Jat. [181]--The representative cultivating caste of the Punjab,
corresponding to the Kurmi of Hindustan, the Kunbi of the Deccan,
and the Kapu of Telingana. In the Central Provinces 10,000 Jats were
returned in 1911, of whom 5000 belonged to Hoshangabad and the bulk of
the remainder to Narsinghpur, Saugor and Jubbulpore. The origin of the
Jat caste has been the subject of much discussion. Sir D. Ibbetson
stated some of the theories as follows: [182] "Suffice it to say
that both General Cunningham and Major Tod agree in considering the
Jats to be of Indo-Scythian stock. The former identifies them with
the Zanthii of Strabo and the Jatii of Pliny and Ptolemy; and holds
that they probably entered the Punjab from their home on the Oxus
very shortly after the Meds or Mands, who also were Indo-Scythians,
and who moved into the Punjab about a century before Christ.... Major
Tod classes the Jats as one of the great Rajput tribes, and extends
his identification with the Getae to both races; but here General
Cunningham differs, holding the Rajputs to belong to the original Aryan
stock, and the Jats to a later wave of immigrants from the north-west,
probably of Scythian race." It is highly probable that the Jats may
date their settlement in the Punjab from one of the three Scythian
inroads mentioned by Mr. V. A. Smith, [183] but I do not know that
there is as yet considered to be adequate evidence to identify them
with any particular one.
The following curious passage from the Mahabharata would appear to
refer to the Jats: [184]
"An old and excellent Brahman reviling the countries Bahika and
Madra in the dwelling of Dhritarashtra, related facts long known, and
thus described those nations. External to the Himavan, and beyond the
Ganges, beyond the Sarasvati and Yamuna rivers and Kurukshetra, between
five rivers, and the Sindhu as the sixth, are situated the Bahikas,
devoid of ritual or observance, and therefore to be shunned. Their
figtree is named Govardhana (i.e. the place of cow-killing); their
market-place is Subhadram (the place of vending liquor: at least so
say the commentators), and these give titles to the doorway of the
royal palace. A business of great importance compelled me to dwell
amongst the Bahikas, and their customs are therefore well known to
me. The chief city is called Shakala, and the river Apaga. The people
are also named Jarttikas; and their customs are shameful. They drink
spirits made from sugar and grain, and eat meat seasoned with garlic;
and live on flesh and wine: their women intoxicated appear in public
places, with no other garb than garlands and perfumes, dancing and
singing, and vociferating indecencies in tones more harsh than those of
the camel or the ass; they indulge in promiscuous intercourse and are
under no restraint. They clothe themselves in skins and blankets, and
sound the cymbal and drum and conch, and cry aloud with hoarse voices:
'We will hasten to delight, in thick forests and in pleasant places;
we will feast and sport; and gathering on the highways spring upon the
travellers, and spoil and scourge them!' In Shakala, a female demon
(a Rakshasi) on the fourteenth day of the dark fortnight sings aloud:
'I will feast on the flesh of kine, and quaff the inebriating spirit
attended by fair and graceful females.' The Sudra-like Bahikas have no
institutes nor sacrifices; and neither deities, manes, nor Brahmans
accept their offerings. They eat out of wooden or earthen plates,
nor heed their being smeared with wine or viands, or licked by dogs,
and they use equally in its various preparations the milk of ewes,
of camels and of asses. Who that has drunk milk in the city Yugandhara
can hope to enter Svarga? Bahi and Hika were the names of two fiends
in the Vipasha river; the Bahikas are their descendants and not of
the creation of Brahma. Some say the Arattas are the name of the
people and Bahika of the waters. The Vedas are not known there,
nor oblation, nor sacrifice, and the gods will not partake of their
food. The Prasthalas (perhaps borderers), Madras, Gandharas, Arattas,
Khashas, Vasas, Atisindhus (or those beyond the Indus), Sauviras, are
all equally infamous. There one who is by birth a Brahman, becomes a
Kshatriya, or a Vaishya, or a Sudra, or a Barber, and having been a
barber becomes a Brahman again. A virtuous woman was once violated by
Aratta ruffians, and she cursed the race, and their women have ever
since been unchaste. On this account their heirs are their sisters'
children, not their own. All countries have their laws and gods:
the Yavanas are wise, and preeminently brave; the Mlechchas observe
their own ritual, but the Madrakas are worthless. Madra is the ordure
of the earth: it is the region of inebriety, unchastity, robbery,
and murder: fie on the Panchanada people! fie on the Aratta race!"
In the above account the country referred to is clearly the Punjab,
from the mention of the five rivers and the Indus. The people are
called Bahika or Jarttika, and would therefore seem to be the Jats. And
the account would appear to refer to a period when they were newly
settled in the Punjab and had not come under Hindu influence. But
at the same time the Aryans or Hindus had passed through the Punjab
and were settled in Hindustan. And it would therefore seem to be a
necessary inference that the Jats were comparatively late immigrants,
and were one of the tribes who invaded India between the second
century B.C. and the fifth century A.D. as suggested above.