SAHARAN
Distribution	Punjab (India) Punjab (India) Punjab ) is a state in the northwest of the Republic of India, forming part of the larger Punjab region. The state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the east, Haryana to the south and southeast and Rajasthan to the southwest as well as the Pakistani province of Punjab to the... , Punjab, Pakistan, 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... , Rajasthan Rajasthan Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with... , Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh , often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and Indore is the largest city....  and 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...
Descended from:	Kshatriya Kshatriya *For the Bollywood film of the same name see Kshatriya Kshatriya or Kashtriya, meaning warrior, is one of the four varnas in Hinduism... s (Rajput)
Branches:	None
Religion	Sikhism Sikhism Sikhism is a monotheistic religion founded during the 15th century in the Punjab region, by Guru Nanak Dev and continued to progress with ten successive Sikh Gurus . It is the fifth-largest organized religion in the world and one of the fastest-growing...  and Hindusim
Languages	Punjabi Punjabi language Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by inhabitants of the historical Punjab region . For Sikhs, the Punjabi language stands as the official language in which all ceremonies take place. In Pakistan, Punjabi is the most widely spoken language... , Haryanvi and Hindi Hindi Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
Surnames:	Saharan,Saran,Sran,Saaran

Saharan or Sran or Saran is a 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"...

 of jats

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,...

 in 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...

, 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...

, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh , often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and Indore is the largest city....

 in India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 and Some districts of Punjab, Pakistan claim from Rajputs still today, Saharan's lineage goes to both Brahmin

Brahmin

Brahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...

s and Kshatriya

Kshatriya

*For the Bollywood film of the same name see Kshatriya Kshatriya or Kashtriya, meaning warrior, is one of the four varnas in Hinduism...

 Rajput. This is an ancient clan of India and belong to Hindu

Hindu

Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...

 as well as Sikh

Sikh

A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism. It primarily originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia. The term "Sikh" has its origin in Sanskrit term शिष्य , meaning "disciple, student" or शिक्ष , meaning "instruction"...

 religions. Some Saharan come from Lord Rama

Rama

Rama or full name Ramachandra is considered to be the seventh avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism, and a king of Ayodhya in ancient Indian...

 the son of Dashratha who was a King of Ayodhya of the Ikshvaku

Ikshvaku

Ikshvaku pāli: Okkāka) was the first king of the Ikshvaku dynasty and founder of the Solar Dynasty of Kshatriyas in Vedic civilization in ancient India.-In Hinduism:He is remembered in Hindu scriptures as a righteous and glorious king...

 dynasty. The word Saharan (Syrieni and also called Suriyanis) means (King of the world) in Hindi.

Saharan's Descended from

There are three main lineages of Saharan's (Rajput):

• Lord Rama
  Rama
  Rama or full name Ramachandra is considered to be the seventh avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism, and a king of Ayodhya in ancient Indian...
  
    (Suryavanshi King And Avatar
  Avatar
  In Hinduism, an avatar is a deliberate descent of a deity to earth, or a descent of the Supreme Being and is mostly translated into English as "incarnation," but more accurately as "appearance" or "manifestation"....
  
   of vishnu
  Vishnu
  Vishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....
  
   come from Kashyapa
• Nagavanshi
  Nagavanshi
  The Nagavanshi dynasty is one of the ancient Kshatriya dynasties of India. The Vedas do not mention Kshatriyas of either Suryavanshi, Chandravanshi, Nagavanshi, Agnivanshi or such Vanshas or lineages. The Puranas, of debatable dating, constructed such genealogies. The Puranas were supposedly...
  
   jat Descended from Kashyapa
• Yaduvanshi King Maharaja Gaj Singh

History

Earlier they were in Central Asia then they migrated to northern salt-range Punjab region in India and at the time of Alexander's invasion in Punjab in 326 B.C. they fought with Alexander The Great and than Saran along with Sihag, Punia, Godara, Beniwal and Johiya migrated to north Rajasthan region known as Jangladesh and ruled there till 15th century.

As per local traditions, they were rulers in Jangladesh

Jangladesh

Jangladesh also known as Jangal Pradesh was a historical region in north, north-western and north-eastern Rajasthan state in northern India. It included the present-day districts of Bikaner, Churu, Ganganagar, and Hanumangarh....

. Jangladesh coincided with the princely state of Bikaner in Rajasthan. Megasthenes

Megasthenes

Megasthenes was a Greek ethnographer in the Hellenistic period, author of the work Indica.He was born in Asia Minor and became an ambassador of Seleucus I of Syria possibly to Chandragupta Maurya in Pataliputra, India. However the exact date of his embassy is uncertain...

 described them as Syrieni, a powerful warrior race in his book Indica.

Rathores under the leadership of Bika and Kandal were spreading their rule in Jangladesh. At that time Saharan Jat, though numerically far fewer in number, were ruling in about 300 towns and villages in Jangledesh. Prooloji was their king and their capital was at Bhadang town. Kaijar, Fokh, Boochawas, Sabai

Sabai

Sbai or Sabai shawl-like garment, or breast cloth worn in Mainland Southeast Asia. The term Sabai is used for a woman's silk breast wrapper in Cambodia, Central Thailand and Laos while in Coastal Sumatra it described as Shouldercloth...

, Badina and Sarsel were other famous towns in their state.

Prooloji had war with Rathores and made them retreat on many occasions but subsequently the Godara

Godara (clan)

Godara is a clan or gotra of Jats and Bishnois found in Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi in India. Many have also migrated to Western regions such as Gujarat or Pakistan. They are the descendants of Goha Dutta, a prince of the Mewar dynasty who was adopted by a Brahmin to fight against...

 Jats aligned with Rathores and due to the sudden deceit and betrayal by the Godaras, Saharans who otherwise were about to win decisively had to ultimately face a defeat.As a mark of gratitude, all Bikaner kings till the onset of independent India made it a point to get themselves officially anointed and declared as king only by a Godara during their coronation ceremony. The reason of the betrayal being that the chieftain of Godaras, Pandu

Pandu

In the Mahābhārata epic, King Pandu is the son of Ambalika and Rishi Ved Vyasa. He is more popularly known as the father of the Pandavas and ruled Hastinapur.-Birth:...

, the patriarchal head of the Godaras; whose residence was at Shekhsiri, had eyes on and consequent to the war abducted the wife of Adhiswar of Saharans that made Godaras the enemy of all other Jat rulers. Godaras were the numerically largest among the Jats of Jangladesh. Once the Saharans were gone, the lack of harmony and coordination among other Jat rulers and their consequent internal strife led to the subjugation of Jat states in Jangladesh and established the Rathore Kingdom who in turn could subsequently sustain it due to their alliance with the Muslim

Muslim

A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

 rulers of various lineages.

But select bands of Saharans once again reared their head in being behind the emergence of almost all Jat kingdoms to one extent or the other in later medieval era including the mighty kingdoms of Punjab on both sides of Satluj through their military actions. The Sukerchakia misl forces particularly had a large number of them. Incidentally, the armies of the Sukerchakia misl initially consisted of only about two thousand people (with majority being of Sansi

Sansi

Sansi is a nomadic tribe originally located in the Rajasthan area of northwestern India, but expelled in the 13th century by Muslim invaders and now living in states of Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab as well as scattered throughout India.Their language is Sansiboli, Sansi or Bhilki that is a highly...

 (Jat) gotra), numerically one of the weakest, but the dedicated bonding and military valour present in the misl led it to rule the mightiest kingdom of Northern India at that time under Maharaja Ranjit Singh

Ranjit Singh

Maharaja Ranjit Singh Ji was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire.-Early life:...

 whose won over areas included previous Mughal, Afgan as well as Rajput principalities. Previously Saharan warriors had also actively and significantly contributed as Faujdars in the conquest of present day 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...

 region by Jats under Maharaja Jawahar Singh during the period 1756-64.

They continued to hold sway though it is recorded historically that the great epidemic of 1781 had greatly depleted their ranks besides the other reason of bitter infighting amongst the Bharatpur royals( Sinsinwar

Sinsinwar

Sinsinwar is a gotra of Jats found in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, India. The Bharatpur rulers of the Sinsinwar gotra have originated from Sini/Shini in the ancestry of Krishna; which itself is derived from Krishna's own gotra, Vrishni. They are Chandravanshi kshatriyas...

)which led to the loss of lives in a huge way.It all led to complete anarchy in the region for quite some time after the arrival of the Marathas till the Britishers firmly established their control in 1803. On the other side of the Satluj also, the misl of Phulkias made the most enduring kingdom of Punjab whose grandeur ranked amongst the highest in India though its glory could hardly ever touch that of the kingdom of Sukerchakias. The kingdom existed till the curtains were finally drawn on feudal system in modern day (post independence) India. The misl was in part successful in its endeavour due to presence in it of large bands of Saharan/Sran(s) who inhabited the region (Malwa of Punjab) in high numbers and contributed in a major way in its battles.

Books

• Republics, kingdoms, towns, and cities in ancient India By G. P. Singh Page 309
• McCrindle's Ancient India: as described by Megasthenes and Arrian Page 147
• Ancient India as Described by Megasthenes and Arrian By E. A. Schwanbeck Page 147

• Final report on the revision of settlement of the Sirsá district in the Punjáb By J. Wilson Page 94
• Journal of Indian history, Volume 26 By University of Kerala. Dept. of History, University of Allahabad. Dept. of Modern Indian History, University of Travancore, University of Kerala Page 24
• Akhand Hindustan By K. M. Munshi Page 142
• Mirati Sikandari; or, The mirror of Sikandar By Sikandar ibn Muḥammad (called Manjhū Akbar) Page xxxviii
• Firoz Tughluq, 1351-1388 A.D. By R. C. Jauhri Page 4
• Classical Gazetteer, page 331

• Punjab district gazetteers: reprint of Phulkian states (Patiala, Jind, and ... By Punjab (India). Gazetteers Organisation (Punjab Govt. Press, 1909.) Page 243
• Punjab customary law. vol. I-5, 6, 6 (Rev. ed.) 8, 8(b)-11, 11 (Rev. ed.) 12, 12 (Rev. ed.) 13-29.E, Volume 4 , Page 5