By Amrinder Sahota
What does an old name actually tell us? A name in an epic, a village in a district gazetteer and a story passed down in a family can each matter. They do not all answer the same question.
This article takes a closer look at four names associated with the search behind Sun and Moon: One Tree, Many Names: Suhotra, Sahotra, Sahota and Sihota. It is a guide to specific passages and records, including the gaps between them.
If you are researching Sahota family history or the other three names, start with what each source says. A familiar name on an old page can matter deeply. What it proves depends on the people, places and dates we can actually connect.
Suhotra appears in the Mahabharata. In Kisari Mohan Ganguli’s English translation, Adi Parva, section XCIV, Suhotra is a son of Bhumanyu and Pushkarini. The account names Ajamidha among Suhotra’s sons. In the next section, XCV, the route is different: Suhotra’s son is Hasti, followed by Vikunthana and then Ajamidha. These are two adjacent textual accounts; combining them into one seamless family tree would hide the difference. Read section XCIV and section XCV.
Section XCV also names a Suhotra as a son of Sahadeva and Vijaya. That is a useful reminder: finding the same name does not mean we have found the same person.
These passages give us something precise to discuss: how an epic preserves names and genealogies. They do not supply the intervening records needed to connect a present-day household to an ancient figure. I can value a family tradition associated with that world while remaining honest about the missing evidence.
The search changes when it reaches district records. The Jullundur District Gazetteer, published in 1908, includes a Sahota entry on printed page 66. It associates Sahota landholding with named villages, including Barapind Kulaita, Rurka Khurd and Dhulaita. It also records that one of Barapind’s twelve pattis was held by Arains. Even a short entry points beyond a single surname to a place shared by different people. Consult the gazetteer, printed page 66.
H. A. Rose’s A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province, volume III, published in 1914, has a Sahota entry on page 344. It places Sahotas in Hoshiarpur and identifies Garhdiwala as their headquarters. That gives the reader another specific place and source to examine. Read Rose’s entry, printed page 344.
Both are colonial-era publications. Their classifications need to be read as the authors’ descriptions, with their purposes and limitations in view. A recorded association between a name and a district is evidence worth following. It is not a complete account of every family bearing that name, or proof of descent from Suhotra.
Sahotra and Sihota belong in this search as distinct names. I have not established, from the passages cited here, a documented sequence in which Suhotra became Sahotra, then Sahota, then Sihota. The order in which I write the four names is not a proven chronology of their development.
For anyone researching their own family, I recommend preserving the spelling in each record, including the original script where it is available. Record the date, place, named relatives and source alongside it. A spelling that looks close can offer a lead. A connection becomes stronger when the people and places match too.
Nor does an unresolved connection make a family’s memories worthless. It tells us where the next question belongs. Who recorded the story? When? Which village did it concern? Is there a document that connects that generation to the next?
Start with the relatives and places you can identify. Keep a simple record of what each person remembers and how they know it. With permission, preserve copies of family documents and photographs, noting who owns the originals. When you consult a district gazetteer or genealogy, save the publication details and page number as well as the passage.
A useful approach is to keep three descriptions separate: remembered within the family, recorded in a source, and inferred from a comparison. A story may move between those categories as more evidence appears. Keeping the distinction visible lets another reader follow the reasoning, rather than having to accept the conclusion on trust.
The sources above are starting points for particular questions. They are not certificates of ancestry. A search can become more interesting when it admits how much there is still to learn.
Sun and Moon is a personal exploration of ancestry, Punjab’s heritage and belonging. It brings family memory into conversation with history and tradition. It does not promise to establish every reader’s genealogy or replace a general history of Punjab.
The question that matters to me reaches beyond the spelling of a name. How can we carry forward courage without carrying hatred? What do we lose when pride in our own story prevents us from recognising someone else’s? And what might belonging mean if it can grow as we learn?
You do not need to share my surname, faith or conclusions to come along. Begin with the free sample below. Bring the names and questions you carry.
In Sun and Moon, I follow ancestry through reflective nonfiction. In Mrig: Reborn in the Mahabharata, Volume 1, that interest takes an imaginative form: a man searching for his family’s past wakes as a child in the world of the epic. One invites you to weigh memory, tradition and history; the other invites you into reincarnation fantasy, where friendship and knowledge bring difficult choices.
Source note: The Mahabharata references use Ganguli’s section numbering; numbering differs between editions. The historical references identify the printed page numbers, which may differ from a digital viewer’s image count. The sources establish the specific textual and recorded details described above, not an unbroken ancient-to-modern lineage.
Read the free Sun and Moon sample