Hi, recently I got chance to read Dr. Nonika Dutta’s “Forming an Identity : A Social History of the Jats”. Here is brief review.
First of all, the book is not about the history of the Jats, but it’s about how different social and political reforms contributed to the identity of the Jats during last 150 years in the south-west Punjab (i.e. present Haryana). It talks about nothing more and nothing less. Dr. Dutta claims that Jat identity formation process wasn’t entirely because of extraneous factors like colonial rule but conscious efforts of Jats themselves contributed to development of their identity. Two most important factors are claimed to be Arya Samaj and Chhotu Ram.
The books start off pretty nicely by giving account of various sects popular in Haryana in pre-colonial era like Gorakhnath, Gugga Peer (or Bir), Dadupanthi etc. Most of these local sects were product of Bhakti movement and reevaluation of religious norms when external factor of Islam got incorporated in Indian culture. Dr. Dutta assumes Haryana to be mostly empty of people before Bagris came from Bikaner area and populated pastoral plains in western Haryana and started cultivation after clearing forests. It might be true that most of Bagri people have come from Rajasthan (e.g. Sangwan) but the absence of any cultural and political continuity of populace of Haryana in Dr. Dutta’s work doesn’t align well with previous works (e.g. Desraj’s) on Jat history. I don’t know if Khaps were very active in Haryana before the rise of Bharatpur, so I proceeded with the benefit of doubt. By the way, Dr. Dutta prefers to use word “faction” for “Khap”.
As an example of Dr. Dutta's “opinions”, on page 37 she claims, “The Dahiyas and Sangwans, for example, claimed to be Chauhan Rajput; the Ghatwalas (Malik) traced their origin to the Saroha Rajputs.” This claim is without any reference. I never heard that Dahiya are descent of Chauhan; Dr. Dutta doesn’t seem to be familiar with B. S. Dahiya’s work (which wasn’t referenced even once in the book), certainly not about Dhe tribes of central Asia.
Dr. Dutta states on page 35 “Another legendary hero of Hissar was Shamji, a Chauhan Raja of Garb Dadera who lived the famous war between the Pandavas and Kauravas”. The reference is “Hissar, DG, p121”, which doesn’t seem to be reliable and I don’t know what kind of history says that Chauhan Rajputs lived during Mahabharta war. I would be very interested in looking at such proofs.
As per Dr. Dutta, Arya Samaj played important role in shaping Jat identity. Its main tenets were already falling in line with principles that Jats have been following while being part of other unorthodox sects. And moreover, it gave Jats better status in caste hierarchy. Everybody became equally eligible to be called Aryan and warrior quality of Jats were at par with Khatriyas and other issues like vegetarianism, anti cow-slaughter sentiments, anti-Brahmanical tilt were easy for Jats to identify with. Swami Dayanand’s praise of Jats in Satyarth Prakash and his frequent visits to the Punjab also gave boost to Jat morale. According to Dr. Dutta, it also gave Jats opportunity to “construct” their history and bridge the connection with Vedic Aryans.
Then she moves on to Sir Chhotu Ram and does very good job by giving various details of his struggle, his ideology, politics of Unionist party of Punjab and his relationship with British and Muslims. The subject in itself is very interesting, for example, the relationship cycle of Chritstian missionary--Gurukul--Chhotu Ram--British--Missionaries is bound to have complex interplay of politics. No doubt, this part of books is brilliantly worked on and Dr. Dutta forgets to insert her “opinions” for a while.
But then, on page 83, “Gurukuls… promoted political quietism, Hindu orthodoxy and sexism.” I happened to be reading this while flying in aeroplane. Suddenly I felt a jolt as if the plane jerked while going through highly irregular pressure zone. I looked around and everything looked normal, it must have come from the book. I never knew that Gurukuls promoted sexism. After few sentences, “…Jat identity was formed through the creation of an imagined past and with the aid of various myths and theories that were pressed into service from time to time.” If she is stating that by keeping in mind Jat History section of Jatland, I won’t have any problem. But blaming whole Jat history effort as concoction speaks for itself on Dr. Dutta’s scholarly credentials. Dr. Dutta lists all Jat historians in the section titled “Constructing the Past”, this surely is Dr. Dutta’s own “construction of opinions” if nothing else. It’s hard for me to list all such unscholarly claims here but they occur quite frequently towards the end of the book.
Dr. Dutta’s interest in sexism of Jats is another recursive theme. For example, on page 168, a song for upliftment of women from book “Jat Sudhar” is given which goes like…
Education of women would eradicate evils such as the sale of daughters
Imrovement…..
(similar more lines)……
How will you Bharatvarsha liberate yourself when women suffer?
All the virtues of home and society are, after all, due to women.
Dr. Dutta interpreted this as “Primarily, this discourse linked women’s sexuality with reproduction. These themes, at once liberating and oppressive, were necessary for the affirmation of Jat masculinity.” The song is nice and I don’t know by what standards Dr. Dutta found sexism in that.
But that’s not all. On page 191, “…wearing a janeu, protecting the cow, ‘controlling’ women through karewa,..” What? I never thought of karewa as a way of controlling women. Widow Remarriage is one of tantamount of Jat culture and is meant to uplift women.
Dr. Dutta talks a lot about Bhagat Phool Singh too. Her comment of opportunist attitude of Jats in caste hierarchy is true in the sense that Jats want to be included in OBCs for political reasons and also want to considered unbeliever in caste system or superior than Brahmins. But such things are bound to happen in caste driven politics and it doesn’t give ground to make an opinion on social history of Jats. Though lots of references are listed in the book, most of them are unnecessary.
Finally, the book has quality of at once sounding as a credible work on social history of the Jats as well as a well researched thesis with numerous references. But that aspect of book means to win reader's confidence and prepare him to accept Dr. Dutta’s “opinions” that are frequently inserted in between otherwise innocuous paragraphs. If a reader hasn’t had read couple of other books on Jat history he/she is most likely to fall in the trap. The undercurrent theme of the book, although claimed to be scholarly rigorous, doesn’t seem to do justice to social history of the Jats.
-vinod