Sial (tribe)

The Sial or Siyal (Punjabi and Urdu: سيال) is a Punjabi clan found in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, split between India and Pakistan.

Ethnographic classification
Denzil Ibbetson, an administrator of the British Raj, classified the Sial as a Rajput tribe. However, they are also classified as Jats.

Following the introduction of the Punjab Land Alienation Act in 1900, the authorities of the Raj classified the Sials who inhabited the Punjab as an "agricultural tribe", a term that was administratively synonymous with the "martial race" classification that was used for the purposes of determining the suitability of a person as a recruit to the British Indian Army.

History


During the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century periods of the Mughal Empire, the Sial and Kharal tribes were dominant in parts of the lower Bari and Rachna doabs of Punjab. In the 18th century, Sial chief Walidad Khan gained control of Rechna Doab including cities of Chiniot, Pindi Bhattian, Jhang and Mankera. Next chief, Inayatullah Khan (1747–1787) was a successful General who won 22 battles against Bhangi misl and the Multan chiefs. In 1803, the Sial chief Ahmed Khan was forced to pay tribute to Ranjit Singh who ultimately conquered the Sial capital of Jhang in 1806. However, Ahmed Khan seized control of Jhang again in 1808 with the help of Pathans of Multan. The 1809 Treaty of Amritsar, agreed between Ranjit Singh, the Sikh leader, and the British, gave him a carte blanche to consolidate territorial gains north of the Sutlej river at the expense both of other Sikh chiefs and their peers among the other dominant communities. In 1816, Ahmed Khan was finally ousted, having previously been forced to pay tribute to Singh for several years. The Sials in Jhang, as in many other areas of the Punjab, had once been nomadic pastoralists. They did not necessarily cultivate all of the land that they controlled and it was the actions of the Sikh empire and, later, the land reforms of the Raj administration that caused them to turn to cultivation.

Popular culture
The Heer Ranjha and Mirza Sahiban, epic poems of Punjabi literature are pieces of fictional writing which refer to the Sials, who were the dominant tribe at the time. The two heroines, Heer is depicted as young and independent-minded daughter of a Sial chieftain in revolt against traditional tribal conservatism. Heer is portrayed as a Sial Rajput, and Sahiban is also from a Sial Rajput family.

Notable people with this surname

 * Muhammad Arif Khan Rajbana Sial, former federal and provincial minister
 * Najaf Abbas Sial, Member, Provincial Assembly of Punjab (2002 - 2007) from Jhang District
 * Ghazalla Sial, member, Provincial Assembly of Sindh (2018–2023) and (2013–2018) from Khairpur.