History of the Jats:Dr Kanungo/Editor's Note

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History of the Jats

By K. R. Qanungo. Edited by Vir Singh. Delhi, Originals, 2003, ISBN 81-7536-299-5.

Dr Vir Singh
Editor's Note
p.iii

History of the Jats by Prof. K.R. Qanungo was originally published in 1925. This work doubtlessly enjoys the stature of a pioneering work on Jat History. Prof. Qanungo makes an extensive study of the subject. Post-Qanungo works on the subject do not diiminish the importance of this work as later writers subscribe to his views on many points and quote him with respect. The Jats are fortunate to have Prof. Qanungo, as their historian, as the Rajputs had Col. Tod, the Marathas Grant-Duff and the Sikhs Cunningham.

With the establishment of Surajmal Memorial Education Society, the book was reprinted in 1982 under the supervision of Dr. P.S. Dabas. While maintaining the improvements in the 1982 edition of the book, the following changes have been incorporated in this edition:

(i) Two and a half page introduction to Prof. Qanungo's other work Shershah and some opinions on it have been eliminated, as these were not relevant to the contents of this work.

(ii) Diacritical marks used to denote Hindi, Sanskrit and Persian sounds have been omitted as they have been used sparingly in the original work itself.

(iii) Prof. Qanungo has admitted in his author's note that due to bad handwriting and inadvertence he could not preserve consistency in the spelling of proper names. In this edition we have tried to give correct spelling of proper names and places.

p.iv

Proper Names:

According to the Persian pronunciation the author has added 'h' consonant where the name ends in vowel 'a.' Consonant 'h' is deleted.

  • Abdullah : Abdulla
  • Burmah : Burma
  • Daulah : Daula
  • Kotah : Kota
  • Kot Kobulah : Kot Kobula
  • Korah : Kora
  • Kanudah : Kanuda
  • Maharajah: Maharaja
  • Mullah : Mulla
  • Narelah : Narela
  • Rajah : Raja
  • Resalah: Resala
  • Subah : Suba
  • Subahdar: Subedar

The author has used some old words of Scotish language for readers convenience, the words in use have been given in brackets:

-cess (rate) -sept (clan or gotra) -laird (zamindar)

(iv) Out of 43 'Additions & Corrections' given by the author in the first edition of 1925, 32 have already been made in the 1982 edition. The remaining 11 corrections on pages 115, 123, 170, 182, 193, 194, 199, 210, 217, 221, 222 of the first

p.v

edition and the following errors, which did not find mention in the corrigendum, have also been corrected:

Page No. of 1925 edition Errors Corrections
IV Struggles Struggle
V he has denied himself he denied himself
2 the stature their stature
5 this interesting people these interesting people
21 out landish peoples out landish people
38 fell in fight fell in the fight
63 becomes became
88 latter letter
112 aspired to play aspired him to play
115 माराठा माराठ्या
164 hang upon hung upon
185 Renell's atlas Rennell's atlas
196 none were none was
210 जंग हुर जंग हुब
220 had order had orders
221 Agra. The known character Agra, the known character
226 thoughout the whole night throughout the night
254 depradations depredations
274 no other alternative no alternative
276 bief Panipat bief of Panipat
332 Semitic bood Semitic Blood
334 Bishnu Puran Vishnu Puran

As mentioned above 32 errors of the corrigendum and a few others had been corrected in the 1982 edition. On carefully comparing with the first edition I found that 211 printing mistakes had crept in the 1982 edition. It is shocking that a particular publisher has published as his own the 1982 edition of our book word for word, line for line and page for page by photo composing process, also carrying over not only our corrections and modifications but also all the printing mistakes in that edition verbatim, without the permission of the rightful publisher of the 1982 edition. Is it not an example of plagiarism prevalent in this great country of ours?

p.vi

(v) The author has not maintained consistency in writing the names of the chapters and sub-titles as is evident from the variety of headings in the first chapter of 1925 edition. Generally the author has given name of subtitles on the folio. In our edition the title of the book is written on the left side top and the name of the chapter on the right pages instead of subtitles.

(vi) In the first edition the foot-notes were shown by star and dagger etc. marks (viz., *) on every page. In this edition number of foot-notes are written in ascending order of the whole chapter.

(vii) The Author mis-takes Bharatpur for Thun Fort of Churaman and at another place for Fatehgarhi of Khemkaran Sogoria. The correct information about Ramgarh (Aligarh), Sukkartal Fort and Neemrana are also supplied in this edition. Qanungo forgets to mention Ghasira expedition and seven years countless operations during 1688-1695. These and other omissions have been pointed out in our foot-notes, which are given in Roman Numbers. Annotations based on recent studies is the process of research. Thus 32 footnotes describing and clarifying certain facts have been added to update this pioneering work in this edition.

(viii) The Appendix - 'Details of the death of Suraj Mal' was given in the middle of the book after VIII chapter. It has been shifted to the end of the book as Appendix 'D' with other appendices.

(ix) The author has given bibliography of main sources only in his first edition. We have incorporated remaining sources also cited by the author as Bibliography B.

Under the dynamic leadership and guidance of Society's President, Sh. Ram Niwas Mirdha, former Union Minister, the Society has been organizing Seminars, Conferences and Workshops of National level on various topics relevant to the life and education of the rural people. The Research and Publication Centre of the Society has been undertaking the collection, preservation and publication of material on rural heritage. The society has established a rich library on its campus for the use of research scholars. It also provides

p.vii

financial assistance to scholars in different Universities, who wish to pursue research on any aspect of Jat Community. Till now the Society has published ten books and given research scholarships for two students.

We feel immense pleasure and express our gratitude to Shri Om Prakash Chautala, Honourable Chief Minister of Haryana, for providing sum of rupees five lacs for the Research centre of the society for various research and allied activities mentioned above. The society looks forward for his constant encouragement in future also.

My special thanks are reserved for Prof. Dilbagh Singh and Dr. S.S. Rana for advancing valuable suggestions in reshaping this historical document on Jats. Sh. S.P. Singh also deserves commendations for providing necessary infrastructure and boosting my moral courage while I was on with this work. My thanks also reserved for the library staff of the Indian Council of Historical Research and Jamia Millia Islamia for extending much-needed help from time to time. I also thank the publisher, for bringing out the book in time and in a nice form. I honestly hope that this updated work will provide a clean mirror of the [at History to the readers.

19th September, 2002

Dr. Vir Singh

Director

Research & Publication Centre

Suraj Mal Memorial Education Society

End of Editor's Note
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