Minhas

Minhas is alternatively a Rajput or Jat gotra or clan. It was so recorded by Sir Denzil Ibbetson on the basis of 1881 Punjab census. Ibbetson pointed out, however, that Minhas Rajputs generally regarded themselves as superior to Minhas Jats.

If we examine carefully, Rajput is not a caste but class category. Rajput or royalty cannot be a caste. At some point in Indian history, the ruling tribes or at any rate their chiefs began to assume the Rajput title. In due course, this became a common practice: any warrior tribe gaining dominance in an area would claim the Rajput title.

All Rajputs therefore have a tribal past or affiliation. Save three Jat clans, namely, Maan, Bhullar and Her, all Jat clans claim Rajput ancestry. One has only to read Sir Ibbetson's Punjab Castes and Tribes to find this out.

In the case of the Minhas clan, generally regarded as Rajput, it is easy to show how they come from the Jat stock. Minhas is derived from Malhanhans, the original ancestor of the Minhas clan. Now see how Malhanhans transforms and splits into several clans. There is first Malhans, then Malhan and Hans, Manhas, and Minhas. Malhanhans, Malhans, Malhan and Hans are all regarded as Jats. Minhas is but a last derivation from Malhanhans. Why shouldn't they fall in the Jat category?

Virk Jats acknowledge Malhanhans to be their ancestor and furthermore trace their descent to the Minhas clan.

All Minhas landowner-cultivators, wherever they are, are Jats/Jatts - a branch of Sakas or the Indo-Sycthians.