HOW VILLAGES GOT THEIR NAMES (PART 2)

Village name is our first introduction. We all are proud of our villages and rightly so! It’s good to take pride in one’s roots. Even if we live in metropolitan cities, our children should know their family background. Villages are a part of our identity. Here I need to mention the views of Sardar Gurnam Singh Brar the author of Book ‘East of Indus’ where he mentions that his father would make them recite the names of their paternal ancestors upto thirty of forty generations, just as children learnt multiplication tables. It is the duty of the parents to make their children aware of their family tree right from village. There are 12,278 number of revenue Villages in Punjab. Here are the reasons behind naming of the villages . Bhagta Bhai ka Village near Bathinda was founded by Bhai Bhagta, grandson of Bhai Behlon (descendent of Phul) who was given the title of Bhai by Guru Arjan Dev ji for his service.Mehta is also sept of Sidhu gott or clan. It is named after its ancestor, who founded the village Mehta near Barnala.

Harike Pattan is named after Chaudhri Hari – it’s ancestor. Chaudhri Hari and his descendants founded 14 or 15 villages on both banks of the Sutlej hence the name Harike Pattan. Bhagtuana Village near Jaito is named after Baba Bagtu.

Jhindwala Village is named after a bird who use to sing “jhe jhe” daily. Jaitu in the Phul was founded by Jaitu, a jat of the Sidhu gott to which the owners belong.

Dangar Khera village near Abohar, district Fazilka, is natural terrain of the area where water used to flow upto village pond. So animals were naturally bound to come there to drink water all around the year. The unique name Dangar Khera was given to the village after herds of animals were seen around the pond, dangar being a Punjabi name for animal. The pond is currently 7 to 8 acres of land but in old times it used to be four times more than present.

Badal village was founded by Badal Khan in District Shri Muktsar Sahib. Rattangarh village is on the name of its founder Baba Rattan Singh. Ratia is on the name of Ratti Ram (younger brother of Baba Rattan Singh). Jarg Village is named after Raja Jag Deo. Harnam Singh Wala Village near Bhatinda was founded by Sardar Harnam Singh Dhillon. Originally they are from Dhilwan. Sardar Harnam Singh’s sister Chand Kaur was married to Nabha Maharaja.

Dialpura Village, one of the minor Phulkian families is that of Dialpura Village is in Tehsil Sangrur. Its founder Bulaqi Singh, the third son of Sukhchen was younger brother of H.H. Raja Gajpat Singh of Jind. He had two sons, Mirza and Jitu Singh. Mirza founded the village of Dialpura and it is actually called Mirza ka Dialpura.

Malar village in Jind tahsil takes it name from Malwal Rajputs. Frequently the villages get their names from the common ancestors of the proprietors such as Hetwal from Het Ram, Dalamwala from Dalam, Pawali from Pola Ram and many others.

The late Raja of Jind founded founded a number of villages and called them after various musical modes like Pilu Khera, Bhairon Khera, Ram Kali, Malsari, Sandhoi Khera (from the Sindhu mode), Bhag Khera and Siri Rag. At Pohkar Kheri (in Jind State )which is 29 miles south-east of Safidon, in the south-west of the village is a tank of Pushkar ji, with a temple of Mahadeo. The name Pohkar is from Pushkar meaning ‘great purifier’.

Dinda is a tank where Daryodhan is said to have hidden during the Mahabharat battle and to have been caught by Raja Yudhishtar, hence the name Dinda (dhundna means search). Dhudike Village was founded by Bhomia. It was named Dhudike after his ancestor’s name Dhudi.

Mandare Kalan Village in Sangrur is named after Mandare Bhaichara or Sept. Mandare is a surname. Mughal Chak Pannuian village is name after Pannu Surname. This village is in Amritsar tehsil Taran Taran. Phul village is founded by Phul on the founder’s own name. Ruldu Singh Wala Village is on the name of its founder Ruldu Singh Brother of Chaudhri Kharak Singh. Chak Kharak Singh Wala urf Doom Wala was founded by Chaudhri Kharak Singh in 1862.
Jalalabad was founded by Jamalo-Ud-Din.

Written by Opinder Kaur Sekhon.