Awan (tribe) - History

History

The Awans have a strong martial tradition; as Christophe Jaffrelot states:

"The Awan deserve close attention, because of their historical importance and, above all, because they settled in the west, right up to the edge of Baluchi and Pashtun territory. Legend has it that their origins go back to Imam Ali and his second wife, Hanafiya. Historians describe them as valiant warriors and farmers who imposed their supremacy on the Janjua in part of the Salt Range, and established large colonies all along the Indus to Sind, and a densely populated centre not far from Lahore."

According to Denzil Ibbetson, the Awans may well have accompanied the forces of Babur, and the Awans of Jalandhar, who claimed to have shifted from the Salt Range at the behest of one of the early Emperors of Delhi, were particularly notable for being in the imperial service at Delhi.

The Awans were amongst those the British considered to be "martial races" and as such, formed an important part of the British Indian Army. In particular, the Awans formed part of the core Muslim group recruited by the British during the First and Second World Wars.

With reference to the British Raj's recruitment policies in the Punjab, vis-à-vis the British Indian Army, Professor Tan Tai Yong remarks:

"The choice of Muslims was not merely one of physical suitability. As in the case of the Sikhs, recruiting authorities showed a clear bias in favour of the dominant landowning tribes of the region, and recruitment of Punjabi Muslims was limited to those who belonged to tribes of high social standing or reputation - the 'blood proud' and once politically dominant aristocracy of the tract. Consequentially, socially dominant Muslim tribes such as the Gakkhars, Janjuas and Awans, and a few Rajput tribes, concentrated in the Rawalpindi and Jhelum districts in the northern Salt Range tract in the Punjab, accounted for more than ninety per cent of Punjabi Muslim recruits."

According to Philip Edward Jones:

"The Awan Tribe is perhaps the most heavily recruited tribe for the Pakistan Army."

On a rural level, Awans belong to the Zamindar or landowning class, and many Awan families to this day live on and cultivate land, which their ancestors have held for centuries. They often carry titles typical to Punjabis who own tracts of ancestral land such as Malik, Chaudhry and Khan. The modern surname system often results in members of the same family with different surnames, some choosing their position as a surname i.e. Malik or Chaudhry, and some choosing their tribal name of Awan.

Though the origins of the Awans may be a matter of some debate, it has long been recognised that the composition of the tribe is wholly Muslim. The most extensive study of the tribe was conducted during the era of the British Raj, and as a result of census data collated during this period, the Awan tribe was invariably classified as being entirely Muslim. In the opening to his account of the Awan tribe, H. A. Rose comments:

"The Awans are an important tribe, exclusively Muhammadan."

Similarly, John Henry Hutton has said of the Awans:

"They are exclusively Muslim and probably the descendants of some of the earlier Muslim invaders of the tenth century or earlier."