Antiquity of Jat Race by US Mahil/Jat Conquests in Europe in Fourth and Fifth Century AD
Text Wikified By : Ch. Reyansh Singh
JAT CONQUESTS IN EUROPE IN FOURTH AND FIFTH CENTURY A. D.
Section 1
Before I begin the account of Jat conquests in Europe, I remind the reader to refresh his memory by reading Chapter II where I have discussed in detail about the different names of Jat race, the difference being caused by the operation of what is called Grimm’s Law of Variation in the science of Philology. In the case of Jat race this law has been working from pre-historic times. Chinese called them Yue-chi. In Europe Y was changed into G and ch into t and the name became Getae. In Denmark it was simplified into Jut and the territory which they occupied was named Jutland. The name of the territory became permanent while Grimm’s law continued operating upon the race and the name changed into Jute. In Scandinavia the word J was changed into the gutteral G and the name became Goth and the territory which they occupied in Scandinavia was called Gothland. Even now the Grimm’s law is working in India and the Juts of the Punjab have been changed into Jaats of Hariana Prant and U. P. We have seen in Chapter I, Section 3, how by a great philological mistake Manda Jats of antiquity were called medes and the mistake continued upto Herodotus until it was corrected by the discovery of the monuments of Nabonidus and Cyrus. For the sake of clarity I give other instances of the variation of the names by different nations. The Arabs call plato as Aflatoon, Aristotle as Arastoo, Socrates as Suqrat etc. Europeans called the river Sindh as Indus, Ganga as Ganges, Hind as India. Alexander the Great called king Purush as Porus and also changed the names of the Punjab rivers. In this confusion of names caused by philological law and philological mistake, I must repeat that I propose to call the race by the simple familiar name of Jat. I repeat this
precaution so that the conventional reader may not misunderstand when I use the word Jat for Goth and other variations caused by Grimm’s Law.
Section 2
(Attacks on Roman Empire)
(Attacks on Roman Empire)
We have no satisfactory account as to when the Jats called Goths pushed southwards from their homelands round the Baltic sea. We know that in third century A.D. they migrated from Sweden right across Russia to the black and Caspian seas and wrested the command of these eastern seas from the control of Rome. In south Russia they were divided by the river Dnieper into Visigoths or Western Goths and Ostro Goths or Eastern Goths. In 247 A.D. they crossed the Danube and defeated and killed the Roman Emperor Decius in the country now called Serbia. The province of Dacia was thus wrested from the Roman Empire. They were, however, defeated by the Emperor Claudius in the battle of Nish in Serbia in 270 A.D. They, however, recovered their vigour soon and attacked Pontus in 276 A.D. The vicissitude of fortune continued between Jats and Roman Emprors for some time. Rome was not a secure city now and for the first time in Roman history the city was fortified by the emperor Aurelian (270-275). In 321 A.D. Jats again attacked the Danube region and plundered what is now Serbia and Bulgaria. They were, however, driven back by Constantine the Great. Near about the middle of the fourth century the western Jats called Visigoths crossed the Danube into Roman territory and defeated the Emperor Valens who was killed in this battle. They then occupied and settled in the country now called Bulgaria. There was eventually a treaty between these Jats and the Roman Emperor according to which the Jat army nominally became a Roman army, but they retained their own generals the foremost of whom was Alaric.
Section 3
(Wonderful Jat Conqueror Alaric)
(Wonderful Jat Conqueror Alaric)
Alaric was wonderful man of the Jat race. He was the first Jat who stood as a conqueror in the city of
Rome. He was born about 370 A.D. on an Island named Peuce (the fir) at the mouth of the Danube. He was of noble descent, his father being a Scion of the family of the Balthi or Bold-men next in dignity among Jat warriors to the Amals. In 394 A.D. he served as a General of Feo-derati (irregulars) under the Emperor Theodosius in the campaign in which he defeated the usurper Eugenius. This battle of the Frigidus was fought near the passes of the Julian Alps where Alaric had the opportunity of knowing the weakness of the natural defence of Italy on her north-eastern frontier. When Theodosius died, his sons Arcadius and Honorius were unfit to appreciate the bravery of Alaric and he remained a mere officer of Feo-derati. This was not enough for that ambitious man. His countrymen were also grumbling at the withdrawal of the presents, in other words the veiled ransom-money which for many years they had been accustomed to receive. Those Jats raised him on a shield and acclaimed him as a king. The historian Jordanes says that both the leader and followers resolved “rather to seek new kingdom by their own valour, than to slumber in peaceful subjection to the rule of others.”
Roman empire had been divided into eastern and western empires. Alaric struck first at the eastern empire. He marched to the neighbourhood of Constantinople. He did not, however, think it worth while to undertake the tedious siege of the city. He turned westwards and then marched southwards through Thessaly and the pass of Thermopylae into Greece. Alaric’s invasion of Greece lasted for two years (395-96). He conquered Attica upon which Athens at once capitulated to the conqueror, and thus saved itself from the ravage. He then penetrated into Peloponnesus capturing the famous cities of Corinth, Argos and Sparta. Meanwhile the emperor Arcadius sent the legions under Stilicho to stem the Jat tide. Alaric at once crossed the Corinthian gulf and marched with the plunder of Greece northwards to Epirus. It is interesting to see that it was not possible for the Roman legions to pursue the Jat leader there. Eventually the friction between the eastern and western sections of the empire increased. The emperor Arcadius who had now tasted the bravery of Alaric conferred
upon him the government of part of the important prefecture of Illyricum for the purpose of making him a powerful and valuable ally and his state as buffer state. Thus ruling the Danubian provinces he was on the confines of the two empires Alaric being an astute Jat thought it a great opportunity to play one throne against another, and in the words of the poet Claudian he “sold his alternate oaths to either throne”. He made the imperial arsenals to prepare the weapons with which to arm his Jat followers for the next campaign.
About the year 400 A.D. Alaric made his first invasion of Italy, and after speading desolation through north Italy and striking terror into the citizens of Rome he was met by Roman legions under Stilicho at Pollentia (a Roman Municipality in what is now Piedmont), and was defeated in the battle (6th April 402) This defeat was due to the fact that the day was an Easter day, and Alaric trusted to the sanctity of Easter for immunity from attack. The enemies of Stilicho reproached him for having gained his victory by taking an unfair advantage
of the great Christian festival. After one other reverse before Yerona Alaric quitted Italy in 403 A.D.
This first invasion of Italy by Jat forces, although unsuccessful, had produced important results. It had caused the imperial residence to be transferred from Milan to Ravenna; it had necessitated the withdrawal of the 20th legion from Britain, and Gaul and Spain were lost to the empire.
The restless spirit of Alaric was smarting under the failure of his first invasion. He, therefore, crossed the Julian Alps and stood before the walls of Rome in September, 408 A.D. and began a strict blockade. The senate sent to him ambassadors for the purpose of entreating for peace. They began to terrify him with their hints of what the despairing citizens might accomplish. Upon this Alaric laughed and quite Jat-like gave them his celebrated answer “The thicker the hay, the easier mowed ’. After much bargaining the citizens agreed to pay a ransom of more than a quarter of million sterling, besides precious garments of silk and three thousand pounds of pepper.
We need not follow in detail the confusion which was caused in Roman politics after this defeat at the hands of Jat forces. After waiting for about a couple of years Alaric found his great opportunity and made his third invasion of Italy. Then followed a crowning event in Jat history. On 24th August, 410 Alaric and his Jat forces captured Rome by bursting in by the Salarian gate on the north-east of the city. The Jats showed themselves not absolutely ruthless conquerors and there is no reason to attribute any extensive destruction of the buildings of the city to Alaric and his army. Contemporary ecclesiastics recorded with wonder many instances of their clemency. Christian churches saved from ravage, protection granted to vast multitudes who took refuge therein, vessels of gold and silver found in a private dwelling spared because they belonged to St. Peter, at least one case in which a beautiful Roman
matron appealed, not in vain, to the better feelings of the Jat soldier who had assailed her.
The victorious Alaric then marched southwards into Calabria. He desired to invade Africa, which on account of its corn crops was now the key of the position. His ships, however, were dashed to pieces by a sudden storm in which many of his soldiers perished. He died of fever soon after that. He was succeeded in the command of the Jat army by his brother-in-law Ataulphus.
Our chief authorities for the career of Alaric are the historian Orosius and the poet Claudian, both strictly contemporary, and Jordanes, a Jat who wrote the history of his nation in the year 551, basing his work on the earlier history of Cassiodorus (now lost), which was written in 520.
Section 4
(Jat Kings of Spain and Rome)
(Jat Kings of Spain and Rome)
Although Alaric was the first Jat king to ascend the Roman throne, we should not think that he became the emperor of Roman Empire. His chief achievement was the destruction of Roman empire which he smashed
to pieces. Roman legions had to be withdrawn from Britain and Gaul which countries had been left to chaos. Britain instead of being thankful to God for liberation from Roman servitude was actually groaning that Roman legions had left. Similar was the mental condition in Gaul which at that time was not obsessed with the dreams of liberty and Equality. So many adventurers including Goths invaded Gaul that the confusion became worse confounded. In Spain Alaric II was the eighteth king of the Goths who succeeded his father
Euric on 28th December, 484. His chief achievement worth remembering was appointment of a commission to prepare an abstract of the Roman Laws and imperial decrees which should form the authoritative code for his Roman subjects. This is generally known as the Breviarium Alaricianum or Breviary of Alaric. There is nothing very important to write about other Jat kings who passed their time by the usual pastimes of despots.
Roman throne was also occupied by Goths. In 493 Theodoric Goth became King of Rome. Totila the Gothic King of Rome retook Naples from the Greeks. He was greatly influenced by saint Benedict to whom he used to go for counsel. Under his influence at the time of taking Naples Goths protected the women from insult and treated even the captured soldiers with humanity.
Section 5
(Jat Conqueror Attila)
(Jat Conqueror Attila)
I close this Chapter by mentioning the meteoric career of Attila Jat of this period. He is an important personality from many points of view. His bravery was proverbial. He was more nearly related to Punjab Jats, because he was a descendant of Balamir a Scythian leader who rose from the north of Caspian sea and conauered so many countries upto Danube river and beyond as mentioned in Chapter 5 above. Although Attila belonged to the same branch of Jats to which Indo-Scythians belonged, still he was called Attila the Goth, not because his ancestors came from Gothland but because every leader who set upon the conquering career in Europe was called a Goth by the Europeans.
This does not matter because, as I have mentioned in this book more than once, giving detailed reasons, the word Goth is nothing but a variation of the word Jat. The conquering career of Attila in Europe was most extraordinary. The seat of his government was in the plains east of the Danube. He conquered and swayed a considerable empire both in Europe and Asia. He negotiated on equal terms with the Chinese emperor. He bullied Revenna and Constantinople for ten years. Honoria was the grand-daughter of Theodosius II Emperor of the Eastern Empire. She fell in love with a court chamberlain and was, therefore, put under restraint. In her despair she sent her ring to Attila calling upon him to deliver her and to become her husband. Attila at once marched southward and reached the very walls of Constantinople. According to the historian Gibbon, he destroyed 70 cities in his progress. The emperor had to make a costly peace with him. It is not known why he did not include the liberation of Honoria as a condition for peace. His Jat modesty perhaps did not allow him to condescend to include love affair in such a high transaction. Attila, however, continued to regard her as his bride. He used that relationship as a pretext for farther aggressions. The emperor was forced to negotiate further and sent an embassy to the camp of Attila. Most fortunately a rhetorician named Priscus accompanied that embassy and he wrote a detailed narrative of what he saw about the camp and way of living of the great Jat conqueror. Only fragments survive of that narrative, but they are enough to shed a clear light upon the Jat way of life in that remote period. It is most interesting to know how that way of life coincides with the present way of life of Punjab Jats. The head of the embassy was Maximin, a good and honest man. Quite unknown to him and, at that time, to Priscus, Vigilius, the interpreter of the expedition, had also a secret mission from the court of Theodosius to secure the assassination of Attila by bribery. This secret work of Vigilius became known to Attila through the confession of the proposed assassin. Like a typical Jat Attila was magnanimous and careless about his own life. He allowed the embassy to return
in safety, with presents of numerous horses etc. to Constantinople. He, however, wanted to give a piece of his mind to the emperor Theodosius II. He sent an ambassador for that purpose. The envoy carried the following wonderful words to the emperor :— “Theodosius is the son of an illustrious and respectable parent, Attila, likewise, is descended from the noble race, and he has supported by his actions, the dignity which he inherited from his father Munzuk. But Theodosius has forfeited his parental honours, and by consenting to pay tribute, has degraded himself to the condition of a slave. It is, therefore, just that he should reverence the man whom fortune and merit have placed above him, instead of attempting, like a wicked slave, clandestinely to conspire against his master”.
Look at the grand standard of the above diction. How like a noble Jat, and what was the reaction of the successor of Julius Coesar to the above biting rebuke ? It was abject submission The emperor sued for pardon, and paid a great ransom.
How to return to the narrative of Prisons about the camp life of Attila, the differences in dietary soon attracted his attention. Prisons mentions mead in the place of wine, millet for corn, and a drink either distilled or brewed from barley. It is very interesting to notice that the word mead is the same as the Punjabee Mad pronounced just like the first syllable of Madras. Mad means wine in Punjabee. Similarly millet is the favourite food of Jats of Hariana prant Priscus found Attila’s capital rather a vast camp and village than a town. There was only one building of stone, a bath constructed on the Roman model. The mass of the people were in huts and tents like Punjab villages. Attila and his leading men lived in timber palaces in great stoekaded enclosures with their wives and ministers about them. There was a vast display of loot, but Attila himself affected a Jat-like simplicity. Be was served in wooden cups and platters. He worked hard, kept open court before the gate of his palace, and was commonly in the saddle. The primitive custom of Jats of holding great feasts in hall still held good and there
was much hard drinking (Madmasti). Prisons describes how bards chanted before Attila. Every Punjabee has the experience of the chanting of Jat bards. They recited the verses which they had composed, to celebrate the valour and victories of Attila. A profound silence prevailed in the hall and the attention of the guests was captivated by the vocal harmony, which
revived and perpetuated the memory of their own exploits; a martial ardour flashed from the eyes of the warriors who were impatient for battle and the tears of the old men expressed their generous despair that they could, no longer, Partake the danger and glory of the field. This entertainment, which might be considered as a school of military virtue, was succeeded by a farce
that debased the dignity of human nature. A moorish buffoon successive excited the mirth of the spectators by their deformed figures, ridiculous dress, antic gestures, absurd speeches, and the strange, unintelligible confusion of different languages, and the hall resounded with loud and licentious peals of laughter. In the midst of this intemperate riot, Attila alone, without
change of countenance, maintained his steadfast and inflexible gravity”. Reading this Gibbon’s version of the narrative of Priscus we may well think that we are not reading about the scene in Attila’s camp in the 5th century A.D., but a scene in a modern jat village at the time of the celebration of a Jat marriage where Jat singers sing their peculiar songs, and Mirasi buffoons called naglias in the Punjab perform their buffoonish acts and excite peals of laughter from the audience. One very interesting fact emerges from the above description
of Attila’s camp by Priscus. Jat kings at the time of their conquest in Europe employed moors as buffoons. Moors were perhaps the only race of experts in the performance
of buffoonish acts. I further guess that mirasies of the Punjab who reside in every jat village as menials of Jats are the descendants of the above mentioned meers, the word meer being a variation of word moor.
Attila is described as of small stature, swarthy complexion, wide chest, big head, prematurely grey hair, snub nose and small eyes.
In 451. Attila declared war on the western empire, He invaded Gaul plundered most of the towns of France as far south as Orleans. Franks were too weak to repulse him, but another branch of Jats called Visigoths joined franks and the imperial forces against him. A great and obstinate battle was fought at Chalons (451) in which more than 1,50,000 men were killed on both sides. He then suffered his first repulse in Europe, because another branch of the Jat conquerors of the previous period joined against him. He was not disheartened by this reverse. He turned his attention southward and invaded north Italy. Aquileia and Padua were burnt and he looted Milan. Here Pope Leo I intervened and entreated him to desist from further attacks. Magnanimous Attila then made peace at the entreaties of the religious head of the Christendom. He died in 453. His empire extended from the Caspian sea upto the river Rhine.