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View Full Version : The Jats- H S Pauria some excerpts- Prologue



ravichaudhary
May 29th, 2003, 05:08 AM
Readers may be interested in Hukam Singh Pauria's Monumental work.

"The Jats, their Origins Antiquities and Migrations. Author Hukam Singh Pauria Manthan Press, Rohtak, 1993 "

Pathbreaking in concepts and scope, the work is a labour or love and life long dedication.

Some 350 copies only were printed in 1993, and the work is generally unavailable.

I have posted some excerpts from his work for the benefit of readers who may wish to have , but do not have access to a copy of his book.


He passed away a few years ago, and would have wished his work to be given a wide circulation among Jats and non Jats, indeed all who have an interest in the History of the Indian people, and the Jats.



Bests regards

Ravi

Some extracts

Prologue - Part 1

"Jat" is an awe-inspiring name in the ethnology of the Indian Sub-Continent. The Jats have, ever since time immemorial, been playing a significant role in the ethnogenesis other northwestern part. "They, without any caste distinction, female seclusion and with democratic tendencies, erect moral stature and unprejudiced mind, are more in sympathy with the modern age than the aristocratic Rajputs who have not yet discarded the medieval traits of their character, still cherishing the notion of class distinction and contempt for productive labour. If sufficiently enlightened, they may carry back the Indian society to its Vedic purity, inspiring new vigour into it, for a more glorious destiny" (K.R. Qanungo).

Assessments of Jat character widely vary. On the one hand, Jats have been characterized as possessing an unrivalled naivete combined, paradoxically, with spontaneous repartee and deep sense of honor suited to all moods and occasions. They may be described by slating Chesterton's description of the tent-house of the nomads in his The Everlasting Man" and grafting it with a rural adage, thus: "Decency is the curtain of a Jat family, liberty is the wall of his village, equality is the pillar of his society, fraternity is its vigilant guardian, property is but his family farm, honour is but his tribal totem (peacock), and the chief sacrifice is to the national flag". In sharp contrast with such adulatory descriptions may be reproduced that of William Crooke who presents a Jat to be "as bovine and stolid as his bull and buffalo". The Jat, huqqa and buffalo are said to have been traditionally inseparable. If he may invest as much in the education of his issues as he docs in his buffalo, they would surely be next to none in their achievements. To Crooke, the Jat may retort: "Even dust has a flavour if one can relish it, a fragrance if one can smell it and a quality if one can sense it".

Some others find "no kindness in a Jat as no weevil in a stone", and further think, "when a Jat runs wild it takes God to hold him". Risley (1915: 305-33) has given innumerable such proverbs about all communities including the Jats. These, with a few exceptions, are all derogatory. They are "humored" as much as English jokes about the Scots, the Irish and the French or as "Sardar jokes" in northern India. Such assignments, when taken seriously cause a lot of bad blood, but they are in fact, good-humored exchanges, and are often taken as

such. Of such nature, obviously, does Risley cite a gibe against Brahmins; "There are three blood-suckers in this world- the bug, the flea and the Brahman". The person who cracks this joke will bow his head before the Brahman in all humility, and a good natured Brahman may cite this joke against himself. Such twitting is a part of 'daily life and the Jats arouse quite a big chunk of such good-humoured raillery.

Some facts about the Jats are) however, indisputable. These are neatly summed up by S. Khushwant Singh, a journalist of repute. "Every Jat village was a small republic made of people of kindred blood who were as conscious of absolute equality between themselves as they were of their superiority over men of other castes who earned their livelihood as weavers, potters, cobblers and

scavengers. The relationship of a Jat village with the State was that of a semi-autonomous unit paying a fixed sum of money. Few governments tried to assert authority, and those, which did, soon discovered that sending out armed militia against fortified villages was not very profitable. The Jats' spirit of freedom and equality refused to submit to Brhamanical Hinduism and in its turn drew the censure of the privileged Brahman of the Gangetic plains. The upper caste Hindus' denigration of the Jat did not in the least lower the Jat in his own eyes". The Jat strongly asserts that 'Gold does not change its colour for fear of flames", and "embers are, after all, embers even though covered with ash".


S. Khushwant Singh further adds "He (the Jat) assumed some-what condescending attitude towards the Brahman, whom he considers little better than a soothsayer or a beggar, or the Kshatriya, who disdained earning an honest living and was proud of being a mercenary. The Jat was born a worker and a warrior. He tilled his land with his sword girded round his waist. He fought more battles for the defence of his motherland than the Kshatriya, for unlike Kshatriya the Jat seldom fled from his village when the invaders came. And if the Jat was maltreated or if his wife was molested by the conqueror on his way to Hindustan, he settled his score by looting the invader's caravans. His brand of patriotism was at once hostile to foreigners and benign, even contemptuous towards his own countrymen whose fate depended so much on his courage and fortitude", (His. Of the Sikhs, Vol. I, pp. 1(0. In fact, the Jats have always "sacrificed their day for our to-day and their to-day for our tomorrow."

Similarly, as early as 1934 another eminent writer and Editor, Pt. Indra Vidyavachaspati, quoted in the introduction of' Jat Itihas', holds: "The Jat race has two great virtues; they can neither bow down for long undo; the hegemony of another nor do they tolerate the slavery of social and religious orthodoxy. They lived for 700 years under Muslim rule, but as rebels and thorns in their side. This is the sign of a warrior race. A vice is also attached with the Jat. They have a fractiousness, which, if it turns wild, results in mutual enmity. They would have, by dint of their virtues, been the sole rulers of India, but for this vice" (Dr. Ranjit Singh, Jat Itihas, Vol. 1, 1990, Rohtak, p. Prakashkiya). History bears ample testimony that this weakness of theirs has been exploited, more often than not, by vested interests.

Herodotus, the "Father of History", interestingly, holds quite similar views about the Scythians (Sakas), widely believed to be the ancestors of the Jats. If this is to be relied upon, we have every reason to believe that the Scythians bequeathed lot only the physical features but their thoughts also to the Jats, for the dead ancestors of a race" are said to "ever dominate the invisible domain of the mind of its successive generations".

The three-lettered word, "Jat" is, to Graham Matthew, (an Australian veteran of the World War II and later, in 1979, a Technical Adviser to the Seed Farm, Hissar, Haryana), a euphonic embodiment of "justice, a 'lion and truth". If the Jat lives, he lives to defy injustice against himself and others; when he dies, he dies) in defiance of death. As the saying goes, "People believe him dead only after thirteen days of mourning are over".



For more click on :

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JatHistory/message/547

biotechs2001
June 9th, 2003, 04:35 AM
Dear Ravi Chaudhary
thanks for posting such a excellent collection.

yvsgaawar
June 9th, 2003, 08:46 PM
Thanks for your post Ravi ji..

ravichaudhary
June 9th, 2003, 11:48 PM
Thank and you are welcome.

I would suggest you print out the total sections, and circulate the whole part.

It takes some time ot absord , all that the learned Professor wrote.

If any one can be of help,depending on their time committment, that will also be welcome.

Ravi