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Cheema (clan)

Cheema (also spelled Chima) is a very politically influential Punjabi Jat clan concentrated in the Rachna Doab, particularly around the historical Gujranwala, Wazirabad and Sialkot districts of Punjab, Pakistan. It is one of the largest Jat tribes. The Cheema are predominantly Muslim, with conversions traditionally attributed to the periods of Feroz Shah and Aurangzeb.

The origin of the clan is debated. Historically, they have been regarded as a warrior and landowning ("zamindar") tribe. Some mythological traditions link the clan’s origin to one of the Agnikulas ("fire-sprung") race, describing them as descendants of the sage Bhrigu through Jamadagni Vatsa. H. A. Rose and other colonial-era historians trace their ancestry back twenty-five generations to an ancestor named Chima, identified as a Chauhan, a grandson of Prithi Rai. Other theories associate the Cheema, along with several Jat clans, with the Indo-Scythians. The Chattha are a closely related Jat clan.

Notable people

Pakistan

India

Canada

United Kingdom

  • Bobbie Cheema-Grubb, first British Indian and Asian woman to serve as a High Court judge in the United Kingdom

See also

Notes

References