JAT history

In the seventeenth century a (Hindu) kingdom was established in the area of Bharatpur and Dholpur (Rajasthan) in northern India; it was the outcome of many centuries of rebellion against the Mogul Empire, and it lasted till 1826, when it was defeated by the forces of the British East India Company.

In the period subsequent to 1881, when the British reversed their prior anti-Sikh policies, it was necessary to profess Sikhism in order to be recruited to the army because the administration believed Hindus to be inferior for military purposes.

According to Ibbetson (Panjab Castes, 1916), Jats are of Indo-Aryan (or Indo- Scythian) descent.

According to Westphal-Hellbusch and Wesphal (The Jat of Pakistan,1964), give the Arabic equivalent of Jat as Zutt, a generic term used for “men from India.” The word Jat also means “bunch of hair” and the Jats themselves claim that they have descended from the hair of lord Shiv.

However, some estimates place the Jat population in 1988 at 31 million, which would place their current population at around 43 million.

According to Captain A. H. Bingley (Handbook On Rajputs,1999) they were particularly loyal soldiers.

In Nanowal village, part of Fategarh Sahib district in Punjab State, in which 70% of the families are landed Jat Sikhs, 18 boys and six girls were born in 2003, the latter all belonging to the Scheduled Castes.

According to historians Catherine Asher and Cynthia Talbot (India Before Europe, 2006): “The Jats also provide an important insight into how religious identities evolved during the precolonial era.

The agitation in 2008 amongst Gujars in Rajasthan for classification as a Scheduled Tribe stems, in part, from Jats being classed as an OBC in the state and the Gujars having to compete with them in the areas of employment and access to education.

He also notes that some estimates put their total population in South Asia at approximately 43 million in 2009.

According to anthropologist Sunil K. Khanna, Jat population is estimated to be around 30 million (or 3 crore) in South Asia in 2010.

The Indian Army admitted in 2013 that the 150-strong Presidential Bodyguard comprises only people who are Hindu Jats, Jat Sikhs and Hindu Rajputs.