Jat/Kumhar Clan: Malhi
Distribution	Punjab (Pakistan) Punjab (Pakistan) Punjab is the most populous province of Pakistan, with approximately 45% of the country's total population. Forming most of the Punjab region, the province is bordered by Kashmir to the north-east, the Indian states of Punjab and Rajasthan to the east, the Pakistani province of Sindh to the...  and Punjab (India) Punjab (India) Punjab ) is a state in the northwest of the Republic of India, forming part of the larger Punjab region. The state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the east, Haryana to the south and southeast and Rajasthan to the southwest as well as the Pakistani province of Punjab to the...
Religion	Islam Islam Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...  and Sikhism Sikhism Sikhism is a monotheistic religion founded during the 15th century in the Punjab region, by Guru Nanak Dev and continued to progress with ten successive Sikh Gurus . It is the fifth-largest organized religion in the world and one of the fastest-growing...
Languages	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...
Surnames:	Malhi

The Malhi is 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,...

 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"...

/Kumhar clan from the North Indian state of Punjab and Pakistani Punjab,Earlier based in the region around Sialkot

Sialkot District

Sialkot District or the District of Sialkot , is one of the districts of the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is located in the north-east of the province...

 (now in West Punjab

West Punjab

West Punjab was a province of Pakistan from 1947 to 1955. The province covered an area of 160,622 km², including much of the current Punjab province and the Islamabad Capital Territory, but excluding the former princely state of Bahawalpur. The capital was the city of Lahore and the province...

, Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

), the Malhis were often wealthy landlords living in North-East Punjab.

History and origin

One of the earliest Jat clan, the majority of Malhis migrated to Indian Punjab

Punjab (India)

Punjab ) is a state in the northwest of the Republic of India, forming part of the larger Punjab region. The state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the east, Haryana to the south and southeast and Rajasthan to the southwest as well as the Pakistani province of Punjab to the...

 during the Partition of India

Partition of India

The Partition of India was the partition of British India on the basis of religious demographics that led to the creation of the sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan and the Union of India on 14 and 15...

 in 1947. It is believed that there were twelve villages of the Malhi clan in the undivided Punjab

Punjab (British India)

Punjab was a province of British India, it was one of the last areas of the Indian subcontinent to fall under British rule. With the end of British rule in 1947 the province was split between West Punjab, which went to Pakistan, and East Punjab, which went to India...

 between 1850-60 during British Rule

British Raj

British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...

. One such village is Kotli Soorat Malhi, a village in Gurdaspur District

Gurdaspur District

Gurdaspur district is a district in the state of Punjab, situated in the northwest part of the Republic of India. Gurdaspur is the district headquarters. It internationally borders Narowal District of the Pakistani Punjab, Kathua District of Jammu and Kashmir, the Punjab districts of Amritsar and...

. Sialka,a village in Amritsar district

Amritsar District

Amritsar district is one of 22 districts in the state of Punjab in West India. It has a population of 3,074,207 and covers an area of 5075 km²...

.

From a historical standpoint, the Malhi clan is most famous for its association with the death of Alexander the Great. One of the theories concerning Alexander the Great's death has to do with the possibility of an infection of an arrow wound he suffered two years before his actual death in Persia, during a sally against a Malhi fortified town.

The clan is mostly found around Baddomalhi, in the Raya tehsil. They trace their descent from Ram Chanderji of Surajbhansi family. In loyalty they are reported upon as second to none. The people of this clan are also found in 12 or 13 villages round about Badiana, a village midway between Pasrur and Sialkot.
Ancient writers such as Diodorus, Arrian and Strabo tell us that during Alexander's invasion of Punjab, the area around Multan, an ancient city now in Pakistan, was occupied by Malli (Malhi) people. Thus, as per Professor McCrindle, "The Malloi (Malli or Malhi) occupied the district situated between the lower Akesines (modern Chenab river), and the Hydraotes (modern Sutlej river), which in Alexander's time joined the former river below Multan-a city which owes its name to the Malloi (Malli)".

Famous persons

• Chaudhry Naseer Malhi
• Naeem Ahmed Malhi
• Akbar Malhi (English Marine Commando of the 48th Royal Marine Commandos (during WW2)
• Ajwinder Malhi