Antiquity of Jat Race by US Mahil/About Nine Centuries from 400 BC to 528 AD
Text Wikified By : Ch. Reyansh Singh
ABOUT NINE CENTURIES FROM 400 B. C. TO 528 A. D.
Section 1
Tussle with Macedonians
Tussle with Macedonians
We now enter upon a period of history when the literary world was deprived of the intelligence and services of scholars like Herodotus who was a Greek subject of Manda Jat Empire having been borne in a city of Asia minor on the coast of Mediterranean sea. He was truly described as being the father of history, because his clear and consecutive chronicle of his own
and antecedent periods is unparalleled. We, therefore, have to depend upon fragments of literature for continuing our story. There are indications about the exploits of the Jat race in such far off places as north of China, the coasts of Baltic sea. Spain, Italy, Iceland and even America as mentioned in Chapter II. There is, however, no consecutive account of all these exploits. The invasion of India by Jats and the establishment of the important Kanishak Empire and the war of Kanishak with Salvahan are events shrouded in what is called the night of Indian history. In all the above mentioned places they must have founded empires like Manda Empire. How they founded them, how they lost them, we have no detailed account, because unfortunately there was no Herodotus in all those places to record their campaigns. I, therefore, have to join together fragments found here and there to continue this story.
The river Danube in Europe is most important from the point of view of Jat antiquity. On both banks of this river were Jat settlements. In the north of it was the western part of Scythia (modem Romania), and in the south of it was Thrace the well-known birth place of Getoe (modern Bulgaria). In the south of Thrace and having common boundary with it was Macedonia the
birth place of Alexander the Great. The river Danube was so closely connected with Jats that it entered in their dreams. It was abbreviated into Dan and was personified into an evil spirit, because at high flood it swallowed their hamlets and cattle. Punjab Jats even now use the word Dan for an evil spirit which swallows men and children. It was this Danube which was the scene of so many Jat exploits. They struggled not only with Macedonians who were their close neighbours, but also with Greeks and obliged the Greek Historian Thucydides to declare that no nation either in Asia or Europe could stand against Jats as mentioned in a previous Chapter. Jat antiquity is intimately connected with Macedonian antiquity. In 5th century B. C. Jats furnished a contingent of cavalry to Sitalces king of the Odrysoe in his attack on Perdiccas II king of Macedon. The struggle between Odrysoe and Macedon continued until Philip II of Macedon reduced the Odrysoe to the condition of tributaries in 342 B. C. Although the Getoe had supplied onty a single contingent of cavalry to the Odrysoe, but fearing that their turn would come next, they made overtures to the conqueror. The king Gothelas of the Getoe undertook to supply Philip with soldiers and his daughter became the wife of the Macedonian. This shows that there were marital relations between kings of Getoe and Macedonia, and Jats were a part of the invincible Phalanx of Philip of Macedonia and thus formed part of the army of his son Alexander the Great. In fact, the Thracian Getoe and Macedonians being adjacent neighbours, there was great intermingling of them. Fergusson who was a scholar of Greek antiquity used to say that Macedonians were a cross between Greeks and Getoe of Thrace; That Alexander the Great owed his dare devil nature, to the fact that Jat blood was flowing in his veins. He used to say that Olympias the mother of Alexander the Great was the daughter of the king of Epirus another neighbour country of Thrace and that she was descended from Jat queens of Epirus. Mature and habits of Olympias was quite like Jat women of Thrace. Like them she was expert in Thrace Charms and just like them she used to wind snakes round her arms. There was mythological connection also between
Macedonian kings and Scythian Jats. The Macedonian kings derived their pedigree fiom Hercules who was mythological father of Scytha the originator of Scythian race. Whether Jat blood was running in the veins of Alexander or not, it is certain that great deal of Jat blood was running in the veins of his army, because the Phalanx which he inherited from his father had considerable portion of Jats in it.
Getoe gave good account of themselves in their wars with Macedonians. In 326 B.C. Zopyrion invaded the country of Jats. He sustained a crushing defeat. In 292 B.C. Lysimachus invaded Jats and advanced upto the battlefield of Bassarabia. The Jats cut off his retreat there and he had to surrender. Jat army demanded that he should be executed, but the Jat king Dromichaetes released him magnanimously without any injury. Philip once invaded Scythian Jats of Danube and looted a great number of their horses and cattle. On his return, the Jats made a counter attack on Philip and rescued a great deal of looted property. Philip sustained a grievous injury and with great difficulty brought his army back to his country through the Haemus Pass. Alexander also invaded Thrace and Triballians in 335 B.C. Although he was successful, but he saved his own life with great difficulty. There being no connected account of Jat exploits of that period, we have to depend on glimpses of Jat bravery in the gloom of that dark age. One such flash is provided by
Alexander’s speech to the mutinous Macedonians at Opis in 324 B.C. Here is the relevant position of that speech:--
- “You were destitutes and leather clad. You used to graze sheep and could not save yourselves from Thrace Getoe. In such condition my father took you under his protection, clothed you in soldiers’ uniform and made you equal to Thracian Getoe in the art of lighting."
This extract clearly shows that as far as bravery in lighting is concerned, Thracian Jats were much superior to Macedonians. It has already been mentioned in Chapter IV how Jats under the command of General
Megabazus of Darius subjugated the kingdom of Macedonia in 515 B.C. It was due to these brave characteristics of Scythian Jats that the great Greek historian Thucydides declared that there was no nation either in Asia or Europe that was able to stand against the Scythians.
Alexander in his triumphal march in Asia invaded Sogdiana, modern W. Turkistan (Vide Historians’ History of the World Vol. 3-4 page 348-351). The capital
of Sogdiana was Samarkand which was at that time a country of Jats who were the remote ancestors of Punjab Jats. At that time Sogdiana was a province of Scythia. There was a ferocious battle between Alexander’s forces and the Jats of Sogdiana on the banks of the river Amu Darya (Jihon) in which the Jats annihilated the Macedonian army and gained a big victory, in fact the only victory in Asia against Alexander's army. This victory shocked Alexander who never expected such crushing defeat in Asia. He fell ill with diarrhoea and for some time his life was in danger. This happened in 328-327 B.C. For full one year the Jats of Sogdiana did not allow any rest to the remnants of Macedonian army. Alexander was so much impressed with the bravery of Sogdiana Jats that in 327 B.C. after recovery he recruited thirty thousand Jats in his depleted army (Vide Historians’ History of World Vol, 3-4 page 351). It was this army including Sogdiana Jats which defeated Porus in the Punjab. This was the first chance for the Jats to see the fertile lands of the five rivers, and in fact, this chance was the origin of the ambition of Jats to settle in the Punjab, prompting further waves of this race to invade and occupy this wonderful country. They found it to be much more fertile tract of land than the valley of Sir Darya and Amu Darya (Sihon and Jihon).
When Alexander in his triumphal march in the Punjab reached the banks of Satluj and the Macedonian army refused to proceed further in India. Alexander threatened that if the Macedonians did not proceed with him further in India, he would take only his Bactarian and Scythian soldiers with him (Vide Historians, History
of the World Vol. 3-4 page 361). This clearly shows that there were Bactarian and Scythian Jats in the army of Alexander the Great in his campaign in India.
Section 2
Ancestors of Punjab Jats
Ancestors of Punjab Jats
We have seen in the previous Section that the presence of Jat soldiers in the army of Alexander prompted wave after wave of Jat race to invade and settle in the Punjab. Unfortunately there was no scholar of history to record their exploits. The period of the empire of Asoka is from 363 to 226 B.C. The succeeding 12 centuries of Indian history after Asoka are called the night of history. The historical material of this period is so
meagre that we have to depend upon the accounts of foreigners which are not always quite correct. Punjab Jats are descended from that race of Indo Scythians who had been, called by various names as Yue-chi, Tue-chi, Ephthalites, Sakas, Kushans or Huns. They belonged to the same Jat race called by different names by different nations. Chinese called them Yue-chi or Tue-chi, Indians called them Sakas or Kushans ; and Greeks called them Ephthalites or Huns. It is most interesting to see that according to Encyclopaedia Britanica Yuchi is a tribe of red Indians in America constituting a separate linguistic stock whose culture was marked by traits of Muskogi type, and they still survive in the creek area in Oklahoma. I hope some interested research scholar will like to fish out more facts about this Jat tribe before it becomes extinct there. They probably entered America
through Alaska in pre-historic times.
In 200 B.C. the Jats under the name of Indo-Scythians attacked and subdued the Greeko-Bactarian kingdom which extended upto the river Jamuna. Punjab was thus a part of that kingdom. Their rule continued unwritten by any historian. In that night of history we come accross some glimpses of light. In 372 A.D. under the leadership of Balamir they advanced from the north of Caspian sea to the west and conquering several nations they subjugated all the countries upto the north of Danube river. They took tribute from, the Roman
Emperor. Entreaties of Pope had great effect upon their religious nature and Italy was thus saved. Attila Goth descended from this branch. He will be described in the next Chapter. In A.D. 278 Kanishka established a great Indian Empire like Ashoka. Very few facts are known about this great Jat Empire. We know that Kanishka was a devout Budhist like Ashoka. He reigned from Madura upto Bukhara. During Ins reign the fourth Council of Budhists was held in Jullundur under the presidency of Vasumitra. It is said that Salvahan stopped the advance of Scythians to the south in 78 A.D. Several kings of the name of Bikarmajit have been mentioned who fought with Scythians which made confusion worse confounded. This confusion caused a great deal of disturbance in the history of India. (Vide Historian’s History of the World Vol. 2, page 480). The history about Bikramajit degenerated into mythology and figment of scholastic brains. In this historical gloom very few authentic facts are known about Jat history in India. We do not even know the true dimensions of the Empire of Kanishka. It was probably equal to the empire of Ashoka. We know that Kanishka was very fond of spreading Greek arts and statues in his empire. This fondness he inherited from Greeko-Bactarian kingdom which his predecessors conquered. From such statues we know that Afghanistan, Punjab, Rajputana and Muthra etc., were included in his empire. H. G. Wells says in the Outline of History (Chap. 28, Sec. 4, page 475), that Indo-Scythians conquered northern portion of India as far as Benares wiping out the last vestiges of Hellenic rule in India.
Still less is known about the adventures of Turman and Mihirgil. This is most unfortunate, because it was the adventures of these Jat kings which spread the Jat race of the present time far and wide in the Punjab and beyond in U. P. and Bharatpur. They left the traces of such well-known sub-castes of Punjab Jats as Man and Gill. There are so many villages of Man Jats and Gill Jats in the Punjab. Some writers spell and pronounce Mihirgil as Mihirgul, but every Punjabi Jat knows that a Jat name can never end in the suffix Gull which is a
Pathan or Pushto suffix. Even at the present time there are such names of Jats in the Punjab as Mihira Gil and Basanta Mann. Even about dates there is much confusion. H . G. Wells says that Mihar Gill was overthrown by his Indian Tributary princes in 528 A.D. On the other hand, it is said that he was fighting in southern Sindh between 514 A.D. and 550 A.D. He ascended the throne in 515 A.D. H. G. Wells says that Mihara Gill was the most capable leader of Jats, while the author of Raj Trangni has nothing but vilification for him. That author says that Mihara Gill conquered upto Lanka and the Rajas of Tanjaur, Karnatak and Gujrat were all subdued by him. Very little is known about his predecessor Turman, It is said that he conquered Punjab and Malva pushing all the Hindu Rajputs of the Punjab to the safety of the hills and the deserts of Rajputana. Chinese literature contains an account of these Yue-chi who were the ancestors of the present Punjab Jats; but unfortunately there has been no research by scholars in that literature. The Greek historian Procopius also wrote about them, but I have not been able to procure his book in spite of efforts. It is perhaps out of print. Whatever little is known about these Ephthalite Jats shows that previously they used to live in the north of the Chinese wall. H. G. Wells calls them Huns and says that they were kindred of Yue-chi. It was against the attacks of these Jats that the Chinese Emperor She-Hwang-ti accomplished the feat of building the Great Wall of China in 246 B.C. More facts will be known about these Jats when research is held in the Chinese literature of that time. Having been checked from the south by that Great Wall they pursued their adventures towards the west and after crossing the mountain harrier entered Chinese Turkistan. They conquered and occupied all the surrounding countries including Western Turkistan and Afghanistan. They made Balkh as their capital, Ella and Percy Sykes writes in his well-known book “Through Deserts and Oases of Central Asia” that in eastern Turkistan there are still strong evidences of nordic blood in the physiognomy of the people. It was from that capital that they conquered Greeko Bactarian kingdom and Persia, Later on, their wave after wave
entered down the Khyber Pass and conquered northern portion of India as far as Benares wiping out the last vestiges of Hellenic rule in India. I consider it an exaggeration on the part of author of Raj Trangni to say that Mihar Gil conquered India upto Lanka. He similarly exaggerated the cruelty of that monarch. Sangla in the Punjab was the capital of Turman and Mihargil. Like Ishtuvegu, Mihargil was another Jat monarch having seriously defective mind. When he invaded Kashmir and was crossing the Banibal pass with his army including elephants, one of the elephants fell down the precipitous rock and was killed. The shrieks of the elephant so pleased his morbid mind that he ordered other elephants to be rolled down the precipitous rocks simply for the purpose of enjoying their screams. Although the momentum of Turman’s bravery carried the Jat army triumphantly through India, still the morbid mind of the monarch could not fail to have the natural effect. His abominations roused his Indian tributary princes to revolt and he was ultimately overthrown. What was left as a result of so many waves of Jab incursion in India was a large population of Jat race in the Punjab and surrounding provinces, which as Jat Sikhs was destined to play so important a political part in the present time. If the mind of Mihar Gil had been normal, he would certainly have followed the footsteps of Kanishka and founded a great Jat Empire in India.
While speaking about the bravery of Jat race of this period I should not omit to mention their bravery against Roman Legions of that period. After annihilating the Greeko Bactarian kingdom the Jat waves had conquered and occupied Iran. The great Roman general Crassus took his triumphant legions across Asia minor upto the river Euphrates. His ill luck and insatiable ambition prompted him to cross that river and to conquer more territory to the east. He was quite ignorant about the enemy he had to meet. He did not know that he had to encounter his superiors in bravery. He found himself against the Scythian Jats. A great battle of Carrhae (53 B.C.) was fought between the Roman legions and the Jats which culminated in two
day’s massacre of the hot. thirsty, hungry and weary Roman legions. Twenty thousand of them were killed and ten thousand marched on eastward as prisoners into slavery in Iran. What became of Crassus is not clearly known. There is a story that he fell alive into Jat hands and was killed In having molten gold poured down his throat. Nobody can vouchsafe about the truth of that story. The Roman Empire was thus checked from being pushed beyond Mesopotamia. In the next Chapter I shall relate the interesting account of the destruction of Roman empire at the hands of Jats.