Jats

A Jat farmer tending to his crops
A Jat sepoy of the 14th Murrays Jat Lancers

The Jats, also spelt as Jaat, Jatt, and Jutt, are an agriculturist and landowning community of Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralists along the Indus river-valley, many Jats migrated into the Punjab, Delhi Territory, Jangladesh, and the western Gangetic Plain by the 17th and 18th centuries. Of Hindu, Muslim and Sikh faiths, they are now found mostly in the Indian states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, and the Pakistani provinces of Sindh, Punjab and AJK.

History

The Jats are a diverse community in the Indian subcontinent, ranging from simple landowning peasants to wealthy and influential Zamindars.

Origin

The origin of Jats is heavily disputed. Some attribute them to the non-Vedic Jartika tribe mentioned in the Mahabharata, while others argue they were from the Indo-Scythian Getae tribe. The Umayyad chroniclers also used the term "Zutt", derived from the native name Jit, to identify the various pastoralists of the Indus Valley.

The first indisputable references to Jats appear to be by Ghaznavid-era scholars, such as Gardizi and Al-Biruni, who clearly note Jats being spread out from the banks of the Indus to the city of Mathura.

Political history

Starting in the 10th century, Jat clans established independent chiefdoms in historical Jangladesh. From the 11th century onwards, Jats would migrate up from Sindh and Rajasthan into Punjab, adopting agriculture with tools like the water wheel. By Mughal times, “Jat” often meant “peasant” in Punjab, and some became landowners. By 1595, Jat Zamindars controlled about 32% of Punjab’s Zamindaris.

During the Mughal Empire’s decline in the 17th century, ambitious Jat chiefs would revolt. Gokula would lead the Brajwasi Hindu Jats against Emperor Aurangzeb, leading to the formation of petty states which united under the Bharatpur State. Punjabi Sikh Jat chiefs would form most of the Sikh Misls, resisting Mughal and Durrani forces, and later uniting under the Sikh Empire. And in Rohilkhand, the Rohilla dynasty of Rampur State descended from an adopted Muslim Jat.

During the British Raj, some Jats would rule princely states such as Patiala, Faridkot, Jind, and Nabha. Jats were generally classified as a “martial race” by the British, favoured for recruitment into the British Indian Army due to perceived physical fitness, though considered politically subservient and intellectually inferior. Post-1881, Sikh Jats were prioritised for recruitment as the British deemed Hindus less suitable. Jat sepoys would fight in both World Wars. Following the Partition of British India, most Hindu and Sikh Jats settled in India, while most Muslim Jats settled in Pakistan.

Demography

In India, Jats and Sikh form 20–25% of Haryana’s population and 20–35% of Punjab’s, with 9% in Rajasthan, 5% in Delhi, and 1.2% in Uttar Pradesh. Classified as a General (forward) caste in most states, Jats in Rajasthan (except Bharatpur and Dholpur) qualify for central OBC reservation. Seven states include Jats in their OBC (Other Backward Castes) lists.

In 2009, the Pakistani Jat population was estimated to be roughly 21 million. The Jats, together with Rajputs and Gujjars, are part of the dominant Punjabi Muslim communities settled across eastern Pakistan.

Culture and society

A contingent of the Jat Regiment in the Indian Republic Day parade

Jats adopted Islam in West Punjab, Sikhism in East Punjab, and Hinduism in areas between Delhi and Agra, reflecting regional religious influences. Jathera (ancestor) worship was also historically common.

The Khap system was historically the prevailing system of organisation for the Jats of Rajasthan, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh. Khaps are clan-councils, presided over by clan elders and notables. Historically, Jat Khaps would raise militias to capture new territory for the clan or push for increased autonomy. The system continues to exist today, albeit extrajudicially, policing social norms in Jat-dominated areas.

Many Jats serve in the Indian Army, including the Jat Regiment, Sikh Regiment, Rajputana Rifles, and Grenadiers, earning numerous gallantry awards. Jats also serve in the Pakistan Army, particularly in the Punjab Regiment.

Notable persons

References

  1. ↑ Bal, Gurpreet (September 2006). "Entrepreneurship among Diasporic Communities". The Journal of Entrepreneurship. 15 (2): 189. doi:10.1177/097135570601500205. ISSN 0971-3557. Most of the Sikhs are Jats and owing to their numerical preponderance and landownership, they are a dominant caste in Punjab. The word Jat and farmer are synonymous in Punjabi. They are landowners and their occupation is agriculture.
  2. ↑ Pathak, Ajai K.; Kadian, Anurag; Kushniarevich, Alena; Montinaro, Francesco; Mondal, Mayukh; Ongaro, Linda; Singh, Manvendra; Kumar, Pramod; Rai, Niraj; Parik, Jüri; Metspalu, Ene (December 2018). "The Genetic Ancestry of Modern Indus Valley Populations from Northwest India". The American Journal of Human Genetics. 103 (6): 04. doi:10.1016/j.ajhg.2018.10.022. S2CID 54476711. Jat (also spelled as "Jatt" and "Jaat") people are an ethnic agricultural apparently setled in Northwest South Asia The term Jat is supposedly derived from Jatta, a broad word used for cattle gazers and camel breeders, moving in a group - jatha. Jats have been known as zamindars (landowner) since the period of Mogul emperor Akbar in 16th century".
  3. ↑ Kaur, Harjinder (2010). Nationalist Historians On Sikh History. Punjab (India): Department of History-University of Patiala. p. 238. Jatt/ Jaat: A section of Indian society which dominates the rural areas in the Northern India. These people are most agriculturist
  4. ↑ Etienne, Gilbert (2023-11-15). Studies in Indian Agriculture: The Art of the Possible. Univ of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-32378-0.
  5. ↑ Ramaswamy, Vijaya (2016). Migrations in medieval and early colonial India. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-138-48854-0.  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
  6. ↑ Turner, Ralph Lilley (1962). A Comparative Dictionary of Indo-Aryan languages. London: Oxford University Press. p. 280.
  7. ↑ Prakash, Buddha (1962). Studies in Indian History and Civilization (PDF). Shiva Lal Agarwala. p. 319. ...[The Hephtalites were] driven away by Skandagupta and defeated probably by the Jartas, the Jartikas or Jats of the Sialkot region, as we learn from a remark of Chandragomin ajayaj-jarto Hūnān...
  8. ↑ Alexander Cunningham, 1888, cited by: Sundeep S. Jhutti, 2003, The Getes, Philadelphia, PA; Department of East Asian languages & Civilizations University of Pennsylvania, p. 13.
  9. ↑ Sulimirski, Tadeusz (1970). The Sarmatians: Volume 73 of Ancient peoples and places. New York: Praeger. pp. 113–114. ISBN 9789080057272. The evidence of both the ancient authors and the archaeological remains point to a massive migration of Sacian (Sakas)/Massagetan ("great" Jat) tribes from the Syr Daria Delta (Central Asia) by the middle of the second century B.C. Some of the Syr Darian tribes; they also invaded North India.
  10. ↑ ʿAthamina, Khalil (1998). "Non-Arab Regiments and Private Militias during the Umayyād Period"]. Arabica. 45 (3): 347–378. ISSN 0570-5398. Pg. 355. JSTOR 4057316
  11. ↑ Baumer, Christoph (30 May 2016). The History of Central Asia: The Age of Islam and the Mongols. Bloomsbury. pp. 207–208. ISBN 978-1838609399. Archived from the original on 11 May 2024. As the contemporary writer Gardizi reports, Mahmud had 1,400 boats built; each boat was to carry 20 archers and be equipped with special projectiles that could be filled with naphtha. Mahmud's fleet sailed down the Jhelum and then the Indus, until it met the Jat fleet. Although the Jats had far more boats than Mahmud, their fleet was set ablaze and destroyed.
  12. ↑ Al-Biruni, India:Translated by Kayamuddin, Published by National Book Trust, India, 1997 page-176
  13. ↑ Sharma, Dasharatha (1966). Rajasthan Through the Ages: From the earliest times to 1316 A.D. Bikaner: Rajasthan State Archives. pp. 287–288. 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.
  14. ↑ Grewal, J. S. (2003). The Sikhs of the Punjab. The new Cambridge history of India / general ed. Gordon Johnson 2, Indian States and the transition to colonialism (Rev. ed., transferred to digital print ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0-521-63764-0. “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 Rajputs to occupy cultural lands”.
  15. ↑ Metcalf, Barbara D.; Metcalf, Thomas R. (2006-09-28). A Concise History of Modern India. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-139-45887-0.
  16. ↑ Bayly, C. A. (1988-05-19). Rulers, Townsmen and Bazaars: North Indian Society in the Age of British Expansion, 1770-1870. CUP Archive. ISBN 978-0-521-31054-3.
  17. ↑ Asher, Catherine; Talbot, Cynthia (2006). India before Europe. Cambridge University Press. p. 272. ISBN 978-0-521-80904-7. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
  18. ↑ Dhavan, Purnima (2011-11-03). When Sparrows Became Hawks: The Making of the Sikh Warrior Tradition, 1699-1799. Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 978-0-19-975655-1.
  19. ↑ Khan, Iqbal Ghani (2002). "Technology and the Question of Elite Intervention in Eighteenth-Century North India". In Barnett, Richard B. (ed.). Rethinking Early Modern India. Manohar Publishers & Distributors. p. 271. ISBN 978-81-7304-308-6. "Thus we witness the Ruhelas accepting an exceptionally talented non-Afghan, an adopted Jat boy, as their nawab, purely on the basis of his military leadership..."
  20. ↑ Bates, Crispin (2013-03-31). Mutiny at the Margins: New Perspectives on the Indian Uprising of 1857: Volume I: Anticipations and Experiences in the Locality. SAGE Publications. ISBN 978-81-321-1589-2. “The passage to Delhi, however, lay through the cis–Sutlej states of Patiala, Jind, Nabha and Faridkot, 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”
  21. ↑ Britten, Thomas Anthony (1997). American Indians in World War I: At Home and at War. UNM Press. ISBN 978-0-8263-2090-2.
  22. ↑ Streets, Heather; Streets-Salter, Heather (2004). Martial Races: The Military, Race and Masculinity in British Imperial Culture, 1857-1914. Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-0-7190-6962-8.
  23. ↑ Veer, Peter van der (1994-02-07). Religious Nationalism: Hindus and Muslims in India. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-08256-4.
  24. ↑ Jackson, Ashley (2006). The British Empire and the Second World War. London: Hambledon and London. ISBN 978-1-85285-417-1.
  25. ↑ Jaffrelot, Christophe (2003). India's Silent Revolution: The Rise of the Lower Castes in North India. Hurst. ISBN 978-1-85065-670-8.
  26. ↑ The Indian Journal of Political Science. Indian Political Science Association. 2006.
  27. ↑ "SC removes Jats from OBC list". The Hindu. 2015-03-17. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2025-05-09.
  28. ↑ "History repeats itself as yet another Central govt faces a Jat stir". Hindustan Times. 2016-02-22. Retrieved 2025-05-09.
  29. ↑ Lodrick, Deryck O. (2009). "JATS". In Gallagher, Timothy L.; Hobby, Jeneen (eds.). Worldmark Encyclopedia of Cultures and Daily Life. Volume 3: Asia & Oceania (2nd ed.). Gale. pp. 418–419. ISBN 978-1414448916.
  30. ↑ Christophe Jaffrelot, ed. (2004). A history of Pakistan and its origins. London: Anthem Press. ISBN 1-84331-149-6. OCLC 56646546.
  31. ↑ Khan, Iftikhar Ahmad (1982). "A Note on Medieval Jatt Immigration in the Punjab". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 43: 342–350. ISSN 2249-1937. JSTOR 44141246.
  32. ↑ Pradhan, M. C. (18 December 1965). "The Jats of Northern India Their Traditional Political System – II" (PDF). Economic and Political Weekly.
  33. ↑ Richards, John F. (1993). The Mughal Empire - Part 1 Volume 5. Cambridge University Press. pp. 88–90. ISBN 9780521566032.
  34. ↑ Kumar, Ajay (28 January 2012). "Khap Panchayats: A Socio-Historical Overview". Economic and Political Weekly. 47 (4): 59–64. JSTOR 41419766.
  35. ↑ Sumner, Ian (2001-08-25). The Indian Army 1914–1947. Bloomsbury USA. ISBN 978-1-84176-196-1.

Notes

Further reading

  • Census Of India 1911 Volume XIV Punjab Part 2 by Pandit Narikishan Kaul
  • 'A glossary of the tribes and castes of the Punjab and North West Frontier Province' by H.A. Rose, Page 354, published in 1919.