Minhas

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Minhas

Native Region of Manhas Rajputs
Regions with significant populations
•India: Punjab, Jammu, Himachal • Pakistan: Punjab, Azad Kashmir
Languages
• Pahari • Urdu • Punjabi • Hindi • English
Religion
• Hinduism • Islam • Sikhism
Related ethnic groups
• Indo-Aryan people • Rajputs • Muslim Rajputs • Sikh Rajputs • Punjabi Rajputs • Pahari Rajput

Minhas or Manhas or Minhas-Dogra is a Suryavanshi Rajput clan from the Punjab region and Jammu and Kashmir in India and Pakistan. It is an off-shoot of Jamwal-Dogra Rajputs, the founders of the city and state of Jammu and its rulers from ancient times to 1948 CE. Paying tribute to the antiquity of their royal lineage, Lepel Griffin says, “These royal dynasties may have been already ancient when Moses was leading the Israelites out of Egypt, and the Greeks were steering their swift ships to Troy".^{[Full citation needed]}

Minhas Rajputs are spread throughout Punjab region and Jammu & Kashmir. Hindu Minhas Rajputs reside in the Indian states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Indian Punjab, Sikh Minhas Rajputs, mainly inhabit Punjab (India) and Muslim Minhas Rajputs reside in Pakistani Punjab and Pakistan administered Kashmir.

Origins

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Wheel of Konark Sun Temple. Konark in Orissa, India is famous for its Sun Temple.The idol worshipped inside the temple represents Konaditya, literally Kon+Aditya (the Sun in a particular direction).

Minhas Rajputs are Suryavanshis and claim descent from Rama a legendary king of Ayodhya. They trace their ancestry to the Suryavansha dynasty of Northern India (The same clan in which Lord Rama was born. He, therefore is the 'kuldevta' (family deity) of the Hindu Minhas Rajputs).

Minhas history

A famous Manhas/Minhas in history was Baba Chamliyal also called Duleep Singh Minhas, a warrior saint, whose Samādhi (place of cremation) is still visited by hundreds and thousands of Pakistanis and India]ns each year in the month of June. The Mela (fair) which is held in honour of Baba Chamliyal, was celebrated for the 317th time on Thursday, June 22, 2006 as the man-made boundary between India] and Pakistan lost its importance momentarily and people from both sides participated in the mela with vigour.

Banda Bahadur, the famous disciple of Guru Gobind Singh who was the tenth Sikh Guru and the founder of the Khalsa brotherhood, was born into a Minhas Rajput family in Rajouri in the Jammu region. Banda Bahadur was an accomplished warrior-general, who almost destroyed Mughal presence in eastern Punjab and arguably created the first Sikh State.