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ravichaudhary
February 28th, 2003, 06:56 AM
Nonica Dutta- Forming an identity

Last Chapter part 1 of 2

Summing Up pp 191-194

This study has demonstrated the manner in which the Aiya Sama) in southeast Punjab negotiated with the existing religious culture on its own terms. By rejecting as well as appropriating certain religiocultural traditions, the Arya Samaj ideology and the movement connected with it disturbed the delicate balance or equilibrium that had historically existed between theJats and other communities and social groups. The Jats too, had to exercise a choice in their quest, in a colonial context, for a new identity. When confronted with a variety of options in so heterogeneous a society, they discarded some aspects of their existing popular culture and, at the same time, readily refashioned certain other idioms, symbols and traditions that were rooted in the peasant-pastoral culture.
This study has delineated the historical processes that went into the making ofJat identity in the region. Its central argument is that Jat identity was formed through the creation of an imagined past; through myths of kingship, kinship, warrior origin; through parables of social exclusiveness, through a recognition of the need for education, economic and social improvement, 'reform' of the position of women, reverence for the cow and the observance of Arya Samaj rituals. Newspapers and popular texts, combined with oral forms of narration, provided the technical tools for the representation of an 'imagined' community, the qaum. In the representation of their identity, theJats highlighted their vedic rather than their syncretic past. At the same time, I have indicated that Jat identity was not entirely an invention. Some of its features, which are identified in the narrative, were culturally inherited.
Quite clearly, a process that was underway in response to a complex interplay of forces took quite a while to acquire a tangible form. But when it did so, the impact was profoundly felt not just by the Jats but by Punjabi society in general. A new configuration of social forces took place, much before the Jats secured their own state after Independence, leading to many significant changes in southeast Punjab. New ideas, partly inherited and partly invented,

Summing Up 191

came to the fore changing the contours of Punjabi society and polity. The Jats, who had for long operated on the fringes of India's political, economic and social life, discovered their own strength and asserted their claims to be recognized. Once they did so through the formal and informal structures available to them, it became impossible for the colonial state or the elites in Punjab to ignore their presence or stifle their dissenting voices.
By the early twentieth century, well before more representative institutions were put in place, the image of aJat and the perception of his place in society had already begun to change. To be a Jat was to be a Kshatriya and an Arya, a status accorded to them by the Arya Samaj. It carried, above all, deeper meanings. From now on, it was assumed that a Jat would own some land, an important asset as well as an enduring symbol of his status in rural society. Other striking features of his identity were: wearing a janeu, protecting the cow, 'controlling' women through karewa, taking pride in the royal lineage of Bharatpur and Pushkar, affirming faith in Jat leaders, and nursing contempt for the 'Other'.


The 'Other' were, of course, the Brahmans, the Banias, the Rajputs, and the low castes, along with the colonial state and the Muslims. But the animosity of the Jats towards them was not a constant element in their behavioural pattern. As social equations changed, so did their relationship with the non-Jat groups. In the 1920s, in particular, political compulsions led the Jat leaders to seek new allies and forge coalitions to ensure that their interests were not jettisoned in the newly created power structures around the municipalities, district boards, and the legislative council. This explains their significant presence in the Unionist Party and the premier role of Chhotu Ram in Punjab society.

Though one cannot really overlook the growing sense of consciousness among Jats in the earlier period, it was mainly during the 1920s and thereafter that they became highly self-conscious and assertive. Their commitment to the 'community', so to speak, defined their identity in more pronounced ways. In the long run, such a strong and explicit identification with the community, exemplified by the career of Chhotu Ram, sustained the collective identity of the Jats. Although they tended to lose their own individuality in the process, their concept of a community as a localized village-based entity eventually broadened into an ideological construct.
The Jats appropriated Arya SamajLst teachings through their belief
system that was principally based on oral traditions. Their identity was thus defined by, and rooted within their own cultural context and specificity. Over the decades, it was sustained not so much by books, magazines or newspapers, but by identifiable Jat practices and narratives drawn from elements of religious culture. These became an effective source and medium of mobilization. In many other respects too, Jat identity, forged through cultural associations, traditional images and repertoire, gestures, parables, symbols and myths, was created not only to serve political aspirations in the colonial context, but to be en rapport with fellow Jats who, in they own ways, contributed to the making of Jat identity.
The essence of this identity, which remained virtually uncontested, rested on masculinity, territoriality, aggression, and exclusivism. Jat politicians, especially in the 1920s and 1930s, drew upon these aspects to stake their claim in politics. They combined with the publicists and the itinerant preachers to express the social and cultural aspirations of their community. As a result, communitarian sentiments came to the fore during communal riots, pilgrimages, jalsas in gurukuls and schools and, more importantly, when religiocultural symbols were endangered either by British policies or Islamist assertions. Such was the intensity of feelings that, by the 1930s, Jat activists of southeast Punjab were able to relate to their counterparts in western UP and Rajasthan in meaningful ways, combine the territorial*interests of the three regions, and put forward the nebulous but highly divisive idea ofJatistan. Although some Jats were sensitive to the implications of their own initiatives, the fact is that a defined, modular and exclusive identity was being gradually forged outside the sphere of high politics. Whatever conclusions one might draw, this process illustrates how the Jats came to empower themselves as a community from the private to the public sphere.
In the ultimate analysis, the crystallization of Jat identity served as an instrument of social change, though only in limited ways. Consider, for example, how men and women were positioned differently and how Jat patriarchs affirmed their identity by controlling sexual relations of their women with 'outsiders'. Over time, the fluid values of Jat society were replaced by orthodox notions about the public role of women. If the Arya Samajist notions of virtue could sustain themselves, it was principally because they harmonized with some cultural values of the Jats. For instance, the Jats could make sense of widow remarriage, approved of by Dayanand Saraswati, through their own ritual of karewa. Such an understanding led them to control women's sexuality and to deny them property rights. A new notion of patriarchy was thus created. In other spheres, too, clear signs of change were apparent. For example, motherhood acquired salience in Jat discourses. Chhotu Ram, for one, dwelt on the pivotal position occupied by women in the 'domestic' sphere but did not approve of their access to the council or having voting rights.' The implications were obvious. The empowerment of women, including the statutory protection of their rights, was not to figure on the agenda of Jat publicists or reformers. In this respect, as indeed in many other, southeast Punjab was at variance from the rest of India, particularly the Bengal and Bombay Presidencies where gender issues were actively discussed and debated.


The notion of a viable heroic past, which linked the Jats to the kingdoms of Bharatpur and Dholpur and the pilgrimage at Pushkar, was also an important compoAent of the evolving Jat identity. This process was made possible by their close attachment to the warrior traditions during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, well before they came into the Arya Samaj fold. They also started identifying themselves as Kshatriyas by challenging their status as non-Aryans in the late nineteenth century. Once their non-Aryan status was accepted by the higher castes and the government, Jat leaders and publicists reappraised their history and culture, as also their position and status in the rapidly changing larger world. They turned to Dayanand for inspiration and spiritual regeneration and to community leaders like Chhotu Ram and Bhagat Phool Singh for guidance and leadership. In their local sacred geography and the pantheon of deified warrior heroes of southeast Punjab, these figures were accorded a significant place. They were portrayed as the true Aryas. Popular songs invoked their names to promote their Kshatriya status. In this way they became an integral link between the Jat self and the Jat community.


At the same time, the process of identity formation was complex and, in many

ways, riven with inherent dissension and contradictions. While it is true, as this study illustrates, that the process leading to the creation of Jat identity cut across class divisions within Jat society, it created, at the same time, new hierarchies. Furthermore, a more dangerous process was at work which ha'd far deeper implications in the region.

' See Chapter 5.

The elements that went into the making of Jat identity were being modified and assigned new meanings by Jat actors in the period between the 1880s and 1930s. For one, they put forward a variety of, albeit contradictory, claims in response to the changing political landscape. Thus their claim to a superior Kshatriya status was linked with their assertion of being placed in the category of a backward class. In the 1920s, they began projecting themselves as a minority community, a perception not based on their numerical weakness but on their sense of persecution by the upper castes. During these years, activists like Chhotu Ram tried assimilating elements of Jat identity with a secular zamindar identity and combined the theme of the deprivation of the peasant with that of the enhanced cultural status of the Jats. The outcome was not encouraging for the nationalist leaders who helplessly witnessed sections of Jat society drifting away from their mobilization campaigns. In general, attempts by the Congress to mobilize the Jat populace failed. Peasant associations also failed to make much headway.
If the Jats were detached from the nationalist aspirations, they were also disinterested in the protection of the imperial system. Indeed, the absence of any rhetoric of supra-khap solidarity to uphold the imperial structure underlines the fact that the relationship with the colonial state was not fundamental to the creation of Jat identity. In fact, there were clear signs of their uneasy and sometimes hostile interactions. In the case of the Unionist Party too, there is unmistakable evidence to suggest that Jat sensibilities did not quite match with the policies and programmes outlined by the Fazl-iHusain-Chhotu Ram combine. Ultimately, community identity rather than party manifestos provided the Jats with a new political language and, above all, shaped their relationship with other communities, with nationalism and with the empire.
Several diverse trends and movements led to the creation of Jat identity. These achieved success in challenging the hegemony of the Brahmans and 'restoring', in the language of the Jat publicists, their status in the caste system. Paradoxically, however, their simultaneous need for recognition by and autonomy from Hindu society did not undermine the stranglehold of the Brahmans or the legitimacy of the caste system. In the process of carving out an autonomous identity, the Jats themselves acquired a distinctly Hindu identity. While they perceived themselves as 'Jaf, they were increasingly marked or identified as Hindus. This was despite the