Gill Got

What “Got” means for the Sikh Jat

In Jat Sikh families the got is the patrilineal clan name. A got is exogamous: a person does not marry into their own got, and most families also avoid the mother's and the grandmothers' got.

Name and Origin

Rose's Glossary (1919) gives the clan's own account: the ancestor Gil was a Jat of Raghubansi Rajput descent, a descendant of Pirthipal, Raja of Garh Mukhila, by a Jat wife of the Bhular clan. A footnote adds the name story: his Rajput wives had the infant abandoned, and he was found with a lion in a marshy (gil) place, hence also Sher Gil. A bardic version summarised on Wikipedia has a raja finding a child in a moist jungle, attended by a lion, and Wikipedia suggests the name may come from the Punjabi gil, moisture. Wikipedia also records speculation about links to Iranian peoples such as the Gelae or Gilaki; these are suggestions without a source in Rose or Griffin. Family-history compilations place Gill in a larger genealogy with Bhatti, Sidhu and Brar; Rose gives the Sidhu a separate origin story, and this page does not follow the compilations. The Rajput descent is clan tradition. Historians (Grewal, as summarised on Wikipedia's Jat Sikh article) describe the Jats in general as moving up the rivers from Rajasthan and Sindh.

Historical Journey

Rose, compiling from the Punjab census reports of 1883 and 1892, calls the Gil one of the largest and most important Jat tribes, with its main seats in the Lahore and Ferozepur districts and along the Beas and the upper Sutlej. He notes that the tribe rose to importance under the Sikhs. He lists twelve sons of Gil who founded as many muhins (septs): Sobhru, Jaj, Talocharu, Kesaria, Chhaj, Jiuna, Bahawara, Wadhan, Chheli, Mokha, Raji and Shahi. The Shergill got is said by its own tradition to descend from a son of Gill. The ruling house of the Nishanwalia misl (leaders include Dasaundha Singh, 1748 to 1767) were Shergill Jats according to Wikipedia, citing Bhagat Singh's History of the Sikh Misals and Dhavan's When Sparrows Became Hawks. Rose also lists a Gil got among the Chuhra community in Gujranwala, so the same name is carried by people of other communities who have no link to this clan.

Migration and Diaspora

Wikipedia's Moga district article, citing Visakha Singh's Malwa Itihas and the 2011 District Census Handbook for Moga, gives this account. The Gills of Moga trace their origin to Bathinda and scattered when the Binaypal dynasty fell. The Wadan branch, one of the twelve in Rose's list (written Wadhan), settled the south and west of what is now Moga district around the early 17th century. Pressure from the Sangar Brar, a Sidhu branch, is said to have moved them north, where they founded Moga, Chhirak and Chal. The same accounts say a marriage between a Sangar Brar woman and a Gill man produced two sons, Vega and Moga, and that the town of Moga was named after the second; another version names the brothers Moga Singh and Joga Singh. Many Gill families abroad trace their roots to a cluster of villages in the Moga, Ludhiana and Faridkot districts (Wikipedia).

How the Got Is Kept

Rose records that the Gils worship their ancestor Gil on Chet Chaudas at Rajana in Moga tahsil, where he has a temple and is also called Raja Pir. In Jind he gives their jathera as Surat Ram, with a shrine at Bajewala in Patiala, where Mirasis take the offerings. In Ferozepur he says the tribe is said to be devoted to Sakhi Sarwar, and at weddings they dug earth from the pond of Sakhi Sarwar. A Gill bridegroom cut a branch from the jand tree before setting out for the wedding. Rose adds that, like the Her and Sidhu Jats, the Gill were then allowed to marry within their maternal grandfather's got. That is an early twentieth century record and many families now avoid it. Practice differs by family and village. Ramgarhia Gills belong to the Ramgarhia Sikh community. That is a separate got with its own history, and it is not covered here.

Presence Across Regions

Stories and Legends