Kilak

Kilak (किलक) Kilaka (किलक) Kilka (किलक) Keelka (कीलका) is a gotra of Jats found in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Kilikoi/Kiliki clan is found in Afghanistan.

Origin

Cilicia/Kilikia : Kilak Jat clan may probably gets name after a place name Kilikia in Asia Minor. Cilicia was the south coastal region of Asia Minor and existed as a political entity from Hittite times into the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia during the late Byzantine Empire. In 67 BC, Pompey, after crushing the Cilician pirates, subjected Tarsus to Rome, and it became capital of the Roman province of Cilicia.

History

H. W. Bellew writes about a satrapy in Afghanistan composed of the Kilikoi, and apparently comprised the province of Kilikia, the modern Adana, with perhaps the adjoining province of Karaman with its capital Koniya, the ancient Ikonium. The Kiliki may perhaps be represented in Afghanistan by the Ghilji or Khiliji, The Ghilji of Afghanistan, called also Ghalzoe, Khalaja, and Khalachi, are said to be a Turk tribe from beyond the Jaxartes, and of the Khilichi or "Swords-men" tribe of Turk. They have been known in Afghanistan by the name of Ghilji or Khilichi, at least since the time of Mahmud of Ghazni, towards the close of the tenth century, and were probably settled in the country at a much earlier date. The name appears in the form of Khizilchi, or Khilichi, or Khizilji, as the patronymic of the Saljuk dynasty of Rum, or Asia Minor, whose capital was Ikonium, during the twelfth century. We have seen what is the composition of the Ghilji tribe of Afghanistan, and how largely it is made up of Indian elements.

H. W. Bellew writes The Furmuli are situated between the Vaziri and the Kharoti, and are reckoned as Tajik ; their language is the old Persian of the Shah Nama ; they are quite distinct from both the Afghan and Pathan, but claim to be of common descent with the Khiliji, whose capital, they say, was the city of Khilij, to the westward of the Helmand and Kala Bost. Perhaps there is here some hazy reference to the ancient Kilikia in Asia Minor.

Greek History

The English spelling Cilicia is the same as the Latin, as it was transliterated directly from the Greek form Κιλικία (Kilikia). The palatalization of c occurring in the west in later Vulgar Latin (c. 500–700) accounts for its modern pronunciation in English.

The Greeks invented for Cilicia an eponymous Hellene founder in the purely mythical Cilix, but the historic founder of the dynasty that ruled Cilicia Pedias was Mopsus, identifiable in Phoenician sources as Mpš, the founder of Mopsuestia who gave his name to an oracle nearby. Homer mentions the people of Mopsus, identified as Cilices (Κίλικες), as from the Troad in the northernwesternmost part of Anatolia.

The Cilicians appear as Hilikku in Assyrian inscriptions, and in the early part of the first millennium BC were one of the four chief powers of Western Asia.

Alexander the Great occupies 333 BC

Alexander the Great occupied Cilicia in 333 BC....Arrian writes ....The next day he (Alexander the Great) sent out to Ancyrain Galatia, where he was met by an embassy from the Paphlagonians, offering to surrender their nation to him and to enter into an alliance with him; but they requested him not to invade their land with his forces. He therefore commanded them to submit to the authority of Galas, the viceroy of Phrygia. Marching thence into Cappadocia, he subjugated all that part of it which lies on this side of the river Halys and much of that which lies beyond it. Having appointed Sabictas viceroy of Cappadocia, he advanced to the Gates of Cilicia, and when he arrived at the Camp of Cyrus, who (went) with Xenophon, and saw that the Gates were occupied by strong guards.

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Arrian writes ....After this he (Alexander the Great) sent Parmenio to the other Gates which separate the land of the Cilicians from that of the Assyrians, in order to capture them before the enemy could do so, and to guard the pass. He gave him the allied infantry, the Grecian mercenaries, the Thracians who were under the command of Sitalces, and the Theassalian cavalry. He afterwards marched from Tarsus, and on the first day arrived at the city of Anchialus, A city of Cilicia on the coast, a Little west of the mouth of the Cydnus. According to report, this city was founded by Sardanapalus the Assyrian; (last of the Assyrian kings) and both from the circumference and from the foundations of the walls it is evident that a large city had been founded and that it had reached a great pitch of power. Also near the wall of Anchialus was the monument of Sardanapalus, upon the top of which stood the statue of that king with the hands joined to each other just as they are joined for clapping. An inscription had been placed upon it in Assyrian characters, which the Assyrians asserted to be in metre. The meaning which the words expressed was this:—"Sardanapalus, son of Anacyndaraxas, built Anchialus and Tarsus in one day; but do thou, O stranger, eat, drink, and play, since all other human things are not worth this!" referring, as in a riddle, to the empty sound which the hands make in clapping. It was also said that the word translated play had been expressed by a more lewd one in the Assyrian language.

Distribution in Rajasthan

Villages in Ajmer district

Pushkar,

Villages in Churu district

Absar, Chhapar Churu (2), Parihara, Sujangarh (6), PAREWDA

Villages in Jaipur district

Akhepura, Gangati Kalan, Hirnoda (20),

Villages in Nagaur district

Deusar, Pundlota, Sanjoo, Soopka, GOOGARWAR

Distribution in Madhya Pradesh

Villages in Harda district

Kartana,

Notable persons

• Ajay Singh Kilak - Minister Cooperative Department, Rajasthan
• OMPRAKASH KEELKA - Ex sarpanch , ABSAR

Gallery of Kilak people

• 
  Ajay Singh Kilak, MLA

Notable persons

• पूसा राम किलक, पूणलौता- मारवाड़ जाट कृषक सुधार सभा की प्रबंधकारिणी और कार्यकारिणी में रहकर आप ने जाट जाति की सेवा करके अपने को कृतार्थ किया है।
• Ajay Singh Kilak - Elected M.L.A. in 2008 from Degana, Rajasthan.
• Daula Ram (Keelka) - RPS. Present Address : Mirdha Nagar, Kuchaman City, Distt.- Nagaur, Raj. Resident Phone Number : 01586-221209, Mobile Number : 9413648244
• Ganesh Patel Kilak - Social worker. From village Kartana, Harda, M. P., Ph:07577-222593, Mob:9826567964

See also

• Cilicia

References

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