Who named the city Chichawatni? History of Chicha Watni

By: Arshad Farooq Butt

Talking about the history of Chichawatni, we have to explore the history of the old Chichawatni from where the settlement of this city started.

The settlement of New Chichawatni from the railway line to the bypass took place at the beginning of the 20th century, while the history of Old Chichawatni dates back several centuries.

Some historians attribute the history of Chichawatni to the King Sher Shah Suri of the 16th century, while others attribute the history of Chichawatni to Raja Dahir of the 7th century. Some historians date it even earlier to the time of Alexander the Great.

Since all these times are so distant that now we will have to be content only with book knowledge. There is another difficulty in tracing the history of the city. And that is that there were a lot of Sikhs and Hindus in this city who migrated at the time of partition and settled in the cities of Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Amritsar in Indian Punjab. They also took the golden chapters of history with them.

In these circumstances, there is no book on the history of Chichawatni except the authorship of Mr. Ikramul Haq Sarshar. Some speculations related to the name of this city are as follows.

Dr. Satyanand Sevak migrated from Chichawatni to Indian Punjab in 1948. According to him, the population of Chichawatni city once settled on the banks of Ravi River and migrated over time. And today it is located a few kilometers away from the river Ravi.

The city is named after an old man “Chicha” who belonged to the Sindhu Jat tribe, early in the settlement of the city.

Chicha Bharti came here from the city of Amritsar in Punjab and settled on the banks of the river Ravi. Her house came to be called “Chicha Da Dera”.

At the beginning of the 18th century, “Chicha’s” family accepted Sikhism and “Chicha’s” son “Natha Singh” became the Sarpanch of this settlement.

Later Natha Singh’s son “Siva Singh” named this place “Chicha di Watani” which in time changed to Chicha Watni.

On the website of Punjab Lok Sajag, General Secretary of Halqa Arbab e Zauq Chichawatani Salman Bashir writes:

“Two traditions are known about Chicha Watni that in the 7th century Raja Dahar named the city Chicha Watni after his father Maharaja ‘Chach’. While the other tradition has it that a Hindu family settled in the area. His name was ‘Chicha’ and his wife’s name was ‘Watani’ from which the city was named Chicha Watni.

Some historians believe that the name of Chicha Watni is actually derived from the Punjabi word “Achicha” which means special. In addition, “Chach Baloch” are also living in Chicha Watni, this name may be attributed to them. .

However, among all these traditions, arriving at the correct tradition is probably as difficult as talking to the people who lived here many centuries ago.