Kookana or Kukna or Kukana or कूकणा (Hindi) is the name of a Jat

Jat people

The Jat people are a community of traditionally non-elite tillers and herders in Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in late medieval times, and subsequently into the Delhi Territory,...

 clan or a Gotra

Gotra

In the Hindu society, the term Gotra broadly refers to people who are descendants in an unbroken male line from a common male ancestor. Panini defines gotra for grammatical purposes as apatyam pautraprabhrti gotram , which means "the word gotra denotes the progeny beginning with the son's son"...

 name of Jats in Rajasthan

Rajasthan

Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...

 and Haryana

Haryana

Haryana is a state in India. Historically, it has been a part of the Kuru region in North India. The name Haryana is found mentioned in the 12th century AD by the apabhramsha writer Vibudh Shridhar . It is bordered by Punjab and Himachal Pradesh to the north, and by Rajasthan to the west and south...

, India.

Migration - about 1000 years ago

According to Bhats of Kookana families based in Jodhpur district of Rajasthan, Kookanas migrated from Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh into Mewar region of Rajasthan in the eleventh century. Although Kookanas were perhaps nomadic pastoralists similar to other Jat clans, , but apparently this was a mass exodus from Madhya Pradesh for some unknown reasons. However this coincides with the period when Dhar (the famous Dhara Nagri of Raja Bhoj) came in control of enemies and the Cāḷukyas of Kalyāṇa under Someśvara I (circa CE 1042-68) captured and burnt the Dhar

Dhar

Dhār is located in the Malwa region of western Madhya Pradesh state in central India. It is the administrative headquarters of Dhar District. The town is located west of Mhow, above sea level...

 city. With time the Kookana clan got distributed over northern and western parts of Rajasthan (e.g. Nagaur, Bikaner, Sri Ganga Nagar) and later on the then Punjab.

Migration - about 500 years ago

It is believed that a small batch of Kookana families migrated, probably some 500 years ago or ealrier, and settled near Bikaner in Rajasthan. Their growth has resulted into a couple of large villages near Bikaner, namely, Naorangdesar and Bamlu.

Migration - about 200 years ago

From Naorangdeshar, around AD 1800, a small group of families migrated to then Punjab

Punjab region

The Punjab , also spelled Panjab |water]]s"), is a geographical region straddling the border between Pakistan and India which includes Punjab province in Pakistan and the states of the Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and some northern parts of the National Capital Territory of Delhi...

 some of them settled in Bhagsar, near Abohar, District Ferozpur and some of settled in Hissar

Hisar District

Hisar district is one of the 21 districts of Haryana state, India. Hisar city serves as the district headquarters. The district is also part of Hisar division, which is headed by a commissioner who belongs to the Indian Administrative Service....

 district, now part of Haryana

Haryana

Haryana is a state in India. Historically, it has been a part of the Kuru region in North India. The name Haryana is found mentioned in the 12th century AD by the apabhramsha writer Vibudh Shridhar . It is bordered by Punjab and Himachal Pradesh to the north, and by Rajasthan to the west and south...

, in the province commonly called Paintalisa (45 villages) dominated by the Beniwal

Beniwal

Beniwal , also Veniwal Venhval Benhival Vainiwal Bhainiwal Bahinwar is a clan or gotra of Jats in Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh in India. They were rulers in Jangaldesh. They are Jats. Beniwals are also Jat Sikhs in Punjab...

 clan (another Jat Gotra).

Language

Hindi with Rajasthani

Rajasthani language

Rajasthani Rajasthani Rajasthani (Devanagari: , Perso-Arabic: is a language of the Indo-Aryan languages family. It is spoken by 50 million people in Rajasthan and other states of India and in some areas of Pakistan. The number of speakers may be up to 80 million worldwide...

 or Bagri

Bagri language

Bagri is a dialect of Rajasthani language of the Indo-Aryan family. It is spoken by about five million speakers in Hanumangarh and Sriganganagar districts of Rajasthan, Sirsa and Hissar districts of Haryana, Firozepur and Muktsar districts of Punjab of India and Bahawalpur and Bahawalnagar areas...

 dialect

Dialect

The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...

, depending on the current location in Rajasthan or Haryana, is the most commonly spoken language. However, the dialect of Haryanavi Kookanas has changed substantially due to the influence of Punjabi

Punjabi language

Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by inhabitants of the historical Punjab region . For Sikhs, the Punjabi language stands as the official language in which all ceremonies take place. In Pakistan, Punjabi is the most widely spoken language...

, owing to proximity to the Punjabi speaking area. In the Fatehabad district, use of Punjabi words, as well as other dialectal influences of the language, are apparent in the currently spoken Bagri dialect of Hindi.

The younger generation of the Kookana migrants to Australia (now residing in Adelaide

Adelaide

Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...

 and Canberra

Canberra

Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...

) rely solely on English and have essentially lost (barring a few words) their ability to speak in the traditional Rajasthani or Bagri dialects of Hindi.

Educational status

The educational status of Kookana families in general tends to vary from region to region. For example, Kookanas from Jodhpur, Nagaur and Bikaner regions seem to have had relatively lesser educational uptake than by those residing in Haryana. Kookanas from Haryana have indeed excelled in university education during the last 3 decades and have had the opportunity to win scholarships and gain higher education from overseas universities, such as Doctorate of Philosophy. Their clan members currently include PhD

PHD

PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...

s, scientists, medical specialists, economist

Economist

An economist is a professional in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy...

s, MBAs and chartered accountant

Chartered Accountant

Chartered Accountants were the first accountants to form a professional body, initially established in Britain in 1854. The Edinburgh Society of Accountants , the Glasgow Institute of Accountants and Actuaries and the Aberdeen Society of Accountants were each granted a royal charter almost from...

s. Some members of the Kookana families are now settled in Australia and the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

.

Worship habits

Some of the Kookana families from villages in Haryana still maintain the tradition of worshiping the Goddess Karni Mata

Karni Mata

Karni Mata was a female Hindu sage born in the Charan caste and is worshiped as the incarnation of the goddess Durga by her followers. She is an official deity of the royal family of Jodhpur and Bikaner. During her lifetime, she laid the foundation stone of two of the important forts in Rajputana...

 of Deshnok on certain day of lunar month, the culture clearly originating from Bikaner. Kookanas are also devotees of the monkey god Hanuman

Hanuman

Hanuman , is a Hindu deity, who is an ardent devotee of Rama, a central character in the Indian epic Ramayana and one of the dearest devotees of lord Rama. A general among the vanaras, an ape-like race of forest-dwellers, Hanuman is an incarnation of the divine and a disciple of Lord Rama in the...

 and often make pilgrimages to Salasar

Salasar

Salasar is a village in India. Salasar is located on National Highway No. 65 of Sujangarh in the district of Churu, about 130 km from Jaipur and 350 km from Delhi famous, for Salasar Balaji temple...

in Rajasthan.