| Sial Tribe | |
|---|---|
| سیال | |
| Religions |  Islam (majority)Sikh andHindu (minority) |
| Languages | Punjabi |
| Country | India,Pakistan |
| Region | Punjab |
| Ethnicity | Punjabi |
TheSial orSiyal (Punjabi andUrdu: سيال) is aPunjabi clan[1][2] found in thePunjab region of theIndian subcontinent, split between India and Pakistan.
According toBardic traditions, Sials descended from a certain Rai Shankar, aParmar Rajput. Rai Shankar had three sons: Seo, Teo and Gheo, the ancestors of the Sial,Tiwana andGheba clans, respectively.[3]Denzil Ibbetson, an administrator of theBritish Raj, classified the Sial as aRajput tribe.[4] However, they are also classified as Jats.[2]
Following the introduction of thePunjab Land Alienation Act in 1900, the authorities of the Raj classified the Sials who inhabited the Punjab as an "agricultural tribe", a term that was administratively synonymous with the "martial race" classification used for the purposes of determining the suitability of a person as a recruit to theBritish Indian Army.[5]
During the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century periods of theMughal Empire, the Sial andKharal tribes were dominant in parts of the lowerBari andRachnadoabs of Punjab. In the 18th century, Sial chief Walidad Khan gained control of Rechna Doab including the cities ofChiniot,Pindi Bhattian,Jhang andMankera.[6] Theext chiefInayatullah Khan Sial (1747–1787) was a successful General who won 22 battles against theBhangi Misl and Multan chiefs.[6] In 1803, the Sial chief Ahmed Khan was forced to pay tribute to Ranjit Singh who ultimately conquered the Sial capital of Jhang in 1806. However, Ahmed Khan seized control of Jhang again in 1808 with the help of thePathans of Multan.[6]
The 1809Treaty of Amritsar, agreed betweenRanjit Singh, theSikh leader, and the British, gave him acarte blanche to consolidate territorial gains north of theSutlej River at the expense both of other Sikh chiefs and their peers among the other dominant communities. In 1816, Ahmed Khan was finally ousted, having previously been forced to paytribute to Singh for several years.[7] The Sials in Jhang, as in many other areas of the Punjab, had once been nomadic pastoralists. They did not necessarily cultivate all of the land they controlled and it was the actions of theSikh Empire and, later, the land reforms of the Raj administration that caused them to turn to cultivation.[8]
TheHeer Ranjha andMirza Sahiban,epic poems ofPunjabi literature are pieces of fictional writing which refer to the Sials, who were the dominant tribe at the time. The two heroines, Heer is depicted as young and independent-minded daughter of a Sial chieftain in revolt against traditional tribal conservatism.[9] Heer is portrayed as a Sial Rajput, and Sahiban is also from a Sial Rajput family.[10][11][12]
The Sial tribe has more than one hundred branches, the names of which commonly end with the suffix -ana. Some of the major clans includeBharwana,Fatiana,Sargana, Tarhana,[13] Rajbana, Kamlana, Jangiana,[14]Umrana,Handlana,Mukhiana,Jabboana,Daultana,Hiraj, Thiraj and Mirali.[15] They usually use the title ofMehr except the Jangiana clan, which usesMian.[14]
The Siyal clan of Jats of Jhang District, according to both the shrine's hagiographic accounts and the earliest known history of the clan itself, was introduced to Islam by Baba Farid himself, who is said to have converted the clan's founder, Ray Siyal
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)The Hir-Ranjha story is rather more complex in that even in its most reduced forms it implies a double rather than a single sequence of transitions associated with transformations of the hero. Dhido, a Rajput of Takht Hazara in north-western Panjab, known by his caste-name as Ranjha, leaves home on the death of his father, and travels to Jhang, where he and Hir, daughter of the Rajput chieftain of the Sial clan, fall in love. Their affair can only be sustained by Ranjha shedding his own chieftainly status to become Hir's father's buffalo-herd (mahinväl), thus enabling them to meet secretly in the grazing-grounds by the river Chenab.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)Rajbana, Bhorwana, Kamlana, Jangiana are also races from Rajput Sials and they are living in most of the villages of the district. Of these, Jangiana have assumed the title of Mian while the others are known by surnames as Mehr or Khan Sahibs.