Nijjar

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Nijjar is a Jat clan from the Northern Indian state of Punjab. Most of the members of this clan are Sikhs by religion. Nijjars are found mostly in the Doaba area of Punjab. Fatehpur, Chomon, Nijjaran, Gobindpur, Kurali, Bhar Singh Pura, Massanian, Kathar, Diantpur, Nijjaran Di Pandori are among prominent villages (pinds) in district Jalandhar of Nijjars. Domeli (Kapurthala district) near Phagwara is also a prominent village of Nijjars. The four Nijjar [also spelt as "Nijhar"or Nijjer, and in a rare alternate spelling "Nijor"] villages of Dianatpur, Masanian, Kathar and Dhepur were first settled by people from village of Domeli [Kapurthala district] near Phagwara. Most likely the village of Dianatpur was settled during the Mogul times around 1775 when the Sikh Missals [confederations] were also in the ascendancy. The forefathers of Dianatpur village used to say that two brothers from the village of Domeli used to bring their animals in the area for grazing and built huts to stay for months at a time. In due course they started cultivating the land and settled down and the village of Dianatpur came into being.It is said that the Nijhar families of Dianatpur, Kathar and Dhepur were tormented by the local muslim jolahas [weavers]. The families invited the jolahas for a meal and surrounded them and set them on fire killing them. The place where this event took place was called “masan” and later on when people settled near the place the village was called Massanian!

Today, this clan includes renowned historians (Dr. Bakshish S. Nijjar) (who also references himself in this page), Judges (Punjab & Haryana High Court Justice, Surinder S. Nijjar), as well as accomplished agriculturalists. Nijjars have also played a distinct role in Sikh History, providing leadership to the Babbar Akali movement of the early 1920s.

Despite the Doab region being their ancestral homeland, some Nijjars owned vast amounts of agricultural land in Lyallpur, West Punjab, prior to the Partition of India and Pakistan in 1947. Partition brought great loss and suffering to the Nijjars of Lyallpur (as it did to many Sikhs in West Punjab at the time, who were forced to give up their homes and livelihood, in order to move to India). The Nijjars of Lyallpur moved back to the Doaba region after 1947. Today, their descendants can be found in Fatehpur and Chomon.

The 1970s and 1980s saw many Nijjars leave their native Doaba, to reside in California, Canada, and the UK.

[edit] References

Max Arthur Macauliffe: A History of the Sikhs; Vol. I, Princeton, 1963.
Bakshish S. Nijjar: History of the Babar Akalis; Jalandhar, ABS Publications, 1987.
Bakshish S. Nijjar: Indian Panjab; Jalandhar, ABS Publications, 1985.
Balbir S. Nijjar: Census Records and Family History (Pre-Partition to 2000)
Balvinder S. Nijor: The most nijjar of them all
Gurdas S. Nijor: Nijjared out of his mind