Jat Sikh

Etymology

The New Indo-Aryan term jaṭṭ descends from the Prakrit form jaṭṭa, itself from jarta, or jartika, the name of a tribe stated in antiquity as residing in Vahlika.

History

Initially, some Jats started to follow the teachings of Guru Nanak, which did much to remove social barriers created by the sāvarṇa caste society. Jats were previously indifferent towards deep religious affairs.

While followers important to Sikh tradition like Baba Buddha were among the earliest significant historical Sikh figures, and significant numbers of conversions occurred as early as the time of Guru Angad (1504–1552), While touring the countryside of eastern Punjab, he founded several important towns like Tarn Taran Sahib, Kartarpur, and Hargobindpur which functioned as social and economic hubs, and together with the community-funded completion of the Darbar Sahib to house the Guru Granth Sahib and serve as a rallying point and center for Sikh activity, established the beginnings of a self-contained Sikh community, which was especially swelled with the region's Jat peasantry. They formed the vanguard of Sikh resistance against the Mughal Empire from the 18th century onwards. While W. H. McLeod was of the position that Jats only began to convert in large numbers to Sikhism and influence the community by the time of Guru Amar Das and certainly by the time of Guru Arjan, Pashaura Singh and Louis E. Fenech on the other hand opine that large scale conversions of Jats into Sikhism came about during Guru Nanak's time settled down in Kartarpur and living an agricultural lifestyle.

When Guru Arjan compiled the Adi Granth, three verses (in Asa and Dhanashree ragas) attributed to Bhagat Dhanna (born 1415), a Jat, were included in the scripture.

It has been postulated, though inconclusively, that the increased militarisation of the Sikh panth following the martyrdom of Guru Arjan (beginning during the era of Guru Hargobind and continuing after) and its large Jat presence may have reciprocally influenced each other.

Dharam Singh, one of the inaugural Panj Piare quintet, was a Jat. 18th century Sikh literature claims he was the reincarnation of Bhagat Dhanna.

At least nine of the 12 Misls of the Sikh Confederacy were led by Jat Sikhs, who would form the vast majority of Sikh chiefs. Of the remaining three misls, the Ahluwalias were led by Kalals who claimed descent from Jats, the Ramgarhia Misl was founded by both Tarkhans and Jats, and the Dallewalia Misl was founded by both Khatris and Jats. According to W. H. McLeod, the Jat Sikhs dominated the Sikh Confederacy during the 18th century. The Jat states of the 18th century conducted marital alliances with one another, such as between the Sukerchakias and Jind.

Ranjit Singh, the founder of the Sikh Empire, was also of a Jat Sikh background. Ranjit Singh was of peasant origins but formed a unified Sikh state with a powerful military and efficient administration. Ranjit Singh formed a sovereign state despite his Jat Sikh background and conflict from fellow Sikh misls. By 1799, Ranjit Singh had conquered Lahore and much of Punjab, laying the groundwork for the empire. Many prominent families of the Sikh Empire's court, such as the Majithias and Sandhawalias, were also of Jat origin.

According to censuses in gazetteers published during the colonial period in the early 20th century, further waves of Jat conversions, from Hinduism to Sikhism, continued during the preceding decades. The relationship between the Hindu, Muslim and Sikh communities of the Punjab region, and between communities such as the Jats and the Rajputs, has been ambiguous over many centuries. The various groups often claim similar origins while asserting their distinctiveness.

The Shiromani Akali Dal had two factions, one led by Sant Fateh Singh (supported by Jatts) and the other by Master Tara Singh (supported by Khatris). Since the late 1960s, many Jatt Sikh youths in India started trimming their beards and wearing the turban with shorn/unshorn hair (diasporic Jatt Sikhs in foreign countries also began not wearing turbans), where as Sikhs from other castes rarely do this. Jatt Sikhs and Mazhabi Sikhs are noted for the laxity in keeping an outward Sikh appearance, such as maintaining kesh and wearing a dastar, when compared to other Sikh castes. There is a notable divide between the Jatts and Khatris, whom the Jatts refer to with the bhapa pejorative. The Jatt Sikhs had caste-conflicts with scheduled-caste Sikh groups, resulting in the incident regarding the management of a gurdwara at Talhan (Jalandhar district) in 2003 and the assassination of the spiritual leader of Dera Sachkhand Balla in 2009.

Influence of Sikhism on Jats

Irfan Habib has argued that Sikhism did much to uplift the social status of Jat people, who were previously regarded in the Punjab as being of shudra or vaishya status in the Hindu ritual ranking system of varṇa.

Kishan Singh says:

Army recruits

The Jat Sikh community has constituted an important source of recruits for the Indian Army.{{cite book

Agriculture

In Punjab (India), Jat Sikhs are associated with agricultural pursuits and land ownership. They own more than 80%, and possibly as much as 95% of available agricultural land in Punjab. They often reside in the rural areas, and are economically influential in the state. A unique quirk among Jat Sikh clans is the agricultural practice of not allowing Jat Sikh women to work in the fields.

Clans

According to Joyce Pettigrew, the Jat Sikh clans traditionally claim patrilineal descent from a Rajput ancestor and purport to have settled in the Punjab in the 16th century. While Jat Sikhs as a whole marry endogamously within the Jat community, they marry exogamously based upon got (clan), meaning they marry other Jats belonging to a different clan. Furthermore, there is no established hierarchy of clans, even though the various clans are typically uneven in-size. Jat clans cannot also be linked to specific regions, as adjacent villages are often inhabited by different clans. Thus, the clan cannot be described as "localized kinship groupings". The "ranking" of a particular clan was evaluated in a specific category, not in a general sense. An example given by Pettigrew is the Grewal clan being renowned for having many of its members in military and administrative roles. While the Sidhus were prominent in the Malwa region of the Punjab, with many ruling families of the cis-Sutlej states, such as Patiala State, belonging to this clan, and the ruling house of Attari in Majha also being Sidhus. The fact that many Sidhus were ruling polities increased the prestige of the clan in the eyes of their fellow Sikhs. Furthermore, there exists idiomatic phrases which propound upon the supposed superiority of one clan over another, an example being: Sandhu, Sidhu, ik baraabar, Gills tore uchera (meaning "Sandhus and Sidhus are equal but Gills are a bit superior to both"). Another tradition regards the Mann, Chahal, and Bhullar clans as being asal Jats ("genuine Jats") since the rest of the clans were supposedly "degraded Rajputs". According to Pettigrew, groups such as the Mazhabi have adopted Jat Sikh clan names in an attempt to seek higher social-status by affiliating themselves to Jats, a unique practice.

Iftikhar Ahmed observes that the Jat clans of zamindars recorded in the late-16th century Ain-i-Akbari correspond to the population of the clans in particular tracts of the country, when compared with British census data recorded centuries later in the 19th century. Zamindars coming from particular clans tended to hold power in areas where the population of peasants from their same clan was high. By the time of the recording of the Ain-i-Akbari in circa 1595, around thirty-two per cent of the total parganas were under Jat zamindars, making them the largest zamindar caste. Ahmed came to these findings after researching the Chima, Chatta, Ghumman, Bajwa, and Kahlon clans in the foothills west of Lahore (western submontane), the Langah, Kharral, and Marral clans located in the western plains west of Lahore but excluding the Salt Range and submontane tracts, and the Sidhu, Sindhu, and Bhular clans in the "Sikh Tract" (central district of the Punjab, the upper Sutlej, and the Sikh states to the east).

List of common Jat Sikh clans

• Aulakh
• Bains
• Bains
• Bajwa
• Bal
• Bhalli
• Bharai
• Bhullar
• Brar
• Buttar
• Chahal
• Chatha
• Cheema
• Deol
• Dhadwal
• Dhaliwal
• Dhillon
• Dhindsa
• Dhingra
• Gandhi
• Gill
• Grewal
• Ghuman
• Hundal
• Her
• Kahlon
• Kang
• Karg
• Kars
• Khaira
• Maan
• Margat
• Mahal
• Mangat
• Odi
• Pannu
• Pavun
• Punia
• Randhawa
• Saharia
• Sahi
• Sandhu
• Sara
• Sarai
• Sahota
• Sidhu
• Sodhi
• Sohal
• Toor
• Uppal
• Virk
• Virla
• Warraich

Demographics

Jat Sikhs form an estimated 20–25% of the population of the Indian state of Punjab. They form at least half of the Sikh population in Punjab, with some sources estimating them to be about 60–66% of the Sikh population. Other scholars estimate they make-up around 33% of the Sikh population.

Notable people

• Baba Buddha, first granthi (custodian and reader) of the Guru Granth Sahib
• Ranjit Singh, the Jat Sikh Emperor of the Sikh Empire
• Bhai Bala, follower and companion of Guru Nanak (first Guru of Sikhism) and one of the most revered in Sikhism
• Nawab Kapur Singh, leader of Singhpuria Misl.
• Baba Deep Singh first head of Misl Shaheedan Tarna Dal.
• Kahn Singh Nabha, Sikh scholar
• Heera Singh Sandhu, founder of Nakai Misl
• Sada Kaur, chief of the Kanhaiya Misl
• Datar Kaur, queen consort of Maharaja Ranjit Singh
• Jind Kaur, regent of the Sikh Empire
• Bhupinder Singh, Maharaja of the princely state of Patiala in British India from 1900 to 1938
• Rajinder Singh, Maharaja of the princely state of Patiala in British India from 1876 to 1900
  • M. S. Gill, Indian Administrative Service officer who served as the Mnister of Sports and Youth Affairs and the Minister of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
• Diljit Dosanjh, Indian singer, actor and film producer
• Sidhu Moose Wala, Indian singer and rapper

Notes

References

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