NoraizNafi at 23:13, 30 April 2026

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{{Short description|Punjabi tribe}}
{{About||the village|Khokhar, Mirpur|text = For other uses, see {{intitle|Khokhar}} }}
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{{Use Pakistani English|date=April 2025}}
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{{infobox caste
| caste_name = Khokhar
| caste_name_in_local = {{nq|کھوکھر}}
| image =
| image_size =300
| alt =
| caption =
| abbreviation =
| varna =
| jati =
| gotra =
| religions = Predominantly [[File:Star and Crescent.svg|18px]] [[Islam]] <br/> {{small|(minority [[File:Om.svg|10px]] [[Hinduism]])}}
| languages = [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]], [[Haryanvi]]
| country = {{flag|Pakistan}}, {{flag|India}}
| region = {{flag|Punjab|Punjab, Pakistan}}, [[Haryana]]
| ethnicity =[[Punjabis|Punjabi]]
| India_migration =
| population =
| feudal_title =
| heraldic_title =
| lineage =
| subdivisions =
| related =
|native_name=}}

'''Khokhar''' ({{langx|pnb|{{nq|کھوکھر}}}}) is a large [[List of Punjabi tribes|Punjabi tribe]] originating from northern Punjab. They are primarily native to [[Punjab, Pakistan]]; but are also found in the [[Indian state]]s of [[Punjab, India|Punjab]] and [[Haryana]].<ref name="Singh">{{cite book |last1=Singh |first1=Kumar Suresh |title=People of India: Jammu & Kashmir |date=2003 |publisher=Anthropological Survey of India |isbn=978-81-7304-118-1 |page=xxiii |language=en |quote=Gujars of this tract are wholly Muslims, and so are the Khokhar who have only a few Hindu families. In early stages the converted Rajputs continued with preconversion practices.}}</ref>

Khokhars predominantly follow [[Islam]], having converted to Islam from [[Hinduism]] from the 13th century CE onwards.<ref name="Singh" /><ref name="Singha">{{cite book |last1=Singha |first1=Atara |title=Socio-cultural Impact of Islam on India |date=1976 |publisher=Panjab University |page=46 |quote=After this period, we do not hear of any Hindu Gakhars or Khokhars, for during the next two or three centuries they had all come to accept Islam.}}</ref>

==History==

=== Medieval history ===
The original homeland of Khokhars appears to be in Upper Punjab, specifically the areas in and around [[Salt Range]] (known in historical sources as ''Koh-i-Jud''), [[Rawalpindi District|Rawalpindi]], [[Gujrat District|Gujrat]] and [[Sialkot District|Sialkot]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Charak |first=Sukh Dev Singh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KhtIAAAAIAAJ&q=A+Short+History+of+Jammu+Raj |title=A Short History of Jammu Raj: From Earliest Times to 1846 A.D. |date=1985 |publisher=Ajaya Prakashan |pages=65-66 |language=en}}</ref> For a time they were under influence of [[Jammu Kingdom|Jammu kingdom]] but in the mid-11th century CE, Khokhars asserted their independence with the help of last Ghaznavid ruler, [[Khusrau Malik]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name="Singh2019">{{cite book |author=Surinder Singh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZSGzDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT245 |title=The Making of Medieval Panjab: Politics, Society and Culture c. 1000–c. 1500 |date=2019 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-00-076068-2 |pages= |access-date= |archive-url= |archive-date= |url-status=}}</ref>{{Reference page|page=63}}

In 1204–1205, the Khokhars revolted under their leaders Raisal and Bhikan against [[Muhammad of Ghor]], raided [[Multan]] and [[Lahore]] and blocked the strategic roads between Punjab and [[Ghazni]] in such a way that not a single soul could pass along them.<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=oApDAAAAYAAJ |page=65 |title= Proceedings - Punjab History Conference |volume=29–30 |date=1998 |publisher=Department of Punjab Historical Studies, Punjabi University|via= University of Virginia|isbn=9788173804601}}</ref> As [[Qutubuddin Aibak]] was not able to suppress the rebellion,<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nMWSQuf4oSIC&dq=khokhars+ghori&pg=RA1-PA75 |title=History of Medieval India |page=75 |author= Mahajan |year=2007 |publisher=S. Chand |isbn=9788121903646 }}</ref> Muhammad of Ghor himself undertook the campaign against the tribe. He defeated them [[Battle of Jhelum (1206)|in his final battle]] fought on the bank of [[Jhelum River|Jhelum]] and subsequently ordered a general massacre, as well as took many of them as prisoners who later converted to [[Islam]].{{sfn|Wink|1991|page=238}}{{sfn|Habib|1981|page=133–134}} While returning to Ghazni, he was assassinated at [[Dhamiak]] located in the [[Salt Range]] in March 1206 by the [[Ismailism|Isma'ilis]] whom he had persecuted during his reign.<ref>{{cite book|last=Chandra|first=Satish|author-link=Satish Chandra (historian)|title=History of Medieval India:800–1700|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qHnHHwAACAAJ|year=2007|publisher=Orient Longman|page=73|quote=He resorted to large-scale slaughter of the Khokhars and cowed them down. On his way back to Ghazni, he was killed by a Muslim fanatic belonging to a rival sect|isbn=978-81-250-3226-7|access-date=27 September 2022|archive-date=10 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230310204403/https://books.google.com/books?id=qHnHHwAACAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |author=[[C. E. Bosworth]] |title=The Political and Dynastic History of the Iranian World (A.D. 1000–1217) |date=1968 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-history-of-iran/political-and-dynastic-history-of-the-iranian-world-ad-10001217/024AA8933D346C06170E0D72EA6D71A4 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=168 |quote=The suppression of revolot in the Punjab occupied Mu'izz al-Din's closing months, for on the way back to Ghaza he was assassinated, allegedly by emissaries of the Isma'ils whom he had often persecuted during his life time (602/1206) |isbn=978-0-521-06936-6 |access-date=27 September 2022 |archive-date=29 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210129084214/https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-history-of-iran/political-and-dynastic-history-of-the-iranian-world-ad-10001217/024AA8933D346C06170E0D72EA6D71A4 |url-status=live }}</ref> Some later accounts attributed the assassination of Muhammad of Ghor to the Hindu Khokhars, however these later accounts are not corroborated by early Persian chroniclers who confirmed that his assassins were from the rival Ismāʿīlīyah sect of [[Shia]] Muslims.{{sfn|Habib|1981|page=153–154}} Dr. Habibullah, based on ibn-i-Asir's statement, is of the opinion that the deed was of a joint Bātini and Khokhar affair.<ref>{{cite journal |quote=...implying that some of the accomplices were non-Muslims, probably Gakkhar or Khokhar and is, therefore, of opinion that the deed was a joint Qārāmitah (Bātini) Khokar or Gakkhar affair.|title=Patna University Journal, Volume 18 |journal=Patna University Journal|volume= 18|date=1963 |page=98 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4rmgAAAAMAAJ}}</ref> According to Agha Mahdi Husain, the Khokhars too might be called Malahida in view of their recent conversion to Islam.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HRKk6h8Q1DUC |title= Futūhuʼs Salāt̤īn:Volume 1|author=Āg̲h̲ā Mahdī Ḥusain |year= 1967|quote=It is also said that the assassinators were Khokhars, for the Khokhars too might be called Mulahid or Malahida. |page=181 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EMTXAAAAMAAJ |page=438 |title=Encyclopaedia of the World Muslims:Tribes, Castes and Communities · Volume 2 |author=Abdul Mabud Khan, Nagendra Kr Singh |date=2001 |publisher=Global Vision |isbn=9788187746058 |quote=malahida and fida'is (i.e., agents of the Alamut Isma'ilis), which is somewhat curious in view of the recent conversion of the Gakkhars to Islam. }}</ref>

In spite of the crushing defeat, Khokhars managed to regain their independence.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Jackson |first=Peter |date=1990 |title=Jalāl al-Dīn, the Mongols, and the Khwarazmian Conquest of the Panjāb and Sind |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4299834 |journal=Iran |volume=28 |pages=45–54 |doi=10.2307/4299834 |issn=0578-6967 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> By the time Mongols under [[Genghis Khan]] first invaded Punjab in 1221 while chasing the retreating armies of Khwarezmian prince [[Jalal al-Din Mangburni]], the rivalry between Khokhar chief Rai Sangin and [[Nasir ad-Din Qabacha|Qubacha]] was described as long-standing.<ref name=":1" /> Genghis Khan annihilated the Khwarezmians at the [[Battle of the Indus]] besides modern [[Attock]]. Mongols plundered [[Punjab Plain|Punjab plains]] but returned due to the hot climate of Punjab.<ref name=":1" /> Mangburni forged an alliance with the Khokhar tribe and further married the daughter of Rai Sangin, who provided him auxiliaries to capture territories from Qubacha.<ref name=":1" /><ref name="Singh2019" />{{Reference page|pages=76-77}}

In 1240, [[Razia Sultana|Razia]], daughter of [[Iltutmish|Shams-ud-din Iltutmish]], and her husband, [[Malik Altunia|Altunia]], attempted to recapture the throne from her brother, [[Muiz ud din Bahram|Muizuddin Bahram Shah]]. She reportedly led an army composed mostly of mercenaries from the Khokhars of Punjab.{{sfnp|Syed|2004|p=52|ps=}} From 1246 to 1247, [[Ghiyas ud din Balban|Balban]] mounted an expedition as far as the Salt Range to defeat the Khokhars whom he saw as a threat, and captured a large number of horses bred by Khokhars.{{sfnp|Basham|Rizvi|1987|p=30|ps=}}<ref name="Singh2019" />{{Reference page|page=95}}

In 1251, a [[Chagatai Khanate|Mongol]] commander named Hulechu occupied Lahore, and forged an alliance with Khokhar chief Gul Khokhar.{{sfnp|Jackson|2003|p=268|ps=}} Lahore was attacked multiple times by the Mongols and their Khokhar allies.{{sfnp|Chandra|2004|p=66|ps=}}

Islam further spread among the Khokhars due to the influence of [[shrine of Baba Farid]]. The medieval ''Jawahar-i-Faridi'' records that out of the twenty-three of marriages between custodians of shrine and other tribes, fourteen were with Khokhars, whose names were prefixed with Malik.<ref name="Singh2019" />

[[Ghazi Malik]] founded the [[Tughlaq dynasty]] in Delhi by a rebellion with the support of the Khokhar tribes who were present as advance-guards of the army under their chief Gul Chand, who was also the first to bestow on him symbols of royalty.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yRJDAAAAYAAJ|page=74 |title= Proceedings - Punjab History Conference |volume=13 |date=1980 |publisher=Department of Punjab Historical Studies, Punjabi University|via= University of Virginia|isbn=9788173804601}}</ref><ref name="Singh2019" />{{Reference page|pages=227-232}} The Khokhars enjoyed the royal favours for a while.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BJY9AAAAMAAJ|title=People and Politics in Early Mediaeval India (1206-1398 A.D.) |page=92 |author=Asit Kumar Sen |date=1963 |publisher=Indian Book Distributing Company|via=the University of Michigan }}</ref> They grew powerful during the period of [[Firuz Shah Tughlaq|Firuz Shah]], who led an expedition against the Khokhar chief in [[Sambhal]].<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=KYLpvaKJIMEC&pg=PA72 |title= Medieval Indian Literature: Surveys and selections |date=1997 |page=72 |author= [[Ayyappa Panikkar]], K. Ayyappa Paniker |publisher= Sahitya Akademi |isbn= 9788126003655 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=h0_xhdCScQkC&pg=PA207 |title=Expanding Frontiers in South Asian and World History: Essays in Honour of John F. Richards |author1=John F. Richards |author2=David Gilmartin |author3=Munis D. Faruqui |author4=Richard M. Eaton |author5=Sunil Kuma |date=7 March 2013 |page=247 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781107034280 |quote=Mallu Khan (also known as Iqbal Khan), a former slave}}</ref> [[Ayn al-Mulk Mahru]], the governor of Multan, noted that an uprising of the Khokhars had made the road unsafe.<ref>{{cite book |quote= exclaimed anxiety about his family and his dependents' journey from Ajodhan (Pakpattan) to Multan, since an uprising of the Khokhars had made the road unsafe. |title= Economic History of Medieval India, 1200-1500 |author= Irfan Habib, Najaf Haider |date=2011 |page=119|publisher= Pearson Education India |isbn= 9788131727911 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K8kO4J3mXUAC&dq=khokhars+multan&pg=PA118 }}</ref> The Khokhars conquered Lahore in 1342 during the reign of [[Muhammad bin Tughlaq]] and again in 1394 led by the chief [[Shaikha Khokhar]], the former governor of Lahore during the reign of Sultan [[Mahmud Shah II|Mahmud Tughlaq]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p6Wyim9sn98C&dq=shaikha+governor+of+lahore&pg=PA152 |title= The Frontier Policy of the Delhi Sultans |author= Agha Hussain Hamadani |date=1992 |publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Distributors (P) Limited }}</ref> The governor of [[Nagaur]] in Rajasthan, appointed by the Tughlaq dynasty was one Jalal Khan Khokhar,<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Saran |first1=Richard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=plP7DwAAQBAJ&q=chunda+khokhar |title=The Mertiyo Rathors of Merto, Rajasthan: Select Translations Bearing on the History of a Rajput Family, 1462–1660, Volumes 1–2 |last2=Ziegler |first2=Norman P. |date=19 January 2021 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |isbn=978-0-472-03821-3 |pages=219 |language=en}}</ref> who married the sister-in-law of [[Rao Chunda|Rao Chunda Rathore]], the ruler of the emergent [[Kingdom of Marwar|Marwar kingdom]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kothiyal |first=Tanuja |url=|title=Nomadic Narratives: A History of Mobility and Identity in the Great Indian Desert |date=14 March 2016 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-1-107-08031-7 |language=en|page=100}}</ref>

There are disputed traditions regarding the origin of [[Khizr Khan]], the viceroy of [[Timur]] in Delhi and founder of the [[Sayyid dynasty]] of the Delhi Sultanate. According to some scholars, Khizr Khan was a Khokhar chieftain,<ref>{{cite book |author=Richard M. Eaton |title=India in the Persianate Age: 1000–1765 |year=2019 |isbn=978-0520325128 |page=117 |publisher=University of California Press |language=en |quote=The career of Khizr Khan, a Punjabi chieftain belonging to the Khokar clan...}}</ref> who travelled to [[Samarkand]] and profited from the contacts he made with the Timurid society.<ref>{{Cite book |author=Orsini, Francesca |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/913785752 |title=After Timur left : culture and circulation in fifteenth-century North India |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford Univ. Press |isbn=978-0-19-945066-4 |pages=49 |language=en |oclc=913785752 |access-date=8 January 2023 |archive-date=18 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221118183411/https://worldcat.org/title/913785752 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Jasrat Khokhar]] (sometimes ''Jasrath'' or ''Dashrath''){{sfnp|Pandey|1970|p=223|ps=}} was the son of Shaikha Khokhar. He became leader of the Khokhars after the death of Shaikha Khokhar. He supported [[Zayn al-Abidin the Great|Zayn al-Abidin]] in the civil war for the throne of the [[Kashmir Sultanate]] against [[Ali Shah Miri|Ali Shah]] and defeated and kill the later. Later, he invaded the Delhi Sultanate several times between 1423 and 1432 after the death of Khizr Khan and succeeded in conquering [[Talwandi]] and [[Jalandhar]], although he was hampered by seasonal rains in his attempt to take over [[Sirhind]].{{sfnp|Singh|1972|pp=220-221|ps=}}

=== Modern history ===
{{Expand section|date=April 2026}}

==Notable people==
*[[Raja Ghazanfar Ali Khan]],<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LjluAAAAMAAJ |title=Jinnah and Punjab: Shamsul Hasan collection and other documents, 1944-1947 |first1=Khalid Shamsul |last1=Hasan |first2=Amarjit |last2=Singh |year=2007 |publisher=Kanishka Publishers Distributors |isbn=9788173919169 |page=343 |access-date=5 January 2015}}</ref> one of the [[List of Pakistan Movement activists|Pakistan Movement activists]]
*[[Shaikha Khokhar]], Khokhar chieftain who fought against [[Tamerlane]]
*[[Jasrat Khokhar]], ruler of Sialkot
*[[Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar]], politician
*[[Mohammad Nawaz Khokhar]], politician

== See also ==
* [[Tribes and clans of the Pothohar Plateau]]
* [[List of Punjabi Muslim tribes]]

==References==

'''Citations'''
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

== Bibliography ==
{{refbegin|2}}
*{{citation |first1=Arthur Llewellyn |last1=Basham |first2=Saiyid Athar Abbas |last2=Rizvi |title=The Wonder that was India |volume=2 |publisher=Sidgwick & Jackson |location=London |year=1987 |orig-year=1954 |isbn=978-0-283-99458-6 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/wonderthatwasind0000rizv }}
*{{citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L5eFzeyjBTQC&pg=PA66 |title=From Sultanat to the Mughals-Delhi Sultanat (1206-1526) |first=Satish |last=Chandra |publisher=Har-Anand Publications |year=2004 |isbn=9788124110645 }}
* {{Cite book|last=Habib|first=Mohammad|author-link=Mohammad Habib|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iQ1uAAAAMAAJ|title=Politics and Society During the Early Medieval Period: Collected Works of Professor Mohammad Habib|date=1981|publisher=People's Publishing House|language=en}}
*{{citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lt2tqOpVRKgC&pg=PA268 |title=The Delhi Sultanate: A Political and Military History |first=Peter |last=Jackson |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2003 |isbn=9780521543293 |access-date=18 August 2021 }}
*{{citation |title=Early medieval India |first=Awadh Bihari |last=Pandey |edition=Third |publisher=Central Book Depot |year=1970}}
*{{citation |first=Fauja |last=Singh |title=History of the Punjab |volume=III |location=Patiala |year=1972}}
*{{citation |title=History of Delhi Sultanate |first=M. H. |last=Syed |publisher=Anmol Publications |location=New Delhi |year=2004 |isbn=978-81-261-1830-4}}
*{{citation |first=Tan Tai |last=Yong |year=2005 |title=The Garrison State: The Military, Government and Society in Colonial Punjab, 1849-1947 |publisher=Sage Publications India |page=74 |isbn=9780761933366}}
{{refend}}
* {{Cite book |last=Wink|first=Andre|author-link=Andre Wink|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=75FlxDhZWpwC |title=Al-Hind the Making of the Indo-Islamic World: The Slave Kings and the Islamic Conquest : 11Th-13th Centuries |date=1991 |publisher=BRILL| isbn=9004102361 |language=en}}

{{Ethnic groups, tribes and clans of the Punjab}}

[[Category:Social groups of Punjab, India]]
[[Category:Social groups of Haryana]]
[[Category:Surnames of Indian origin]]
[[Category:Surnames of Hindu origin]]
[[Category:Punjabi-language surnames]]
[[Category:Punjabi tribes]]
[[Category:Social groups of Punjab, Pakistan]]
[[Category:Sindhi tribes]]

Khokhar - Revision history

NoraizNafi at 23:13, 30 April 2026