Chauhans are found in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India .[1] They are traditionally salt makers, and also known as Nuvra, Sambhri, Sambhri Chauhan and Jhumana Parmar.
History and origin
The word Lun or nun means salt in the Hindi language, which itself is the corruption of the word lavan, which is the Sanskrit word For salt. All the Rajput in Rajasthan where engaged in this profession of salt making particularly in Ajmer, Pushkar, Luni, Pulera,Jhuman, Dausa, Bewar and Sambhar. The community is Chauhan Rajput ancestry. They have thirteen main sub-groups, the Sambhri Chauhan, Bachgotri,Singh ,Makawana , kaushik, parmar, parihar, solanki, tomar, tawar, bhati, chandravanshi, gahlot, rathod and sainvanshi. They came to U.P from Rajasthan in 16th century.They are also known as visthapit rajput(Migrated Rajput) or chauhan rajput or Lonia Rajput.[2] ui
Present circumstances
The traditional occupation of the community was making of salt and they were soldier in chauhan ruler of Ajmer, Ranthambore, Bundi, Kota and Udaipur. They are now engaged in agriculture, and are a community of farmers having big & in some places moderate farmland. They r now very prosperous in business in city like Delhi, Mumbai,Surat, Vapi, Chandigadh, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Nodia, and other city of India. Their main concentrations are in the districts of Kanpur, Lukhnow, Ghazipur, Jaunpur, Pratapgarh, Varanasi. Apart from Utter Pradesh, Loniya caste is also found in Vindhya region of Madhya Pradesh in the district of Rewa, Satna, Shahdol and Sidhi.In Punjab they are know as Kharwal, Loniwal,Junjuva,Rajwar, Chauhan,Bais and Lunawat.Their one branch is in Pakistan known as Luni/Loni.Loni is a warrior branch of Durrani Pashtoons and are related to Qarabagh of Afghanistan. They came to the sub-continent in the era of the Afghan emperor Ahmad Shah Durrani. They were then called as "OX" due to their warrior nature. A huge population of Luni tribe still exists in the Uttar Pradesh District of India. They moved through Kashmir, Tank, Dera Ismail Khan, and Musa Khel to Khan Muhammad Kot and from there they attacked Alambar, Lakhi, Samaolang (Chamalung) and Thal Chutiali and got hold of the vast area, which then got a single name “LONI”. The boundaries of Loni are extended to Kohlu, Musa Khel, Barkhan, Loralai and Dukki. They have fought several decisive wars against neighboring castes like MARRI, KAKAR and other tribes of the area.
In India community are Hindu community, and worship Kuldevi such as Shakumbaradevi, Marimai, Nakle Mata,Durga maa,Kali mata and Jakhai maa. They still practice bali pratha(Sacrifice Goat & Bull) which they offer to their kuldevi. The luni rajput have a caste association, the Rajput Maryada Sabha, headquartered in Kanpur. In 1883 people of this community has started Akhilbhartiya Shree Rajput Dharmpracharniya Mahasabha under the leadership of Thakur Lalamathura Prasad Singh and they have found their lost glory after some time they have change the name of this Mahasabha to Shree Rajput Heetkarni Mahasabha.In 1984 Shree Rajput Heetkarni Mahasabha merger in Akhail Bharti Kshtariya Mahasabha at Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh. Now they r known as Chauhan rajput of Eastern Uttar Pradesh.[3]
References
1.^ People of India Uttar Pradesh Volume XLII Part Two edited by A Hasan & J C Das pages 907 to 912
2.^ People of India Uttar Pradesh Volume XLII edited by A Hasan & J C Das page 907
3.^ People of India Uttar Pradesh Volume XLII edited by A Hasan & J C Das page 911
Categories: Social groups of Uttar Pradesh
Indian castes
Hindu communities
Saltmaking castes
Information collected by- Yeshwant Singh Kaushik, ( Above complete information given in Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
