Jat as a "Trader Identity"

[maddhan1979]

Were there some "Jat" clans that took to trading and become a "Baniya" in the long run?

In ancient times, trading was done by two kind of people:

1. One who were travelling from place to place.
2. Others who were settled at a single place for a considerable amount of time.

The travelling people traded goods and other related stuff that was often brought from different lands and kingdoms, whereas local traders traded in local goods.

Therefore it seems, that local traders were different from the travelling people, local people might have been deep rooted in south Indian cultures, rather than nomadic and horse man culture.
The concept of horse man culture does not only belong to Jats as in present day scenario, rather to many different kinds of tribes, people, ethnicity who were doing different kinds of work and trade these people were different from"Baniyas".

Jats due to their Scythian origins were one of the main core group of travelling, migrating, settling people throughout northwest of ancient Bharat, central asia, middle east and other parts of the globe.

[swaich]

Interesting question.

I think there must be more than those two factors contributing to people engaging in trade. One I could think of is degree of urbanization. Trade developed around centers which encouraged mercantile professions. Such centres enabled supporting infrastructure and allied services like banking and credit to flourish. The Silk Route was dotted with such urban centers such as Qashgar.

Taking this factor into account and the fact that most Jats were agrarian or pastoral thus they were limited to rural settings. Hence the chances that some Jat communities took up the trader professions are slim.

Of course things are different now. As Jats are now ell settled in urban areas, more and more are taking up mercantile jobs.

[maddhan1979]

Interesting question.

I think there must be more than those two factors contributing to people engaging in trade. One I could think of is degree of urbanization. Trade developed around centers which encouraged mercantile professions. Such centres enabled supporting infrastructure and allied services like banking and credit to flourish. The Silk Route was dotted with such urban centers such as Qashgar.

Taking this factor into account and the fact that most Jats were agrarian or pastoral thus they were limited to rural settings. Hence the chances that some Jat communities took up the trader professions are slim.

Of course things are different now. As Jats are now ell settled in urban areas, more and more are taking up mercantile jobs.

"Degree of Urbanization", was a very fluid term in ancient context. Stability as we see in present day scenario was not a common thing in past. So, the degree of Urbanization and the people inhabiting that urbanization were not very big in terms of static identities.

[swaich]

"Degree of Urbanization", was a very fluid term in ancient context. Stability as we see in present day scenario was not a common thing in past. So, the degree of Urbanization and the people inhabiting that urbanization were not very big in terms of static identities.

I would disagree there. Its a misconception there was no stability before the modern era. If there was no stability, trade wouldn't have happened, inventions wouldn't have happened, music, art and culture wouldn't have flourished. Certainly things were not as stable as current times but there was definitely enough stability for all of the above activities to happen.

[maddhan1979]

I would disagree there. Its a misconception there was no stability before the modern era. If there was no stability, trade wouldn't have happened, inventions wouldn't have happened, music, art and culture wouldn't have flourished. Certainly things were not as stable as current times but there was definitely enough stability for all of the above activities to happen.

The point is not about the stability, rather the Time period and area linked to stability.

[DrRajpalSingh]

The point is not about the stability, rather the Time period and area linked to stability.

Kindly concentrate on topic to find out Jat identity as trader in ancient times please !

[swaich]

The point is not about the stability, rather the Time period and area linked to stability.

Stability is related to urbanization and urbanization to trade. Since Jats were neither urban nor stable (read as: not tied to one piece of land) up untill medieval times, the possibility of Jat tribes/clans turning to trading is minimal.

[maddhan1979]

Identities in "India" have been overshadowed by myths, folklore, religious orthodoxy, religious misinformation, so on.

So exactly, how does a person describe a "Jat Identitiy", is a Jat a Jewish person, is he a Muslim, is he a Christian, a Sikh or a Hindu?

Religions in human history are new, human existence is old and so are the common origins of humans and their tribes.

Their history, existence, tribal links, migrations, living and eating habits. all of these surpass any single identity.

Studying their history we find they have fought and stood up for the right, "they have been keepers of order and peace and defenders in the time of wars".

Remember the old story of "Abhimanyu from Mahabharata", where the non born child got the knowledge in his mothers womb, no doubt, our ancestors wanted to save their blood and tribal identities by not marrying their girls out of the "Jat identity".

Family names of "Jats" exist all across the globe, Europe, Middle east, Iraq, Iran, etc and they are neither time bound nor religion bound.