History and study of the Jats/Chapter 3
ISBN-10: 1895603021 or ISBN-13: 978-1895603026
Chapter 3: Jats during the Muhammedan Period in South Asia
Jats during the Muhammedan Period in South Asia
When the Arabs first invaded Sindh (presently, a province of Pakistan) at the end of the seventh century A.D., the chief population of the Sindh of those days was made up of the Jats and Meds or Mands (Mand is the clan of the modern Jat Sikhs). Sir Elliot and Professor Dowson [1] quote General Cunningham on this issue, "The Meds or Mands are almost certainly the representatives of the Mandrueni, who lived on the Mandrus river, to the south of the Oxus river (Central Asia, the original home of the Jats); and as their name is found in the Punjab from the beginning of the Christian era (A.D.), I conclude they must have accompanied their neighbours, Jats, on their force migrations to Ariana (Iran) and India.
In the classical writers, the name is found as Medi and Mandueni, and in the Muhammadan writers, as Med and Mand". According to General Cunningham's archaeological Report [1], the traditions of the Hindu (Biana and Bharatpur area) and Muhammadan Jats point to their home country as Gajni or Garh-Gazni which could either be in Afghanistan (the celebrated fort of Ghazni) or in Pakistan (the old city of Gajnipur on the site of Rawalpindi). At another page, General Cunningham views, "As the date of the Peutingeriom Table is not later than A.D. 250, we have a break of upwards of four centuries before we reach the earliest notices (of the Jats and Mands) of the Muhammadan writers. In these we find the Meds or Mands firmly established in Sindh, along with their ancient rivals the Jats, both of whom are said to be the descendants of Ham, the son of Noah". General Cunningham's comments regarding the origin of Jats and Mands probably come from Mujmalu-T-Tawarikh [2], written in the twelveth century A.D. where the author indeed says "The Jats and Meds (Mands) are, it is said, descendants of Ham. They dwelt in Sind and on the banks of the river which is called Bahar".
Jats and Mands in the Sind area became under the notice of several early Arab Geographers: Ibn Khurdadba (tenth century A.D.) [3]: He said, "The seventh is the king of Kamrun, which is contiguous to China. There is plenty of gold in this country. From the frontier of Kirman (modern area around the border between Pakistan and Iran) to Mansura, eighty parasangs; this route passes through the country of the Jats, who keep watch over it."
Al Masudi (tenth century A.D.) [4]: He wrote, "Multan (presently a city in Pakistan) is seventy-five Sindian Parasangs from Mansura. The estates and villages dependent on Mansura amount to three hundred thousands. The whole country is well cultivated, and covered with trees and fields. It is constantly at war with a nation called the Meds (Mands), who are a race of Sind, and also with other races on the frontiers of Sind".
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Ibn Haukal (twelfth century A.D.) [5]: He said, "The infidels who inhabit Sind are called Nodhites (a Jat clan as per Ref. [5] in the neighbourhood of Multan) and Mands (also an existing Jat clan)".
Al Idrisi (twelfth century A.D.)[6]: He wrote, "Manhal is situated between Sind and India. Upon confines of the desert just mentioned there dwells a hardy race called Mand (Med). These people are numerous. They have many horses they penetrate even as far as the frontiers of Makran".
Chach-Nama or Tarikh-I-Hind Wa Sind [7] is an important document (translated from Arbic in thirteenth century A.D.) which provides information on Jats during the usurpation of Chach and the Arab conquest of Sind. Chach-Nama is named after the ruler of Sind called Chach.
The Chach dynasty lasted for ninety-two years. As per Sir Elliot and Professor Dowson [1], "According to the Chachnama, Chach who was introduced to (King) Sahasi Rai (interestingly, Rai is a well known clan name of modern Jat Sikhs) by his Chamberlain. Being taken into service, he won the confidence of the Rai, and the more tender regards of his queen. He became Chamberlain, and, on the death of the Rai, he ascended the vacant throne, and married the widow, whose love he had previously rejected. The irregular succession provoked the resentment of Mahrat, chief of Jaipur (or Chitor), Rajasthan, India, a relation of the deceased Rai, who marched with his army to destroy the usurper. Before, the battle Mahrat proposed to Chach as the matter was purely a personal one, to settle the dispute between two of them by single combat. Chach agreed and suggested because of his background (certain priest) and thus, is unaccustomed to fight on horseback. His magnanimous foe then alighted to meet him on equal terms when Chach treacherously sprung upon his horse and slew his adversary before he could recover from the surprise".
Here, once again Jat history repeated itself. If we recall the war between the Massagetae ("Great" Jats) and the Cyrus the Great, Cyrus agreed to the proposal of the queen of the Massagetae and then treacherously killed her son [8] but eventually paid the price of his sins with his own life.
Sir Cunningham [9] says that the Sahasi dynasty (A.D. 505-642) of the Sind was Scythian (Jat) prior to the Chach's reign. He adds "The names given in the Chachnama are corrupt, but they are quite sufficient to prove that the Kings were Scythians. All of them are named Sahi or Sahasi, which is the well-known Scythian title". Furthermore, in A.D. 641, the Chinese pilgrim to India, Hwen Thsang, wrote that the reigning king of Sind was a Sudra (a member of the lowest caste according to the Hindu Caste System). This alone is a sufficient proof that the Sahasi dynasty was a Jat or Scythian dynasty since Dahiya [10] says the rulers of non-Indian origin were called Sudra, Asura, Mleccha, and so on in Hindu literature. Another proof of the Sahasi dynasty being Jat is provided by the Chachnama [7] itself where it says "He (Chach) humiliated the Jats and the Lohanas, and punished their
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chiefs. He took a hostage from those chiefs, and kept him in the fort of Brahmana-bad". He obliged them to agree to the following terms [7]:
• Never wear any swords.
• Put no saddles on their horses.
• Keep their heads and feet uncovered.
• Never wear their under-garments of shawl, velvet, or silk.
• Carry firewood for the kitchen of the chief of Brahamanabad.
It seems logical that the Sahasi dynasty belonged to the Jat background and the Jats revolted against the Chach's rule and, in turn, he imposed the stiff penalties, mentioned above, against them. Furthermore, Professor Quaungo [11] wrote, "In Sind they (Jats) were reduced from the status of rulers to that of helots by the Usurper Chach. And this defiances of orthodoxy was greatly responsible for the social degradation of the Jats during the middle Ages". It appears the Jats were very resentful of the Chach's rule and according to Professor Quaungo when Arabs under Muhammad Bin Kasim in the beginning of the 8th century A.D. invaded the territory of Dahir, the ruler of Sind (who married his own sister because it was prognosticated that her husband would be king of India and Sind [7]) and the son of Chach, the Jats of the Western border joined the invader. Professor Quaungo appears to be correct because in the Chachnama [7] it is stated "The Bhetti (Bhatti) Thakurs and the Jats of Ghazni, who entered the Arab service, were told to remain at Sagara and the Island of Bait".
As per Chachnama [7] and Professor Quaungo [11] after the defeat of Dahir, Muhammad Kasim consulted the ex-minister of Dahir called Sisakar (in fact Kasim reinstated Sisakar to his original position) regarding the position of the Jats of Lohana in the time of Chach and Dahir and their treatment by them. Sisakar responded by describing the demeaning treatment of Jats by Chach and his son and saying, "if any of their chiefs or ranas (it means rana was the title of the Jat chiefs) rode upon a horse".
Another statement by Sisakar to note is "There is no distinction among them (Jats) of great and small". (This matches very well with that of Ammianus Marcellinus [12] where he says "They (Alani or Massagetae) do not know the meaning of slavery, since all are born of noble blood, and moreover they choose as chiefs those men who are conspicuous for long experience as warriors"). On hearing this, Muhammad Kasim retorted by saying "They are just like the savages of Persia and the mountains" and ordered the same treatment of them initiated by Chach.
Some of the additional information reported on Jats by various documents/writers is as follows:
Al Biladuri (He lived in ninth century A.D. and has written regarding the conquest of Sind by the early Arab invaders) [13]: He wrote, "He (Amran in ninth century A.D.) marched to Kikan against Jats, whom he defeated and subjugated. He again attacked the Meds, having with him the chief men of the Jats". On another page he wrote, "Some authors say he (some invading chief of Arabs) was killed by the Jats of Budha". Similarly, Professor Quaungo [11] wrote, "Jats were independent possession of the
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country of Kaikan (supposed to be in south-eastern Afghanistan, which was conquered from them by the Arab General Amran Bin Musa in the reign of the Khalif Al-Mutasimbi-llah (A.D. 833-81)".
Furthermore, Quaungo goes on to say, "During the same reign another expedition against Jats because they spread terror over the roads. They were overcome after a bloody conflict of twenty-five days and they (Jats) used to blow horns when marshalled for battle".
Wakiat-I-Jahangiri: Emperor Jahangir (seventeenth century A.D.) [14]: This document said, "Sarkar Pakli is thirty-five "kos" (over forty miles) in length, by twenty-five in breadth. On the east it has the mountains of Kashmir south the country of the Ghakkars (It is also a clan name of Jats, for example, during the period of Sultana Razia Begum (thirteenth century A.D.) Latif [15] wrote, "Altunia soon after married the queen, who raised an army of Ghakkar Jats and marched on Delhi".) It is said that when Timur (conqueror of India in fourteen century A.D.) was returning to Turan from the conquest of India, he left some of his followers here. The people themselves say they are by origin Farsis, but they cannot tell what was the name of their leader. They are now called Lahori, and their speech is that of the Jats, they are always quarrelling, like other zamindars (landowners), about boundaries".
Lane-Poole, S. [16]: He wrote, "The fall of Multan laid the Indus valley at the feet of the conqueror (the early Arab invaders in the 8th century A.D.). The tribes came in "ringing bells and beating drums and dancing", in token of welcome. The Hindu rulers had oppressed them heavily, and the Jats and Meds and other tribes were on the side of the invaders". At another page Lane-Poole [16] said, "To restore order Mas'ud (he invaded India in 1033 A.D.) appointed Tilak, the Hindu, to take over the command in the Punjab.
This Hindu paragon set out to chastise Niyaltagin (He had been Mahmud's (another invader of India) treasurer). At last the news came that the barber's son (Tilak) had routed Niyaltagin, and that the Jats had caught the fugitive viceroy (Niyaltagin) and cut off his head, which they sold to Tilak for a hundred thousand pieces of silver". (Also see Rose [16a]).
Burton, R.F. [17]: He wrote, "The Jat was in the time of the Kalhoras, one of the ruling classes in Sindh. It was probably for this reason that the author of the Tohfat el Kiram made them of kindred origin with the Belochis (people of Belochistan a province of Pakistan). The Jat's account of his own descent, gives to Ukail (the companion of the great Prophet), the honour of being his progenitor". Furthermore, Burton says "Their (Jats) principal settlements (in Sindh) are in the provinces of Kakralo, Jati, Johi, Maniyar, Chediyo and Phulajee. And Sindhi Jats have several clans; the major ones are Siyal, Bhati, Parhiyar, Babbur, Mir-Jat, Joya, Kalaru, Jiskani, Magasi, Solangi, and Sanjarani".
Cunningham, A. (Sir) [18]: He wrote, "Even so late as the beginning of the eleventh century A.D. Mahmud of Ghazni gave his sister in marriage to Malik Shahu (Shahu is the Jat title), the chief of the Afghans of Zabulistan (land of the Johal Jats)".
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Sykes, P., (Sir and Brig. Gen.) [19]: He said, "Under the orders of Walid I, at the beginning of the eighth century A.D., a large number of Jatts had been transported with their buffaloes from the lower Indus (river) to the marches of the Tigris (river in modern Iraq). Soon after establishing in the new land, they started to rob and to kill. They closed the Basra-Baghdad road which led to very high food prices in the capital, as the result successive Caliphs (governors) sent their armies to subdue them. The famous Persian poet, Tabari, expressed their insolence in the following poem:
O people of Baghdad die!
May your dismay last for forever!
We Jats have defeated you, by forcing you to battle with us in the open country.
We Jats have driven you in front of us like a flock of weaklings.
At the beginning Arab generals were unsuccessful to subdue them and ultimately one Arab general (A.D. 834) was successful to cut Jat communications which resulted in their surrender. Jats were exiled because of their revolt to Khanikin on the Turkish frontier and to the frontiers of Syria".
Mahmud-Ghaznavi of Afghanistan invaded India many times at the beginning of the eleventh century A.D. According to Latif [15], Mahmud's last expedition to India took place in A.D. 1027 and was directed against Jat tribes residing on the banks of the Indus river who molested his army on its return from Gujrat (Indian province). Ferishta [20], a Persian writer who lived until the year A.D. 1612 wrote, "In the end of the year Mahmud marched against the Jats, residing in the Jood mountains, who had molested his army on its return from Somnat (a famous Hindu temple in Gujrat containing a very large quantity of gold and other valuables).
Having arrived at Multan, and finding that the country of the Jats was intersected by rivers, Mahmud built 1400 boats each with six iron spikes,projecting from the prows and sides, to prevent their being boarded by the enemy, who were expert in that kind of warfare. Each boat contained twenty archers and five naphtha-men, to attack and set fire to the enemy's flotilla. The Jats after receiving the news of this build up sent their wives and children to the neighbouring islands as well as to fight against the Muhammedans built 4,000 to 8,000 boats of their own. The Jats were beaten in the battle by Mahmud".
In fact, Major Barstow [21] wrote, "the growing power of the Jats was so crippled by this disaster, in A.D. 1027, that we hear nothing more of them, or of their military exploits, until A.D. 1658, when they resurfaced as valuable allies of Aurangzeb (Moghul emperor of India) in the troubled times that followed the deposition of Shah Jahan (father of Aurangzeb and the builder of the Taj Mahal)". Here Barstow [21] may not be totally correct as Timur and Babar (invaders of India) have noted their difficulties with the Jats.
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3.2 Jats During the Period of Timur
Timur or Tamerlane (fourteenth and fifteenth century A.D.) fought against the Jats in Central Asia and in Punjab. Professor Mohammad Habib [23] wrote, (in central Asia)". Timur parted from his uncle, met the three Jattah (Jats-It is interesting to note here that the pronunciation of the word "Jattah" is very closed to the word "Getae", the classical Greeks used to describe Jats in Central Asia) Amirs, who welcomed him owing to his offer of allegiance to their Khan, and assigned Kish to him. Timur succeeded in defeating the retreating Jattah forces at the battle of the Iron Bridge. However, in A.D. 1365, the Jattah attacked Trans-Oxiana and defeating Husain and Timur and then marching to Samarkand (modern city in Central Asia). His (Timur) last resource was to appeal to the Jattah, but since the majority of the Jattah had not yet been converted to Islam".
Professor Habib goes on to say "During his (Timur) fifteen year reign, he and his Generals led six campaigns against the Jattah and infact Timur, in A.D. 1375 encamped in their land for over five months. By A.D. 1375 Timur had won great victories elsewhere but the power of the Jattah had not been broken. Our authorities refer to three kingdoms east of Jaxartes river: Turkistan controlled by the Jattah". Timur's skirmishes with the Jats in Punjab are recorded in Malfuzati-I-Timuri (Autobiography of Timur) [24] and Zafarnama (of Timur) by Yazdi [25] and some of the quotations from these two documents are given below.
• “In enquiring about the inhabitants, I (Timur) was made aware they were a robust race, and were called Jats. They were muslims only in name and had not their equal in theft and highwayrobbery. They plundered caravans upon the road, were terror to Muslims and travelers”.
• “I (Timur) sent a force under Tokal Bahadar, son of the Hindu Karkarra, against the Jats. This force overtook the Jats and put 200 to the sword and made the rest prisoners.”
• “Again it was brought to my (Timur's) attention that these turbulent Jats were as numerous as ants or locusts, and that no traveller or merchant passed unscathed from their hands.”
• “My (Timur's) goal of invading India was to wage a holy war against the infidel Hindus, and it now looks important to put down these Jats and to deliver travellers from their hands.”
• “I (Timur) marched into the jungles and wilds, and slew 2,000 demon-like Jats. Thus, I (Timur) delivered the country from the terror it had long suffered at the hands of the marauding Jats.”
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3.3 Jats During the Period of Babar
The first Mughal emperor of India, Babar (fourteenth-fifteenth century A.D.), during his invasions of India also reported to had skirmishes with the Jats. According to Tuzak-I- Babari (The autobiography of Babar-Persian translation originates to A.D. 1590) [26] "to the hill country of Kashmir, are the Jats, Gujars, and, who build villages, and settle on every hillock and in every valley. Their hakim (chief) was of the Gakkar (a Jat clan name) race and their government resembled that of the Jud and Janjuhah. Every time that I (Babar) invaded India, the Jats and Gujars have poured down in prodigious numbers from their hills and wilds, in order to carry off oxen and buffaloes. These were the wretches that really inflicted the great hardships, and were guilty of the severest oppression in the country.
These districts, in earlier times, had been in a state of revolt and generated very little revenue. Presently, when I (Babar) had reduced the whole of the surrounding areas to subjection, they started to repeat their practices. As my (Babar's) poor people were passing from Sialkot (presently a city in Punjab) to the camp, hungry and naked, indigent and in distress, they were fallen upon by the road with load shouts and plundered".
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3.4 References: Chapter 3 -Jats during the Muhammedan Period in South Asia
[1]. Elliot, H.M. (Sir), Dowson, J. (Professor), editors, The History of India as told by Its own Historians, Vol. I, reprinted by AMS Press, Inc., New York, 1966, pp. 528-529, 507, 411-412, first published in 1867.
[2]. Mujmalu-T-Tawarikh, in the History of India: As Told by Its Own Historians, edited by Sir Elliot, H.M. and Professor Dowson, J., Vol. I, reprinted by AMS Press, Inc., New York, 1966, pp. 103-104, first published in 1867.
[3]. Ibn Khurdadha, in the History of India: As Told by Its Own Historians, edited by Sir Elliot, H.M. and Professor Dowson, J., Vol. I, reprinted by AMS Press, Inc., New York, 1966, pp. 14-15, first published in 1867.
[4]. Al Masaudi, in the History of India: As Told by Its Own Historians, edited by Sir Elliot, H.M. and Professor Dowson, J., Vol. I, reprinted by AMS Press, Inc., New York, 1966, pp. 24-25, first published in 1867.
[5]. Ibn Haukal, in the History of India: As Told by Its Own Historians, edited by Sir Elliot, H.M., and Professor Dowson, J., Vol. I, reprinted by AMS Press, Inc., New York, 1966, pp. 38-39, first published in 1867.
[6]. Al Idrisi, in the History of India: As Told by Its Own Historians, edited by Sir Elliot, H.M., and Professor Dowson, J., Vol. I, reprinted by AMS Press, Inc., New York, 1966, pp. 78-79, first published in 1867.
[7]. Chach-nama, in the History of India: As Told by Its Own Historians, edited by Sir Elliot, H.M., and Professor Dowson, J., Vol. I, reprinted by AMS Press, Inc., New York, 1966, pp. 150-151, 155, 167, 187, first published in 1867.
[8]. Herodotus, The Histories, Penguin Books, Inc., London, 1988, pp. 122-128.
[9]. Cunningham, A. (Sir), Coins of the Indo-Scythians, Sakas and Kushans, reprinted by Idological Book House, Varanasi, India, 1971, pp. 37-39, first published in 1888.
[10]. Dahiya, B.S., Jats: The Ancient Rulers, Sterling Publishers, Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, 1980, pp. xii-xiii.
[11]. Qanungo, K.R., History of the Jats, reprinted by Sunita Publications, Delhi, India, 1987, pp. 12-13, 17, first published in 1925.
[12]. Ammianus, Marcellinus (4th century A.D.), translated by Dr. J.C. Rolfe, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1935, pp.393-395 (Vol. I).
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[13]. Al Biladuri, in the History of India: As Told by Its Own Historians, edited by Sir Elliot, H.M. and Professor Dowson, J., Vol. I, reprinted by AMS Press, Inc., New York, 1966, pp. 119, 128, first published in 1867.
[14]. Wakiat-I-Jahangiri: Emperor Jahangir, in the History of India: As Told by Its Own Historians, edited by Sir Elliot, H.M. and Professor Dowson, J., Vol. VI, reprinted by AMS Press, Inc., New York, 1966, pp. 370-371, first published in 1875.
[15]. Latif, S.M., History of the Punjab, reprinted by Progressive Books, Lahore, Pakistan, 1984, pp. 98-99, 86, first published in 1891.
[16]. Lane-Poole, S., Mediaeval India, reprinted by Haskell House Publishers, Ltd., New York, 1970, pp. 9-10, 40-43.
[16a]. Rose, H.A., A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province, reprinted by the Languages Dept., Patiala, Punjab, 1970, pp. 371-374, first published in 1883.
[17]. Burton, R.F., Sindh: And the Races that Inhabit the Valley of the Indus, reprinted by the Oxford University Press, Karachi, Pakistan, 1975, pp. 246-247, first published in 1851.
[18]. Cunningham, A. (Sir), Later Indo-Scythians, reprinted by Indological Book House, Varanasi, India, 1979, pp. 108-109, first published in 1893-94.
[19]. Sykes, P. (Sir and Brig. Gen.), A History of Persia, Macmillan & Co. Ltd., London, reprinted in 1958, first published in 1915, pp.10-11, (Vol. II).
[20]. Ferishta, M.K., (Seventeenth Century A.D.), translated by Briggs, J. (Lt. Col.), History of the Rise of the Mahomedan Power in India, Published by Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, London, 1829, pp. 81-82 (Vol. I).
[21]. Barstow, A.E. (Major), The Sikhs: An Ethnology, reprinted by B.R. Publishing Corporation, Delhi, India, 1985, pp. 64-65, first published in 1928.
[22]. Elliot, H.M. (Sir), Dowson, J. (Professor), editors, The History of India: as Told by Its Own Historians, reprinted by AMS Press, Inc., New York, 1966, pp. 477-478 (Vol. II), first published in 1869.
[23]. Habib, M. (Professor), Amir Timur, in a Comprehensive History of India, edited by Habib, M., and Nizami, K.A., People's Publishing House, New Delhi, India, 1982, pp. 107-111 (Vol. 5).
[24]. Mulfuzat-I-Timuri (Autobiography of Timur), in the History of India as Told by Its Own Historians, edited by Elliot H.M. (Sir) and Dowson, J. (Professor), reprinted by AMS Press, Inc., New York, 1966, pp. 428-429 (Vol. III), first published in 1871.
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[25]. Zafar-nama (of Timur) by S.D. Yazdi, in the History of India as Told by Its Own Historians, edited by Elliot, H.M. (Sir) and Dowson, J. (Professor), reprinted by AMS Press, Inc., New York, 1966, pp. 491-494 (Vol. III), first published in 1871.
[26]. Tuzak-I-Babari (The autobiography of Babar), in the History of India as Told by Its Own Historians, edited by Elliot, H.M. (Sir) and Dowson, J. (Professor), reprinted by AMS Press, Inc., New York, 1966, pp. 234-235, 240-241 (Vol. IV), first published in 1872.
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