Bhapa or (Bhaapa) is a term used in

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

by the members of the

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

community in a pejorative sense for Sikhs that migrated from Pakistan after the

Partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

in 1947. The term derives from the local Rawalpindi dialect of Punjabi. ''Bhapa'' describes Sikhs who migrated to India, especially from the Rawalpindi area, also known as the

Khukhrain The Khukhrain or Khokhrain is a clan composed of eight septs of the Khatri caste that originally hailed from the areas of the Salt Range. Battle of Bhera The Khukhrains spread over Khushab, Dhune Kheb, Chakwal, Pind Dadan Khan, Peshawar, Nowsher ...

's area, and its neighbouring regions. The Bhapa name at first was only associated with migrated Sikh traders/shopkeepers. ''Bhapa'' is a term used in the

Potohari The Indo-Aryan language spoken on the Pothohar Plateau in the far north of Pakistani Punjab, as well as in most of Pakistan's Azad Kashmir and in western areas of India's Jammu and Kashmir, is known by a variety of names, the most common of whic ...

dialect used in Rawalpindi area. It was a common term for the elder brother or father and is still often used in that sense. It is somewhat equivalent of ''

sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...

''. Derived from

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

''Bappa'' or ''Vapra'', it is

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymology, etymological ancestor in a proto-language, common parent language. Because language c ...

to ''Bawa''.Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, Printed at the Govt. Central Press, 1896 The term has occasionally been used as a royal title in some regions of India. The best-known king with the title was

Bappa Rawal Bappa Rawal (c. 8th century) was a king of the Mewar kingdom in Rajasthan, India. The bardic chronicles describe him as a member of the Guhila Rajput Clan, and some of them consider him to be the founder of the Guhila dynasty. He is credited w ...

, the founder of the

Guhilot Gahlot is a clan of Rajputs Guhilot Rajputs ruled number of Kingdom's including Mewar, Banswara, Dungarpur, Pratapgarh, Shahpura, Bhavnagar, Palitana, Lathi and Vala, The variations of the name include Gehlot, Guhila, Gohil or Guhilot. Hist ...

dynasty.

References

{{reflist Ethnic and religious slurs Sikh communities