Cheema

**Cheema** (Shahmukhi: **چیمہ**, : **ਚੀਮਾ**), also spelled as **Chima**, is a group of Jats in India and Pakistan who are known as warriors. Jats are a large group in the Punjab region, and Cheemas are a major Jat sub-clan. They speak Punjabi, and are often large landowners. Most Cheema clans who are Muslims live in West Punjab, and many Sikhs live in the East Punjab of India.

## History

The Cheema tribe was called "Shaka" in India, from the name (Saka) used by the Persians. After the _Mahabharata_ wars (1500-500 BC), the Shakas often mentioned in texts like the Puranas, the Manusmriti, the _Ramayana_, the _Mahabharata_, the Mahabhasiya by Patanjali, the Brhat Samhita of Vraha Mihira, the Kavyamimamsa, the Brihat-Katha-Manjari, and the Katha-Saritsagara. The  "Sikh Jatts" (Cheema, Sandhu and Gill) live in the Indian Punjab, the "Muslim Jutts" (Chattha, Cheema and Warraich) live in the Pakistani Punjab, and the Cheema/Chattha Jatts are said to be descended from Maharaja Prithvi Raj Chohan, the sovereign of Delhi.

### <span class="anchor" id="Invasion of India (180 BC onward)"></span>Invasion of India (after 180 BC)

The Vanaparava of the _Mahabharata_ has a prophecy that the kings of the Shakas, Yavanas, Kambojas, Bahlikas, and Abhiras would rule poorly during the Kali Yuga (MBH 3/188/34-36).

### Alexander's invasion of Punjab

Alexander took over the Achaemenid Empire in 331 BC, and marched into present-day Afghanistan with an army of 50,000. His scribes do not mention Gandhara or Kamboja; instead, they name twelve small countries in those territories. This means that Gandhara and Kamboja were not have been very great kingdoms in the late 4th century BC. In 326 BC, most of these twelve or so countries in the Gandhara Kamboja Mahajanapadas were taken over by the Macedonian conqueror.

Alexander invited the chieftains of the former satrapy of Gandhara to come to him and submit to his authority. Ambhi, ruler of Taxila, whose kingdom extended from the Indus to the Hydaspes (Jhelum), agreed. After confirming him as satrap, Alexander marched against the Sakas (Cheemas are considered to be descendants of the Sakas) and Kamboja highlanders of the Kunar and Swat valleys known in Greek texts as Aspasios and Assakenois and in Indian texts as Ashvayana and Ashvakayana who had refused to submit to Alexander. The Ashvayan, Ashvakayan, Kamboja and allied Saka clans offered tough resistance to the invader; Ashvakayan women took up arms and joined their men on the field, preferring "a glorious death to a life of dishonor".

Alexander then marched east to the Hydaspes, where Porus, ruler of the kingdom between the Hydaspes (Jhelum) and the Akesines (Chenab), refused to submit to him. The two armies fought the Battle of the Hydaspes River on the riverbank outside the town of Nikaia (near present-day Jhelum). Porus's army fought bravely, but was no match for Alexander's. When the defiant Raja (wounded and having lost his sons) was brought before Alexander, Alexander asked him, "How should I treat you?" Porus answered, "The way a king treats another king". Alexander returned the conquered kingdom to Porus and added the land between the Akesines (Chenab) and the Hydraotis (Ravi), whose ruler had fled. Alexander's army crossed the Hydraotis and marched east to the Hesidros (Beas). His troops refused to march further east and Alexander turned back, following the Jhelum and the Indus to the Arabian Sea and sailing to Babylon.

In the middle of the 2nd century BC, the Yuezhi tribe of present-day China moved west into Central Asia; this caused the Sakas (Scythians) to move west and south. The Northern Sakas (also known as the Indo-Scythians) moved into Bactria and crossed the Hindu Kush into India, successfully taking power from the Indo-Greeks. They were followed by the Yuezhi, who were known in India as the Kushans or Kushanas. The Kushanas founded a kingdom in the 1st century that lasted for several centuries. The Indo-Scythians and the Kushans embraced Buddhism and absorbed elements of Indo-Greek art and culture. Another Central Asian people who settled in Punjab were the Hephthalites (White Huns), who continuously campaigned from across the Hindu Kush and established their rule in India in the fifth century.

### Muhammed Bin Qasim's invasion of Punjab

Many Cheemas were oppressed by the Hindu king Raja Dahir, who ruled Buddhist Punjab. They allied with the Muslim Arabs and hailed the invasion by Muhammad bin Qasim, an Arab general. Muhammad bin Qasim defeated the Hindu Raja Dahir in alliance with the Jats and other Buddhist Rajas. When he arrived in Brahmanabad, 6,000 to 16,000 men died in battle. Buddhists and the Jat Meds and Bhutto tribes hailed him as a rescuer from tyranny by Chach and his family (who were seen as usurpers of the Rai Dynasty). The historian Baladhuri wrote, "[The] people of Hind wept for Qasim and preserved his likeness at Karaj".

The 13th-century _Chach Nama_ notes the following as highlights of Qasim’s rule:
- He permitted all to practice their religion freely.
- Hindus were included in the Ahl al Kitab.
- The status of Dhimmis (protected people) was given to Hindus and Buddhists.
- Property destroyed during hostilities was paid for.
- As a sign of respect to his Hindu population, cow slaughter was banned in Sindh and Multan.

According to Manan Ahmed Asif, however, the _Chach Nama_ is unreliable as an historical source.

### Oppression of the Jats

The rulers before Islam were Siharus, Sahasi II, Chach, and Dahir. The first two were Buddhist Rajputs , and the last two were Hindus. The new Brahmin rulers were unfriendly to the Buddhists in Sind at the time, and were cruel to the peasants. The Jats lost many civil rights. "When Chach, the Brahmim chamberlain who usurped the throne of chach King went to Brahmanabad, he enjoined upon the Jats and Lohanas not to carry swords, avoid velvet or silken cloth, ride horses without saddles and walk about bare-headed and bare-footed". For this reason, Muhammad bin Qasim received cooperation from the Buddhists, the Jats and the Meds during his campaign in Sind.

### <span class="anchor" id="Cheemas today"></span>Present day

The Cheema have the largest number of seats in the National Assembly and Senate of Pakistan in Punjab. Nisar Ahmad Cheema from NA-79 leads the Cheemas in the National Assembly, and his ancestors have done so for the past six decades.

This Cheema family is the largest and the most powerful, supplying a large number of civil servants, judges, police officials, federal and provincial ministers, and a president of Pakistan. Many Cheemas have emigrated, establishing successful careers in aid agencies, armies and other professions. They are found in the United States, Canada, and Australia. The Cheemas control a number of Pakistani districts, such as Gujranwala.

The Cheema name appears in Everest and World mountaineering history in two major ways:

1. Autar Singh Cheema (1965) - an early pioneer and the first Indian born to summit Everest, and part of a record Indian expedition. Autar Singh Cheema was the first Pakistan-born Indian national to climb Mount Everest, on 20 May 1965. After retiring from the Indian Army, he lived in his ancestral village at Chak Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan, India.

2. Harpreet Singh & Navneet Kaur Cheema (2024) (Harry and Nav Cheema) - a modern mountaineering couple who summited Everest together, hoisted the Sikh flag, and completed the Seven Summits on Oct 29, 2025 as the first Sikh Cheema duo to do so. Harry’s father Er Harjinder Cheema was born in Village Kalewala, Wazirabad District, Gujranwala, Pakistan. They moved to Sangrur, India after partition.

Many Cheemas have settled in England, USA, Canada after participating in both world wars in the Indian Army.

The Cheema clan in Nurmahal (Cheema Kalan and Cheema kurd) lives on the land of the former Noor Jahan (the Persian Queen), the twentieth and last wife of the Mughal emperor Jahangir, and the queen's secret underground passages are on Cheema land. Most Cheema land in Nurmahal was given to the clan for their bravery, hard work and dedication to the Indian armed forces.

### <span class="anchor" id="In the Mahabharata"></span>The _Mahabharata_

The Udyogaparava of the _Mahabharata_ (5/19/21-23) says that a combined army of the Kambojas, Yavanas, and Shakas fought fiercely in the Kurukshetra War under the command of Sudakshina Kamboja. Originally noble kshatriyas, they were demoted to _vrishala_ status for not following the sacred Brahmin codes.

### <span class="anchor" id="In the Manusmiriti"></span>The Manusmiriti

The Manusmriti equates the Shakas with the Kambojas, Yavanas, Pahlavas, and Paradas, calling them degraded kshatriyas who defied the Brahmin laws and rituals.

### <span class="anchor" id="In the Puranas"></span>The Puranas

In the "Puranas Darada", the Jat sub-tribes have been called _rakshasas_ (demons) who do not have the darshan of the brahmin.

## Geography

The Cheema are most numerous in Amritsar district, and there are 42 villages in Patiala district. According to Alexander Cunningham, this area was called "Chima des" (_des_ or _desh_ means "country" in the Hindustani and Punjabi languages). Many people settled in Montgomery (Sahiwal) and Sandal Bar when the British ruled Punjab because of the construction of a large canal network in these areas. The Cheema also have a few villages scattered across Rawalpindi, Bhawalpur, Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Jalandhar, NurMahal (or Noor Mahal), Moga, Ludhiana, and Sangrur.

In the western Punjab plains, Cheema communities are not generally found past Chaj Doab. They were not found past Sangrur district in the eastern plains until 1947, when many Sikh Cheemas moved from Sialkot and Gujranwala to settle in Patiala, Karnal, and Sirsa after the partition of the Punjab. Some families later moved to Udhamsingh nagar (Uttrakhand), Pilibhit, Puranpur, and Rampur (Uttar Pradesh). This area is known as "Mini-Punjab" and the Terai Region.

In Pakistan, Sialkot and Gujranwal districts have large Cheema populations and many Cheema villages such as Chak 4e in Sri Ganganagar (Raj) Begowal, Verowala Cheema Jamke Cheema, Tajokay Cheema, Adamkay Cheema, Bhopalwala, Sahowala, Kamalpur, Manpur, and Lodikay Cheema. Gujranwala District has Baddokey Cheema, Kot Inayat Khan,Delawar Cheema, Saroki Cheema, Bharoki Cheema,Varoki Cheema,Mansorwali Cheema, Ratti Thatt, Bankay Cheema, Kathor, Kalay Wala, Kheway Wali, Wadala Cheema, Phaloki Cheema, Marday Ki, and Chabba Cheema. Sui Cheemian, a village near Gujar Khan in Rawalpindi District, has a substantial Cheema population.

Bahawalpur and Yazman in southern Punjab have considerable numbers of Cheema families, and have elected more than a dozen cabinet members. The Rupnagar and Mohali districts of the Indian Punjab state have large Cheema populations and many Cheema villages, such as Salaura.

## Further reading

- _The Chach-Nama_. English translation by Mirza Kalichbeg Fredunbeg. Delhi (reprint), 1979.
- _40 Families of Pakistan 1947_
- Denzil Ibbetson, Delhi (2002), p. 115 (_Panjab Castes_)
- Ram Swarup Joon, _History of the Jatt_
- Arabian historian Ahmad Ibn Yahya al-Baladhuri
- Annals, James Todd; _History of Sikhs_, Alexander Cunningham; _Glossary of Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and NWFP_
- H. A. Rose, _Glossary of the tribes and castes of the Punjab and NWFP_