Sheokhand
Encyclopedia
Sheokhanda or Shivakhande (शिवाखंडे) Shaukhanda (शौखंडा) or Shokeen (शोकीन) is a gotra of Jats
found in India. Shokeen is an Arabicised shorter version of Sheokhand. The gotra gets its name from Shiva
. Literally it means the abode of Shiva.
migrating from Lahore
, Punjab in the 12 century. It was due to the wave of Arab
attacks. The migratory Jat families had a first stop at Patiala in Punjab
region, then it stopped in Jind
(Present day Haryana), few other kept on moving forward to Delhi
. There were 8 brothers who settled in Delhi
and formed 8 villages there. Some of the rest of migrant went to western Uttar Pradesh
/ Harit Pradesh
and settled there.
The family records of this gotra
/ Clan
can be found with pundits in Gadhganga. According to Hukum Singh Panwar(Pauria),this clan is living in about 25 contiguous villages in Jind
district of Haryana
and about five villages in Nangloi block of Delhi ,rest three villages in delhi are bit scattered. There are couple of villages of this clan in patiala and some in western Uttar Pradesh
better known as Harit Pradesh
. Of late this gotra has been Arabicised as Shokeen in some Delhi villages, though while marrying they retain their ancestral clan name that is sheokhand. They are identified by some scholars with the Shivi
s or the Sibi
s of the Usinara country in the north of Haridwar near the source of Ganges. The Sivas or Sibis Jats became known as Shivakhande or Sheokhande from and after the Shivalik
s, the abode of Lord Shiva, the highest deity of the Jats.
There are eight villages (Ath-Gama) of this Gotra in National Territory of Delhi
(Sultanpur Majra, Mongol Pur Kalan
, Mongolpur Khurd, Peeragarhi, Nangloi Jat
, Nilothi
, Kamruddin-Nagar, Dichaon Kalan),Roshanpura, Deendarpur, Chhawla and in Haryana
near Jind
. All the village of Shokeen gotra in delhi falls in outer delhi. Though these village use Shokeen as their surnames but socially they introduce themselves as Sheokhanda, particularly for fixing marriages and in panchayats.There also seems to be a debate among Delhi villages to use their surname as Sheokhanda rather than shokeen but some members of the community are resisting the efforts as they wish to be " different " .
jats are in fact are Sibi
or Sibia Jats. The change in surname from sibi or sivi to shivi and then to shivikhande can be attributed to migration from the native place of Punjab and coming into the Hindi heartland. The change in the name from sibi to sheokhand can been logically proofed as there is similarity in change of surname from sheokhand to shokeen in delhi villages. It also worthy to note that Sibi
or Shivi
surname is only present in Jats, no other community uses this surname.
The similarity of surname has been identified by many jat scholars in this clan's context. It also gives credit to the widely popular story of the clan's migration from Punjab in 12 century. The records could be found in haridwar
in regard to this.
Sibi is the original surname which got changed in sheokhand for the migratory members of this community. Shokeen surname of this clan was adopted in 1950s which is an Arabicised version of sheokhand used only in some Delhi villages (most still use sheokhand as surname or refrain from using any now-days and put only singh, chaudhary or kumar instead).
. He went to Mumbai
to become an actor where he referred his surname as shokeen. He got a chance to act in one movie with Mala Sinha
but unfortunately that movie was closed before its completion. Though he was not able to make into movies again but his surname clicked among the youth of the villages and slowly some boys started writing their names as shokeen.
Though many village elders tried to change this phenomenon but now days many are writing shokeen as a surname. Though there are few who still use sheokhanda as their surname but for fixing marriages sheokhanda is used.
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,...
found in India. Shokeen is an Arabicised shorter version of Sheokhand. The gotra gets its name from Shiva
Shiva
Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
. Literally it means the abode of Shiva.
History
There is story of this clanClan
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...
migrating from Lahore
Lahore
Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...
, Punjab in the 12 century. It was due to the wave of Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
attacks. The migratory Jat families had a first stop at Patiala in 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...
region, then it stopped in Jind
Jind
Jind is a town in Jind District, Harayana state, India.It is one of the oldest districts of Harayana. It is one of the first Sikh Kingdoms. It lies in central Haryana and is the fourth district of the Jat belt .The city is beautiful...
(Present day Haryana), few other kept on moving forward to Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
. There were 8 brothers who settled in Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
and formed 8 villages there. Some of the rest of migrant went to western 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...
/ Harit Pradesh
Harit Pradesh
Harit Pradesh is a proposed new state of India comprising the western parts of Uttar Pradesh state. Braj Pradesh and Pashchim Pradesh are alternative names that have been proposed, because the region incorporates the historic region of Braj and is the western part of Uttar Pradesh...
and settled there.
The family records of this 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"...
/ 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...
can be found with pundits in Gadhganga. According to Hukum Singh Panwar(Pauria),this clan is living in about 25 contiguous villages in Jind
Jind
Jind is a town in Jind District, Harayana state, India.It is one of the oldest districts of Harayana. It is one of the first Sikh Kingdoms. It lies in central Haryana and is the fourth district of the Jat belt .The city is beautiful...
district 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...
and about five villages in Nangloi block of Delhi ,rest three villages in delhi are bit scattered. There are couple of villages of this clan in patiala and some in western 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...
better known as Harit Pradesh
Harit Pradesh
Harit Pradesh is a proposed new state of India comprising the western parts of Uttar Pradesh state. Braj Pradesh and Pashchim Pradesh are alternative names that have been proposed, because the region incorporates the historic region of Braj and is the western part of Uttar Pradesh...
. Of late this gotra has been Arabicised as Shokeen in some Delhi villages, though while marrying they retain their ancestral clan name that is sheokhand. They are identified by some scholars with the Shivi
Shivi
Shivi was a republic in ancient India, ruled by a democratic system of government known as ganatantra. Kshudrakas had formed a sangha with Malavas. Shivis formed a sangha with a big federation or sangha known as Jat, which is clear from Pāṇini's shloka in grammar of...
s or the Sibi
Sibi
Sibi is a city of Balochistan province of Pakistan. The city is located at 29°33'0N 67°52'60E at an altitude of 130 metres and is headquarters of the district and tehsil of the same name.. According to the 2001 census of Pakistan the population of Sibi is 52,100...
s of the Usinara country in the north of Haridwar near the source of Ganges. The Sivas or Sibis Jats became known as Shivakhande or Sheokhande from and after the Shivalik
Shivalik
Shivalik may refer to:* Shivalik class frigate* Siwalik Hills, a series of ranges of outer foothills of Himalaya crossing Pakistan, India, Nepal and Bhutan....
s, the abode of Lord Shiva, the highest deity of the Jats.
There are eight villages (Ath-Gama) of this Gotra in National Territory of Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
(Sultanpur Majra, Mongol Pur Kalan
Mongol Pur Kalan
Mangol Pura Kalan is a village which has been urbanized during 1980s and lies on North-west region of Delhi. It is predominantly habituated by Jats of Sheokhand clan or Shokeen . Though over the years a large no of migrants have also come and habituated there...
, Mongolpur Khurd, Peeragarhi, Nangloi Jat
Nangloi Jat
Nangloi Jat or popularly known as "Nangloi" is a census town in West district in the Indian state of Delhi, surrounded by Najafgarh, Bhadurgarh, Delhi Outer Ring road, and Paschim Vihar, and at one point mostly inhabited by the Jat clan...
, Nilothi
Nilothi
Nilothi is a small village of Shokeen Gotra of Jats, near Nangloi Jat, National Highway-10, Delhi. The most interesting aspect of this village is that the whole village drives its lineage from a single father Ch.Alam Chand who got Nilothi in partition & his elder brother got Nangloi as his part....
, Kamruddin-Nagar, Dichaon Kalan),Roshanpura, Deendarpur, Chhawla and in 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...
near Jind
Jind
Jind is a town in Jind District, Harayana state, India.It is one of the oldest districts of Harayana. It is one of the first Sikh Kingdoms. It lies in central Haryana and is the fourth district of the Jat belt .The city is beautiful...
. All the village of Shokeen gotra in delhi falls in outer delhi. Though these village use Shokeen as their surnames but socially they introduce themselves as Sheokhanda, particularly for fixing marriages and in panchayats.There also seems to be a debate among Delhi villages to use their surname as Sheokhanda rather than shokeen but some members of the community are resisting the efforts as they wish to be " different " .
Sibi, Sheokhand and shokeen Jats
There has been a widespread debate over the fact that sheokhand Jats who were actually known as shivikhande or shiviShivi
Shivi was a republic in ancient India, ruled by a democratic system of government known as ganatantra. Kshudrakas had formed a sangha with Malavas. Shivis formed a sangha with a big federation or sangha known as Jat, which is clear from Pāṇini's shloka in grammar of...
jats are in fact are Sibi
Sibi
Sibi is a city of Balochistan province of Pakistan. The city is located at 29°33'0N 67°52'60E at an altitude of 130 metres and is headquarters of the district and tehsil of the same name.. According to the 2001 census of Pakistan the population of Sibi is 52,100...
or Sibia Jats. The change in surname from sibi or sivi to shivi and then to shivikhande can be attributed to migration from the native place of Punjab and coming into the Hindi heartland. The change in the name from sibi to sheokhand can been logically proofed as there is similarity in change of surname from sheokhand to shokeen in delhi villages. It also worthy to note that Sibi
Sibi
Sibi is a city of Balochistan province of Pakistan. The city is located at 29°33'0N 67°52'60E at an altitude of 130 metres and is headquarters of the district and tehsil of the same name.. According to the 2001 census of Pakistan the population of Sibi is 52,100...
or Shivi
Shivi
Shivi was a republic in ancient India, ruled by a democratic system of government known as ganatantra. Kshudrakas had formed a sangha with Malavas. Shivis formed a sangha with a big federation or sangha known as Jat, which is clear from Pāṇini's shloka in grammar of...
surname is only present in Jats, no other community uses this surname.
The similarity of surname has been identified by many jat scholars in this clan's context. It also gives credit to the widely popular story of the clan's migration from Punjab in 12 century. The records could be found in haridwar
Haridwar
Haridwar is an important pilgrimage city and municipality in the Haridwar district of Uttarakhand, India...
in regard to this.
Sibi is the original surname which got changed in sheokhand for the migratory members of this community. Shokeen surname of this clan was adopted in 1950s which is an Arabicised version of sheokhand used only in some Delhi villages (most still use sheokhand as surname or refrain from using any now-days and put only singh, chaudhary or kumar instead).
Shokeen and Sheokhanda debate
The change in the surname came into being in 1950s when some young boys wanted to make their names look cool. They found their surname very heavy in pronouncing and came with a suggestion of shokeen name. There is another alternate story of a young boy known as Narian Singh Shokeen from Peera garhi, DelhiDelhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
. He went to Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
to become an actor where he referred his surname as shokeen. He got a chance to act in one movie with Mala Sinha
Mala Sinha
Mala Sinha is an Indian actress, who has worked in Hindi, Bengali and Nepali films. Recognised for her acting talent and beauty, she went on to become a popular leading actress in Hindi films from the early fifties till late seventies...
but unfortunately that movie was closed before its completion. Though he was not able to make into movies again but his surname clicked among the youth of the villages and slowly some boys started writing their names as shokeen.
Though many village elders tried to change this phenomenon but now days many are writing shokeen as a surname. Though there are few who still use sheokhanda as their surname but for fixing marriages sheokhanda is used.