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Raghuvanshi Lohanas - Roots
Shree
Ramchandra, King of Ayodhya has been the hero of the
Ramyan, one of the sacred epics of ancient India. He was born
in Raghuvansh clan. Raghuvansh
bloodline, is connected with the Sun God, and all Raghuvanshis
are called and known as the direct descendants of the God Sun
(Suryavansi). Shree Ramchandra thus is the family deity of all
Raghuvanshis; he is also worshipped by all the Hindus as an
incarnation of the Godhead.
All Lohanas or
Loh Ranas
called themselves Ranghuvanshi
and Kshatriyas
and so
belonged to the fourfold warrior caste of Kshatriyas,
a very important fourfold social and political order in the
ancient India.
They
took up arms when needed to defend their way of life and the
religion. Many of them settled in the Punjab and the
surrounding country, formed a formidable phalanx to defend the
unity and integrity of Hindustan, A few went as far as further
to the North-West region which is now North-West frontier
Afghanistan. This region was called Lonhar
Desha or the country of iron willed people. They
built several strong forts all round the boarder. The biggest
and the formidable of the forts was the Lohar
Gadha. The Lohar Ranas or the Lohana Kshatriyas
exercised their dominations over a large part of that part of
the ancient India.
In the thirteenth century A.D. Genghis khan
of Mongolia invaded Indian with all his might to wipe out
India and its ancient Vedic civilization. He was met at the
border by powerful and formidable brave Lohana Ranas, The
Lohanas. Dada Jasraj was ruling at the Lohar Gadha at the time
of this invasion in a deadly battle, Gengishiskhan the
ruthless conqueror of the world was killed by Dada Jasraj.
A tomb that lies near the fort of Multan bears the epitaph in
Chinese, "Here lays Genghiskhan whom Rana Jasraj of Lohar
Gadha dealt a fatal blow." After the death of Dada Jasraj,
Lohar Ranas - Lohanas divided, quarreled amongst themselves
for right of ruling the clan.
Fall of the Lohar Gadha and the
death of Dada Jasraj made the Lohanas a clan of the wanderers
with no fixed place to call its own, and from this day, which
is recorded into Lohana history a black day, Lohanas simply
became a trading and farming community instead of warrior
clan.
It is also noted that for a while, Lohanas did give a long
fight
to the large armies of the foreigners, kept up the guerrilla
warfare lingering in the surrounding Hindukush mountain
ranges and tried to protect their property, honour and way of
life. Echoes of this heroic struggle are still heard through a
proverb which runs in Punjabi, Sindhi and Gujarati languages
and which means: "Let those
hills be thanked that saved the way of life, the honour and
prestige of the iron willed Lohana Ranas, the bravest of the
braves."
Nine hundred and fifty years ago Lohar Ranas left their
kingdom of the north migrated to Sindh, Cutch and Saurashtra.
As the history goes, The Paurasha, the Lohar king defeated
Alexander The Great on the banks of river Indus. Alexander is
called Sikandara by Indians. The great Raghuvanshi King
Chandra Gupta ruled Greece and surrounding areas for ninety
years in the olden days Mother India's glory and fame.
By compulsion of events, Lohar
Ranas left the mountains and came to settle in the province of
Sindh, where Lohar Rana Ranghuvanshi King Dahir ruled over
Narayan Kot, now Hyderabad in Pakistan. It was the
same old canker of disunity which afflicted Aryans in the days
of the great war of the Mahabharat, when cousin brothers,
Pandavs and Kauravs, fought the last and final battle and left
behind the ruins of a great and gigantic Hindu civilization, a
great Aryan culture. The battle between two brothers (in the
middle ages) Prithviraj and Jaychand tells the same tragic
story. Great Lohana
Ranas became victim of
this canker and brought the down fall of the courageous
people.
The Vedic great poet - Maha Kavi
Kalidas wrote a very detailed history on the Raghuvansa, this
ancient book is also named as "The Raghuvansa".
Another middle aged Saraswata Chand Barot explains the
greatness of Raghuvanshi Kings in his famous book called
"Prithviraja Rassa".
Since those days Lohanas for one reason or another have travelled
from one country to another spreading through the
world but generally those who have settled in United Kingdom travelled
from India to East and Central Africa then to the
United Kingdom. They have settled
in two major areas, namely London and Leicestershire. In
London the majority of them are in North London and it is
estimated that there are approximately 3000 families making a
total of about 15000 Lohanas.
Let us live as Lohar Ranas again. Let us keep the high ideals
of unity, brotherhood and love towards each one of us and thus
keep the Raghuvanshi flag of the Sun God, the symbol of the
Raghuvanshi flying. Let coming
generations of Lohana children keep up to the ideals of their
brave ancestors and keep the Lohana clan alive and active.
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