Labana
Labana (sometimes also Lubana, Lavana ) is a social and ethnic group in India. Its members were traditionally transporters, land holding and merchants; they are now mostly agriculturists.
Culture
The name Laban may refer to the transport of salt. “The term Labana appears to be derived out from loon (salt) and bana means trade, and the lubana, Lobana or libana was doubtless the great salt-carrying and salt trading ”. Acc. to Gurmat Parkash, Magazine by SGPC, Lobana also means who wear Iron Dress, i.e dress of Military person. They mentioned Lobana were Military persons who served in Guru’s army. These are also called Bahrupia, on account of their versatility in adopting many professions. Labanki, [1]
Labanki, which once was the dialect of Labanas, is an extinct Indo-Aryan language. It was a mixture of Marwari, Punjabi, Gujarati and Marathi.[2]
Notable people
1. Baba Makhan Shah Lobana 2. Baba Lakhi Shah Banjara 3. Sant Baba Prem Singh ji 4. Sant Baba Majha Singh ji 5. Sant Baba Karam Singh ji 6. S. Harnam Singh ji ( Former Forest Minister , Punjab) 7. S. Puran Singh ji ( D.C.) 8. Major Mehtab Singh ji 9. Brig. Daljeetam Singh ji 10. Major Sardar Singh Pelia ( First Lobana to serve in British Army) 11. S. Swaran Singh ji ( I.G.) 12. Chaudhari Lakhi Singh ( Former MLA, Tanda Urmur, Punjab) 13. Bibi Jagir Kaur ( President S.G.P.C., Sri Amritsar, Former Cabinet Minister , Punjab) 14. Chaudhary Balbir Singh ( Former,MLA, Punjab) 15. Singh Sahib Giani Chet Singh ji ( Ex. Jathedar , Sri Akal Takht Sahib ji) 16. S. Ratan Singh Ajnala ( Ex. Member Parliament) 17. S.Balwinder Singh Fiddu ( Arjun Awardee for Kabaddi) 18. Yuvraj Bhupinder Singh ( Former, Chairman Zila Parishad, Kapurthala) 19. Dr. Shakeen Singh 20. Dr. Jaswant Singh ( Ph.D, Gold Medalist) 21. Dr. Harneet Singh ( M.C.H., Neurosurgeon)
References
- Habib, Irfan (1990). "Merchant Communities in Precolonial India". In Tracy, James D. (ed.). The Rise of Merchant Empires: Long-Distance Trade in the Early Modern World, 1350–1750. Cambridge University Press. pp. 371–99. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511563089. ISBN 978-0-52145-735-4.
- Bhavnani, Nandita (2014). The Making of Exile: Sindhi Hindus and the Partition of India. Tranquebar Press. ISBN 978-9-38403-033-9.