997 999 997
province
India 1000 1000 1000 995 999 997 999 1000 998
Asia 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 999

The following remarks on the migration to and from the Jhang district are taken from the
Census Report of 1881:-
“Jhang is singularly backward district. Though population is sparse,
much of the area consists of arid plans without irrigation of any sort, and the population
is really dense in proportion to the cultivated area. Consequently it gives population to
every district in the list except Gujranwala, and the emigrants are nearly twice as
numerous as the immigrants. The emigration is particularly large to Shahpur,
Montgomery, Muzaffargarh, and Multan, four neighbouring districts in which canal
irrigation has greatly developed of late years. The immigration probably consists to a
great extent of people who have left the steppes of the neighboring districts for the
valleys of the two rivers which run through the district, and the moderate proportion of
males would seem to show that the migration is permanent; though with the nomad tribes
of the bar who travel with their families, the test is perhaps of less value than elsewhere,
and it is not impossible that many of the immigrants are graziers with their herds who
have come to pasture in the Jhang steppes. On the other hand, the former explanation is
supported by the fact that the Multan bar, the ably one which is separated from Jhang by
a river, has sent hardly any immigrants.”
The figures in the statement below show the population of district as it stood
Increase & at the three enumerations of 1855, 1868 and 1881:-
decrease of
population. Census. Persons. Males. Females. Density per
squaremile.
251,769 139,149 112,620 44
Actuals.

1855 … 347,043 193,053 153,990 61


1868 … 385,296 214,382 180,914 69
1881 …

38
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Present Ages.
1868 on 1855 … 137.8 138.7 136.7 139
1881 on 1868 … 113.9 111.0 117.5 114

The figures of 1868 are corrected for transfer of territory; but the district as it
stood in 1855 did not include the tracts transferred from Shahpur and Muzaffargarh in
1861. The population of these tracts by the Census of 1855 is said to have been 47,285,
which raises the population with which comparison must be made to 299,062, and
reduces the percentage of increase between 1855 and 1868 to 13.8, or precisely the same
as that between 1868 and 1881. So again the density of population per square mile in
1855 would be 52.35, instead of 44.
It will be seem that the annual increase of population per10000 since 1868
has been 81 for males, 125 for females, and doubled in 85.9 years, the female in 55.9
years, and the total population in 69.2 years. Supposing the same rate of increase to hold
good for the next ten years, the population for each year would be, in hundreds:-

Year Persons. Males. Females. Year. Person Males. Females.


s
1881 395,3 214,4 180,9 1887 419,8
225,0 194,9
1882 399,3 216,1 183,2 1888 424,0
226,8 197,3
1883 403,3 217,9 185,5 1889 428,3
228,7 199,8
1884 407,4 219,6 187,8 1890 432,6
230,5 202,3
1885 411,5 221,4 190,1 1891 436,9
232,4 204,8
1886 415,6 223,2 192,5
There seems to be no reason why the rate of increase should not be
sustained. Part of the apparent increase is probably due to increased accuracy of
enumeration, a good rest of which is afforded by the percentage of males to persons,
which was 55.26 in1855, 55.54 in 1868. And in 1881. But, as already shown at page 41,
the district has, during the lifetime of the present generation, lost much population by
migration to neighboring districts consequent upon the attention of canal irrigation in
them, not with standing which the extraordinary healthiness of these plains of small rain-
fall has enabled the people to increase their numbers more rapidly than in most of the
Punjab districts. The urban population has actually decreased since 1868, the numbers
living in 1881 for every 100 living in 1868 being 96 only. This is partly due to alteration
in the boundaries of the Jhang-Maghiana Municipality, 71 small hamlets having been
excluded between 1868 enumerations are shown under their several headings in chapter
VI.
Tehsil. Total population. Percentage of
1868. 1881. population of 1881 on
that of 1868.
151,822 171,713 113
Jhang …
Chiniot … 109,427 128,241 117
Shorkot … 85,794 95,342 111

39
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Total district … 347,043 395,296 114


Within the district the increase of population since 1868 for the various tehsils
is shown in the margin. Changes of boundary make it impossible to compare the figures
for 1855 by tehsils.

Births and Table No. XI shows the total number of births and deaths registered in the
deaths. district for the five years from 1877 to 1881, and the births for 1880 and 1881, the only
two years during which births have been recorded in rural districts.
1880. 1881.
Males ... 17 19
Females ... 14 16
Persons ... 31 35
The distribution of the total deaths and of the deaths from fever for these five years over
the twelve months of the year is shown in Tables Nos. XIA and XIB. The annual birth
rates per mile, calculated on the population of 1868, were as shown in the margin. The
figures below show the annual death-rates per mille since 1868, calculated on the
population of that year:-

Avera
1868
1869

1870

1871

1872

1873

1874

1875

1876

1877

1878

1879

1880

1881

ge
Males …
Females … 9 16 18 13 17 18 15 18 16 13 12 13 19 18 15
Persons … 8 16 17 13 18 18 14 18 16 12 12 12 18 19 15
9 16 18 13 17 18 14 18 16 13 12 13 19 18 15
The registration is still imperfect, though it is yearly improving; but the
figures always fall short of the fact, and the fluctuations probably correspond, allowing
for a regular increase due to improved registration, fairly closely with the actual
fluctuations in the births and deaths. The historical retrospect which forms the first part
of Chapter III of the Census Report of 1881, and especially the annual chronicle from
1849 to 1881, which will be found at page 56 of that report, throws some light on the
fluctuations. Such further details as to birth and death-rates in individual towns as are
available will be found in Table No.XLIV, and under the headings of the several towns
in Chapter VI.

The figures for age, sex, and civil condition are given in great details in
Age Tables Nos. IV to VII of the Census Report of 1881, while the numbers of the sexes for
each religion will be found in Table No.VII, appended to the present work. The age
statistics must be taken subject to limitations which will be found fully discussed in Their
value rapidly diminishes as the numbers dealt with become smaller; and it is unnecessary
here to give actual figures, or any statistics for tahsils. The following figures show the
distribution be age of every 10,000 of the population according to the Census figures:-
0-1 1-2 2-3 3-4 4-5 0-5 5-10 10-15 15-20
Persons... 377 228 325 356 370 1656 1609 1018 695
Male... 359 216 307 336 356 1574 1600 1065 708
Female... 398 242 347 379 379 1752 1620 963 678

20-25 25-30 30-35 35-40 40-45 45-50 50-55 55-60 Over


Persons.. 60.
Male... 684 723 791 443 659 303 516 138 764
Female... 642 682 767 447 646 323 556 155 835

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

733 771 821 438 676 279 469 118 680


On the subject of age, the Deputy Commissioner wrote as follows in his
District Report on the Census of 1881:-
“I do not think much reliance can be placed on the ages recorded. The large
mass of the population is quite incapable of estimating age. A zanaindar’s ideas are
limited to childhood, youth, manhood, and old age. The figures in most instances only
record the result of the combined judgment of the zamidar and the enumerator. Men
evidently about 30 years of age often in court state themselves to be 12 or 15 years old.
As soon as their beards turn grey, they go to the other extreme and make themselves out
much older than they are. I have found that grey-beards always exaggerate their age. The
proportion of young children seems very high, and leads me to suppose that the ages of
children have been generally understated.”
The number of males among every 10,000 of both sexes is shown in the
Sex margin. The decrease since 1868 is almost certainly due to greater accuracy of
enumeration. In the Census of 1881,the numbers of the female per 1,000 males in the
earlier years of life was found to be as follows:-

Population. Villages. Towns.` Total.


All religions 1855 … … 5526
1868 … … 5564
1881 5446 5203 5423
Hindus 1881 5413 5149 5347
Sikhs 1881 5728 … 5735
Musalmans 1881 5449 5229 5435

Year of Life. All religious. Hindus. Musalman


s.
0-1 938 849 956
1-2 946 940 948
2-3 954 941 960
3-4 953 … …
4-5 914 … …

The figures for civil condition are given in Table No. X, which shows the actual number
of single, married, and widowed for each sex in each religion, and also the distribution
Civil Condition. by civil condition of the total number of each sex in each age-period. The Deputy
Commissioner thus discussed the figures in his Census Report:-
“The number of single persons exceeds that of married by 38 percent.
Calculated on the whole population, the proportion of single, married and widows is as
follows:-
Sigle … … … … … 53 percent.
Married … … … … … 39 ,,
Widows and widowers … … 8 ,,
“ The large proportion of single persons is chiefly among the rural classes,
and is accounted for by the fact that the agricultural classes of this district do not marry
their children till they are full grown and fit for a grown man’s work. A man is usually
25 and a woman 20 before marriage takes place. Indeed, there are examples of women

41
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

not being married till they are rather advanced in years and reach the age of 35 or more.
The custom prevails both among Hindus and Muhammadans. The case with the
townspeople is, however, quite different. The Hindus especially marry their children at a
very early age, and would expose themselves to the censure of their family and
brotherhood if they did not do so, especially with regard to girls. Ordinarily a child
among the Hindus is married or brotherhood as soon as small-pox is over. The
Muhammadans are rather indifferent, but nevertheless do not keep their children
unmarried for a long time. Married males and married females are 49 and 51 percent
respectively. The surplus of females is accounted for by the fact that both Hindus and
Mohammedans in some cases marry more than one wife. Of widowers and widows taken
together, the widowers and widows are 31 and 69 percent. The large surplus in widows is
attributed to the fact that by custom and religion Hindu widows cannot remarry. This
custom, originally Hindu and almost unknown in Muhammadan countries, has spread to
the upper class of Muhammadans to some extent. But among the zamindars a widow is
treated as a chattel, and remarried to the nearest of kin of her deceased husband.
“Polyandry is unknown in this district. Polygamy is practiced by both Muhammadans
Polyandry and and Hindus, though to a smaller extent by the latter. Muhammadan law allows four wives
polygamy at a time. Rich zamindars in this district marry as many as three or even four, and
persons even in poor circumstances do not uncommonly marry a second wife. Thus there
are not a few paolis (weavers), dyers (rangrez), blacksmiths, churigars (banngle-makers)
in Jhang and Maghiana who have two wives. Rich Hindus marry another wife mostly
when the existing wife is barren. A poor Hindu, though childless, seldom marries a
second wife.
“Infanticide is unknown in this district. The population is for the most part
Infanticide Muhammadan, who, as a already pointed out, do not marry their daughters at an early
age, and have therefore no pressing demand for money to make provision for marriage
expenses. But the excess of males over females, I think, points to the conclusion that
often female children are less carefully nurtured, and that the mortality among them is
therefore greater. The increase of females since 1868 seems to show that daughters are
now more carefully nurtured . They are not actually ill-treated, but their birth is often
considered a misfortune; and it is easy to understand that neglect, without actual ill-
usage, increases the death-rate.”
Infirmities Table No. XII shows the number of insane, blind, deaf-mutes, and lepers in the district in
each religion.
Infirmity. Males. Females.
Insane ... 15 9
Blind ... 58 71
Deaf and dumb.. 16 10
Leprous … 2 ..

The proportions per 10,000 of either sex for each of these infirmities are shown in the
margin. Tables Nos. XIV to XVII of the Census Report for 1881 give further details of
the age and religion of the infirm. In the district Census Report for 1881, the Civil
Surgeon wrote as follows on the subject:-
“A large proportion of the blind as seen in this district have lost their sight
from old neglected inflammation, or inverted eyelashes. Some have lost it during an

42
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

attack of small pox, and some from cataract. Technically speaking, the largest proportion
of the blind are seen with opacities of the cornea or entire disorganization of the eyeball,
next to it with glaucoma and amaurisis, and next with cataract. Women are more blind
than men. More women are seen suffering from inverted eyelashes and consequent
opacity of cornea than men. Generally this is the first stage in the progress towards total
blindness. Smoke and heat of the kitchen has most probably something to do with the
greater proportion of blindness in the women. Deaf and dumb and lunatics are more
common in the Chiniot tehsil than in the other sub-divisions, amongst. Muhammadans
than amongst Hindus and Sikhs, and in towns than in villages. I am unable to give any
explanation of these facts; but I may mention here that the Chiniot tehsil is (especially
the town and some villages towards the north-east, as well as some villages of the
Shahpur district in that direction) remarkable for the prevalence of goitre.”
Social and The climate of Jhang is described at pages 12 and 13. The excessive dryness
religious life. of the climate, sanitation and the sparseness of the poplation counteract entirely the evil
sanatory habits of the population. Manure heaps and filthy hollows are close to every
village, and there is an entire absence of any conservancy arrangements. These evils,
which in a worse climate would lead to the outbreak and spread of serious diseases, in
Jhang only succeed in slightly injuring the general health at particular seasons. Cholera is
almost unknown.
European and The figures given below show the composition of the Christian population, and the
Eurasian respective numbers who returned their birth-place and their language as European. They
population. are taken from tables Nos. IIIA, IX and XI of the Census Report for 1881:-
Details Males. Females. Persons.
Europeans and Americans … 8 2 10
of

Eurasians.. … 1 … 1
population

… … …
Christian

Native Christians .
Total Christians ...
Races

9 2 11

English … … 7 3 10
Language

Other European languages … … …



Total European languages
7 3 10
.

British Isles … 7 1 8
Other Euroean countries … … … …
Place.
Birth-

Total European Countries …


7 1 8

But the figures for the races of christians, which are discussed in Part VII of
Chapter IV of the Census Report, are very entrust-worthy; and it is certain that many
who were really Eurasians returned themselves as Europeans.
SECTION B.-SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS LIFE.
It is only in the Chiniot tehsil and the better cultivated portions of the other
Villages and
tehsils that all the inhabitants of a village live at one hamlet or village. They prefer living
houses.
at their separate wells. Down south there are many villages that have no village site
whatever. Each proprietor lives at his well. The well of the lambardar, and perhaps one
other, will have a small hamlet growing up round it, consisting of the huts of the
proprietors and his tenants and those of a shop-keeper and a few Kamins. There are
hardly any strong solidly built villages such as are seen further east. There are four kinds

43
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

of houses:-
(1). Kothi or Kothri, a square mud house, containing sometimes and sometimes
without; the roof is also of mud, and flat.
(2). Sahl, the Commonest kind, consists of four mud walls, over which a roof of
thatch is thrown, supported on an arrangement of beams and rafters that keeps the centre
of the thatch highest, and allows the sides to bend down and overlap the side mud walls.
The end walls are built up to meet the thatch. The thatch is made of sar grass
strengthened by kana bands, and is often in one piece. The thatch is called chhappar and
the beams which support it, pat and lara. Anew sahl, with the floor sanded and sprinkled
with fresh water, is cool and comfortable.
(3). Kurha is a cabin of thatch or screens. There are several modes of arranging
them. One of the simplest is to take a piece of thatch and prop it up by three sticks, one in
the centre and one in the middle of each end. The sides of the thatch fall down on either
side to the ground. The one open end is blocked up by a screen and the other serves as
the doorway.
(4). Pakhi is simply a moveable roof of tili. It is most used by graziers in the Bar.
It is propped up by four or five poles, and under it the family lives. There are no walls to
it of any description.
Besides the villages proper, there are jhoks, rahnas, and bhuinis. Jhok is the name
Nomad Camps. generally applied to the head-quarters of camel-owners, and rahna to that of cattle
graziers. A rahna is the name applied to all the temporary abodes of large collections of
graziers in the Bar. Bluini is another name applied to the head-quarters of a herd.

Among the appendices to Mr. Steedman’s Sttlement Report will be found a


Household comprehensive list of all the household furniture used by zamindars. What a man uses
furniture depends entirely upon the position he holds or thinks that he ought to hold. It is a well
astablished fact that zaminadars use very much more expensive article than they did 20
or 25 years ago. Formerly all their utensils were of earthenware, except a few
indispensable metal articles. Now a well to do zamindar has almost everything in metal.
English crockery and glass tumblers are also coming in fashion.
The poor zamidar’s clothes are a white cloth tied round his loins, and reaching petticoat
Men’s dress. like half way below the knee, called majhla; and another white cloth thrown over his
shoulders, called chaddar. Another piece ofthin cloth, pay, is twisted round his head,
leaving the top bare, and, with a pair of shoes, completes his attire. In the cold weather
ho hears in addition a blanket, kamal. In Chiniot even the better zamidars, zaildars, and
such like, do not wear anything more, not even a kurta. Southwards almost every
lambardar wears a kurta in addition to the chaddar and majhla. Some of the lungis worn
in this district are of extremely pretty check patterns, the ground being generally white.
White is the proper colour for the turban. In the Chiniot tehsil the zamindars who are
connected with the Bar are found of wearing a turban of dark cloth with a check pattern,
or only stripes of red or yellow running through it. This is very short in length, and is
twisted and worn in two or three folds round the lead. It gives a marauding look to the
wearer. Only a few men in the district affect a European style in their custume, and they
are properly disliked by their neighbours.
The women of the poor zamidar class wear the majhla, always white in colour, tied in a
Social and slightly different way from the men. It is worn longer and tighter, especially about the

44
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

religious life. hips. Trousers, paijamas, are tabooed. Certain classes of women in the towns wear them,
Women’s dress. but not a single zamindar woman. A boddice (choli) and a chaddar worn over the head
are the other garments. The choli is usually brightly coloured. The chadar is either white
or of some dark somber colour. Young unmarried women sometimes wear bright
coloured chaddars, but this is seldom the case. As with the men so with the women, there
is considerable variety in the quality of the clothes worn by individuals of different
positions. Increased prosperity has led to increased expenditure. The above description
refers to the ordinary clothes worn by zamindars only. The Hindus, men and women,
belonging to the towns are but little engaged in agriculture, and dress very differently.

The wearing of ornaments is almost entirely confined to the women. A man is contented
Ornaments. with his signet, shhap, and perhaps one other ring chhalla, and an amulet, bahatta, also
ornamental, tied just above the elbow. As for women’s ornaments, their name is legion.
Those worn by almost every zamindarni are kangan, a plain bracelet; valian, earrings;
chhaila, a plain finger ring; lussi, a necklet; bahatta, an amulet, similar to those worn by
men. Nose rings are very seldom worn.

Food. The food of the nomed population of the Bar is very different from that of the
agricultural residents of villages near the rivers. It is estimated that a resident of the Bar
consumes only one-third the quantity of food grain eaten by the ordnary cultivator, and
Mr. Steedman’s opinion is that the proportion is still smaller. One is constantly told that
sometimes the grazier for days goes without any food other than milk and substances
made from milk. Milk is, it may be almost said, the staple food of the district. The
ordinary grazier as often as not, instead of making bread for his evening meal, simply
mixes his flour in the milk and warms it over a fire. In the morning he has a draught of
buttermilk, and later on a small chapati, and another drink of buttermilk. Milk is usually
drunk with the evening meal. The table below gives the food of an agriculturist for the
different months:-
Months Food.
Chet … … … Chapatis of barley, peas, and wheat flour.
Buttermilk with with morning and milk with
evening meal. Green gram pods and carrots are also eaten.

Baisakh … … … Wheat chapatis, and vegetable.


Jeth … … … Wheat chapatis, pilu berries, melons, vegetables, buttermilk, and
milk as befeore.
Har, Sawan, Badru, Assu Wheat, jowar, bajra, and maize chapatis.
Turnipos cooked in milk.Butter milk as berore.
Katik, Maghar, Poh, Magh, Phagau
Zamidars have two meals a day, the morning meal from 10 to 11 o’clock, the
evening one from 6-30 to 8 at night. The evening meal is taken later in the cold weather
than in the hot. The morning meal remains at much the same time all the year round.
When the pilu berries are in, only half the ordinary quantity of grain is caten. When
turnips are ready, one- fourth of the usual amount of bread. Well to do zamindars live
upon wheaten bread, rice, and flesh. The Sials are much ginven to liquor.
The average annual consumption of food grains by a family of five persons, two
of whom are cildren, was estimated for the Famine Report at 30maunds in the villages,
and 33 maunds in the towns. The details for the villages are as shown in the margin. For

45
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

a family in the town, add to the above 61/2 maunds of wheat and half a maund more of
adal and miscellancous grain, and cut out the china.
Seers.
Wheat … … 480
Gram … … 200
Jowar … … 120
Chana … … 160
Barley … … 120
Grain … … 120
Total … 1,200
The first month in the year is Chetar and the last Phagan. They are given in
Modes of order below, with corresponding English months. The spelling gives the local
reckoning time. pronunciation:-
Chitar middle of March to middle of April.
Visakh ,, April ,, May.
Jeth ,, May ,, June.
Harh ,, June ,, July.
Sawan ,, July ,, August.
Badru ,, August ,, September.
Assu ,, September ,, October.
Katch ,, October ,, November.
Maghar ,, November ,, December.
Poh ,, December ,, January.
Magh ,, January ,, February.
Phagan ,, February ,, March.
The days are divided into eight pahrs (pronounced pahur) of 3 hours each. The
following are recognised times of day:-
As used By English equivalent.
Muhammadan Hindus.
s.
Adhi rat Adhi rat Midnight.
Pichhli rat Pichhli rat 3 A. M.
Dhammi wela None The last hour of the night before dawn.
Namaz wela Parbhat wela Daybreak.
Deh Ubhre Vadde wela Sunrise.
Chha wela None Two hours or an hour and a half after sunrise.
Roti wela Do. Brad time, 9-10 A.M.
Dopahr Do. Midday.
Peshin Do. 3 P.M.
Lureshin Vaddi Pehin 4 P.M.
Nadveshin None 5 P.M.
Degar Do. Half an hour before sunset.
Namashin Sandhian Just after sunset.
Khuftan wela Bed-time, when all the stars have come out.
Sota wela Sota wela An hour after bed-time, 9-11 P.M.
Pahr rat

46
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Religion. Table No. VII shows the numbers in each tehsil and in the whole district who
follow each religion, as ascertained in the Census of 1881, and Table No. XLIII gives
similar figures for towns.
Religion Rural Urban Total
population. Population population
Hindu 1357 4397 1642
Sikh 79 175 88
Musalman 8564 5425 8270
Tables Nos. III, IIIA, IIIB of the Report of that Census give further details on the
subject. The distribution of every 10000 of the population by religions is shown in the
margin. The limitations subject to which these figures must be taken, and especially the
rule followed in the classification of Hindus, are fully discussed in Part I, Chapter IV of
the Census Report. The distribution of every 1,000 of the musalman population by sect is
shown in themargin. Shialhs are unusually numerous in Jhang, a fact due to the influence
of the Shiah Kurasishis of Shorkot and Hsassu Balel, and of the Sayads of Uch who are
connected with the famous Sayad family of Belot in Dera Ismail Khsan.They are of the
most bigoted type. They observe the Muharram most strictly, abstainign from all
luxurious for the first ten days of the month and on the 10th they accompany the Taziahs
bare headed and bare footed. They throw dust on their heads and beat their breasts with
extreme violence, and allow neither Hindu nor Muhammadan to approach the Taziah
without baring his head and removing his shoes.
Table No. IX shows the religion of the major eastes and tribes of the district, and
therefore the distribution by caste of the great majority of the followers of each religion.
A brief description of the great religions of the Punjab and of their principal sects will be
found in Chapter IV of the Census Report. The religious practice and belief of the district
present no special peculiarities; and it would be out of place to enter here into any
disquisition on the general question. The general distribution of religions as to locality is
available. But the landowning classes and the village menials are almost wholly
Musalman, the hindu and Sikh religions being practically confined to the mercantile
classes and their pricests. The Deputy Commissioner wrote as follows in the Census
Report of 1881:-
“The Pirohats or Hindu priests are to the whole hindu populaion as 1 to
1333,the Muhammadan priests to the Muhammadan population as 1 to 14285. The hindu
priests residing in the district are not the sole pastors of their people. Large numbers from
Gujranwala, Lahore and Amritsar pay periodical visits to their disciples. In the same way
the greater number of the Muhammadan population are the followers of the Makhdums
of Bahawal Hak in Multan, or worship at Hujra Shah Mukim and Pak Pattan, the seat of
the patron saint of the Sials Bawa Farid. The Makhdums of Multan exercise very great
influencce over the Muhammadan population of the district. When a Makhdum comes to
pay his periodical visits to Jhang, hundreds are seen flocking around him and paying him
homage. But the district is not without its own Makhdums, who have followers in this
district as well as the neighbouring districts of Dera Ismail Khan, Dera Ghazi Khan,
Multan, and Montgomery. The family of Makhdum Karm Hssain and the Uch Sayads are
very much revered by the people.”
A considorable number of fairs are held in this district during the year. A list of the
more important is given below:-

47
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Place where fair is held Person in whose honour it is Date.


held
1 Shah Jewana Shah Jewana 27th Bisakh
Pirkot Sadhana Pir Abdul Qadir 3rd Friday n Chet
Athara Hazari Pir Tajuddin 3rd Thursday in chetar
Pir Abdul Rehman Pir Abdul Rehman ….
Kakki Kathia Pir Kala 9th Zalhaj.
Bhamarala Haji Kasim Bali 27th Har.
Hassu Balel Shah Balel 10th Har.
Mari Shah Sakhira 7th Katik
Rodu Sultan Fakir Gul Muhammad 1st Magh
Jhang Hir and Ranja Maghar
Sadik Nihang Shah Sadik Nihag Dasehra
Massan Jinda Kahang 12th Baisakh
Bulla Patowana Mian Lal Kanju Chetar.
Kirana Sidh Nath
Table No. VIII shows the numbers who speak each of the principal languages current in
the district separately for each tehsil and for the whole district. More detailed information
Language will be found in Table No. IX of the Census Report for 1881,
Language Proportion per
10,000 of
population
Hindustani … … 8
Bagri … … 1
Punjabi … … 9981
Jatki … … 2
Pashto … … 7
All Indian Language … … 9,999
Non-Indian languages … … 1
While in Chapter V of the same report the several languages are briefly discussed. The
figures in the margin given the distribution of every10, 000 of the population by
language, omitting small figures. Many of the people shown as speaking Punjabi might
more probably have been returned as speaking Jatki, the language or dialect of the south
western plains of the Jhelam a dialect resembling that of residents of the Thal is used.
South of Shorkot a patois resembling that of multan is spoken. The Chiniot zamindars
from the north of the tehsil have quite a different accent from that further south. The
patois of the Bar is the most uncouth of all. Among the appendices to Mr. Stedman’s
Report will be found a list of proverbs and sayings, and also a collection of songs, which
will serve to give some slight insight into the language spoken by the people.
The character and disposition of the people is thus described by Mr. Steedman:-
Character and “ The people of the Jhang district are a well built, handsome, sturdy race. The
disposition of Sials especially furnish many very fine, stalwart men. In their intercourse with European
the people. district officers they are frank and open. They betray no signs of timidity or cringing.
Many of the older men are often outspoken to the extent of rudeness, but they never
mean to be insolent. They are by no means devoid of humour. A good deal of somewhat
coarse raillery goes on. A joke or an appositely quoted proverb is much enjoyed. They

48
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

are very proud of the assistance that they gave us in 1848-49, and again ten years later. A
more loyally disposed set of people I do not think exists in the Punjab. After three years
constant intercourse I find I can reckon among the more influential man friends whom I
shall leave with sorrow, and always be glad to meet again. The Kathias and the Sials in
the Shorkot tehsil are all extremely fond of sport, and word sent round a few days before
will bring together all the villagers in the neighbourhood to drive pig. The Chiniot
zamindars have much less go in them than those of Shorkot. The vichanh zamindars may
be put in the same class. Hospitality is practiced by many, but most are inclined to
exaggerate what they do in this way. I have noticed that those who most frequently din
into one’s cars the expense they are put to in entertainment are at heart the least liberal of
all. The leading zamidars of Shorkot are generally men of large property, and they have
hitherto been spending considerable sums in drink and licentiousness. In Jhang and
Chiniot there are very few zamindars who drink. The district generally does not bear the
best of characters for morality. The Sial tribe is the greatest sinner. There is a difficulty
in disposing of the Sial maidens in wedlock, and delayed marriages are accompanied by
the same results here as else where.”
Tables Nos. XL, XLI and XLII give statistics of crime; while Table No.
XXXV shows the consumption of liquors and narcotic stimulants.
Table No. XIII gives statistics of education, as ascertained at the Census of
Education. 1881, for each religion and for the total population of each tehsil.

Males. Education Rural Total


population population
Under instruction ... 115 170
Can read and write. 542 672
Females Under instruction ... 4.2 7.0
Can read and write. 5.2 6.5

The figures for female education are probably very imperfect indeed. The figures in the
margin show the number educated among every 10,000 of each sex according to Census
returns. Statistics regarding the attendance at Government and aided schools will be
found in Table No. XXXVII. The distribution of the scholars at these schools by
Details Boys. Girls.
Europeans and Eurasians 1 …
Native Charistians 1,131 …
Hindus 811 146
Musalmans 69 104
Sikhs … 13
Others …
Children of agriculturists 782 …
,, non-agriculturists 325 …

Religion and the occupations of their fathers, as it stood in 1881-82, is shown in the
margin.
Besides these schools there were in 1881 no fewer than 121 Maktabs or Muhammadan

49
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

indigenous schools, with 1,011 scholars and 41 Patshalas or Hindu indigenous schools
with 601 scholars in the district. The Khatris and Aroras among Hindus and the Khaojas
and Sials amolng Musalmans chiefly avail themselves of the means of education; the
agriculturalists make but little use of them. The Deputy Commissioner wrote as follows
in his Census Report of 1881:- “it must not be “forgotten that of the persons shown as
‘able to read and write’”not less than nine tenths are petty shop keepers who can write
“accounts in their books and nothing more.” The number of boys that attend school is bit
a small percentage of the total population. The number of agriculturists returned as
scholars apperas to be open to suspicion when compared with the relative numbers of
Hindus and Muhammadans. As a general rule, Hindus are not agriculturists. They may
be small landowners, but their trade or calling is not agriculture.
crime The pet crime of the district is cattle lifting. There were 921 non bailable
offences reported during 1879, of which 501, or 55 percent, were cattle theft. Another
favourite offence is running off with another man’s wife. Wives are looked upon by
ordinary zamidars as chattels, things for which a certain sun has been paid, and for
which a certain sum may be realised. If his wife clopes, the zamidar suffers injury to
his property. His morals are not much offended, nor his self respect. If he discovers
where she is, he does not scruple to take her back, but he insists upon compensation
for the loss of her services, and the certain amount of deterioration. If his demands are
satisfied, he returns home as if nothing had happened. A cattle lifting is a pastime to
the denizens of the Bar. They do not see anything wrong in it. Any family that owns a
herd is constantly losing and gaining animals by theft. The police are seldom called in;
the sufferer must be very hopeless when he has recourse to this last resort. What takes
place when a man loses an animal is this. If by following up the tracks the beast is run
down among other cattle, or after many days’ search the thief is discovered, there are
two modes of procedure. The one is an amicable arrangement. The owner of the stolen
property discovers himself. The thief admits his claims and satisfies him by making
over other cattle worth considerably more than the stolen ones. The rightful owner is
also treated with the greatest consideration until the matter is arranged. The stolen
cattle are never given back. To do so might prove inconvenient in the future. The
other procedure is different. The stolen property is often discovered in the possession
of a family or tribe of influence, or living in a part of the country where the owner is
not known, and where he does not think it advisable to seize the cattle or claim them.
Instances are known where a claim having been made, the tables have been turned
upon the claimant with serious results. He is seized, and a report is made at the nearest
thana that he was caught just outside the homestead walking off with two cows, and
when the Thanadar comes he will find the cows and captured one’s tracks, and as
much evidence as he needs. After finding stolen cattle one plan is to send word off to
the thana that your stolen cattle have been found.The Thanadar comes, and an
arrangement is affected that benefit all alike. There are no arrests. The Thanadar is
squared. The complainant discovers that he has made a mistake, and that the cattle are
not really his. The accused makes the complaint a handsome present, and he departs.
Another plan, and one perhaps most generally adopted, is to lurk about the homestead
where the stolen cattle are, and carry off at night an equal number to those that were
lost. So long as the Bar people prey upon themselves, not much harm is done, but
when they raid the cattle and plough bullocks of agriculturists in settled villages, they

50
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

cannot be punished too severely. It is a fact that several villages lying near the Bar
have been at times quite crippled from the loss of their plough oxen. The youth of the
Bar show of their prowess by the lifting the finest animals they hear of. Stolen property in
Jhang slang is known as rat Jan, “born of the night.” Several lines (Rasa) for
forwarding stolen cattle run from this district to Mooltan, Montgomery, Gujranwala
and Shahpur. To forward cattle is Rasa Lena. Except pure agriculturists the men of
this district are born tracks. In tracking, three or four men join. Each has a cudgel
about five feet long. As each foot-print is found, two lines are drawn, on the ground
before and behind the track, if the tracks are not very clear. Where the tracking is
easy , only one line will be drawn , and the tracks follow up the tracks walking at full
speed. If the tracking is difficult , one man remains at the last found track, and the
others make casts in all directions. Most wonderful feats in tracking are accomplished
in his and similarly situated districts. Evidence as to tracking is too often thrown aside
as incredible.
Poverty or It is impossible to form any satisfactory estimate of the wealth of the commercial
wealth of the and industrial classes. The figures in the marginshow the working of the income tax for
people. the only three years for which details are available; and Table No.XXXIV gives statistics
for the license tax for each year since its imposition.
Assessment 1869-70 1870-71 1871-72
Class I...{Number taxed ... 759 944 441
Amount of tax ... 7,734 18,408 3,903
Class II..{Number of taxed ... 133 330 382
Amount of tax ., 2,734 8,910 5,456
Class III...{Number taxed ... 24 235 126
Amount of tax ... 931 9,165 3,940
Class IV..{Number of taxed ... .. 126 1
Amount of tax ., .. 6,804 115
Class V...{Number of taxed ... .. 99 ..
Amount of tax . .. 9,332 ..
916 1,734 950
Total 11,449 52,619 13,414
The income tax returns for 1870-71 show a total of 1,734 persons enjoying incomes
above Rs.500 per annum.
In the following year, 950 are returned as having income above Rs.750. The distribution
of licenses granted and fees collected in 1881-82 between towns of over, and villages of
under 5,000 souls, is shown in the margin.
1880-81 1881-82
Towns Villages Towns Villages
Number of Licenses
... 366 857 339 988
Amount of fees 4,975 13,470 4,580 15,270
...
But the numbers affected by these taxes are small. It may be said generally that a very
large proportion of the artisans in the towns are extremely poor, while their fellows in the

51
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

village are scarcely less dependent upon the nature of the harvest than are the
agriculturists themselves, their fees often taking the form a fixed share of the produce;
while even where this is not the case, the demand for their products necessarily varies
with the prosperity of their customers. Perhaps the leather-workers should be accepted,
as they derive considerable gains from the hides of the cattle which die in a year of
drought. The circumstances of the agriculture classes are discussed below at the end of
Section D of this chapter.
Statistics and SECTION C. – TRIBES, CASTES AND LEADING
local
distribution of FAMILIES.
tribes and castes
Table No. IX gives the figures for the principal castes and tribes of the district, with
details of sex and religion, while Table No. IXA shows the number of some of the less
important castes.
It would be out of place to attempt a description of each. Many of them are found all over
the Punjab, and most of them in many other districts and their representatives in Jhang
are distinguished by few local peculiarities. Some of leading tribes, and especially such
families as are important as landowner or by position and influence, are briefly noticed in
the following pages; and each casts will be found described in Chapter VI of the Census
Report of 1881. But in these western districts tribes is a far more important element than
caste, the latter being little more than a tradition of origin, a Sial often hardly knowing
that he is a Rajput. The census statistics of casts were not compiled for tehsils, at least in
their final form. It was found that an enormous number of mere clans or sub-divisions
had been returned as castes in the schedules, and the classification of these figures under
the main heads shown in the castes tables was made for districts only. Thus no statistics
showing the local distribution of the tribes and castes are available. But the general
distribution of the more important land-Owning tribes has been broadly described at
pages 26, 27, followed by an outline of the history of their colonization of the district.
A tabular statement is given on the next page, indicating the amount of land held by each
Amount of land tribe in proprietary right and the amount of land cultivated by each tribe. Jats and Sials
held in own nearly half the cultivated area between them, and cultivate nearly half the cultivated
proprietary right area between them, and cultivate nearly two-thirds. Besides the two tribes above
and cultivated mentioned, Hindus and Sayads alone hold more than 10 percent of the cultivated area.
by each tribe. Sials hold but little property in Chiniot, but are strong in the two other tehsils.
Chaddhars are located almost entirely in Chiniot, and so also are the Bhatties. There are
no Baloch proprietors in Chiniot. Two-third of their property is situated in the Jhang
tehsil. Sayads are large proprietors in Jhang and Chiniot. Much land is held by Jats in
all three tehsils ; but most in Chiniot, least in Jhang. Miscellanea Muhammadans are
strongest in Chiniot, and Hindus in Jhang. The above areas are settlement figures, and
the classification is tribal; while the census figures of Table No. IX are arranged by casts,
and not by tribe. Some tribal details will be found in the following pages.

52
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

Tehsils Detail. Sial. Chaddhar Kathia Kharal Bhatti Rihan Baloch Pathan Sayad Kuraishi Jat. Kaminas Miscellan Hindus Total
cous
Muhamm
adans

CHINIOT No. of 59 1,706 … 144 392 146 … … 2,675 … 7,572 295 2,018 710 15717
proprietray
holdings
"cultivating" 170 1,950 … 151 651 112 … … 814 … 8,005 1,489 1,596 779 15717

Acress owned 256 14,180 … 830 7,574 1,340 … … 18,425 … 38,682 584 12,914 4,341 99126

" cultivated" 1,075 11,698 … 838 4,491 906 … … 4,205 … 52,792 8,016 10,432 4,673 99126

JHANG No. of 7,835 … … … 140 … 2,734 44 2,269 380 4,704 206 981 3,749 23042
proprietray

53
holdings
"cultivating" 7,177 … … … 136 … 2,194 60 814 256 8,128 1,669 1,294 1,314 23042

Acress owned 40,949 … … … 1,742 … 16,363 357 17,352 2,900 27,803 926 5,198 22,501 136091

" cultivated" 36,197 … … … 1,226 … 12,106 378 5,299 1,724 50,574 12,451 6,474 9,662 136091

SHORKOT No. of 3,945 194 295 … … … 855 96 651 1,101 1,690 132 605 1,568 11132
proprietray
holdings
"cultivating" 3,042 127 147 … … … 820 91 357 386 3,486 1,229 444 1,003 11132

Acress owned 37,664 1,421 3,168 … … … 8,033 604 5,067 10,139 12,491 493 5,291 12,711 97082

" cultivated" 26,659 1,251 1,404 … … … 7,137 584 2,606 3,850 31,734 10,430 4,024 7,403 97082

TOTAL OF No. of 11,839 1,900 295 144 532 146 3,589 140 5,595 1,481 13,966 633 3,604 6,227 50091
DISTRICT proprietray
holdings
"cultivating" 10,389 2,077 147 151 787 112 3,014 151 1,985 642 19,619 4,387 3,334 3,096 49891

Acress owned 78,869 15,601 3,168 830 9,316 1,340 24,396 961 40,844 13,039 78,976 2,003 23,403 39,553 332299

" cultivated" 63,941 12,949 1,404 838 5,717 906 19,243 962 12,110 5,574 135,100 30,897 20,930 21,788 332359
Gazetteer of the Jhang District
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

The meaning of the word Jat is exceedingly indefinite in the Jhang district. Mr.
Tribes, castes Steadman, criticizing the classification of the Census of 1868, in which the mass of the
and leading population was classed as, “Miscellaneous Muhammadans ,” writes as below:-
families.
“The Rajput, Sayad and Baloch tribes excluded, the cultivating and proprietary body
The Jat. consists almost entirely of a vast number of agricultural tribes, each known by a different
name, but comprehended within the one universal term Jat. Ethnologically I am not sure
of my ground; but if these tribes are not Jat, who are they? They are all converted
Hindus. Of this there is no doubt, and all are engaged in agriculture or cattle-grazing.
Some of them are recognized as Jat; and appearance, customs and traditions they do not
differ from their unrecognized brethren. For statistical purposes it would be surely a
much more useful and convenient arrangement to class these agriculturists as Jat, though
they are not true Jats, whatever they may be, but only ploughmen and cattle-graziers.”
The principal division of the Jats of Jhang, as eturned in 1881, is shown below. The
figures are rough approximations. The several tribes are described in the following
pages:-
SUBDIVISION OF JATS
NUMBER

NUMBER

NUMBER
NAME NAME NAME

Awan 559 Gondal 649 Panwar 284


Ithwal 338 Gil 398 Janjua 366
Bhatti 2,874 Khokhar 5,040 Joya 1,533
Bhutta 1,612 Kharal 673 Dhudhi 1,578
Thahim 640 Langa 341 Khichi 483
Sial 437 Hinjra 482 Hiraj 847
Sapra 5,185 Chaddhar 3,255
Note, --- Many of these tribes are returned among Rajputs also.

The great mass of the Rajput population of Jhang consists of tribes of local importance,
The Rajput such as the Sial, who are known more commonly by the name of their tribe than by that
of their cast. Approximate figures for some of the most important as returned at the
Census of 1881 are shown below. The several tribes are noticed in the following
paragraphs.
SUBDIVISION OF RAJPUTS.
NAME NUMBER NAME NUMB NAME NUM
ER BER
Bhatti 17,392 Dhudhi 1,090 Khokhar 6,605
Bhutta 3,231 Sial 36,374 Wattu 246
Panwar 490 Kharal 2,054 Hiraj 345
Janjoa 1,078 Khichi 983 Ghaddhar 13,390
Joa 670 Gondal 868 Poalf 1,244
Note. ---- Many of these tribes are returned among Jats also.
The Nauls The Nauls, as has been mentioned before, accupied the lowlands fringing the Chenab

54
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

around the site of Jhang before the Sials. Nothing trustworthy is known about their
arigion, but their traditions carry their family back to one Dhan, a Raja of Bikanir, who
left his native country and settled at old Jhang. At that time country was under a dynasty
of Brahmin kings. Naul, the ancestor of the Naul tribe, was a son of Dhan. The Sials for
some time after their first arrival were subject to the Naul and paid tribute through them,
but they appear to have always been refractory and rebellious dependants. The Naul
were reduced by the Sial under was the leadership of Mal Khan Chuchkana. The Naul
leader was then Todir. They now hold several villages near, Jhang and in the Kachi.
Sujawal is a wilder and their headman. He lives at Pakkewala, about three miles from
Jhang the road to Shahpur. The Nauls prefer cattle-breeding to agriculture, and cattle-
lifting to either.
The Bhangus are another aboriginal tribe, whose origin is lost in the depths of antiquity,
The Bhangis and which is another way of saying that they are too stupid or too careless to connect
Mirak Sials. themselves by a fictitious ancestry with some Rajput Raja or a Muhammadan Emperor.
They can give no account whatever about themselves. They were rulers over the Shorkot
country before their displacement by the Sials. Mirak, who founded the chieftainship of
Mirak, was a Nithrana Sial, a descendant of Nithar, brother of Mal Khan, the founder of
Jhang. He Was Divan to the Bhangu ruler, but rose in insurrection against his master,
and managed to make himself master of the country. The seat of Government was
previously Shorkot, but he founded Mirak Sial six miles north, built a fort at ruled the
country from there. At Walidad Khan’s reigns, Sultan Bala, the 4th or 5th in descents
from Mirak, was he chief, and was reduced to submission by Walidad Khan. The male
line is nowextinct. Two female descendants still live in poverty at Mirak, and with them
the line ends. The village and fort of Mirak are situate on a promontory of high ground
between the lowlands of the present Chenab valley and a wide depression in which the
river flowed long ago, and embosomed in a fine grove of date palms in one of the most
picturesque sports in the district.
The Rajoa sayadas. The Sayads of Rajoa were virtually an independent clan until the reduction of the country
by Rajit Singh. They were once defeated and subdued by Walidad Khan, but he restored
the country to them immediately afterwards out of respect for their holy origin. Tha
Rajoa Sayads have always been noted as brave, manly , military clan, and their
independence was probably as much due to their quality as warriors as to the sacred
character of their family. They are a branch of tha Bukhari Sayads, the principal Sayad
family in the district. Their ancestor was Shah Daulat, a Sayad fakir, who came from
Uch Sayad Jalal in Bahawalpur, and settled in this part of the Punjab. He remained for
towelve years in the river Chenab opposite the village of Thathi Bala Raja. Rapt in
religious mediation. The Chenab contains numerous islands, and it is probable the Fakir,
through said to have lived in the Chenab, used at times to rest himself on dry ground.
The next stage in his career was the performance of many wonders miracles, and he then
left the river and settled at Rajoa where he died , and wher his tomb is still to be seen.
The fame of the Fikar, and miracles that did reached the ears of the emperors of Dehli,
and the great Akbar granted him by sands all the tact round Rajoa. Now comprised in
the Rajoa estates. He married a Khokhar’s daughter. The power and influence of the
family steadily increased. The Sayads were never defeated before they suffered a reverse
at the hands of Walidad Khan. The story tells us that they stole Walidad Khan’s camels,
and that Walidad punished them for not restoring them. The Sayads rendered good

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

service in the Mooltan campaign, and were engaged in much sharp fighting with Narain
Singh around Chiniot in which they lost several men. They were fully rewarded by the
British Government. The present heads of the family are Haidar Shah and Bahadur shah,
between whom a bitter enemityexists. Fateh Darya, who holds more than three-fourths
of the Rajoa property, is a Zaildar, and lives at Kot Amir shah. The Sayads, with the
exception of Bahadur shah, are a thriftless, extravagant, careless lot of men, and
excessively embarrassed by debt. Bahadur shah is a rather economical, and has saved
money.
Another independent chief of Sayad extraction ruled in what is now known as the Shah
The Latifpur Jiwana ilaka. This Sayad family is not the same as that of Shah Jewana, though their
Sayad, villages adjoin. The family at some period before the reign of Walidad ruled over a large
descendants of tract of country. Their only important chief was Latif shah who was Sayad of Uch Sayad
Pir Fatah Khan Jalal in Bahawalpur. He first settled at Alipur on the Chenab, and thence migrated to
Bhambrala, where he founded a small state. The boundries of the Sayad’s rule were the
Chenab and the countries of the chiefs of Massan and Bhairo on the South and West, and
Kirana and the Rihan country on the east. Latif shah proprietor and lambardar of village
Latif shah, is a descendant of his namesake. The family is now well-to-do zamindar.
The Khokhars. The Khokhars of Nadhaghar and Bhairo were an influential clan in the early days of
Jhang history. Besides the two villages above mentioned, the tribe owns many others
close by, in the north of the district near Kot Isa Shah. The Khokhars* drive their
descent from Kutab, a descendant of Ali, the son-in-law of the prophet. They apparently
came from Arabia in the train of the first Muhammadans invaders. Nadhagerh was
founded by one Salah Khan. The Tribe became independent at the braking up of the
Mughal empire. The limits of the Khokhar supremacy were to the west the Jehlum, to
the south Kot Khan and Katinawali, to the east the coutry of the Sayad chief Shah Latif,
to the north that of the Baloches of Sahiwal. The Khokhars were in a state of chronic
warfare with the Balouches, and Walidad took advantage of a Baloche victory to sabdue
them and annex their coutry. Subsequently they revolted, and aided by their old
enemies, the Baloches, gave battle to Walidad’s lieutenant, an Aliana Sial, by name
Sharif Khan. Sharif Khan defeated the insurgents, and was given lands of Kot Khan is
Jagir, where Kotla Sharifa exists to this day. The Khokhars are among the best of the
Jhang Zamindars. They are hardworking, thrifty agriculturists, not given to crime. The
lambardars of Bhairo and Lau are their chief men.
The chief of Massan was a Sial who ruled over thevichanh. The town of that name was
The Sials of founded by Rai Massan of the Sahibana branch of the Sials. Nothing is known of the
Massan. family except that Walidad subdued them. There is now no representative of any
standing.
The Sayads of Uch are the last of the clans of Jhang who can be said to have ever been
The Sayads of semi-independent. The family is of recent date. Their founder was a Bilot Sayad, Gul
Uch. Imam, who wandered across the Thal from his native village on the Indus in the time of
Inayatullah Khan. He first settled at Rodu Sultan, a village in the Kachhi, where another
Fakir of that name had his abode. This Fakir became his disciple. The Bilot Fakir then
took up his residence on one of the high sandhills of the Thal called Sammu-bhir, and
commenced to work miracles. In a few years he had obtained so much influence in the
neighborhood that he commenced to construct the Uch fort. Inayatullah Khan is said to
have assisted and to have worked as a bricklayer. He certainly held the Fakir in the great

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

esteem, as he made over to him a number of villages in Jagir. Gul Imam seems to have
been a man of much ability and large ideas. Besides the three castles in Uch called
Chandna, Hazra and Soni, he built forts at Sihda Dauluana, Machiwal, and Sat. The
ruins of the enterprise of the Fakir. They must have been places of the much strength in
the 18th Century. The most important of Uch Imam’s public works was the construction
of the Uch canal, leaving the river Jehlam close under Machiwal and tailing off in Uch.
The canal was one of those big ditches that are so extremely useful. Most of the water
was monopolized by the Fakir for irrigating Uch, though the excavation was affected by
the forced labour of all the country through which it passed: The canal ceased to run
about the end of the 18th century, after flowing for some sixty years. Zamindars are
inveterate parsers of the days gone by, and love to dilate upon the wondrous prosperity of
Uch when irrigated by the canal, how there was a lake under the gates of the fort and
town (that are built on the edge of Thal), on which the Fakir and his councilors took their
pleasure in aboat, how the trees flourished, and how the trees flourished, and how every
well had its two or three acres of rice. Verily the glory is departed from Uch. A tumble-
down fort uninhabited and in ruins, encircled by a straggling poverty-stricken village,
looks down upon a strip of country on whose barren soils, tained by salts and hard as
iron, the only spontanceous grouths are few Jal bushes. The few wells are of
The most wretched description, the wrost in the Kachhi. The few episodes in which the
Uch Sayads have played any historical part have been already mentioned in the account
of the Sial chiefs. The Semi-independence of the Sayads lasted as long as that of the
Sials, and succumbed to the advance of Ranjit Singh. The head of family is now a boy of
15 or 16 years old. The family has been gone down in the world. They hold a Jagir
worth some Rs.800, but the property has been shamelessly squandered, and the income
of the family estates now hardly suffices to pay the interest on the family debts. An
attempt is now being made to extricate the Fakir Sahib, as he is always called, from his
money difficulties.
The Rihans were in old days the rulers of the Kalowal ilaka, and Izzat Bukhsh was
The Rihans. Walidad’s governor, but Kalowal only formed a portion of the Sial kindom for a very
short period and not much interest attaches to the family. Yara is the head of the family,
a Lambardar of several villages, and overwhelmed with the debt. There are only three
Rihan villages in the district.
It is necessary now to return to the Sials, whose origin and history have already been
The various fully related at pages 27 to 36, and to give some account of the principal branches of the
leading tribe. The different families and clans of the Sials are countless. The royal family is the
Sial families. Jalal Khanana among the others the more important are the Rajbana, Bharwana,Kamlana,
Chuchkana, Mahni, Sargana, Surbana, Janjiana, Ali Khanana, Diraj Chela, Perowana,
Sajoka, Sajhar, Fakir Sial, Daultana, Umbrana, Khanuana, Daduana, Jaboana, Hasnana,
Liwana, And Lakhnana families. It is fairly safe to assume that any tribe whose name
ends in ana is of Sial extraction.
The Rajbanas. The Rajbana family is one of the most important, both in point of numbers and in men of
note. The Rajbanas are located in Shorkot: Mad and Budh Rajbana, Gerh Maharaja,
Ranjit kot, Ahmad pur, many small villages around Kundal Khokhar, and others under
the Thal, all belong to them. The family supplies many leading men,-Nusrat of
Ahmadpur, Nur of the Ranjit kot, Varyam of Gerh Maharaja, Dad of BadhRajbana, all
Zailidars, Kasim and Ahmad,Lambardars of Mad, &c. The tribe is descending from

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Bhopti, third son of Kohli, whose descendant in the 10th generation, Rajab, gave his
name to the tribe. They were originally settled at Alman in the Kachhi. Rajjab died at
the time of Lal Khan Sial. His tomb is at Wasu Astana. The Rajbanas then moved
southwards, and settled in the northern portion of the tract which they now hold. The
clan seems to have been a turbulent one. Fighting went on continually between them and
Beloches, Traggars, Miralis,and others. The Beloches were driven away from the
Chenab, and the Rajbanas extended their passion as far as Ahmad pur. This village
originally belonged to a tribe of But Jats. The tribe next commenced to raid into the
territory of the Jhang Khan, Innayatullah; but subsequently aided him in his contest with
the Mooltan Nawab, and Garh Maharaja (built by Mahraja Kaura Mal) was granted to
them. Kasim now became the tribal leader, and in return for assistance, Sultan
Mehmood, the Jhang chief, granted him the Gerh Mahraja ilaka in Jagir. He was
succeeded by Rajjab, the most able of all the Rajbanas. His first success was the repulse
of an expedition sent against him by Sahib Khan. He built several forts, among others the
one still in existence at Gerh Maharaja. Among Rajab’s other deeds are mentioned his
co-operation with Khan Beg, Khan Tiwana and others in an expedition against his
brother Khan Muhammad Tiwana. He shook off the authority of Muzaffar Khan, the
Nawab of Mooltan, and was defeated by him about 1811. It was at Rajjab’s instigation
that Ahmad khan, the Jhang chief, was seized and imprisoned by Ranjit Singh, on his
way back from Mooltan. Rajjab lived in retirement on a libral Jagir during his old age,
Gerh Maharaja and the adjoining villages being under a Sikh Kardar. His son Khan Beg
rendered important assistance to Sir Herbat Edwardees in the Mooltan campaign. Khan
Beg died a few years ago, and his son Waryam is now the head of the family. He holds a
small pension, half of what his father held.
The Bharwanas trace their descent to Bhairo, sixth in descent from Mahni. They were
The Bharwanas, first settled in the Kachhi, some where to the north of Kot Maldeo. The Saliana
Bharwana were the most powerful branch, and were, as a rule, hostile to the ruling Khans
of Jhang. At the time of Walidad the Bharwanas resided chiefly in the interior of the
Bar. Apperently they did not reside In the Kachhi for any length of time. Their
settlements nearer the river were at Dhuin Muhammad and Kaim Bharwana, Walidad,
among other acts, put the leader of the Bharwanas, Bakar in prison. At that time the
head- quarters of the Bharwanas were at Rahna Jalluawana in the bar to the east of Jhang.
Walidad attacked these villages, but was defeated by the Bharwanas, aided by the
Kathias. Then the victorious tribes fell out among themselves about cattle-grazing, and
the Kathias were driven off to be south by the Bharwanas. This clan never seems to have
been happy unless it was fighting with some tribe or other.Raids and reprisals between
the Bharwanas and the one side and the Fatiana and Tehrana Sials on the Ravi and the
Kharals on the other, were of daily occurrence. In the bar, east of Roranwali, and also to
the north, there are some masonry dome-roofed buildings, evidently of considerable
antiquity, that mark the place where Rind, Beloches fell in battle with the Bharwanas.
According to the local traditions, these memorials date from the time when the
Bharwanas first came across the Chenab. The Sandal Bar was then occupied by the Rind
Beloches, who supported themselves by camel-breeding. The advent of the Bharwanas
was followed by quarrels about grazing rights. Hostilities broke out, but the Bharwanas
were the stronger, and drove the Beloches out of the Bar. There are some few Beloches
even now in the Bar, but they are dependents of the Bharwanas. The two principal

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

settlements of the Bharwana are at Mukhiana, Sattiana and Sultanpur north of Jhang, and
at Kaim Bharwana and the adjoining villages south. The head man are Mamand and
Inayat both well-known characters to the north and Nur Muhammad and Muhammad to
the south. The Bharwanas are bad agriculturists, and prefer a pastoral life to following
the plough and sitting behind the well bullocks. They are inclined to be extravagant like
most others Sials, and a few of them are considerably in the debt. Jalla was a Bharwana
of note during the time of Sawan Mal, a personl friend of the Diwan’s. The Bharwanas
practiced infanticide to a large extent in old days. The custom is said to date from the
tragic and adventures of Sahiba and Mirza. The Bharwanas took their wives from the
daughters of Sipras, who curiously are found associated with the Bharwanas in almost all
their villages. In some cases they are full proprietors in other only taraddadkars, and
sometime merely tenants-at-will.
The kamlanas are an important Sial clan in the Shorkot tehsil. Their head quarters are at
The Kamlanas Jalalpur Kamlana. Kamal,12th in descent from Bharmi, had three sons, from whom are
descended the Sarganas, the Perowanas and the Kamlanas. The Kamlanas at first were
residents in the country now occupied by the villages of the Majhi Sultan and Chayan
wala and the intervening tract. They were driven out by the Bharwanas and retreated
southwards to Jalalpur, where they are still located. A Kamlana graveyard is still to be
seen at Majhi Sultan. The leading men now are Sujawal the Zailidar, and Hashmat his
enemy.
The Chuchkanas are the descendants of Chochak who was Sial chief next before Mal
The khan, his nephew, who founded Jhang. They are now located on either side of the
Chuchakanas. Chenab north of Jhang. The chief villages are Kurianwala on the left and Pipal wala on
the right bank. Murad, the Zailidar, lives at Thatha Mahla and is their leader.
The Mahni clan has now almost died out. In former days they were independents and the
The Mahnis. headquarters of their chief was at Khiwa. Mahni was the son of Sial. Khiwa was
founded by the leader, who gave it his name, a descended from sial in the 12 th
generation. Local tradition states The Chenab was then following east of Khiwa, but this
is evidently wrong. The Chenab did no doubt once flow under the high bank of the Bar,
about 16 miles south-east of Khiwa, but this must have been ages before.When Khiwa
was founded, the country to the north was held by Murad and Chaddhars. At fitst the
Mahnis remind on good terms with their neighbours; but as they increased in strength,
they began to drive them backs. Khanuawana was founded in their lands to the north of
Khiwa. The first chief of Khiwa realy deserving the name was Sahib Khan. The rule of
the Khiwa chief in his high and palmy days extended from Bharwana to Chautala. The
independence of the Mahnis were extinguished by Walidad. From that time the clan
appears to have rapidly declined in influence and numbers. There are now no Mahnis in
Khiwa, the lands of the villages were granted by sawan Mal to Bakir, a leading man
among the Bharwanas whose family now holds it .Popular tradition attributes the decay
of the Mahni clan the curse of Fakir who lived at Chautala. This Fakir had one fair
daughter, who, being of somewhat weak intellect, wandered about the country in a state
of nudity. In her wandering she strayed into Khiwa, whence the Mahni chief drove her
out with contumely, thinking no doubt that she was no better then she ought to be. This
was resented by her father, who cursed the clan in the following words addressing
himself to the sacred three near his abode:-

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Chautala gharmalia.
Ithen khichi Mahni Kad:
Kahr Allah da marfa.
Na rahene vad.
The Miralis are Sials who own several villages on the Ravi, and a little property on the
lower Chenab. The clan was originally located near Roranwali, and was driven thence by
the Bharwanas. Mirali was the sixth in descent from Bharmi.
The Miralis, The Miralis are Sials who own several villages on the Ravi, and a little property on the
The Kathias. lower Chenab. The clan was originally located near Roranwali, and was driven thence by
the Bharwanas. Mirali was the sixth in descent from Bharmi.
The Kathias, who are one of the more important tribes in the Montgomery district, hold a
considerable amount of property the Shorkot tehsil. For speculation as to the origin of
this tribe, pages 33 to 37, Vol.11, of the Archeological Survey Reports, should be
consulted. They are said to have gained a footing in the Jhang district in the following
way:- In the days of inayatullah Khan, the Kamlanas, being displeased with his
treatment of them, left their lands at Jalalpur and went down south and settled in the
country of the Mooltan Nawab. Inayatullah sent messengers paying them to return, but
they sent word back that they would only return at the Khan’s personal request: the Khan
accourdingly set out from Jhang. Hearing of this, the Mooltan Nawab, already enraged
at the recent annexation of Isalamabad, laid an ambuscade for the Sial chief. Innayatullah
obtained news at the design, and calling together an army of the Kathias, Rajbanas, and
other Sials, retreated northwards. The defeat of the Mooltan Nawab has been already
noticed. The Kathias displayed the most brilliant gallantry in the battle, and the grateful
Inayatullah bestowed upon them the lands that they now hold in this district. Previously
they lived on the Ravi and in the lower part of the Sandal bar. The Bharwanas, now
resident at Kaim, were the former residents. The Kathias still maintain their character for
being a fine, manly, handsome race. Fazil, their old leader, died some year ago, and the
tribe is not doing so well as it did in his time. He managed to extinguish all internal
feuds, or, at all events, to prevent their swelling to any injurious extent. Since his death
the leadership has developed upon his brother Ibrahim, a man of little ability or force of
will.
Other Rajputs. Besides the Sials the only true Rajput tribes in the district are the Chaddhars, the Bhattis,
and the Kharals. In three villages only do the Kharals hold property, all in the Chiniot
tehsil, and they acquired their land chiefly in the dowry of their wives.
The Chaddhars. The Chaddhars, with their sub-families of Jappas, Rajokkas, Sajankes, Kangars,&c., are
settled in the country between Thatha Wara Muhammad Shah, and Sahmal beyond
Sajamnki on the left bank of the Chenab in the lower portion of the Chiniot tehsil. Their
origin is obscure. They claim to be descended from Raja Tus, Suraj Bansi. They left
their home in Rajputana during the time of Muhammad Ghori, and proceeded first to
Bahawlpur. They were converted to Muhammadanism by sher Shah of Uch. From
Bahawalpur they came to Jhang, and settled in the lands beyond the country of the Mahni
chief of Khiwa. The head family is that of Tahli Mangini, represented by Fatah Khan, a
Zailadar. The Chaddhars of Taja Berwala are an old but decayed family. The Jappas are
represented by a Zailadar Pathana of Bhowana, and the Kangars by Ghaus of Kurk. The
Chaddhars are good agriculturists, and less given to cattle theft than their neighbours, the
Harals and Sials.

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

The Bhattis The Bhattis hold a considerable tract of country, called Bhattiora in local phrase, between
the Shah Jewana villages on the west and the Lali country on the east. With the
exception of the three villages, the tract is in the Chiniot tehsil north of the Chenab. The
principal villages are Ghoriwala, Kot Sultan, and Barana. The origin of this tribe is
discussed at pp.19-22 of the Archaeological Survey of India, vol.11. The triblal tradition
is that they emigrated from Bhatner in Rajputana. Their first settlement in this district
was at Jandmali, on the right bank of the Jehlum, not many miles from the Shahpur
boundry. They migrated thence to the country which they now hold, over wich the
Sayad chief Latif Shah then ruled. The Bhatt’s are a fine race of men, industrious
agriculturists, hardly at all in debt, good horse-breeders, and very fond of sport. They do
very little cattle-lifting, but are much addicted to carrying off each other wives. Sardar of
Kot Sultan and chaghatta of Barana are the Bhatti zaildar and among the most influentian
men of the tribe. The tribe owns one village on the river; all rest is in the Uttar.
There is considerable number of Beloches in the district, but with one or two exception
The Beloches. all their villages lie to the west of the Chenab. Above Kot Khan, the old limit of the Sial
country, the Beloches villages are numerous on both sides the Jehlum, but below on the
left bank there is not a single Beloche village properly so called. They are said to have
settled in the district before the Sials. Babar in his memoirs mentions that there was a
clony of Beloches in the countries of Bhera and Khushab. This was in1519 A.D, and it
must have taken the Beloches some time to spread east as far as Bhera. The tribal
tradition is that the Beloches first came into this part of the Punjab in the reign of Shah
Hussain, the Langa ruler of Mooltan. This was early in the 15th century, and after the
arrival of the Sials. But on the other hand, there is undoubted evidence that the Saundal
Bar east and south of Jhang was held by Rind Beloches before the Bharwana Sials, and
the Beloches were only driven out after severe fighting. The Baloches head-quarters
were at Mirpur near the Ravi.
Again, west of the lower Chenab, the country along the banks of the river was certainly
occupied by Beloches before the Rajbana Sials pushed their way down to Ahmadpur, in
fact the Baloches seem to have been in force and to have strenuously resisted the Sial
advance. Possibly, however the date generally accepted of the arrival of the Sials may be
wrong, or it may have taken the Sials longer to spread over the country than is generally
supposed; but at all events it seems to the satisfactorily established that the Beloches
were holding the southern portion of the Sandal Bar and the country west of the Chenab
before the Sials. The Baloches in the district never attained any importance. They have
furnished no chief. Among them are to be found representatives of almost every clan
and tribe. They possess no distinctive moral of physical features distinguishing them
from other tribes; they are good agriculturists, though not very industrious. They are not
addicted much to cattle theft. Among their leading men are Muhammad Khan Gadi,
Sultan Khan of Mari, Ghulam Haidar of Kot Shakir, Sher Khan of Bulla. Of the
Beloches of Jhang, 5,223 returned themselves as Rind, 1,849 as Jatoi, 774 as Hot , and
696 as Lashari by tribe in the Census of 1881.
The Gilotars are located between the Nissowanas and the Chenab in the northern portion
The Gilotars. of Chiniot adjoining the Shahpur district. They have no trustworthy traditions as to their
origin. Their location in this part of the district is of comparatively recent origin.
Several of their villages were grants from Sawan Mal. They are a curious mixture of
good and bad qualities, First rate agriculturists, and irreclaimable cattle-lifters. It is in

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

their villages only that sugar-cane and maize are largely grown. Ismail Glotar of
Gandlanwali and Murad of Burj Mal are their leaders.
Kukaras. The Kukaras or Nekokaras claim to be a brench of the Hashmi Kuraishis, but there is
some doubt as to the fact. Sheikh Nasiruddin came to Bahalwalpur 450 years ago and
founded a village there called Shekh Wahan. His familybecame followers of the Sayad
of Uch in the same country. The family increased and multiplied, and the members
began to emigrate northwards to Jhang, Gujranwala and others districts. There are
Kukaras in all three tehsil in this district, and all calim to be descended from the same
ancestor.
The Nissoanas. The Nissuanas inhabit the northern corner of the Chiniot tehsil between the Lalis,
Gilotars, and the Shahpur boundary. They clain to be a branch of the Khokhars. In the
Shahpur settlement Report they are described as “notorious for the thieving propensities
and generally lawless characters”.They still retain these qualities in a softened degree.
They are a prosperous thriving caln, rich in flocks and herds. With scarcely any debts.
Raja of Kandiwal, Bakar of Babrana, Mehra of Lole, are the leading, men.
The Lalis. West of the Nissowana country along the edge of the Bar, as far as the Bhatti villages,
come the Lalis who have a fabulous origin in the plains of Khurasan. Their headmen are
Raja, Mumanad and Gholam, all Zaildars. Lalian is their largest village. The Lalis are
not a very fine or spirited race of men, and differ both from the Bhattis and Nissuwanas
in this respect. They are mostly in debt; though there are one or two notable exceptions.
They are not very first class farmers, and prefer grazing their cattle around a strip of
barani cultivation in the Kirana Bar to anything else.
The Harals. The Harals are another tribe holding villages in the Chiniot tehsil only. From Murad
wala to Saike, both on the left bank of the Chenab, their villages are thickly studded
along the bank of the river. They are said to have settled here during the rule of the
Mughal Eperors, but it is probable that their coming was at an earlier date. Tradition
makes them a branch of the Ahirs. They are the worst thieves in the district, except
perhaps the Gilotars, and bad cultivators. They own great numbers of horned cattle and
sheep and goats, and pasture them in the Kirana and Sandal Bar alike. Sujawal and
Vasawa, zailadar, Sukha of Murad wala and Bala of Saike, are the leading men of the
tribe.
The Marals at the present time do not own a single village, yet in the past times they
The Marals. must have been an important tribe, for we constantly hear of them in the local lore. They
claim to be Rajputs, Chuhan of the Suraj Bansi race, and to have settled at Thatha Wara
beyond Khiwa in the Chiniot tehsil during the reign of Akbar. The Shah Jiwana legend
makes them the proprietors of the land there Shah jewana now stands. Probably they
occupied the tract between the Khiwa Sials and the Chaddhars on the left bank , and also
some lands on the right bank of the Chenab. A few families still live in Maral Wala, but
are hereditary tenants only. They are a fine bold-looking set of men, have rather a bad
reputation for cattle-lifting, and are not very desireable tentants. The cause of their decay
is not well known.
Miscellaneous. The history of the Sayads of Uch and Rajoa has already been given. It remains to notice
Sayads. the other Sayads, viz, the Shah Jiwana and the Shekh Sulimana and other branches of the
Bukhari family; the Mashadi, the Gilani, and Bakri families. The Shah Jiwana are the
descendants of Shah Jiwana, whose shrine is at the village of the same name. Many of
the villages round are owned by the family, but Latif Shah and Hassan Shah of Kariwala

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

do not belong to it, though they are members of the Bukhari branch. The Sheikh
Sulimana Sayads reside at Thathi Bala Raja, west of Chiniot, at Chiniot itself , and
several villages east of the town. Their followers are exceedingly numerous, and their
income from offerings very large. They are careless landlords, addicted to intoxicating
drinks and drugs, and not very estimable characters. The other Sayads hold so few
villages as to need no mention.
The Akeras are Jats holding small tract of country on both sides the Jhelam, just
above Kot Khan, the limit of the old Sial rule. Their ancestor Khizer is said to have
acquired the land by grant from Walidad Khan, in whose service he was for some time
employed. They are thrifty and industrious zamindars, and breed a very good wiry little
horse, something like the Beloch in shape.
The head man are with one exception well off. Sabbar and Hushmat are the two
principal men of the tribe. The Dabs are Jats, and own the large village of Dab Kalan,
with a few others adjoining in Shorkot. They are good agriculturists. Bahadar, the
Zaildar, is their leader.
The Jutas are also Jats in spite of their brand–new pedigree table, that makes them
out to be the descended of one Juta, a Manas Rajput, and narrates that they were
originally settled in Kashmir territory near Jammu, and migrated to Jhang in the days of
Walidad Khan and Innayatullah. They hold two large villages and shares in several
others. As agriculturists, they are industrious, but retain a penchant for cattle-lifting.
Umra of Alah yar Juta is their head. The Jhandirs hold a few villages in the extreme
south of Shorkot on the right bank of the Chenab. Their name is said to be derived from
Jhanda, a standard, as there ancestor had been standard-beared to the prophet or some of
his descendants. This would give them a western origin, but the story is somewhat
mythological. Though not openly professing to be religious directors, there is a certain
or dour of sanctity about the tribe. Most of the remembers can read and write. The
doming monotone of Koran reading is always heard in their villages, and the elder
members affect, a certain clerical tone in their dress and appearance. A favorite
aphorism “Darhi Shekhan di, Kam Shaitnana da” does not apply. The tribe is
particularly free from ill deeds of every description.
The Kuraishis. In the Shorkot tehsil the place occupied by Sayads in Jhang and Chiniot is taken by
Kuraishies. The more important Kuraishis families of Haveili Bahadur shah and Pir
Abdulrehman are not recognizesd as genuine by the true Hashmi Kuraishis; the
descendants of the celebrated Muhammadan saint Mukhdom Baha-ud-din Zakria. For an
account of the family, pp.490-494, “Punjab Chiefs,” should be consulted. The Hashmi
Kuraishish are represented in this district at Hassu Balil in Shorkot, and at Dossa and
Shah Shakoor in Jhang. Their character deos not differ from that of other holy tribes.
Makhdum Jalal of Hassu balil is a man of large property and influence, and Zaildar.
Among other tribes holding land in proprietary right in the district are Mangans, Sipras,
Other Tribes. Laks, Asis, Mathrumas, and many other tribes, but all too insignificant to merit separate
notice.
The traiding classes are recruited almost entirely from Aroras, Khatris and Khojahs.
The Trading Only a few Barhamins are engaged in business. The Aroras are the most numerous, and
classes. are divided into infinity of clans. They are the chief money–landers and capitalists of the
district, and also chief creditors of the agriculturists and mortgagees of their lands. Many
hold land in proprietorship. The Aroras have the reputation of being a most industrious,

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energetic, and laborious tribe. A local proverb embodies the idea:-“Badha lak Arorian,
munah koh Lahor.” “When an Arora has girded up his loins, he makes the distance to
Lahore only three –quarters of a kos.” According to the proverb, a Kirar is not so
merciless in his dealings with the Zamindars as a Khojah:-“Kirar dandali Khojah
phahaora,” meaning that a Kirar like a toothed drag-rake leaves something behind, but a
Khojah like a muck-scraper leaves nothing, is a favourite simile. They are invariably
termed Kirar, which is also used to denominate the whole Hindu population. Kirar is not
a coplimentary appellation. Meeting a gondal tenant-at-will once near Jhang, Mr.
Steedman mentioned that his tribesmen in Gujrat were great thieves. “Ah, yes,” he
replied, evidently taking what was said as very complimentary “but here I do not do
anything of the sort; I have not got as much spirit a Kirar.” The term is often used by the
Khatris and Barhamans towards their co-religionists, the Aroras, but hardly ever by an
Arora of them,. Except in the large villages and the towns, there are but few Khatris in
the district. The principal clans are Katials, Kapurs, Khannas, Mehrautras, Saihgals,
Maggud, Manhtas, Dhawanas, and Talwars. All are engaged in business, except the
Khannas, who own the village of Kot Maldeo, and prefer Government Service to any
other employment. There are proportionally more Khatris at Chiniot than elsewhere. At
Chiniot, too is a large colony of Khajohs many of whom are traders on a large scale, with
branches and correspondants at Calcutta and Bombay. They are coverts from Hiduism,
as is clearly indicated by the fact that many of their family division bear the same name
as those of the Arroras And Khtris. The date of their conversion is put at 400 Hijra, and
their first settlements tehsil. They migrated to Chiniot about 120 years ago in Sabmat
Sikhs.There they appear to have thriven, and to have been entrusted with posts of
Importance. When Ranjit Singh took Chiniot, Mian Sultan, a Kojhah, was over the
citadel, and though the Bhangi forces had been defeated outside the town and the
Bhanfgi leader taken prisoner, he held out stoutly and refused to desert his charge or
open the fort except at the order of his master. Ranjit Singh, the story goes , was so
pleased with his stubborn fidelity , that made him a grany of Kalowal and Changraneali,
formerly the property of Tihans, the greater portion of which is held by Khojahs to this
day. There are no Khajahs in Hang, but many have settled in Maghiana, and are among
the wealthiest and most public-spirited of the residents. Of the Aroras, 18,004 returned
themselves as Uthadhi,2,185 as Dalkhana, and 23,541 as Dahra in the Census of 1881.
The chief division of the Khatris according to the Census are shown below:-
Sub Division of Khatris
Name Number Name Number
Punjabi 6,634 Dhaighar 250
Bahri 1,594 Kapur 1,182
Panjzati 740 Khanne 469
Charzati 2,322 Mehrautas 1,614
Note:- Many of these are shown twice over: thus940 of the Mehrautra are also shown as Charzati, and nearly all the
Kapur as Bahri or Charzati.
Agricultural It is difficult to define the quality of each tribe as agriculturists; the variation is so great.
Character of In Chiniot the Jat villahges along the river bank are excellently farmed. Towards the Bar
each tribe. the cultivation is most inferior. In Jhang the Sials on the Jehlum are often careful and
industrious cultivators. In Jhang on the left bank of the Chenab they care little for a
agriculture, and keep large herds of cattle. Some Haral villages are well cultivated;
others are deserted in after favourable rain there is good grass in the Bar. On the whole
the Jats are the best cultivators in the district, but even their cultivation taken all round is

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nothing very wonderful. Naturally they are inclined more to a pastoral life and cattle-
lifting than to driving a plough. A Jat who farms his own land seldom forms it badly,
and is a better cultivator than the Jat tenant at –will. Some of the Khokhar villages near
Kot Isa Shah Will compare with any in the district. The Sials are not good cultivators.
The better families have hitherto considered it dishonourable to touch a plough, but this
feelings is now confined to families in affluent circumstances. Poor Sials have to
cultivate, just as any other zamindar, to earn their daily bread. In old days, no doubt, the
livelihood of the Sials who dwelt along the Chenab depended more on their cattle than
on agriculture; and their wealth in herds more on their audacity as cattle-lifters than their
skill as cattle-breeders. Now –a –days this source of income is far less profitable.
Cattle-lifters is still rife, but the chances of detection, where it is carried on in a
wholesale manner, are too many to allow it to be adopted as a safe and lucrative calling.
In old days a band of Chenab thieves would swim hold herds of the Buffaloes from the
Chiniot tehsil to Shorkot, and there dispose of them. Thifts now except in the bar does
not go ordinary beyond a buffalo are too, or a pair of bullocks. With the decline of
cattle-lifting as a livelihood agriculture has come more into favoure. The large extention
of cultivation, especially in a sailab lands has diminished the number of cattle in many
parts of the district notably in the Jhelam, and rendered a recourse to agriculture for a
living more matter of necessity than of choice. Cattle-grazing as a means of livelihood
can only be profitably carried on a villages counting a large quantity of pasture land,
either in river (belas) or in the Utar. On the Jhelam almost are available land has been
cultivated. On the Chenab the villages’ usaually contain a alarge quantity of waste more
or less suitable for grazing. Large herds of cattle are kept and the income therefore is
probably greater than from the land. In such villages cultivation is inferior. The
proprietors do not hesitate to neglect their fields for the sake of their cattle. The
difference between the forming of the Sials on the Jehlum and those on the Chenab is
very great. Sayads are bad managers and they hordly ever touch a plough. They are a
thriftless extravagant class, about the wrest bargains Government has. Hidus are first
class cultivators, most industrious and careful but they cultivate but little land. Beloches
are a little superior to the Sials. Chaddhars and Bhattis are prosperous formers and are
both good manger and careful cultivators.
The Khojahs and the other Miscellaneous Muhamamdan do not cultivate much
themselves but the look after their property very carefully, and their lands as a rule
exceedingly well cultivated. Kaminas are about as bad cultivators as landlord can get.
“Tribal restrictions in a marriage are jealously observed by the people among the
Tribal Muhammadans the Sayads freely take the daughters of others and marriage, but give
restrictions their own daughters only to men of their on cast. A sayad would hold it a dishonour to
upon marry his daughter to a Mughal or Pathan, though not actually a sin; for strict
intermarriage. Muhammadans law declare that all Muhammadan are brothers. Hidu caste restriction
seems to have been adopted by Muhammadan with regard to marriage. The Kuraishi
caliming to be the direct descendants of Muhammadan, follow in this district the customs
of the Sayads in this respect. Rajput prefers giving their daughter to Rajput, and seldom
gives them to Jats, though they take daughters in marriage with no restriction wherever.
The Hindus are chiefly composed of Barhamans, Khatris, Aroras and Bhattis. The
Barhamans do not give their daughters in marriage to the other sects. But marry among
them. Khatris are primarily of two kinds, the Bahris and the Banjahis. The Bahari again

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are subdivided into Adhighar, Charghar, Bahrigarn (literally 2-1/2 families 4 families
and 12 families. Adhighar may marry the daughter of Charaghar and the latter of
Bahrighar, but Adhai are Charighar would not give daughter to Bhara. The above three
subdivision may intermarry among themselves, but if an adhighar should marry a
daughter of Bahrighar. He is degraded to Chahrigar. If he gives a daughter to Chahrigar
or Bahrigar he descends to the caste into which he has married his daughter. Bahrigar
may take the daughter of Banjhas without losing their on caste. The Banjahas intermarry
among themselves and give their to Bahari, but have no right to take daughter from
Bahri. The Arorra are chiefly composed of Uthadhis and Dahras. The former intermarry
among themselves and take daughters from Daras. But never give them. The Darahas
marry in their own trib. The Bhattis have the same subdivisions as the Khatris, with this
difference with the former are considered of secondary importance to the latter, and
indeed to the Arroras. The Bhattis intermarry among themselves.”
SECTION D. – VILLAGE COMMUNITIES AND
Village tenures.
TENURES.
Table no.XV shows the number of villages held in the various forms of tenure, as
returned in quinquennial Table no.XXXIII of the Administration Report for 1887-79.
But the accuracy of the figures is more than doubtful. It is in many cases simply
impossible to class a village satisfactorily under anyone of the ordinarily recognized
tenures, the primary division of rights between the main subdivision of the village
following one form while the interior distribution among the several proprietors of each
of these subdivisions follows another form, which itself often various from one
subdivision to another. In Jhang especially from the village tenure is peculiar as will be
shown in the following pages. The statement below show the village tenures as
classified by Mr. Steedman at the rececnt settlement:-
Chiniot Jhang Shorkot District.
Zamindari -------- 1 8 2 11
Communal zamindari- 16 24 8 48
Pattadari-------- 1 … … 1
Bhayachara------- 111 189 112 412
Imprerfect Bhayachara 123 125 54 302
and pattidari--------
Government property. 13 12 15 40
Total. 265 358 191 814
The prevailing tenure of the district is a kind of imperfect Bhayachara, known as
Bhayachara chahawar. In the occupied lands, wells and Sailab, possession is the
measures of right. The unattached wasre is generally village common; held, it may be, on
Khewat shares, where the Joint right of each Khewatdar is measured by The share of the
village assessment paid by him, or individual right is represented by the fraction of the
total area of the village held; or an ancestral shares by the descendants of the original
founder or founders of village to the exclusion of the other proprietors.
Villages Table No. XV shows the number of proprietors or shareholders and the gross area held
Communities in property under each of the main forms of tenure, and also gives details for large estates
and tenures. and for Government grants and similar tenures. The figures are taken from the

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Proprietary quinquennial table prepared for the Administration Report of 1878-79. The accuracy of
tenures. the figures is, however, exceedingly doubtful; indeed, land tenures assume so many and
such complex forms in the Punjab that it is impossible to classify them successfully
under a few general heading. This is specially the case in Jhang and the neighbouring
districts, where the constitution of what most nearly corresponds with the village
communities’ rights in land, are exceedingly peculiar, unusual incidents attaching even
to the ordinary form of mortage. The peculiarities are owing partly to the scattered and
precarious nature of the cultivation, and its entered dependence upon water other than
rainfall; but still more, perhaps, to the nature of the revenue system that obtained under
the government that preceded our own. It is therefore impossible to describe existing
rights and tenures without first discussing the revenue policy to which they so largely
owe their existence.
Proprietary Proprietary right, as the term is understood now-a-days can hardly be said to have
right under the existed either under the Sials or under the Sikhs; as has been very truly remarked in the
sials and sikhs Settlement Report of a neghbouring district;____ “It must must always be remembered
that “under native rule no such thing as absolute proprietary right was “recognized. The
missing class was not the hereditary tenant, byt “the proprietor. “ It is difficult, perhaps
impossible, do define with any accuracy to what extent rights of property in land did
exist, but they were certainly not extinct. The reling power was not an all powerful
landlord, nor were all the subjects, except those enjoying special privileges, merely
tennats-at-will, That some rights of transfer and mortgage were possessed and exercised
during the reigns of the latter Sial Khans is abudnatly proved. Many undoubtedly
genuine deeds were produced in land cases during the recent Settlement. The history of
the district and of the tribes that inhabit it, plainly shows that since the time of Walidad
Khan there have been no great changes in the location of the tribes. They still hold the
same villages that they then held. The lands of Kot Khan are still the property of the
descendants of Walidad’s successful lieutenant, Sharif Khan Aliana. The Rajbanas are
still the proprietors of the villages conquered by their ancestors from the Beloches. Even
the Nauls, though subjected by their Sials, possess most of the lands, lying on either side
of Jhang that they held before the advent of their subduers. At the same time the property
of the subject was strictly confined to the land in his possession; that is to say, to the land
cultivated by the subject, with a raeasonable amount of immediately adjoining culturable
waste. Beyond this the individual had no proprietary rights whatever. Neither under the
Sials nor under the the Sikhs were there village states with demarcated boundaries as
there all now. These are our creations, exotics transplanted from the plains of the North-
western provinces. Knowing the main facts of the history of the Sial tribe, it is not
difficult to picture how fluid must have been the state of property when they first settled
in the country, and how it gradually hardened during the later reigns of the Khans and
under the Sikhs. The Sials for some time after their arrival were shepherds and herdsmen
and the extent of their agriculture, judging from the state of the district at annexation, did
not probably exceed what the nomad tribes of the bar practice at the present time. They
did not even cultivate the easily- tilled lands subject to the annual floods from the river.
Mr. Monkton speaks about the dense Jhau Jangal on the banks of the rivers in his time.
The word Maru is still the prefix in the name several villages on the Chenab, signifying a
dense and dangerous jangal. Until Walidad’s time the Sial Khans were merely tax-
gethers under the Imperial rule, and we know but little about the condition of their

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subjects. Hitherto the Sials had been multiplying and spreading over the land, and the
different clans setting down permanently in the various parts of the country they now
occupy. These settlements are the nuclei of our present villages. The inhabitance
cultivated more or less land near the hamlet and on their neighbouring wells. Adjacent
villages or settlement seldom interfered with one another. There were no boundary
disputes, because there were no boundaries. The intermediate waste was the property of
the state. The population in those days must have been very scanty, and the non-
existence of boundaries did not prove inconvenient, as the waste lands did not belong to
the villagers. A certain proportion of the produce was taken by the Government of the
day, and so long as this was paid and the lands held by the individual was not badly
cultivated, the cultivator was left in peace. So long as a good revenue was yielded, the
Government asked no questions; but if the subject was found to be in possession of land
that he did not cultivate, or endeavoring to cultivate more land than his means would
allow of, the Khan had no compunction in granting the uncultivated land to any applicant
who applied for it, or in making over the excess of the land cultivated to any other person
who had the requsite capital fot its proper cultivation. The object of the requisite capital
for its proper cultivation. The object of the ruler was an increase of revenue, and if
occupancy of proprietary rights, as we understand the terms, stood in the way of its
attainment, it was so much the worse for them. If this was the case under the later Sials
who might be excepted to have had some compassion for their subjects, it was only too
probable that under the Sikhs the disregard of property in land should be intensified, and
that the rulers, Hindus by caste, should have employed every device to wring as large a
revenue as possible out of a Muhammadan race.
Hathrakhaidar The extortionate tyranny of the Sikhs, and also of the later Sials, gave rise to a new
s species of right-that of Hath- Rakhai or taalukaddri as it is also called.

Village There is no difference between the tow rights, and in every case the origin of the tenure is
communities the same. The original proprietor is always in cultivating possession of the land. The
and tenures. broken-hearted cultivator of the land, who was also the proprietor, finding the demands
Hathrakhaiddrs and exactions on account of revenue absolutely unbearable, made over the proprietary
share of the produce, and with it the responsibility for the revenue, to some influential
man whom the Government treated with consideration, who assented to the arrangement,
thinking that he would probably be able to make something out of the contract, for
contract it was at the outset and nothing more. The cultivating proprietor said to the
contractor, “I cannot pay the revenue any longer. Do you take the proprietary share of the
produce, allowing me some fee in recognition of my rights, and pay the revenue, yours
being the profit and loss.” The contractor who thus engaged to pay the Government
revenue in consideration of the proprietary share of the produce, minus the proprietor’s
fee, is called Hathrakhaidar, Hathrakhnewala, and the person who makes over the produce
and withdraws from the responsibility for the Government revenue, Hathrakhwanewala.
Hath rakhna, to place the hand on, is equivalent to “to protect,” and the causal form means
to get the hand placed, to obtain protection. Originally there were no conditions as to the
termination fo the contract, but it was undoubtedly understood to be terminable at the will
of either party, and if we find that this power was seldom if ever exercised, the fact will be
intelligible enough when the character of the Sial and Sikh revenue administration is

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

recollected. As a rule, the original proprietor would not be anxious to regain his “rights,
symbols more of misery than of benefit,” and the Hahrakhaidar, perhaps paying nothing,
or only at the most favourable rates to the Khalsa exchequer, would be in no hurry to
renounce an easy and lucrative source of income. But had the Hathrakhaidar lost his
influence with the Governor and been squeezed for revenue as an ordinary agriculturist,
he would have thrown up his contract, and the original proprietor would not have thought
of raising any objection. Conversely, the right of resumption would belong to the original
proprietor.
In Chiniot and Shorkot the amount of land held by these middlemen is very small. They
are most numerous in Jhang, and the land they hold is generally on the banks of the
Jhelam. The Nath Sahib of Jhang, a Hindu Fakir, Charan Das Sarraf, Brabmins, Gusains,
and others, who, as religious devotees, were held in much consideration by the Sikhs, are
the large Hathrakhaidars. At the first Regular Settlemtnt the general opinion of the
settlement officer was that the Hathrakhaidar was to use Mr. Vans Agnews words “A
mustajir on the behalf of the proprietor for the Government taking a share of the
produce.” He was considered to have no power to alienate his status, for the proprietor
might not have confidence in the third party to whom the Hathrakhaidar wished to
transfer his privilege. Mir Izzat Alis opinion, dated 23rd August 1855, to which Mr.
Monckton generally agreed, is still extant. He considered the Hathrakhaidar to be simple
mustajir, having no power of transfer, and that the contract was terminable at the will of
either party; but unfortunately he never could bring himself to interfere with the status
quo ante in the cases affecting the tenure that he had to deal with. He noted that cases had
occurred where the hathrakhaidar had been ousted by the original proprietor either of his
own mothion or through the action of a Panchayit, and also whore dispossession had
taken place in
Accordance with a judicial order. But as far as has been ascertained, not a single order of
any Court has been discovered terminating a Hathrakhar. In all cases the settlement was
made with the Hathrakhidar without any condition whatever as to the nature of his
tenure. The consequence is that the right of Hathrakhar, the right to take the proprietors
share of the produce, minus a fee, varying in amount, in recognition of the rights of the
original proprietor, has crystallized into a permanent transferable and hereditary right.
The Hathrakhaidars being men of power have been steadily encroaching on the rights of
the original proprietor ever since the old settlement, and have acquired by prescription
certain privileges in regard to trees and bhusa to which they originally had no right
whatever. Hitherto the Hathrokhaidar has not claimed any right to the land, and right he
has none. All that he can claim is his share of the produce. He cannot claim to share in
the land by partition, and he has nothing whatever to do with arranging for the
cultivation. As a rule, the Minar, Jakh, Rasul arwahi, and Ganesh fees belong to the
original proprietor. There are some doubts as to Bhara and Mohassil fees. Between the
Hathrakhaidar and the Mustajir or Mushkhsadar of the Dera Ismail Khan district there is
an important distinction. The Mushakhsadar was a farmer of the revenue appointed by
Government generally over a whole village or ilaka. The hathrakhaidar is the nominee of
the individual, the entrustee of his privilege, to take the proprietary share of the produce
and pay the revenue. The mushkhsadar takes the mahsul, the Government share of the
produce, and there is no contract between him and the zamindar. The share taken by the
Hathrakhaidar is the result of an agreement between him and the original proprietor.

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Viewed in the light of our present revenue administration, the contract appears to be a
very one-sided transaction, but at the time it was made, the consideration was material
and valuable, viz, protection from the extortionate demands of the Sikh farmer. Now the
contract exists in virtue fo prescription, while the reasons for its existence have passed
away. If the right course would have been to oust these entrustees of the right to pay the
revenue, the Regular settlemtn was the time and opportunity for such a measure. The
tenure was then comparatively in its infacy, but now more than 20 years have been added
to its age. One reason why the Hathrakhaidars maintained their position was the doubt
and distrust with which our first Settlement operations were regarded by an ignorant
people. In fixing their boundaries even, their object was not to include as much but as
little land as possible within the village. Instances of this are numeous.
Chapter III, D, The taraddadkari tenure also dates formt he time of the sials, though it was under Sawan
village Mals fiscal administration that it was most fostered. This tenure is closely allied to the
communities adhlapi and chakdari tenures of the southern districts of the Mooltan and Derajat
and tenures. Division. The conditions and circumstances under which the tarraddadkari tenure arises
Taraddadkhrs and has arisen are exceedingly diverse, and that the rights and privileges of the tenure is
where the Taraddadkar is a full proprietor; the lowest where he is nothing more than a
tenant who, so long as he cultivates cannot be outsted, but whose rights are neither
transferable nor hereditary. The indigenous relations subsisting between proprietors and
tenanats in this district have favoured the growth of this tenure, no less than Sawan Mals
efforts to extend cultivation. In Jhang it is the proprietor who runs after the tenant and
beseeches him to cultivate his well. The proprietor often found, and even now often finds
it worth while to make over a well in working order to a tenant, on the terms that he
should pay half the proprietary share of the produce to the proprietor, who remained
responsible for half the revenue, and himself retain the other half and pay half the
revenue, it being understood that so long as the tenant continued to cultivate or arranged
for cultivation he could not be ousted from the land so made over. Any person holding
land belonging to another on these terms is called a Taraddadkar. He has taken the land
or the well on taraddad. His tenure is taraddadi or taraddadkari. Where a well in working
order was made over, if the making over took place many years ago, the Taraddadkars
right will probably be hereditary but not transferable. His son will succeed him, but he
cannot sell or mortgage his rights, as the agreement is personal one. Where, however, the
proprietor of the land made it over to a taraddakar, who constructed a well in it at his
own expense, the Taraddadkar, in the sbsence of any express agreement, is a full half
proprietor. So lonng as the well lands are undivided, the Taraddadkar proprietor is
responsible for the coultivation of the land, and either loses his rights or becomes liable
to be cast in damages at the suit of the original proprietor of the land, if he fails to
cultivate or cultivates in a manner contrary to good husbandry. But he has the power to
partition the well, estate; and once partition is affected, he becomes absolute proprietor of
half the water and of the land that has fallen to his share. The right to claim partition is
the test of full proprietary right. If the Taraddadkar cannot claim partition, he is not a full
proprietor, whatever hsis other privileges. All Taraddakars have the power of arranging
for the cultivation. It does not matter whether the Taraddadkar cultivates himself or by a
tenant. So long as the land is cultivated, the original proprietor cannot interfere. The
above remarks apply chiefly to old taraddadi tenures. Of late new tenures of this
description hae been chiefly created by deed, and it is only where the deed is silent that

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

evidence of local custom is admissible. The original proprietor has, however, to be very
careful how he treats his Taraddadkars. In one the deed, creating the tenure declared that
the Taraddadkar had no power to mortgage. He wanted to mortgage, but the proprietor
refused to allow him to do so. The Taraddadkar then threw up the well, and the
proprietor found himself sadddled with a well out of work but bearing an assessment,
and with but little hope of obtaining a tenant. Instances of the taraddadi tenure on sailab
lands are exceedingly rare, even if they occur at. The rights of hereditary tenants on
sailab lands are analogous to those of Taraddadkars, but an occupancy rights were
acquired by his breaking up the land. He probably also took the entire crop for the first
one or tow years rent free.
Taalukdars. Of the true Taralukdari tenure in this district a few instances only are found. The terms
Hathrakhai and Taalukdari have become somewhat confused, as under the former tenure
the original proprietor is called Taalukdar, and his proprietary fee taken form the
Hathrakhaidar, hak-taalukdari, Rights similar to those of superior proprietary right are
also styled Taalakdari in Jhang e.g. where cultivators during the rule of Sawan Mal
became so far independent that they were created proprietors at the first. Settlement,
subject to a small cash malikana payment to the original lords of the soil.
Proprietary The fiscal administration of Sawan Mal left indelible marks on the proprietary system of
right under the district. The theory that the land belonged to the State was carried by him to far
Sawan Mal. farther lengths than it had ever been carried befor. Under the Sial rule the rights of the
dominant tribe had been more or less respected, but under the Divan they saw men who
and whose ancestors had as tenants tilled their lands from time immemorial, and as
inferiors, had given them their daughters in marriage, elevated to the rank of full
proprietors. Under Sawan Mal any person who broke up land in any portion of the
district, or who set to work a well that had been deserted, became the proprietor of that
land or well. In practice the Divan held that no man had any right to any land that he
could not cultivate, and grants of waste land were given to anybody who could bring it
under cultivation. Not only did this take place, but many persons who had formerly been
tenants-at-will found themsolves invested with the doubtful privilege of paying direct to
the State. The proprietors dropped out because there was no room for them. The state
took every-thing it could from the cultivator, and the idea of a middleman intercepting
part of the collection was not for a moment entertaine. Grants of waste sailab land could
be obtained by anybody imagined. The Sial settlemts and villages still remained Sial, but
there was a strong infiltration of proprietor, probably better than Sials and Beloches.
There were them no boundaries. The Sials retained what they could cultivate. The waste
was occupied by SawanMalls colonists. Such a system was of course fatal to all
proprietary rights over tracts, such as the superior proprietary rights that still exist in the
Indus Kachhi and the Daman of the Dera Ismail Khan District. When the representative
of the Sial Khan was dependent upon the charity of Sawan Mal for his daily bread, it is
not difficult to understand shy no superior proprietary rights survived. Probably such
rights, too, were not very common, though the Ahmadpur and Garh Maharaja Sials and
the Nawab of Jhang have sometimes claimed that they did exist. The few instances of
superior proprietary right that do exixt, e.g. those of the Rajoa, Thatti Bala Raja and
Alipur Sayads over Bukhari, Taru and Buddhi Thatti, are creations of the Begular
Settleement, the land belonged to the superior proprietors, but he inferior proprietors had
been so long in possession by taking produce and direct payment of revenue to the Sikhs,

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

that they were deemed to be entitled to the proprietorship, subject to the payment of a
proprietary fee, usually a percentage on the jama.
The creation of Shortly after annexation, the time between being taken up by tow summary settlements,
villages at the the Regular settlement commenced, and it became necessary to fix village boundaries
Regular and to create private proprietary rights in land where they had never before been
Settlement. recognized even if, as is very doubtful, they had ever existed, the following quotation
from Mr. Monckton’s report describes how this was effected, and what the villages were
when the Regular Settlement began.
“The revenue arrangements of the native governments in the Mooltan province, never
having recognized the village system, but dealing separately with each well or cluster of
wells there were naturally no well defined estates, and the mauzalis in Mr. Cock’s and
the Summary Settlements were merely pareels of land paying revenue under one
denomination, but with no fixed principles village by which the name of the mahal
would be distinguished, with subordinate handets and outlying wells often at a great
distance, and situated within the boundaries of
Another estate. In parganas Chiniot and Jhang the mauzahs were tolerably regular, and in
making the demarcation of boundaries the outlying wells were treated as chaks, if their
owners desired to continue attached to the parent village. In paryanas Kadirpur and Ueh
the holdings appeared to have not tie in common. Many mahals were composed entirely
of portions of lands (wells) scattered among other estates and having no village site or
any head whatever. These last were all abolished in the revised hadbast, and the estates
were formed with reference to village sites only; no outlying chaks were left except in
jagir villages. The people readily acquieseed in the change, and any other course would
have led to indefinite complications in the preparation of the record of holdings and
responsibilities, and in the determination of rights in waste land especially the sailaba;
while no collection of holdings according to similarity of caste among a people wholly
unaccustodmed to act in common, offered so fair a chance of cementing a union as that
of common interest involved in a compact topographical distribution”
Briefly, within the mahal or village, the boundries of which had been thus arbitrarily
fixed, each man in possession of land of which he took the produce and paid the revenue
was recorded as proprietor. The waste lands were almost invariably recorded as village
common land held on khewat shares. But little attention appears to have been paid to the
determination of rights in the waste. In fact there probably were no rights. In some
villages the cultivation was measured up alon, and alone numbered on the field map. If
the people had understood our revenue system, and if there had been any inquiry into the
proprietorship of the disused wells in the waste, there would probably have been a
considerable diminution of the area recorded as village common. But the people were
doubtless apathetic to a degree, and any energy eviced was rather directed against the
acquisition of waste land, so that unless it had been reserved as Government property
there was perhaps nothing to be done except to record the waste as village common. The
waste lands included in the village boundaries were thus made a present to the
khewatdars. Mr. Steedman writes:--
“it would probably have been best ot have retained to Government some such authority
in respect to the sinking of new wells as was exercised in the Thal until the last
Settlement of Dera Ismail Khan or, if Government was to retire completely, the old
families of the district, the founders of the village, might have been given a preference

72
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

over the motley crew wohose proprietary rights only dated form the time of the Divan.
Some of th eSials managed to regain property of which they had been dospoiled by the
Sikh Kardars, but it was not much. Regrets, however, are now vain, and if mistakes were
made, the lapse of 25 years has accustomed and familiarized the people to them and the
thing that is, is accepted as the thing that is right”
Riverain Mr. Steedman thus describes the riverain custom of the district.
CUSTOM, “The boundaries of opposite villages in the intermediate river bed have been demarcated
Alluvion and at this Settlement, and the river measured and mapped. The main principles on which the
Diluvion boundaries were fixed these. The boundaries of the adjacent villages were first mapped
according to be Revenue Survey of 1855 and the Regular Settlement field maps. Then on
the same map all land that had since accreted and been occupied and held by either
village as proprietor was plotted. Land once so held was allotted to the occupying
village. If any land still remained on which it was clear that nobody had been in
possession, it was generally divided between the tow villages, though if one village had
since last Settlement acquired a large slice of the river bed, while the other had lost by
diluvion, the major portion of the hitherto
Unappropriated land might be awarded to the latter. Although this has been done, I do
not suppose that when land actually accretes in places where land has never within
memory existed, the present demarcation between villages will be accepted without
question. Within the village boundary there is one rule for the whole of the district. As
far as I know there are no exceptions. If land held now or formerly in proprietary right
decretes or has decreted, and subsequently land accretes on the site of such land, it will
be the property of the proprietors whose land formerly occupied that site. As to newly
accreted land, in regard to which no old proprietary right can be proved, I venture no
opinion. Whenever such a case comes up, it must be dcieded on its merits, if there is no
provision for it in the Wajib-ul-ars”
Mortgages Besides the ordinary form of mortgage, there, is a kind of running mortgage called lekha
Mukhi, which is separately described below. The ordinary mortgage is of the usual
usufructuary kind. The mortgagee pays the revenue and takes the proprietary share of the
produce. Redmption can only take place on the first day of the months of Har or Magh.
The mortgagor is responsible for the cost of repairs to a well, the construction of new
one, if the old one falls in or becomes useless, and the mortgagee has in such cases full
poweres to construct or repair a well. The cost of such repairs, & c, is added to the
orginal mortgage money, and must be paid before redemption can be affected. The
liability of the mortgagor for such charges may appear at first somewhat unjust; but when
it is remembered that in this district generally land can only be cultivated by the aid of
artificial irrigagenerally land can only be cultivated by the aid of artificial irrigation, and
that a useless well means no cultivation, it is not a matter for surprise that the mortgagee
should insist upon conditions that assure to him the use of the well in good order as well
as that of the land. The mortgagee cannot throw up his mortgage if the well falls out of
work, and so long as the mortgage remains, it is he woho will have to pay the assessed
revenue. It is only fair, too, that a mortgagee, if the deed allows him to construct a new
well, should recover its cost at redemption as the value of an unexhausted improvement.
The mortgagor is also liable for expenses attendant on the breaking up of new land by the
mortgagee for purposes of cultivatiin. The mortgagor almost invariably receives some
fees in kind in recognition of his proprietary title; 2 topds per kharudar and I topa per

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

threshing floor are as common fees as any. The mortgagee can cut threes for bona fide
repairs to the well, the well buildings and agricultural implements needed for the
cultivation of the well lands. As a rule, the original proprietor is left in cultivating
possession. Sometimes the mortgage deed expressly reserves to him the right of
cultivatiin. There are instances of separate sub-mortgages of the right of arranging for the
cultivation. In old deeds there is usually no stipulation as to the right to cultivate. In old
deeds there is usually no stipulation as to the right to cultivate. In those of modern date
the right is either distinctly reserved to the mortgagor or mortgagee, and if to the former,
a stipulation is added that if the mortgagor fail to arrange for the cultivation of the land,
the right to do so shall accrue to the mortgagee. In a very few instances the mortgagor
remains responsible for the payment of the revenue. In recent mortgages it si often
conditioned that redemption shall nto take place until after a fixed period. In some
mortgages the mortgagor is left in possession and pays the revenue, the mortgagee only
charging the land with an annual payment in kind of a fixed amount.
Lakha Mukhi Lakha Mukhi is a running mortgage. The proprietary share of the produce is made over
to the creditor, who pays the revenue and keeps an account of receipts and
disbursements. Lekha Mukhi conveyances arise in tow ways. One is where the proprietor
has obtained a loan from the Lekha Mukhidar, and makes over a well or a share in a well
to his management. The other is where an estate is made over to the Lekha Mukhidar, not
so much as creditor as agent. The accounts are kept in the same manner in either case.
The Lekha Mukhidar collects the crops and credits the proprietor with their value. He
debits him with the Government revenue, the costs of repairs, maintenance, & C in fact
with all working expenses and chages usually defrayed by the proprietor. His fee consists
of the muhassili tow lopas per Kharwar, and he also charges interest if the proprietor gets
into his debt. The interest is never less than 12 per cent. Per annum, and is often much
higher. Lekah Mukhi in the hands of an astute Hindu is usually fatal to the zamindar. The
Lekha Mukhidar embezzles and peculates as far as he dares.
Proprietary In many villages of this district the proprietors of date palms are not the proprietos of the
rights in date soil in which they stand. The orgin of this tenure is obscure. In the Derajat the date palms
palms were often the property of the State as a separate source of sayer revenue. In this District
the date palms were separately leased, but were apparently never considered the property
of the State. Perhaps the present proprietors, where they are not the lords of the soil, were
originally the persons who contracted for the revenue from year to year, and were
invested with the rights of property at the Regular Settlement. If old deeds are to be
trusted private proprietorship in these palms is of considerable age. Whatever its origin,
the fact remains that the proprietors of the palms are often not the proprietors of the land,
and where the proprietorship in young trees is in issue, the determination of the rights of
the two proprietors is no easy matter.

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Village officers The figures in the margin show the number of headmen in the several tehsils of the
District.
Tehsils Zaildars Village Headmen
Jhang 25 407
Chiniot 20 449
Shorkot 17 257
Total 62 1113
The village headmen succeed to their office by hereditary right subject to the approval of
the Deputy Commissioner, each village, or in large villages each main division of the
village, having one or more who represent their clients in their dealings with the
Government, are responsible for the collection of the revenue, and are bound to assist in
the prevention and deterction of crime. Chief headmen are not appointed in this district.
The Zaildar is elected by the headmen of the zail or circle, the boundaries of which are,
as far as possible so fixed as to correspond with the tribal distribution of the people. The
zaildars are remunerated by a deduction of one per cent. Upon the land revenue fo their
circles or village; while the headmen collect a cess of five per cent. In addition to the
revenue for which they are responsible. In the three tehsils of the district the zaildrs also
enjoy small imams or cash allowances annually shich were made to them at Settlement.
The head-quarters of the zails, together with the prevailing tribes in each, are shown on
the next tow pages.

Zail No. Annua Prevailing caste or tribe


of l Land
villa revenu
Tehsil

ge e

Kot isa Shah 26 10481 Baloches, Bhons, Pathans, Khokhars,


Dhudhis, Awans, Sayads, Jaisaks,
Bhuttas, Sipras, Kurshis and Lung.
Chhatti, Bakhsh 15 10132 Balochs(Gadis), Vinpals, Dinars and
Kureshis
Lau 11 4938 Haidahans, Goplas, Kaularas,
Khokhars, Dhudhis, Baloches, Kadis
Shah Jewana 24 4881 Sayads, Akeras, Jhabanas, Hindu Arroras,
Kot Khan 14 5610 Akeras, Mals, Bahars, Sials, Sayads and Sajokas
Salianan 13 5772 Sials, Turks, Aroras, Kureshis and Chelas
Massan 16 5846 Sials, Aroras, Khatris, Baloches,
Kalasans, Sayads, Khokhars, Salianas, Kureshis and
Brahmans.
Pir Kot Sadhana 10 5459 Sials, Kureshis, Sayads, Aroras, Baloches and Shahanas
Dhidoana 28 8329 Baloches, Jat Jhabanas, Aroras, Sials, Salianas, Dirajs,
Kureshis, Sadhana, Mirjanas, Maghianas, Khichians and
Khokhrars.
Chund Bharwana 13 6464 Sials, Sayads Daultanas,
Kureshis, Balis and Bharwanas.
Pipalwala 17 5970 Sials, Chuchkanas, Kaurianas,
Lakhnanas and Sayads
Ratta Matta 12 4906 Sayads, Jogeras, Bhattis, Bharwanas and
Sambhals
Kot Sultan 5 1499 Bhattis
Khiwa 9 3945 Bhochras, Aroras, Sayads, Jogeras, Bharwanas and Sambhals
Jhang

Mukhiana 8 4743 Khanuanas, Bharwanas and Sayads


Pakka Naulan 13 4705 Nauls, Daukas, Patoanas, Nekokaras, Jandranas and Sayads.

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Jhang 5 8780 Sials, Aroras, Nekokaras, Maghianas, Khatris, Lak Badhars,


Vijhlanas, Viraks, Hirajs and Baloches.
Basti Ghazi Shah 15 4709 Sials, Aroras, Nekokaras, Maghianas, Khatris, Lak Badhars,
Vijhlanas, Viraks Hirajs and Baloches.
Dhuin Muhammad 7 5170 Khojas, Aroras, Sials, Dirajs, Baloches, Bharwanas and
Sayads
Havaili Bahadur Shah 9 2309 Sarganas, Gagrans, Sayads, Chaddars, Kureshis and Aroras
Wasu Astana 31 12780 Chelas, Aroras, Baloches, Sayads and Khokhars
Machiwal 26 8300 Baloches, Sials, Aroras, Bhuranas, Sayads and Kureshis.
Kot Shakir 8 5995 Baloches, Sials, Khokhars and Aroras
Bela Shahr 6 3635 Akeras and Bharokas
Mari Shah Sakhira 17 5960 Baloches, Sayads and Gurahs.
Kot Sultan 10 2178 Bhattis
Nurpur Pipal 19 8330 Sangras, Chaddhars, Sayads, Bhattis and Khokhars
Barana 8 3735 Sambhals and Bhattis
Thathi Bala Raja 7 3774 Sayads, Khatis, Samhals and Kharals
Lalian 7 3352 Sayads and Lalis
Do 7 6345 Kalas, Lalis, Chaddhars, Khokhars and Harals
Lalian 11 2876 Lalis, Khatris, Khojas and Khokhars
Kharkin 15 5658 Harals, Sayads and Khatris
Kot Amir Shah 22 4723 Sayads, Nekokaras, Nissoanas, Sipras and Lolas
Kandiwal 16 4348 Nissoanaas, Khatris and Maraths
Langar Makhdom 14 7086 Gillotars, Gondals, Khatris, Rihans, Khojas, Nissoana and
bhattis
Gadhlanwali 14 6236 Gilotrars, Sarganas, Sayads, Harals and Nekokaras
Tahli Mangini 7 7010 Chaddhars, Sayads, Sipras and Khatris
Bhoana 16 14572 Jappas, Chaddhars, Rajokas and Sipras
Kurk Muhammdi 13 5460 Kharals, Khatris, Sambhals, Sajjanke, Kangars, Khokhars
and Nitharkes.
Rajoa 30 7308 Sayads, Khatris, Harals, Khokhars and Salaras.
Chiniot 8 5327 Khojas, Khatris, Brahmans, Kazis, Nekokaras and Sayads
Chiniot

Moradwala 22 4476 Harals, Sipra and Khatris


Kot Khuda Yar 20 3708 Khokhars, Harals, Sayads and Aroras
Sekh Harsa 9 3087 Gujars, Harals, Sayads, Asis and Nekokaras
Kaim Bharwana 7 2509 Sials and Bharwanahs
Sadik Nihang 8 6525 Kathias, Aroras, Sials and Baloches
Alah Yar Juta 12 7125 Jutas, Kureshis, Nekokaras and Baloches
Badh Rajbana 8 8910 Sials, Rajbanas, Chaddhars, Kureshis and Sayads
Shorkot 6 6007 Khatris, Pathans, Jats and Sials
Kakkikohna 11 5990 Kathis, Sials, Kureshis and Sayads
Kharanwala 9 6625 Janianas, Surbanas and Baloches
Jalalpur 12 6300 Kamlanas, Kureshia and Traggras
Dabkalan 14 7541 Dabs, Sayads, Sials, Kathias and Hirajs
Kund Sargana 10 3829 Sarganas, Chaddhars, Sayads and Nekokaras,
Ahmedpur 9 9063 Sials, Sayads, Baloches and Aroras
Rajit Kot 13 10544 Kureshias, Sials and Chaddhars
Sultan Bahu 8 3926 Awans, Bhidwals, Sayads, Kureshis and Sials
Garh Maharaja 18 6507 Sials and Baloches
Shorkot

Hassu Balil 20 9670 Kureshis, Baloches, Sials and Sayads


Uch 12 8261 Sayads, Baloches, Aroras and Sials
Havaili Bahadur Shah 6 3998 Kureshis, Sials and Sayads.
Tenants and Table No. XVI shows the number of tenancy holdings and the gross area held under each
rents of the main forms of tenancy as they stood in 1878-79, while Table No.XXI gives the
current rent-rates of various kinds of land as returned in 1881-82. But the accuracy of
both sets of figures is probably doubtful; indeed, it is impossible to state general rent-
rates which shall even approximately represent the letting value of land thoughout a
whole district. The prevailing rent-rates, as ascertained at the settlement of 1880, are
shown at page 86. The figures on the next page show the cultivated area of the district

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

distributed between proprietors, middlemen, and tenants by holdings and area. Similar
figures arranged by castes have already been given in Section C of this Chapter (page 60)
Tenant and rent The people
Tehsil Class of cultivators Actuals Percent Number of
age cultivators
Number of holdings 15717 -- --
Total acres cultivated 90126 100 14054
Cultivated by proprietors 42500 43 6056
Chiniot
Cultivated by taraddadkars 2556 3 333
Cultivated by hereditary tenants 2341 2 483
Cultivated by non-hereditary tenants 51660 52 7182
Number of holdings 23042 -- --
Total acres cultivated 136091 100 19836
Cultivated by proprietors 6273 46 11014
Jhang
Cultivated by taraddadkars 3383 2 390
Cultivated by hereditary tenants 2321 2 440
Cultivated by non-hereditary tenants 67656 50 7992
Number of holdings 11132 -- --
Total acres cultivated 97082 100 11293
Cultivated by proprietors 43023 44 5461
Shorkot
Cultivated by taraddadkars 1253 1 145
Cultivated by hereditary tenants 2418 3 335
Cultivated by non-hereditary tenants 50388 52 5352
Number of holdings 49891 -- --
Total acres cultivated 332299 100 45183
Cultivated by proprietors 148316 45 22531
District
Cultivated by taraddadkars 7191 2 868
Cultivated by hereditary tenants 7080 2 1258
Cultivated by non-hereditary tenants 169712 51 20526
More than hald the cultivated area of the district is in the hands of the tenants-at-will, but
is must be remembered that a consideratble portion of the area thus shown is cultivated
by co-sharers as tenants of the other proprietors. In som portions of the District
especially where property is held on ancestral, shares, a couple of sharers, or even one,
cultivate a well in which their share is very small, their shares in other wells being held
by other sharers. The produce of the well so occupied is taken, and the revenue paid by
the occupant alone. The ancestral shares are not acted on. The produce of the other wells
jointly held is similarly taken, and the revenue paid by the occupant sharers. Instances
also exist where the revenue is paid accoding to shares, but each sharer takes the produce
of the joint property he occupies without reference to the proprietary shares.
Occupancy There is hardly anything to note about occupancy tenants beyond what has been written
tenants above. The area occupied by this class is very small, and except in the villages of the
Kalowal pargana transferred to this district in 1861, they pay at much the same rates as
tenants at will. The right is not much valued, and during the recent settlement many
occupancy tenants voluntarily abandoned their rights. In the Kalowal iluka the
occupancy tenants gemerally pay the assessments, plus Malikana. Portion of the district
Mr. Ousely writes.
“The heavy assessment of the sikh times had quite trampled out proprietary rights, and
artisans and village servants and proprietors all paid the Government revenue by an equal
rate levied, generally speaking, on the number of ploughs supplied by each man. In these
parts of the district cultivatiors of lond standing were recorded as owners of the land in

77
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

their occupancy, and they paid their revenue at the village revenue rates. They had of
course no proprietary title in any of the village lands except what was in their actual
possession as cultivators”
Tenants at will The proprietors of the district cannot be congratulated on their tenants at will. Those of
Chiniot are best off; though even there it is no easy matter to obtain tenants ofr Utar and
Bar wells. It is never difficult to obtain tenants for the easily cultivated sailab lands and
the wells of the Hithar. There is in fact a competition for these lands in some portions of
the district. But in the Bar, and especially in the Kachhi circles, the tenants are a poor
unsettled class, with an indifferent reputation for industry. In the Kachhi this has been the
normal condition of tenants for many years. Mr. Monockton wrote of them.
“The non hereditary cultivators are in no way attached to the soil; on the contrary, they
are continually on the move, either from proprietors often quit their estates to join their
brotherhoods in the Khangarh district ot take to the easier cultivation near canals; or else
they move off to the Kachcha of the Leiah district in seasons when the Indus may have
fortilised by its deposit a tract larger than ordinary. Even the owners show but little
attachment to their properties”
This is exactly what is sill going on. Before the excellent rains of 1878, the Kachhi had
been almost deserted by tenants-at-will, and work and many villages had been given
large reductions in assessment. Since, the Kachihi hads recovered in the most wonderful
way is still improving, and the tenants are coming back. But let another series of bad
years come, and they will fly off in scores to the canals of Muzaffargarh, the sailaba of
the Indus, and the laboru market of Mooltan. The tenant in the Bar tract is less migratory,
but in seasons of scarcity he too deserts for the sailab of the receipt of takavi advances,
and the position of a landlord of assessed land cultivated by such restless persons is bot
to be envied.
Takavi In the upland villages a landlord, when he entertains a new tenants, almost always gives
advances him an advance of money, or bullocks and seed to enable him to commence cultivating.
These advances are known as takavi. The money advanes recorded at the recent
Settlement are given below, with the number of holdings and other information.
Tehsil Number Takavi Land held
of advance by tenants
Holdings Tenants Cultivated Fallow Uncult Total
ivated
Chiniot 361 416 15370 2785 480 809 4134
Jhang 2311 1998 60967 13509 3834 11467 28810
Shorkot 1210 1552 35529 12449 4891 15441 82781
District 3882 3966 111866 28743 9205 27777 65725
Takavi The amount of takavi here shown does not include any advances except of money. The
advances landlord’s theory with regard to these advances is that the tenant cannot leave his service
until they are repaid. As a matter of fact, tenants very often do not pay, and leave on the
slightest provocation. A bad season, the loss of bullocks, better terms offered by another
landlord, are each a sufficient inducement to them to leave their old masters. If a tenant
does leave, the proprietor has no remedy. It is no worth while suing him for the amount
due, that would be simply sending good money after bad debts. What with the capital
expended on wells, the money advanced in takavi, and the inferior quality of the
tenantry, the cultivation of their lands is, for landlords of upland villages in this district, a
most expensive undertaking. Of the area cultivated by tenants-at-will nearly one hald is
held by Jats, one sixth by Kamins, one eighth by Sials, and one sixteenth by

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

miscellaneous Muhammadans. The large proportion held by Kamins speaks volumes for
the character of such cultivation.
Rent rates It remains to notice the shares upon which the produce of the land is divided between the
proprietor and the tenant. The statement below wills indicte how remarkably high the
rent rate in this district is. The figures are taken formt he assessment reports of the recent
settlement.
Tehsil Total area held on Area held by tenants paying half Average rent rate
kind rents produced with percentage on total of the Tehsil
area
Chiniot 61827 38056 43
53
Jhang 96404 76516 47
79
Shorkot 57791 53831 49
93
District 216022 163493 46
More detailed figures are given in the table on the opposite page.
Probably there is not a district in the province where the rate of batai is so high. On
sailab lands the rate is invariably one-half. On the better class of sailab lands in the Jhang
tehsil it is even customary to exact a small fee from the incoming tenant for permission
to cultivate, and it is a well-known fact that throughout the district there is never any
difficulty in procuring tenants for fairly good sailab lands. On sailab lands half batai does
really mean half the produce after defraying the necessary kamiana, & c. charges. On
well lands half produce rents are nominal. With few exceptions one third is the share of
the produce taken by the landlord of china, kangni, mandua, melons and tobacco. It is not
customary for the three first named crops to be grown together on the same well, but one
or other is almost invariably cultivated. Melons, except near towns, belong entirely to the
cultivator. Practically the tenant can cut as much green wheat and jowar to feed the well
bullocks as is necessary. There is really no limit. Similarly the whole of the turnip crop is
hid. It is only where the crop or roots are sold that the proprietor takes his share; other
wise all that he takes is a morla or two of green wheat and a bundle or two of turnips
Rent rates Both china and turnips are consequently very favourite crops with the tenant-at-will, and
he half lives on turnips during the cold weather. On inferior wells, where the water is vry
distant or the soil not good, the tenant contrives under various pretences to extort other
allowances. He insists upon one or two marlas being allowed him for his spititual
advisoer (pir) and the same amount for his daughters’ children, who are supposed to have
certain claims upon him. On some wells the tenant gets one eighth of the proprietors’
half share, called athog. The word athog is now a day often used to mean allowances of
this nature, though more or less than one eighth. On others instead of the athog, a kanal
of the standing crop is alloeed. The tenant takes care that this kanal is the very best on the
well. Jawar and barley are especially liable to the pilfering attacks of the tenants. By the
time jowar ripens the tenants stock of grain is exhausted, and he commences to pluck the
ears and scorch and cat the grain as soon as it is ready. The stalks are chewed as a kind of
inferior sugarcane. When the jowar ripens and the grain is divided on the threshing floor,
the tenant, by threats and entreaties, generally manages to cajole or swindle the
proprietor out of his rightful share. The same course takes place in reference to barley.
The tenant begins to pluck the cars long before he thinks of dividing the produce. The
women walk through the field and pinch off the ripest ears. The earliest and latest cotton

79
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

pickings belong to the tenant. If he reaps the wheat, he is paid the regular reapers wage,
contrary to the general custom in the province. There are only two portions of the district
where the prevailing rent rate is other than one hald the produce. In the Halkiwah circle
in Chiniot and in the Uta Vichanh circle of Jhang, the prevailing rate is one-third In the
Halkiwah the comparative lowness of the rent rate is due to the cultivation of the more
profitable crops of sugarcane and Indian corn that require more labour on the cultivators’
part. In the Utar Vichanh it is due to the inferior quality of the soil and the difficulty with
which cultivators are induced to take up tenancies on the wells. Takavi is just as common
in the Utar Vichanh as elsewhere.
Landlord’s right There is a considerable amount of ferment in the Jhang Tehsil where Kirar Landlords are
to bhusa more common than elsewhere, regarding the question of dividing bhusa. Of course in the
case of a tenant at will the matter is one of agreement purre and simple. If the landlord
wants a share of the bhusa and the tenant refuses to give it, the landlord can eject, and if
the converse is the case, the tenant can give notice. The importance of the question lies in
its relation to taalukdar proprietors and hereditary tenants. On sailab and well lands,
before the recent Settlement commenced, no fixed share of wheat Bhusa was ever taken
by any landlord throughout the district. If any exceptions existed (as they do to most
rules), they were to be found in the Jhang tehsil, and there were probably special
circumstances (e.e., very good soil and a grasping landlord, & c) that explaind each
instance. All that the landlord took was two er three large bundles (trangars) per holding,
if he wanted them. These loads of bhusa were taken at various times, not necessarily at
harvest. The demand was limited by the wants of the landlor. If he had enough bhusa of
his own, he probably took nothing form his tenant. On sailab lands the landlord generally
took bhusa, but rarely on well. It was left with the tenant on the tacit understanding that it
was to be consumed on the will. It is more to the landlords’ interest that the will bullocks
should be will fed and strong. And that his tenant should be kept in a good humour, than
that he sould have seven or eight more maunds of fodder in his bhusa stock. It is a
condition of most annual leases in England that no straw is to be sold off the farm. Missa
Bhusa, i.e., that of mush, many and moth is generally divided. Many instances will be
found where the landlord never has taken his share of this bhusa but at the same time the
landlords right to take a share has never been really disputed, at any rate so far as
concernes the general practice and feeling of the district. Missan bhusa is exceptionally
good fodder, and horses are very fond of it. Hence horse breeding landlords usually took
the same share of the bhusa as they did of the grain.
Agricultural Home farm cultivation is termed hathradh, and a farm labourer hathradhi, rabak, or
Laborers and kama. The bichhann tenant is not a farm labourer. A lichhan tenant is provided with a
lichhain tenants pair of bullocks by the proprietor, and takes half of the tenant share of the produce
allotted to his yoke, the other half being taken by the proprietor of the bullocks.
Sometimes the lichhain finds half the seed, but more generally he gives nothing but his
labour. A farm labourer is kept in clothes and shoes and tobacco. He gets a blanket in the
cold weather. His ordinary clothes allowance is I loin cloth (majhla), I chaddar (Utla),
and I Turban (pag). As to food, if the man is a bachelor, he gets his two meals a day, if
married; he is allowed 4 pai of wheat or 5 pai of mixed grain, China, barley, gram, and
wheat per month. A farm labourer is also paid never less than 8 annas cash a month,
often 12 annas or even more. He gets as much tabaccoo as he likes. The proprietors
barber trims his hair, and his clothes are washed by the proprietors’ dhabi. These Kamas

80
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

are as troublesome and grumble as much about their food as men in the house” on an
English farm. Keeping farm servants is very expensive during years of distress or high
prices, and they do not at all sympathiesse with the proprietors’ endeavours to economics
by substituting china and other flour for that of wheat. But it is not customary to empley
hired field labourers and they are very few in number, probably not more than one or one
and a half per cent of the population. They are generally non jats who practice no craft,
but get their living entirely in this way.As there is usually a considerable demand for
labour, there is no fear of their straving if they will work, and so long as they are in
employ they are well off. But the nature of their wages prevents their saving anything.
They live better, that is, they have better food, than the poorer agriculturists who
cultivate their own land, or the tenants-at-will paying bato. They are generally unmarried,
and without encumbrances. Some further particulars regarding the employment and pay
of agricultural labourers will be found in.
Village Chapter IV, page 120, where the division of crops is treated of. The wages of labour
communities prevailing at different periods are shown in Table No. XXVII, but the figures refer to the
and tenures labour market of towns rather to that of villages.
Kamins fees The Kamins proper, vadde kamin as they are called, are the potter, the carpenter, the
blacksmith, and the barber. The mochi and the dhabi are not included, as they are not
always paid out of the grain heap. The fees of the kamins proper are usually partly fixed
per well and partly proportionate to the will produce. A common mode of payment is one
sheaf (puli) + bundle (gadda) + 2 topas per kharvar. Puly contains about 8 topas (15
seers) of grain, and gadda is half the size. The barber is paid less than the other three. His
allowances are often docked of the gadda. The carpenter generally obtains an additional
fee of from 3 to 6 topas per wellon account of the sticks, (arerain) on which each well pot
is strung, that he has to furnish. The chuhara is another important Kamin, but his fees are
lumped as a winnowing fee(had chhajji) and he is not included in the vadde Kamian,
Kamins proper. There are also a number of miscellaneous fees. The weighman (dharwai)
gets from 2 topas per kharwar to half a topa.Two topas are the usual fee. The watchman’s
(muhassil) fee is not universal. The tenant is supposed to be responsible for watch and
ward, but the proprietor often finds if profitable to have his own watchman, and if he is
appointed, his pay is defrayed form the joint heap. The fee varies from 2 topas to 4 topas
per khorear. If 4 topas, the fee becomes proprietary in character, for the landlord takes it
and pays the muhassil what he thinks fit. Bhara or Kiraya (carriage fee) is another
perquisite of the landlord. It represents the cost of delivering the grain at the landlord’s
haouse. Two topas per kharwar is the average rate, but both more and less is taken. With
regard to both these last fees it should be noted that they depend on the relations
subsisting between the tenant and the landlord. If the soil is good and the landlord liberal
(there are hlandlords and landlords), the tenant does not object to his showing off by
taking a heavy carrieage and watchmans fee, but if the landlord is hard and the well not a
very good one, both fees will be absent. The tenant often refuses to cultivate if a
muhassil is appointed. The landlord has to gave way, and so indirectly recognizes the
right of the tenant to pilfer on a bad well. The priest (mulla) in charge of the village
mosque (masjid), the boatman (mallah), the well sinker (tobah), the herdsman (chheru),
are also paid small fees from the grain heap. More rarely the villag bard (pirahi, mirasi),
the drummer (nagarchi), the baker (machi), the proprietor’s agent (naukar), get fees.
Religious and The religious and charitable fees are coposed of the rasul arwahi, usually 1 topa per

81
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

charitable fees kharwar taken by the Mullah, who looks after the spiritual welfare of the village. A small
fee is often allowed in addition for the maintenances of the mosque. Almost invariably a
payment, small in amount, is allowed for the support of the most favourite or nearest
shrine. In some villages the allowances to shrines are considerable.
Kamins and The allowances noted above are those paid at the wheat harvest. The kamins get very
other charges at little at the kharif. The kharif crop on a well consists of cotton, jawar, and china. If the
the kharif grain crops are harvested and give a fair outturn, the Kamins proper are given a little.
There are certain nominal rates, but as a matter of fact, the kharif kamiana payments
depend entirely on the outturn. If the jowar and china fails, or yield but little grain, the
kamins get no grain, but are allowed a little cotton instead. The rabi is by far the most
important harvest, and it is the wheat crop that has to defray the kamiana charges.
The incidence The kamiana expenses on wells in this district are exceedingly heavy. It must be
of the kamana remembered that the maintenance of the well gear and wood work, the repairs to all
charges on a agricultural implements, the supply of well posts, thatching charges, and house repairs,
well are all included in the kamiana. Besides their legitimate work, the Kamins have to make
themselves useful in a multitude of ways. They plough if wanted, run errands, carrly
meassages, cut wood and draw water. They are highly prized, and are well treated. It is a
common saying among the people, that it is better for a lambardar to be congratulated on
the fact that a fresh Kamin has settled in settling in a new village would be given a house
at once by the lambardar, or if there was not one available, a new one would be at once
made, the lambardar supplying the wood and materials. Village servants they are, and
occasionally have to endire reough treatment and hardships, but they are a far too
valuable element in the village community for the lambardar or proprietors to oppress
them in any extraordinary manner. They also get, in addition to grain fees, bundles of
fodder formt he wells in season. Most of them keep a cow or a small flock of sheep and
goats. It is a mistake to suppose, as is oftern done, that they are a miscrable, down
trodden, poverty stricken set of men.
Petty village The last two lines of table No.XXIV of the Revenue Administration report show that
grantees there are no persons holding service grants from the village held free of revenue but even
if this be the case, this is by no means the only form which these grants assume.
Sometime the land is leased to the grantee at a favourable rent, or on condition of
payment of revenue only; sometimes the owner coultivator and pays the revenue, making
over a portion or even the whole of the produce to the grantee; while occasionally the
grant consists of the reights of property in the land, which subject to the usual incidents,
such as responsibility for revenue and the like, vest in the person performing cetain
specified services at such time and for so long as he performs them. These grants are
most commonly made to attendants at temples, mosques, shrines, so long as they perform
the duties of the post, and for maintenance fo monasteries, holy men,
Appendix 8 to Mr. Steedmans Settlement report shows the kamiana fees in a reive and an
upland village in Shorkot. They amount to 23-2 and 20-0 per cent of the gross produce
respectively.
Poverty or Teacher at religious schools, and the like. The fees paid for these purposes have been
wealth of the noticed above, together with Kamins dues at pages 90 and 91.
proprietors Table NO.XXXII gives statistics of sales and mortgages of land, Tables Nos. XXXIII
and XXXIIIA show the operations of the registration Department; and Table NoXXXIX
the extent of civil litigation. But the statistics of transfers of land are exceedingly

82
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

imperfect; the prices quoted are very generally fictions; and any figures which we
possess afford but little real indication of the economical position of the landholders of
the district. The subject is discussed at some longth at pages 493 of the Famine Report of
1870, where actual figures are given for instances selected as typical. In forwarding those
figures, the Settlement officer wrote as follows.
“I beleve that from 40 to 50 per cent of owners and 60 to 70 per cent. Of tenants at will
are in debt. There are very few occupancy tenants in this district. I am of opinion that in
the case of owners their average indebtedness is about 25 per cent of their income and in
the case of tenants 50 per cent. Owners debts are usually due to improvident expenditure
on marriages and funerals, or to failures of harvest. What keeps the debt from being paid
off is the ruinous rate of interest charged. An ordinary zamindar always, or almost
always, lives up to his income. A harvest fails, and he has to borrow mmoney to support
himself and pay the revenue. The important harvest in this district is the rabi if the rabi is
a failure, the proprietor will not be able to pay off any, or only very little, of the debt
until the following rabi. Meanwhile the debt has increased by one quarter, at 25 per cent.
Per manum interst. This is how the zamindar gets into debt, and hardly ever gets out of it.
Another fruitful cause of debt is the expenditures attendentt on a civil case. Another, the
payment of fines imposed in eriminal cases. The people of this district are notorious
cattle thieves. Hospitality and charity ruin a few. It is instructive to consider the
indebtedness of the different tribes. There is only one Sayad in the whole distirt who is
out of debt. The sials in the Shorkot tehsil are generally in debt; in Jhang many sials are
well to do, prosperous agriculturists and the proportion of the tribe that is involved in
debt is comparatively small. Hindu cultivators are seldom in debt. Jats are, as a class, not
very much in debt. Most will be slightly in debt, but the amount will be small. It is a
common practice here for a zamindar to mortgage his well and build another with the
money. Tenants at will are, as a rule, only indebted to the amount of takavi, or advance
which they receive from the landlord. In fact, no bania would lend them anything, for
they can give no security for it. The only propertly worth attachment is their share of the
produce, and this is an uncertain and fluctuating quantity. At times persons of this calss
are put to great straints of their livelihood, for if the harvest is a failure, they have
nothing to fall back upon. Takivi advances which they obtain from the landlord vary in
amount form Rs.10 to Rs.75, and the tenat is supposed not to leave until he has repaid the
advance; but he often does leave without repaying. The instances of agriculturists, which
is submit in tabular form, are few; but I instance of a small proprietor cultivating his own
land. The second is an instance of aprosperous zamindar cultivating a first class well.
The third is an instance of a well to do tenant, and the fourth of an impoverished tenant-
at-will. It is hardly possible to show in the statement to what extent a poor cultivator
supports himself on turnips, carrots and various herbs called say. During the hot weather
the fruit of the ber tree and the pila bush largely supplement his daily food. In some
portions of the district he lives chiefly on mild. As a rule, tenats at will live a hand to
mouth existence; the produce of one harvest harely enabling them to subsist until the
next.
Transfers of The statement below gives statistics collected at the recent settlement regarding the
land their extent to which transfers of land have taken place in the district.
origin, and the
lesson they

83
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

teach

Details Trans Area Price Jama Incidence


Tehsil Period fers Cultiv Uncultiv Total Per acres Per rupee of
ated ated jama
Chiniot Before 128 1632 1861 3493 Rs. Rs. 992 Rs A P Rs A P
1856 30518 11 5 0 39 13 5
since
Jhang Before 829 13756 17527 31313 104346 11861 3 5 4 8 12 9
1856 1108 10374 12803 23177 300238 7933 12 15 3 37 13 7
Since
Shorkot Before 630 5220 8418 13647 140171 4115 10 14 11 36 4 0
1856
since
District Before 820 13786 17527 31131 104346 11861 3 5 4 8 12 9
1856 1926 17235 23082 40317 488927 13040 12 2 0 37 7 10
since

Sales on these figures Mr. Steedman makes the following instructive remarks, which
describe the degree of indebtedness of the Jhang. landowners, and the reasons which in
Mr. Steedmans opinion, have caused that indebtedness;
“ according to the figures of the sale statement, the price land has been fetching on the
average during the last twenty years is about 38 years, purchase of the rent taken by
Government. The two statements convey two pieces of information;1st, the extent to
which land has changed hands, and is encoumbered; 2nd, what a purchaser or morgagee
has given for the privilege of taking the proprietary share of the produce and paying one
rupee of the Government demand. From these facts conclusions can be drawn as to the
pressure of the Government demand. It is easy to grasp the fact that so many acres of
land assessed at so much revenue have been transferred, and to infer that the owners of
the land must have been compelled through want of cash to consent to the transfer were
the result of the land assessment or that gave rise to the transfer were the result of the
land assement not is quite a different matter. If it were a generally true proposition that
the indebtedness of agricultural classess is due to the pressure of the land revenue, one
would expect to find the most transfers and the heaviest encumbrances in villages where
the demand is highest, and the smallest number in good villages assessed lightly. But, as
a matter fact, when one descends into details, experience teaches that good villages
lightly assessed are most burdemed with debt. We have not to go far for the reason;
Zamindars are thievish, generally quarrelsome, and always litigious. The jama is light
and the land is good. The bankers are only too willing to lend money on such excellent
secutigty. Their morals are not shocked, whether the creditor spends it in paying fines
imposed by a magistrate, or defraying the costs of a civil suit, or squander it in
debauchery. They know the land is fertile, and that the revenue dues chargeable to the
proprietary share are light. It may be oibjected that it is unfair to generalize from a few
instances furnished by individual villages. Let us therefore take the different circles as
units. Here again it will be at once discovered that the richest circles furnish the most
mortgages. Yet it may be said that the best lands are the most heavily assessed.
Undoubtedly, but the surplus produce after payment of the land revenue is always much
larger than in the case of poor villages. The extra ew annas an acre that are imposed on
good villages. It is so botyh in theory and in practice. The Government assessment being
equal, as I estimate, to the share of the produce, then where the asessemnt being is high
the amount of the remaining will be greater than where it is low. I have already noted the
tendency of modern assessments to let off good villages too lightly and tax bad ones too

84
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

heavily. Why the demand for mortgages of the best lands should be most effective, is
clear enough; but why should the proprietors of these lands be obliged to mortgage their
property How is the necessity brought about what often does take place is this. When the
owner of a good well or a fat piece of sailab deals with a baniah who is anxious to hold
some land in mortgage, he finds that his credit is unlimited. It is a case of spending made
easy. He can have whatever he wants whenever he wishes. All that he is troubled with is
his signature or assent to the usual six monthly statements of accounts, and at harvest
time he will make a few payments to the baniah in grain. This goes on for 4 or 5 years, or
often longer. Then the demeanour of the creditor changes. He insists upon a registered
bond for the amount due or a mortgage. The dobtor temporizes as long as he can.
Perhaps transfers his account to another shop, often takes his chance of a law suit,
trusting in his luck to evade some of the items. All these devices fail, and he makes over
a share in his property on a verbal lekha mukhi contract to his creditor. This is probably
the very worst thing he could do. A lekha mukhidar is as hardly displaced as was the old
man of the sea. The Zamindar never goes into the account, and is fleeced in every
possible way. Instead of growing less the debt grows larger, and a mortgage is at last
grained. I have already explained the status of a mortgagee. He steps into the proprietors
place. Takes the proprietary share of the produce, hak bhutari, and pays the revenue,
somesmall fee in kind only being retained by the mortgagor to mark his rights. The fact,
therefore, that the lands of any village or circle are heavily mortgaged is no reason for
lowering the assessment. To reduce the Government demad is to put so much more
money per cultivated acre and per rupee of Jama being high, denotes a large surplus left
to the mortgagees out of the proprieter share of the produce aftger payment of the
Government dues, and warrants a high assessment. It may be urged, where only a potion
of a zamindars land is mortgaged, that it will be the easier for him to redeem, the lighter
the assessment is pitched. Mortgages are sometimes paid off, it is true, but not many, and
the amount of land mortgaged is increasing so steadily that it is impossible to act upon
such an argument.
Are the “As far as this district is concerned, thereis, as far as my experience and the statement of
agriculturists sales go, nothing to show that the original proprietors are bing rapidly expeoprated. I
becoming should say that sales to banians pure and simple are few. The policy and class sympathies
expropriated of Sawan Mal resulted in the acquisition by Hindus of large properties in virtue of
purchase, mortgage, direct grant, and hathrakhai. Many of these men have now given up
trading, but many also practice their original calling in addition to managing their landed
property. These are the chief purchasers of land. That land is highly valued is shown by
the statements, and how rapidly it is increasing in value is a matter of daily conversation,
a still surer test.
Indebtedness of “The zamindars in Chiniot are most free form debt, and those of Jhang the most
the agricultural embarrassed. Shorkot holds an intermediate position. In the settlement records lakhs of
classes, its mortgage and lakhs of lekha mukhi are recorded. To charge the old assessment with
causes and being the author of all this indebtedness is, I cannot phrase it otherwise, sheernonsense.
aspects Consider for a moment what the incidences per acre of cultivation and per well of the old
assessments were, the increase that has been taken by the new assessments and their
incidence. Remember the and the infinitely greater luxury and comfort enjoyed by all
agricultureists except the lowest, as compared with their condition at annexation. Our
system of revenue collection is to some extent answerable for agricultural debt, but the

85
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

real and true cause of all our woe was the mistaken and misplaced gift of full transferable
proprietary right inland to the cultivator, and with it of a vast credit only limited by the
value of that proprietary right. It is only of late that there has been an awakening to the
true facts of the case, but that the cause stated is the true one, I have not the slightest
doubt. The thrifty and uncombarrassed zamindars of this district can be counted up on
ones fingers. So long as a zamindar has credit, so long will he borrow, and so long as ho
borrows, shall we find our annual returns of land transfers slowly but surely and steadily
increasing. The sole basis of his credit is his transferable property in the land. Take this
away, and all the secutity that the money lender has is the annual outturn of the crops. In
such case we should not hear of zamindars being thousands of rupees in debt. Their
credit would shrink, and their debts too. There are numbers of villages along side the
Bar, east of Kot Isa Shah, in which there is hardly a single mortgage. Why because
cultivation is uncertain, and the mortgagee might find the mortgaged well abandoned in a
few months, and himself left siddled with the revenue. It is not good enough. Hero the
Zamindars have no credit, and they are not in debt, except to a small amount. You do not
find tenants-at-all over head and ears in debt. They are in debt, it is true, but the limit is
the amount that the baniah considers is pretty certain to be repaid to him at the next
harvest. That the conferment of proprietary right to him at the next harvest. That the
conferment of proprietary right in the soil has really benefited the zamindar I sincerely
doubt. To have twice as many wives as before, to eat better food, to be better clothed and
housed, to ride a nag where he went formerly on foot, are out ward signs of improvement
and civilization; but when wo remember that all this is accompanied by debt (there is
hardly a Muhammadan landowner in the district who is not in debt), and that this debt is
steadily increasing, how is it possible to be satisfied with things as they are if a man
draws a large prize in a lettery and follows it up by plunging into extravagancees and
adopting a style of living that is far beyond his income, we do not say that he is
advancing in the path of civilization and steadily improving his coudition. He is called a
reckless prodigal, and it is universally predicted that he will go to the dogs in the shortest
of periods. Had rights of occupancy only been given to the cultivation, and all transfers
except such as the state sanctioned, absolutely prohibited, there certainly would not have
been anything like the amount of indebtedness that we now find, and I have littly doubt
that the Government would have been able to have largely increased the land revenue.
After 30 years, we are just beginning to take about as much as the Sikhs took on a very
much smaller cultivated area. Why we cannot take more is exemplified in the mortgage
statement. There are mortgages in the district to the amount of lakhs, and of course an
enormous quantity of unsecured debt besides. The interst on the unsecured debt all goes
out of the agriculturists’ pocket, out of the produce of his land. I suppose there are bat
few villages in which the annual interst on debt does not exceed the Government
demand. So far the agricultural community is impoverished and less able to pay a fair
rent to Government. As our Government has made it possible for the zamindar to raise
money, so has the lender made it difficult for him to free himself when once in debt, by
charging an extortionate rate of interst? Here, as elsewere, 24 per cent. Per annum is the
rate charged? With this rate and compound interst a debt doubles in three years. No he is
sucked dry, and then allowed to drop out of the meshes.

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Agriculture and CHAPTER IV


Arboriculture.
General
statistics of
PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION
agriculuture
SECTION A-AGRICULTURE AND ARBORICULTURE.
Table No.XIV gives general figures for cultivation and irrigation, and for Government
waste land; while the rainfall is shown in Tables NOs. III and IIIA and B. Table No.XVII
shows statistics of Government estates, Table No.XX gives the areas under the principal
staples, and Table No.XXI the average yield of each. Statistics of live-stock will be
found in Table No.XXII Further statistics are given under their various headings in the
subsequent paragraphs of this chapter. Land tenures, tenants, and rent, and the
employment of field labour, have already been noticed in Chapter III, Section D.
How far the With the exception of little baravi, rainland, cultivation in the northern half of the Chiniot
tahsil, agriculture is in the Jhang district confined to lands either naturally moistened by
inundation or percolation from the Chenab, Jhelam and Ravi rivers, or artificially
irrigated from wells by means of the Persian wheel. No other system of lifting well water
is known in this district. It must not however be supposed, because there is, so to speak,
no cultivation that depends solely upon rain, that it is a mater of indifference whether the
country gets rain or not. Sailab lands of good quality, if well wetted during Julay and
August, require wouderfully little rain, but without rain the crops are never good. To
crops on light and sandy sailab lands, no rain means destruction. The crop looks very
well up to the latter half of February, and then the dryness of the Jhagn climate soon
makes itself felt. If the crop does not dry up, the ears will be small and stunted, and
contain only a few shriveled grains. It is not so much heavy rain as rain in season that is
needed. The outturn of all crops on well and sailab lands is best in years of moderate
rainfall. This is not the same as saying that the district does best in years of moderate
rainfall. For the public welfare Jhang could not have too much rain. Heavy rain means
heavy grass crops, and it is far more important in a district where almost every one high
and low owns cattle, that there should be good grazing, than that the crop outturn should
be heavy. In the Dera Ismail Khan Thal the case is much the same.
Chapter IV,A From a grazing point of view the Thal cannot have too much rain, but the Thal well-
Agriculture & owners will tell you that too much rain is very injurious to their wells, and diminishes the
Arboriculture crop yield materially. To sum up, for a good crop and a heavy outturn and average
rainfull judiciously arranged is best; but for the general wellbeing, be more rain the
better, the months during which the Kharif anf Rabi crops ripen and are harvested being
excepted.
The cultivated area of the district, in acres, is arranged below, with the number of wells
Cultivated and that were at work at the recent settlement:-
Irrigated area of
the district.

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Wells, Chahi Sailaba Barani

11,018 227,299 98,748 3,480

percentage 69 30 1

The statement below shows the irrigated area ascertained at the same time:-
Abstract showing the irrigated and un irrigated soil in each tehsil
Cultivated
Irrigated

Tehsil
Number

Jhalari

Jhalari
Khalis

Naihri

Naihri
Sailab
Chahi

Chahi

Chahi

Chahi

Total
1 Chiniot 72,543 1,100 110 --- --- --- 73,753
2 Jhang 91,100 7,243 498 --- 1,397 --- 100,238
3 Shorkot 42,858 10,639 438 605 1,444 395 56,379
1,04
Total 206,501 18,982 605 2,841 395 230,370
6

Cultivated

Number Tehsil

and
Abandone

cultivated
Unirrigated
Cultivate

Appar.

fallow
d area
Total

Total

area
and
Sailabi Barani Total
d
1 Chiniot 22367 3006 25373 99126 20844 119970
2 Jhang 35517 336 35853 136091 29235 165326
3 Shorkot 41038 173 41211 97590 22155 119745

Total 98922 3515 102437 332807 72234 405041


Note:- This statement includes the area of revenue assignments.
Chapter IV,A In Chahi is included all area artificially irrigated, whether by canal, Jhalar, or well,
Agriculture & Naihri or inundation canal cultivation, differs but little fromsailab; but the means of
Arboriculture irrigation are not natural and therefore it is here classed with Chahi. The different
methods of agriculture from wells and jhalars on sailaba and Naihri, and on Barani lands,
will now be discussed.

Irrigantion Table No. XIV gives details of irrigation. Further information will be found at pages 177
to 203 of major Wace’s Famine report, compiled in 1878. At that time ½ % of the
cultivation was irrigated from canals, 68 ½ % from wells, 30%, was flooded, and the
remaining 1% was wholly depend upon rain. The following figure shows the number of

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

wells than existing in the district, with certain statistics regarding them:-

Acres
Depth to Bullock per wheel or irrigated per
Cost in rupees
water in feet bucket wheel or
bucket

Number of wells

Cost of gear.
Cost
Without Number of

Autumn
Masonry in

Spring
Masonry pair

From
rupees

To
7,052 --- 20 185 25 3 102 38 15 7
3,220 20 30 250 --- 4 160 40 16 7
595 30 40 350 --- 41/2 200 45 15 6

Of these wells only 40 were unbricked; while all were worked by the Persian wheel. The
wells in the upland circles of the Chiniot tehsil are deeper than in any other part of the
district. The wells in the villages fringing the river bank are usually less than 20 feet
deep; those in villages beyond are, in the northern half of the district, from 15 to 25 feet;
and those in the villages lying underneath the Bar, both in the Chaj and the Rachna
Doabs, are usually 30 feet or over. As the Ravi is approached, the depth of the wells
sensibly decreases. Speaking generally, the wells in the villages under the Bar may be
said to diminish in the depth from the boundry of the Shorkot tehsil southwards. On the
west of Jhelam the wells in villages lying between the Thal of the Sind Sagar Doab and
the riverain villages are slightly over 20 feet in depth, whether near the Thal or near the
river.
Wells. In Jhang, wells are Pakka where the cylinder is made of burnt bricks cemented by mud,
and Kachcha where the well is merely a hole in the ground, or where the hole lined with
a cylinder of wattles or stacks. A Kachcha well without any lining is termed Kharora.
These are most common. A Kachcha well lined with stacks arranged in a circle and
banded together is not met with often, and is called kathial or gandial. A jhalar is the
name given to a Persian wheel when set to work on the edge of a nala, stream or pond.
The best jhalars are those where the pit from which the water is drawn is a short
distance, a few yards, away from the edge of the stream or pond. The pit is rectangular,
with an inward slop, and the lowest portion is sometimes lined with bricks. This reservoir
in which the water pots revolve is connected with the stream or pond by a narrow
channel open at the top. In Mighiana some of these channels are lined with brick.
Usually the jhalar pits and connecting channels are constructed in the roughest manner.
In the case of other jhalars the well pots dip into the stream or pond itself. Here there is
no pit, but the sides of the bank have to be faced off and strenghtened, over which the
well pots and vertical wheel hang. Pakka wells are divided into double wheeled and
single wheeled. There is no difference in the building, except that one is larger than the
other. Mortar is hardly ever used to cement the brick work of a Pakka well. It is
supposed to altogether spoil the water for drinking purposes and to injure it for irrigation.
A full description of the various parts of which a Persian wheelis composed will be
found in paragraph 98 of Mr. Steedman's Statement Report.
The sinking of a Pakka well is a business not unassociated with awe to the zamindar.
Well sinking First of all the services of a man wise in the finding of water must be obtained and the

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Masonry wells. site of the well determined at his direction. Next a small hole is dug in the ground, a
libation of oil is poured intoit, and gur is distributed. Then the well hole is excavated to
the water level. The well curb, Chak, Made of kikar wood, is then let down by four ropes
to the floor of the hole, and gur is again distributed. The well cylinder is built up on the
curb to a height sufficient to take it down to the reqired depth. Around the top is
constructed a plateform with containing walls of kana and sar bands, wound round and
round and kept in place by pegs. All the sand that is dredged out of the well is packed on
to this platform, and its weight serves to sink the well. It is not thrown aside until the
well has been sunk as for as it is to go. The upper three or four feet of the brick cylinder
are also strengthened by being wound round with kana bands. This may be dispensed
with if water is near, and the well only a small one. A well is sunk down to the stratum
that is called the sach. In this district the true sach is a stratum of coarse sand of a reddish
colour. If this stratum is not found, everything that is bad happens to the well. The water
is dirty and the supply deficient. Holes form under the chak. At first the well only sinks,
but finally the brick work cracks or fall in. The sach of wells on the Chenab is good,
though there are exceptions. On the Jehlam it is inferior. The definition of sach is not
easy, but ot apparently means a good water-bearing stratum of pure sand through which
water springs or percolates regularly and rapidly into the well. When the diver asserts
that the sach has been reached, the water supply is at once tested by borrowing seven or
eight pairs of bullocks and working the well for two days as hard as it can go. If the
water level in the well is there by only a few inches lowered, the water supply is good.
The sach having been reached, the well is worked for about a week to further test the
water bearing capacity of the stratum, and if everything is satisfactory, the platform is
taken off and the sand thrown down round the well. Where the sach is good, the well
scarcely ever requires cleaning. All that has to be done is to pick out the well post and
fragments that tumbles in from time to time; whereas with a bad or no sach the well
requires constant attention. Sand and mud accumulate inside, and have to be removed
and the well has to be stopped because there is no water. When the brick work cracks or
falls in, the well is rendered serviceable by sinking inside a small wood cylinder called
chak, kothi, bachchi, chaubachcha. Sometimes the crack is patched up, but this is not
usual. A kachcha well is only sunk down low enough to ensure a good supply of water.
They are not renewed or repaired, but have to be cleaned out. The water in a kachcha
well is never clear. A well with a wattle cylinder lasts about six years, one with a stake
cylinder about fifteen years.
Cost of a well On this point Mr. Steedman writes:-
"The question-'What does it cost to sink a well?' must be answered just as the
question—'what is the area of well can irrigate? By- 'It depends.' I have heared of well
close by the river where water is with in a few feet of surface, having to be sunk 20 and
30 feet before the desired sach was found. Here you have wells where the depth of the
water in the wells is twice as great as or more than the distance from water level to the
surface of the ground. Three years ago I sunk a well in my garden in zamindar's fashion
pouring out oil, distributing gur in the orthodox mode, and it cost me Rs. 250. The well
is 20 feet to water and 71/2 feet under water. The sach is excellent, and there were no
hitches in the work. To a zamindar the cost of constructing a well is not much. The well
hole is dug out, the bricks made, burnt and carried by the kamins. Fuel is supplied by the
village waste and his cotton fields. The bricklayers and divers work is the only heavy

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

charge. All the labour of spreading the sand, pulling up the dredge, etc. is performed by
the kamins and they get nothing but a meal a day. I do not think I am far wrong in putting
the cost of a well to a zamindar at half what it would cost a non-proprietor. I estimate that
a well 20 feet deep will cost Rs. 200, one 30 feet deep Rs. 300, and one 40 feet deep Rs.
450."
The System of The people have most various modes of dividing the water of a well. So many
distributing well pahrs of three hours each are allocated to each share, and after a fixed period the times of
water. the pahrs are changed. If the well is held on three-third and four consecutive pahrs are
allotted to each third, then the yoking times change of themselves, e.g., A, B and C hold
a well, and each works the well for four pahrs. A’s turn at the well, if from midnight to
midday, on Monday will be from midday to midnight on Tuesday. Similarly, if a two
pahrs turn is allowed to each proprietor of one-sixth, the time of each turn changes in
regular order. If, however the turn is of two pahrs for each quarter in the well, then the
change has to be made artificially. The change when made gives the two nights turns to
the proprietors who before had the day turns, and they again arrange between themselves
to take in alternate weeks the first or second turns. The turns are called varies. They are
always calculated on pahrs of three hours each. The vari is not less than two pahrs or six
hours, and never more than eight pahrs and 24 hours. A pair of bullocks’ works six hours
at a stretch there is no difference between the systems of varies in the Hithar and Utar, on
shallow and deep wells. Varis always corresponds to the proprietary share in the well, or
to the proprietary shares represented by the amount of land held by the tenants. A one-
third sharer in the well will not get and extra long vari, because he possesses and extra
pair of bullocks.
What area does The areas irrigated by wells in the different parts of the district differ considerably.
a well irrigate? The area usually irrigated by a full yoked well assisted by sailab is much the same all
over the district about 30 acres. The area irrigated by a well and jhalar varies to much to
allow of any good estimate being made. The time that the Jhalar can be worked is
uncertain. In forming an idea of what area is on the average irrigated by unassisted wells,
the first thing to be done is to banish any preconceived opinions that this area varies
inversely to the depth to water in the well. As a matter of fact, the areas irrigated by the
deep wells pf Chiniot tehsil in the uplands between the Kirana Bar and the river have the
largest areas under annual cultivation of any in the district. In the Shorkot Utar lands
lying under the Bar, the depth of water is two-thirds of what it is in Chiniot, yet the areas
irrigated are hardly half those of the Chiniot wells. Much more depends upon the quality
of soil, the number and power of bullocks, the rainfall, the industry of cultivator, and the
nature of the crops grown, than on the distance that the water has to be lifted. The
following is Mr.Steedman’s estimate in acres of the areas irrigated by unassisted wells in
the various parts of the districts.

Chiniot Uplands Jhang Uplands


Between Between Shorkot
East of West of Along
Chenab and Chenab and Uplands
Chenab Chenab Jehlam
Chaj Bar. Sandai Bar.
30 26 24 20 17 15

The following statement gives the average areas attached to each well, including

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

fallow, in acres, as ascertained at the recent Statement:-


Circle.
Tehsil
Centre. Bar. Utar. Kachhi.
Chiniot-- -- -- -- --- -- -- ---- 26.5 26 30 ---
Jehlam 20.7 --- --- 15.5
Jhang-- --
Chenab 16.5 16.8 24.5 ---
Shorkot-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 15.0 15.4 --- 15.8
Kachcha wells are only found in the Hithar near the rivers. Their irrigating power is
about one-fifth less than that of masonry wells in similar situations. They are liable to dry
up. The area watered by a jhalar in a given time must be half as much again as that by a
well. The water pots (they might be called lotas) are quite twice the size those used on
wells, and the wheel on which they are strung revolves quite as fast as the wheel on any
ordinary well. Besides the gteater quantity of water delivered, the zamindars say that the
change of water itself is a benefit to the soil. The only disadvantage appears to be larger
wastage than that which takes place in the case of wells. Where a well is assisted by a
jhalar, the lands attached will be almost always farmed well. A slovenly cultivator does
not trouble himself to set up a jhalar.
Rotation of On the upland unassisted wells of this district there is no system of agriculture that can
crops. properly be called rotation of crops. The two main points to be kept in mind are- 1st, that
System of on the well the area under spring crops is usually from 70 to 75 % of the area annually
agriculture on cultivated, and that three- forths of the spring crops are wheat and barley; 2nd, that owing
well lands to the intense heat and dryness of climate during the hot months and scanty rainfall, the
land put under autumn crops is chosen near to the well, in order that the loss by
evaporation may be the least possible. The difference between the irrigating power of a
well in the hot and cold weather is enormous. The proportion between the area under
kharif and rabi crops indicates this. Crops that require to be liberally manured are always
cultivated close round the well. The area under crop varies greatly from year to year. All
other things being equal (i.e., the number of tenants and well bullocks), the disturbing
element is the rainfall. For the autumn harvest it is the jawar crop area that contracts or
expands. The cotton sowing are made long before the summer rains, and are not affected
thereby. Even if good rain fell just before the time for sowing cotton, it is doubtful
whether a larger area would be sown. The cultivator knows what hard work it often is in
May, June, and the first half of July to keep the cotton alive, and will rarely be tempted
to sow alarger than the average area. With jawar the case is different. If there is good
rain in July, jawar will be sown without irrigating the land, with the knowledge that it
will germinate, and the hope that rains to come will, with the aid of a couple or so of
watering about September, bring the crop to maturity. Such jawar is additional to the
area usually cropped, and has to take its chance. If the latter rain fails, then this jawar
will be abandoned. The well can only irrigate the ordinary cotton, jawar and china area.
Before the wheat sowings the turnips has to be sown. If there is rain in September and
October, the area under wheat will be above the average. The hypothetical well has of
course a total attached area larger than the area annually under crop by at least two-
thirds, so that there is no practical limit to the cultivation besides the known irrigating
power of the well and the scantiness and uncertainty of the rainfall. If, therefore,the
rainfall in September and October is exceptional, there is nothing to prevent the

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

cultivator from putting under wheat twice as much land as usual. As a matter of fact, in
thee most favourable years the area soon with wheat will never exceed the average area
by more than one-third. Seed is expensive, and to see wheat drying up for want of
irrigation is heart-breaking. As the wheat and jawar areas increase in a year of favourable
rainfall, so do they contract if the rainfall is scant. The cotton, china, turnips, and tobacco
areas will vary but little in favourable and unfavourable years. Below is an estimate in
acres of the areas annually occupied by various crops on a well in Chiniot and another in
Jhang:-

Wheat Grand
Turnip Tobac Methr Total
Cotton Jawar China Total and Total
s co a
Barely
Chinio
t 3 4 2 9 18 21/2 1/2
-- 21 30
Jhang 2 13/4 7/8
48/8 91/2 11/2 1/8 1/2
113/8 16
The area immediately round the well will be under crop every year, and a small
portion will be double copped. The area under china, turnips, and tobacco will be or
ought to be always manured, and a large portion of the cotton area also. The manured
area shown in all the statistics is much understated. The unmanured portion of the well
estate is ranovated by fallows. The more culturable land there is round the well, the
longer the fallow and the less frequent to crop. It is quite impossible to estate that the
faming is by courses, for no regular system of rotation is fallowed. Generally speaking, it
is perhaps not unsafe to say that in the year the land nearest the well is manured and
double cropped, the land beyond sometimes manured and cropped once, and the lands
outside bear wheat two years running, and get a fallow every third year, and sometimes
lie fallow two years. Ordinary instances of double-cropping are as follows:- Jawar
followed by wheat or barley; tobacco by jawar or turnips; wheat cut green by jawar for
china ; cotton by methra; turnips by cotton; rice by wheat.
Manure The Jhang district is peculiarly rich in cattle, and the home production of manure on each
well is considerable. The right to take village refuse is a fruitful cause of litigation. To
many wells, flocks of sheep and goats are attached. These are rarely penned and fed on
the land intended for cultivation, though instances are not absolutely wanting. They graze
on the waste during the day, and are driven into a sheep-fold at night. Here their
droppings accumulate. The manure is dug up twice a year and applied to the land. Old
manure is the best, and ought to be powdery. New manure is said to be too strong and to
burn. In the neighbourhood of the towns, their refuse and filth find a ready market. Sheep
droppings are also brought in from the Bar on camels. The only expense is the cost of
carriage. In the case of wells cultivated with any care, one-fifth of the area under crop in
the year will have been manured. Land intended for tobacco, vegetables and sugar cane
is most heavily manured. China and turnips get a fair, and cotton and wheat a small
allowance. The average weight of manure given to the acre per annum is an unknown
quantity, lying between 800 maunds and 50 maunds. In the Kachhi, soil dug out of old
maunds is used as a top dressing. The earth that has collected in heaps round bushes is
similarly used. Earth is not used any-where else. The Kachhi is poorer in cattle than any
other portion of the district. The following figure show the manured area in acres:-

STATEMENT OF MANURED AND UNMANURED AREA.


m
N
u

b
e

Tehsil Manured Unmanured Total area


r

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

under crop.
Ek-fasli Do-fasli Total Ek-fasli Do-fasli Total

Chiniot --- 16,655 2,138 18,793 71,574 1,544 73,118 91,911


1
Jhang --- 21,345 4,568 25,913 106,343 2,597 108,940 134,853
2
Shorkot --- 3,876 736 4,612 88,395 1,189 89,584 94,196
3
Total of
District 41,876 7,442 49,318 26,631 5,330 271,642 320,960

Note:- By an error subsequently discovered, the fallow area has been included in the return of
the Jhang tehsil. The area of the two other tehsils is the area under crop. The Jhang area includes
7,358 acres of kalor shown in Ek-fasli
System of The quality of the sailab or alluvial lands, naturally moistened by the three rivers, is of
cultivating sailab considerable variation. Sailab lands are cultivated in much the same way all over the
lands.
district. Wheat is the favourite crop. In Chiniot hardly anything beyond a little Indian
corn is grown for the autumn harvest. In Jhang some little jawar, mash-mung and til is
grown. In Shorkot the area under Kharif crops is larger. There is absolutely no rotation of
crops whatever on sailab lands. Year after year the land bears its single crop the richer
soil wheat, the lighter a kharif crop. No fallows are willingly allowed, but the sailab
lands often lie fallow through failure of floods. Sometimes when the wheat producing
virtue of the soil has become somewhat exhausted, or the land has become full of weeds
a couple of gram crops are substituted. It is said that change cleans the land. Mash-mung
and til are never grown on well lands, nor are gran, massar, and peas. The mode of
cultivating sailab lands is described in the succeeding paragraphs which treat of each
crop. Sailab land is rarely manured, only turnips receiving a small allowance. It is
supposed to burn the plants. The best sailab lands are either those which have lately
received a deposit of silt, or those in islands, bela, in the river, that are not inundated but
obtain abundant moisture from percolation. Flooding, unless there is a deposit of silt, is
apt, if of long duration or too often, to injure and weaken the land. It also hinders
ploughing. With percolation ploughing is never stopped for a day, and the talla grass is
destroyed before it gets rank. With percolation of kharif crop is assured but with floods
or a deposit of silt it is dangerous to sow kharif crops, and the land is usually kept for the
spring harvest. Too much water is very nearly as much hated by the agriculturists as too
little. It is not pleasant to find your house tumbling about your head your land under
water for a week your grain stores damped and ruined and hardly a dry place for the soles
of your feet. Then this is generally followed by fever among human beings and murrain
among cattle. There is some small amount of double cropping on sailab lands, sometimes
especially after a year in which the floods have failed extending to as much as a quarter
of their area. Mash-mung especially and sometimes jawar are often followed by wheat or
massar. Rawan and melons are at times sown after all the spring crops.
Canal cultivation. The only canals in this district are inundation ditches. Where a land not attached to a well
is irrigated, the cultivation and crops are the same as on sailab lands.
Barani cultivation. Barani or rain cultivation is found all over the district, but except in Chiniot, the area
is so small as to require no special notice, Rain cultivation in this district might with
greater propriety be called surface drainage cultivation. There is little or no rain
cultivation that is not situate in a depression. Bajra, wheat, gram, moth, and til are the
principal crops. No rotation of crops is practiced. The slight rainfall renders at intervals a

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

fallow course compulsory. Ploughings are liberally given, but no manure.


Agriculture Table No.XXII shows the number of cattle, carts, and ploughs in each tehsil of the
implements and district as returned in 1878-79. A full list of agricultural implements, with their names
appliances. and uses is given at page 83 of Mr. Steedman’s Settlement Report. The implements
present no peculiarities, and it is needless to reproduce the description.
Principal Table No.XX shows the area under the principal agricultural staples. The remaining
Staples. acres under crop in 1880-81 and 1881-82 were distributed in the manner shown
below:-

Crop. 1880-81 1881-82 Crop. 1880-81 1881-82


Kangni … ...
144 120 Coriander .. .. 3 2
China … … ..
5778 3966 Chillies.. .. .. . 1 3
Mattar … …..
7737 7299 Mustard.. .. .. 318 329
Mash … …
7282 6617 Til .. .. .. .. .. ... 3061 3047

2213 565 Tara Mira .. . 299 283
Mung … … ...
2389 2545 Kasumbah .. .. 1 1
Massar .. .. .. .
----- 150 Other crops .. 10265 12282
Arhar … .. .. .
On the opposite page will be found a statement taken from Mr. Steedman’s Report,
giving the names of the various crops, together with the area of each as ascertained at the
recent statement, and this seasons for sowing and reaping. The crops whose areas are
especially small are classed together under the head of Miscellaneous. All soils not
sailaba or barani are shows as chahi or irrigated from wells. The total area under crop is
326,374 acres, of which 72.7 %is spring harvest and 27.3 % under autumn harvest crops.
Where the chahi and sailaba areas were not ascertained the total area is shown half way
between the two columns.
Wheat Wheat.- The modes of cultivating wheat in rain lands of Chiniot, the sailab lands of the
cultivation rivers and on well lands are of course very different. The chief difference is the number
of ploughings. Most are given in the case of barani lands. It is of the utmost importance
to the cultivator to have enabled as much rain as possible to sink into the soil, and to
prevent, as far as he can, all loss of moisture by evaporation or surface drainage. Wheat
takes six months to ripen, and is entirely dependent here upon the very uncertain rainfall.
So as many ploughings are given to barani land as possible, and the roller is frequently
used. The seed is always sown with a drill. After seed time there is nothing to be done
but sit down and wait until the harvest. In sailab lands the soil should be ploughed up as
often as is possible. Talla grass springs up very fast, and the cleaner the soil the better the
crop. A good farmer will often begin to plough sailab lands in June if percolation has
rendered the soil sufficiently moist, and he will go on ploughing as often as he can until
the 1st Katik. High and continued floods are injurious to the wheat crop, because they
stop the early ploughings. If the talla is thick very strong bullocks are required to work a
plough with any effect. Sailab lands are almost always sown by drill. In Chiniot a great
deal of wheat is sown broadcast. With well lands the procedure is different. If the rainfall
is only ordinary, there will be hardly any land ploughed up for wheat before seed time
arrives. The land intended for the kharif is ploughed first. The bullocks are probably in a
very bad condition when the first rain comes, and it is generally the best policy to give
them a holiday before anything is done. If when the bullocks have recovered from the
effects of work during May and June, there is still more rain, then the well owner will

95
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

plough up as much land for wheat, rolling it afterwards, as he intends to sow. If there is
more rain in August and September he will give it as many more ploughings as he can. If
the land has been ploughed up to four or five times before seed time and is still moist, the
seed will be sown broadcast, ploughed in rolled and ploughed again. It will be allowed to
germinate, and as soon as the blades have sprung up, it will receive its first watering. If
however, the rainfall has been deficient and the well oxen have been unable to do
anything more than attend to the wants of the cotton, jowar, china and turnips, until the
wheat seed time comes, there will not be single marla ploughed up before hand. Now the
sowing time is limited, and when the land has to be irrigated before being ploughed and
sown, it is zamindar’s object to lose as little time as possible. Accordingly he first
irrigates the land. The seed is next scattered broadcast over the unploughed surface, and
is then ploughed in and rolled. The usual number of ploughings is three or four, never
less than two. Wheat is never sown by drill on well lands those in Hithar that receive
sailab being excepted. In the Hithar if the soil is moist enough the well lands are
prepared for the wheat with almost as many ploughings as the pure sailab lands. The seed
is sown with a drill and the irrigation beds and well channels are made afterwards. The
wheat sowings begin about 15th October, and go on to the end of December, but by the
15th December the really good time has gone by. The amount of seed varies according to
the time of sowing and the kind of soil. The earlier the sowing the less seed. The seed
used per acre is for barani lands 3 topas per kanal, 90 lbs. per acre; for sailab lands 2½
topas, 75 lbs. early, 3 to 4 topas 90 to 120 lbs.late; for chahi 2½ to 3 topas 75 to 90 lbs.
early4 topas 120 lbs. late. On well lands in the Hithar on an average the wheat is watered
three or four times after being sown, on the Utar lands eight or nine times. In some
exceptional years it ripens almost without a single watering. In others the irrigating
power of the well cannot keep the whole crop sown alive. In its infancy the wheat plant
suffers from mula an insect that attacks the root-frost and cloudy weather. Frost does not
hurt early sown wheat, provided it is followed by rain in the first 15 days of January. It
rather strengthens the plant but early frost not followed by rain play havoc with late sown
young wheat. The lighter and more sandy the soil the worse for the wheat; later on,
various blights, rust and smut attack the plant. Rust is the most dangerous disease. As a
rule, rust does not render the ears absolutely empty, but in shrivels up the grain to half its
natural size and weight. The wheat harvest varies according to the nature of the weather.
In ordinary years it begins soon after the 15th April. There are four kinds of wheatgrown
chiefly in this district- Chitti Rodi, Koni Ratti, Chighari, and Dandi Chighari. The first is
the white beardless wheat with a long thinnish ear, chiefly grown on the upland wells in
the Shorkot tehsil. The grain makes a good sample, plump and white. Koni is white
wheat with a beardless ear, which has a square unpointed end. The grain is small but
whiter than the last. It does not yield well. The third is red wheat bearded and is
commonest of all. It is the common wheat on sailab lands. Kal Chighari, red wheat has a
very handsome ear, thick and garnished, with a beard that is black at the root. Lundi,
jowari, and pumman are other kinds but they are not often met with. Good wheat is
grown in the upland wells in a year of favourable rainfall. The wheat of the Salara near
Chiniot has a great reputation. The average outturn of an acre of wheat on well lands is
probably about 16 mounds, and on sailab 8 mounds. In the month of May young wheat is
cut with a sickle and sheep and goats and cattle are turned on the wheat, and it is grazed
down once. The advantage of this is to strengthen the stalk and to prevent the wheat from

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being blown or falling down. High wheat crops on well lands after irrigation are liable to
go down before a very little wind. The yield is lessened.
Barley Barley is appreciated for the following qualities. It ripens earlier than wheat, gives a
heavier yield, requires fewer waterings, and will do well in a lighter soil. Very little
comparatively is grown in this district. Goji, wheat and barley mixed, is a crop almost
unknown. The two crops are grown together for early khauid green wheat. Also any
zamindar who keeps horses will have a few acres under barley to provide them with
grain. With these exceptions, not above half an acre is, as a rule grown on a well. As
soon as the barley ears begin to turn colour the tenant commences to pluck them. They
are scorched and eaten. On sailab land barley is only grown where the soil is too light for
a good wheat crop. It is in such case often mixed thinly with gram. Such barley is
sometimes allowed to ripen, but more often is cut green as fodder. Barley as a fodder
crop is often sown with turnips on well lands and in the Hithar also, but less frequently.
The best sowing time for barley is the end of Assu and the beginning of Katik(October).
It can be sown also even later than wheat. Occasionally it follows as a double crop after
jawar and mah-mung on sailab lands. On well lands it is sown broadcast in sailab with a
drill. The amount of seed sown is much the same as in the case of wheat, from 3 to 4
topas a kanal, 90 to 120 lbs. an acre. On well lands, land to be sown with barley will be
treated with the same amount of ploughings as wheat. On sailab land less trouble is
taken. In fact barley is now owing to its fall in value as compared with wheat, considered
an inferior crop, and treated accordingly. It is liable to the same diseases as wheat in a
less degree. There is only one kind of barley usually sown called nahri. A kind of red
barley called kona kala is also grown. The beard is almost black in colour.
Gram. Gram is after wheat the favourite rabi crop, though as compared with wheat, the area
annually under crop is as 1 to 14. Gram, it may almost be said, is never irrigated by well
water. Almost all the area under gram shown in the crop statement is sailab. In the Utar
also some little gram is grown in hollows where surface drainage collects. Gram grows
best in stiffish Utar soil that in year of high floods gets flood water from the river.In the
Hithar gram is sown in every description of soil, from stiff clay to sandy loam. A clay
soil suits it best, but with decent cold weather rain it does well in light loam. More gram
is grown in the Shorkot tehsil than elsewhere. There the flood extend far inland, and the
land scanty inundated by the outer edge of the floods are put under gram. Two
ploughings are considered sufficient and more are very seldom given. Seed is sown with
a drill, and the amount averages1½ topa per kanal, about 15 lbs. per acre. Very often
gram only gets one ploughing, and more disgraceful farming can hardly be conceived.
The seed is sown broadcast on the ground, and plough is run through once only and then
the zamindar complains that there is no yield.Gram is almost always grazed down once
by cattle. In Katik the calves are turned on to the gram fields when the plants are only
two or three inches high. Later in the Poh, cows and horses are allowed to graze.
Zamindars say that if the plant gets rain afterwards, it is not injured but is strengthened,
and tillers better. The cattle too are greatly benefited by a little green food at this season
of the year. The custom of grazing cattle on the green crops so prevalent in this district is
probably due to the very great extent to which the agricultural population depends upon
the cattle for their sustenance. Milk, buttermilk and curds are articles of the commonest
consumption. Gram is grown with barley on sailab lands. A very common mixture in the
Shorkot sailab lands is mah-mung turnips and gram. Sometimes the gram is absent and

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

sometimes the turnips. The advantage of such crop is obvious. It provides fodder for the
bullocks. Mah-mung and gram do very well together and one or other usually furnishes a
good crop. If the mung is good, the gram will be very thin, and the plants weak and
lanky. On the other hand, excellent gram crops often follow thin mung crop. Gram is
neither watered, weeded, nor manured. It is very healthy strong plant if it is honestly
cultivated. Once it has fairly shot up, it requires little rain. Late rain, thunderstorms, and
high wind are injurious.m A good downfall at Christmas, and one shower about the end
of January only are needed to ensure a first class gram crop. If there is rain in Chet
(March- April), the pod and grains are generally attacked by caterpillars. The outturn of
gram varies greatly. The average may be struck at about 10 mounds.
Turnips. Turnips are on well lands a most important crop in this district. If the crop is failure, the
wheat suffers. The well oxen are very heavily worked during the wheat sowing and the
first watering, and require large amount of strengthening food. This is furnished by the
jowar and turnip crops. There is nothing else. If the turnips fail, or are late as they often
are owing to the failure of the first sowings, the working power of the bullocks is
materially weakened, and the area under wheat does not get properly watered. Turnips,
raw and cooked, are also eaten largely by the tenants during the cold
Weather. To them no less than to the bullocks, a bad turnip crop is a serious misfortune.
It is sometimes destroyed by kummi, a kind of mula, they attacks the root. The best land
on the well, well ploughed and liberally manured, is allotted to this crop. The land will
generally have been ploughed up after rain once before the seed times arrives. The land
is then irrigated and ploughed from three to six times with one or two rollings in
between, if there are any clods to be broken up. The seed is sown broadcast, mixed with
sand or earth or manure. Then the soil is once more rolled, and the irrigation beds and
channels are made. If the soil has now become somewhat dry, a watering is given at
once; but usually the first watering is given a few days after the plants have come up.
When turnips are sown on well lands in soil that has been ploughed up once or twice
previously, a couple of ploughings are given, and then the well beds and irrigation
channels are banked up. The seed is sown broadcast, and mixed into the soil with the
leafless branches of a thorny tree that is brushed over the ground, and a first watering is
given at once. In sailab lands the process is different. The land is ploughed twice or three
times and rolled. The seed is sown broadcast and ploughed in with very shallow furrows.
If turnip seed gets too deep into the ground, it does not come up. Turnip sowings,
commence in Badru and go on to Katik. There are generally two sowings early and late.
Often a third sowing is made. The amount of seed used is one propi a kanal, 3½ seers an
acre. The crop ripens in three months. Zamindars say turnips are not ready till the first
frost. It is watered five or six times. No weedings or hoeings are given. A turnip crop
should not be too thick, or it runs to leaf, and the bulbs suffer. A first class crop is that
which yields a good fodder crop of leaves first, and a heavy root crop afterwards. The
turnip leaves are cut once, sometimes twice on the very best lands, and then the bulbs are
pulled up. On sailab lands the leaves are not cut, but the whole plant is pulled up. The
bulbs grow very large in sailab lands. They are occasionally eaten on the ground, but this
is of course very different from what is meant by the process at home. The great
difficulty about the turnip crop is to sow the seed early and yet to get it to germinate
well. It suffers from a kind of grasshopper-tidda. The crop also suffers from tela (blight),
but never severely.

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Peas. Peas, matter are grown on sailab lands only, and principally in Shorkot. New alluvial
land and the beds of nalas are the spots generally chosen. It is valued as a fodder crop
only. The grain is very seldom threshed for more than the seed. The pods are picked
green and eaten as a vegetable. A couple of ploughings are all that matter lands usually
obtain, and the seed is even sown broadcast on sailab land too moist to plough at all, and
often yield good crops. Ordinary the seed is sown with a drill, at the end of Assu, of the
beginning of Katik. The harvest is in Chet,. The plant is pulled, not reaped. The plant
suffers from caterpillars that attack the pod.
Massar, The only other rabi crops that deserve notice or massar and a fodder crop mehthra.
Mehthra. Massar is a sailaba crop, and is never sown on other soil, either new alluvial soil or light
land that is not good enough for wheat is selected. Massar is often the first crop is sown
on new sailab lands, or follows matter. The land is ploughed once or twice, and the seed
is sown broadcast. One ploughing take place after the seed is sown. Maghar and Poh are
the months of sowing. From 1 to1½ propis per kanal, or from 30 to 45 lbs. of seed per
acre is the amount used.The crop is ripens in the end of Chet and the beginning of
Baisakh. It is reaped not pulled. The yield is light. It is subject to much the same injuries
as gram. The pods are attacked by caterpillar. Rain, wind and thunder are hurtful when
the plant is in flower. Mehthra is fodder crop. It is grown on wells and sailab lands. On
wells it is found chiefly in the kachhi circles of Jhang and Shorkot, and on sailab in the
south of Shorkot tehsil. On well lands it is sown after cotton and sometimes after jowar,
rarely on uncropped ground. The seed is sown broadcast in the month of Maghar is
trempled into the ground and water. The seed seldom fails to germinate. Five or six
subsequent waterings are given, and the crop is ready to cut in Chet. A top dressing is
often given to his crop. About 30 lbs, of the seed is used per acre. On sailab lands
mehthra is sownin Assu and the beginning of Katik. Good new alluvium or a rich old
cleyey loam and the soil usually selected. The seed is sown broadcast and ploughed
lightly in. One or two ploughings will have been beforehand. The sailab crop ripens
about the same time as that on wells. Mehthra is hardly plant and suffers but little from
the disease.
Cotton Cotton is the most valuable of the kharif crops in this district. It grows best on the Utar
wells in the strong loam. Cotton on sailab land does not do well. One eason is that mode
of cultivation is more slovenly. Even on good wells in sailab lands the crop is always
lighter than in the up lands. The cotton of Shorkot grown on the Utar soil, irrigated
during the hot weather months from jhalars or the inundation canal, is very good. Land
intended for cotton ought to be ploughed up once beforehand after the cold weather rain.
It is then manured. All cotton land ought to be manured, but a good deal never is. The
manure is spread is the first watering is given. If the zamindar is lazy, he sows the cotton
seed smeard in cow dung broadcast. The land is then ploughed twice and rolled. If the
zamindar is industrious, he will lpough the land twice or perhaps three times before
sowing the seed broadcast, The suhaga is then put over the land twice to cover in the
seed. The well beds and water channels are made. In Chiniot cotton is sown much earlier
then in the two southern tehsils. Sowings are made from the end of Chet to the middle of
Jaith(April and May). About 32 lbs, of seed are used per acre. Early- sown cotton is
ready to pick in Badru. All Badru picking belong to the tenant. The proprietor does not
share in the pickings before the first Assu, and he takes nothing after the lohi festival, the
first Magh. There is not much left after the fifteen January, but what there is the tenant

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

takes. Very little mudhi cotton is grown in this district. There is not enough rain. Cotton
is hardly ever grown alone. Melons, jowar, mandua, kangni, sawak, are most invariably
found in the cotton fields. Melons are sown with the cotton. The other crops are sown
latter on, and are used principally for fodder. Jowar are sown is hardly ever allowed to
ripen. More or less of the other three crop ripen, and the reason is that they are sown
where the soil is hard and saline and not well suited for cotton hence the cotton is light,
and the deficiency is made up by the associate crop. In this district the cotton on wells is
not usually ploughed after the bushes have reached some height. The fields are hoed and
weeded, and the jowar or other is then scattered broadcast in between the cotton bushes.
A watering is at once given, and the seed usually germinate. Less mandua, kangni, and
sawak are grown in Chiniot then the other tehsil. During the hot months is watered every
six day. In the early stages cotton is liable to be injured by the drought and hot winds.
Too much rain is also injurious to cotton. To tela blight also attached cotton. Early frost
do more damagethen anything else. Two kinds of cotton are grown in the district but the
red leaved plant is not often seen. The ordinary country plant is the most common.
Jowar. Jowar and cotton are the two kharif staples. Jowar is grown largely on well and sailab
lands. On the barani lands of the Chiniot tehsil its place is taken by bajra. It is not grown
to any large extent on the northern riverain villagesof the tehsil, where makai takes its
place.A recent accertion of good soil, land well manured, and soil that that is cleyey and
has lain fallow for some years, are the three best soils for jawar. On the river lands the
best soil for jawar is a light sandy loam of recent formation, well moisrtened by
percolation. There is very much preparation in the way of ploughing. Twice is considered
ample. The seed is then sown broadcast and ploughed in. The ground is not rolled unless
it is cloddy. If the soil is not very moist, the seed is sown with the drill in order to get it
as deep down into the soil as possible Sowings commence sat the beginning of Sawan,
and go on to the beginning of the Badru. The earlier the jawar is sown the better. It ripens
before the frost and the stalks are sweetest. Where the soil is poor the jawar leaves
shrivel up very soon; while the rest of the crop, if the soil is good may show scracely any
signs of distress. The amount of seed sown is about 1 propi a kanal, or ½ lbs. an acre.
There are numerous kinds of jawar. That grown near Khiwa and Khanuewana has the
highest reputation. The verities usually denote little more than grades of flavour in the
grain when parched or scorched. Of one kind of jawar the ear is compact and the grains
close together, of another the ear is made up of a number of small branched stems, each
carrying grain. The first is called gumma, the second is tilyor. Jowar is often manured.
The kachhi jowar ripens earliest in early part of katik that grown in the Vichanh next and
that on Chenab last, in the middle of Maghar. Jowar is rather delicate plant. Besides the
maladies to which it is subject before it comes to ear, early frost and late rain greatly
diminish the yield and render the stalks tasteless and dry. It is also liable to toka and tela.
Bajra Bajra may be said to be grown in the northern corner of Chiniot nearest to Shahpur only.
It is hardly ever cultivated on the well lands. After rain a couple or three ploughings are
given. The seed is sown broadcast and ploughed in. It is not grown in the wells, as its
stalks are not good fodder. Otherwise it has heavier yield than Jowar, and less seed goes
to acre. It is sown from 15th Har to 15th Sawan, and reaped in Katik.
Mah-Mung Mah-mung are two different pulses, but they are grown together to a great extent in this
district. The mode of cultivating both is same. They are grown chiefly in the Hithar.
These are perhaps a little more mah than mung in the Hithar. In the Utar mah is seldom

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

cultivated, while in the year of favorable rainfall large areas are sown with mung. Hardly
any pulse is grown in Chiniot, and very little on the Jehlam. Most is grown in the
Shorkot tehsil. Mah and mung grow well in loams and light soils. Clays do not suit.
Moisture in the soil is indispensable, and but little else is required. Two ploughings is all
that the soil gets in the way of preparation. The seed is then sown broadcast and is
ploughed in. The amount of seed varies from 1 to 1 ½ topas of mah, and from ¾ to 1 topa
of mung per Kanal. The mung is smaller than that of mah. It is sown in the end of Sawan
and beginning of Badru, and ripens in the end of Maghar or a little later. The crop is
pulled, not cut. Fields that have been cropped with mah-mung are usually covered with a
strong after crop of tala grass. In the Utar mung is cultivated in the depressions or beds of
channels that carry off surface drainages. One ploughing are two seldom more are given.
The seed is sown broadcast and ploughed in. Mah mung plants suffer from the attacks of
grasshopper__tida__ when young and later caterpillars attack on the pods and grains.
Moth. Moth, another pulse, is very seldom sown in the Hithar, but after good rain a
considerable area in the Utar is sown with this crop. Moth is an extremely hardly plant
and the zamindars say that if it once puts forth sufficient leaves to cover its roots, no
amount of dry weather affects it. It is supposed to be a capital grain, and the green plants
first-class fodder for horses. The bhusa is also highly prized. The bhusa of these pulses is
of two kind’s phaliat, the broken shreds of the pods and stalks, patri the leaves. Two
ploughings are deemed sufficient. The seed is sown broadcast and ploughed in. About
the same quantity is used as of mung. The sowings are made rather earlier than those of
mah-mung in the Hithar, as the cultivator has not a fear of floods before his eyes, and the
harvest is consequently also earlier.
Til. Til is grown in small quantity on sailab lands, and on rain lands in the uplands. It is also
occasionally sown on the outskirts of a well, and such crops are sometimes irrigated.
Very little is grown on the Chiniot sailab lands. Til loves a light soil, but require much
moisture. It will grow even on rapper lands, sand covered with only athin layer of soil.
Til is much cultivated mixed with other crops jowar, mah, and mung. The land is
prepared by one or two ploughings. The seed is sown broadcast, mixed with sand, in
Sawan and early part of Badru. The amount used is about 7½ lbs. the flowers are liable to
nipped and to fall off if wind blows from north. The root is also attacked by mula.
Makai. Makai or Indian corn is grown almost solely in the Ciniot tehsil. A few patches may be
seen round Maghiana. It is grown both on sailab and well lands, not in the Utar. The
southern boundries of makai cultivation are Thatti bala Rajah on the right, and Thali
Manggini on the left bank of Chenab. The best makai is grown in the Gilotar village,
between the Halkiwah nala and the river, and the village of Salara, Kazian and Chiniot.
Makai is not grown to any considerable extent on sailab lands. It requires a most careful
cultivation. The land is ploughed up four times. The seed is sown broadcast, and is
ploughed in by one or two subsequent ploughings. The amount of seed is 12 lbs. and
over an acre. Makai is generally not hoed on sailab lands. On wells if there has been no
rain, the land is watered and ploughed twice or oftener. Then manure is put on at rate of
320 maunds an acre. Two moiré ploughings are given to mix the manure well into the
soil. Then seeds at the rate of 24 lbs. to the acre are sown broadcast. Makai is thick on
wells and thinned out, the thinning being used as fodder. The seed is ploughed in, the
land rolled, and the well beds and channel made. Makai ripens in 2 ½ months. It ought to
be watered every sixth day if there is no rain and every eighth day if there is. Makai

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

crops on well lands are hoed twice. Makai sowings are made from Har to Badru. The
sowings in the first ten days of Har give the best crops. The preparation is same,
whenever the sowings are made. Makai takes very little out of land, and is almost always
followed by a rabi crop, either turnips or wheat. Makai is apparently free from the attack
of insect world. It suffers from too much rain. If the rain is continuous the field cannot be
hoed, and the makai stalk does not thicken, and but few maize cobs are produced.
China. China is a crop that is largely grown in this district on well lands. Two crops are reaped
in a year, the first in Jeth and Har, the second in Maghar. Land is carwfully prepared and
manured. Only a small area is sown with each crop. The land is first irrigated and then
ploughed a couple of a time. The seed is then sown broadcast and ploughed in. A rolling
is given, and the well beds are made China requires a large quantity of water. Zamindars
say it ought to be watered every fourth day. It is perhaps watered every fifth or sixth day.
The first china crop is used chiefly as fodder. It is very rarely threshed. The second china
crop comes in useful for the wheat sowings. The crop is sometimes puuled up or cut half
ripe, as much grain beaten out as can be, and straw used for fodder. More generally the
second crop is allowed to ripen. It is impossible to lay down any rule. If there have been
good rains and grass is plentiful, the whole of china is allowed to ripen, if there has been
but little rain and the grass is scant, the whole crop may be used as fodder. China is not
subject to any particular disease.
Tobacco Tabacco is, if properly cultivated, the most paying of all crops. As comparesd with
sugar-cane, it sells for very nearly the same price per kanal, while it only occupies the
soil for three months. It does not require any more manure or frequent watering. It does
not exhaust the soil to same extent. To ensure a good crop of an acrid and pungent leaf
the soil must be heavily manured but another can always be grown after, either jowar or
turnips, or even both. Vegetable, onions, yams, china and melons are usually grown with
cane. A favorable associated crop is china, which is supposed to protect young roots of
the cane from the rays of sun, and also keep the soil cool. China so grown is always used
as fodder. But these associated crops are not nearly as valuable as the crop that follows
tabacco. In preparing soil for tabacco, four ploughings ought to be given, accompanied
by four rolling if required to break the clods. The manure is then spread. Sheep and
goats’ droppings are best for tabacco. This manure is procured from the sheep cots in the
Bar, and costs from Re.1-0 to Re.1-8 per six camel loads. A camel carries about five
maunds. City refuse costs Rs.3 a hundred borahs, containing 50 maunds. On the wells
near Jhang, where tabacco is an important crop, 100 borahs of manure are given to kanal,
about 400 borahs to an acre. The manure is spread and well mixed to the soil with two or
three ploughings. The land is next rolled until all clods are broken. The water channel
and beds are made and the transplant are put in, and watering at once given. The
transplants are obtained thus. The may be purchased at the rate of 4 annas per square
cubit, or be raised by zamindar himself. A marla of seedling is sufficient to plant out a
kanal. The soil of seedling bed is first carefully prepared and well worked. The seeds are
sown broadcast and are covered with an inch thickness of fine manure, and watered. The
seedling bed is covered with grass during yhe frosty months. Transplanting commences
in the middle of Phagan. The watering are given at first three or four days and they
gradually diminish to once aweek. The first weeding and hoeing are given about 25 days
after the transplanting, as soon as the plants have taken god root. To or three hoeing are
given afterwards. Three or four top dressings are given. The roots are seldom manured.

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

The breaking off of the young shoots from stem involves much labour. The flower is also
pulled off. The shoots are plucked off every fourth day for a month. If this is well done,
the tabacco leaves broaden, and the flavour becomes more acrid. Tabacco is cut a little
about ½ a kanal, at a time. It is spread on the ground for three days. The leaves are not
then stripped off, but the plants are heaped on the floor of dark room and covered with
blankets or razais, and remain thus for a week. At the end of week the leaves are stripped
off the stalks, and twisted into ropes and carried off by purchaser. A good deal of
adulteration goes on. Sajji or lime or saltpeter water is sprinkled on the leaf to make it
bitter. Old bulrush mats are burnt, and the ashes mixed with out tabacco. Sand is mixed
with the tabacco twist to make it weigh heavy. The tabacco plant suffers most from the
attacks of the caterpillars with black head. The base of stem is attacked just underneath
the ground. These mula attacks often commences most inconveniently, just when tabacco
is being sold. It is then the zamindar’s care to get up early in the morning and carry off
and burry all the plants that have died during the night. The more rain the worse the mula
attacks. Both ripe and unripe plants are attacked. Rain is only needed to wash off dust
deposited on tabacco leaves by dust stroms, or carry off the tela blight. Tela is worst is
dry season. It is the product of most injurious. All the pungency of leaf is washed out,
and the weight is diminished.
Sugar cane. Sugarcane is grown for gur in the Gilotar and adjoining villages of Kalowal ilaka in the
Chiniot tehsil. In Chiniot itself in Maghiana it is grown to some extent, and sold in
bazaars but it is nit made into gur. Sugarcane is grows best in rich loams, well manured,
in or near the Hithar, where water is very near to the surface. It is once flooded by river
water, so much the better, but the floods are dangerous. Sugarcane requires constant
watering, and if, as in Maghiana, the well is assisted by a jhalar, it is so much the better
for this crop. Not only does jhalar raise more water, but a change from well to river water
seems to greatly benefit to the cane. There is good deal of uncertainty about this crop;
and this, combined with the immense amount of labour needed, and the long time that is
occupies the ground, has brought it into the some disrepute in Maghiana, where rice has
of late year to large extent taken its place. Sugarcane is never grown near Maghiana as
sole crop. Vegetables and china one or other, sometimes both, always accompany it.
Land cannot be ploughed too often for sugarcane, and must be heavily manured. The
cuttings are planted in trenches and lightly covered over with soil, and a watering is at
once given. When the cane plants are three months old and about 2 or 2 ½ feet high, the
trenches are filled up and manure put to their roots. At this time any other that may have
been sown with the cane is pulled up. The cane is ready to cut about the middle of Katik,
but it is often in the ground until Phagan. The crop is hoed four for five times. At the first
it is watered every fourth day up to 1st Jeth or later, and once a week from that time until
it ripens. The worst enemy of sugarcane is white-ant, and constant watering is needed to
keep this pest away. Jackals are also extremely fond of cane. They Chew but do not eat
it. Frosts are injurious if they are early. A frost-beaten cane loses a large portion of its
juice.
Chapter IV,A Rice—very little rice is grown in this district. A little is grown in new silt along the
Agriculture & Jehlum, and there is some rice cultivation on the hither wells of Maghiana and Jhang.
Arboriculture The rice of the Jehlum sailad is a coarse variety, and not much care is taken in its
Rice cultivation. The silt is not ploughed up. The seed is scattered broad cast over the surface
and left to take its chance. If the silt is thick the crop is generally a good one; but if sand

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

is near the surface the rice dries up when the river goes down. The sowings commence in
Sawan-Badru. About 16 lbs. Of seed go to the acre. The crop ripens in three months.
This mode of rice cultivation is called pokh. Another method is to transplant seedlings
into these mud banks. No ploughings are given the seedlings are simply stuck into the
mud. The seedlings are grown time to ripen, cultivated either way. on the Maghiana well
lands the soil is most carefully prepared for rice. Two or three ploughings are given and
the land is well manured. Then when the soil has been well worked, the well beds are
formed the water turned on and the transplanting done by boys. The continual bending
down makes this rather hard work and they are paid liberally. The crop is watered twice a
week. The soil must on no account be allowed to dry up. jhalars are largely used in
Maghiana to assist the wells. Harvest time is in Katik. The seedling beds are prepared
and thee seed sown in Baisakh and Jeth. About two pai, between 12 and 16 lbs, of seed
are used for 8 marlas, and the transplants given are sufficient for an acer. Transplanting is
effected in Sawan in Maghiana. Rice does not suffer from diseases. It is a crop that gives
a heavy yield.
Kangni, Sawak, Kangni, Sawak, Mandua, and Kurla are crops that are grown more or less in
Mandua, Kurla various parts of the district, but the total area under them is insignificant. Sawak and
kurla are seldom seen. Patches are grown on wells for fodder by zamindars who keep
horses, but the grain is seldom threshed. They are grown on will lands as a Kharif crop,
and require constant irrigation. Kangani is grown to some extent on the leased wells in
the Government Bar to the east of Jhang. Stray patches are seen on wells in villages
generally associated with cotton, rarely by themselves. Mandua is more generally grown
in the two southern tahsils, hardly ever in Chiniot. It is soon on stiff saline clays, and
does well where other crops hardly germinate. It is a capital fodder crop, and can
generally by cut twice, often three times if there is rain. In Dauluana in the Kachhi of
Shorkot and adjoining villages, it is largely grown for its grain as a single crop. in other
parts it is more usually found as a mixed crop with cotton. it is sown in Chet, Baishakh,
and reaped in Assu, katik. The land should be ploughed up twice or thrice. The seed is
sown broadcast at the rate of 7.5 lbs. per acer. a watering should be given once a week.
Mandua it may be worth noting, is the ragi of Mysore. The systems of cultivation seem
to be curiously different.
Melons are largely grown all over the district on sailab, well, and rain lands. The rain-
Agriculture & land cultivation is confined to the Bar, and water melons only are, as a rule, sown..
Arboriculture Zamindars say that grow wild in years of good rainfall, and there is no reason for
Melons disbelieving them. In sailab lands the seed is sown with a drill and drills are wide apart.
Two or three ploughings are given and one rolling last of all before the seed is drilled in,
at the rate of about ½ topa a kanal, about 15 lbs. to the acre. Sowings are made in Chet
and the fruit ripens in three months. Sowings are made at intervals. the chief melon
cultivation is, however, on wills in the neighborhood of large villages and towns. The
melons of Jhang and Chiniot are exceptionally good. The land is first irrigated liberally
but not over-manured, then ploughed and rolled. The seeed is sown broadeast at the rate
of about 7-1/2 lbs. to the acre. The seed is sometimes seeped is water and sometimes not.
Young milon plants are benefited by rain, but it is injurious later on. The first sowings
are made in Phagan but most milons are sown in Chet. Melons sown in Phagan on good
cool land are not watered until Ist Chet, but the melon beds are constantly hoed and
weeded. Melons sown in Chet are watered regularly from the first. Well-tended milon

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

fields near a town will be hoed perhaps 10 or 12 times. The crop is generally sold to
Kirars on the ground. They do all the weeding and watching the proprietor or cultivator
being only responsible for watering the crop. The waterings are more frequent when the
plants begin to fruit. Melons do well in a light loam. Round is most injurious to melon on
wells.
Ussu is hardly grown at all in this district. In very favourable rains, a large area is
Ussu sown on the Kachhi wells as a barani crop, and is afterwards watered once or twice. The
preparation is of the roughest description. One ploughing or two are given. The seed is
sown broadcast and ploughed in. The crop is used for fodder. Sowings take place in
Ussu, and Badru. The crops ripen in Chet. Ussu is a hardy, but suffers a little from
worms and caterpillars.
The Division of The division of the crops has now to be described. After the grain has been
the crops threshed and winnowed, it is collected in one heap, and is divided between the landlord
and tenant and kamins. First of all the village mulla’s fee, rasul arwaha, is measured out,
and text that of the village mirasi (Jakh). The remaining grain is then divided between the
landlord and tenant according to the rent conditions. It is measured in topas. The last
portion of the heap is not divided. It is called talwara and is reserved to pay the kamies
have already been noticed at page 90, 91. The weign man generally manges to leave just
in to satisfy these fees, kaminas. If any grain remains over, it is usually made a present
to the tenant. Some hard landlords insist on taking their share. If the talwara is
insufficient, the deficiency is made up from the proprietor’s and cultivators heaps
proportionately to the shares on which the produce is divided. Each carries off his share
and the business is finished.
The reaper’s It is the general custom throughout the district to pay the reaper a daily wage, but in
wage some villages he is paid from the grain heap. The normal pay of a reaper is 3 sheaves
(mohan) for every 100 sheaves reaped and tied. This wood makes his wage 1/34th of the
produce, in reality he manages to obtain a much larger share. Is his wage sheaves are
twice as big as ordinary ones, and istead of one in 34 he really takes two. He also gets a
bunch ears (trarana). In leiah the difference between the reapers the ordinary sheaf is
recognized, and the one is called dharwan (the winner), and the other (harwan) (the
loser). Saras and niras great and small, are also names used. If the reaper is paid from the
grain heap, he takes his fee with the other kamins. His pay is calculated at so much a day
or so much a kanal, rarely at a fixed share of the produce. In one Shorkot village this
latter rate is fixed at 10 topas per kharwar, or 1/16th. For cutting well wheat there is not
much varaion in a ripens of pay, but in the case of sailab lands it has and upwards
tendency. The landlords may be anxious on the score of floods to get his grain in as early
as possible, or the crop may be full of thistless and camel thorn, and the ripears can not
be got to touch it except for pay higher than the ordinary. 0 It is the general custom
throughout the district for the reaper’s fee to be paid to whoever reaps; whether he is the
tenant or not.
The winnower. The winnower is paid at the rate of 1/40th, 4 topas per kharwar. Winnowing is performed
with a reed tray (chhaj) and the man who winnows is called chhajji. He is almost a man
of the sweeper class. His pay is high, but it covers not winnowing only, but all the other
manifold jobs that he does for the proprietor during the year. The threshing (gah karma)
of the grain is usually performed by the tenant’s bullock’s and he is not paid for this
work; but if another man’s bullocks are called in, he takes a regular fee (gahera), or 1 or

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

2 topas per yoke per day. There are sum exceptions to the above rule in the case of
upland well, where there is sum difficulty in obtaining. A topa or a topa-a-and-half is
allowed out of the talwara heap, half of which goes to the proprietor and half to the
tenant.
Table No. XXI shows the estimated average yield in lbs. per acre of each of the principal
Average yield, staples as shown in the Administration Report of 1881-82 while below will be found the
Production and more detailed estimates which were used to calculate the value of the gross produce for
Consumption of purposes of assessment in the settlement of 1880. the total consumption of food grains by
food grains the population of the district as estimated in 1878 for the purposes of the Famine Report
is shown in maunds in the margins
Grain Agriculturists Non Agriculturists Total
Wheat 378,418 703,545 1,081,963
Inferior Grains 312,194 226,139 538,333
Pulses 233,432 326,646 582,078
Total 946,044 1,256,330 2,202,374
The figures are based upon an estimated population of 348,027 souls. On the other hand
the average consumption per head is believed to have been over-estimated. A rough
estimate of the total production, exports, and imports of food grains was also framed for
the same time; and it was stated (“Page 152, faming report”) that some 200,000 maunds
were imported on the average in each year to meet the local consumption. Of this three-
quarters were said to be wheat and the remainder gram, Bajra, and seed. The import were
chiefly from shah pur, Mianwali – Dera-Ismail Khan, and Mintgomery.
The assumed yield in munds per acre on the various soils for different crops used by Mr.
Settlement rates Stead Man in the recent assessment is given below for Jhang and Shorkot. the Chiniot
of yield per acer produce estimates were framed by Mr. Fryer and or not given by Mr. Stead Man
Circle Tehsil Assumed wheat yield per acer
Chahi Chahi Saliab Sailaba Barani
Khalis
River JehlumJhang 9 10 7.5 5.5

River ChenabJhang 9 9 6.5 5.5


Shorkot 9 10 7.5 6
Center Jhang 9 9 6.5 -
Chenab Shorkot 9 10 6.5 6
Center Jhang 9 10 7.5 5.5
Jehlum
Kachhi Jhang 8 - 6 5.5
Shorkot 8 10 - 5
Bar Jhang 8-1/2 - - -
Shorkot 9 - 6.5 6
Utar vichanhJhang 8-1/2 9 6 -

For jowar, Cotton, and barley the differentiated rates were

Tehsil Soil Cotton Jowar Barley


Shorkot Mds Mds Mds

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Chahi Khails 4 6 10
Chahi Sailaba & 5 7 11
Salaba, Barani 3 5 8

Tehsil Soil Circle Cotton Jowar Barley


Mds Mds Mds
Chahi Khails River & Center Jehlum 5 7 11
Rest of Tehsil 4 6 10
Jhang Chahi Sailab River & Center Jehlum 5 7 12
Rest of Tehsil 4 6 10
Sailab & Barani River & Center Jehlum 3 5 8
Rest of Tehsil 3 5 7
Arboriculture Table No. XVII shows the whole area of waste land which is under the management of
and Forests the Forest Department. The whole 123 square miles are unreserved forests. Their nature
and administration are discussed in Section B of Chapter V.
The Figures below show the forests of the district under the control of the Forest
Department. They adjoin the Bar forests of the Gujranwala district. They are studded
with a low open jungle of jand (prosopis spiciogers) van, karil(capparis aphylla); and
mall,(zizyphus mummularia), some times one, sometimes another predominating; but
never of such magnitude as to produce the impression of a forest. The trees are stunted,
often decayed and fit for nothing but firewood. The ground however is, in seasons of a
fair rain fall, thickly covered with grasses of various sorts, many of them excellent
fodder, and the importance and value of the tract for purposes of pasture is undoubted.
The soil is comparatively rich, and only requires irrigation to be fairly productive. The
wood produce is some 45 to 50 miles distant from any centre of consumption, and it is
therefore difficult to utilize it. The rocks came under the forest Department on 5 th august
1872. The Government right in the land is absolute there being no village rights in the
tract. The grazing lets for some Rs. 10,000 yearly. It is proposed to declare this area as a
protected forest, and to include it in the Gujranwala district, with the forest of which is
continuous.
Name of Forests Area Acers Name of Forests Area Acers
Uchkera 3589 Brought Forward 43670
Ahlniwh 7355 Kirana 7333
Gilana 6338 Butwali 6357
Musrana 6356 Saidpura 6400
Azri 5942 Shadiwali 7161
Kazianwali 5592 Ghari 6873
Farranwall 8498 Shahkot 4098
43670 Total Acers 81892

SECTION B-DOMESTIC ANIMALA


Domestic
Animals
According to the Punjab Administration Report of 1878-79 the stock of this district was
Stock statistics
as below. Further details are given in Table No. XXII:-
Cows and Horses Ponis Donkeys Sheep and Camels
Buffalos Goat
124,250 1,752 236 3,297 221,560 9,399

These figures appear to be open to suspicion. According to the enumeration of 1875 the last

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that was made for Tirni purposes the number of cattle were-
Cows & Bullocks Buffaloes Sheep and Goats Camels
127,310 29,928 271,011 20,162
This enumeration is probably nearer the mark than the one given in the Administration
Report although the difficulties attendant of numbering cattle in this district is enormous.
The horses of this district deservedly bear a high reputation. The mares are esteemed by
Horses competent judges to be among the best in the Punjab. A horse fair is held annually and
prizes distributed, but the fair is not very popular among the people, and the Tahsildars
have generally to make an energetic “whip” to get the zamindars in. There are an
enormous number of different breeds of horses recognized among themselves by the
zamindars of this district. They are usually named from some particular mares of super-
excellent quality, and belong to a particular family.
Name of Breed Name of Breeders
Hassian Muhammad Khan and other baloch of Chhatta
Pabni Bharwanas of Khewa and Mukiana
Kajlan Sayads and Ratta Matta
Garrian Sayads of Kot Isa Shah
Matwalian Liwanas of Rajanas
Mornian Sayads of Ahamd Pur
Jiwanian Alianas of Kot Khan
A few of the best known are mentioned in the margin. According to native opinion a
mare ought not to be put to a horse, before she is 3-1/2 years old, and there are two
proper seasons one in Chet-Baisakh (15-March to 15-May) the other Assu-katik (15-
September to 15 November). The foal lives on the dam’s milk alone for the first month
only. In the second other milk is given in addition. Camel’s milk is most esteemed; if it
cannot be procured, cows or goat’s milk is given. The milk is sweetened with sugar and
is given in small quantities at first; and is gradually increased to as much as five or six
seers a day. The foal is weaned one six months old from the mare, but continuesed to be
given other milk for from 4 to 6 months longer. Grams soked in the milk are given.Colts
are allowed to run loose in the young wheat, and also given jawar and moth.Breaking in
commences when they are two years old. They are at first readen barep-back. An amble
is the favourite pace but an accomplished mare is taught to go through many other
exercises. A horse in this district is considered to be full of work up to the age of 12 or
13 years, and to deteriorate after wards. A mare will go on producing foals until she is 15
years old.
Every horse breeder sows early half, or a quarter of an acre with wheat, or mixed wheat
and barley to afford green food at early date for his Horses. This is ready a good month
before ordinary wheat.A good deal of importance is attached to this point, and the
Zamindars vie among themselves to have the best and earliest khawied.Grain is given
regularly by wealthy men, but, as a rule, ordinary zamindars only give it when they can’t
get green food or fodder in (Patthe), it is not given as a matter of course. To get horse
into splendid condition you stall him in a darkened shed with green wheat up to his
hocks, in much the same way as fat cattle are fed at Home with straw up to their kness.
Boiled moth and mah mixed with molsses and turmeric is also given. The process takes
30 days, and at the end of the time the horse comes out as fat as butter, and unfit to do
any work whatever. The names of a horse according to age are given below:-

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To 6 To 3 To 3-1/2 To 4-1/2 To 6 After 6


months years years years years years
Horse Bachhera Sarral Ghaussa Panjsala Malee
Doak
Mare Bachheri Bihan la Panj

The colours in this district are kumait, dark bay; kakka, kumait, chestnut; lakha, light
bay, sawa, grey, nukra, white, china, roan, gorra, piebald, mushki, Kulla something
between a light bay and light brown. A horse colour ought always to be bright. Among
the unlucky spots on a hoe are the following:-

 Tara peshani a small white star or blaze on the forehead. This is an abominable
mark; of the horse has a white face, it is all right.
 Arjal two ligs or on different on colour from the rest of the body. If they are all
four the same colour it is a good point; four white stockings are good two bad and
one very bad.
 Bhawrian are rough spots on the coat not liked especially in near the tail.
 Gara eyes of different colours.
Partnership in horses is carried in this district to an extent unknown in most other parts of
the Punjab. It is called bhiwali. A share in a horse is called sum. A one quarter share is
pair, a one-eight do band and a one –sixteenth tankala band. To be partners with another
man in a mare is the next thing to and very nearly as good as being his relation. Strong
objection are sometimes made in Court a witness on the ground that he, and the party
who called him, held shares in the same horses. No rules whatever regulate the feeding or
keeping of a mare held in partnership. If one of the sharers wants her, he sends for her. It
is a point of honour for the partner who has temporary charge of the mare to keep her in
first class condition as long as he has her. If she gets into heat the arranges to put her to a
horse. A partner who rears the foal of a mare held jointly till it is two years old is entitled
to a one-quarter share in addition to his original share in the remaining three-fourth share.
This is known as hak sambh. A horse‘s hide in not used in any manufacture and is
considered worthless.
Camels The camels of this district are divided into the Thal camels, Thalwan, and those of the
Bars, Bari. The Thal camel is a much lighter beast than the Bar camel and cannot carry
so heavy a load. The female becomes in heat when 3 years old, in the months of Maghar-
Chet. The period of gestation is 13 months. The foal is only allowed to suck a small
quantity of mild for the first fifteen days. After that the foal sucks at will and begins to
browse after 21 or 22 days. Weaning takes place when the foal is 12 months old. The
udder of the dam is tied up in b bag. A camel is first loaded when 3 years old, and broken
into the nose string. To start with, not more than 3 maunds is the load. A full grown
camel carries 8 maunds. A laden camel will go double stages or from 20 to 30 miles a
day comfortably. Only males are as a rule, laden. A male camel of average quality used
to be worth Rs. 60, and a female Rs. 80. Prices have gone up at least 50 per cent of late
owing to the demand for camels for work in Afghanistan.Sikhs and others from the
Manjha by up the surplus stock annually. A camel is not an affectionate animal. He is
spiteful and bears malice, and shutar kina is the climax of revengefulness. The names for
the camels at different ages given below:-
To 1 To 2 To 3 To 4 To 5 To 6 To 7 To 8

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

year year year year year year year year


Male Toda Mazat Lihak Chhat Doak Chhig Nesh Nesh
r a
Femal Todi do Puraf Lihari Troka Troka Kutcli kutcli
e r r
After 8 years and thenceforth the male is called armosh or ut and the female jharot. A
camel is shorn annually, and the hair made into ropes and borahs used by camel me. The
hide is worth from Rs. 2 to 3 and is made into kuppis jars for carrying ghi.
The bullocks of this district are very poor, undersized beasts. They are not bred with any
Bullocks and care, and the Zimandars do not purchase the high class bullocks that are bred in Sindh
Buffaloes and Dera Ghazi Khan. A bullock is put to work when 4 years old and works well until he
is 9 or 10. A bullock’s age averages from 12 to 13 years.Buffaloes are hardly used at all
for agricultural purposes in this district. If a male is calved, his throat is cut and he is
devoured within a few hours of his birth. Bullocks are fed from Maghar to Magh on
turnips, bhusa and cotton seed; from Phagan to Baisakh on green pea stalks, methra
wheat and grass; from jeth to Katik on jowar, rowan, china, bhusa and grass. A bullock is
called vachha to 1 year, vahraka to 3 years, vahr to 5 years, and then he becomes a dand.
A buffalo is katta for the first twelve months, and Jhota afterwards. On the average (and
a poor average it is) a bullock is worth Rs. 20 and a buffalo Rs. 15. The skins of dead
sold to them by non-agriculturists. A bullock’s hide is worth Rs. 1 a buffalo’s Rs. 2.
Cows and female buffaloes commence to breed when they are 5 and 6 years old
Cows and milch respectively. The period of gestation in each case is 9 and 10 months. For the first 3 days
Buffaloes after birth the calf is only allowed a little milk. The milk is then too rich for the calf’s
digestion. The first day’s milk is called bauhli and that of the 2nd and 3rd, hoblu. Calves
are weaned when three months old. After three months they graze and are only allowed
to suck for a few moments to please the cow. Where in the case of a buffalo the calf is is
a male and is devoured without delay various artifices are used to indue the buffalo to
give milk. On the average a cow gives 2-1/2 and a buffalo 5, seers of milk a day,
including all the good bad and indifferent cattle that are in the district. a cow gives 5 and
a buffalo gives 7 calves. Zimandars will never sell milk. It is one of the strict points of
honour not to do so.Ghi is produced and exported to a large extent. With a good year of
grass in the Bar,milk or buttermilk is worthless. It is often for easier to get then water.
Hindu shopkeepers attach themselves to all the large herds of cattle in the Bar in
favorable years and buy up the ghi. It goes from Chiniot to Amritsar and Lahore and
from the southern portion of the district to Multan and Karachi. The names for cows and
buffaloes of different ages will be found in the margin. Cow and buffalo hides are worth
much the same as those of bullocks and male buffaloes.
Cow Buffalo
To 1 year Vachhi Katti
To 3 year Vahri Jhoti
First calf Dhanap Garap
afterwards Gai Majh
Sheep and Goat Sheep and goats are among the most useful stock of the district. The ewes are put to the
tup when 1-1/2 years old. The period of gestation is six months. From one to three lambs
are produced at a birth; for the first 20 days the lamb gets all the small portion of the
milk. Afterwards the lamb begins to browse and is only given a small portion of the milk.

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

The ewe gives milk for four months. Lambs and kids aids are always kept separate from
their dams. when their full supply of milk is stopped green shoots and branches of kikar,
ber and etc are given them to nibble. Sheep are shorn twice a year in September- October
and April – May. About a seer of wool is given in the two sheerings. Wool is now a very
valuable commodity, and Zimandars say that flock masters in the Thal wear bracelets of
gold. It mostly goes down to Karachi. The figures below give the price of Bar wool and
also of goat’s hair at Maghiana for the last twenty years, in rupees per maund. Thal wool
is cheapers Sheep skins are used for making women’s shoes. Covering saddles, etc. as
for as the age at which put to the male, number of kids produced, and method of rearing,
there is lardly any difference between sheep and goats. A goat gives from 2 seers to 1/4 th
seer of milk a day; nothing is a made from the milk. A goat is usually killed when 5 or 6
years old. Sheep and goats produce about 5 times. Goat’s hair is shorn every six months,
and is made into pannier, bags, saddle bags, ropes, nose bags, salitas, etc. it is called jat.
The names of sheep and goats according to age are given below.
Sheep Goats
Female Male Male Female
To 6 months Leli Lela Bakra, Pathora Pathori
To 1 year Ghirapi Ghirap Chhilota Kharap
Afterwards Bhed Chhatra Chhela Chheli

Donkeys The donkeys can hardly be called agricultural stock. No Zimandars own one or would
tide on one. They belong to Kirars and kamins, chiefly machhis. They are used to carry
manure form the sheep-folds on to the land, and in various other ways. The donkey of
these parts is of the most ordinary description.

Occupations of the
people. SECTION C-OCCUPATIONS INDUSTRIES, AND
MANUFACTURES.
Tale no XXIII shows the principal occupations followed by males of over 15 years of
age as returned at the Census of 1881. But the figures are perhaps the least satisfactory of
all the Census statistics, for reasons explained in the Census Report and they must be
taken subject to limitations which are given in some detail in Part II Chapter VIII of the
same Report.
Population Towns Villages
Agricultural 5,194 168,346
Non-Agricultural 31787 189,969
Total 36,981 358,315
The figures in table no XXIII refer only to the population of 15 years of age and over.
The figures in the margin show the distribution of the whole population into agricultural
and non-agricultural, calculated on the assumption that the number of women and
children dependent upon each male of over 15 years of age is the same, whatever his
occupation. These figures, however, include as agricultural only such part of the
population as are agriculturalists pure and simple; and exclude not only the considerable
number who combines agriculture with other occupations, but also the much larger
number who depend in the great measure for their livelihood upon the yield of
agricultural operations. The more detailed figures for the occupations of both males and

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

females will be found at pages 133 to 142 of Table No. XIIA, and in Table No.XIIB of
the sensus report of 1881. The figures for females occupations are exceedingly
incomplete.
Jhang is not a commercial district. Most of the commerce is local and petty. Of the total
Commercial sown as commercial population, the chief are the banias or petty shop-keepers, who
classes number nearly half of the whole; next in numerical importance come traders in salt; and
next dealers in grain. The Khojas are the wealthiest traders in the district. The Khojas of
Chiniot trade chiefly in ghi, cotton, wool, leather and horns, which they export to
Calcutta and Bombay, and import thence cloth, indigo and silk.
Table no XXIV gives statistics of the manufacturers of the district as they stood in 1881-
Principal 82. On the subject the Deputy Commissioner wrote as follows in the District Census
industries and Report for 1881.
manufactures. The industrial classes are chiefly composed of paolis or weavers. Their women assist
them largely in their handicraft and some 1,200 women are shown as occupied in
preparing the warp for weaving. Beside this spinning and grinding corn are the principal
female occupations. Women do not work in the fields in Jhang. The paolis form nearly a
third of the entire industrial classes, and are chiefly to be fond in villages, there being 15
weavers in the villages to 2 in the towns. They are greatest in numbers in the Jhang
Tehsil. In Jhang you find every class and tribe represented among the weavers. Even
poor Sials do not despise the profits to be obtained by throwing the shuttle.The mochis
are the next in numerical in importance, than potters, than basket and mat makers (chaj
pattel bananewala) carpentars, pinjaras or cotton cleaners, and charohas or washermenj.
Chiniot is remarkable for its wood work; also for its namdahs, which are cheap and of
excellent quality. Very fine decorated door frames are made there. Also vine Kalamdans
or pen-cases boxes and kajawas. Carved and foliated work and geometrical and foliated
tracery suitable for balconies doors, door-posts and other architectural adjuncts can also
be made. Some beautiful specimen of wood work has been made for Lahore exhibition.
Kot Isa Shah is remarkable for colored wood-work, legs of charpais etc. First rate saddles
and harness are made in the towns of Jhang Maghiana. The shoes of Maghiana are
valued for their fine embroidered gold work. Very good imitation Chubb locks are made
in Jhang and are exported to other districts.
Mr. Lockwood Kipling, Principal of the Lahore School of Art, has kindly furnished the
following note on some of the special industries of the district.
“There is no export from Jhang of enameled ware or of articles of silversmith’s work,
but it is evident from the contributions from Maghiana to the Punjab Exhibition of 1882,
that silver enamel is wrought there, though not perhaps with the neatness and finish that
distinguish the work of Multan.
Chiniot, in this district, has long had a reputation for its carpentry and wood-carving. In
the native scheme town life the house is frequently built to fit the irregular space at the
owner’s disposal and its chief decorative features are elaborately ornamented doors and
window frames which are often brought from considerable distances; just as
Scandinavian doors and the like are now brought ready made to London. It is for this
kind of work that the Chiniot wood carvers are chiefly known. The wood used is usually
shisham, locally tahli. The design of this really admirable work though ornate and
tending like many other branches of modern Indian art, to excessive minuteness is still
remarkably pure and good. The carving is sharp and clear, the mergols or spandrels of

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

the arches and the details of the pilasters are correctly drawn, while the free use of panels
of geometric tracery of an Arabic character, both framed and carven, gives an air of
solidity and richness. it is surprising that no use has hitherto been made either by private
persons or by the Government of the best and cheapest carpentry in province.
“At Chiniot also is wrought an inlay of brass is shisham wood, bearing the general
Course and resemblance to that of Hoshiarpur, but much bolder, freer, and better in design. This is
nature of trade applied to desks, glove boxes, & c. but is obviously capable of more varied and extensive
application. The contrast of the brass with the dark wood is most effective.”
Imports There are no statistics available for the general trade of the district. Table No XXV
gives particular of the river traffic that passes through the district. The imports of food
grains have already been noticed at page 121. Jhang is an importing district, especially as
regards food grains. Cloth and Manchester goods come from Multan and Calcutta, partly
by rail and partly on camels. Lime is brought down the Jhelam from Khushab. Wheat is
imported from Vazirabad, Jalapur to the east of Gujrat, Khushab, and Multan in boats,
and from Chunian on camels. Jowar, gram, barley, moth, mung and oil seeds are brought
on camels from Kamalia, Sirsa and Firozpur. Some wheat alos comes from Firozpur at
times. Rice is sent on camels from Amritsar and Lahore. Oil and oil seeds are imported
from Amristar and Bhakar in Dera Ismail Khan. Moist sugar comes from Muzaffarnagar,
Jullundur and Amristar by rail and camels. Raw sugar (gur) is brought from Sialkot and
Muzaffarnagar, and humb sugar from Multan. Fruits are brought down from Ghazni and
Kandahar by powindahs. Species condiments, and drugs come from Amristar. Timber is
floated down the Chenab from Vazirabad and Kashmir territory. Cotton and thread are
brought on camels from Dipalpur, Multan, Firozpur and Shahpur. Hardware comes up
from Karachi in boasts not by rail. Amristar also supplies a little. Camel’s donkeys and
boats bring salt from Khushab and Pind Dadan Khan, and alum from Kalabagh.
The export trade of this district consists mainly of a coarse description of cloth, khaddar,
Exports which is made in the district and sold chiefly to powindah merchants. In 1879 eight lakhs
of rupees, worth of this cloth was sold in Maghiana alone. Most goes to Afghanistan and
Prices weights not a little to Dera Ismail Khan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Sakhi Sarwar, and Mooltan. The
and measures, means of conveyance are camels. Boats are hardly ever used. Soap is sent in large
and quantities to Nuppur, in the Shahpur district, to Kalabagh, Dera Ismail Khan, and the Salt
communication Range country, on donkeys, and camels.
Export. Wool is export to Karachi and Firozpur. In favorable years immense quantities of
ghi are produced in the Bar, and are exported to Amritsar, Firozpur, Bannu and Dera
Ismail Khan, on camels, and to Karachi by boat. The sajji of this district goes to
Amirtsar, Sialkot Gojranwala and Wazirabad. The Principal marts are Maghiana and
Chiniot. Kot Esa Shah, Wasu Astana and Ahmad pur are busy villages. Coarse cloth,
wool, sajji and soap, hides and ghi, are the exports. Food grains sugar in various forms,
and miscellaneous articles, are all imports.

SECTION D.PRICES WEIGHTS AND MEASURES AND

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Prices, wages, COMMUNICATIONS.


rent rates,
interest.
Table No. XXVI gives the retail bazaar prices of commodities for the last twenty
years. The wages of labour are shown Table No. XXXII and rent rates in Table No. XXI;
but both sets of figures are probably of doubtful value. The figures of Table No. XXXII
give the average values of land in rupees per acre,
Period Sale. Mortgage.
Rs. A Rs. A

1868-69 to 1873-74 12 2 6 15
1874-75 to 1877-78 17 8 11 15
1878-79 to 1881-82 20 14 15 14
Shown in the margin, for sale and mortgage, but the quality of land varies so
enormously, and the value returned is so often fictitious, that but little reliance can be
placed upon the figures. The wages of agricultural labour in the villages have already
been noticed in Chapter III (page 89), and rent rates and the selling price of land in the
same Chapter at pages 86-88 and 93-95. These figures are taken from the Settlement
Report, and are more trustworthy than those of the table quoted above.
The following are the village prices of the chief agricultural staples used for the
conversion of produce estimates into money at the settlement of 1880:-
Prices of Kharif Rabi
agricultural Cotton Jowar Mahmu Til Bajra Whe Gram
staples. ng at
Chiniot 121/2 321/2 23 15 273/4 30 333/4
Jhang 121/2 34 28 151/2 27 30 40
1/2 1/2
Shorkot 12 32 Mah 27 15 27 30 36
Mung
30
On these prices Mr. Steedman remarks :-
“I do not think the adopted prices are too high. They rather err on the side of lowness. It
is probable that the average price-current of the next 20 years will show considerably
higher rates. The opening of the railway to Karachi and the thereby increased facility for
exporting grain to Europe will most certainly tend to keep up the prices of food grains in
the Punjab. It will prevent all accumulation of grain. As soon as the price of wheat falls
to the point at which it becomes profitable to export it to Europe, it will be exported and
prices will hardly ever fall below this minimum. In Jhang the prices of food grains
depend almost entirely upon the prices ruling in other districts. A good harvest does not
necessarily bring down prices, unless harvests elsewhere are good and prices fallen. The
food grains produced in Jhang do not suffice for the consumption of the resident
population, and large imports are made from outside districts. The wheat harvest of 1878
was above the average and that of 1879 a bumper crop. Yet prices were higher after both
than during the famine year of 1868-69. If exportation to Europe maintains the prices of
the food grains in the Punjab at a steady high rate, prices in this district will be generally
a little higher, because the home production is deficient and the price of grain grown in
Jhang will always tend to rule at a rate equal to the grain in adjoining districts, plus the

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

cost of carriage to Jhang. For these reasons, I think that the prices assumed are far more
likely to be lower than higher than future prices”.
The liner measure used in Jhang is
Weight and 1 quarter ana 1 inch
measures. 24 inches 1 hath (hand)
3 haths 1 karam or double pace
3 karams 1 Kan
4 kans 1 chain of 66 feet.
The square measure is---
1 square karam 1 sirsai
9 sirsais or 1 square kan 1 marla
20 marlas 1 kanal
4 kanals 1 bigha
2 bighas 1 ghomao = acare
The country karam is some six inches longer than the karam used in the Setllement
survey. Otherwise there is no difference in the two measures. In measuring up crops that
have been sold standing the rate is usually so much per kanal of 22 marlas. The extra two
marlas are allowed to compensate for bare patches water courses and borders. Melons,
green wheat, tobacco, sugar cane. turnips ,&c ,are near large towns sold in this way.
There is only one measure of capacity throughout the district:-
4 thulas 1 paropi
4 paropis 1 topa
4 topas 1 pai
20 pais 1 bhora
40 pais 1 khalwar
The topah is the standard, and the other measures vary proportionately to the
variation in the topah. The topah is nominally two seers in weight, but generally
something under. Wheat is the standard, and there is of course the difference between the
weight of a topah of wheat and a topah of other grain. In this district the topah varies
from 11/2 seers to 2 seers through 13/4 17/8 1 1/1 5/6.
There are several ways of using the topah. When the measure is so held that only grain
actually in the measure is given, it is said
To be used gokhu. If some grain is piled up on the thumb and finger between which the
rim is held it is said to be used chappa. There is only one measure of weight.
16 chittacks 1 seer of 80 tolas
40 seers 1 maund
Cotton is sold by weight and also wool and goat’s hair. Ghi is purchased from the Bar
graziers by the kachcha seer of 3/8 th seer.The figures in the margin show the
Prices weights communications of the district as returned in quinquennial Table No. 1 of the
and measures, Communication Miles
and Navigable rivers 166
communication Unmetalled roads 954
s. Administration Report for 1878-79, while Table No. XLVI shows the distances from
place to place as authoritatively fixed for the purpose of calculating traveling allowances.
Table No. XIX shows the area taken up by Government for communications in the

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

district.
The Chenab and Jehlam which unite in this district at Trimmu ferry are navigable
Rivers for country craft throughout their courses in this district. The ferries and the distances
between them are shown below, following the downward course of each river:-
Rivers Stations Distanco in miles Remarks.
Chenab Sheikhan Ferry
Chiniot 12 Do
Sajanke 10 Do
Tahli mangeni 10 Do
Thatta Muhammad 7 Do
shah 5 Do
Chorgalli 6 Do
Ali pur 3 Do
Billi 4 Do
Jhang 4 Do
Mohal Do

Jehlam Kot isa shah Do


Mari 7 Do
Kalera 8 Do
Kot khan 5 Do
Sahjher 4 Do
Machahiwal 6 Do
Shahidan wala 5 Do
Kot maldeo 8 Do
Chauntra 7 Do

Joint jhelam and Timmu 4 Ferry and boat bridge


Chenab Haveli Bahadur shah 8 Ferry
Islampur 5 Do
Hassu wali 6 Do
Badh Rajbana 7 Do
Kharanwala 6 Do
Dab kalan 7 Do
Kacha Kamira 6 Do
Faqir Sial 6 Do
The bridge of boats is of the utmost value indeed almost indispensable in the interests of
the powindahs and passengers by the mail cart the difficulty and trouble attendant on
embarking a refractory camel in a ferry boat is only equaled by th roughness of the
measures taken. Zamindars much prefer to cross the rivers when in flood on inflated
skins. The passage is effected much quicker there is no waiting for the boat, and there is
no charge. Zamindars, even of the best class, prefer the sarnai to the ferry boat.
The main line of road is that from Dera Ismail Khan to Chichawatni on the Lahore and
Prices, weights Multan Railway. There is a mail cart service between Chichawatni and Chah Bhareri,a
and measures, distance of 88 miles, under the management of the Deputy Commisssioner of Jhang, and
and beyond Chah Bhareri under the district authorities of Dera Ismail Khan. The road from
communication chah Bherari to within a mile or two of Tobha TEK Singh, some 56 miles in length, is
s. annually laid down with sar grass. There is considerable passenger traffic by the mail cart
Roads. line, and during the cold weather months the road is thronged with strings of camels
belonging to the powindah merchants of Afghanistan passing to and from the Railway
Station of Chichawatni. The two other principal lines of road are from Wazirabad to
Mooltan running along the Chenab through the towns of Jhang, Chiniot, and shorkot and

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

from Jhang to Shahpur, which crosses the Chenab north of Jhang, and goes thence to Kot
Isa Shah and along the Jhelam. A considerable amount of traffic passes between Lahore
and Chiniot on the road that runs through the Bar. Another road runs up from
Muzafargarh through Rangpur, Ahmadpur, and Garh Maharaja to 18 Hazqari and up
north through machhiwal to Girot and Khushab. There is some little use made of the road
from Jhang to Ghapni and Gugera. The other roads are purely district roads, and scareely
made use of except by residents of the district. The old road to Leiah, branching off from
the Dera Ismail khan line at Atharah Hazari, was of some importance when Leiah was
the head quarters of a Commissionership, but is little frequented now. Besides the bridge
of boats over the Chenab at Trimmu and a culvert here and there on the main roads, there
are no bridges in the district.
There are good sarais at all the principal places of the district and along the more
important roads, viz; at Chiniot, Bhowana, Khiva, Jhang, Bhagri, Shorkot, Nalea,
Roranwali, Toba Tek Singh, Bhamb, Atharah Hazari, Chah Bhareri, and at several
places in the interior of the Bar. In the matter of rest house, not a single distrit in the
Punjab is as well off as Jhang. There are first class bungalows at Chiniot, Bokhari, Toba
Tek Singh, Shorkot, Ahmadpur, Chund, and Kot Isa Shah. Besides these there, are good
houses, interior sarai rooms, or poky little police bungalows at or within reach of every
place of importance. Otherwise it would be impossible to be away from the Sadr,for
Jhang, as Mr. Monckton notes, ‘’is a reigion destitute of living groves and shady groves.
The table given on the next page shows the principal roads of the district together with
the halting places on them, and the conveniences for travelers to be found at each.
Communications on th road from Chichawatni Railway Station to Jhang are sometimes
interrupted in the rains by floods on the Ravi River along the part of the road between the
river ravi Kamalia town. Similarly communication with Dera Ismail Khan is rendered
difficult during the rains by floods in the Chenab at the Trimmu ferry. On each of the
rivers in questions there is a bridge of boats; the Ravi bridge stands the whole year
round, but the Chenab bridge is dismantled during the hot season.

Route. Halting District Remarks.


place. in
miles.
Wazirabad to Chiniot Encamping ground and serai
Mooltan bungalow,unmetailed
Bokhari 9 Encamping ground and
saral bungalow, unmetailed.
Bhowan 14 Encamping ground sarai and
a police bungalow unmet ailed.
Khiva 13 Encamping ground sarai
and plice bungalow unmetailed
Jhang 16 Encamping ground and dak
bungalow, unmatailed.
Baghri 12 Encamping gound and
sarai bungalow, unmetailed.
Havali 5 Rest, house unmetailed.
Bahadur
Shah
Kaim 12 Encamoing ground unmetailed.
Shorkot 10 Encamping ground sarai,bungalow
and rest house unmetailed.

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Basti 10 Encamoing ground unmetailed


islam
Lalera 12 Encamping ground and police
bungalow, unmetailed.
Jhang to shah pur Jhang Encaping ground dak bungalow and sarai
unmetailed.
Chund 11 Encamping ground and rest
Bherwa house unmetailed.
na
Bhamb 9 Encamping ground and
sarai, bungalow unmetailed.
Kot isa 9 Encamping ground and
Shah rest house unmetailed.
Chechawatni to Dera Tobha Encamping dad bungalow and sarai unmetailed.
Ismail khan tek sing
Roran 10 Sarai bungalow and
wali encamping ground unmetailed.
Jhang 13 Encamping ground
dak bungalow and sarai unmetailed.
Diraj 11 Rest house, unmetailed.
Athara 6 Encamping ground unmet ailed.
Hazari
Bhareri 13 Encamping ground and dak bungalow,
untemailed.
Khushab to Ahmad Encamping ground and rest house
Muzafargarh pur unmetailed
Garh 16 Police bungalow, unmetailed.
Maharaj
a
Mad 10 Encamping ground and police
Mapal bungalow, unmetailed
Tiba 10 Encamping ground unmet ailed.
Gapli
Atha 10 Encamping ground and sarai
Hazari bungalow unmetailed
Machah 14 Encamping ground and police
iwal bungalow, unmetailed
Chandn 12 Encamping ground unmet ailed.
a
Bullo 12 Encamping ground and sarai
bungalow unmetailed
Jhang to Barola Encamping ground unmet ailed.
Ghapni 10 Encamping ground and sarai
bungalow unmet ailed
Samund 18 Encamping ground and sarai bungalow
ri unmet ailed
There are also minor roads all unmetailed from Jhang to Shah Kot 70 miles,---
Chiniot to Shahpur 26 miles Chiniot to Khurian wala 24 miles—Dijkot to Ghapni 16
miles,---- Shorkot to sarai sindh 5 miles,--Kaim to Tobha Tek Singh 27 miles, Shorkot to
Bherari24 miles, Shorkot to Sanasi, 25 miles, Shorkot to Kamalia 23 miles, Lalian to
Koh Keranana, 8 miles, Kerana to Barana 16 miles—Lalian to Kalowal 15 miles—Lalian
to Kandiwal 10 miles, Chiniot to Shah Kot 30 miles, Shekhan to pakka mari 32 miles,
&c. on which there are no fixed halting places.

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

The three dak bungalows are completely furnished and provided servants. The
police bungalows and district rest houses have furniture, crockery and cooking utensils,
but no servants.

There are imperial Post Offices at Jhang Sadar, Jhang City, Chiniot Shorkot Ahmad pur
Post Offices Athara Hazari Barana Chhatta, Garh Maharaja, Kot Esa Shah, Kot Shakir, Lalian, and
Machahiwal. Money Order Offices and Saving Banks are combined with the post offices
at Jhang Sadar, Jhang City, Chiniot, Shorkot, Athara Hazari, Kot Esa Shah, Lalian and
Machahiwal.
There is no Railway Telegraph line in the district. The nearest Railway or Telegraph
Telegraph. Station is Chichawatni on the Mooltan line, 56 miles from Jhang.

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Chapter V,A. CHAPTER V.


General Administration.
Executive and Judicial. ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE.
SECTION A___GENERAL.
Chapter V.A. The Jhang district is under the control of the Commissioner of
Mooltan, who is also Civil and Sessions Judge. The ordinary headquarters staff
of the district consists of Deputy Commissioner and two Extra Assistant
Commissioners. Each tahsil is in charge of a Tahsildar assisted by Naib-
Tahsildar, a Kanungo, and a Naib-Kanungo. The table below gives the patwari
TAH TAHSIL STATISTICS. NUMBE CIRCLE
SIL R OF PAY.
Numbers of villages

PATWA
RIS.
Khasra Holdings Revenue. Highest Lowest A

Patwaris.
Numbers.

Naib.
Rs. A. P. Rs. A. P R

Chini 265 304,112 27,177 97,209 35 5 16 8 0 9 0 0 12


ot
Jhang 258 508,861 39,453 1,55,109 53 8 17 12 0 9 8 0 11

Shork 189 210,844 19,844 1,12,292 41 6 16 8 0 9 0 0 12


ot
Distri 812 1,018,040 86,474 3,64,790 134 19 11
ct
statistics for each tahsil:
There are two Munsiffs in the district; one has juridiction within the Jhang and
Shorkot tahsil, and the other within the Chiniot tahsil, and some of the villages
of the Jhang tahsil lying on the right side of the road from Jhang to Shahpur.
The statistics of civil and revenue litigation for the last five years; are given in
Table No. XXXIX.

Criminal, police, and Class of Total DISTRIBUTION


goals. Police strength
Standing
Protection and detection.
Guards.
District 351
395
Municip 65
65
ail 44 5
5
River 9
9
Ferry

Total 474 44 430

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

The police force is controlled by a District Superintendent. The strength of


the force is shown in the margin. In addition to this force, 485 village
watchmen are entertained and paid for by a house tax levied from villagers by
lambardars.
The statement on the opposite page gives the number of thanas, outposts, and
patrolling station:__
STATIONS OR Road chaukis.
OUTTOSTS CHAUKIS.
THANAS. Patrolling posts.
Ist Class 2nd Class Ist Class 2nd Class
Uch Kurinwala Burana Ahamdpur Burais.
Bhowana Ghapal Khiva KAlm Boran Wala.
Jhang Garh Kot Isa Lalera.
Chiniot Maharja Shah Chund
Shorkot Baghri Sheikhan Samanduri
Kadirpur Massan Kandiwal Dijkot
Lalian Bukhari Shorkot Raha
Khunwala.
Chndhna
Maru Killa.

There is a cattle-pound at each thana controlled by the Deputy Commissioner


through the police. The district lies within the Lahore circle, under the control
of the Deputy Inspector General of police at Lahore.
The district gaol at head-quarters contains accommodation for 380 males and
11 female prisoners. Table No. XI gives statistics of criminal trails. Table No.
XLI of police inquires, and Table No. XLII of convicts in goal for the last five
years.
Cattle –Lifting is the the normal crime and practiced in all parts of the district.
Of the criminal tribes proclaimed under the Criminal Tribes Act there are non
resident in the district.
The gross revenue collections of the district for the last! Years, so far as they
Revenue, Taxation, and are made by the Financial Commissioner, are shown in Table No. XXVIII;
Registration. while Table Nos. XXXIIIA shows the number and situation of registration
offices.
The central distilleries for the manufacture of country liquor are situated at
Jhang and Shorkot. The cultivation of the poppy is allowed, at the rate of Rs. 2
per acres.
Table No. XXXVI gives the income and expenditure from District Funds,
which are controlled by a committee consisting of 24 members selected by the
Deputy Commissioner from among the leading men of the various tahsils, and
of the Civil Surgeon and the 3 Tahsildars, as ex-officio members, and Extra
Assistant Commissioner as Secretary, and the Deputy Commissioner as
President. Table No. XLV gives statistics for Municipal Taxation, while the
Municipalities themselves are noticed in Chapter VI.
The income from Provincial properties for the last five years is shown

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

below:___
Source of 1877-78 1878-79 1879-80 1880-81 1881-82
Income
Ferries with 8,732 6,603 9329 8,47 10,832
boat 16,913 15,595 14,424 13,937 15,269
bridges...
Ferries
without boat-
bridges… 1601 1545 1,404 1,147 1,056
Staging 602 305 371 522
bungalows
&..
Encamping
grounds …
Cattle
pounds...
Nazul
properties…

Total 27,848 24,048 25,528 24,453 27,159


The ferries, bungalows, and encamping-grounds have already been noticed as
pages 132-135, and the cattle-pounds at page 137, the total number of nazul
properties are 27 in his district, the principal of which are a Police Officer’s
quarters with a garden, 5 acres in extent, situate in the Sadr Station under care
of the Deputy Commissioner, which was built in 1853 as quarters for the officer
in command of the troops then stationed here, and a house for the Tahsildar of
Jhang built for this purpose in 1853. Of the other 25 nazul properties there are 7
plots of land in the Jhang town of inferior of the district, under the care of
Deputy Commissioner. In addition to these small plots forming the ordinary
nazul property of the district, by far the largest part of the district may be
considered nazul, as the grazing rakhs which are the property of Government,
and the rights on grazing on which are sold by auction annually, contain
2,100,573 acres out of a total of 2,327,734 acres for the whole district. These
rakhs are the exclusive property of Government, and are under the direct
management of the Deputy Commissioner; they are described at page 122.
Figures for other Government estates are given in Table No. XVII, and they and
their proceeds are noticed in the succeeding section of this Chapter, in which
the land revenue administration of the district is treated of.
Table No. Table No. XXIX gives figures for the principal items and the totals
Statistics of land of land revenue collections since 1868-1869. The remaining items for 1880-81
revenue. are shown below:__

Sources of 1880-81. 1881-82.


revenue
Rs. Rs.
Surplus warrant
520 397
talabanah

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Mukhiana or
394 139
proprietary dues
Fisheries 44 44
Revenue, fines
48 136
and forfeitures
Other Reins 76 2,367
Table No. XXXI gives details of balances, remissions, and agricultural
advances for the last fourteen year; Table No. XXX shows the amount of
assigned land revenue; while Table No. XIV gives the areas upon which the
present land revenue of the district is assessed. Further details as to the basis,
incidence, and working of the current settlement, will be found below in the
succeeding section of the Chapter
Table No. XXXVII gives figures for the Government and Aided, High, Middle
Education and Primary schools of the district. The High school is at Jhang; there are
middle school for boys at Jhang, Mighana, Chiniot, Shorkot and Ahmadpur;
while the Primary schools are situated at Jhang, Mighana Kot Isa Shah, Kot
Shakir, Chatta, Mari, Muda Saiyad, Macciwal, Chund Bharwana,Shah Jiwana,
Pir Kot Sadhana, Chela,Khiva and Bagh in the Jhang tahisl; at Lalian , Langar,
Maukhdum, Thatti Bala Raja, Barana, Kalary, Rajoa, Sheikhan, and Chiniot
tahsil; and at Shorkot Ahmadpur, Garh Maharaja, Hassu Balel, and Kund
Sargana in the Shorkot tahsil. Besides these there are eight female schools
which are situated, three at Jhang, three at Maghiana, one at Kot Isa Shah, and
one at Bagh in the Jhang tahsil. The district lies within the Mooltan circle,
which forms the charge of the Inspector of Schools at Mooltan. Table No. XIII
gives statistics of education has already been described at pages 52 and 53.
There are some indigenous schools in the district; among these, three school
situated at Ballo in the Jhang tahsil, and Miruewala in the Shorkot tahsil. Are
alone worthy of notice.
This school was at first purely vernacular, but became a District School in
Jhang District School. 1861, and the high department was added in 1877. It consists of the high
department held in the new building at Adhiwal (half way between the old city
of Jhang and the civil station of Maghiana), and situated about one-and-a-half
miles from the main building at Jhang, where the middle and primary
departments are taught. The three departments are under the superintendence of
one Head-Master, and Hindi. There are no lower Primary branches of the Jhang
District School. The expenditure number of pupils, and results of examinations,
for the last five years, are shown in the accompanying table:__
Year. Expenditures. No. of Boys. Pass result of examinations.
Mid Calcul Punjab
dle ate Entrances.
scho Entarn
ol. ces.

123
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Medical Table No. XXXIII gives separate figures for the last five years for each of the
six dispensaries of the district, which are under the general control of the Civil
Surgeon, an I which are now classed assessment follows:___
A civil hospital at Maghiana providing forty-two beds, under charge of an
Assistant Surgeon.
Under charge of an Assistant Surgeon. A first-class dispensary at Chiniot,
providing twenty-four beds,
Under charge of a Hospital Assistant.
A second-class dispensary of Shorkot, providing fourteen beds, Under charge
of a Hospital Assistant.
A second-class dispensary at Shorkot, providing twelve beds,
Under charge of a Hospital Assistant.
A second-class dispensary at Kot Isa Shah, providing six beds,
Under charge of a Hospital Assistant.
A third-class dispensary at Jhang, under charge of a local native doctor. This
is about two miles from Maghiana where there is a civil hospital.
People freely resort to the dispensaries. There are no good hakims or vide in
the district. All the dispensaries of this district are entrusted to a great
advantage to the people, with the vaccination of their own respective towns as
well as of the villages lying within five miles of them. Vaccination in the
interior of the district is carried on by six vaccinators, one of whom acts also as
a supervisor. Vaccination in this district has become very popular, and some
few families have adopted it as an obligatory household institution. The civil
hospitals at Jhang and Chiniot were founded in 1859 and 1872, respectively.
There is a small church at Jhang, capable of seating some 36 persons, No
Ecclesiastical. Chaplain is posted there but the Chaplain at Moooltan occasionally visits the
station, and holds service in the church.

The executive Engineer, Mooltan, is in charge of the principal public buildings


Head quarters of other of the district; he is subordinate to the Suprentendending Engineer, Ist Circle,
departments. and Rawalpindi. The Post offices are controlled by the Superintendent of Post
Offices, Derajat Division, residing at Dera Ismail Khan. The Forests, rakhs are
under the Deputy Conservator of Forests, Punjab, Gujranwala Division, whose
head-quarters are at Gujranwala.
SECTION B__LAND AND LAND REVENUE
Sikh system, and early
Some details regarding the Sikh revenue administration have already been
settlements.
given in Chapter II, pages 36,37,38, while their fiscal system has been
described in the section treating of tenures (pages 72-78), Before the year
1831,when the Mooltan province was entrusted to the management of Sawan
Mal, Jhang can scarcely be said to have had any fiscal history. The Sial chiefs
of Jhang apparently took in kind one-quarter of the produce upon much the
same lines as Sawan Mal did, The story that there were 125,000 wells at work
during the reign of Walidad Khan, and that all the assessment taken was only
Re, I or a blanket per well, is probably a mere myth. Walidad no doubt, did, by
moderate assessment and fostering measures, give a great impetus to
cultivation, but it is doubtful whether his collections were of that exceeding

124
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

mildness for which they are given credit.


Of the administration of Sawan Mal Mr. Mockton wrote:__ “After the
Sawaan Mal’s breaking up of the Mughal empire, the southern portion of the Punjab appears
administration. to have fallen under the rule of petty Muhammadan chiefs. Ranjit Singh, on
conquering the country, made over the administration to a Hindu named Sawan
Mal. He organized afresh the revenue system, and fixed the tax on the land
actually under cultivation according to the nature of the crop grown. It was
simply an excise on agricultural produce, levied in the form of an average tax in
the money of a fixed proportion in kind, according to the choice of the
zamindar. On first class crops, as tobacco, sugar, poppy, money rates were
invariably charged, and no option was allowed. Fallow land and fodder crops
escaped tax entirely, as also corn ate down green by cattle engaged in
agriculture. Persons desirous of embarking capital in the construction of new
wells or the repairs of deserted ones were encouraged by the grant of leases for
periods of 20 years on aa fixed cash payment of generally Rs. 12. This lease,
however, only protected a limited extend of land, usually 2o acres (20 bigahs),
and did not cover first-class crops from the special taxes to which they were
held subject under all circumstances. Special indulgence to encourage the
investment of capital on agriculture was also bestowed in the form of inam
taraddadanams which may be translated as grants in reward for cultivation; a
man of wealth and influence would engage to sink eight new wells and found a
village, on condition of receiving in rent free tenure, one well. But as it was
found that the cultivation of this well was unduly increased. By this the grantee
was entitled to claim exemption for no particular well, but for a rate able
deduction on all his wells, and in the ease we have supposed have would
receive a remission of one-sixth on all his land.”
Sawan Mal took in cash and kind. Collecting in kind were almost invariably
made by kankut appraisement. Nominally the Government share of the produce
was half the propritor’s share of the produce the latter being almost invariably
one-half. This does not mean that the Local Government never took more than
one-fourth. The appraisement of the one-fourth crop was was made by
Government servants, and there was nothing to prevent their over-estimating
the Government share of the produce until it became really half produce, or
more. It was in this way that the Sikh Government never allowed any
middleman between itself and taxation as the inability of the cultivator to pay
more. The following are a few instances of the cash rates paid per bigah:__
Wheat Rs. 1-12 to Rs. 2; barely Rs 1 to RS 2; tobacco Rs. 8; cotton Rs. 1-12 to
Rs. 2-12; Indian corn Rs. 1 to Rs. 2 jawar were a host of fees and cesses known
as abwab, taken in addition. The following are some of the more important: __
Iktaka, an extra seeerm the 41st taken in the maund; wazn kashi tikh and
muhassul, the pay of the man who watched the crop in the interests of the
Sarkar.Fines were also continually levied. The only persons who were safe
from those exactions were persons from whom nothing could be squeczed.
Liberal remissions were, however, allowed for crops that did not mature or
turned out very patchy, under the name of kharaba. The revenue system of
Sawan Mal was essentially fluctuating. It adapted itself to the vicissitudes of the

125
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

seasons. Whether the harvest was good or bad, enough was left over to the
cultivator to live upon. In itself the demand was heavy, but its elasticity
prevented it from becoming oppressive. Under a good Sikh Governor the
cultivator of the soil was looked upon as a Government tenant with certain
rights of occupancy. So long as he went on cultivating his land and allowing
himself to be annually squeezed, the state took great care of him, and was
always ready to assist if the got into difficulties either through loss of cattle or
with the village baniah. Ejections, except at the order of the Kardar, were
unknown, and the Kardar seldom exercised the power. Whether a well paid
revenue in cash or kind, the collection was suspended as soon as it fell out of
work, and, on the other hand, new wells were at once brought on the rent roll.
All the protection allowed to a new Well was a remission of 1/8th. In the case
of sailab lands it was usual to exact a nazrana payment from the applicant who
wished to obtain a grant of land for purposes of cultivation. In sanctioning these
grants not the least respect was paid to old proprietary rights, if sucj existed.
The valley of the Chenab in Sawan Mals’s time was in many parts an
impenetrable jangal, and there are so many rivers in villages whose foundation
dates from that time, that no rights of individual property could have existed.
Men of influence obtained for the payment of a small sum the exclusive right to
cultivate large blocks of land, and these grants have now become villages. The
State took her share of the produce as soon as the land commenced to bear
crops. It is rather difficult to form any very clear idea as to the degree of the
severity of the Revenue demand in Sawan Mal’s time. It varied with the mood
of the local Governor. Mal Raj, who was for some time in charge of Jhang, was
most tyrannical and oppressive in his exactions. The rule of the other kardars
was milder. The graeter prevalence of hathrakhai tenures around Jhang shows
that the demand was heavier close by the head-quarters of Government than
elsewhere.
The Kalowal ilaka under The only portion of the Jhang district not included in the Mooltan province
Gulab Singh. was the Kilowal. Here Raja Gulab Singh was generally the farmer of the
revenue, though Swan Mal held the farm for one or two years. Mr. Quseley thus
describes the Revenue Administration: __” They collected their revenue by
“batai (division of the harvest when reaped and threshed), or by “kankut
(appraisement of the standing crops), or by under leasing. “a few villages here
and there for a certain cash payment to some “ a person possessing a little local
influence, who again made his owsn “arrangements for collecting his rents
according to one of the above “described modes. As the principal lessee held
his lease subject “to renewal annually, of course any contracts entered by him
“were only for a similar period.” The fiscal administration of Raja Gulab Singh
is still excerated by the people as the acme of extortionate taxation. The
instance of his rapacity that they are most fond of quoting is his device of
taxing not the land but the plough bullocks at the rate of Rs. 25 a yoke. The
consequence wa that the people abandoned their holdings and the land became
desolate. But the tax collectors showed themselves equal to the occasion, and it
they found that the cultivators of a well held fled, they promptly ascertained
who the kamins were, and fleeced them.

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

The first Summary of The first Summary Settlement of the tract now included in the Jhang Settlement
Mr.cocks was made by Mr. Cocks in 1847-48, the ilakas of Garh Maharaja and
Ahmadpur being excepted. This was before annexation. The statement on the
opposite page gives some statistics of the first Summary settlement.
Tahsils. Wells at work. Cultivation Jams.
Chiniot Statistics Wanting 82,865
Jhang 3,490 75,149 1,21,519
Shorkot 2,117 37,615 68,356
Total 2,72,738
The only really trust worthy figures are those of the jamas. Mr. Ouseley says:
__” The assessments were based on the Sikh returns, on which a reduction of
20 per cent. Was allowed.” Mr. Monckton writes: __ “The jama was assessed
on a reduction of from 10 to 15 percent. on the previous average collections.”
“So impressed,” says Mr. Monckton,” were they with the mild and “liberal
views of English administration, that the great majority “cordially sided with us
in the contest with Mai Raj and the “insurgent Sikh chiefs, which occurred
shortly after.”
Mr. Cocks’ assessment was undoubtedly, judged by the cash assessments of
to-day, both severe and heavy. It was paid for two years because prices were
high. Then came the Mooltan rebellion. Peace was however, restored in a short
time, and with tranquility came an enormous fall in the value of grain. The
prices of what were as follows in seers per rupee:___
1844 …. 29 1849 …. 25
1845 …. 30 1850 …. 38
1846 …. 33 1851 …. 48
1847 …. 33 1852 …. 63
1848 … 37 1853 …. 62
The assessment of no district, however fertile, could bear up against two such
forces as these, the assessment being inherently severe. The inapplicability of
our revenue system to the Jhang district, no doubt, had some share in rendering
the payment of Mr. Cocks’ assessment impossible but it was not the chief
factor, or its influence would have been
felt sooner. For 1848 and 1849 the collections were made without difficulty. In
1850 a few balances remained. “But towards the close of 1851, a great cry of
distress “arose throughout the district and it was considered absolutely
“necessary that a remission of the demand should be at once “effected. The
distress was greatest in the Kalowala tahsil.”
The second Summary Settlement was made by Major Hamilton and Mr.
The second Summary Monckton in Jhang and in the Kalowal ilaqa by Mr. Quseley. The demand for
Settlement. the Kalowal tahsil was first revised by Mr. Thornton, the Commissioner at the
close of 1851, and a reduction of 25 percent. Gives, and again in 1853 by Mr.
Quseley. It is Mr. Quseley’s figures that are given here. The results are
tabulated below: __
Tahsils. Wells. Cultivation Jama
Chiniot No Statistics 49,942 61,246

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Jhang 3,296 29,911 1,02,858


Shorkot 1,903 58,988
Total 2,23092
The reduction given amounted to 18 per cent, or roughly speaking to half a
lakh out of 21 lakhs. The revision of the first Summary Settlement was
commenced by Major Hamilton, who took up first the cases of villages that
needed more immediate attention, and finished by Mr. Monckton. In Kalowal,
when the first Summary Settlement had broken down utterly, the revision was
effected in three days by the Commissioner, Mr. Thornton, and the demand
reduced from a lakh to Rs. 75,000. “This assessment was, humanity speaking,
the means of speedily restoring an almost ruined and deserted tract of country
to a flourishing condition.” In 1853 Mr. Quseley again revised the Kalowal
Settlement, which resulted in a further decrease of Rs. 12,000 in the tahsil
revenue from RS. 75,617 to Rs. 63,738. The revised assessments were collected
with case until the Regular Settlement.
The Regular Settlement of the Jhang district was at first entrusted to Mr.
The Regular Settlement Morris, but in April 1854 Mr. Monckton took charge of the Settlement, and he
remained in charge until the conclusion of operations in the early part of 1857.
The first business of the Regular Settlement was the determination of what land
belonged to the State and what to individuals, and the demarcation of the tract
belonging to individuals into villages. There were apparently no disputes and
no difficulties in defining the boundaries of the Government waste. The
zamindars, instead of meditating encroachments on the State lands, in many
instances threw up land that undoubtedly belonged to them, so fearful were they
of the responsibilities that land hitherto attached to proprietorship of land. The
adjustment of the village boundaries was a work some magnitude not
unaccompanied with difficulty. The state of proprietary right as existing at
annexation, and the effect of this demarcation in bestowing proprietary right on
the already been described in Chapter III.The principles upon which the
assessment circles were arranged were uniform for the whole district. The tract
under assessment was everywhere a narrow strip of land lying between a river
and the high lying uplands of the Bar or Thal. Cultivation was easiest and least
expensive near the rivers, most laborious and requiring most capital in the
uplands alongside the Bar or Thal. Consequently the rive rain villages were
collected into one circle, and those under the Bar and Thal into another. What
villages remained situate between these two were formed into a third or
intermediate circle. “Wasat,” amd Upland or “Bar”. For each of these circles
the different rates of assessment shown on the opposite page were framed for
the three descriptions of soils ____chahi, sailab, and barani____ classed
according to the sources from which each obtained the moisture necessary for
the growth of crops. There were no distinctions between chachi, chachi-sailab,
chahi-jhulari, & c.

TAHSI
RIVER CENTRE. UPLAND.
L.

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Barani

Barani
Sailab

Sailab

Sailab
Chahi

Chahi

Chahi
Rs.A Rs.A Rs.A Rs.A Rs.A Rs.A Rs.A Rs.A Rs.A
Chiniot1 6 1 6 0 8 1 2 1 2 0 8 0 14 0 14 0
Jhang 1 8 1 0 0 8 1 6 0 14 0 8 1 2 0 10 0
Kadirp 1 2 1 0 0 8 0 10 0 10 0 8 0.1 0
ur 1
Uch 1/8 1/6 1 2 0 8 0 14 0 14 0 8 0 13 0 13 0
1 6 1 0 0 8 1 0 0 14 0 6 0

The financial results of Mr. Monkton’s Settlement, classified tahsil by tahsil,


according to existing arrangement, are given below
Chiniot. Jhang. Shorkot. Total.
Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs.
23,995 1,13,246 58,147 2,05,388
Jama 0-15-8 1-1-2 1-1-0
Incidence
on
cultivation,
The Regular Settlement of 113 villages in the Chiniot tahsil on the right bank
of the Chenab was made by Mr. Quseley. The Settlement was commenced in
The Regular Settlement 1854. The first step was the demarcation of boundaries. This business was
Kalowal. affected without trouble in the well-cultivated tracts, but was attended with
great difficulties in the Bar. It is not necessary to notice the obstacles with
which Mr. Quseley had to contend in the demarcation of the boundaries of the
Bar villages, as all the Bar round Kirana, that was treansferred to jhang in 1861
has become, it is not known exactly how, Government property. It was an
integral portion of the jhang district land revenue and tirui system that all the
waste lands in the Bar were the property of Government, and naturally the
Jhang officials saw no reason fro treating the Kirana Bar in the different
manner. A great part of the tract transferred was unclaimed Government waste,
and in respect of the portions claimed by individuals it was argued that no
proprietary rights had as yet been conferred, and that there was no reasons why
these claimants, who mostly belonged to the villages nearer the river and were
mere temporary squatters in the Bar, should be regarded as having other or
greater rights than their brethren in the Sandal Bar. The result was that as in the
Sandal, so in the Kirana Bar, no private rights of property whatever were
recognized in 1861. The inhabitants of the tract transferred were charged with
tirni and allowed to graze throughout the Bar that was included within the
Jhang district. Soils were classed as chahi, sailab, and barani. Well-irrigated
lands were further divided into chahi-khalis, land irrigated only be wells, and
chahi-sailab, land irrigated by wells but also subject to inundation from the
river. An estimate was then made of “what “was the minimum cut turn of a bad

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

bigah of chahi land in the best “assessment division. “ The usual cesses were
then deducted and one quarter of the remainder assumed to be the Government
share. This share was converted into a money value and a produce rate. Per acre
obtained. Thence the revenue rates for the circles were deduced. The
classification of villages with regard to their facilities of irrigation was in
kalowal confined to two divisions, into Hithar and Nakhha. The revenue rates
are subjoined:___
RATE PER
ASSESSMENT ACRE.
TAHSIL.
Circle. Chahi- Chahi-
Sailab. Baranl.
Sailab. Khalis.
Kalowal. Hithar Ist Rs. A. P. Rs. A. P. Rs. A. P. Rs. A. P.
Nakkah 2nd 2 4 0 1 12 0 1 8 0
2 0 0 2 0 0 1 4 0 0 8 0
In actual assessment Mr. Quseley went for below his rates. The 113 villages
were assessed with a jama of Rs. 33,476, falling on cultivation at the rate Rs. 1-
2-10 per acre.
It has already been explained why the ilakas of Garh Maharaja and Ahmadpur
were not settled by Mr. Cocks. They were first summarily settled by Mr.
First Summary Wedderburn in 1850. His assessment was in Garh Maharaja 21 percent, and in
Settlement Of Garh Ahmadpur 16-7 percent, lower than the collections of past years , and amounted
Maharaja and Ahmadpur to Rs. 30,452. In spite of the reductions given on previous collections in kind,
by Mr. Wedderburn. the assessment was extremely severe. In Ahmadpur the previous collections
were very heavy. The taaluka was originally held in jagir by Imam Shah who
“had the character of being “very exacting with the raiats, and laid on a variety
of ceases in “addition to the batai, which was itself heavy.” When the jagir was
resumed it was included in Sawan Mal’s farm, and he “was not the man to
make reduction’s so all the cesses and heavy rates “were retained.” “Mr.
Wedderburn’s Settlement continued in force until 1857, when Captain Graham
was deputed to revise it. Some revisions of the demand had taken place
between 1850 and 1857, and the jama in the latter year of these two taalukas
amounted to Rs. 30,268.
The result of the revision by Captain Graham, known as the Second Summary
The Second Summary Settlement, was an enhancement of the jama to Rs. 32,460. The whole of the
Settlement by Captain increase except Rs. 53 was taken in Garh Maharaja. A Settlement enhancing the
Graham. demand of a previous heavy settlement could have but one end. It broke down
in a year and a half.
The Summary settlement of Captain Graham was again revised by Captains
The Third Summary Taighe and Mixwell. The new assessments gave a decrease of Rs. 3,485 = 10.7
Settlement by Captain percent. On the jama of the Second Summary settlement. This Third Summary
Tighe and Maxwell. Settlement worked extremely well, and when the Fourth Summary Settlement
was mad in 1862, the measurements of that year showed a large increase in the
cultivated area and in the number of wells at work.
The Fourth Summary In 1861 these two taalukas were transferred from the Muzaffargarh to the Jhang
Settlement by Major district, under instructions conveyed in the Financial Commissioner’s No. 1832
Dwyer. of 29th April 1861. At the close of 1862 the preparation of a record or Rights for

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

the villages of these two taalukas was commenced. The old assessment was also
once more revised. The assessment is generally known as that of Major Dwyer,
but the Assessment Report was sent in by Major Lane in 1865. The new
assessment which remained in force until the assessment lately announced,
gave a further reduction of Rs. 473. Its incidence on the cultivated area fell at a
little less then Rs 1 per acre.
The Jama was on the whole moderate, but in several villages the assessments
Summary of the Garh were heavy.
Maharaja and Ahmad The following tabular statement gives the more important statistics of the fiver
Pur assessments. revisions of assessment that these two taalukas have undergone since
annexation:___

By whom
Year Wells. Cultivation. Jama.
made.
Mr.
1850 Wedderburn’sa 723 14,934 30.452
ilab
Ditto
1850-57 No Detailed. 30.268
Revised
Captain
1857 719 20.296 32.460
Graham’s
Captain
1859 740 20.296 28.975
Maxwell’s
Major
1862 915 28.548 28.502
Dwyer’sailab
Thus, of the district as it at present exists, the assessments which were to be
revised when the recent re-settlement was under-taken stood as follows:___

Major
Mr. Mockton. Mr. Quseley. Total
Dwyer
Village…. 644 113 39 796
Assessment …. 2,05,389 33,476 28,502 2,67,367

Of the three assessments that of Mr. Ouseley was undoubtedly the most
heavy, and that of Major Dwyer th lightest. Mr Monkton’s was, with a few
exceptions, and exceedingly fair assessment, both in the interests of
Government and the people.
The First Regular Settlement of the district has been eminently satisfactory, and
The results and working the results are everything that could be wished. With the exception of some
the Regular Settlement. temporary remissions and revisions of assessment in a few villages in the
Shorkot Kachhi, and some isolated instances of over-assessed upland villages in
that and the other tahsils, there has been no occasion for correction of the work
of the three Settlement Officers. The enormous improvement that had taken
place in agricultural assets and resources by the time the Revised Settlement’s
commenced is clearly set forth with due detail in Mr. Steedman’s report on that
Settlement. In fact improvement seems to have set in almost immediately Mr.

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Monkton finished his work, and in 1857 “the agriculturists of “the Jhang district
were contentedly fulfilling their engagements “with the State, and steadily
pursuing their ordinary avocations, “while the adjoining district of Gugera was
in a full blaze of insurrection and the nomad tribes of the intervening Bar jangal
were “sacking the frontier thanas. The pastoral tribes on the other “side in the
Shahpur district were showing at the same time a “warlike spirit; and had no the
memory of days of license under “the Sikh rule been succeeded by better
feelings among the:
“Muhammadan population of this district, a serious revolt in the
“southern provinces of the Punjab must have been added to the
“many lesser complications arising from the mighty struggle then
“in progress throughout upper Hindustan.”
Revision of Settlement of 1880. The Settlements described above were revised by Mr.Steedman between 1874
and 1880. His assessments are fully described in the following pages, which are
taken from his Settlement Report :------
Assessment Circles The tract under assessment is composed of the Jhelum and the Upper and Lower
Chenab Valleys, hemmed in on either side by the high-lying plateaux of the Sandal
and Kirana Bars and the Thal, and a few villages on the banks of the Ravi .The
primary classification that at once suggested itself was of villages on the River
bank, and villages in the up lands. It was further found convenient to arrange the
villages on the left bank of the Chenab from the Gujranwala border to the Ravi, and
also those on the left bank of the Jhelum, into the three divisions of river, centre,
and Utar or Bar. On the right bank of the Chenab, it was deemed neither necessary
nor convenient to have two divisions of the upland villages. A set of villages,
fourteen in number, lying west of the Chenab on either bank of the Halkiwah Nala,
an inlet from the river, formed an exception. This tract is a natural basin between
the higher lands of the River circle villages to the south, and the Utar lands on the
north. The soil is flooded by the overflow of this Nala, and is so good , and its
agricultural produce so much more valuable than on the upland wells , that the
villages could not well be included in the Utar circle, while they were too far from
the river to be classed with the river villages. In the country lying west of the
Jhelum and Chenab in the Sind Sagar Doab, the separation of the Kachhi villages
into two divisions was unnecessary. The names of the circles are given below :------
Tract No. Assessment Circles.

Between the Chenab and Sandal Bar 1 River of Hithar .


2 Centre of Wasat .
3 Upland of Bar.

Between the Chenab and Kirana Bar 1 River of Hithar .


2 Halkiwah .
3 Upland of Utar.

Between the Jhelum and Kirana Bar 1 River of Hithar .


2 Centre of Wasat .
3 Upland of Utar.

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Between the Chenab and Jhelum-


1 River of Hithar .
Chenab and Thal. 2 Upland of Kachhi.

Classification of soils, and


The villages having been thus arranged into circles, the second step was to fix
revenue rates adopted revenue rates for each description of soil in each circle. The three main soil
divisions are Chahi irrigated by wells, sailab naturally irrigated by river floods,
barani dependent on rain alone. There are several sub-divisions of well-
irrigated land which are given below with their vernacular names:-
Vernacular Name. English Equivalent.
Chahi-Khalis Well alone.
Chahi-Sailab. Well and river flood
Chahi-Naihri Well and canal by flow
Chahi-Jhalari irrigated by Well assisted by a jhalar,
permanent or temporary.
Jhalari ` Jhalar alone.
The inundation canals of this district are only found in one Tehsil and are of
rough construction. Lands irrigated by canal flow have always been assessed at
the same rates as sailab lands.
Rain-lands assessment Barani or rain-lands. One assessment rate only has been used throughout the
district, 8 annas an acre. The only important rain cultivation is in the
northernmost corner of Chiniot, in the Nissowana villages adjoining Shahpur.
Here Mr.Steedman assessed considerably above his rates. In other portions of
the Chiniot tahsil the rate itself was taken; but in Jhang and Shorkot he
practically put no assessment on barani cultivation. It was thrown in with the
well- assessment. Where the assessment was fluctuating on wells, it was
necessarily not assessed. The total barani area in the district under cultivation
shown in the returns is 3,480 acres.
The assessment of sailab River flooded land-sailab. The assessment rates used are given below in tabular
lands form for the rivers and tahsils:-
RATES SANCTIONED FOR SAILAB LAND ON THE
Chenab Jhelum Ravi

Tahsil Tahsil Jhang Tahsil All Tahsils Tahsil


Chiniot Shorkot Shorkot.
Rs A. P. Rs A. P. Rs A. P. Rs A. P. Rs A. P.
0 12 0 0 15 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0
For an unimportant sailab and naihri area included in villages not in the river
circles lower rates given below were sanctioned in Jhang and Shorkot:-
Jhang Shorkot.

Centre Utar Vichanh Kachhi Bar Centre


Chenab Chenab
Rs A. P. Rs A. P. Rs A. P. Rs A. P. Rs A. P.
0 12 0 0 8 0 0 12 0 0 12 0 0 13 0
The reason for reducing the rates in these circles was that the sailab lands,
being more distant from the stream, were less certain of being annually flooded

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

than land of the same description in the riverain villages.


The suitability of a system of
Before attacking the rates themselves, the preliminary point, one of some
fluctuating assessment for magnitude, whether the sailab lands should be assessed on a fluctuating system
sailab lands
or not, had to be decided. Eventually a fixed assessment for the sailab lands of
the Chenab and Jhelum, and a fluctuating assessment for the Ravi villages were
sanctioned. On this subject Mr.Steedman writes :-
“In the case of the Jhelum villages a fixed assessment is undoubtedly the right
system. They are exposed to more danger from over than under flooding .With
reference to the Chenab, I am not so certain that my recommendations were the
best possible. I mean that there are certain villages whose futures seem less
roseate and promising than they did two or three years ago. Nevertheless,
considering the exceedingly light rate at which it was proposed to assess the
sailab lands, I think that the assessment should be fixed, not fluctuating. For the
Jhelum and lower Chenab sailab, I Have no anxiety. I think the fixed
assessments will work well, with assessment little management on the part of
the district authorities, the assessment on the upper Chenab in Chiniot, is so
exceedingly light that the occurrence of a bad harvest or a failure of flood ought
not to have any serious effects. In Jhang, the outlook is not so re-assuring. I
think, a good deal might be done to ensure a flooding to villages in the river
circles by opening out old channels, and assisting the people to throw up
embankments to flood their lands. Suspensions of demand should also be
liberally allowed. Two bad years rarely come together, and in a good year the
sailab lands might pay half as much again as the assessment without difficulty.
There are five villages who have applied for a fluctuating assessment, and it has
been sanctioned for Bindi Mahni in Jhang, and Badh Rajbana in Shorkot. In
future, I would give all other villages, upon whom a fixed assessment pressed
heavily, the same system.”
System adopted in assessing The assessment of well-irrigated lands was a far more difficult matter than the
wells. assessment of sailab lands. In the Chiniot tahsil the wells in all circles were
assessed by an average rate on cultivation. The same method was observed in
the assessments of the river circles of the other two tahsils. In the Centre –
Jhelum circle of tahsil Jhang and Centre-Chenab circle of tahsil Shorkot the
assessments were framed partly by a well, and partly by an acreage rate. In the
remaining circles of the Bar and Kachhi, in both tahsils,where a system of
fluctuating assessment on the wells has been introduced, and in the Utar
Vichanh and Centre-Chenab circles of tahsil Jhang, the assessment unit has
been, not the acre, but the well.
The well assessment in river The rates used in the river circles are given below :-
villages Tahsil. Average rates for well lands. Average Average
Chahi- Chahi-Khalis Well Rate. rates on
sailab,& c. Jhalari.
Rs. A. P. Rs. A. P. Rs... Rs. A. P.

Chiniot 1 4 0 1 4 0 34 .....
Jhang 1 6 0 1 5 0 24 1 2 0
{Chenab 1 6 0 1 5 0 27 .....
Jhelum

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Shorkot 1 6 0 1 4 0 24 1 4 0
In Chiniot the revenue rate sanctioned for the Halkiwah circle was nominally
Rs. 1-6-0, but practically the assessments were made with a very much lower
rate, assessment the actual assessment was 10 percent, below the rates’ jama.
The upland well rates The rates sanctioned and used for the assessment of upland wells are given in a
tabular form below---
Circles.
Tahsil. Detail. Centre. Bar. Utar. Kachhi.
Rs. A. P. Rs. A. P. Rs. A. P. Rs. A. P.
Chiniot Per acre . . . 1 2 0 0 14 0 1 1 0 ...
Per well . . 30 0 0 24 0 0 32 0 0 . ..
Per acre . . . 1 6 4 1 0 2 0 12 0 ...
Jhang…..Chenab Per well . . 23 0 0 17 0 0 18 6 0 . ..
Per acre . . . 1 4 0 . . . .. . . . ... 1 1 7
…...Jhelum Per well . . 26 0 0 .. . .. . . . . . . .. 17 0 0
Per acre . . . 1 6 0 1 1 3 ... 1 0 5
Shorkot Per well . . . 19 0 0 16 12 0 . .. 16 0 0

The system of The difference in the conditions of agriculture on the upland wells as compared
fluctuating assessments with those near rivers has been noted, together with the fact that in the Bar and
on the wells, introduced Kachhi circles of Jhang and Shorkot, a system of assessment, fluctuating in the
in the Bar and Kachhi number of wells at work at each harvest, has been introduced. The nature of this
circles of tehsils Jhang fluctuating assessment and the reasons for its introduction are given in the
and Shorkot. following paragraphs :-
“The condition of agriculture in both the Bar and Kachhi circles is one of
extreme uncertainty. Cultivation is expensive. Takavi advances are universal.
Tenats are poor and migratory. The harvests depend upon the rainfall, and the
bad harvests are frequent. Not very much rain is required, but it must be
seasonable. Large quantities of fodder crops have to be grown, as no grass, or
none to speak of except sar, is produced in the tract. Add to this that many well
lands have a tendency to deteriorate after a few years’ cultivation, and another
and important element of uncertainty is introduced. These are the facts that first
drew my attention to the need of some system of assessment more elastic than
that of fixed cash revenue, which while liberally allowing remission to
impoverished villages would also recoup the Government for such losses of
revenue by taxing at a light rate new wells and new cultivation.
“The system adopted is as follows: A jama for each village has been
announced in the ordinary way and distributed by bachh, over the wells in
cultivation. The jama assessed on each well will be paid by the proprietors
thereof so long as the well continues to work. If the well falls out of work a
remission will at once be given, dating from the harvest after the well ceased
working. There will be no measurement of the crop area year by year. If there
is a crop of any description, however poor it may be, the well owner will be
liable for the full installment of the harvest at which that crop is reaped. When a
well assessed at this Settlement subsequently falls out of work, and is after
wards again brought into cultivation, the jama assessed on the well at the
original bachh will be at once remposed. This possess of wells assessed at

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Settlement. New wells will be allowed to remain revenue-free for three years,
after which they will come under assessment. For old wells repaired, one year’s
grace will be ample. All new wells in any given village after the expiry of the
period of grace will pay at a uniform well rate, fixed by the settlement officer
and announced village jama, and generally about 1/5 th lower than the average
incidence per well of the announced village jama. The assessment on a new
well will be remitted at once on its failing out of cultivation, and at once
reimposed when again put to work.”
The system of fluctuating The system of fluctuating assessments on wells has just been described. In river
assessments. villages there are two phases of the system. In one, the well estates in which
wells are at work are given a fixed assessment, and all the area outside the well
estates under fixed assessment is held to be under a fluctuating assessment. The
cultivation in the portion under fluctuating assessment is measured up annually
and assessed at fixed village rates. On the Ravi different rates for lands irrigated
by jhalars and for pure Sailab lands were framed, as there is considerable
amount of jhalari cultivation in the villages which is much more valuable than
sailab. The sanctioned rates were Re.1-4 for jhalari and Re.1 sailab. The other
phase is where the whole village area is placed under a fluctuating assessment,
and the cultivated area measured up year by year and assessed at one rate, that
for sailab. If there are any wells at work, a fixed sum to be paid annually in
addition to the fluctuating assessment is imposed upon them, calculated to
represent the difference between the irrigated and non-irrigated silab rate. for
instance, there are ten wells with an area of 200 acre of Chahi cultivation at
Re.1-4 per acre. The assessment amounts to Rs.250, but at Re.1, the sailab rate,
the demand only amounts to Rs.200. The difference constitutes the fixed abiana
to be levied on the wells. This abiana is fixed and is paid annually in addition
to the demand given by the rate on the cultivation of the year. In addition to the
Zandt shah Ravi villages and the two villages in the
Sialanwala Halkiwah circle of Chiniot, Mianwali
Daduwana and Changranwala, a few marginally
Bindi Mahni noted, in the Hithar Chenab circle of tahsil Jhang, have
applied for a fluctuating system of assessment.
Date assessments There are no date assessments in Chiniot, as the palms are few and nowhere
found in sufficient number to be worth assessing. The number of palms and the
assessment, for the old and new settlements are given below :-
THE REGULARSETTLEMENT OF 1856 THE REVISED SETTLEMENT OF 1880
Tahsil Female. Male. Small. Jama. Female. Male. Small. Jama
Jhang.. .. .. 28,000 21,673 111 903 39,348 25,591 61,885 1,637
Shorkot 20,992 12,212 11,218 1,176 22,233 15,059 23,229 1,450

49,052 33,885 11,329 2,079 62,581 40,050 85,114 3,087


The rates used in the assessment were 1 anna per female in Shorkot and in
Jhang, and 9 pies in the villages on the Jhelum, and 6 pies in those on the
Chenab. In Jhang there are very few trees on the left bank of Chenab, On the
right there are some groves. Most of the aassessed palms are in villages on the
Jhelum. Date palms are found in most villages on the lower Chenab. The dates
of Shorkot and Mirak are the best. The outturn of fruit per tree varies

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

considerably. A maund is the maximum. The retail price of dates also fluctuates
greatly. The best Shorkot dates are worth Rs.8 a maund , the worst Re.1-4.
The date crop is usually sold in the green, some time before it ripens. The
proprietor thus escapes all risk, but obtains only half the price the dates will
fetch at retail prices if the year is a favourable one. The purchaser takes the
risks, and they are many. He is also liable for certain charges, the pay of the
watchman at the rate of 1/12 th produce, rakhai and the man who gathers the
dates at the rate of the 1/16 th charhai. The great enemy of dates is rain. Early and
continued rain rots them, and the whole crop is often lost. Estimating the
average outturn of a palm at 16 seers, and putting the rakhai and charhai
charges at the 1/8 th, we have 14 seers left, worth 7 annas, the Government
share. But this rate can not be taken because of the uncertainty of the crops
ripening in good condition. The same palm never bears well two years unning.
A good crop every alternate year is as much as can be hoped for.

Half net assets estimate. The statement below gives the figures of the half net assets estimate for
the three tahsils, also the same arranged in percentages in antique type : -
Chiniot Jhang Shorkot District
100 100 100 100
Gross produce …. 10,89.515 14,19.045 9,81,959 34,90,549
12 12 11 12
Deduct fodder …. 1,30,745 1,70,285 1,08.015 4,09,045
88 88 89 88
Balance …. 9,58,800 12,48,760 8,73.944 30,81,504
Kamiana rate …. .19 .16 .17 .17
Kamiana …. 1,82,172 1,99,802 1,48,569 5,30,543
69 72 72 71
Balance …. 7,76,628 10,48.958 7,25,375 25,50,961
Rate of batai …. .42 .47 .49 .46
30 34 36 34
Net assets …. 3,26,184 4,93,010 3,55,434 11,74,628
Half net assets …. 1,63,092 2,46,505 1,74,717 5,87,314
Share of gross produce .15 .17 .18 .17
Actual assessment 96,708 1,51,072 1,09,597 3,57,377
Share of gross produce .089 .106 .112 .102

Why the assessments are The reasons why we can not take cash revenue equal either to the half net
below the produce estimate. assets estimate or to 1/6 th of the gross produce are these. In the case of wells
the initial cost of construction, the expenses of maintenance, interest on takavi
advances to tenants, insurance against the loss of advance itself, losses from
occasional failures of crops, have all to be considered in fixing the assessment,
but can not be accurately shown in the tabulated statement of a half not assets
estimate. The share of the produce which the land lords get varies from .29 in
Chiniot to .36 in Shorkot. In Jhang it is .34. The average is about .33 or 1/3 rd.
Now if the Government demand is fixed at 1/6 th for the rain lands of the sub-
mountain districts, where there are no expenses whatever, or hardly any to the

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

proprietor who takes ½ batai , it is manifest that in Jhang, where the share of
the produce that actually reaches the land lords’ hands is only 1/3,out of which
much wear and tear of his capital invested in the wells, and advances to the
cultivator has to be recovered, to take half net assets will be much heavier
assessment than in district more favourably situated. This is the reason why we
can not take more then 1/10th of the gross produce, equal to about 1/3rd of the
net assets.
Comparison between the The district assets at last statement, and now are compared below :-
assest and assisment at Area under cultivation Wells at Yokes. Population
the regular and revised work.
settlement. Chahi Sailab Baran Total.
i.
Acres. Acres. Acres. Acres.
Regular Settlement 190,883 60,347 1,,773 253,003 2,50,736
Revised Statement 8,710 33,872
227,299 98,748 3,480 329,527 11,018 3,17,206
Increase+ 45,754
Decrease- … +36,416 +38,401 +1,707 +76,524 +56,530
Percentage . .. +2,308 +11,882
+19 +64 +96 +30 +26 +27
+35’

The statement subjoined gives the district assessments as they stood at last
statement and as they stand now :-
1st 2nd
Summary Summary Regular Demand of Present Rate
Settlement. Settlement. settlement. last year. assessment cultivatio
Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs. A. P
Chiniot .. .. 82,863 61,246 67,472 70,997 96,708 0 15 1
Jhang .. .. 1,21,519 1,02,858 1,13,246 1,22,243 1,51,072 1 1 1
Shorkot .. .. 98,808 91,448 86,649 91,117 1,10,087 1 2
District .. .. 3,03,190 2,55,552 2,67,367 2,84,357 3,57,867 1 1

Of the present assessment of Rs. 3, 57, 867, Rs.39, 910 is fluctuating viz.,
Chiniot Rs.1,032 ,Jhang Rs.12,882 and Shorkot Rs.25,996. Dedicatons have
also to be made on account of the 1%. Allowed to zaildars out of the
government demand. Remissions granted to wells protectively leased, and on
other accounts.
Installment In Chiniot, with the exception of a few villages in the Halkiwah circle, the
installments of revenue are2/3rd rabi and 1/3rd Kharif. Half the rabi demand is
payable on the 15th June and half on the 15th July. The whole of the kharif
installment is paid on the 1st January. In Jhang and Shorkot the same ratio
between the amounts of revenue payable at each harvest has been retained, and
the rabi installments fall due on the same dates as in Chiniot, but the kharif
demand is payable half on the 15th December and half on 15th January.

Cesses The cesses levied upon land revenue are shown below :-
Rs. A. P.
1) Local Rates @ 8 5 4 percent.
2) Road @ 1 0 0 “
3) Education @ 1 0 0 “

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

4) District Post @ 0 8 0 “
5) Lambardars @ 5 0 0 “
6) Patwaris. @ - - - -

The one percent allowances made to the zaildars is a deduction from the
revenue, and not a cess collected in addition to it.
Assignment of land Table No. XXX shows the number of villages, parts of villages, and plots,
revenue. and the area of land of which the revenue is assigned, the amount of that
revenue, the period of assignment and the number of assignees of each tahsil as
the figures stood in 1881-82.
As has already been stated, more than 60 percent of the total area of the
district is Government waste. Over this large area rove a numerous herds of
camels and cattle; and from them is collected a grazing tax which is known in
the Bar lands of the Punjab as tirni. The lana, a plant from which the coarse
barilla known assessment sajji is obtained, is annually leased out to contractors.
Finally, permission is given to applicants to sink wells or cultivate drainage
hollows in Government waste, and grants are made to them for that purpose.
These are the three sources of the income derived from the Government Bar
lands of the Jhang district. The management of this extensive property will now
be described. Table No. XVII shows the area and the income of Government
estates; while Table No. XIX shows the area of land acquired by Government
for public purposes. The forests have already been noticed in Chapter IV,
p.122.
Tirni arrangements in the The following account of tirni tax has been collected from correspondence in
Jhang district and their early the district office, commencing with the year 1851, and the subject is of such
history.
importance in the Jhang district that is given here in full. The origin of tirni is
not traceable farther back than the Afghan rule. Its introduction into every part
of the Jhang district was not contemporaneous. When Sayadwala* was reduced
by the Sikhs, the Kharals were called upon to pay a heavy tribute. As they had
little or no cultivation the tax was distributed over their cattle. At the time of
Kamar Singh this revenue amounted to Rs.50, 000 and Kharrak Singh;s reign to
Rs.35,000. Diwan Sawan Mal introduced a new system. He caused an
anumeration of the cattle to be made, and taxed each head by imposing the
following rates: - Female camels, Rs.2: male camels, Re.1: milch buffaloes,
Re.1 cows, 6 annas. The tax was first fixed at Rs.32, 000 was reduced in
Sambat 1903 to Rs.25, 000 and subsequently to Rs.18, 000. In Jhang no tirni
was levied by the Sial chiefs. It was first imposed by Sujan Rai about 1813
A.D. His rates were _camels, female, Re.1-8; male, Re.1; cows, 4 annas; female
buffaloes, 8 annas; goats and sheep, Re.1-4 per hundred. The tax was fixed at
Rs.11, 900, and 40 camels. When Sawan Mal assumed charge of the Mooltan
province, an anumeration was made, the female camel rate raised to Rs. 2, and a
re-distribution of the quotas payable by Sadr tirni-guzars affected. The tax was
raised once; butin Sambat1904 again fell to Rs. 10,000. At annexation the
grazing rates were---
Rs. A. P. Rs. A. P.
Camels, female … 1 10 0 Cows … 0 4 0

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Camels, male … 1 0 0 Female buffaloes… 0 10 0


Sheep and goats, Rs. 2 per hundred.
In Shorkot sheep and goats were not taxed. In Uch the tirni had long been
leased with the land revenue. In 1904 Sambat the tax in Uch proper was only
Rs. 1,820. In Chiniot tirni was imposed by Jassa Singh Bhangi, and at first the
collections amounted to Rs. 5,000 only. The tax was increased by Sawan Mal to
Rs. 10,000. Subsequently reductions were given, and it amounted in Sambat
1903 to Rs. 3,093 only, the tirni in a few villages being included with the land
revenue. In Ranjit Singh’s time Shorkot belonged to Kharals. In Kamalia tirni
was first levied by Ranjit Singh, and was paid in kind, 1,100 camels.
Subsequently a cash assessment of Rs. 23,000 was substituted. Sawan Mal
reduced the tax to Rs. 15,000. In Sambat 1904 the tax was reduced only Rs.11,
078. The rates un this tract were higher than elsewhere, and calves were taxed.
Origin of Sadr tirni guzars. The origin of the Sadr tirni-guzars was assessment follows. During the
Afghan rule and the earlier days of the Sikh rgjime, the population of the
district appears to have been divided into bodies owing a kind of feudal
allegiance to a number of small chiefs. These chiefs paid a portion of the tirni
but the large share fell on their followers. When Sawan Mal imposed his tirni
tax, it was distributed among these chiefs, each taking the responsibility of for
his allotment. Actual collections were made by the chief from his adherents.
Often there were two Sadr tirni-guzars for the body, made up of clansmen of
the chief and other people his followers. The tax was collected irrespective of
boundaries. Changes in those bodies, angi as they were called, by secessions
and accessions of graziers, were constant. The cattle of any followers of any
Sadr tirni-guzar were not restricted to any particular portion of the Bar. Having
paid his quota of the tax, the cattle-owner could graze his cattle not only
through the whole of the Jhang Bar, but even in the waste of adjoining districts.
Tirni was collected from him whenever he grazed by his own Sadr tirni-guzars.
If he went to another district, his name was transferred to the rolls of that
district. Colonel Hamilton in 1851 thought it “impracticable to collect the tax
from cattle grazing within defined limits” and inexpedient to restrict cattle to
any boundaries” and that “the only feasible system is that which has hitherto
prevailed.” Before annexation “the tax on “cows and buffaloes was only levied
from owners who were strictly “cattle feeders and not cultivators, and those of
all bona fide cultivators were exempt, the cattle grazing in the river belas were
taxed, unless they belonged to cultivators. This was obly natural, as no land tax
was imposed on these lands.” The Sadr tirni-guzars got assistance from the
local authorities. He was personally responsible for his share in the lease to the
Kardar. the grazing rates first fixed for Jhang were :-
Rs. A. P. Rs. A. P.
Camels, male … 1 8 0 Bar buffaloes … 0 10 0
Camels, female … 1 0 0 village bufalloes… 0 5 0
Goats and sheep, Rs. 3-2-0 per hundred.

Cows and young animals were exempted. Only cattle actually grazing in the
Bar were taxed. The collections were much lower than they had been in

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

previous years.

Changes in the tirni There seems to have been but little change in the tirni administration
administration introduced by during the first ten years of our rule. In 1860, Colonel Hamilton introduced a
Colonel Hamilton.
system that practically remained in force until 1874-75. In his Circular No. 126
of 14 th June, 1860, he briefly noted the causes that rendered a change of
system unavoidable. Under the Sikh rule assessment all waste lands were
considered to be the property of Government, the tax was a capitation tax on
cattle. The regular settlement of 1855-57 defined and demarcated village
boundaries, and included in them vast tracts of wasteland that had previously
been de facto Government property. These lands now belong in full property to
the villages, and tirni “now can be taken only from cattle grazing in lands
beyond the village “boundaries.” Colonel Hamilton suggested that small rakhs
situated between villages should be leased to neighbouring zaminars. An
anumeration of cattle in the whole division was to take place on a certain day.
The rates fixed by Colonel Hamilton were---
Rs. A. P. Rs. A. P.
Camels, male … 1 0 0 Milch buffaloes … 0 4 0
Camels, female… 1 8 0 Cows … 0 10 0
Goats and sheep, 6 pies.

The following animals were free :


A. -------Male camels to the 3 rd year.
B. -------Female do.
C. -------Cows and buffaloes do.
D. -------Bulls, bullocks, male buffaloes, horses ponies, mules, and asses.
Only cattle grazing the Bar were to be taxed, but if one head of cattle in a
village or herd was found grazing within the Bar, the whole cattle of same
description in the village or herd became liable to be taxed. All cattle liable to
be taxed found in the Bar or proved to have grazed there without having been
entered in the lists and regisers, could be charged double, ripple, or quadruple
rates. Villages were thus assessed yearly, nominally on the basis of a supposed
anumeration of their cattle, but really in the haphazard kind of way. The
villages in the cultivated portions of the district and the herdsmen and flock-
masters of the Bar were arranged in circles, and each circle was placed in the
charge of Sadr tirni-guzar. The Sadr tirni-guzar collected from the villages and
herds in his circle. The whole of the Government waste lands were undivided,
and, the tax paid, the tax payer might graze his cattle anywhere in the district.
The rules entitled him to free throughout the Mooltan division. A village had
nominally the option of electing to be tirni-guzar, i.e., liable to tirni or not. If
the cattle of a village, alleging itself to be non-tirni-guzar, were caught grazing
in the Bar, not only were the punitive rates above mentioned levied, but the
whole cattle of the village were summarily recorded assessment tirni-guzars,
and were thenceforth charged annually with tirni. The system was one of the
direct management, and a large staff of Daroghas, Naib-daroghas, camel sawars

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

and other myrmidons was maintained. Major Hamilton’s rules were sanctioned.
Mr. Cust, in a memorandum on the subject noted: “In fact it is but justice to the
agriculturist that a certain amount of taxation should fall on the pastoral tribes
who make use of the vast Government forest ranges to which they have no title
either of property or occupation.”
Introduction of the chak In 1869 His Honour the Lituenant-Governor authorised the Financial
system. Commissioner to lease out the grazing instead of levying the tax by
anumeration, in any district in whichhe was satisfied assessment to te
expediency of the change.
The change was made in 1874-75, and after much discussion and some half
measures the introduction of chak or block system was finally determined upon.
It is still in force except in the portion of district lying in the Sind Sagar Doab.
Its main features are these. The Government waste lands of the Bars, the Thal,
and the scatered rakhs in the Vichanh have been arranged and divided into
chaks. The portion of Jhang tahsil that lies in the Vichanh, between the Jhelum
and Chenab, is one chak, and the potion of Chiniot tahsil lying on the right bank
of the Chenab, another.The remainder of the disrict lying along the left bank
has been cut up into several chaks. The chak in the each case consists of the
particular block of Bar and the villages lying between it and the river which, if
tirni-guzar are attached to the block. The chak is let out annually to a varying
number of contractors called chakdars, for a fixed sum.The villages of the chak
are divided into tirni-guzar and the ghair tirni-guzar, tirni paying and non-tirni
paying. The oretically to be tirni paying or not is optional too the villages, but
practically it is not. A tirni-guzar village is one in which the whole of the
village cattle pay tirni every year. The ghair tirni-guzar villages are those who
are not attached to any chak. It is assumed that the cattle of these villages never
do graze, and they are therefore exempted from the payment of tirni. If they are
caught grazing, they become liable to to penal rates. The chakdars collect
froom the tirni-paying villages at the rates sanctioned. These chakdars are the
old Sadr tirni-guzars of the Sikh system under another name, and are generally
from year to year the same persons, the most influental zamindars residing in
the neighbourhood of the chak. The sums for which the various chaks were
leasedduring the first few years after the introduction of the system were based
on an estimate thus calculated. The cattle of the tirni-guzar villages were
anumerated and the income calculated. To this was added the estimated income
from the cattle of outsiders grazing in the chak during the year. The total
formed the sum, more or less modified to suit particular circumstances,for
which the chak was let. These estimates were revised annually until a few years
past. They were indicative only, not in any way binding. The chakdars are
entitled to get authorised fees from the living cattle only, existing in the village.
The collections may be above or below the estimate in the case of any given
village, but the chakdar has no right to collect anything in excess of the fixed
fees. The income from the cattle not attached to the chak is made up of charges
on cattle belonging to the other distrits, and the cattle belonging to nomad tribes
dwelling if possible all the year round in the Bar. The scale of fees wasrevised
in 1875 by Mr. Tolbort, and fixed assessment below :---

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Rs. A. P. Rs. A. P.
Camels Male … … 0 12 0 Cows … … 0 6 0
Female … … 1 2 0 Sheep and goats… 0 0 9

Buffaloes .. Male … … 0 6 0 Oxen … … 0 3 0


Female … … 0 12 0 Horses … … 0 6 0
Donkeys and mules … … Rs. 0 3 0
To allow or the every inferior character of the pasturage, the rates for the
Vichanh chak were half these. Bullocks, male buffaloes, horses, donkeys and
mules of tirni-guzar villages grazing in their own chak, are exempt. Sheep and
goats, not six months old on 1st April, and other cattle not eighteen months old,
are exempt for the ensuing financial year.
The tirni collections for the last 20 years are given below :-
Rs. A. P. Rs. A. P.
Camels Male … … 0 12 0 Cows … … 0 6 0
Female … … 1 2 0 Sheep and goats… 0 0 9

Buffaloes .. Male … 0 6 0 Oxen … … 0 3 0


Female … 0 12 0 Horses … … 0 6 0
Donkeys and mules … … Rs. 0 3 0
Year 1860. 1861. 1862. 1863. 1864. 1865. 1866. 1867. 1868. 1869.
Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs.
Tirni 71,761 71,761 69,605 61,595 64,375 63,791 78,570 72,268 73,894 75,23
Sajji 3,835 5,546 6,070 5,550 6,750 14,710 7,073 9,200 15,887 16,74
Munj 38 38 50 53 102 55 300 200 300 300

Year 1870. 1871. 1872. 1873. 1874. 1875. 1876. 18


Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs
Tirni 87,628 1,27,343 1,15,636 1,09,958 1,10,887 1,01,193 92,792 79
Sajji 12,586 16,630 11,950 13,350 Included in tirni fro
Munj 290 1,489 968 1,187 550 330 Included in

.At first, grazing fees, tirni, Sajji sales and munj kana sales were shown
separately.

Redemarcation of Garh Shortly, after the commencement of the settlement of 1880 the rakh
Maharaja and Ahmed Pur demarcation in the ilakas of Garh Maharaja and Ahmed Pur was revised. These
rakhs.
two parganas until 1861 were included in the Muzaffar Garh district. The rakhs
were originally demarcated in a summary manner without a full knowledge of
the facts and without due regard to the interests of the people, by pencil lines
drawn on the maps of the revenue survey. In not a few instances, wells and
cultivated lands were included in the rakh areas, and villages were cut off from
their grazing grounds by intervening appropraiated jungle. The revision of the
rough boundaries were conducted on the same lines in this district assessment
in Muzaffar Garh. The result was that the Government waste land situate in the
two parganas was cut down to 32,876 acres from 54,857 acres. The rakhs in
the two parganas are,excluding that of Sadkana Mirali, now, thirteen in
number.
The Introduction of the Dera The release of so much waste to the zamindars,accompanied by the
Ismail Khan tirni system into partition of the DEra Ismail Khan between the Zamindars and the Government,

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

the western portion of the and its division into the villages held in sole proprietary right by individuals and
district rakhs the sole property of Government rendered a change into the tirni
arrangements obtaining in this portion of the district imperative. The Dera
Ismail Khan or the Shahpur System of tirni has accordingly been
introduced.The old system of levying tirni has been abolsihed. Instead, an
assessment has been imposed on the waste lands of each village in their grazing
capacity. The Government waste lands of the Thal are now leased annually to
leesses who; collect grazing fees at a fixed scale from the cattle that graze
therein and those only. For the two Thal chaks no separate camel tirni has been
imposed. No the grazing fee is levied from the cattle of zamidars grazing in the
Ahmadpur and Garh Maharaja rakhs, but a seprate camel tirni islevied from the
camels resident and grazing in the ilaka. The right of free fraing in these 13
rakhs has been absolutely surrendered to the zamindars on account of the
extreme proverty of the rakhs over being leased to any ountsuders. The
assessments on the village waste in the villages trau_Jhelum and
Jhelum_Chenab amount to Rs 2337, being its 615 below the assessment given
by the sancatioined rate of Rs. 1-12-0 per 100 acres:__
The sajji assessment The sajji assessment statisitcs are given below:__
SETTLEMENT
SETTLEMENT OF 1856.
OF 1880
Jhang Villages. Jamas. Villages. Jamas.
Shorkot 9 90 7 170
District 17 564 10 655
26 663 17 825
The amount in Jhang is trifling. The assessment in Shorkot are much higher
; in mauza Bhangu the demand on account of sajji is Rs.300. The sajji crop
depends upon a year of favourble rainfall ; especially rain is needed after the
plants have been pruned. The sajji is manufactured by profeesional sajji makers
, to whom this business is constructed by the lessee. They get half the produce
as their wages. Some other payments are made to the watchman, and to the
blacksmith who assists in the process.
The assessment on the leased darkhwasti, wells and plots situate in the
Leased wells in the Government wastes of the Thal and Bars, amonts to Rs. 6,310, more or less on
Government waste.
The system used for their
299 wells or plots. Theese wells have been sunk at various times since the
assessment. regular settlement, by person originally crown tenants under lesses from
Government. At the setlement of 1880, following the orders passed in reference
to similar crown tenants in the Montgomeri district, all lessees holding on
leases granted provisionally to the issue of financial commisioners, book
circular VII of tenth March 1868 were recorded as full proprietors of their wells
and to the lands attached .
These wells are not found scattered here and there everywhere throughout the
Bar and Thal tracts. They are generally located along the edge of the Bar near
the village boundaries, and the lessees are usually residents of nearest village.
Those farther away in the interior of the Bar have been constructed more with
the object of the watering cattle then raising crops. Besides the well lands there
are a few plots of Barani cultivation held on leases the assessment of these

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

wells and plots has been framed on principles different from those on which
lands held in private proprietorship have been assessed. In the case of later the
area under cultivation and the estimated area annually cultivated by a well have
been the true basis of the calculation. In assessing these leased wells, the area of
the grant without reference to the area under cultivation has been the point most
considered. The lands are grants from Government. When the leased is given
the land is waste, and the revenue demand is naturally proportioned to the
extent of the grant. Taking two grants equal in the area and quality of soil, the
original assessment will be equal. If at the expiry of the original leases it is
found that the land of one leased are lying waste and the well out of work,
while the other well is prospering and has a large cultivated area attached, this
is no reason the diminishing the tax in the one case and raising it in the other.
To do so is to put a premium on laziness and to tax energy.
The assessment statistics for each tahsil are given below :---

Wells. Total Culturab Chahi Barani Fallow Total


Area. le. Malg
zari-
Chiniot Area
Jhang 88 5,419 2,882 1,473 284 548 5,188
Shorkot 156 7,245 4,262 2,204 12 554 7,032
46 2,169 1,577 388 3 128 2,096
District
290 14,833 8,721 4,066 299 1,230 14,31
6
The revenue rates adopted are these :___
Tahsil. Tract. Mnimum per Average per Mazimum p
acre. well. well.
Annas. Rs. Rs.
Chiniot … … Sandal and … 8 25 30
Kirana Bars
Jhang … … Sandal Bar … 6 17 20
Vichanh Bar .. 8 25 30
Shorkot … … Sandal Bar … 6 17 20
Thal … … 5 16 20

The resultant jamas are subjoined : ----


Minimum. Average. Maximum. Old. New.
Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs.
Chiniot 2,200 2,593 2,640 1,454 2,450
Jhang… 2,810 2,768 3,320 2,016 2,903
Shorkot 773 752 920 603 800
District 5,783 6,113 6,880 4,073 6,153
In addition to the jamas thus framed, the lessees of all wells have been charged
one Anna in the rupee as malikana. From this payment the proprietors of wills
leased before 1868 are exempt. Censes are charged as on ordinary land revenue.

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Kashi Barani. Year by year a certain a mount of revenue is realized from the lease of lands in
the Bar for rain cultivation. The assessment- rates charged is: --- tobacco, Re. 1-
8-0; til, cotton, wheat, tara mira, barley, gram, Re. 1-4-0; bajra, mung –mash,
china moth, jawar, kharbuza, turnips, Re.1. Collection from 1860 to 1879 are
given
Year 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869
Collecti 401 109 2,024 4,048 647 522 698 2,419 1,154 8,160
on
Year 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879
Collecti 2,626 1,361 6,888 4,188 3,870 3,181 2,579 1,762 8,761 4,906
ons
Applications are made specifying the amount of land and the crop or crops that
it is intended to cultivate. The Tahsildar gives permission. Later on, the area
under crop, or that has been sown, is measured up, and the rent is collected in
accordance with the above rates from the lessee. The chief crops grown are
bajra, jowar, til, moth, mong, mung – mash, gram, and wheat. Kharif crops
predominate. In favorable years splendid bajra and moth or mung crops are
grown. Bajra crops in the Kirana Bar are better than elsewhere. This Bar is
supposed to be generally more favourable for the production of rain crops than
the Sandal Bar. There is no doubt that the rain cultivation in the Bar has
materially interfered with the prosperity of the Uttar villages on both sides of the
river. The tenant of an Utar well is generally more of a herdsman than an
agriculturist, and there is nothing he likes better than some ten acres of barani
cultivation surrounded with good pasturage and a pool of water near. With his
family and cattle he leaves the well, constructs a rough shed, and lives under it
in the Bar, or as often as not has no cover except a pilu bush. The seed once
sown, he has nothing to do but to trust in Providence: there is no watering or
weeding to be done; and there is little that the fatalist zamindar loves better.
Camels, horses, and even human beings are yoked to the plough when the early
rains are peculiarly favorable; such is the anxiety to get as much seed into the
ground as possible where there is a certainty of its germination.

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

CHAPTER VI

Town’s General
statistics of towns.
TOWNS
At the census of 1881, all places possessing more than 5,000 inhabitants, all
municipalities, and alla head quarters of district and military posts were classed
as towns. Under this rule the following places were returned as the towns of the
Jhang district: ---
Tahsil Town Persons Males Femal
es
Jhang Maghiana 12,574 6,569 6,005
Jhang 9,055 4,964 4,091
Chiniot Chiniot 10,731 5,297 5,434
Shorkot Shorkot 2,283 1,190 1,093
Ahmad 2,338 1,223 1,115
pur sial
The distribution by religion of the population of these towns, and the number of
houses in each are shown in Table No. XLIII, while further particulars will be
found in the Census Report in Table No XIX and its appendix and Table No.
XX. The remainder of this chapter consists of a detailed description of each
town, with a brief notice of its history, the increase and decrease of its
population, its commerce, manufactures, municipal government, institution, and
public buildings; and statistics of births and deaths, trade and manufactures,
wherever figures are available.
The towns of Jhang and Maghiana are two miles apart; are situated in latitude
Jhang and Maghiana 31”16”16 and longitude 72’21’45’’ and contain a population of 21’629 souls.
Description. They are connected by two well-me tailed roads, which start from the east and
west ends of Maghiana, cross one another in the middle where the Upper
School is situated at an equal distance from either town, and enter Jhang on the
west and east, respectively.
The two towns form a single municipality. The Chenab flows past them
at a distance of about three miles to the west, but in the cold weather the
Kharora, branch fills and runs close past the towns, and with its avenue three
miles long, and its handsome masonry bathing ghats, adds a peculiar beauty to
th3 neighborhood. The country round is will wooded ; fine gardens abound;
there are good driving roads, well shaded with trees, and passing through rich
cultivation; and altogether the towns and their environs form a beautiful oasis in
the howling waste around. An inundation canal leaves the Kharora branch near
Jhang, passes round Maghiana, and after a course of five miles empties itself
into the same branch.
Jhang Town The capital of the Sial State, with many fine and picturesque masonry
buildings, Jhang was the principal of the two towns. But some years ago the
civil head quarters were shifted from a position half way between the two towns
to the immediate neighborhood of Maghiana, which has now outgrown its rival

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

in population. The town is traversed by a single main street, running east and
west, which is lined on either side with masonry shops built on a uniform plan.
The streets and lanes are well paved with brick, and are well drained. The
pinnacle of the Nath Sahib-ka-Mandar is a conspicuous object for miles round.
The town is surrounded by a mud wall, which is in ruins. The road, which
leaves Jhang on the east, is for 500 yards on its way to Maghiana lined by
walls, built by Mr. Wakefield to protect it from the shifting sand through which
it passes. Out side of the walls of the town are the school buildings with a pretty
fountain, the dispensary, and the police buildings. The wells, supplied by the
Chenab with water filtered through the intervening sand, give water of excellent
quality.
Once a small village, Maghiana, is now a town of some importance. It is built
Maghiana Town on no regular plan, but is traversed by several broad streets, lined with shops
built of masonry, on a uniform pattern. The streets and lanes are well paved
with brick, and are drained into a water channel on the west of the town, which
empties itself into the Kharora branch of the Chenab. The western side of the
town is protected from flood by a high embankment, nearly a mile long. It
stopped free circulation of air, and had only a narrow lane behind it. The
embankment has been now cut down to the level of the lane, a height quite
sufficient for protection from flood, and the whole has been paved and now
forms a handsome boulevard, 50 feet broad. In the centre of the town, there is a
handsome chauk with a fountain, shaded by a beautiful group of trees, which is
used as a vegetable and fruit market.
There are no buildings of any importance in the town. Outside, to the north east,
is a fine masonary tank, in which is an island with a Hindu shrine, shaded by
beautiful trees. The municipal garden, well planted with grafted mangoes and
other fruit trees, lies round it, and on one side stands the municipal hall and
station library. Outside the eastern gate are the civil hospital and the Middle
school, with a handsome fountain. Further to the east are the Tahsil and Thana
,the houses of the Civil Officers, the Sessions house Kutcherry and Treasury, the
Fort, a Refuge built after the Mutiny, the Jail, and Police lines. The drinking
water drawn from wells, which get their supply well filtered by the intervening
sand from the Chenab, is Excellent. The canal, mentioned above, runs through
the public garden, which is thoroughly stocked with fruit trees, vegetables and
flowers. The old towns of Jhang, the remain of which can still be seen to the
west of the present town and close to the shrine of Noor Shah,is said to have
been founded in 1462 by Mal Khan, the ninth in descent from Sial, the ancestor
of the Sials; and was washed away by the river. The word jhang signifies a
wood, jhangi being in common local use for a clump of trees. The present town
was founded during the reign of Aurangzeb in 1688, by a sanyasi fakir, Lal
Nath, the twelth in descent from home, Shahmsher Nath, dweils in the Nath Ka
Mandar, the finest building in the town. The town besieged and taken by Ranjit
Singh in 1805. The present head of the Sials, Nawab Muhammad Ismail Khan,
lives in the town.
The town of Mighiana was nothing but a pretty village twenty years ago, and
has no history. It was founded by Megha, ancestor of the Mighiana clan of Sials,

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

who migrated thither from lohabhir.


The municipality, which includes both the towns of Jhang and Maghiana, was
Taxation and trade first established in 1862. It is of the 2nd Class with the Deputy Commissioner as
President, District Superintendent of Police, Civil Surgeon and Assistant
Commissioner or Extra Assistant Commissioner as ex- officio members. There
are 12 non-official members, who are nominated by Government on the
suggestion of the Deputy Commissioner. Table No XIV shows the income of
the municipality for the last five years. It is chiefly derived from octroi levied
on the value of goods brought within municipal limits; a coarse kind of cloth
(khaddar) made in the district is bought up by middle men to the yearly value of
8 or 10 lakhs and sold to the powindahs, and the octroi on this, really and
export duty, contributes largely to the municipal income. Ghi, wool, khar
(impure carbonate of soda and potash), and tamariskgalls are largely exported.
So is madder, bought from the powindahs. Soap also of a superior kind is
manufactured and exported; leather – wok, including saddlery, and jars for ghi
and oil, are in much demand. Brass work, especially imitation Chubb-locks
have quite a Punjab reputation.
The site of Maghiana is very favorable, being on the edge of the high – lands,
out of reach of the river floods, and upon the great lines of traffic. Here the toute
of the Kandahar caravans from Dera Ismail Khan to Firozpur and Dehli, Crosses
the military road from Mooltan to Wazirabad. Roads have also been constructed
connecting Maghiana with Shahpur in one direction, and Pak Pattan, Via
Kamalia, in another. Jhang is situated in the low –land. It has no transit, and but
little indigenous trade; and now that the Government offices and establishments
have been removed to Maghiana, it has ceased to be a place of any importance.

The Principal institutions of Jhang and Maghiana are the two Middle schools,
one near each town, the Upper school at Adhiwal, half way between the two
towns, the charitable dispensary with its branch at Jhang, and the municipal hall,
Institutions and public with its reading room, library, and small museum. There is a sarai and
building. dakbungalow, a small Church with a pretty garden, and the usual Court-housed,
Tahsil and Thana. There are many dharmsals, thakurduaras, shiwalas and
masjids in both towns, where travelers put up in large numbers. There are nine
katras in Maghiana and one in Jhang, where merchants stay and store their
goods.

Jhang Town population The population as ascertained at the enumerations of 1868, 1878 and 1881 is
and vital statistics shown below: ---
Year of Persons Males Females
census
1868 9,124 5,213 3,911
1875 8,609 ……. …..
1881 9,055 4,964 4,091
The details in the margin give the population of suburbs.
Town of Population

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

suburb. 1868 1881


Jhang 6,966
town....Sub 9,124 1,196
urbs . . 893
Civil
Lines...
It would appear from information supplied by the Deputy Commissioner that no
fewer than 71 small scattered hamlets have been excluded from, and three
hamlets and the civil lines included with in municipal limits since 1875. The
constitution of the population by religion, and the number of occupied houses,
are shown in Table No. XLIII. Details of sex will be found in Table No XX of
the census Repot of 1881.
Maghiana Town The population as ascertained at the enumerations of 1868, 1875 and 1881 as
population and vital shown below.
statistics. Limits of Year Person Males Females
enumeratio of s
n. census
Whole 1868.. 11,389 6,156 5,231
town 1881.. 12,574 6,569 6,005
Municipal 1868 10,854
limits 1875 13,618
1881 12,574

Town of population
suburb. 1868 1881
Maghiana 10,525 11,462
Town 864 704
Hasnana includ 408
Minor ed in
suburbs town
It is difficult to ascertain the precise limits within which the enumerations of
1868 and 1875 were taken; but the details in the margin, which give the
population of suburbs, throw some light on the matter. The figures for the
population within municipal limits, according to the published tables of the
census of 1868 are taken from the Census of 1875, but it was noted at the time
that their accuracy was in many cases doubtful. The constitution of the
population by religion, and the number of occupied houses, are shown in Table
No XLIII. Details of sex will be found in Table No. XX of the Census Report
of 1881. The annual birth and death- rates per mille of population since 1868
are given at the top of the next page, the basis of calculation being in every case
the figures of the most recent census. The actual number of births and deaths
registered during the last five years is shown in Table No. X LIV.
The town of Chiniot is situated in latitude 31’43’32’’ and longitude 73’ 0’59,’’
and contains a population of 10,731 inhabitants. It stands under and on the
Chiniot town slope of low rocky hills about two

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Year BIRTH RATES DEATH RATES


Persons Males Females Persons Males Females
1868 13 18 12
1869 30 29 30
1870 25 26 24 16 16 17
1871 20 19 21 18 18 18
1872 21 12 9 15 15 16
23 11 12 21 23 19
36 21 15 20 22 19
45 24 20 30 32 28
28 16 12 26 25 28
30 15 14 24 24 23
30 15 15 37 36 40
26 14 11 27 27 28
38 20 17 21 17 26
36 18 17 22 20 24
30 17 14 24 23 24
Miles from the left bank of the Chenab, and in hot weather the heat thrown out
by them is almost intolerable. The town is divided into three parts, and is
picturesquely grouped on and below the hills. One part lies close under the hill,
another towards the tehsil, and the third to the west. This last, though included
in the town, is always spoken of part lies close under the hill, another towards
the tahsil, and the third to the west. This last, though included in the town, is
always spoken of as the thattah, and is more a separate collection of houses,
round the tomb of Pir Shekh Ismail, than an integral part of the town. Most of
the houses are of excellent brick-work; and the solid well – built aspect of the
town is striking. The most conspicuous building is the Shahi Masjid built by
Nawab Sadulla Khan Tahim, physician and minister of Shah Jahan. There is
also a Khangah sacred to the memory of Shah Burhan, a saint revered alike by
Hindus and Musalmans. It has a good market place attached to it. There are
some good streets which are well paved, and many of the houses are lofty and
commodious, especially those belonging to the Khoja traders, who have large
business dealings with Amritsar, Calcuttam, Bombay, and Karachi. The natural
drainage is good, but the municipality is poor, and sanitary arrangements are
not as good as they ought to be. The drinking water, derived from wells getting
their supply from the Chenab, is exceedingly good. The country is will wooded,
and the hills to the westward, with Koh Kirana in the distance, and the Chenab
flowing through a rocky defile in the foreground, give great beauty to the place.
There is a beautiful garden, well stocked with fruit trees, near the tahsil and rest
house.
Chiniot is doubtless a town of considerable antiquity; but little is khown
about its origin and history. It is said to have been founded by a King’s
daughter, Chandan, sister of the chief called Machhi Khan, who was
accustomed to hunt in man’s attire. While on one of her expeditions; she was so
charmed with the site-hill, river and plain-that she ordered a town to be built on
the spot. From her name the town was first called Chandniot. In old deeds the

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

name is always spelled thus. The town suffered severely from the Durani
inroads, and from constant sieges during the last half of the 18th century, that
witnessed the struggles between the Sials, Bhangi Sirdars and the Sukarchakia
Misl, headed by Mahan Singh and his son the Maharaja; and again in 1848
from the occupation of Narayan Singh; but is now rapidly recovering. The most
prosperous days of Chiniot were during the reign of Shah Jahan, Tahim was the
governor. It was he who built the Shahi Masjid, an exceedingly handsome
edifice of hewn stone obtained from the hills near Chiniotl The pillars that
support the western portion of the mosque underneath the domes are singularly
chaste and elegant in design. Some repairs and restorations have been recently
made that, to say the least, are in very doubtful taste, and are certainly utterly
out of harmony with the character of the building. Another vestige of the
Tahims magnificence is to be found in the remains of an elephant house. Now,
the Tahims are represented by a Deputy Inspector of Police, a couple of
patwaris, and one or two families resident at Chiniot The decay of families that
years ago were rulers in the land is in this district most remarkable. A large
colony of Khojas resides here. The townspeople have an unenviable character
for forgery, litigiousness false evidence and anonymous petitioning. Any old
deed that comes out of Chiniot should be looked upon with the greatest
suspicion.
The municipality was constituted in 1862, and is one of the 3rd class. The
Deputy Commissioner is President, the Tahsildar is ice resident and there are
eight nominated members. Table No. XLV shows the income of the
municipality for the last five years. It is derived fro octroi, levied at rates
varying from Re. 1-9 to Rs. 3-2 percent. On the value of almost all goods
brough within municipal limits. Chiniot is celebrated for its wood carving and
masonry. Masons from Chiniot ae said to have been employed in building the
Taj Mahal. The architect of the Golden Temple at Amritsar was a Chiniot
mason, and the head mason now attached to the building is another. Of late
years the Khojas have begun to export large quantities of bones, horns and
hides to Calcutta. Other articles of export are ghi, coarse cloth, cotton and wool.
There is a small transit trade in the hands of powindah merchants, and a little
traffic with the salt mines.
There is a good charitable dispensary, a school house, and a large
number of dharmsals and masjids, where travelers put up. A large sarai has
lately been dismantled, as it was founded that no one used it. There is a good
rest house standing in a pretty garden.
The population as ascertained at the enumerations of 1868, 1875 and
1881, is shown below:-
Years of census Persons Males Females
1868 11,477 6,106 5,371
1875 11,999
1881 10,731 5,297 5,434
The constitution of the population by religion, and the number of
occupied houses, are shown in Table No XLIII. Details of sex will be found in
Table No. XX of the Census Report of 1881. The annual birth and death rates

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

per mile of population since 1868 are given below, the bases of calculation
being in every case the figures of the most recent census:-
Years BIRTH RATES DEATH RATES
Persons Males Females Persons Males Females
1868 16 14 18
1869 27 23 31
1870 27 22 23 23 23 24
1871 32 23 41 22 19 25
1872 29 12 17 26 23 28
1873 30 14 17 22 20 25
1874 43 20 23 25 20 30
1875 48 22 26 32 26 39
1876 39 21 19 32 29 36
1877 39 19 20 26 23 28
1878 38 19 19 29 27 32
1879 32 16 16 27 25 30
1880 34 16 18 25 23 27
1881 37 19 18 24 21 26
Average 36 18 19 26 23 29
The actual number of births and deaths, registered during the last five
years is shown in Table No. XLIV.

Though a town of historical renown (see Chapter 11), and still the head quarters
Shorkot Town of the tahsil, shorkot is now little more than a village. It contains 2,283
inhabitants, and stands about four miles from the left bank of the Chenab,
underneath the lofty mound or Bhir on which the ancient town was built. It is
surrounded by fine groves of date palms, the fruit of which is excellent and of
various kinds. Many of the buildings are lofty, but most of them are in a state of
ruin a fine bazaar with a gate at each end, and lined with shops built on a
uniform plan, exists; but few of the shops are tenanted. There is a good
dispensary a school house and garden, a rest house with a agood garden and the
tahsil and police buildings. A large hollow to the east of the town and from
which the materials of the Bhir were evidently taken, becomes a fine lake in the
rains but adds much to the unhealthiness of the town.
The municipal committee consists of four nominated members, the
Deputy Commissioner and Tahsildar; but is recommended for reduction. Its
income is shown in Table No.XLV. The trade of the town is insignificant.
The identification of Shorkot with one of the towns of the Malli, and
with the town of Po-lo-fa, to visited by Hwen Thsang, has been already alluded
to. The present town stands below a huge mound of ruins about 100 feet in
height, and almost rectangular in shape, surrounde with a walla of large sized
bricks and measures about 2000 feet by 1000 in size. Burnes, who visited the
place, describes it as a mound of earth, surrounded by a brick walla and so high
as to be seen for a circuit of six or by a brick wall, and so high as to be seen for
a circuit of six or by a brick wall, and so high as to be seen for a circuit of six or
eight miles. The same travelers were informed by the people that their town had

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

been destroyed by some king from the west ward, about 1300 years ago.
General Cunningham received the same tradition about its destruction, which
he attributes to the White Huns, whose date he fixes in the sixth century of our
era. The foundation of the city is attributed to b fabulous Raja Shor, of whom
nothing is known but the name. From the evidence of coins found upon the
spot, General Cunningham infers that the town was occupied certainly as early
as th Greek kings of ariana and the Punjab, who followed at no long interval
after Alexander; and that is flourished under the Indo Seythian dynasties, down
to A.D. 250, or perhaps later. But, as the Hindu coins are confined to the
Brahmin Kings o Kabul and the Punjab, he concludes that for some centuries
the town was either deserted or much decayed, and that it was either re
occupied or restored in the tenth century by one of these Brahin Kings.
Mr. Steedman wites:-
“To an observer possessing no special antiquarian knowledge the
mound appears to have been the citadel of the old town. The abruptness with
which the mound rises from the ground and the existence of remains of what
appear to have been bastion towers at intervals round the mound support this
view. The old town must have sloped away from the fort northwards”.
The name of the town is attributed to various sources; to a fabulous
Raja Shor, to the saline character of the ground, to the quarrelsome character of
the inhabitants, and to a fierce soldier of Islam, named Taj-ul-din Shori. Taj-ul-
din came to the Punjab in the van of the Muhammadan invasion as a follower of
Pir Ghazi who fel l a martyr on the field of battle in combat with the infidels
who then held shorkto. The town was taken and derived its present name from
Taj-ul-din ‘ssurname. Pir Ghazi’s tomb is still to be seen close by Shorkot in a
wood of aged farash and jal trees.
The population, as ascertained at the enumerations of 1868, 1875 and
1881,is shown below:-
Years of census Persons Males Females
1868 3,156 1,756 1,400
1875 2,478
1881 2,283 1,190 1,093

The constitution of the population by religion, and the number of


occupied housed, are shown in Table No. XLII. Details of sex will be found in
Table Nol. XX of the Census Report of 1881.

Ahmadpur is a small town in the Shorkot Tehsil, situated about a mile from the
Ahmadpur Town right bank of th Chenab, and is 55 miles from Jhang. It was founded about 200
years ago by Nusrat Sial, who named it after his grandson Ahmad. The town
lies low and is surrounded in the rainy season by large sheets of water, and the
health of the inhabitants suffers in consequence. The houses are ittegular, and
built chiefly of sun dried bricks. There is one bazaar which has lately been
paved with brick. It has a population of 2,338 inhabitants, most of them
agriculturists, but some of the Hindus are very wealthy, and trade with Bombay
Calcutta and Karachi, especially in wheat. There is a good dispensary and a

154
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

good school.
The Municipal Committee consists of six nominated members, the
Tahsildar and the Deputy Commissioner. Its income is shown in Table No
XLV. It has been recommended for reduction.
The population as ascertained at the enumerations of 1868, 1875 and
1881, is shown below
Years of census Persons Males Females
1868 3,436 1,827 1,609
1875 2,146
1881 2,338 1,223 1,115

The constitution of the population by religion, and the number of


occupied houses, are shown in Table No. XLIII. Details of sex will be found in
Table No. XX of the Census Report of 1881.

155
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Statistical Tables

Table No. II, Showing Development


Detail 1853-54 1858-59 1863-64 1868-69 1873-74 1878-79
Population … … … 347043 … 395296
Cultivated Area … … … 241325 264366 411549
Irrigated Area … … … 174743 190078 204081
Ditto … … … 284237 … …
Assessed Land Revenue … … … 272522 294590 297010
Revenue from land … … … 407885 410339 279117
Gross Revenue … … … 140317 480158 483883
Number of kine … … … 292214 258337 124250
Sheeps and goats … … … 17353 259833 221560
Camels … … … … 19918 9399
Metal roads … … … 648 9 …
Unmatteled roads … … … … 954 954
Railway … … … … … …
Police staff … … 495 473 504 508
Prisoners convicted 537 662 491 1593 1691 800
Civil suits 2663 1091 2415 3430 4131 5066
Value in Rupees 78128 50745 116712 124200 184229 180490
Municipalities … … … … 2 4
Income in rupees … … … 18947 27764 31840
Dispensaries … … … 1 4 6
Patients … … … 4326 29477 61672
Schools … … 37 36 42 41

Table No.III, showing RAINFALL at Tahsil station


Table No. IIIA, showing RAINFALL at head- quarters
1 2 3 1 2 3
ANNUAL AVERAGED ANNUAL AVERAGES.

MONTH No, of
No of Rainfall in
rainy
MONTHS. rainy days tenths of an
Days in Rainfall in
in each month- inch in
each tenths of
1867-1881 each month-
month an inch in
1867-1881
1867- each month_
1876 1867-1881
JANUARY 1 3 SEPTEMBER 1 7
FEBRUARY 1 5 OCTOBER … …
MARCH 3 12 NOVEMBER … 1
APRIL 2 5 DECEMBER 1 3
1st October
MAY 1 5 to1st January 1 4
1st January to
5
JUNE 1 7 1st April 19

156
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

1st April to 1st


11
JULY 4 32 October 78
AUGUST 3 20 Whole year 17 100
Table No.IIIB, showing RAINFALL at Tahsil station
Table No. V, showing the DISTRIBUTION of POPULATION.
1 2 3 4 5
Tehsil Tehsil Tehsil
District Jhang Chiniot Shorkot
Total Squares Miles 6007 2365 2272 1220
Cultivated Square 643 263 194 185
Culturable Squares 3939 1569 1493 877
Square Miles under crops 474 204 132 138
total Population 395296 171713 128241 95342
Urban Population 36981 21629 10731 4621
Rural Population 358315 150084 117510 90721
Total Population per square mile 69 73 60 79
Urban Population per square
mile 63 64 55 75
Over 10000 souls 2 1 1
5000 to 10000 1 1
3000 to 5000 3 3
2000 to 3000 12 5 3 4
1000 to 2000 52 23 10 19
500 to 1000 141 52 50 39
under 500 550 251 100 109
Total 761 333 254 174
Occupied houses/Towns 4595 2710 1088 797
Villages 62429 30613 15416 16400
Unoccupied houses/Towns 2974 1523 888 568

Villages 17810 8894 3575 5341


residential Families/Towns 8943 5269 2482 1192

Villages 76121 33229 23469 19423

Table No. VI, showing MIGRATION.


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Males per1,000 Distribution Of
Immigr

Emigra
ants.

OF BOTH SEXES. IMMIGRANTS BY


nts.

Districts. TAHSILS.

157
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Immigrants.

Emigrants

Shorkot
Chiniot
Jhang
Lahore ... 416 1,500 589 635 144 191 081
Gujranwala 3,817 2,616 502 547 316 3,311 190
Shahpur ... 5,549 6,906 468 540 2,335 2,977 237
Mooltan ... 1,478 10,944 536 614 235 044 1,199
Montgomery 3,336 4,410 592 594 2,173 987 0176
Muzaffargarh 465 3,309 509 602 069 009 0887
Dera Jamail Khan 1,244 2,526 589 688 575 29 0640
...

Note,- These figures are taken from Table No. XI of the Census Report of 1881.
Table No. VIII, showing LANGUAGES.
DISTRIBUTION BY TAHSILS.
District
Language Jhang. Chiniot. Shorkot

Hindustani 319 245 34 40


Bagri 42 40 2
Pangabi 394,537 171,171 128,187 95,179
Jatki ... 86 37 49
Pashtu ... 559 191 7 61
Pahari ... 8 8
Kashmiri ... 12 5 1 6
Sindin ... 11 9 2
Persian ... 9 8 1
English ... 10 6 1 3
Note,- These figures are taken from Table No. IX of the Census Report for1881
Table No. IX, MAJOR CASTERS and TRIBES.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Serial Total NUBERS MALES, BY RELIGON. Proper
No. Tion per
In Census Caste or tribe Mille of
Table No. Popula
VIIIA. Tion.
Persons. Males. Females Hindu. Sikh. Ja Musalma
in. n.

158
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Total population..
Bloch 395,296 214,382 180,914 34,696 1,994 2 177,680 1,000
18 Jat .. 15,093 7,1967 7,126 .. .. .. 7,967 38
1 Rajput .. 48,242 26,799 21,443 132 112 .. 26,555 122
2 Khokhar .. 89,641 49,493 40,148 61 46 .. 49,386 227
58 Arain .. 11,239 6,154 5,085 .. .. .. 6,154 28
7 Shekh .. 6,077 3,272 2,805 .. .. .. 3,272 15
17 Mughal .. 5,337 2,858 2,479 .. .. .. 2,858 14
87 Brahman .. 3,122 1,746 1,376 .. .. .. 1,746 8
3 Saiyad .. 5,319 2,892 2,427 2,887 4 .. 1 13
24 Nai .. 5,914 3,071 2,873 .. .. .. 3,071 15
21 Mirasi .. 6,307 3,439 2,868 2 3 .. 3,434 16
25 Khatri .. 7,741 4,107 3,634 .. .. .. 4,107 20
16 Arora .. 15,196 8,318 6,878 7,752 199 .. 367 38
10 Khojah .. 45,041 23,736 21,305 22,135 1,431 .. 170 114
44 Chuhra .. 3,352 1,677 1,675 .. .. .. 1,677 9
4 Mochi .. 20,944 11,184 9,760 166 4 .. 11,014 53
19 Julaha .. 14,132 7,736 6,396 .. .. .. 7,736 36
9 Machhi .. 24,176 13,042 11,134 .. .. .. 13,042 61
28 Mallah .. 9,517 5,125 4,392 .. .. .. 5,125 24
42 Lohar .. 3,066 1,556 1,510 .. .. .. 1,556 8
22 Tarkhan .. 3,062 1,627 1,435 .. 18 .. 1,609 8
11 Kumhar .. 8,118 4,515 3,903 1 2 .. 4,512 21
13 Charhoa .. 15,381 8,212 7,169 1 .. .. 8,211 39
59 Qassab .. 5,234 2,801 2,433 .. .. .. 2,801 13
88 4,979 2,624 5,355 .. .. .. 2,624 13

Note,- These figures are taken from Table No. VIIIA of the Census of 1881.
Table No. IXA, MINOR CASTERS and TRIBES.
1 2 3 4 5
Serial No. in
Census Table Caste or tribe. Persons. Males. Females
No.VIIA.

6 Pathan ... 1,710 1,030 680

12 Awan . 1,496 816 680

30 Sunar ... 1,697 902 795

35 Faqir,misllenious & 1,618 919 699


unspecific
40 573 294 279
Jogi ...
48 1,505 829 676
Bharai ...
70 706 879 327
Ulama
Note,- These figures are taken from Table No. VIIIA of the Census of 1881.

159
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Table No. XI A, Showing Monthly Deaths From All Causes


1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Month 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 Total

January 460 453 606 406 624 2549


February 427 319 629 610 595 2580
March 428 292 613 594 544 2471
April 373 235 359 448 434 1849
May 314 322 325 565 564 2090
June 388 330 275 586 454 2033
July 314 305 357 541 481 1998
August 264 239 330 557 404 1794
September 283 326 207 492 468 1774
October 340 316 183 480 574 1893
November 435 455 260 543 661 2354
December 417 708 323 684 667 2799
Total 4443 4300 4467 6506 6470 26186
Table No. XI Showing Births and Deaths
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Year Total Birth Registered Total Death Registered Total Deaths From
Male Female Persons Male Female Persons Male Female Persons
1877 … … … 2526 1917 4443 102 2826
1878 … … … 2398 1902 4300 367 2400
1879 … … … 2628 1839 4467 242 654 2058
1880 6066 4920 10995 3744 2762 6506 104 3589
1881 6658 5712 12370 3470 3000 6470 60 3796

Table No. XI A, Showing Monthly Deaths from All Causes


1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Month 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 Total

January 460 453 606 406 624 2549


February 427 319 629 610 595 2580
March 428 292 613 594 544 2471
April 373 235 359 448 434 1849
May 314 322 325 565 564 2090
June 388 330 275 586 454 2033
July 314 305 357 541 481 1998
August 264 239 330 557 404 1794
September 283 326 207 492 468 1774
October 340 316 183 480 574 1893
November 435 455 260 543 661 2354
December 417 708 323 684 667 2799
Total 4443 4300 4467 6506 6470 26186
Table No. XII, Showing Infirmities

160
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Insane Blind Deaf and Dumb Lepers
Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female
Religions 332 154 1252 1305 336 191 37 14
/Total 281 139 1087 1120 305 170 34 12
Villagers 46 15 191 189 51 24 7 2
2 … 5 1 3 … 1 …
Hindus 284 139 1056 1115 282 167 29 12
Sikhs
Muslims

Table No. XIV, Showing Education


1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
Male Female Male Female
instruction

instruction

instruction

instruction
and write

and write

and write

and write
Can read

Can read

Can read

Can read
Under

Under

Under

Under
All Religion 3651 14386 127 118 Muslims 1375 2332 92 77
/total 2236 10579 68 84 Christian 8 1
Jhang
Villagers Chiniot
Hindus 2167 11611 32 35 Shorkot 2060 7300 78 53
Sikhs 109 429 3 4 750 3173 17 34

Jains … … … … 841 3913 32 31

Buddhists … … … … … … … …

Table No. XIV, showing detail of surveyed and assessed area


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Cultivated Un cultivated
Irrigated
Total cultivated

Unappropriata
Grazing Land

Un cultivable

ble cultivable
uncultivated
Un irrigated

assessment
Cultivable

Total area
assessed
By Private

Gross

waste
By Govt
workers

Total

1868- … 174 66582 241325 150448 985601 919460 3409542 3650867 284237 230840

69 743 1
1873- … 190 74288 264366 150567 961490 918023 3385185 3649551 294590 2308840

74 078 2
1878- … 204 207468 411549 152038 1001035 716580 3237998 2649547 297010 2308840

79 081 3
Tehsil … 890 78796 167834 682700 322186 382446 1387332 1555166 127823 1026515

Jhang 38

161
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Chinio … 647 59261 123970 590310 365469 221364 1177143 1301113 74515 924230

t 09
Shork … 503 69411 119745 247373 313380 112770 373523 793268 94672 357587

ots 34

Table No. XVI, showing TENURES Held direct form Government as they stood in 1878-79
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
District Jhang Tehsil Jhang Tehsil Chiniot Tehsil Shorkot

buildings

buildings

buildings

buildings
Acres of

Acres of

Acres of

Acres of
No. of

No. of

No. of

No. of
NATURE OF TENURE

land

land

land

land
A TENANT WITH RIGHT OF
OCCUPANCY. 261 32105 88 11017 107 11014 66 10074
182 13508 62 4612 60 4402 60 4494
I- Paying ½ produce and more 514 3809 1283 1283 133 1216 171 1310
2-1/3 produce and less than ½ 19 155 81 81 8 74
produce
3- ¼ “ “ “ 1/3

Paying a fixed quantity of grain for
their holdings with or without cash
contribution
Total paying rent in kind 976 49577 371 16993 308 16706 297 15878
Grand Total of Tenants with rights 976 49577 371 16993 308 16706 297 15878
of occupancy
C- TEANTS AT WILL 235 1538 108 509 127 1029 … …
1- Paying in cash
2- Paying in Kind{ (a) ½ produce 25500 520210 12260 236691 5985 131234 7255 132385
and more
(b) less than ½ produce 1600 92205 812 37462 608 49331 90 6412
Grand Total Of Tenures 28311 663630 13551 291655 7118 197300 7642 174675
Table No. XVII, showing Government Lands
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Acres held leases Remaining Acres
No. of estate

Total Acres

D.Commissione

Average Yearly
Uncultivated

Under forest

Under other
Department
Cultivated

Income
Under

Whole District 33 2327734 9157 14784 87450 … 2216343 84233


Tahsil Jhang 13 1020526 2171 5999 … … 1012356 …
19 917713 6608 3160 87450 … 820495 …
Tahsil Chiniot 1 389495 378 5625 … … 393492 …
Tahsil Shorkot

162
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Table No. XX, showing ACRESS UNDER CROPS

Table No XXI, showing RENT RATES AND AVERAE YIELD.


1 2 3
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

years

Vegetables
Sugarcane
Tobacco

Cotton
Wheat

Makai

Indigo
Poppy
Jawar

Gram
Bajra

Moth
Total

Rice

Jau
1873-74 261386 553 153982 27678 2735 2100 7383 4303 379 45 974 16978 4 169 23708

1874-75 282051 682 149852 29102 3203 1901 8000 4203 2809 36 1133 16529 5 2019 36052

1875-76 272613 701 145780 25203 2905 1705 7590 5102 3102 27 1028 159456 4 230 35759

1876-77 282438 127 161169 25450 626 2317 6083 12026 619 27 1173 16881 2 260 23203

1877-78 277284 105 159502 12304 300 1907 5950 15005 700 23 1200 176677 6 289 24312

1878-79 261210 101 146077 19143 2361 2315 4911 8541 307 12 310 24710 8 289 20353

1879-80 327811 150 175703 38295 1826 2259 6242 14188 407 18 996 28292 8 209 17995

1880-81 327445 141 175687 39463 1847 2264 6148 13717 440 14 1001 28448 11 223 18510

1881-82 322788 176 172760 38561 2148 2721 6240 13208 1520 14 938 29781 240 17332

Nature of crop Rent per Acre of Land Average Produce Per


Acre
Rice Maximum 11 8 0 265
Minimum 7 8 0
Indigo Maximum 0 0 0
Minimum 0 0 0
Cotton Maximum 18 0 4 229
Minimum 14 10 4
Sugar Maximum 45 0 0
Minimum 10 8
Opium Maximum 30 0 0 9
Minimum 25 0 0
Tobacco Maximum 18 5 4 449
Minimum 13 0 0
Irrigated Maximum 14 0 0 735
Minimums 11 5 4
Wheat Un irrigated Maximum 19 10 8
Minimums 7 5 4
Irrigated Maximum 6 5 4 470
Minimums 3 0 0

163
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Inferior Grain Un irrigated Maximum 5 10 8


Minimums 4 0 0
Irrigated Maximum 9 0 0 332
Minimums 7 8 0
Oil Seeds Un irrigated Maximum 6 10 0
Minimums 4 5 8
Irrigated Maximum 0 0 4
Minimums
Fiber Un irrigated Maximum 0 0
Minimums
Gram 0 0 0 472
Barley 0 0 594
Bajra 0 0
Jawar 0 0 357
Vegetable 0 0
Tea 0 0

Table No.XXII, showing Number of Stock


1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Whole District for the Tehsil for the year 1878-79
Kind Of Stock year
1868-69 1873-74 1878-79 Jhang Chiniot Shorkot
Cows and bullocks 140317 258337 124250 53250 35540 35460
Horses 2091 1623 1752 750 500 502
Ponies 487 517 236 100 75 61
Donkeys 24 4680 3297 1442 942 913
Sheeps and goats 292214 259833 221560 94953 63320 63287
Pigs … … … … … …
Camels 17353 19918 9399 4152 2795 2452
Carts 6 2 2 … 2 …
Ploughs 37565 35894 41731 17883 11922 11926
Boats … 61 59 24 17 18

164
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Table No. XXIII, OCCUPATIONS of MALES

1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
Males bare 15 years Males ubare15years
Number.

Number.
Nature of occupations. Of age. Nature of Of age.
Towns Vil. Total occupations. Tow Vil. Total
. Leges ns. Lege
s
1 Total Population 11,46 112,06 123,520 17 Agricultural laborers 17 1,133 1,135
2 Occupation specified 10,502 0 117,426 18 Pastoral 75 7,429 7,504
3 Agricultural, wh4ether 1,593 106,92 58,813 19 Cooks and other 236 881 1,117
simple or combined. 4 20 servant 70 384 454
4 Civil Administration 626 57,250 1,819 21 Water-earries 24 496 520
5 Army 3 34 22 Swepers and
6 Religion 341 1,193 1,362 seavenggors 177 2,339 2,516
7 Barbers 126 31 1,528 Worker in reed, cane le-
8 Other Professions 61 1,021 431 23 aves, straws &e. 46 19 65
9 Money-lenders, general 498 1,102 2,032 24 85 3,393 3,478
tra 367 25 Workers and leather 4 3 7
10 Ders, peddlers, &e. 816 1,534 5,186 26 Boot-makers 62 42 104
11 Dealers ingrain and flour 24 56 27 Workers in wool and 1,523 9,508 11,13
12 Corn. 300 4,370 418 28 pashm 229 1,878 1
Grinders,parehers&e 32 29 ,, ,, silk 185 2,468 2,107
13 Coufeetioners,green-groeens 398 118 2,679 30 ,, ,, cotton 171 678 2,653
&e.
14 520 15,801 ,, ,, Wood 849
15 Carriers and boatmen 936 2,281 33,947 31 Potters 74 704
16 Landowners 2 15,281 751 32 Workers and deals in 644 3819 778
Tenants 33,051 33 gold 927 7,025 4,462
Joint-initiators 749 and silver. 7,952
Wprkers in iron
General laborers
Beggars, faqirs, and the
like

165
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Table No. XXIV, showing MANUFACTURES.


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Silk. Cotton Wool Oth Pap wood iron Brass Buil Dyieing
er er and d- and
Fab- copper ings. Man of
Number of mills and.. .. .. ..
rise .. .. .. .. .. ..
actor
large factories .. 8,141 10 2 5 1,730 463 22 89 235of
Ing
Number of days.
private looms or .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
small ..9,606 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
Worka. .. 14 2 64 2,033 825 56 122 520
Number of ..
workmen Male .. 19,19,200 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
.. .. 1,079 656 5,18 5,11,637 1,65,00 20,700 48,00 1,42,100
2 0 0
12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
in large worke Female .. Pottery
Number of workmon , Oil- Pashmina Car- Gold,sil- Otherm
in small works Leather conumo press- and Pest. Ver,and anufac- Total.
or indopeudent . n Ing and Shawls Jawellery. tures.
artisauns. and retining
Number of mills and .. ..
glazed. .. .. .. .. .. ..
Value of plant in
large factories 1,932 1,501 58 .. 1 470 1,496 16,178
large works
Number of private
Estimanted
looms or small .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
aunual out-turn of
Worka. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
ajj works in
Number of 3,716 2,783 125 .. 3 856 1,503 22,228
rupoes.
workmen Male
in large worke .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
Female 11,18,800 2,78,300 75,000 .. 298 11,63,600 2,83,450 57,38,00
Number of workmon 3
in small works
or indopeudent
N OTE_ these figures are taken from the Report on Internal Trade and Manufactures for 1881-82.
artisauns.
Value of plant in Table No. XXV, showing RIVER TRAFFIC.
large
1 works 2 3 4 5 6
Estimanted aunual
out-turn of ajj
TRADE. Averrage
works in rupoes. duration of
PRINCIRAL MERCHANDISE CARRIED. Veoyage in days Dis-
Miles.
From To Summ Winter
er, or low
er Water.
floods.

166
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Aknur Methanol ... Grain of all kind ,sugar, salt,spices, ght,


... Country cioth, silks, and wool ... 20 30 450
Jhang .. Wheat, gur, ghi , country cloth, wool, cotton,
Wazirabad Kupas, horns, ,halea, balela, awla,sarun timber 10 15 120
.. Do .. Ditto ditto ditto .. 8 12 100

Ramnagar Do Ditto ditto ditto .. 6 11 70


.. ..
Ditto ditto ditto .. 20 30 230
Pindi BhattianMultan ..
.. Ditto ditto ditto .. 13 25 210
Do ..
Wazirabad Ditto ditto ditto .. 14 20 180
.. Do ..
Ditto ditto ditto .. 25 40 350
Ramnagar Mithankot
.. .. Ditto ditto ditto .. 22 36 330

Pindi Bhattian Do .. Ditto ditto ditto .. 18 30 300


..
Do .. Iron,cocoanuts,datos,black,pepper,mung,sajji 30 45 230
Wazirabad
.. Wazirabad .. Ditto ditto ditto .. 24 40 210

Ramnagar Ramnagar .. Ditto ditto ditto .. 21 35 180


..
Pindi Bhattian Ditto ditto ditto .. 50 60 350
Pindi Bhattian
.. Wazirabad .. Ditto ditto ditto .. 45 52 330

Multan Ramnagar .. Ditto ditto ditto .. 40 45 300


..
Pindi Bhattian Grain and oil-seeds .. .. .. .. 20 35 250
Do
.. Multan .. Ditto .. .. .. .. 45 60 500

Do Sukkur .. Ditto .. .. .. .. 60 90 750


..
Kotri ..
Mithankot
.. NOTE_ These figaras are taken from pages 759,760 of the Famine Report.
Table No. XXVI, Showing Retail Prices
1 Do
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
.. Number Of Sers And Chitanks Per Rupees
Wheat Barley Gram Indian Jawar Bajra Rice Urdal Potato Cotton Sugar Ghi Fire
Do
..
167
Jhelam
..
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Yea corn wood


S Ch S Ch S Ch S Ch S Ch S Ch S Ch S Ch S Ch S Ch S Ch S Ch S C
r
1861- 19 2 25 11 23 5 20 1 21 5 13 12 1 2 14 2 13 2 340 9
62
1862- 26 2 40 2 32 3 30 5 30 5 5 13 19 6 2 3 2 8 2 317 4
63
1863- 25 13 42 31 12 32 10 33 2 5 13 20 12 1 7 2 7 2 2 298 9
64
1864- 19 9 29 3 25 3 23 5 23 13 6 5 17 1 2 2 13 2 1 261 1
65
1865- 17 12 25 7 24 12 21 21 5 9 16 1 2 3 2 13 1 9 210 1
66
1866- 16 9 22 14 22 10 21 21 4 10 15 10 2 1 2 7 1 8 198 1
67
1867- 14 15 20 8 19 6 18 10 18 10 4 10 13 1 2 4 2 5 1 8 198 1
68
1868- 13 7 19 2 14 15 16 5 16 5 4 9 9 9 1 1 2 3 1 8 198 1
69
1869- 11 9 15 15 11 10 14 15 12 9 4 5 10 6 2 13 2 5 1 6 198 1
70
1870- 18 19 11 15 6 17 4 12 9 4 7 13 6 2 1 2 5 1 6 198
71
1871- 14 8 25 8 19 23 25 22 5 4 16 12 2 4 2 12 1 8 213
72
1872- 17 31 23 30 31 25 5 26 12 2 6 2 6 1 9 213
73
1873- 23 28 24 27 24 27 6 8 16 11 8 2 9 2 13 1 15 240
74
1874- 18 8 36 34 8 30 30 32 6 18 16 2 12 3 1 15 240
75
1875- 23 8 27 28 28 28 28 7 16 10 2 4 3 1 11 240
76
1876- 20 29 33 36 35 32 6 20 8 2 10 3 2 1 10 213
77
1877- 27 8 24 22 8 22 22 16 6 14 10 2 8 2 14 1 11 200
78
1878- 16 18 12 8 13 13 12 5 8 8 8 6 2 10 2 1 9 160
79
1879- 11 12 17 14 8 13 13 14 5 11 8 2 8 2 4 1 7 200
80
1880- 11 12 19 17 20 16 16 5 12 8 8 2 3 2 4 1 7 180
81
1881- 18 32 23 8 28 26 14 5 8 16 10 2 8 2 10 1 10 200
82

Table No. XXVII, showing PRICE of LABOUR


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Wages of labor per day Carts per day Camels per day Donkeys per day Boats per day
Year Skilled Unskilled Highest Lowest Highest Lowest Highest Lowest Highest Lowest
Highest Lowest Highest Lowest
1868- 0 6 0 0 2 0 0 2 6 1 8 0 0 6 0 3 12 0 1 8 0
69
1873- 0 8 0 0 6 0 0 4 0 0 2 6 1 12 0 0 8 0 0 6 0 3 12 0 5 0 0
74
1878- 0 8 0 0 6 0 0 4 0 02 6 1 0 0 0 12 0 0 8 0 0 6 0 3 12 0 3 2 0 2 8 0 2 0 0
79
1879- 0 8 0 0 6 0 0 4 0 0 2 6 1 0 0 0 12 0 0 8 0 0 6 0 3 12 0 3 2 0 2 8 0 2 0 0
80
1880- 0 8 0 0 6 0 0 4 0 0 2 6 100 0 12 0 0 8 0 0 6 0 3 12 0 3 2 0 2 8 0 2 0 0
81
1881- 0 8 0 0 6 0 0 4 0 0 2 6 100 0 12 0 0 8 0 0 6 0 3 12 0 3 2 0 2 8 0 2 0 0
82

168
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Table No. XXVIII, Showing Revenue Collected


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Year Fixed Fluctuating
Local Total
Land and Misc Tribute Excise Stamps
Rates Collection
Revenue Revenue
1868-1869 272522 62608 … … 1843 1991 36378 405342

1869-1870 271897 97518 … … 2255 2070 37376 411118

1870-1871 269876 109258 … … 3182 2423 32290 417029


1871-1872 269650 148402 … 15418 3360 2467 29177 468474
1872-1873 276286 139117 … 18428 2781 2430 37364 476406
1873-1874 279295 126584 … 27075 2648 2196 37900 475798
1874-1875 282382 119519 … 25541 3210 2692 38871 472215
1875-1876 283171 10988 … 25139 3145 3206 44260 468811
1876-1877 285662 98020 … 21311 3227 3865 44304 459389
1877-1878 283272 95496 … 23438 3295 4217 46868 456350
1878-1879 279117 104038 … 21315 2664 3000 47944 465128
1879-1880 278588 97210 … 29597 2803 3019 56633 467940
1880-1881 266527 163622 … 34495 3284 2726 55056 525710
1881-1882 314688 120805 … 34874 3150 2818 56031 541366

Table No. XXIX, Showing Revenue Derived Form Land


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Year Grazing Dues
Fluctuating assessment
Revenue of wate Land

Total fluctuating land


Fluctuating and Misc
Fixed Land Revenue

Revenues Of alluvia

Water advantage
Land Revenue

of river lands

Sale of wood
revenue

revenue

enemuration of
Lands

Total
Sajji
By grazing
leases
catle
By

Total of 5 1374937 586903 26552 19276 .. .. 46495 348984 77281 36964 69308 540408
years 1868- 1443718 540057 31928 18566 … … 51152 96437 341014 35794 7919 497905
69 to 1873
1877-78
287817 100940 2946 8629 … … 11640 … 69501 7124 54 89306
1878-79 286358 96605 1996 5187 … … 9934 … 69502 6264 54 86671
1879-80 281695 162302 1882 6296 2342 87023 68472 5762 44 75369

1880-81

1881-82 314775 124383 … 2659


3407 48515 … 66682 7571 6069 84 75868
Jhang 620175 248395 … 6727
1244 55126 … 144072 4503 18138 78 193269
Chiniot 385227 227177 2020 24458 … 696 55402 … 155391 11235 6 171775
Shorkot 456257 104870 5667 600 … 3809 53164 … 44945 2900 156 51706
Table No. XXX, Showing ASSIGNED LAND REVENUE.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
PERIOD OF
TOTAL AREA AND REVENUE ASSIGNED. ASSIGNMENT
TAH Whole villages. Functional Parts of Plots Total Is perpetuity

169
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

SIL. villages
Area Revenu Area Revenu Area Reve Area Revenue Area Revenue
e e nue
Jhang 8129 2156 8471 2074 2433 3427 19033 7657 7524 2132
Chini 376 381 2311 3192 2687 3576 931 694
ot
Shork 1181 397 6277 521 1003 1741 8461 2659 6522 620
ot
Total 9310 2533 15124 2979 5747 8360 30181 13892 14977 8446
Distri
ct
12 13 14 15 16 17 18 1 20 21 22 23 2 25
9 4
PERIO
D OF
ASSIG
NMEN
T
TAH For one For During Peading

maintenanc
perpetuity

than
For more

For more

Pending
SIL
For one
life more mainten orders

During

orders
Total
one.
life

life
In

lives ance of of Govt.

e
lives
than establis
one. hment
Jhang 7250 3564 856 235 23 11 1036 5 101 144 3
37 72 5
4
Chini 1244 2370 51 51 39 35
ot 2 2
Shork 511 1457 24 18 1181 3 28 53
ot 7 5 9
7

Table No. XXXI, showing BALANCES, REMISSIONS


AND TAKAVI.

YEAR Balances of land revenue is rupees. Reductions of Takavi


fixed demand advances in
on account of rupees/
bad seasons,
deterioration,
in rupees

Fixed Revnue Fluctuating and


miscellaneous
revenue.
1868-1869 1704

1869-1870 1143

1870-1871 3577

1871-1872 3526

170
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

1872-1873 4756

1873-1874 5402

1874-1875 3955

1875-1876 6811

1876-1877 6531

1877-1878 8008

1878-1879 8907

1879-1880 7870

1880-1881 15380

1881-1882 3580

Table No. XXXIIIA, showing REGISTRATION.


1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Number of Deed register
1880-81 1881-82
Compulsory Optional Total Compulsory Optional Total
Registrar Jhang 7 2 9 6 .. 6
Sub-Registrar Jhang 558 167 725 439 152 501
,, ,, Chiniot 107 93 200 148 57 205
,, ,, Shorkot 215 83 298 207 66 278
Total of district 887 345 1232 800 275 1075

Table No.XXXIV, showing LICENSE TAX COLLECTIONS.


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
NUMBER OF LICENSE TAX COLLECTION. Total Total Number
Class I Class II Class III no of amount of
YEAR 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 Licen of fees. Villages
Rs Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs. ses. in Which
500 200 150 100 75 50 25 10 5 2 1 Licenses
gtanted

1878-79 … … … 9 4 22 118 412 1050 3041 8558 1321 29260 …


4
1879-80 … … … 8 7 27 116 415 1067 2922 7948 1251 28852
0
1880-81 … … … 9 14 37 201 962 … … … 1223 18445 293

1881-82 … … … 9 14 39 220 1045 … … … 1327 19850 293


Tahsil
detail for
1881-1882
Jhang … … … 6 6 13 81 528 … … … 634 9005 104

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Chiniot … … … 2 2 10 … 54 … … 357 5090 289 118


Shorkot … … … 1 6 16 … 85 … … 336 5755 228 71
Table No. XXXV, showing EXCISE STATIONS.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
FERMENTED LIQUORS INTOXICATION DRUGS. EXCISE REVENUE FROM
No of retail Comsumption No of retail Consumption in maunds.
YEAR shops in gallons. License
Number of central

Fermented Drurgs Total


distilleries

Liquors.

Other druge
European
Liquors.
Country

Country

OPIUM

Charas,
Spirits.

OPium

Drugs.
spirits.

Bhang

Other
Run

2 22 4 39 955 32 32 7 1 22 35 2104 4268 6372


2 20 3 36 766 32 32 8 1 25 43 2664 3000 5664
2 18 3 36 970 32 32 9 1 70 … 2893 3019 5912
2 20 4 56 1105 32 32 8 1 40 … 3280 2726 6006
2 24 6 50 955 32 32 7 1 44 … 3150 2818 5968
10 104 20 217 4751 160 160 41 4 201 78 14091 15831 29922
2 21 4 43 950 32 32 8 1 40 16 2818 3166 5984

Table No.XXXVI, showing DISTRICT FUNDS.


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Year Annual Income Annual Expenditure
Provincial rates

Establishment
Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous
Total Income

Public Work
Distric Posts

Expenditure
Education

Medical

Total
1874-75 27041 1400 6731 1889 1769 1400 9971 25836
1875-76 28773 1625 6888 2370 1970 1625 10105 20226
1876-77 23676 1393 6671 3072 690 1393 12059 28770
1877-78 23434 2000 6136 2722 690 2000 7687 22797
1879-80 83561 615 34176 2100 6939 2722 1411 2100 6522 22536
1880-81 38981 336 39916 2100 7152 3104 1480 2100 6967 23255
1881-82 40033 732 40766 2129 7042 2102 1504 2120 6037 23746

1 1
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 14 15 16 18 19 20
3 7

HIGH SCHOOL Middle Schools Primary Schools


Year
Vernacula
ENGLISH Vernacular ENGLISH ENGLISH Vernacular
r
Governme Governme Aide
Aided Government Government Aided Government Govt Aided
nt nt d
s S S
sc c sc c c
h h h sch sc h h Sch
scho scho scholar scho scho scho Schola
ol schools o schools schools schools ol ool ho o o ool
ols lars s lars ols lars rs
ar l ar s ols l o s
s a s a l
r r s

172
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

s s

FIGURES FOR BOYS


1877- 1 1 .. … … … 1 121 … … 5 791 … 23 1031 2 130
78
1878- 1 16 … … … … 1 112 … … 4 688 … 24 1026 3 123
1879
1879- 1 10 … … … … 3 159 … … 2 35 8 558 25 1222
1880
1880- 1 18 … … … … 3 167 … … 2 44 3 521 26 1203
1881
1881- 1 21 … … … … 3 127 … … 2 40 3 586 1244
1882

FIGURES FOR GIRLS.


1877- 10 297
78
1878- 8 272
79
1879- 8 284
80
1880- 8 285
81
1881- 8 263
82
Table No.xxxviii, showing the working of DISPENSARIES.
1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 1 15 16 17
4
Name of Class NUMBER OF PATIENTS TREATED.
Distpensar of
y. Dispen
Men Women
sary Children
1877 1878 187 188 1881 1877 187 187 1880 187 187 187 1880
1881 188
9 0 8 9 7 8 9
1

173
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Jhang. C.H. 8146 7103 9844 9562 1801


Do.Branch 3rd 4679
Shorkot 2nd 5162
4001 6120 6612 1609
Chiniot 1st 6367 4782 5696 6515
Ahmadpur 2nd 5109 6122 6870
Kot Isa 2nd 6224 3616 4896 5116
shah ..
3908 5279 5152
Total 3496

Table No. XXXIX, showing CIVIL and REVENUE LITIGATION.


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Number of civil saits concerning Value in rupees of suits Number
concerning of
Revenue
case
Money or Rent and Land Total Land Other Total
Year movable tenancy and matters
property rights revenue
and
other
matters
1878 4791 168 752 5711 180490 180400 5042
1879 4783 206 835 5824 14747 170276 185023 5955
1880 5212 84 1175 6471 459724 171380 217104 8136
1881 4148 20 331 5499 39972 166919 202891 6849
1882 4530 20 290 4840 31309 174388 205547 6578
Note: These figures are taken from Table Nos. VI and VII of the Civil Report from 1878 to 1880, and
Nos. II and III of the Reports on Civil justice for 1881 to 1882.
Suits hoard in Settlement courts excluded from the columns, no details of the value of the property
being available.

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Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Table No. XL, showing CRIMINAL TRIALS.


1 2 3 4 5 6
DETAILS 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882
Brought to trial
… … … 1970 2159 1915 2417 2543
Persons tried.

Discharged … … … 616 917 792 898 845


Acquitted … … … 401 340 225 113 114
Convicted … … … 859 942 898 1343 1493
Committed or
… … … 4 4 18 14 35
referred
Summons cases
Class disposed of.

(regular) 522 477


(Summary)
Warant
670 658
cases(regular)
5 2
(Summary)
Total Cases
887 1089 965 1197 1137
disposed off
Death 1 2 3
1 1
1 3
Tranportation for
life 3
For a term
Pennel servitude
Fine under Rs. 10
10 to 50 528 421 723
No. of persons senteneed to.

487 525
50 to 100 182 387 319
195 187
100 to 500 5 88 18
5 15
500 to 1000 5 46 1
4 2
Over 1000 Rs.

Imprisonment
327 416 401 557 460
under 6 months
99 102 115 93 154
6 months to 2
9 8 14 7 4
years
62 94 93 53 62
Over 2 years
Whipping
Find sureties of
6
the piece 13
9
Recognisance to 4 27
2
keep the piece 23 248 226
35
Give sureties for
good behavior

175
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Note: These figures are taken from statements no.3 and 4 of the criminal reports for 1878 to 1880, and
Nos. 4 and 5 of the criminals reports for 1881 to 1882.

Table No. XLI, Showing POLICE INQURIES


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Natur Number of cases inquired into. No. of persons arrested or No.of persons convicted
e of summoned
offen 18 1878 1879 1880 1881 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1877 18 18 18 18
ce 77 78 79 80 81
Murd 2 6 3 7 1 6 12 4 9 8 1 5 2 3 3
ers
and
attem
pts to
murd
er
Total 23 27 30 47 38 47 58 66 102 60 28 15 37 28 35
seriou
s
offen
ces
again
st the
perso
n
Abuct … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …
ion of
marri
ed
wome
n
Total 15 242 246 229 162 100 160 232 180 164 78 11 14 12 11
seriou 8 1 4 2 6
s
offen
ces
again
st
prope
rty
Total 9 8 7 21 37 18 24 13 34 60 8 22 11 18 42
minor
offen
ces
again
st the

176
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

perso
nc
Cattle 20 324 309 356 268 180 257 293 294 256 146 17 20 21 19
theft 0 2 0 7 1
Total 41 626 670 645 626 420 518 696 623 653 310 33 46 42 44
minor 9 7 0 0 5
offen
ces
again
st
prope
rty
Total 61 914 950 947 887 426 810 1036 964 1103 461 50 67 60 76
cogni 7 3 4 8 0
zable
offen
ces
Riotin
g
unlaw
ful
assem
bly
affray
Offen 12 1 3 2 20 9 1 7 2 28 2 1 1 1 10
ce
relati
ng to
marri
age
Total 61 40 37 42 104 83 39 51 67 130 32 29 30 30 76
nonco
gniza
ble
offen
ces
GRA 15 2192 2256 2297 2161 1827 1906 2421 2284 2615 1102 12 15 14 17
ND 06 07 77 66 02
TOT
AL

Table No. XLIII, showing the POPULATION of TOWNS.


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Tahsil Town Total Hindus Sikhs Jains Musalmans Other No. of Persons
Population religion occupied per 100
occupied

177
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Jhang Maghiana 12574 5917 352 … 6305 … 1684 747


Jhang 9055 4270 143 … 4636 … 1026 862
Chiniot Chiniot 10731 3475 113 … 7143 … 1088 986
Shorkot Shorkot 2286 1167 12 … 1104 … 865 625
Ahmadpur 2338 1438 29 … 876 … 482 541

Table No. XLIV, showing BIRTHS and DEATHS for TOWNS

1 2 3 4 5

Name OF Jhang and Chiniot Shorkot Ahmadpur


MUNCIPILITY Mighaina
Class of Municipality ... II. III. III. III.
1870-71 .. .. .. .. 10,896 2,749 .. ..
1871-72 .. .. .. .. 21,065 4,140 .. ..
1872-73 .. .. .. .. 22,182 4,811 .. ..
7873-74 .. .. .. .. 20,879 5,020 .. ..
1874-75 .. .. .. .. 26,353 5,774 1,084 995
1875-76 .. .. .. .. 24,821 8,859 1,108 762
1876-77 .. .. .. .. 23,590 5,539 1,513 880
1877-78 .. .. .. .. 23,911 5,524 1,293 788
1878-79 .. .. .. .. 23,981 5,546 1,264 1,049
1879-80 .. .. .. .. 28,146 6,132 1,587 1,015
1880-81 .. .. .. .. 25,005 6,720 1,212 1,032
1881-82 .. .. .. .. 26,594 6,586 1,335 1,000

178
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Table No. XLVI, showing DISTANCES.


Jhang Jhang
Bhowana 28 Bhoana
Chiniot 52 24 Chiniot
Lalian 54 28 14 Lalian
Trimmu 12 40 64 66 Trimmu
Chah
Bhareri 30 58 82 86 18 Chah Bhereri
Bhamb 20 24 48 41 28 46 Bhamb
Kot Lad
Shah 29 33 57 50 37 55 9 Kot Lad Shah
Toba Tek
Singh 23 51 75 79 24 42 43 52 Toba
Haveli
Bahadar H.B
Shah 17 45 69 83 9 27 37 46 18 Shah
Shorkot 34 62 86 88 26 44 54 61 26 17 Shorkot
A.P
Ahmad Pur 56 84 108 112 44 44 72 81 48 39 22 Sial

179
Gazetteer of the Jhang District

Composed By
Safdar Hussain (EDO IT) Office,
Jhang

180

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