Channar

Channar (चन्नर) Jat clan is found in Lodhran tahsil, Multan District, Pakistan.

History

H.A. Rose writes that Channar found in Lodhran tahsil, Multan District, are said to be connected with the Jhakkars and other tribes in the couplet:—

Jhakkar, Channar, Kanjun, Nun teatera,

Hin Rāne Shaitān de panje bujh bharā.

All these five clans assume the title of Rana. In Bahawalpur they are also called Channun-di and are found chiefly in the kārdāris of Bahawalpur and Ahmadpur East, as cultivators, and in the Rohi, as landowners and cattle-breeders. Their septs are : Admani, Ram, Wisal, Bhojar, and Bharpal, said by some of the tribe to be descended from Pir Channar, but the more general belief is that the Pir never married and that the Channars are descended from his seven brothers, sons of Rai Sandhila. The Channars are, however, believed to be an offshoot of the Mahrs.

Channar Pir: — Four miles from Derawar, on a hillock, is the tomb of Pir Channar, or Chanan Pir, son of Rai Sandhila. Sayyid Jalal visited the city of the Rai, now in ruins some three miles off, and asked if there was any Muhammadan in the city, male or female. He was told that there was none and he then asked if any woman was pregnant. The Rai said his wife was, and the Sayyid then ordered him to employ a Muhammadan midwife for the child would be a saint. "When the child was born the Rai

---

[Page-154] exposed him on the hillock, but a cradle of santal wood descended from heaven for the child. Seeing this Rai Sandhila endeavoured to take the child out of the cradle, but failed, as, whenever he approached, the cradle rose in the air. When the child grew up, he accepted Makhdum Jahaniān as his Pir, and as he was brought up in poverty so his tomb is especially efficacious for the rearing of children. The Channar tribe is descended from the seven brothers of the Pir. Both Hindus and Muhammadans frequent the shrine, rot or thick bread and meat being eaten by both as brethren. Hindus are not polluted by contact with Muhammadans at the shrine.

References

---

Back to Jat Sikh Gotras