Jat Clan: Puniya
Distribution	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... , 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... , 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...  and Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...
Descended from:	Kshatrya
Branches:	None
Religion	Hinduism Hinduism Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...  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	Haryanvi, Braj Bhasa, 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... , 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:	Puniya

Punia or Poonia or Puniya (IAST

IAST

The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration is a transliteration scheme that allows a lossless romanization of Indic scripts as employed by the Sanskrit language.-Popularity:...

: Pūniā) is a clan

Clan

A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be symbolical, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a...

 or 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"...

 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...

, 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...

, 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...

 and Uttar Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...

 in India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

.
Origin

They are the descendants of Raja Paunbhadra (पौनभद्र) son of Virabhadra in the lineage of Puru.

Thakur Deshraj considers them Nagavanshi.

As per Hisar Gazetteer they are considered to be of Shiva or Shivi gotra. Dilip Singh Ahlawat has mentioned it as one of the ruling Jat clans in Central Asia.

They are known as Pune in Maharashtra. They are known as Paun or Pooliya in Gujarat. The city of Pune in Maharashtra was probably founded by this clan. Pauni, the ancient Buddhist city, in Bhandara district in Maharashtra seems to be their original home before coming to Rajasthan.

In Mahabharata

Shalya Parva, Mahabharata/Book IX Chapter 44 mentions names of Kshatriyas who came to the ceremony for investing Kartikeya with the status of generalissimo. Shloka 55 mentions Punyanamas along with Koks, Nadals, Mallis.

History

Jat historians opine that before coming to Rajasthan, they were in Central Asia and than they migrated to northern Indian Punjab region and at the time of Alexander invasion in Punjab in 326 B.C. they fought with Alexander The Great and than Punia along with Sihag,Godara,Saran,Beniwal and Johiya migrated to north Rajasthan region known as Jangladesh and ruled there till 15th century .

According to Hukam Singh Pawar (Pauria). In all probability the Punia or Pauniyas belong to the followers of Pani leader Bribu. It is possible that a branch of Pani or Puni migrated from Sapta Sindhu to south India where they were known as Pani or Paunika, identified with the Punaka-Visaya of Talegaon inscription i.e. modern Poona or Pune, which may be their earlier settlement. The Punaiyyas or Panayyas of the South also betray their ancestry from the Panis. While Sivis, Mallavas etc. migrated from the Indus Valley after Alexander’s invasion to Rajasthan where they still survive in the Sivis, Shivranas, Mall or Malli Jats, the Punia or Pauniya Jats of Rajasthan, are likely to be the descendants of the Panis, who were deprived of their wealth by their brethren Aryan opponents, and were compelled to settle down in their new home from the valley much earlier. The Punias were allowed by Aryans to remain in their Indian home in return for liberal donations by Bribu to the Aryans (the Bharatas) for which he was held in high esteem by them where as the rest of Panis, who refused to donate likewise, were chased to the western lands. Babylonia, known as Brbyru to the Vedic Indians, is said to be the city of Bribu, (a wealthy leader of the Panis), by Weber, (Kalyanaramana, 1969, 112). It is interesting to note that the leaders of Panis who migrated to America in the pre-Aztec times from India, are depicted as robust, standing erect with folded hands, having Rajasthani features, with their head adorned with Marwari pagrees.

The people called Paunikas (Paunas) are mentioned in Vayu Purana. They were ruling near Jagadhari on the Yamuna river and their epigraph has been found at Jagatgram near Chuhadpur in Dehradun district. Herodotus mentions a people, Paeonia, a colony of Teucarians. The paeonians were transferred from Hellespont to Asia, under the orders of Darius the great. Here we have the Pauniya and Tokha Jats in Europe in sixth century BC.

The philosophy of their origin from the locks of Shiva indicates that they belong to the Naga race. Shivi and Taxak were neighbourers. After the attack of Alexander the Shivi and Taxak people moved down Panjab and occupied Jangladesh. Punia Gotra Jats were one of them to occupy parts of Jangladesh, that corresponds to the former princely state of Bikaner. They reached here in early period of christian era and ruled till 15th century when Rathores occupied the Jangladesh.

Rathores under the leadership of Bika and Kandal were spreading their rule in Jangladesh. At that time Punia Jat were ruling six states and about 300 villages. The extent of rule of Punias spread from Jhansal, which was their capital, to Marod. Marod town is situated at a distance of about 40 km from present Rajgarh town in Rajasthan. Godara Jats had aligned with Rathores due to which Punias faced a defeat and moved to Uttar Pradesh. Punias had strongly retaliated and were able to kill Rathore Raja Rai Singh.

Beeka, the founder of Rathore supremacy in Bikaner, died in S. 1551 (1495 AD). Kalyan Singh succeeded in S. 1603. He had three sons, 1, Rae Singh; 2, Ram Singh ; and 3, Pirthi Singh. Rae Singh succeeded in S. 1630 (a.d. 1573). Until this reign, the Jats had, in a great degree, preserved their ancient privileges. Ram Singh, at the same time, completely subjugated the Johyas, who, always troublesome, had recently attempted to regain their ancient independence. Ram Singh, having destroyed the power of future resistance in the Johyas, turned his arms against the Puniya Jats, the last who preserved their ancient liberty. They were vanquished, and the Rajpoots were inducted into their most valuable possessions. But the conqueror paid the penalty of his life for the glory of colonising the lands of the Puniyas. He was slain in their expiring effort to shake off the yoke of the stranger ; and though the Ramsingotes add to the numerical strength, and enlarge the territory of the heirs of Beeka, they, like the Kandulotes, little increase the power of the state, to which their obedience is nominal. Sidhmukh and Sankhoo are the two chief places of the Ramsingotes. Thus, with the subjugation of the Puniyas, the political annihilation of the six Jat cantons of the desert was accomplished.

Thakur Deshraj writes on Punias

Following is the English translation of History of Punias mentioned by Thakur Deshraj pages 617 and 618 from the Book ‘Jat Itihas’ (History of the Jats), 1992 edition: Publisher: Maharaja Surajmal Smarak Shiksah Sanstha, C-4 Janak Puri, New Delhi 110058.
"The Puniyas are Naga clans, and Punia is derived from Naga. The Hissar Gazetteer says that they consider themselves to be of the Shiva Gotr (clan) and there is reference to them being descended from Mahadev (Shiva)’s locks. Shivi and Takshak people lived contagiously- side by side. These two evolved into being followers of Shaivism.

Following the invasion by Sikandar(Alexander) some of the Shivi and Takshak clans came down below Punjab. Some out of these established their hold on Jangal Pradesh. The Puniyas too arose of such Jat groups who established their hold on a country and utilized for a very long time. They reached Jangal Pradesh by the time of commencement of the Christian era , current era. They governed this land upto the 15th century CE.

At the time of the arrival of the group of the Rahtors under Bika and Kaandal, the Punia Sardars or chieftains had 300 villages under their sway. They had been independent from many generations. In addition they had six other republics of the Jats in Jangal Pradesh.

Ram Ratan Charan in his “History of Rajputana” in Hindi, refers to these six realms as ‘Bhumiyachare” i.e. republics. Reference to these republics is also found in 'Bharat ke Desi Rajya’, 'Tarikh Raajgahn Hind’ , ‘Vakaye Rajputana’, and many other history books. We(Thakur Deshraj) have written our account on the basis of these historical Texts.

At that time, the capital was Jhansal, which is on the boundary of modern Hissar. Ram Ratan Charan calls this capital as Luddhi in his book.

Theeir Raja was Kanhadev at that time. Kanhadev was a great leader and a fearless warrior who could never be defeated. His Punia clan brethren followed his wishes. Republics are defeated by internal dissent. His Puniya society had unity. He did not have a large standing military force, but he had no shortage of young warriors, who lived at home, and who rose to arms as soon as the call came from their leader. Every Puniya citizen considered the whole republic as of his own. They were ready to bear all hardships. They however would not tolerate a person from another community to rule over them. Their mental makeup made them refuse to accept rule by Bika. They kept fighting for their independence as long as they had young men who could come to the force. The Rahtors managed to take control of their homesteads one at a time. In the end the Rahtors constructed forts in the middle of their lands. The Rahtors would make these forts in the day, and in the night the Puniyas would break them down. The folk traditions state that some Puniyas were buried alive in the walls of some of these forts.

After much struggle the Puniyas were defeated. Some of them then migrated towards the United Provinces (modern Uttar Pradesh). The Rahtors had a big army, the Godara Jats also gave them their assistance. That is why the Puniyas lost.

It was , however, a matter of pride, that seeking to protect their Independence, they never showed cowardice. Rivers of blood were flowed by them. In revenge for the ill treatment of the leaders by the enemy, they defeated and took prisoner and killed the Rathor King Rai Singh. Reference to this act of revenge by the Puniyas is found in the book – ‘Bharat ke Desi Rajya’ (Eng- Indigenous Kingdoms of India).

The republic of the Puniyas spread from Jhansal (on the boundary of Modern Hissar, to Marod. Marod is 12 kos south of Rajgarh. The folk legends tell us, that one Sadhu told a Puniya leader, that whatever land he could cover on a mare, that will be governed by the Puniyas. The Mare was let loose and at Sunset , she reached Marod and died. At that time the Puniyas Sardar (chieftain) said:

“The journey from Jhansal ended at Marodh. The mare died but no regret.”
Traces of the old capital of the Puniyas, Jhansal where there was their fort, can still be found. Such traces are also still found in Balsamand.

The Rathor Raja would pay an annual fee to some of the Puniya chieftains to keep them peaceful and quiet. Even until recent times, there was a tradition of receiving clothing and some money from Raja annually by these Puniya leaders as a tribute."