The Jats - Their Role in the Mughal Empire/Editor's Note
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The present work arises out of the painstaking research work undertaken by late Dr. Girish Chandra Dwivedi, who was able to update the references after many years by correcting and rewriting many pages in the light of recent findings. Before the author could prepare the final copy for publication, he died at an early age of forty-one. As a matter of fact he left the work in the form of a cursorily revised draft which required an appreciable amount of labour to remove its blemishes.
Sh. Mahendra Singh Verma, resident of village Liberhedi in Saharanpur Dist. helped Dr. G. C. Dwivedi in compilation of the historical references related to the Jat traditions. Eventually, after the sad demise of Dr. Dwivedi, the manuscript of this monumental work came to Surajmal Memorial Education Society through Sh. Verma. On the recommendation of the academic committee the Society decided to publish it. I remember the scorching heat of June when I made a trip to Banaras, to meet Dr. Dwivedi's family and seek their permission for the publication of this work. Dr. Rajiv Dwivedi, the author's elder son, made my tough journey fruitful.
The work of casting it in a form fit for publication also devolved on my shoulders and I have done my level best to do away with the short comings in preparing the press copy without meddling with its thought content for which the credit rests with the author. It is for the scholars of history to judge the contents of this work, but I can say with confidence that we have lost in Dr. G.C. Dwivedi a great historian who had keen insight into the history of the Jats.
The response of scholars on its publication gave satisfaction to the Society. Prof. Irfan Habib, a great historian on Mughal India made a special mention in his book- The Agrarian System of Mughal India (1999, p-392, f.n.14), in his words: A detailed description of the various phases of the Jat rebellion is offered by Sh. Girish Chandra Dwivedi, 'The Jats - Their Role in the Mughal Empire', New Delhi - 1989'. After thirteen years of its first publication in 1989, the Society felt the need to update this work.
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The authenticity of any research work depends on the references and studies conducted. Footnotes of the work have been very carefully compared again and page numbers in as many as 34 references have been corrected as per the original work. Other than these, following corrections and changes have been made in the footnotes:
In Chapter I, fn. 1, full French name of the Wendel's Memories and other information relating to it has been deleted because it is given in detail in the title-Manuscript D. French-(I) in the Bibliography. In chapter I, the page nos. of references f. n. 2, 71 and 72, are not mentioned in the manuscript, they are, in fact, from the Introduction pages of History of Aurangzeb III, published by Govt. of India. In the third chapter, fn. 62, of the Upendra Nath Sharma's work The New History of Jats the misprint of pp. 360-361 has been changed to 260-261. The author had not mentioned the page numbers of the following cited works and I had no time to trace them at the time of first edition. Now, I have traced them and written at proper places. Akhbarat (chapter II, fn.68, 69 and 71-73), Roznamcha (chapter III, fn.73); Jai Singh (chapter VI, fn. 15); Tarikh-e-Alamgir-Sani (chapter VII, fn. 38); Memoires on Jats (chapter IX, fn. 19 and Appendix 5, fn. 17); Imad (chapter XI, fn. 29); Supra (chapter XIV, fn. 10); Mathura Gazette. (Appendix 5, fn. 12). In chapter I, fn. 15 reference XXII-f is not traceable in the manuscript. This quotation is from Ibbetson, The Punjab Castes, and I have written its page number here. Wherever there are two publishers, of the same work, the name of the editors has been mentioned in the references for clarity. For example, SPD., Chachnama, Iqbalnama and Freedom Movement etc. have two different editors. Abbreviation 'RaJ' has been written in full Rajwade to avoid confusion with Rajasthan. Also the abbreviations of three books, which were left by the author but used by him, have been added.
Instead of changing the page numbers of this edition in Supra and Infra I have given the number of chapters and footnotes there to avoid difficulty in every edition. Besides correcting the page nos. of references in the footnotes and other minor errors, I have also done away with the numerous printing mistakes of the first edition.
In appendix 5 footnote number 12-a has been deleted. In one of the copy of the manuscript I found one para written by the author quoted from Brij Ka Itlhas by Dr. Raghubir Singh. I have added its matter in footnote no. 20 and the order of the footnotes have been rearranged. Thus in appendix 5 footnotes are 26 instead of 24. Due to printing difficulty Hindi Sakhas were not given in the first edition.
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Now all these Sakhas in chapter I, fn. 75-79,82 and chapter XII fn.62 have been incorporated. In chapter IV, fn. 53 also a poem from Vansh Bhaskar have been added with English translation.
The translation of Wendel's French Memoires on Jats has been corrected and done according to the English edition (1991) of the Memoires in the first sentence of introduction by Dr. G.c. Dwivedi. In chapter II the names of the matter of f.n. 39 have been rewritten in historical sequence for clarity as 'Brij Raj; Bhao Singh and Raja Ram's associate Ram Chehra has perished'.
In this edition twenty seven footnotes based on recent findings clarifying and describing certain facts, names (Pratap Jat/Pratap Naruka) and places (Mendu/Mudsan, Jabral/Jawara, Jhajjar/Jhajhar) have been added to update the work, which are given in Roman numbers to differentiate with the footnotes of the author.
Sub-headings of the subject matter have been added with their page numbers with the name of every chapter in the contents of this edition to give clear glimpse of the subject to the reader. In the end of the book the addition of index of names and places will certainly be useful for researchers.
Under the dynamic leadership and guidance of Sh. Ram Niwas Mirdha, 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 of North-West India. The society has established a rich library on its campus for the use of research scholars. It also provides financial assistance to scholars in different Universities, who wish to pursue research on any aspect of Jat Community. Till now the Society has published fifteen books and given research scholarships for two students.
We feel immense pleasure and express our gratitude to Sh. OM PRAKASH CHAUTALA, Hon'ourable 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.
I am grateful to Sh. Ram Niwas Mirdha who reposed his trust in me and valuable suggestions of Dr. S. S. Rana, Vice- President of the Society and administrative support of Shri S. P. Singh, Secretary of the Society, which have been of immense help m this updated edition.
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The diligent efforts of Sh. Manish Dagga (vinayak Computers) and Originals (an imprint of Low Price Publications) have made this fine publication possible. I honestly hope that this corrected and updated work will provide a clean mirror of the Jat history to research scholars and readers.
Director
Research & Publication centre
Surajmal Memorial Education Society