Iran

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Names of territories during the Caliphate, Khorasan was part of Persia (in yellow).

Iran (इरान) (Īrān), is a country located in West Asia, known previously as Persia. Iran borders Armenia, Azerbaijan (including its Nakhichevan exclave), and Turkmenistan to the north, Pakistan and Afghanistan to the east, and Turkey and Iraq to the west. In addition, it borders the Persian Gulf, across which lie Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. Shi'a Islam is the official state religion. Throughout history, Iran has been of great geostrategic importance because of its central location in Eurasia. The name Iran is a cognate of Aryan and literally means "Land of the Aryans."

The Land of the Aryans

In former ages, the names Ariana and Persian were used to describe the region which is today known as the Iranian plateau. The earliest Iranian reference to the word (airya/arya/aryana etc), however, predates the Iranian prophet Zoroaster (est. anywhere between 1200 to 1800 BCE, according to Plato and other Greek sources as early as 7000 BCE.) and is attested in non-Gathic Avesta; it appears as airya, meaning noble/spiritual/elevated; as airya dainhava (Yt.8.36, 52) meaning the land of the Aryans; and as airyana vaejah, the original land of the Aryans. Other peoples were called Anairya and later Aniranian, meaning un-aryan or non-Aryan.

During the Achaemenid dynasty (550-330 BCE), the Persian people called their provincial homeland Pārsa, the Old Persian name for Cyrus the Great's kingdom which belonged to the Persian tribe of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranians and which can still be found in the term Pars or Fars as part of the heartland of Iran and for example in the map by Eratosthenes and other historical or modern maps.

However, the country as a whole was called Aryanam. The word Ariya, noble/spiritual/elevated, is attested in the Inscriptions of Darius the Great and his son, Xerxes; it is used both as a linguistic and a racial designation as Darius refers to this at the Behistun inscription (DBiv.89), which is written in Aryan language/airyan, also known as Old Persian. Both Darius and Xerxes state in Naqsh-i Rustam (DNa.14), Susa (DSe.13), and Persepolis (XPh.13):

Adam Pārsa, Pārsahyā puça; Ariya, Ariya ciça...

I am Persian, son of a Persian, an Aryan, belonging to the Aryan race." --Darius the Great (549 BCE - 486 BCE)

In Parthian times (248 BCE–224 CE) Aryanam was modified to Aryan. In the early Sassanid Period (224–651 CE) it had already evolved to Middle Persian Ērān or Ērān Shahr which finally resulted in New Persian Iran or Iran Shahr.

At the time of the Achaemenid empire the Greeks called the country Persis, the Greek name for Pars (Fars), the central region where the empire was founded; this passed into Latin and became Persia, the name widely used in Western countries Which causes confusion as Persia is actually Pars (Fars) province. ^[1]

Jats in Iran

Giving an account of the Jats’ settlement in Persia, Quzi Athar Mubarakpuri had stated that they had been living in this region since a long time and they had developed many big and flourishing towns of their own as we are informed by Ibn-i-Khurdazbeh (d.893AD) that at about sixty miles away from the city of Ahwaz, there is a big city of the Jats, which is known after them as al-Zutt. ^[2] Another geographer of the same period had also observed that in the vicinity of Khuzistan there was a grand city Haumat al-Zutt. ^[3] These evidences given by the eminent author are enough to suggest that the Jats who settled in Persia gradually built up their economic resources and made significant contribution to urbanization of that country. ^[4]

Iran was one of an important abode of Jats next to India. There is a river called Ban on western part of Iran. There are evidences of a fort of Bana clan Jats on the banks of this river. Bana Jats are connected with Bayana town in Bharatpur district also. A river in Bayana is known as Banganga. It is believed that Bana people from Iran to Bayana or from Bayana to Iran migrated under certain pressures and named the river Ban on the basis of original name.

Herodotus has written that at the time of war of Darius the Great and his son, Xerxes with Greeks they had an army of Indian Jats. In Sojahaj district of Iran there is a tribe called Karpaya which is of Karav people. It is possible that these people moved from Mathura district. There capital might be at Karav, a place in Mathura district. At present this area of Mathura is occupied by Hanga Jats. ^[5] According to Ram Swarup Joon^[6], when Alexander the Great attacked Dara, King of Iran, and the major part. of Dara's army consisted of Jat troops. Dara was very proud of these soldiers. Confidence in their bravery encouraged him to face Alexander. Todd also supports this fact and writes that the Jat contingent consisted of two hundred chariots and fifty elephants and formed the right flank of Dara's army. The Jat charioteers scattered Alexander's army. Alexander then sent for Scythian Jat troops. These were mostly Dahiya Jats and were equipped with lances. With the help of these troops Alexander defeated Dara. The Greek historian Herodotus writes that these Dahiya Jats contributed a great deal to the later successes of Alexander.

Jats have a big gotra called Shavi or Shivi. Iran was at one time known as Shavi country. Huen Tsang and Fa- hien nave mentioned in their accounts of their Indian travels, that through Tartary, Kashgar and, Pamir, they reached Shavi country. Lord Shiva or Shavi is known as prophet Shish in Iran, and his shrine on the banks of River Tigris is visited by a large number of Pilgrims. A province in Iran is called Seistan, a derivative of Shivi- Stan. The Jats of Shavi gotra came to be known as Shavisthians or Seythians. The Great Scythian writer Abul Gazi has called himself a Chandravanshi Jat. He also writes that the mother of Scythian community was the daughter of Aila or Ailya Devi,

The Sakas invaded Iran from the coast of Baltic Sea and looted a lot of treasure. When they were busy dividing the booty amongst themselves, at night the Jats made a surprise raid and snatched everything back.

Thakur Deshraj^[7] has mentioned a story of a fort of Bana Jats of Iran. According to him a fort of Bana Jats on the Ban River was seized by their foes. After a long period of seizure when the ration was about to finish, the gards of fort got worried and then consulted an elderly lady to tell some method escape. She suggested that a part of the flour they are having with them be thrown away outside the fort. The enemy army would think that there is no dearth of ration in the fort and they will remove the seize. This was advice was followed and the foes removed the seize. (Cunningham, History of Sikhs). This story reveals that Jats had great respect for their elders and women had a high place in the society. These facts also indicate they (Jats) were the followers of democracy and believed in system of ganasangha.

According to Thakur Deshraj ^[8], The Chandravanshi Aryans of India had habitations in Iran which were known as Jatali. He has refered General Cunninngham who has mentioned the presence of Yayati Vanshi Jats in Jatali. Yayati was son of Nahusha. This province got the name Jatali being the habitation of Jats. The language of these Jats is Jadgali (alternate names, Jatgali, Jatki, Jat) ^[9]

According to Dr Natthan Singh^[10] not only in Iran but around Caspian sea there were habitations of Dhe gotra Jats. Dhe is derived from Yaudheya. According to Thakur Deshraj they were not treated well in India by local people nor they were treated by Jats returned from Ghazni. They were not given equal status but when they established Nabha and Patiala states with their own strength, they got due importance and recognition.

Illiot in his book “Memoirs of races of the north west provinces of India” has mentioned Jats by the name Avars. It must be their gotra. Probably these people moved to Bharatpur area and settled village named Abahar. Afterwards looking to the dominance of Sinsinwars they also bacame Sinsinwar.

There is definite evidence that the during the Sasanid Empire in Iran the Jat tribes living in Seistan area of Iran were exiled to live in what is now the Baluchistan and Sindh area of Pakistan. The Cambridge History of Iran quotes evidence for this expulsion. The word used for these tribes is Jutt as we still pronounce today. They were exiled for the alleged harassment of the mainland Iran through sporadic raids. The Jutts were in Sindh when Mohammed Bin Quasim invaded Sindh in the sixth century. The clan names mentioned are Samra, Toor, Bhangoo, Bhullar and Sekhon. ^[11]

Bhim Singh Dahiya^[12] published a paper entitled “The Mauryas: Their identity” in Vishvesvranand Indological Journal, Vol 17 (1979) p 112-133, ^[13], in this classical treatise he proved several points including:

• The Mauryas, Muras, or Mors were Jats and hence Scythian or East Iranic in origin
• The primordial Jat religion was that the original Iranic race

Jat clans with Iranian connection

Jats around Lake Urmia

Lake Urmia (Persian: دریاچه ارومیه) is a salt lake in northwestern Iran between the provinces of East Azarbaijan and West Azarbaijan, west of the southern portion of the similarly shaped Caspian Sea.

Lake Urmia has 102 islands. Bardak is one of the islands. Their names are as follows: (For a Persian transcription of this list see this link). Arezu, Ashk (Asiagh), Espir, Kabudan (Kudan), Shahi (Eslami), Espiro, Espirak, Azin, Mehr (Mehria), Mehran (Mehria), Mehrdad (Mehria), Borzu (Burzia), Borz (Burzia), Siyavash (Siwach), Siyah-Tappeh (Shivi), Tanjeh (Tandi), Tanjak (Tandi), Bon-Ashk (Beniwal/Asiagh), Ashksar (Asiagh), Ashku (Asiagh), Chak-Tappeh, Day (Dahiya), Magh, Meydan (Manda), Cheshmeh-kenar (Sheshma), Miyaneh (Mann), Samani, Azar (Ajra), Sangan (Sangwan), Sangu (Sangwan), Tak (Taank), Jowzar (Jhojhar ), Jovin (Joon), Jodarreh (Jodia), Sepid (Sepat), Bastvar (Sepat), Zirabeh, Bahram, Gorz, Ardeshir, Nahid (Nahar), Penhan, Shahin, Kenarak, Zartappeh (Jat), Khersak, Naviyan (Nain), Omid, Garivak (Garwa), Gordeh (Godhe), Giv, Kalsang (Kalasman ), Golgun (Golyan , Aram, Panah (Pannu), Kariveh (Karvir), Zagh (Jangoo), Meshkin, Sahran (Saharan), Pishva, Kam, Kameh, Sorush, Sorkh, Shabdiz, Nakhoda, Kuchek-Tappeh, Tus, Borzin, Arash, Atash, Siyah-sang, Karkas (Karkala), Shurtappeh, Navi, Nahoft, Shush-Tappeh, Iran-Nezhad, Shamshiran, Mahdis, Kakayi-e Bala, Kakayi-ye Miyaneh, Kakayi-e Pain, Takht, Takhtan Takhar), Markid, Kaveh, Mahvar, Nadid, Kaman, Zarkaman, Zarkanak, Nahan (Nain), Bard (Bardak), Bardin (Bardak), Bardak (Bardak), Tir, Tashbal, Sarijeh, Bon (Beniwal), Kafchehnok.

Jats in Shāhnāma

Jats have been mentioned in Shāhnāma ("The epic of kings"), the national epic of Persia (modern Iran), by Hakīm Abul-Qāsim Firdawsī Tūsī (Persian: حکیم ابوالقاسم فردوسی توسی‎ ), more commonly transliterated as Firdowsi (935–1020) , the most revered Persian poet. The Shāhnāma tells the mythical and historical past of Iran from the creation of the world up until the Islamic conquest of Iran in the 7th century. The Shâhnameh recounts the history of Iran, beginning with the creation of the world and the introduction of the arts of civilization (fire, cooking, metallurgy, law) to the Aryans and ends with the Arab conquest of Persia. The scene that has been drawn by Firdowsi in his Shahnama is in the legend of Rostam and Sohrab. Sohrab was in search of Rostam, his father. Both, the father and son had heard the heroic deeds of each other, but none of them wanted to disclose his identification. Sohrab while being in search of his father leads his army to the White Castle (Dazh-e-Safid) in Iran. Hujir, guardian of the castle, sees the army come and goes to meet them. Shohrab asked Hujir about the heroes and war champions of Iran as under: ^{[14] [15]}

"I would ask all

About the king, the rebellions and the troops

All the renowned ones of that region

Such as Tus, Kaous and Gudarz

The knights and the valliants of the country of Iran

Like, Gostahm ^[16] and praiseworthy Giv ^[17]

About Bahram, ^[18] and the renowned Rostam ^[19]

I ask you about every Jat, you count them for me"

Dr S.M. Yunus Jaffery writes that Firdowsi has used word Jat for those war-like persons, a word that seems to be equivalent of Yaudheyas that has been often used in the history of Kushan period. ^[20] It should be pointed out here that the word Kushan has been used in Shahnama at several places. Tarikh-e-Bayhaqi, also called Tarikh-e-Masudi is history of Ghaznavid dynasty (366-582 AH/976-1186 AD). An extract from this book has been given in Loghat Nama-e-Dehkhoda, the encyclopedia of Persia, compiled by Ali Akbar Dehkhoda in Persia. Under the entry ‘Jat’ it says:

“Ahmad escaped with his nobles and other persons, who were three hundred riders and bigger convicts. But Telak remained with him. He wrote letters to Hindu rebellious Jats that they should not take the way of abjected ones.” ^[21]

Dr S.M. Yunus Jaffery writes that under the same entry, the quotation of Adib Peshawar has also been given. Probably he has written about the Jats in Afghanistan: “They are a clan of Hindus, now most of them have been honoured to adopt the Islamic faith. In the verbal history I have been told that people of Panni clan in Afghanistan are Jats in their origin. There are some small pockets of Jats in towns like Roudsar. ^[22]

The Mandas in Iran - The First Historical Empire of Jats

The ancient Mandas are even now a clan of the Jats in India. It is they who gave the first Historical Empire of the Jats in the western Plateau of Iran. They are named in the Puranas also. Tee Visnu Purana mentions them as Mandakas. By removing the Suffix “ ka” the name appears in its old and present form. A country called Mandavya is mentioned in the Agni Purana. ^[23] Sankhyana Aranyaka, too mentions these people and so does Varahamihira, who, in his Samhita, locates them in the north, as well as the northwest of India. Madaiya is their Persian name. ^[24]

In the last quarter of the eighth century B.C., the area of Azerbaijan to the south of Lake Urmia was inhabited by various Jat clans. The two clans whose names had come down in history are called the Mannai and the Mandas. These two clans are nowadays called in India as the Manns and the Mandas. In 720 B.C. or so, the Assyrian King, Sargon II, attacked these people and the Assyrians captured their chief called Dayaukku. He was a Manda chief and perhaps nature took a hand in saving his life, because contrary to the Assyrian custom, his life was not only spared but he was sent, along with his family to Hamath. Thus it seems that before the last decade of the eighth century B.C. they were acknowledging the suzerainty of Assyria and it is mentioned that 22 of their chiefs swore the oath of allegiance before Sargon II. The name of their chief if given as Deiokes, son of Phraortes by Herodotus and other Greek writers. As per History of Persia, he was the same as the chief named by the Assyrians as Dayaukku. His name may well be Devaka because the suffix ‘s’ or ‘us’ is generally added to personal names by the Greeks. It was Devaka, who established the first empire of the Manda Jats in about 700 B.C. The later Achaemenian empire was an offshoot of Manda empire, because Cyrus the great, was an offshoot of Manda empire, because Cyrus the great , was son of Mandani, a daughter of the last Manda emperor. Cyrus the Great was an Achaemenid Persian, son of the local Persian king Cambyses I of Anshan and the Manda princess Mandane of Manda clan, who was the daughter of Astyages, the last Manda emperor.^[25] Before he united the Persians and Mandas under a single empire, he was the ruler of Anshān, then a vassal kingdom of the Median Empire, in what is now part of Fars Province in southern Iran. The name of the queen was Aryenis (skt. Aryani), ^[26]

The Manda Empire

Up to the nineteenth century, this brilliant empire was called the “ Empire of the Medes” . It was so called by the Greek writers as well as in the Old Testament. The country of the Medes, called Media was the northwestern neighbour of the Mandas - the actual name of the empire builders. Even Media was eventually annexed to the empire of Manda. This was perhaps the reason of the serious mistake of history where the Mandas and the Medes were confused with each other. The Medes were traders of Greek stock and were living in small principalities. They never had any empire. Confounding the brave Mandas with the effete Medes was the most unfortunate event in history. The mistake became so prevalent that even a proverb was invented in English equal to the effect that a certain thing is as unchangeable as the laws of Medes and Persians. The mistake was detected when the monuments of Nabonodus and Cyrus were unearthed. It was then discovered that the whole history was based upon a philological mistake. It was found that the name of the empire and its people, was not Medes but Manda. ^[27]

The founder of the empire, Deiokes, hereinafter mentioned as Devaka, immediately formed a powerful army. When the country was secure, he decided to build his capital for which the mighty granite range of mount Alvanda was selected and at a height of 6,000 ft. above sea level the capital of Ecbatana was built. Its present site is the eastern part of modern Hamadan. ^[28]

After this preparations Devaka started expansion of his empire. The Assyrians could never have dreamt that this mountain shepherd at no distant date, would sack the great Nineveh and cause the name of Assyria to disappear from amongst the nations of the world. The adjoining areas were annexed to the Manda Empire and after consolidating it for 50 years, Devaka was succeeded by his son Fravarti, the Phraortes of the Greeks in 655 B.C. The Persians were the first to be conquered. Gaining more than self-confidence from their successes, the Mandas attacked the Assyrian empire but were defeated and Fravarti himself was killed.

Assurbanipal died in 626 B.C. and his successors were disputing the throne. Such an opportunity was not to be lost and second attack of Nineveh began. The Assyrian Emperor burnt himself in his palace and perished with his family. Thus in 606 B.C. Nineveh fell and so utter was its ruin that the Assyrian name was forgotten and the history of their empire soon melted into fable. ^[29]

Armenia and Cappadocia were including in the Manda Empire. Lydia was emerging as a powerful nation in the west and it was inevitable that the two powers should collide. The war began but in 585 B.C. when there was a total eclipse of the sun, it was stopped after six years of fighting, under a peace treaty. A daughter of the Lydian emperor was marred to the heir apparent of Manda, and the kingdom Urartu was annexed to Manda empire. Next year, i.e. 584 B.C. this great emperor died. Thus from a beaten nation he raised the Mandas into the most powerful and virile empire of that time. It is aptly stated that the east was Semitic when he began to rule but it was Aryan when he stopped. This leader in one of the great moments in history was succeeded by Ishtuvegu, Astyages of the Greeks. He was an unworthy son of a worthy father and he deviated from the basic policy of the Mandas,.i.e. to keep fit and ready for war. He had no son and his daughter named Mandani (after the clan name) was married to a small vassal prince of Elam. ^[30]

The first issued of princess Mandani was Cyrus who became the emperor, after putting in prison his maternal grandfather, Ishtuvegu. Three battles were fought, as per traditions preserved by the classical writers, before Ecbatana itself fell in 550 B.C. Cyrus was emperor of persia and had inherited the empire of the Mandas., which was further extended by him. But this does not mean that efforts were not made to recover the lost empire. We hear that Cyrus himself fought wars against the Jats in Balakh and the Caspian sea. At both the places he was unsuccessful. Balakh remained under the Kangs, and the small kingdom of the Massagate ruled over by the Dahias, remained free and independent. The king of the Massagate kingdom was Armogha and his queen was simply called Tomyris which is a Scythian word, Tomuri, meaning queen. The king had died and the queen had taken the administration in her hands when Cyrus the Great asked her to marry him. ^[31]

The queen gathered her force and the battle which followed was most ferocious. On both sides there were Jats, and they fought to the finish. Herodotus says that of all the wars of antiquity, this was the most bloody. The Jats gained complete and final victory. Cyrus himself was killed. His body was searched and recovered from the battlefield. ^[32]

Thus we see that many Jat kingdoms in the north and east were free of the Persian empire which was an offshoot of the earlier Manda Jat empire. The defeat of Cyrus the Great and his death was a signal for the Jats under Persian Empire to take up the throne of Ecbatana. This was done by the Jats under their leader Gaumata. In the meantime Darius came and this second empire lasted for only six months because conspirators in the pay of Darius killed Gaumata in the Sokhyavati palace of Ecbatana. Darius wrote in his inscriptions; “Ahurmazda made myself emperor. Our dynasty had lost the empire but I restored it to its original position. I re-established sacred places destroyed by Magas. These Magas were the Magian priests of the Jat emperors who came to India along with them, as a result of war. They were called in India the Magas. The Taga Brahmans on the Yamuna river are their descendants. They are the Tagazgez of Masoudi. ^[33], ^[34]

But the efforts did not cease there. In 519 BC Phravarti, another Manda follower of the Sun god of the Magi priests, fought for the lost empire. The Virks revolted in Hyrcania. But Darius, aptly called great, suppressed them and except lands on the frontiers of the empire. The Kangs remained free in north of Oxus river; and the Scythian Jats on the Danube were free. Infact, Darius, too attacked these invincible people with very large army and huge preparations of every short. At last Darius ordered on immediate withdrawal and returned to Persia. ^[35]

Mandas and other Jats came to India

It was a result of these wars that the first migration of the Jats took place and from the Manda Empire and from other parts of Central Asia they came to India. That is why Panini mentioned many cities of theirs in the heart of Punjab in the fifth century B.C. But memories die hard. Even today, we have our villages named after the cities lost in Iran. The names like Elam, Batana, Susana, Baga, Kharkhoda (Manda Kurukada), etc, are still the names of Jat village. It is these Jats whom Buddha Prakash Calls, “ exotic and outlandish people” who came to Indian at the time of successors of Cyrus, ^[36] and whom Jean Przyluski calls the Bahlikas from Iran and Central Aisa. ^[37], ^[38]

Mandas in Sixth century

Mandas in the later period are found settled in Punjab and Sindh in sixth/seventh centuries AD. Ibn Haukal says that “the infidels who inhabited Sindh, are called Budha and Mand.” “The Mands dwell on the banks of Mihran (Sindhu) river. From the boundary of Multan to the sea… They form a large population. ^[39], ^[40]

References

Further reading

• Illiot: “Memoirs of races of the north west provinces of India”

External links

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran
• http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=jdg
• http://www.sikhnet.com/sikhnet/discussion.nsf/SearchView/4ADDEC75E894679E87256C5B005A8E65!OpenDocument
• Dehiya on the Jat Iranic identity of Mauryas:History of Iran
• Common origin of Croats, Serbs and Jats

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