| Total population | |
|---|---|
| ~33 million (2009 estimation)[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Pakistan | ~21 million (2009 estimation)[1] |
 India | ~12 million (2009 estimation)[1] |
| Languages | |
| Braj •Hindi •Haryanvi •Khariboli •Punjabi (and itsdialects) •Rajasthani •Sindhi (and itsdialects) •Urdu | |
| Religion | |
| Hinduism • Islam • Sikhism | |
TheJat people (Hindi:[dʒaːʈ],Punjabi:[dʒəʈː]), also speltJaat andJatt,[2] are a traditionallyagriculturalcaste inNorthern India andPakistan.[3][4][a][b][c] Originallypastoralists in the lowerIndus river-valley ofSindh, many Jats migrated north into thePunjab region inlate medieval times, and subsequently into theDelhi Territory, northeasternRajputana, and the westernGangetic Plain in the 17th and 18th centuries.[8][9][10] OfHindu,Muslim andSikh faiths, they are now found mostly in the Indian states ofPunjab,Haryana,Uttar Pradesh andRajasthan and the Pakistani regions ofSindh,Punjab andAJK.
By the 20th century, the landowning Jats became an influential group in several parts of North India, includingPunjab,[11]Western Uttar Pradesh,[12]Rajasthan,[13]Haryana andDelhi.[14] 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.[15]
TheIndo-Aryan termJat (and its female form,Jatni[16]) descends from thePrakrit formJaṭṭa, itself fromJarta[17] orJartika,[18] the name of an ancientnon-Vedic[19]Bahlika tribe. The first mention of Jats are in an inscription found in modernGilgit Baltistan, dated to the 6th or 7th century, which records some Jats as having passed through the area.[20][21]
Historically, the term 'Jat' was loosely applied to various tribes, especially inWest Punjab andSindh. InSindh, theromanised term 'Jat' could be used as a transliteration for Jat, or to refer to a member of the "Jath" community. It is also sometimes used pejoratively to refer to apeasant.[22] InPunjab, especially from theMughal era onwards, the term "Jat" was also used more as a socioeconomic status than an ethnic label, and they were often associated with the peasantry.[23][24]
TheArabic term"Zutt" is derived from Jat,[25][26][27] and referred generally to most of the tribes found inArab Sind, including tribes who were not necessarily Jat, such as the Qufs, Andaghars, and Sayabijas.[28] The term"Jadgal" (lit. 'Jaṭṭ-speakers'[29]) is also derived from Jat, and was used by theBaloch to refer to the Indic tribes living amongst them.
The Jats are aparadigmatic example of community identity formation in theearly modernIndian subcontinent.[8] "Jat" is an elastic label applied to a wide-ranging community[30][31] from simple landowning peasants[a][b][c][32][33][d] to wealthy and influentialZamindars.[35][36][37][38][39]
By the time ofMuhammad bin Qasim's conquest of Sind in the eighth century, Arab writers described agglomerations of Jats, known to them asZutt,[e] in the arid, the wet, and the mountainous regions of the conquered land of Sindh.[40] Several medievalMuslim chronicles such as theChach Nama,Tarikh-I-Baihaqi andZainul-Akhbar have recorded battles betweenJats and forces of Muhammad ibn al-Qasim,[41] at theBattle of Aror (Rohri), the united forces ofDahir of Aror and the eastern Jats jointly fought against Muhammad ibn al-Qasim.[42] The Arab rulers, though professing a theologically egalitarian religion, maintained the position of Jats and the discriminatory practices against them that had been put in place in the long period of Hindu rule in Sind.[43] Between the eleventh and the sixteenth centuries, Jat herders at the Sind migrated up along the river valleys,[44] into the Punjab,[8] which may have been largely uncultivated in the first millennium.[45] Many took up tilling in regions such as westernPunjab, where thesakia (water wheel) had been recently introduced.[8][46] By early Mughal times, in the Punjab, the term "Jat" had become loosely synonymous with "peasant",[47] and some Jats had come to own land and exert local influence.[8] The Jats had their origins inpastoralism in theIndus valley, and gradually became agriculturalist farmers.[48] Around 1595, Jat Zamindars controlled a little over 32% of theZamindaris in the Punjab region.[49]
According to historians Catherine Asher and Cynthia Talbot,[50]
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.[50]
Over time the Jats became primarily Muslim in the western Punjab, Sikh in the eastern Punjab, and Hindu in the areas betweenDelhi Territory and Agra, with the divisions by faith reflecting the geographical strengths of these religions.[50]During the decline ofMughal Empire's rule in the early 18th century, theIndian 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 organisation lasted well into the colonial period. During much of this time, non-elite tillers and pastoralists, such as the Jats orAhirs, 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.[51] During the heyday of Mughal rule, Jats had recognised rights. According toBarbara D. Metcalf andThomas 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 recognised them and provided them with military and governing experience. Their successes were a part of the Mughal success.[52]
As the Mughal Empire faltered, there were a series of rural rebellions in North India.[53] Although these had sometimes been characterised as "peasant rebellions", others, such asMuzaffar Alam, have pointed out that small local landholders, orzemindars, often led these uprisings.[53] 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.[54]
These communities of rising peasant-warriors were not well-established Indian castes,[55] 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.[54][56] The Mughal Empire, even at the zenith of its power, functioned by devolving authority and never had direct control over its rural grandees.[54] It was these zemindars who gained most from these rebellions, increasing the land under their control.[54] The triumphant even attained the ranks of minor princes, such as the Jat ruler Badan Singh of theprincely state of Bharatpur.[54]
Starting in the 10th century, Jat chiefs established semi-autonomous states in historicalJangladesh,[57] with the most powerful clans being, among others, thePoonias,Godaras, Sarans, Sihags,Beniwals,Kaswans and Sahus; theJohiyas are also included byJames Tod, though they are also sometimes identified as a branch of the Yadu-BhatiRajputs rather than a distinct Jat clan.[58][59] In the 15th century, theRathore Rajputs exploited the rivalry between the clans and conquered the region, establishing theBikaner State. The Jat chiefs were forced to recognise thesuzerainty of the Rathores, although some, particularly the Godara Jats who had previously allied with the forces ofRao Bika, were given certain privileges under the Bikaner realm.[60][61]
In 1505, the Bamraulia Jats migrated and settled in thetrans-Chambal tract, laying the foundations for theKingdom of Gohad.[62] The Jats of Gohad briefly captured and held theGwalior fort, before losing it to theMarathas.[63] In 1805, the last ruler of Gohad,Rana Kirat Singh, as part of an arrangement made with theBritish East India Company, established theDholpur State.[64][65]
In 1669, the Hindu Jats, under the leadership ofGokula, rebelled against the Mughal emperorAurangzeb inMathura.[66] The community came to predominate south and east of Delhi after 1710.[67] According to historianChristopher 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.[67]
The Jats had moved into the Gangetic Plain in two large migrations, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries respectively.[67] They were not a caste in the usual Hindu sense, for example, in whichBhumihars of the eastern Gangetic plain were; rather they were an umbrella group of peasant-warriors.[67] According to Christopher Bayly:
This was a society whereBrahmins 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.[67]
By the mid-eighteenth century, the ruler of the recently established Jat kingdom ofBharatpur, RajaSurajmal, felt sanguine enough about durability to build a garden palace at nearbyDeeg.[68] 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.[69]
Leading up to thepartition of India, Hindu Jats, alongside other Hindu castes, would take up arms and organise intoDhars, aiming to eliminate Muslim influence in theMewat region. The forces of nearby Hinduprincely states, including the Hindu Jat-ruledBharatpur State, would support rioting Hindus in expelling theMeos and other regional Muslims.[70][71] After the partition, Hindu Jats continued to play a dominant role in the politics ofHaryana.
The Jats were one of the first communities in theIndian subcontinent to interact with theMuslims. They were known to theArabs as theZutt,[72][73][74] although this term also referred to several other groups found along theIndus River.[75] The Arab conquerors noted several important concentrations of Zutts in the towns and fortresses across Central and LowerSind.[76][77]
Between the 11th and 16th centuries, someSindhi Jats migrated intoPunjab. Several clans have traditions of converting toIslam during this period, claiming to be influenced bySufi saints. The conversion process was gradual. André Wink writes:
And in the Panjab as well, many of the Jats now, in the later thirteenth century, while being turned into peasants, began to convert to Islam on a more extended scale. The vast majority of the Jat and Rajput groups of the Panjab that became Muslim in medieval times claims to have been converted either bySheikh Farid ad-Din Ganj-i-Shakar... or by his contemporary Baha' al-Haqq Zakariya... probably it was not Baba Farid himself but his shrine which served as the agent of these clans' conversions, giving them access to Islam and making them participants in the Sultanate without being directly subservient to Delhi.[78]
By the 16th century, many of thePunjabi clans west of theRavi River had converted.[79] However, even after conversion, some Muslim Jats continued to challengeimperial Muslim powers such as theTimurids,[80][81]Mughals,[82] andSurs.[83][84] Others chose to cooperate with the Muslim rulers instead, leading to prominent Jat figures such asGrand VizierSaadullah Khan,[85][86] andFaujdar Rahmat KhanBajwa.[87][88]
As theMughals declined, various groups fought to fill the power vacuum,[89] including some ambitious Muslim Jat chiefs and princes. TheRohilla Nawabs founded theKingdom of Rohilkhand andRampur State.[90][91] A descendant of Saadullah Khan,Muzaffar Jang Hidayat, briefly became the thirdNizam of Hyderabad.[92][93][94] And several smaller polities competed with each other on a local level, such as thePakpattan and Chattha states who fought the risingSikh Misls in Punjab.[95][96]
With the establishment of theBritish Raj, all formerly independent or autonomous polities were either annexed or integrated into the colonial empire asprincely states. When the British left and the Subcontinent waspartitioned, many Muslim Jats migrated to the newly formedPakistan. However, some remained inIndia,[97] where they are known as Muley Jats.[98]
While followers important to Sikh tradition likeBaba Buddha were among the earliest significant historical Sikh figures, and significant numbers of conversions occurred as early as the time ofGuru Angad (1504–1552),[99] the first large-scale conversions of Jats is commonly held to have begun during the time ofGuru Arjan (1563–1606).[99][100]: 265 While touring the countryside of eastern Punjab, he founded several important towns likeTarn Taran Sahib,Kartarpur, andHargobindpur which functioned as social and economic hubs, and together with thecommunity-funded completion of theDarbar Sahib to house theGuru Granth Sahib and serve as a rallying point and centre for Sikh activity, established the beginnings of a self-contained Sikh community, which was especially swelled with the region's Jat peasantry.[99] They formed the vanguard of Sikh resistance against theMughal Empire from the 18th century onwards.
It has been postulated, though inconclusively, that the increased militarisation of the Sikh panth following the martyrdom ofGuru Arjan (beginning during the era ofGuru Hargobind and continuing after) and its large Jat presence may have reciprocally influenced each other.[101][full citation needed][102]
The community played an important role in the development of the martialKhalsapanth of Sikhism.[103] At least nine of the twelve Misls of theSikh Confederacy were led by Jat Sikhs, who constituted the majority of the Sikh chiefs. They also played important roles in the remaining three Misls.[104][105] TheSikh Empire, which ultimately unified the Misls under a single rule, was founded by the Sikh JatMaharaja Ranjit Singh.[106]
According to censuses in gazetteers published during the colonial period in the early 20th century, further waves of Jat conversions, from Hinduism to Sikhism, continued during the preceding decades.[107][108] Writing about the Jats ofPunjab, the Sikh authorKhushwant Singh opined that their attitude never allowed themselves to be absorbed in the Brahminic fold.[109][110] The British played a significant role in the rise of Sikh Jat population by encouraging Hindu Jats to convert to Sikhism so as to get larger number of Sikh recruits for their army.[111]
Theprincely states ofPatiala,[112]Faridkot,Jind, andNabha[113] were ruled by the Sikh JatPhulkian dynasty.
Leading up to thepartition of India, Sikh Jats, alongside other Sikh groups, would take up arms and organise intoJathas, aiming to eliminate Muslim influence in east Punjab. These militias were well-organised, armed and supported by Sikh Jat princes, especially theMaharaja of Patiala.[114][115] After the partition, Sikh Jats continued to play a dominant role in the politics ofIndian Punjab. The ongoingKhalistan movement is also sometimes seen as an attempt to form a Sikh "Jatistan".[116][117]
In India, multiple 21st-century estimates put Jat's population share at 20–25% inHaryana state and at 20–35% inPunjab state.[118][119][120] InRajasthan,Delhi, andUttar Pradesh, they constitute around 9%, 5%, and 1.2% respectively of the total population.[121][122][123]
In the 20th century and more recently, Jats have dominated as the political class in Haryana[124] and Punjab.[125] Jat people also became notable political leaders, including the fifth prime minister of India,Charan Singh,[126] fromUttar Pradesh, the sixth deputy prime minister of India,Devi Lal, fromHaryana,[127] and former vice-president of India,Jagdeep Dhankar, fromRajasthan.[128]
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 ofNorth India. Economic differentiation, migration and mobility could be clearly noticed among the Jat people.[129]
The Jats are classified asGeneral caste (forward caste) in almost all states of India.[130][131] Jats from seven of India’s thirty-six states and UTs, namelyRajasthan,Himachal Pradesh,Delhi,Uttarakhand,Uttar Pradesh,Madhya Pradesh, andChhattisgarh, are included in their respective state OBC lists. However, only the Jats of Rajasthan – excluding those ofBharatpur district,Deeg district andDholpur district – are entitled to reservation in central government jobs under theOBC reservation.[132] In 2016, Haryana’s Jats organisedmassive protests demanding OBC classification for affirmative action benefits.[133]
Many Jat Muslim people live in Pakistan and have dominant roles in public life in thePakistani Punjab and Pakistan in general. Jat communities also exist inPakistani-administered Kashmir, in Sindh, particularly theIndus delta and amongSeraiki-speaking communities in southern Pakistani Punjab, theKachhi region of Balochistan and theDera Ismail Khan District of theNorth West Frontier Province.
In Pakistan also, Jat people have become notable political leaders, likeHina Rabbani Khar.[134]
According to anthropologist Sunil K. Khanna, the Jat population inSouth Asia was estimated to be around 30 million (or 3crore) in 2010. His estimation is based on the statistics of the last caste census conducted in 1931, which had placed the Jat population at about 8 million (or 80lakh), mostly concentrated inIndia andPakistan, and on the subsequent population growth of the region.[135]
Similarly, Deryck O. Lodrick estimated the Jat population to be over 33 million (or 3.3crore) inSouth Asia in 2009—approximately 12 million inIndia and over 21 million inPakistan. His calculation was based on population projections from the late 1980s and the growth trends of both countries. Lodrick also noted the lack of precise statistical data and mentioned that some estimates placed their total population at around 43 million in South Asia in 2009.[1]
TheKhap system was historically the prevailing system of organisation among the Jat community. The system continues to exist today, but as anextrajudicial organisation not legally recognised by theGovernment of India. However, Khaps continue to hold significant social influence in Jat-dominated areas, policing marriage customs and other social practices,[136][137] and occasionally inciting acts ofhonour killings.[138] The Khap system is also used for social reform in the Jat community. The Indian farmer's activistMahendra Singh Tikait was head of the Baliyan Khap until 2011.[139]
Khaps are clan-councils, presided over by clan elders and notables. An assembly of Khap leaders is known as a Khap Panchayat, and an assembly of several Panchayats is known as a Sarv Khap.[140]
Historically, Jat Khaps would raisemilitias to secure their own interests, usually capturing new territory for the clan or pushing for increased autonomy from the imperial center. For example, the Baliyan Khap was headquartered in the village of Sisuali in the 12th century, from where they would begin their campaigns of "territorial expansion, conquest and colonization", until members of the Baliyan clan eventually dominated the entirePargana of Sisuali by the 16th century. During the reign ofAkbar, theMughal government would grant many concessions to prominent Jat Khaps, including the Baliyan Khap, waiving "imposts that the Jats had resisted for centuries" in exchange for their support of the new tax reforms.[141]
_by_AC_Lovett_(1862-1919).jpg)
Many Jat people serve in theIndian Army, including theJat Regiment,Sikh Regiment,Rajputana Rifles and theGrenadiers, where they have won many of the highest military awards for gallantry and bravery. Jat people also serve in the Pakistan Army especially in thePunjab Regiment.[142]
The Jat people were designated by officials of theBritish Raj as a "martial race", which meant that they were one of the groups whom the British favoured for recruitment to theBritish Indian Army.[143][144] This was a designation created by administrators that classified each ethnic group as either "martial" or "non-martial": a "martial race" was typically considered brave and well built for fighting,[145] while the remainder were those whom the British believed to be unfit for battle because of their sedentary lifestyles.[146] However, the martial races were also considered politically subservient, intellectually inferior, lacking the initiative or leadership qualities to command large military formations. The British had a policy of recruiting the martial Indians from those who has less access to education as they were easier to control.[147][148] According to modern historian Jeffrey Greenhunt on military history, "The Martial Race theory had an elegant symmetry. Indians who were intelligent and educated were defined as cowards, while those defined as brave were uneducated and backward". According to Amiya Samanta, the martial race was chosen from people of mercenary spirit (a soldier who fights for any group or country that will pay him/her), as these groups lacked nationalism as a trait.[149] The Jats participated in bothWorld War I andWorld War II, as a part of the British Indian Army.[150] 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.[151]
TheIndian Army admitted in 2013 that the 150-strong Presidential Bodyguard comprises only people who are Hindu Jats, Jat Sikhs and Hindu Rajputs. Refuting claims of discrimination, it said that this was for "functional" reasons rather than selection based on caste or religion.[152]
Jats practise several religions, primarilyHinduism,Sikhism, andIslam. InIndia, large numbers of Jats areHindu, concentrated inRajasthan,Haryana,Uttar Pradesh, andMadhya Pradesh. Hindu Jats alsopray to their dead ancestors, a practice which is calledJathera.[153]Sikh Jats forms a significant portion of the Sikh population inPunjab, and some scholars have linked Sikh military traditions to the community’s agrarian and martial background. InPakistan, most Jats areMuslim.
Deryck O. Lodrick estimates religion-wise break-up of Jats as follows: 47% Hindus, 33% Muslims, and 20% Sikhs.[1]
In theProvince of Punjab, as per a 1921 census held inBritish India, 47% were Muslims, 33% were Sikhs and 19% were Hindus.[154] The former Punjab Province of British India extended well beyond the borders of present-day Punjab in both Pakistan and India, encompassing regions that are now part ofHaryana,Himachal Pradesh,Delhi,Chandigarh, and parts ofJammu and Kashmir, in addition to today’s Punjab provinces.
There are conflicting scholarly views regarding thevarna status of Jats in Hinduism. HistorianSatish Chandra describes the varna of Jats as "ambivalent" during the medieval era.[155] HistorianIrfan Habib states that the Jats were a "pastoral Chandala-like tribe" inSindh during the eighth century. Their 11th-century status of Shudra varna changed to Vaishya varna by the 17th century, with some of them aspiring to improve it further after their 17th-century rebellion against the Mughals. He citesAl-Biruni andDabistan-i Mazahib to support the claims of Shudra and Vashiya varna respectively.[156]
The claim at that time of Kshatriya status was being made by theArya Samaj, which was popular in the Jat community. The Arya Samaj saw it as a means to counter the colonial belief that the Jats were not of Aryan descent but ofIndo-Scythian origin.[157]
Christopher Bayly writes that the ruling dynasties among the Jats,Rajputs andMaratha, that arose when the Islamic cultural influence diminished, mostly originated from peasant of nomadic castes, but they performed rituals such asŚrāddha by employing high status Brahmins. These communities hoped that such rituals would enable them to make a Kshatriya claim.[158][159]
Dipankar Gupta states that the reason that originally low castes, such as Jat or Rajput, who had a shudra status in the early medieval era, have been enabled to claim Kshatriya status in modern times is due to political power.[160] He also says that Rajputs, Jats, Marathas - all claim Kshatriya status but do not accept each other's claim. There is no agreement on who is a true kshatriya caste.[161][162]
Jat marriages are traditionally structured aroundclan (gotra)exogamy and villageexogamy, with marriage within the same gotra or village typically prohibited.[163] At the same time, casteendogamy is commonly observed, with Jats marrying within their own community. These practices are considered important for maintaining kinship alliances and social cohesion across villages and regions.[164][165]
Jat weddings combine pan-Indian rituals with local customs. Ceremonies often includeprocessions,communal feasts, and ritual gifting, serving both social and symbolic functions. Weddings are frequently public events, used to reinforce clan ties, demonstrate social status, and maintain local prestige.[166]
In some regions, informal caste councils (khap panchayats) have historically played a role in regulating marriages. These councils may enforce community norms, particularly regarding same-gotra, inter-village, or inter-caste unions. While such councils have been criticised for restricting individual choice,[167] they have traditionally functioned as a mechanism for maintaining social order within Jat community.[168]
André Wink states that some Rajputs may be Jats by origin.[169] Tanuja Kothiyal states that modern research reveals that Jats is one of the communities from which Rajputs have emerged, the others beingBhils,Mers,Minas,Gujars andRaikas. This is contradictory to the British colonial era false narrative that these communities had a Rajput origin.[170] She points to the fact that "both Rajputs and Jats appear to originate from the mobile cattle rearing andrustling groups", hence it is understandable that they refer to each other in their chronicles, although they try to remain distinct. However, since Rajputs dominated the region, they were portrayed as "warriors" as opposed to Jats who were portrayed as "farmers", thus wiping out"Jat kingship" from the historiography.[171] 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.[172]
During the colonial period, many communities including Hindu Jats were found to be practising femaleinfanticide in different regions of Northern India.[173][174]
A 1988 study of Jat society pointed out that differential treatment is given to women in comparison to men. The birth of a male child in a family is celebrated and is considered auspicious, while the reaction to the birth of a female child is more subdued. In villages, female members are supposed to get married at a younger age and they are expected to work in fields as subordinate to the male members. There is general bias against education for the female child in society, though trends are changing with urbanisation. Purdah system is practised by women in Jat villages which act as hindrance to their overall emancipation. The village Jat councils which are male-dominated mostly don't allow female members to head their councils as the common opinion on it is that women are inferior, incapable and less intelligent to men.[175]
The Jat people are subdivided into numerous clans, some of which overlap with theRor,[176]Arain,[177]Rajput[177] and other groups.[178] Hindu and Sikh Jats practiseclan exogamy.
Jat: agricultural caste mainly from western UP, Punjab and Rajasthan
Jat: a middle agriculturalist caste of north India.
Jats: north Indian dominant Hindu agricultural caste
Jat: important Hindu agricultural caste of north India
Jat: title of north India's major non-elite 'peasant' caste
Jat: name of large agricultural caste centered in the undivided Punjab and western Uttar Pradesh
Jat: agricultural caste
Jat: Agriculturalist caste
Notwithstanding social, linguistic, and religious diversity, the Jats are one of the major landowning agriculturalist communities in South Asia.
Jat: Sikhs' largestzat, a hereditary land-owning community
Jatni ( female Jat ) , portrayed as stitching her own wedding clothes , personified the Victorian ideals both of morally superior rural handicraft production and of women's proper domestic work within a male - dominated lineage
Photograph 33 - Plate 27 • Rock with numerous inscriptions mostly Brahml, one Sogdian. A member of the "Jat" tribe is mentioned in the oldest hitherto only conjectural form of this term. Also mentioned is the politically important "Kasha land". Shatial Bridge. (6th-7th century A.D.)
The inscriptions no. 30-31 are located at three different sites. Thus we can follow up the travels of Jīvavarma... Jīvavarma is called Jatta, therefore he is a member of the Jats...
Indeed "Jat" had been a generic term for a peasant in the Punjab.
For Ibbetson, then, both the Punjab and the northwest frontier regions were open societies where the difference between the 'Jat' and the 'Rajput' was not a matter of blood or ethnological fact... [but] a fluid representation of status as claimed by men of power.
The Jats, who are numerically dominant in central and eastern Punjab, can be Hindu, Sikh, or Muslim; they range from powerful landowners to poor subsistence farmers, and were recruited in large numbers to serve in the British army.
The Jat power neat Agra and Mathura arose out of the rebellion of peasants under zamindar leadership, attaining the apex of power under Suraj Mal...it seems to have been an extensive replacement of Rajput by Jat zamindars...and the 'warlike Jats' (a peasant and zamindar caste).
n the Ganges Canal Tract of the Muzaffarnagar district where the landowning castes – Tagas, Jats, Rajputs, Sayyids, Sheikhs, Gujars, Borahs
The number of parganas with Jat zamindaris (Map 2) is surprisingly large and well spread out, though there are none beyond the Jhelum. They appear to be in two blocks, divided by a sparse zone between the Sutlej and the Sarasvati basin. The two blocks, in fact, represent two different segments of the Jats, the western one (Panjab) known as Jat (with short vowel) and the other (Haryanvi) as Jaat (with long vowel).
Out of the 45 parganas of the sarkars of Delhi, 17 are reported to have Jat Zamindars. Out of these 17 parganas, the Jats are exclusively found in 11, whereas in other 6 they shared Zamindari rights with other communities.
Muzaffar Alam's study of the akhbarat (news reports) and chronicles of the period demonstrates that Banda and his followers had wide support amongst the Jat zamindars of the Majha, Jalandhar Doab, and the Malwa area. Jat zamindars actively colluded with the rebels, and frustrated the Mughal faujdars or commanders of the area by supplying Banda and his men with grain, horses, arms, and provisions. This evidence suggests that understanding the rebellion as a competition between peasants and feudal lords is an oversimplification, since the groups affiliated with Banda as well as those affiliated with the state included both Zamindars and peasants.
Banda led predominantly the uprisings of the Jat zamindars.It is also to be noted that tha Jats were the dominant zamindar castes in some of the parganas where Banda had support. But Banda's spectacular success and the amazing increase in the strength of his army within a few months*6 does not cohere with the presence of a few Jat zamindaris…we can, however presume that the unidentified zamindars of our sources who rallied behind Banda were the small zamindars (mah'ks) and the Mughal assessees (malguzars). It is not without significance that they are almost invariably described as the zamindars of village (mauza and dehat). These zamindars were largely the Jats who had settled in the region for the last three or four centuries.
Guru Nanak's father- in-law, Mula Chonha, works as an administrator for the Jat landlord, Ajita Randawa. If we expand this train of thought and examine other Janamsakhi figures we can detect an interesting pattern…All of Nanak's immediate relatives were professional administrators for local or regional lords, including Jat masters. From this we can infer that Khatris did seem to occupy a position as a professional class and some Jats held the position of being landlords. There was clearly a professional services relationship between high-ranking Khatris and high-ranking Jats, and this seems indicative of the wider socio- economic relationship between Khatris and Jats in medieval Panjab.
There is good reason to believe that parts of the present north-eastern and north-western Rajasthan were inhabited by Jat clans ruled by their own chiefs and largely governed by their own customary law.
Nearly the whole of the territory that formed the boundaries of Bikaner was possessed by six Jat clans, namely, Poonia, Godara, Saran, Asiagh, Beniwal and Johiyas.
They lived as semi-autonomous tribes-especially the Jats, who formed the seven different clans amongst themselves (1) Punia, (2) Godara, (3) Saran, (4) Kaswa, (5) Beniwal, (6) Sihag, and (7) Sohua, butTod enumerates only six Jat clans, i.e. Punia, Godara, Saran, Asiach, Beniwal and Johiya though this last clan is by some termed a ramification of the Yadu-Bhati Rajputs.
It wasMahadji who first took Gwalior fort from the Rana of Gohad...
In the 1947 riots the leadership of the dhars... took the Hindu dhar to Mewat and killed people there... The Brahman-Baniya residents, who were well off, felt threatened by the Muslim Meos. The Jats went at their invitation and they looked after the food and drink of the Jats. The dhars had weapons like thelathi,vallam [spear],talvar [sword] andpharsa [axe]... The Meos began to leave inbhadon. No one stopped them.
Towards the end of July there was an evacuation of Muslims from Bharatpur State into Alwar State and Gurgoan district. This was caused by the Bharatpur state troops harassing Muslims, setting their houses on fire and, it was reported, shooting them at sight. Refugees crossed a river dividing the two States... About half an hour later Bharatpur troops crossed the river and attacked the refugee camp, inflicting 150 casualties...
"Every time that [Babur] entered Hindustan, the Jats and Gujars regularly poured down in prodigious numbers from their hills and wilds in order to carry off oxen and buffaloes."
The Jats have long been distinguished by their martial traditions and by the custom of retaining their hair uncut. The influence of these traditions evidently operated prior to the formal inauguration of the Khalsa.
It is obvious that their leadership was largely in Jaț hands and eventually it was a Jaț misldār, Raňjīt Siṅgh, who secured total ascendancy. Individual chieftains such as Jassā Siṅgh Kalāl (later known as Jassā Siṅgh Ahlūwālīā) and his namesake Jassā Siṅgh Rāmgaṛhiā represent leadership derived from lower-status groups, but do not disturb the dominant pattern
Budha Singh, an affluent Jat farmer of the village of Sukarchak in the Majha tract of the Punjab, was the first historically known ancestor of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. His original name was Desu. He was born in 1670. He possessed 25 acres of land and three ploughs and a well. On this land he had built a couple of houses for his family and cattle. The place was named Sukarchak. Sukar means small and narrow and chak signifies a petty tract of land.
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.
The British policy of recruiting the Sikhs (due to the imperial belief that Sikhism is a martial religion) resulted in the spread of Sikhism among the Jats of undivided Punjab and conversion of the Singhs into the 'Lions of Punjab'.
While the rulers of Patiala were Jat Sikhs and not Rajputs, the state was the closest princely territory to Bikaner's northwest.
The passage to Delhi, however, lay through the cis–Sutlej states ofPatiala,Jind,Nabha andFaridkot, a long chain of Jat Sikh states that had entered into a treaty of alliance with the British as far back as April 1809 to escape incorporation into the kingdom of their illustrious and much more powerful neighbour, 'the lion of Punjab' Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
Hina Rabbani Khar was born on 19 November 1977 in Multan, Punjab, Pakistan in a Muslim Jat family.
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."
Apart from their physique, the martial races were regarded as politically subservient or docile to authority
The Saturday review had made much the same argument a few years earlier in relation to the armies raised by Indian rulers in princely states. They lacked competent leadership and were uneven in quality. Commander in chief Roberts, one of the most enthusiastic proponents of the martial race theory, though poorly of the native troops as a body. Many regarded such troops as childish and simple. The British, claims, David Omissi, believe martial Indians to be stupid. Certainly, the policy of recruiting among those without access to much education gave the British more semblance of control over their recruits.
Dr . Jeffrey Greenhunt has observed that " The Martial Race Theory had an elegant symmetry. Indians who were intelligent and educated were defined as cowards, while those defined as brave were uneducated and backward. Besides their mercenary spirit was primarily due to their lack of nationalism.
The Jats of the Panjab worship their ancestors in a practice known as Jathera.
The Marathas formed the fighting class in Maharashtra and also engaged themselves in agriculture. Like the Jats in north India, their position in thevarna system was ambivalent.
A historically singular case is that of the Jatts, a pastoral Chandala-like tribe in eighth-century Sind, who attained sudra status by the eleventh century (Alberuni), and had become peasants par excellence (of vaisya status) by the seventeenth century (Dabistani-i Mazahib). The shift to peasant agriculture was probably accompanied by a process of 'sanskritization', a process which continued, when, with the Jat rebellion of the seventeenth century a section of the Jats began to aspire to the position of zamindars and the status of Rajputs.
It was among the rulers of these new predominantly, Hindu states - the Mahrattas in the west, the Jats near Delhi and the Bhumihar and Rajput rulers of the ganjetic plane itself - that the holy and funerary rites found their most energetic patrons. These ruling dynasties were often themselves drawn from nomadic or peasant communities of relatively low caste status. An essential aspect of the consolidation of their power was a claim to legitimacy which entailed regular association with the cult centers of orthodox Hinduism. By acquiring priests of sufficiently high status to perform ceremonies such as shraddha, these princes could hope to their claims to kshatriya(warrior) which was the pride of the old Hindu ruling houses.
Each caste would like its own hierarchy to be realized but to do so it must have power at its bidding. This is what has allowed castes that were once low to claim undisputed kshatriya status today. The transformation of Rajputs , Gujars and Jats from their early medieval Shudra positions to upper caste Kshatriya status is clearly a case in point. Today if Jats or Rajputs were reminded of their shudra past it would hardly carry with it a ring of credibility.
As almost everybody aspires to be a warrior, king and conqueror, it is hardly surprising that there is no consensus in India's four caste model (or chaturvarna) on who is a true Kshatriya. From earthy Jats and Marathas, to princelings and their hangers on, such as the Rajputs and Thakurs, a wide range of castes call themselves 'Kshatriyas', but without a shred of mutual admiration.
'while there seems to be some agreement in each area in India as to who are Brahmins and who Untouchables, such consensus is absent with regard to Kshatriyas and Vaishyas
Given the fact that both Rajputs and Jats appear to originate from the mobile cattle rearing and rustling groups, it is not surprising that these groups find references in each other's narratives, while attempting to establish a separate identity at the same time. The dominance of Rajput perspective in the historiography of the region, not only obliterated references to Jat kingship or Jat resistance to Rajput kingship, but also increasingly poised Jats as sturdy, hardworking but simple minded peasant community, as opposed to the martial rajputs.
The 1921 census reports classifies castes into two categories, namely, castes. having a tradition' of female infanticide and castes without such a tradition (see table). This census provides figures from 1901 to 1921 to show that in Punjab, United Provinces and Rajputana castes such as Hindu rajputs, Hindu jats and gujars with 'a tradition' of female infanticide had a much lower number of females per thousand males compared to castes without such a tradition which included: Muslim rajputs, Muslim jats, chamar, kanet, arain, kumhar, kurmi, brahmin, dhobi, teli and lodha
By 1850, several castes, in North India, the Jats, Ahirs, Gujars and Khutris, and the Lewa Patidar Kanbis in Central Gujarat were found to practice female infanticide. The colonial authorities also found that both in rural North and West India, the castes which practised female infanticide were propertied (they owned substantial arable land), had the hypergamous marriage norm and paid large dowries.
Ror clans: Sangwan, Dhiya, Malik, Lather, etc, are also found among the Jats. From an economic point of view the Rors living in Karnal and Kurukshetra districts consider themselves better off than their counterparts in Jind and Sonepat districts.
Some clans of theArains which is also shared by Rajputs and theJats. Bhutto is another variant of Bhutta. Some important Arian clans overlap with the Rajputs, for instance: Sirohsa, Ganja, Shaun, Bhatti, Butto, Chachar, Indrai, Joiya...
