Ramgharia

Ramgarhia
Profile
Country	India
Region	Punjab
Ethnicity	Punjabi
Ramgarhia has no chief, and is an armigerous clan
Historic seat	Amritsar

The Ramgarhia are a caste of Sikhs from the Punjab region of northwestern India and Eastern Pakistan, encompassing members of the Lohar and Tarkhan subgroups.

Originally called Thoka, meaning carpenter, the Ramgarhia are named after Jassa Singh Ramgarhia, whose birth name of Thoka became Ramgarhia in the 18th century when he was put in charge of rebuilding of what became known as Ramgarh Fort, at Ramrauni, near Amritsar. He rose from being a carpenter to the leader of a misl bearing the Ramgarhia name.

The Ramgarhia was one of the three misls selected to guard the Golden Temple at Amritsar from attack. Jassa Singh Ramgarhia had Ramgarhia Bunga built in 1755 to the east of the temple. The fort houses the Mughal coronation stone, brought by Jassa Singh Ramgarhia from the Red Fort in Delhi.

Aside from Jassa Singh Ramgarhia, notable leaders in the misl his son and successor, Jodh Singh Ramgarhia, his younger brother, Tara Singh Ramgarhia, and his grandson, Mangal Singh Ramgarhia.

Ramgarhias were traditionally mostly carpenters but included other artisan occupations such as stonemasons and blacksmiths. Generally, Sikh carpenters use Ramgarhia as a surname whereas Hindu carpenters use Dhiman.

Their artisan skills were noted by the British, who encouraged many Ramgarhia to move to colonies in East Africa in the 1890s, where they assisted in the creation of that region's infrastructure and became Africanised. One significant project in which they and other Punjabi Sikhs were involved was the construction of the railway linking the present-day countries of Kenya and Uganda, which was completed in 1901.

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