Sarv Khap references in Cambridge History Series

[ravichaudhary]

I am reproducing an extract from a recent , 1993, book by a historian, John F Richards, where he makes mention of the Sarv Khap of Haryana.

We do not have to agree with his interpretation, about the benevolence and toleration of Akbar.

The Jat records do not substantiate tat view,.
Dr Nathan Singh in His book Jat Ithihaas, points to quite a contrary picture.
The ‘firman’/order, by Akbar agreed that the Muslim rulers would not to interfere in the affairs of the Sarv Khap, was not given voluntarily, but out of necessity.

By pacifying the Sarv Khap on one end, and acquiring the Rajput alliance on the other, by marrying their daughters, and giving the jagirs, and inducting them into his army, he consolidated the Muslim power.

From a Jat perspective it is important to note that mainstream History texts are now making reference to the Jat Sarv Khap.

For an post re Akbar

The actual treaty read as:
See:
Treaty of the Jats with Akbar 1574 AD
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JatHistory/message/2653
TEXT OF TREATY:

"1. In the name of God who is so benevolent and
Merciful Emperor Akbar, in his reign,
discontinued the tax collection of Jazia which was
used to be collected from Hindus. Therefore such
collections from worship places of Hindus were
abandoned.

Dated 8th Shawal 983 A.H. (A.D. 1574)


This copy was given to Chaudhary Pachchu,
Wazir Baliyan, resident of village Shoram as a
document/ testimonial.

2. Every community and the Khaps of the Jats of the
Doab have the freedom to carry out their
functions according to their ancient customs and
laws within their respective councils, under the
Reign of Shenshah Akbar, for example:

1. Khap Baliyan Jat.

2. Khap Salaklain Jat.

3. Khap Kalaslain Gujar.

4. Dahiya Khap Jat.

5. Gathwala Khap Jat.

These rules and regulations apply to all the Khaps
which may unite in one group and live in peace
with each other.
8th Ramzan, 987 A.H. (1578 A.D.) Emperor Akbar.
Raja Todar Mal.

Note : This mandate (is) for Chaudhary
Pachchu Mal, Shoram and Chaudhary Lad Singh
Sisauli.


Ravi Chaudhary

Extract from :
The Mughal Empire, John F Richards
Series: The New Cambridge History of India, Cambridge University Press, 1993
(ISBN-13: 9780521251198 | ISBN-10: 0521251192)




THE MUGHAL EMPIRE
enjoined to increase cultivation and to hand over the stipulated revenue in the required installments for the area under their jurisdiction.

In the refined zabt system, ancient rights of landed dominance obtained by previous generations who colonized, conquered and settled, were transformed into the right to a share of agricultural production. Only those constricted "homelands" personally occupied by the zamindar remained of the unfettered domain held before. These zamindari rights became a form of private property, which, when ratified by the state, could be passed on to heirs and alienated to others. Inheritance recognized by the state conformed to the provisions of both Islamic and Hindu personal law which provided for equal shares to heirs of the same sex. Only chiefs in tributary relationship to the emperor were permitted to keep their patrimonies intact for a single heir. In this attenuated form of property, zamindari claims could be sold or leased to other kinsmen or even to outsiders. Surviving sale and lease documents testify to widespread adoption of the practice -although not to its true intensity or frequency.


Prising open the defenses of local society in the parganas of North India required forceful determination. Armed warrior elites scarcely looked with a kindly eye upon petty revenue officers and survey parties entering their villages. Only the promise of overwhelming force, ruthlessly applied, curbed violent resistance. Imperial faujdars at the head of several hundred mailed cavalry were posted at intervals throughout each province to ensure that the reality of imperial power was not overlooked by those zamindars who might be reluctant to hand over the stipulated revenue proceeds each season.


However necessary, force alone was inadequate. A stable agrarian order required some recognition of the zamindar'* interests under a generally accepted notion of legitimate royal authority. Akbar recog¬nized this fact early in his reign and set about trying to elicit the willing cooperation ot leading chiefs, lineage elites and other zamindars. The general tone of the new imperial administration was critical. Would compliance be rewarded, or was the new order to be unrelievedly harsh?


Some evidence for the latter approach exists in the detailed archives of the Jat clan (khap) Baiiyan in Muzaffarnagar District near Delhi. Migrating from the Punjab in the twelfth century, the founders of this clan established the hereditary seat of the clan headman (chaudhuri) at Sisauli village. From this headquarters "territorial expansion, conquest
88





I
LAND REVENUE AND RURAL SOCIETY

and colonization" of the clan continued until the first decades of the sixteenth century. But "expansion stopped at the establishment of Mughal rule, when law and order were more effectively imposed on northern India."3 By the late sixteenth century clan members ruled pargana Sisauli numbering the traditional eighty-lour villages through their own system of headmen and councils.4 They were linked to other Jat and non-Jat Hindu lineage groups who met periodically in regional councils (sarv-khap).


The record of resolutions preserved in the clan archives shows a pattern of remarkable collective action by a coalition of castes and clans. When state power at Delhi faltered, the allied clan council raised a large militia to mount a defense against banditry. When the Delhi regime was strong, the clan council met to insist on recognition of the legitimate autonomy of the clan councils and to protest excessive and discriminatory taxation such as levies imposed on pilgrims and the jiziya. If relief were not forthcoming, the Jat clans and their allies mustered their militia and threatened outright revolt, in 1490. Sikandar Lodi's administrators chose not to test these resolutions and failed to press their demands according to the clan records.s In 1527. when the possibility of resurgent Rajput power was at hand, the allied council sent 2 5,000 soldiers under the command of the Raja of Dholpur to fight the Mughals.

At the battle of Kanua several thousand soldiers from this force were killed*


Suddenly, under Akbar's regime, the tension and conflict found in the allied clan council resolutions stretching across nearly four cen¬turies abated:7
A Sarv-khap panchayat meeting was held in Shoron [khap Baliyan] in 1631 s.B. [A.U. 1574] under the presidentship of Rao Landey Rai of Sisauli village, to consider the changed political conditions in (he country resulting from the advent of Mughal rule. Akbar's recent royal proclamation had given full freedom to religious faith and to the khap panchayats.


The thousands of persons assembled ratified a series of resolutions which called for royal recognition of each of the eighteen constituent clan councils represented, for freedom to conduct religious affairs, and


* M. C. Pradhan, The Political system of the Jats of Northern India (Bombay, 1966), p. 95.
* Pradhan, Political System, Appendix 3, p252,lists these villages.
* Pradhan, Political system. Case 4), pp. »s*-*17
* Pradhan Political System. Case 47, p. 2 {7.
' Pradhan, Political System, Appendix 4. Case 4I. pp. 257-258

.

THE MUGHAL EMPIRE

for the right to have clan officers make revenue collections within the clan areas.


Six years later another allied council meeting passed a resolution to express its appreciation for a recent edict from the Mughal emperor which granted religious freedom and internal autonomy to the clans. The order, preserved in the Baliyan archive, reads:9


Bytihe present firman ..., certain community councils in India which during the reign of the Muslim sultans, before my reign, were charged certain taxes, are now being excused. Each community council has my permission and is free to carry on its traditional functions, in my reign. Both Hindus and Muslims are one in my eyes, so I give freedom [of action] to these councils. They are exempt from the payment of jazya [religious tax] and other taxes.


Issued in the reign of emperor of India, Emperor Akbar, 11 th Ram/an, 989 Hijn I A.D. 1580]. Mandate issued by grand wazirs, Abul-Fazel and Raja Todar Mal.
Another edict, issued two years earlier, makes similar statements, and is addressed specifically to the two Jat clan chaudhuris of clan Baliyan.9

continued> in next post

[ravichaudhary]

As these exchanges reveal, Akbar made several concessions to the local clans of the upper Doab region between Ganges and Jumna. The councils were to carry on as before without interference. Imposts that the Jats had resisted for centuries were to be waived. In return, however, the clan councils accepted the new revenue system. Measured lands are recorded for all sub-districts in the imperial district of Saharanput which included the lands of the Baliyan and their allied Jat and Gujar clans.10 They asked for local agency in collection, but did not quarrel with its implementation. In this region at least, imperial policy relied both upon force and conciliation.


In forcing its agrarian system upon the variegated aristocracy of the North Indian plain, the Mughals began to compress and shape a new social class. The latter, despite resistance, found itself becoming more dependent upon the state for its prosperity and for an essential aspect of its identity


* Pradhan, Political System, p 97. The royal order is reproduced as Mandate No 1s in a set of plates between pages 96 and 97. Although the seal is indecipherable, the text is accurately translated by the author 9 Ibid. The text seems to have been addressed in general to four Jat khaps and one Gujar khap, but the copy preserved is addressed to "Chaudhury Pacchu Mal, Shoron, and Chaudhary Lad Singh, Sisauli." 10 The figures arc recorded in the Ain-i Akbari tables under Delhi province. Abul Fazl Allami, The Ain i Akbari. translated by H.S Jarrett, second edition, corrected and annotated by Jadunath Sarkar (Calcutta, 1949), pp296-97..
9»

[anrtish]

I hope this is a memorable book to be criticised or accepted by Jat community. Particularly by western Up Jats.

I've personally read this scholarly publication.

[DrRajpalSingh]

Respected Raviji,
I am really beholden to your eagles eye on the look out for the best available sources on the Jats.
Congts.
During the course my research way back in 1981-82 I had unsuccessfully tried to go through the records at Sauram but by that time they had gone astray. therefore I had to depend on the quotes of other scholars one of them being Dr. M.C. Pradhan, who has extensively used those records. Anther person was Dr. G.C. Dwivedi, whose thesis edited by Dr. Veer Singh has lately been published as you know sir. The present piece of writing under reference is superb addition to our knowledge. Thanks once again.
Dr. Raj Pal Singh