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ravichaudhary
June 10th, 2003, 03:00 AM
As part of an ongoing discussion, I am posting a response I have given on te Jathistory list.

URL below.



http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JatHistory/message/577


Can any members assist ??

Ravi

Pargiter has generally a good reputation, especially for the times when he wrote his books, and commentaries. What was it, one hundred years ago?

Pargiter, like any scholar, new to the subject, faces an uphill task trying to interpret this extensive literature.

To an extent, his problem, did Al Beruni face the same as, and we have discussed that before. For ready reference the relevant message is posted below.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JatHistory/message/234


HI source of information, like that of Al -Beruni is a source that cannot be ‘trusted’ at an academic level.

And when Al beruni writes of the difficulty he faces in the corrupt versions presented to him and the impossibility of trying to get a picture in 1100 Ad, I really do not see how Pargiter’s Task, 900 u\years later, was any easier.

In other words, le us take what is written in the Puranas with a pinch of Salt.

Pargiter when he came to India knew no Sanskrit, he leant it from some Pundit, and there the biases would have crept in, and Pargiter could not avoid being influenced by the view that was being drilled into him by his teacher of the Language.

His sources of information, would then most probably answer his queries of the cultural background of the tribes, and people involved to give Him a picture , an interpretation suitable to themselves and their agenda.

Not withstanding the above, I think you are clutching at straws, seeking a Jartika- Jat presence in a small portion of Gedrosia (west Pakistan).

I now not going to get involved into your dates of 1900, except to note in the passing that the Jats, Gut-I-s are attested, as ruling in Mesopotamia in 2300 BC.

The Guts, Juts are also found in the same NW frontier, modern Afghanistan, in 200 BC, whom the Chinese refer to as the Yueh Chi, and Indian scholars uncritically refer to them as some alien tribe – the yu chi.


Now they cannot be spread from Mespotamia to India , and only be taken as some small minor tribe , as I sense your posts are tending to position them.

Again I may remind you, they are a people, not a caste, and the various tribes/ clans, Madras, Bal, Takshac, the list goes on ..are Jat clans.

Pargiter, did not/ could not bring this perspective into his writings. He had enough problems simply trying to master the language, and read the “texts”, from teachers who themselves had no clue about the historical cultural contexts.

These people, were Vedic, then Buddhist, Shaivites, and then Hindus sense, then Sikhs, and also Muslims.

We have the benefit of a hundred years on Pargiter, and the benefit of being able to build upon his pioneering works.

But like Alberuni, who did not accept the sources uncritically, we should not accept Pargiter’s sources uncritically either.

In closing, the Bal-a that refers to be most probably related to the Bal, Baliyan Jats of today, are still found al lover the north from Sindh, to Afghanistan, to Punjab. both In Sikh, Hindu and Muslim Jats

For easy reference readers may review messages , 141 to 147

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JatHistory/message/141

Ravi