Johal
Encyclopedia
Jat Clan: Johal
Distribution Punjab (Pakistan)
Punjab (Pakistan)
Punjab is the most populous province of Pakistan, with approximately 45% of the country's total population. Forming most of the Punjab region, the province is bordered by Kashmir to the north-east, the Indian states of Punjab and Rajasthan to the east, the Pakistani province of Sindh to the...

, 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...

 and 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...

Descended from:
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...

 (majority)
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...

 and Haryanvi
Surnames: Johl/Johal


Johal (ਜੋਹਲ) (also known as Johls, Jovals, Jauvla, Jauhal Jauhla) is a prominent Jatt
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,...

 family
Family
In human context, a family is a group of people affiliated by consanguinity, affinity, or co-residence. In most societies it is the principal institution for the socialization of children...

 clan
Clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be symbolical, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a...

 originally from modern Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

 and North India
North India
North India, known natively as Uttar Bhārat or Shumālī Hindustān , is a loosely defined region in the northern part of India. The exact meaning of the term varies by usage...

. The Johals Jats are found both in Punjab, India and Punjab, Pakistan.

Lineage

Johals(Jouhals) are direct descendent's of Hepthalites, also known as White Huns. White Huns were a division of the Massagetae, who invaded North India during AD 460-470. Thomas Watters (British Acting Consul General in Korea from (1887–1888) [51] writes "----country (North-West of India) was conquered by the Yeta (White Huns), i.e., the Yets or Gats apparently near the end of our fifth century. The Yeta, who were a powerful people in Central Asia, in the fifth century, are also said to have been of the Yue-Chi (Kushan) stock---". The leader of the White Huns called "Toramana" was throned in AD 495 and established his capital at Sakala (modern Sialkot, Punjab). According to Inscriptions, the full name of the king was Maharaja ("Great King) Toramana Shaha JAUVLA (Jauhal).

Later, In A.D. 510, Mihirakula succeeded his father as the "Great" king. Sir Cunningham says Jauvla was the name of their tribe or clan. According to him, the name of the Jabuli tribe of the White Huns is still preserved in Zabulistan (land of Jauvla, today's Zabul) and their language called "Zauli" also still existed in the tenth century AD [45]. Furthermore, White Huns or Jauvla are the direct ancestors of dark-age times Jat
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,...

 clan name called "Jauhla" and modern days "Johals". In AD 520 Mihirakula succeeded his father Toramana Jauvla. In turn Mihirakula was succeeded by his son called Ajitanjaya and after the disintegration of their Indian empire the Jauvala or Johals secured for themselves Zabulistan or Jabulistan. It is interesting to note the remarks of Sir Cunningham [45] concerning the reading of a coin of White Huns "But in the two Pahlavi legends of the reverse I read on the left ----and to the right Zaulistan (Jaulistan)". This says it very well that the actual name is "Jaulistan" (land of Jauls or Johals) instead of "Zabulistan".

Best Known Johals of this time:
Economist Sardara Singh Johal, Journalist & TV Host Satpal Singh Johal

Theory of origin

History shows that between the range of 1000 to 3000 years ago (1000 BC through 1000 AD), Central Asian tribes classified as Indo-Iranian
Indo-Iranians
Indo-Iranian peoples are a linguistic group consisting of the Indo-Aryan, Iranian, Dardic and Nuristani peoples; that is, speakers of Indo-Iranian languages, a major branch of the Indo-European language family....

/Indo-European
Proto-Indo-Europeans
The Proto-Indo-Europeans were the speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language , a reconstructed prehistoric language of Eurasia.Knowledge of them comes chiefly from the linguistic reconstruction, along with material evidence from archaeology and archaeogenetics...

/Indo-Aryan
Indo-Aryans
Indo-Aryan is an ethno-linguistic term referring to the wide collection of peoples united as native speakers of the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-Iranian family of Indo-European languages...

 migrated into both Europe and South Asia. These tribal names stayed intact in some places which were settled such as India due to a strong tradition of heritage preservation. (Alternatively, these tribes may have originated from South Asia and spread into Central Asia)

Alexander The Great also introduced Greek
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 influence into the South Asian region at around the same time as the Scythians. It is noteworthy that he skirmished with Scythians along the way (and is reputed to have built the Caspian Gates).

In contemporary scholarship, the Jats of Northern India (found today in the Punjab region of Pakistan and India) are opined to be from the Scythian, Saka
Saka
The Saka were a Scythian tribe or group of tribes....

, White Hun, Yuezhi
Yuezhi
The Yuezhi, or Rouzhi , also known as the Da Yuezhi or Da Rouzhi , were an ancient Central Asian people....

, Parthia
Parthia
Parthia is a region of north-eastern Iran, best known for having been the political and cultural base of the Arsacid dynasty, rulers of the Parthian Empire....

n, Greco-Bactrian migrations/settlements/invasions into the region in the immediate period starting from a few centuries BC to a few centuries AD. The history of the individual tribes would shed more light on their specific ancestry.

Historians, anthropologists, and military leaders alike from the British Empire
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 remarked on the physical, cultural, and linguistic similarity between the Jatts and other Indo-European groups nearby such as the Pashtun
Pashtun people
Pashtuns or Pathans , also known as ethnic Afghans , are an Eastern Iranic ethnic group with populations primarily between the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan and the Indus River in Pakistan...

 of Afghanistan. The caucasian
Caucasian peoples
This article deals with the various ethnic groups inhabiting the Caucasus region. There are more than50 ethnic groups living in the region.-Peoples speaking Caucasian languages:...

look as it was known at the time, though not predominating through the entire group as it did with some mountain Pashtun tribes, was common amongst the Jatts.

Religion

Most Johals are Sikhs while some are Muslims, Hindus and Christians.
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