Jats: Difference between revisions
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The '''Jat people''' ({{IPA-hns|dʒaːʈ|hi}}) (also spelled '''Jatt''') are a community of |
The '''Jat people''' ({{IPA-hns|dʒaːʈ|hi}}) (also spelled '''Jatt''') are a community of 'robust and warlike' people who were members of a 'fresher race' in [[Northern India]] and Pakistan.<ref name=sbayly-p138{{cite book|last=Bayly|first=Susan|title=Caste, Society and Politics in India from the Eighteenth Century to the Modern Age|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=HbAjKR_iHogC&pg=PA138accessdate=15 October 2011|year=2001|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-79842-6|page=385}}</ref>}}{{efn|"... in the middle decades of the (nineteenth) century, there were two contrasting trends in India's agrarian regions. Previously marginal areas took off as zones of newly profitable 'peasant' agriculture, disadvantaging non-elite tilling groups, who were known by such titles as Jat in western [[North-Western Provinces|NWP]] and Gounder in Coimatore."<ref name=sbayly-p201>{{cite book|last=Bayly|first=Susan|title=Caste, Society and Politics in India from the Eighteenth Century to the Modern Age|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=HbAjKR_iHogC&pg=PA201|accessdate=15 October 2011|year=2001|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-79842-6|page=201}}</ref>}}{{efn|"In the later nineteenth century, this thinking led colonial officials to try to protect Sikh Jats and other non-elite 'peasants' whom they now favoured as military recruits by advocating legislation under the so-called land alienation."<ref name=sbayly-p212>{{cite book|last=Bayly|first=Susan|title=Caste, Society and Politics in India from the Eighteenth Century to the Modern Age|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=HbAjKR_iHogC&pg=PA212|accessdate=15 October 2011|year=2001|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-79842-6|page=212}}</ref>}} Originally [[pastoralism|pastoralist]]s in the lower [[Indus river]]-valley of [[Sindh]], Jats migrated north into the [[Punjab region]] in [[late medieval]] times, and subsequently into the [[Delhi Territory]], northeastern [[Rajputana]], and the western [[Gangetic Plain]] in the 17th and 18th centuries. Of Muslim, Sikh, and Hindu faiths, they are now found mostly in the Indian states of [[Haryana]], [[Punjab, India|Punjab]], [[Rajasthan]] and [[Uttar Pradesh]] and the Pakistani provinces of [[Sindh]] and [[Punjab, Pakistan|Punjab]]. |
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Traditionally involved in peasantry, the Jats took up arms against the [[Mughal Empire]] during the late 17th and early 18th centuries.<ref name="AsherTalbot2006">{{cite book | author1=Catherine Ella Blanshard Asher | author2=Cynthia Talbot | title=India before Europe | year= 2006 | publisher=Cambridge University Press | isbn=978-0-521-80904-7 | page=265}}</ref> The community played an important role in the development of the martial [[Khalsa]] ''[[panthan]]'' of Sikhism.<ref name="Karine1987">{{cite book | editor = Karine Schomer and W. H. McLeod | title=The Sants: studies in a devotional tradition of India | year = 1987 | publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ. | isbn=978-81-208-0277-3 | pages=242}}</ref> The Hindu Jat kingdom reached its zenith under [[Suraj Mal]] of [[Bharatpur, Rajasthan|Bharatpur]] (1707–1763).<ref name="Unit1973">{{cite book | title=The Gazetteer of India: History and culture | year=1973 | publisher=Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India | oclc = 186583361 | page = 348 }}</ref> By the 20th century, the landowning Jats became an influential group in several parts of North India, including [[Punjab (India)|Punjab]],<ref name="Srinivas1962">{{cite book | author=[[M. N. Srinivas|Mysore Narasimhachar Srinivas]] | title=Caste in modern India: and other essays | year=1962 | publisher=Asia Pub. House | oclc = 185987598 | page = 90 }}</ref> [[Western Uttar Pradesh]],<ref name="Nuna1989">{{cite book | author=Sheel Chand Nuna | title=Spatial fragmentation of political behaviour in India: a geographical perspective on parliamentary elections | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=hjjriYh_hykC&pg=PA61 | accessdate=20 January 2012 | date=1 January 1989 | publisher=Concept Publishing Company | isbn=978-81-7022-285-9 | pages=61–}}</ref> [[Rajasthan]],<ref name="RudolphRudolph1984">{{cite book | author1=Lloyd I. Rudolph | author2=Susanne Hoeber Rudolph | title=The Modernity of Tradition: Political Development in India | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=7guY1ut-0lwC&pg=PA86 | accessdate=20 January 2012 | year=1984 | publisher=University of Chicago Press | isbn=978-0-226-73137-7 | pages=86–}}</ref> [[Haryana]] and [[Delhi]].<ref name="CarlMelvin2004">{{cite book | editor = Carol R. Ember and Melvin Ember | title = Encyclopedia of medical anthropology | year=2004 | publisher=Springer | isbn=978-0-306-47754-6 | page=778}}</ref> Over the years, several Jats abandoned agriculture in favour of urban jobs, and used their dominant economic and political status to claim higher social status.<ref name="Sunil2009">{{cite book | author=Sunil K. Khanna | title=Fetal/fatal knowledge: new reproductive technologies and family-building strategies in India | year = 2009 | publisher=Cengage Learning | isbn=978-0-495-09525-5 | page=18}}</ref> |
Traditionally involved in peasantry, the Jats took up arms against the [[Mughal Empire]] during the late 17th and early 18th centuries.<ref name="AsherTalbot2006">{{cite book | author1=Catherine Ella Blanshard Asher | author2=Cynthia Talbot | title=India before Europe | year= 2006 | publisher=Cambridge University Press | isbn=978-0-521-80904-7 | page=265}}</ref> The community played an important role in the development of the martial [[Khalsa]] ''[[panthan]]'' of Sikhism.<ref name="Karine1987">{{cite book | editor = Karine Schomer and W. H. McLeod | title=The Sants: studies in a devotional tradition of India | year = 1987 | publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ. | isbn=978-81-208-0277-3 | pages=242}}</ref> The Hindu Jat kingdom reached its zenith under [[Suraj Mal]] of [[Bharatpur, Rajasthan|Bharatpur]] (1707–1763).<ref name="Unit1973">{{cite book | title=The Gazetteer of India: History and culture | year=1973 | publisher=Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India | oclc = 186583361 | page = 348 }}</ref> By the 20th century, the landowning Jats became an influential group in several parts of North India, including [[Punjab (India)|Punjab]],<ref name="Srinivas1962">{{cite book | author=[[M. N. Srinivas|Mysore Narasimhachar Srinivas]] | title=Caste in modern India: and other essays | year=1962 | publisher=Asia Pub. House | oclc = 185987598 | page = 90 }}</ref> [[Western Uttar Pradesh]],<ref name="Nuna1989">{{cite book | author=Sheel Chand Nuna | title=Spatial fragmentation of political behaviour in India: a geographical perspective on parliamentary elections | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=hjjriYh_hykC&pg=PA61 | accessdate=20 January 2012 | date=1 January 1989 | publisher=Concept Publishing Company | isbn=978-81-7022-285-9 | pages=61–}}</ref> [[Rajasthan]],<ref name="RudolphRudolph1984">{{cite book | author1=Lloyd I. Rudolph | author2=Susanne Hoeber Rudolph | title=The Modernity of Tradition: Political Development in India | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=7guY1ut-0lwC&pg=PA86 | accessdate=20 January 2012 | year=1984 | publisher=University of Chicago Press | isbn=978-0-226-73137-7 | pages=86–}}</ref> [[Haryana]] and [[Delhi]].<ref name="CarlMelvin2004">{{cite book | editor = Carol R. Ember and Melvin Ember | title = Encyclopedia of medical anthropology | year=2004 | publisher=Springer | isbn=978-0-306-47754-6 | page=778}}</ref> Over the years, several Jats abandoned agriculture in favour of urban jobs, and used their dominant economic and political status to claim higher social status.<ref name="Sunil2009">{{cite book | author=Sunil K. Khanna | title=Fetal/fatal knowledge: new reproductive technologies and family-building strategies in India | year = 2009 | publisher=Cengage Learning | isbn=978-0-495-09525-5 | page=18}}</ref> |
Revision as of 09:50, 15 August 2013
Chaudhary Charan Singh, the first Jat Prime Minister of India, accompanied by his wife, on his way to address the nation at the Red Fort, Delhi, Independence Day, 15 August 1979. | |
Regions with significant populations | |
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India and Pakistan | |
Languages | |
Punjabi • Hindi • Rajasthani • Urdu • Haryanvi • Gujarati | |
Religion | |
Hinduism • Islam • Sikhism |
The Jat people (Hindustani pronunciation: [dʒaːʈ]) (also spelled Jatt) are a community of 'robust and warlike' people who were members of a 'fresher race' in Northern India and Pakistan.Cite error: The <ref>
tag has too many names (see the help page).}}[a] Originally pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in late medieval times, and subsequently into the Delhi Territory, northeastern Rajputana, and the western Gangetic Plain in the 17th and 18th centuries. Of Muslim, Sikh, and Hindu faiths, they are now found mostly in the Indian states of Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh and the Pakistani provinces of Sindh and Punjab.
Traditionally involved in peasantry, the Jats took up arms against the Mughal Empire during the late 17th and early 18th centuries.[2] The community played an important role in the development of the martial Khalsa panthan of Sikhism.[3] The Hindu Jat kingdom reached its zenith under Suraj Mal of Bharatpur (1707–1763).[4] By the 20th century, the landowning Jats became an influential group in several parts of North India, including Punjab,[5] Western Uttar Pradesh,[6] Rajasthan,[7] Haryana and Delhi.[8] Over the years, several Jats abandoned agriculture in favour of urban jobs, and used their dominant economic and political status to claim higher social status.[9]
History
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/02/JuttBelochTribeSind1872.jpg/220px-JuttBelochTribeSind1872.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/26/JatSikhLahore1872.jpg/220px-JatSikhLahore1872.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/77/JatsAroundDelhi1868.jpg/220px-JatsAroundDelhi1868.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/91/JatGirlAllyghur1868.jpg/220px-JatGirlAllyghur1868.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b7/JatZemindarsRajpootana1874.jpg/220px-JatZemindarsRajpootana1874.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9f/JatBhurtporeDurbar1860s.jpg/220px-JatBhurtporeDurbar1860s.jpg)
The Jats are a paradigmatic example of community- and identity-formation in early modern South Asia.[10] "Jat" is an elastic label applied to a wide-ranging, traditionally non-elite,[b] community which had its origins in pastoralism in the lower Indus valley of Sindh.[10]
Ancient period
The origins of the Jat people are contested. Writers of the British Raj period in India - such as Alexander Cunningham, James Tod,[12] and Denzil Ibbetson[13] - considered them to be of Indo-Scythian descent but the Arya Samaj movement prior to World War II contested this view, claiming that the community had Indo-Aryan origins.[14] As recently as 2008, the historian B. S. Nijjar has supported the colonial claim.[12] Kumar Suresh Singh of the Anthropological Survey of India has said that the Jats "belong to Indo-Pak stock and can be traced to 4th century BC".[15] A Pāli inscription records the kingdom of a Jat king, Maharaja Shalendra, whose reign extended from Punjab to Malwa and Rajasthan, during early 5th century AD.[citation needed]
Medieval period
At the time of Muhammad bin Qasim's conquest of Sind in the 8th century, Arab writers described agglomerations of Jats in the arid, the wet, and the mountainous regions of the conquered land.[16] The new Islamic rulers, though professing a theologically egalitarian religion, did not alter either the non-elite status of Jats or the discriminatory practices against them that had been put in place in the long period of Hindu rule in Sind.[17] Between the eleventh and the sixteenth centuries, Jat herders migrated, up along the river valleys,[18] into the Punjab,[10] which had not been brought under the plough in the first millennium.[19] Many took up tilling in regions such as the Central and East Punjab, where the Persian wheel had been recently introduced or where the land was less arid;[10] others, especially in the West Punjab, continued herding.[10][20] By early Mughal times, in the Punjab, the term "Jat" had become loosely synonymous with "peasant,"[21] and some Jats had come to own land and exert local influence.[10]
In the year 1024 AD, the Jats destroyed several regiments of Mamud's army as he was returning across the desert to Ghazni, after the sack of Somnath in Gujarat. To punish these outrages, Mahmud commenced ooperations against them in 1026. The principal Jat settlements were in the tract lying between the Sindhu (Indus) and Sutlej rivers, and as Mahmud saw that Jat country was in such a location, Mahmud upon reaching Multan, built a number of boats armed with iron spikes projecting from their prows to prevent their being boarded by Jats who were experts in this system of warfare.[22]
According to historians Catherine Asher and Cynthia Talbot,[23]
The Jats also provide an important insight into how religious identities evolved during the precolonial era. Before they settled in the Punjab and other northern regions, the pastoralist Jats had little exposure to any of the mainstream religions. Only after they became more integrated into the agrarian world did the Jats adopt the dominant religion of the people in whose midst they dwelt.[23]
With passage of time, in the western Punjab, the Jats became primarily Muslim, in the eastern Punjab, Sikh, and in the areas between Delhi Territory and Agra, primarily Hindu, their divisions by faith reflecting the geographical strengths of these religions.[23] During the decline of Mughal rule in the early 18th century, the Indian subcontinent's hinterland dwellers, many of whom were armed and nomadic, increasingly interacted with settled townspeople and agriculturists. Many new rulers of the 18th century came from such martial and nomadic backgrounds. The effect of this interaction on India's social organization lasted well into the colonial period. During much of this time, non-elite tillers and pastoralists, such as the Jats or Ahirs, were part of a social spectrum that blended only indistinctly into the elite landowning classes at one end, and the menial or ritually polluting classes at the other.[24] Earlier, during the heyday of Mughal rule, Jats had benefited from Mughal munificence. According to Barbara D. Metcalf and Thomas R. Metcalf:
Upstart warriors, Marathas, Jats, and the like, as coherent social groups with military and governing ideals, were themselves a product of the Mughal context, which recognized them and provided them with military and governing experience. Their successes were a part of the Mughal success.[25]
As the Mughal empire now faltered, there were a series of rural rebellions in North India.[26] Although these had sometimes been characterized as "peasant rebellions," scholars, such as Muzaffar Alam, have pointed out that small local landholders, or zemindars, often led these uprisings.[26] The Sikh and Jat rebellions were led by such small local zemindars, who had close association and family connections with each other and with the peasants under them, and who were often armed.[27]
These communities of rising peasant-warriors were not well-established Indian castes,[28] but rather quite new, without fixed status categories, and with the ability to absorb older peasant castes, sundry warlords, and nomadic groups on the fringes of settled agriculture.[27][29] The Mughal Empire, even at the zenith of its power, functioned by devolving authority and never had direct control over its rural grandees.[27] It was these zemindars who gained most from these rebellions, in both cases, increasing the land under their control.[27] The more triumphant even attaining the ranks of minor princes, such as the Jat ruler Badan Singh of the princely state of Bharatpur.[27]
The non-Sikh Jats came to predominate south and east of Delhi after 1710.[30] According to historian Christopher Bayly
Men characterised by early eighteenth century Mughal records as plunderers and bandits preying on the imperial lines of communications had by the end of the century spawned a range of petty states linked by marriage alliance and religious practice.[30]
The Jats had moved into the Gangetic Plain in two large migrations, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries respectively.[30] They were not a caste in the usual Hindu sense, for example, in which Bhumihars of the eastern Gangetic plain were; rather they were an umbrella group of peasant-warriors.[30] According to Christopher Bayly:
This was a society where Brahmins were few and male Jats married into the whole range of lower agricultural and entrepreneurial castes. A kind of tribal nationalism animated them rather than a nice calculation of caste differences expressed within the context of Brahminical Hindu state.[30]
By the mid-eighteenth century, the ruler of the recently established Jat kingdom of Bharatpur, Raja Surajmal, felt sanguine enough about durability to build a garden palace at nearby Dig (Deeg).[31] Although, the palace, Gopal Bhavan, was named for Lord Krishna, its domes, arches, and garden were evocative of Mughal architecture, a reflection ultimately of how much these new rulers—aspiring dynasts all—were products of the Mughal epoch.[31] In another nod to the Mughal legacy, in the 1750s, Surajmal removed his own Jat brethren from positions of power and replaced them with a contingent of Mughal revenue officials from Delhi who proceeded to implement the Mughal scheme of collecting land-rent.[30]
According to historian, Eric Stokes,
When the power of the Bharatpur raja was riding high, fighting clans of Jats encroached into the Karnal/Panipat, Mathura, Agra, and Aligarh districts, usually at the expense of Rajput groups. But such a political umbrella was too fragile and short-lived for substantial displacement to be effected.[32]
States of the 18th century
Jat states of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries included Kuchesar ruled by the Dalal Jats, Gohad ruled by Rana Jats,[33] and the Mursan state (the present-day Hathras district in Uttar Pradesh) ruled by the Thenua Jats.[citation needed] A recent ruler of this state was Raja Mahendra Pratap (1886–1979), who was popularly known as Aryan Peshwa.[34][35]
Jat rulers occupied and ruled from Gwalior Fort on several occasions:
- 1740 to 1756 by Maharaja Bhim Singh Rana[36]
- 1761 to 1767 by Maharaja Chhatar Singh Rana[37][38][39]
- In 1778, the Gwalior fort was again under the reign Rana Lokendra Singh[40]
- 1780 to 1783 by Maharaja Chhatra Singh Rana[41]
Maharaja Suraj Mal captured Agra Fort on 12 June 1761 and it remained in the possession of Bharatpur rulers till 1774.[42]
Sikh states
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/Bhupinder_Singh_of_Patiala.jpg/220px-Bhupinder_Singh_of_Patiala.jpg)
Patiala and Nabha were two important Sikh[43][44] states in Punjab, ruled by the Jat-Sikh [45] people of the Siddhu clan.[46] The Jind state in present-day Haryana was founded by the descendants of Phul Jat of Siddhu ancestry.[46] These states were formed with the military assistance of the sixth Sikh guru, known as Guru Har Gobind.[43]
The rulers of Faridkot were Brar Jat Sikhs.[47] The princely state of Kalsia was ruled by Sandhu Jat Sikhs.[citation needed]
Maharaja Ranjit Singh (1780–1839) of the Sandhawalia[46] Jat clan (other historians assert a Sansi Caste lineage to Maharaja Ranjit Singh[48]) of Punjab became the Sikh emperor of the sovereign country of Punjab and the Sikh Empire. He united the Sikh factions into one state, and conquered vast tracts of territory on all sides of his kingdom. From the capture of Lahore in 1799, he rapidly annexed the rest of the Punjab. To secure his empire, he invaded North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) (which was then part of Afghanistan), and defeated the Pathan militias and tribes. Ranjit Singh took the title of "Maharaja" on 12 April 1801 (to coincide with Baisakhi day). Lahore served as his capital from 1799. In 1802 he took the city of Amritsar and in 1818 he successfully invaded Kashmir.[citation needed]
Demographics
According to Encyclopædia Britannica,
In the early 21st century the Jat constituted about 20 percent of the population of Punjab, nearly 10 percent of the population of Balochistan, Rajasthan, and Delhi, and from 2 to 5 percent of the populations of Sindh, Northwest Frontier, and Uttar Pradesh. The four million Jat of Pakistan are mainly Muslim; the nearly six million Jat of India are mostly divided into two large castes of about equal strength: one Sikh, concentrated in Punjab, the other Hindu.[49]
Post-independence estimates
In 2012, the Hindustan Times reported that the Jat people in India were estimated to number around 82.5 million (8.25 crore).[50]
Republic of India
Some specific clans of Jat people are classified as Other Backward Castes in some states, examples of which are those in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.[51][52][53]
In the 20th century and more recently, Jats have dominated as the political class in Haryana.[54][page needed] and Punjab.[55] Some Jat people have become notable political leaders, including the sixth Prime Minister of India, Charan Singh.
Adult franchise has created enormous social and political awakening among Jat people. Consolidation of economic gains and participation in the electoral process are two visible outcomes of the post-independence situation. Through this participation they have been able to significantly influence the politics of North India. Economic differentiation, migration and mobility could be clearly noticed amongst the Jat people.[56]
Pakistan
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3e/Hina_Rabbani_Khar_-_World_Economic_Forum_Annual_Meeting_2012.jpg/220px-Hina_Rabbani_Khar_-_World_Economic_Forum_Annual_Meeting_2012.jpg)
A large number of the Jat Muslim people live in Pakistan and have dominant roles in public life in the Pakistani Punjab and Pakistan in general. In addition to the Punjab, Jat communities are also found in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, in Sindh, particularly the Indus delta and among Seraiki-speaking communities in southern Pakistani Punjab, the Kachhi region of Balochistan and the Dera Ismail Khan District of the North West Frontier Province.
In Pakistan also, Jat people have become notable political leaders, like Hina Rabbani Khar.[57]
Culture and society
Military
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/55/14th_Murrays_Jat_Lancers_%28Risaldar_Major%29_by_AC_Lovett_%281862-1919%29.jpg/220px-14th_Murrays_Jat_Lancers_%28Risaldar_Major%29_by_AC_Lovett_%281862-1919%29.jpg)
A large number of Jat people serve in the Indian Army, including the Jat Regiment, Sikh Regiment, Rajputana Rifles and the Grenadiers, where they have won many of the highest military awards for gallantry and bravery. Jat people also serve in the Pakistan Army especially in the Punjab Regiment, where they have also been highly decorated.[citation needed]
The Jat people were designated by officials of the British Raj as a "martial race", which meant that they were one of the groups whom the British favoured for recruitment to the British Indian Army.[58][59] The Jats participated in both, World War I as well as World War II, as a part of the British Indian Army.[60] In the period subsequent to 1881, when the British reversed their prior anti-Sikh policies, it was necessary to profess Sikhism in order to be recruited to the army because the administration believed Hindus to be inferior for military purposes.[61]
Religious beliefs
According to Khushwant Singh, the Jats' attitude never allowed themselves to be absorbed in the Brahminic fold.
The Jat's spirit of freedom and equality refused to submit to Brahmanical Hinduism and in its turn drew the censure of the privileged Brahmins.... The upper caste Hindu's denigration of the Jat did not in the least lower the Jat in his own eyes nor elevate the Brahmin or the Kshatriya in the Jat's estimation. On the contrary, he assumed a somewhat condescending attitude towards the Brahmin, whom he considered little more than a soothsayer or a beggar, or the Kshatriya, who disdained earning an honest living and was proud of being a mercenary.[62]
Jats professed Hinduism but many converted to Islam - often forcibly - during the period of Muslim rule in India. Subsequently, significant numbers converted to Sikhism, and particularly so in the Punjab. B. S. Nijjar notes that "... the Sikhs became as fanatically anti-Muslim as the Muslims had been anti-Hindus" and they joined armies in opposition to the Muslim rulers.[60]
Varna status
The Hindu varna system is unclear on Jat status within the caste system. Some sources state that Jats are regarded as Kshatriyas[63] or "degraded Kshatriyas" who, as they did not observe Brahmanic rites and rituals, had fallen to the status of Shudra.[64] Uma Chakravarti reports that the varna status of the Jats improved over time, with the Jats starting in the untouchable/chandala varna during the eighth century, changing to shudra status by the 11th century, and with some Jats striving for zamindar status after the Jat rebellion of the 17th century.[65]
The Rajputs refused to accept Jat claims to kshatriya status during the later years of the British Raj and this disagreement frequently resulted in violent incidents between the two communities.[66] The claim at that time was being made by the Arya Samaj, who saw it as a means to counter the colonial belief that the Jats were of Indo-Scythian origin.[14]
Social customs
Clan system
The Jat people have always organized themselves into hundreds of patrilineal clans, Panchayat system or Khap. A clan was based on one small gotra or a number of related gotras under one elected leader whose word was law.[citation needed]
In addition to the conventional Sarva Khap Panchayat, there are regional Jat Mahasabhas affiliated to the All India Jat Mahasabha to organize and safeguard the interests of the community, which held its meeting at regional and national levels to take stock of their activities and devise practical ways and means for the amelioration of the community.[67]
Some of the Jat clan names overlap with other groups.[68] Lists of Jat clans have been compiled by several historians, such as Ompal Singh Tugania,[69] Bhaleram Beniwal.[70][71] and Mahendra Singh Arya.[72] These lists have more than 2700 Jat gotras. Dilip Singh Ahlawat has mentioned history of some of Jat gotras.
See also
Footnotes
- ^ "In the later nineteenth century, this thinking led colonial officials to try to protect Sikh Jats and other non-elite 'peasants' whom they now favoured as military recruits by advocating legislation under the so-called land alienation."[1]
- ^ According to Susan Bayly, "... (North India) contained large numbers of non-elite tillers. In the Punjab and the western Gangetic Plains, convention defined the Rajput's non-elite counterpart as a Jat. Like many similar titles used elsewhere, this was not so much a caste name as a broad designation for the man of substance in rural terrain. ... To be called Jat has in some regions implied a background of pastoralism, though it has more commonly been a designation of non-servile cultivating people."[11]
Citations
- ^ Bayly, Susan (2001). Caste, Society and Politics in India from the Eighteenth Century to the Modern Age. Cambridge University Press. p. 212. ISBN 978-0-521-79842-6. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
- ^ Catherine Ella Blanshard Asher; Cynthia Talbot (2006). India before Europe. Cambridge University Press. p. 265. ISBN 978-0-521-80904-7.
- ^ Karine Schomer and W. H. McLeod, ed. (1987). The Sants: studies in a devotional tradition of India. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. p. 242. ISBN 978-81-208-0277-3.
- ^ The Gazetteer of India: History and culture. Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. 1973. p. 348. OCLC 186583361.
- ^ Mysore Narasimhachar Srinivas (1962). Caste in modern India: and other essays. Asia Pub. House. p. 90. OCLC 185987598.
- ^ Sheel Chand Nuna (1 January 1989). Spatial fragmentation of political behaviour in India: a geographical perspective on parliamentary elections. Concept Publishing Company. pp. 61–. ISBN 978-81-7022-285-9. Retrieved 20 January 2012.
- ^ Lloyd I. Rudolph; Susanne Hoeber Rudolph (1984). The Modernity of Tradition: Political Development in India. University of Chicago Press. pp. 86–. ISBN 978-0-226-73137-7. Retrieved 20 January 2012.
- ^ Carol R. Ember and Melvin Ember, ed. (2004). Encyclopedia of medical anthropology. Springer. p. 778. ISBN 978-0-306-47754-6.
- ^ Sunil K. Khanna (2009). Fetal/fatal knowledge: new reproductive technologies and family-building strategies in India. Cengage Learning. p. 18. ISBN 978-0-495-09525-5.
- ^ a b c d e f Asher, Catherine Ella Blanshard; Talbot, Cynthia (2006). India before Europe. Cambridge University Press. p. 269. ISBN 978-0-521-80904-7. Retrieved 29 October 2011.
- ^ Bayly, Susan (2001). Caste, Society and Politics in India from the Eighteenth Century to the Modern Age. Cambridge University Press. p. 37. ISBN 978-0-521-79842-6. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
- ^ a b Nijjar, B. S. (2008). Origins and History of Jats and Other Allied Nomadic Tribes of India: 900 B.C.-1947 A.D. Atlantic Publishers. p. 44. ISBN 9788126909087.
- ^ Kessinger, Tom G. (1974). Vilyatpur, 1848-1968: Social and Economic Change in a North Indian Village. University of California Press. p. 35. ISBN 9780520023406.
- ^ a b Jaffrelot, Christophe (2010). Religion, Caste & Politics in India. Primus Books. p. 431. ISBN 9789380607047.
- ^ Ranjan, Amitav (21 September 2003). "Sahib Singh wanted to visit Serbia to meet fellow Jats". The Indian Express. Retrieved 17 January 2013.
- ^ Mayaram, Shail (2003), Against history, against state: counterperspectives from the margins, Columbia University Press, p. 19, ISBN 978-0-231-12730-1, retrieved 12 November 2011
- ^ Jackson, Peter (2003), The Delhi Sultanate: A Political and Military History, Cambridge University Press, p. 15, ISBN 978-0-521-54329-3, retrieved 13 November 2011 Quote: "... Nor can the liberation that the Muslim conquerors offered to those who sought to escape from the caste system be taken for granted. ... a caliphal governor of Sind in the late 830s is said to have ... (continued the previous Hindu requirement that) ... the Jats, when walking out of doors in future, to be accompanied by a dog. The fact that the dog is an unclean animal to both Hindu and Muslim made it easy for the Muslim conquerors to retain the status quo regarding a low-caste tribe. In other words, the new regime in the eighth and ninth centuries did not abrogate discriminatory regulations dating from a period of Hindu sovereignty; rather, it maintained them. (page 15)"
- ^ Grewal, J. S. (1998), The Sikhs of the Punjab, Cambridge University Press, p. 5, ISBN 978-0-521-63764-0, retrieved 12 November 2011 Quote: "... the most numerous of the agricultural tribes (in the Punjab) were the Jats. They had come from Sindh and Rajasthan along the river valleys, moving up, displacing the Gujjars and the Rajputs to occupy culturable lands. (page 5)"
- ^ Ludden, David E. (1999), An agrarian history of South Asia, Cambridge University Press, p. 117, ISBN 978-0-521-36424-9, retrieved 12 November 2011 Quote: "The flatlands in the upper Punjab doabs do not seem to have been heavily farmed in the first millennium. ... Early-medieval dry farming developed in Sindh, around Multan, and in Rajasthan, ... From here, Jat farmers seem to have moved into the upper Punjab doabs and into the western Ganga basin in the first half of the second millennium. (page 117)"
- ^ Ansari, Sarah F. D. (1992). Sufi saints and state power: the pirs of Sind, 1843-1947. Cambridge University Press. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-521-40530-0. Retrieved 30 October 2011. Quote: "Between the eleventh and sixteenth centuries, groups of nomadic pastoralists known as Jats, having worked their way northwards from Sind, settled in the Panjab as peasant agriculturalists and, largely on account of the introduction of the Persian wheel, transformed much of western Panjab into a rich producer of food crops. (page 27)"
- ^ Mayaram, Shail (2003), Against history, against state: counterperspectives from the margins, Columbia University Press, p. 33, ISBN 978-0-231-12730-1, retrieved 12 November 2011
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- ^ Bayly, Susan (2001), Caste, Society and Politics in India from the Eighteenth Century to the Modern Age, Cambridge University Press, p. 41, ISBN 978-0-521-79842-6, retrieved 1 August 2011
- ^ Metcalf, Barbara Daly; Metcalf, Thomas R. (2006). A concise history of modern India. Cambridge University Press. p. 23. ISBN 978-0-521-86362-9. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
- ^ a b Asher, Catherine; Talbot, Cynthia (2006). India before Europe. Cambridge University Press. p. 271. ISBN 978-0-521-80904-7. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
- ^ a b c d e Asher, Catherine; Talbot, Cynthia (2006). India before Europe. Cambridge University Press. p. 272. ISBN 978-0-521-80904-7. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
- ^ Metcalf, Barbara Daly; Metcalf, Thomas R. (2006). A concise history of modern India. Cambridge University Press. p. 24. ISBN 978-0-521-86362-9. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
- ^ Bayly, C. A. (1988). Rulers, Townsmen and Bazaars: North Indian Society in the Age of British Expansion, 1770-1870. CUP Archive. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-521-31054-3. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f Bayly, C. A. (1988). Rulers, Townsmen and Bazaars: North Indian Society in the Age of British Expansion, 1770-1870. CUP Archive. p. 22. ISBN 978-0-521-31054-3. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
- ^ a b Metcalf, Barbara Daly; Metcalf, Thomas R. (2006). A concise history of modern India. Cambridge University Press. p. 35. ISBN 978-0-521-86362-9. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
- ^ Stokes, Eric (1980). The Peasant and the Raj: Studies in Agrarian Society and Peasant Rebellion in Colonial India. Cambridge University Press Archive. p. 69. ISBN 978-0-521-29770-7. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
- ^ Madhya Pradesh (India) (1996). Madhya Pradesh District Gazetteers: East Nimar. Government Central Press. p. 2.
- ^ Life and Times of Raja Mahendra Pratap, Ed by Dr Vier Singh, Delhi 2005, ISBN 81-88629-32-4, p.44
- ^ Dr Vir Singh: My Life Story 1886-1979: Raja Mahendra Pratap Vol. 1, 1886-1941. 2004
- ^ Madhya Pradesh (India) (1996). Madhya Pradesh District Gazetteers: East Nimar. Government Central Press. p. 24.
- ^ Malleson, George Bruce. An Historical Sketch of the Native States of India. Facsimile. Reprint published by The Academic Press, Gurgaon, 1984.
- ^ V. S. Krishnan: Madhya Pradesh District Gazetteer, Gwalior
- ^ Agnihotri, Ajay Kumar (1985). Gohad ke jaton ka Itihas (in Hindi). Nav Sahitya Bhawan. p. 29.
- ^ Madhya Pradesh (India) (1996). Madhya Pradesh District Gazetteers: East Nimar. Government Central Press. p. 296.
- ^ Chakravorty, U. N. (1979). Anglo-Maratha relations and Malcolm, 1798-1830. Associated.
- ^ Chandawat, Prakash Chandra (1982). Maharaja Suraj Mal aur unka yug (in Hindi). Agra: Jaypal Agencies. pp. 197–200.
- ^ a b Singh, Bhagat (1993). A History of Sikh Misals. Patiala: Punjabi University. p. 130.
- ^ Patiala Heritage Society. "Reference to Sikh State". Patialaheritage.in. Retrieved 9 August 2009.
- ^ "Reference to Sikh States". Patiala.nic.in. Retrieved 9 August 2009.
- ^ a b c History of the Jatt Clans — H.S. Duleh.
- ^ Indian states: a biographical ... - Google Books
- ^ Sir Lepel Griffin, Punjab Chiefs, Vol. 1, p 219 "...and from Sansi the Sindhanwalias and the Sansis have a common descent. The Sansis were the theivish and degraded tribe [sic] and the house of Sindhanwalia naturally feeling ashamed of its Sansi name invented a romantic story to account for it. But the relationship between the nobles and the beggars, does not seem the less certain and if history of Maharaja Ranjit Singh is attentively considered it will appear that much his policy and many of his actions had the true Sansi complexion"
- ^ Britannica, Encyclopedia. "Jat (caste)". Encyclopædia Britannica. p. 1. Retrieved 22 November 2010.
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value (help) - ^ Chatterji, Saubhadra (14 January 2012). "Government turns focus on Jat quota". Hindustan Times. New Delhi. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
- ^ Sheila puts Delhi Jats on OBC list
- ^ So why are the Gujjars hungry for the ST pie?
- ^ Political process in Uttar Pradesh: identity, economic reforms, and governance By Sudha Pai, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Centre for Political Studies
- ^ Book by Ghansyam Shah on cast and politics , Google book store
- ^ History of Punjab politics: Jats do it!
- ^ K L Sharma:The Jats — Their Role and Contribution to the Socio-Economic Life and Polity of North and North West India, Vol.I, 2004. Ed. by Vir Singh, page 14
- ^ "Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar". First Post (India). Retrieved 11 May 2013.
Hina Rabbani Khar was born on 19 November 1977 in Multan, Punjab, Pakistan in a Muslim Jat family.
- ^ Pati, Budheswar (1996). India And The First World War. Atlantic Publishers. p. 62. ISBN 9788171565818.
- ^ Britten, Thomas A. (1997). American Indians in World War I: At Home and at War (illustrated, reprint ed.). University of New Mexico Press. p. 128. ISBN 0826320902.
The Rajputs, Jats, Dogras, Pathans, Gorkhas, and Sikhs, for example, were considered martial races. Consequently, the British labored to ensure that members of the so-called martial castes dominated the ranks of infantry and cavalry and placed them in special "class regiments."
- ^ a b Nijjar, B. S. (2008). Origins and History of Jats and Other Allied Nomadic Tribes of India: 900 B.C.-1947 A.D. Atlantic Publishers. p. 73. ISBN 9788126909087.
- ^ Van Der Veer, Peter (1994). Religious Nationalism: Hindus and Muslims in India. University of California Press. pp. 55–56. ISBN 9780520082564.
- ^ Singh, Khushwant (2004). A History of the Sikhs: 1469-1838 (2, illustrated ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 15. ISBN 0195673085. OCLC 438966317.
- ^ Miller, D.B. (1975). From hierarchy to stratification: changing patterns of social inequality in ... Oxford University Press. p. 64.
- ^ Khanna, Sunil K. "Jat". In Ember, Melvin (ed.). M1 Encyclopedia of Medical Anthropology. p. 777.
- ^ Krishnaraj, Uma Chakravarti ; series editor, Maithreyi (2003). Gendering caste through a feminist lens (1. repr. ed.). Calcutta: Stree. ISBN 978-81-85604-54-1.
{{cite book}}
:|first=
has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Stern, Robert W. (1988). The Cat and the Lion: Jaipur State in the British Raj. Leiden: BRILL. p. 287. ISBN 9789004082830.
- ^ B.K. Nagla, "Jats of Haryana: A sociplogical Analysis", The Jats, Vol. II, Ed. Vir Singh, p.308
- ^ J. A. Marshall, Guide to Taxila, Cambridge University Press, London, 1960, pp. 24.
- ^ Tugania, Ompal Singh (2004). Jat samudāy ke pramukh Ādhār bindu (in Hindi). Agra: Jaypal Agencies.
- ^ Beniwal, Bhaleram (2005). Jāton kā Ādikālīn Itihāsa (in Hindi). Agra: Jaypal Agencies.
- ^ Beniwal, Bhaleram (2005). Jāt Yodhaon ke Balidān (in Hindi). Agra: Jaypal Agencies.
- ^ Arya, Mahendra Singh; Dudi, Dharmpal Singh; Faujdar, Kishan Singh; Narwar, Vijendra Singh (1998). Ādhunik Jat Itihasa (in Hindi). Agra.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Further reading
- Bayly, C. A. (1989). Indian Society and the Making of the British Empire. Cambridge University Press. pp. 190–. ISBN 978-0-521-38650-0. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
- Brass, Tom (1995). New farmers' movements in India. Taylor & Francis. pp. 183–. ISBN 978-0-7146-4134-8. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
- Byres, T. J. (1999). Rural labour relations in India. Taylor & Francis. pp. 217–. ISBN 978-0-7146-8046-0. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
- Chowdhry, Prem; Sarkar, Sumit (Editor); Sarkar, Tanika (Editor) (2008). "Customs in a Peasant Economy: Women in Colonial Harayana". Women and social reform in modern India: a reader. Indiana University Press. pp. 147–. ISBN 978-0-253-22049-3. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
{{cite book}}
:|first2=
has generic name (help) - Gupta, Akhil (1998). Postcolonial developments: agriculture in the making of modern India. Duke University Press. pp. 361–. ISBN 978-0-8223-2213-9. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
- Gupta, Dipankar (1 January 1996). Political sociology in India: contemporary trends. Orient Blackswan. pp. 70–. ISBN 978-81-250-0665-7. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
- Jaffrelot, Christophe (2003). India's silent revolution: the rise of the lower castes in North India. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-12786-8. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
- Jalal, Ayesha (1995). Democracy and authoritarianism in South Asia: a comparative and historical perspective. Cambridge University Press. pp. 212–. ISBN 978-0-521-47862-5. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
- Larson, Gerald James (1995). India's agony over religion. SUNY Press. pp. 90–. ISBN 978-0-7914-2412-4. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
- Lynch, Owen M. (1990). Divine passions: the social construction of emotion in India. University of California Press. pp. 255–. ISBN 978-0-520-06647-2. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
- Mazumder, Rajit K. (2003). The Indian army and the making of Punjab. Orient Blackswan. pp. 176–. ISBN 978-81-7824-059-6. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
- Misra, Maria (2008). Vishnu's crowded temple: India since the Great Rebellion. Yale University Press. pp. 89–. ISBN 978-0-300-13721-7. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
- Oldenburg, Veena Talwar (2002). Dowry murder: the imperial origins of a cultural crime. Oxford University Press. pp. 34–. ISBN 978-0-19-515071-1. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
- Pandian, Anand (Editor); Ali, Daud (Editor) (1 September 2010). Ethical Life in South Asia. Indiana University Press. pp. 206–. ISBN 978-0-253-22243-5. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
{{cite book}}
:|first1=
has generic name (help) - Pinch, William R. (1996). Peasants and monks in British India. University of California Press. pp. 12, 26, 28. ISBN 978-0-520-20061-6. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
- Richards, John F. (26 January 1996). The Mughal Empire. Cambridge University Press. pp. 269–. ISBN 978-0-521-56603-2. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
- Shweder, Richard A.; Minow, Martha; Markus, Hazel Rose (November 2004). Engaging cultural differences: the multicultural challenge in liberal democracies. Russell Sage Foundation. pp. 57–. ISBN 978-0-87154-795-8. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
- Schwartzberg, Joseph; Singer, Milton (Editor); Cohn, Bernard S. (Editor) (2007). "Caste Regions of the Northern Plain". Structure and Change in Indian Society. Transaction Publishers. pp. 81–114. ISBN 978-0-202-36138-3. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
{{cite book}}
:|first2=
has generic name (help) - Stern, Robert W. (2003). Changing India: bourgeois revolution on the subcontinent. Cambridge University Press. pp. 58–. ISBN 978-0-521-00912-6. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
- Talbot, Ian (1996). Khizr Tiwana, the Punjab Unionist Party and the partition of India. Psychology Press. pp. 94–. ISBN 978-0-7007-0427-9. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
- Tan, Tai Yong (2005). The garrison state: the military, government and society in colonial Punjab 1849-1947. SAGE. pp. 85–. ISBN 978-0-7619-3336-6. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
- Wadley, Susan Snow (2004). Raja Nal and the Goddess: the north Indian epic Dhola in performance. Indiana University Press. pp. 60–. ISBN 978-0-253-34478-6. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
- Wink, André (2002). Al-Hind: Early medieval India and the expansion of Islam, 7th-11th centuries. BRILL. pp. 163–. ISBN 978-0-391-04173-8. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
External links
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