The Jats of Sindh

[ShahidT]

THE JATS OF SIND

Before commencing a review of the Muslim period of Sind's history, we shall speak briefly of the Jats of Sind (Pakistan) who were known all over Iran and the Middle East for their sturdy constitution and industrious nature. They have a colourful history and an adventurous past.

The author of Mujmaul Tawarikh has quoted an extinct Sanskrit work according to which the original inhabitants of Sind were Jats and Meds. Early Arab writers on Sind also say that Jats and Meds were important tribes in their time. Ibn Khurdabah mentions 'zutts' as guarding the route between Kirman and Mansura while Ibn Haukal writes: "Between Mansura and Makran the waters from the Mehran form lakes and the inhabitants of the country are the south Asian races called Zutt. The Chinese traveller Yuan Chwang who visited this region in the 7th century A.D. also mentioned Jats.

According to the Encyclopaedia of Islam, the Jats of the lower Indus comprise both Jats and Rajputs, and the same rule applies to Las-Bela where descendants of former ruling races like the Sumra and the Samma of Sind and the Langah of Multan are found. At the time of the first appearance of the Arabs they found the whole of Makran in possession of Jats (Zutts).

According to a 'Hadis', Hazrat Abdulla Bin Masood, a companion Prophet saw some strangers with the Prophet and said that their features and physique were like those of Jats.11 This means that Jats we in Arabia even during the Prophet's time. Hazrat Imam Bukhari (d. 875 A.D. - 256 A.H.) writing about the period of the Companions in his book "Al adab al Mufarrad" has stated that once when Hazrat Aisha (Prophet's wife) fell ill, her nephews brought a Jat doctor for her treatment. We hear of them next when the Arab armies clashed with the Persian forces which comprised of Jat soldiers as well. The Persian Command Hurmuz used Jat soldiers against Khalid Bin Walid in the battle of 'salasal' of 634 A.D. (12 hijri). This vvas the first time that Jats were captured by the Arabs. They put forward certain conditions for joining the Arab armies which were accepted, and on embracing Islam they were associated with different Arab tribes.12 This event proves that the first group of Pakistanis to accept Islam were Jats who did it as early as 12 hijri (634 A.D.) in the time of Hazrat Omar.

The Persian King Yazdjard had also sought the help of the Sind ruler who sent Jat soldiers and elephants which were used against the Arabs in the battle of Qadisia.

According to Tibri, Hazrat Ali had employed Jats to guard Basra treasury during the battle of Jamal. "Jats were the guards of the Baitul Maal at al-Basra during the time of Hazrat Osman and Hazrat Ali."13 Amir Muawiya had settled them on the Syrian border to fight against the Romans. It is said that 4,000 Jats of Sind joined Mohammad Bin Qasim's army and fought against Raja Dahir. Sindhi Jats henceforth began to be regularly recruited in the Muslim armies.

"Some of the Zutt deserters from the Persian army were transplanted in 670 A.D. by Caliph Muawiya from Basrah to Antioch. When the Arabs conquered Sind, another batch of Zutts whom the conquerors had uprooted from their native pastures seem to have been sent to Syria by Hajjaj (691-713 A.D.) and eventually sent on by the Caliph Walid 1(707-15 AD) to join the previous batch of Zutt deportees at Antioch whence some, again, were sent on by the Caliph Yazid II (720-24 A.D.) to Massisah in Cicilia…. But the bulk of Hajjaj's deportees from Sind seem to have been settled in Iraq. In the reign of Abbasid Caliph Mansur (813-33 A.D.) they broke into a rebellion which it took him and his successor Mutasim 833-42 AD), the best part of 20 years to quell….. Whether there had or had not been a voluntary immigration as well as a compulsory deportation of Zutt to Iraq from Sind, we may take it that in the course of the first two centuries of Arab rule, manpower from western subcontinent (i.e., Pakistan) had it in one way or another been pouring into a south-western Asia that, on the eve of the Arab conquest, had been depopulated by the two last and most devastating of the Romano-Persian wars."14

This statement of Tonybee is revealing in that it shows the close relations Pakistan had with the Middle East. Sindhis began to settle in areas as far away as Iraq and Syria which were depopulated by wars between the Persians and the Romans.

The origin of European gypsies is also traced to Sindhi Jats. Harun-ur-Rashid had recruited Jats to reinforce Cilician fortress. When the Romans descended on Ayn Zarbah in 855 A.D. they carried off into East Roman territory the Jats together with their women, children and buffaloes. This detachment of the Jats was the advance guard of the gypsies of Europe.15 They continued to pour into Europe in small batches at various stages subsequently.

The People and the Land of Sindh

 

[ShahidT]

nomadic Dhaneta jats of kutch, between Sindh and gujarat. because of their archaic and isolated lifestyle, they would most closely resemble the original jats of sindh valley in culture and physique, before they spread north-eastwards in ancient times.

 

[dil_dil]

Are you sure they are believed to be original jats? Interesting.....

 

[RazPaK]

Are you sure they are believed to be original jats? Interesting.....

Original Jatts were from Sind and were mostly atheists. Raja Dahir was cruel to the Jatts, so when MB Qasim's Army came they were recruited and instantly took vegence. They slowly moved up the Indus and branched out.

@oye_natta

Here is a Pakistani tv show and the guy that does the show is a Sindi Jatt, Rahil Gill.

 

[ShahidT]

Are you sure they are believed to be original jats? Interesting.....

well this tribe may not be the original jats, per se. but just relatively unmixed descendants of them. they are isolated, keep to themselves and part take in customs that are otherwise extinct among other settled jats. similar to how nomadic gujjars of valley are likely closest to their ancestors of vedic times compared to others in plains, and remote kalash/nuristani tribes seem closest to original dards, i'd think these semi nomadic tribes of jats are comparatively unmixed and preserve original appearance the most on average.

 

[Jaggu]

Original Jatts were from Sind and were mostly atheists. Raja Dahir was cruel to the Jatts, so when MB Qasim's Army came they were recruited and instantly took vegence. They slowly moved up the Indus and branched out.

@oye_natta

Here is a Pakistani tv show and the guy that does the show is a Sindi Jatt, Rahil Gill.

Sindh is the original homeland of the Jats and from there Jats spread all over. Jats were not atheists. The original religion of the Jats was Jathera which was a form of ancestor worship.

 

[RazPaK]

Sindh is the original homeland of the Jats and from there Jats spread all over. Jats were not atheists. The original religion of the Jats was Jathera which was a form of ancestor worship.

I will believe my elders over you.

 

[JOEY TRIBIANI]

sindhis ..

 

[Men in Green]

sindhis ..

pujabis...

 

[Shahmir]

Are you sure they are believed to be original jats? Interesting.....

They are indeed the original jats of Sindh as they are still pastoralist as described by Arab historians about Jats of Sindh valley in 8th century. All other modern jatts in punjab or india are most probably mix of these original jatts and some local agricultural castes of those regions who assimilated in larger jatt identity. Surprisingly jatt is no more an important identiy in its native Sindh province where most of the sindhi jatts have assumed Baloch identity which shows supermacy of Baloch identity in modern sindh.

Original Jatts were from Sind and were mostly atheists. Raja Dahir was cruel to the Jatts, so when MB Qasim's Army came they were recruited and instantly took vegence. They slowly moved up the Indus and branched out.

@oye_natta

Here is a Pakistani tv show and the guy that does the show is a Sindi Jatt, Rahil Gill.

He is not sindi jatt, there is a sizeable minority of punjabis (particulary migrants from east punjab in 1947) living in Karachi, his accent is also karachi like accent. I have lived in karchi for some months in a punjabi majority area.

 

[dil_dil]

They are indeed the original jats of Sindh as they are still pastoralist as described by Arab historians about Jats of Sindh valley in 8th century. All other modern jatts in punjab or india are most probably mix of these original jatts and some local agricultural castes of those regions who assimilated in larger jatt identity. Surprisingly jatt is no more an important identiy in its native Sindh province where most of the sindhi jatts have assumed Baloch identity which shows supermacy of Baloch identity in modern sindh.
a.

Its interesting, why they simple don't claim to be just Sindhi? So Sindhi people with Baloch last name are not really ethinic Baloch but jats?

 

[Shahmir]

Its interesting, why they simple don't claim to be just Sindhi? So Sindhi people with Baloch last name are not really ethinic Baloch but jats?

It happens, we don't know the historical reason for this switch from jat identity to baloch identity. An explicit research would be needed to understand it. It looks to me similar to our case in punjab where every tom and dick who moved from kashmir valley to central punjab is called "Butt" these days when they are from diverse origins back in kashmir. Sometimes things are not in the hands of the people and they have to follow the times in which they live, it might have been the same case with Baloch identity in sindh.

 

[dil_dil]

It happens, we don't know the historical reason for this switch from jat identity to baloch identity. An explicit research would be need to understand it. It looks to me similar to our case in punjab where every tom and dick who moved from kashmir valley to central punjab is called "Butt" these days when they are from diverse origins back in kashmir. Sometimes things are not in the hands of the people and they have to follow the times in which they live, it might have been the same case with Baloch identity in sindh.

What about Baloch of South Punjab?

 

[Shahmir]

What about Baloch of South Punjab?

Not everyone who calls himself "Baloch" is jatt , there are many clans who are genuinely baloch even in sindh. The baloch in south punjab are immigrants from balochistan or sindh so it will depend from clan to clan about their ultimate origin. The funny thing is some tribes are found in upper punjab too which are sometimes called jatt, rajput or baloch depending on the region in which they live , an example that comes to my mind is "Kharral" tribe which are called jatts or rajputs in different areas of punjab but their sindhi counterparts consider themselves as pure baloch .

 

[ShahidT]

Conversion of the Jats to Islam

When Arabs entered Sindh in the seventh century, the chief tribal groupings they found were the Jats and Meds. These Jats are often referred as Zatts in early Arab writings. The Jats were the first converts to Islam, and many were employed as soldiers by the new Arab Muslim administration in Sindh. The Muslim conquest chronicles further point at the important concentrations of Jats in towns and fortresses of Lower and Central Sindh.[7] Many of these Jat were said to be pastoral nomads, inhabiting the Indus Delta region. It is this region which is still home to a large community of cattle rearing Jat clans.[8]

Between the 10th and the 13th Century, there was large immigration of Jat groups from Sindhu northwards to Punjab and eastwards towards what is now Rajasthan. Many Jat clans initially settled in a region known as the Bar country, which referred to the country between the rivers of Punjab, thinly populated with scanty rainfall which accommodated a type of pastoral nomadism which was based primary on the rearing of goats and camels. Between the 11th and the 13th Century, the Jats became essentially a peasant population, taking advantage in the growth of irrigation. As these Jats became converted to peasant farmers, they also started to become Muslims. Most Jats clans of western Punjab have traditions that they accepted Islam at the hands of two famous Sufi saints of Punjab, Shaikh Faridudin Ganj Shaker of Pakpattan or his contemporary Baha Al Haq Zakiriya of Multan. In reality the process of conversion was said to much a slower process.[9] In the territory that now forms the Indian state of Punjab, conversion was said to have occurred from the time of the Mughal Emperor Akbar. Different groups of Jats have different traditions as to their conversion to Islam in this region. For example the Jats of Nawanshahr had a tradition that their ancestor was one Mahr Mitha who ruled at Patti in what is now Kasur District. Mahr Mitha was said to have converted to Islam during the rule of Akbar, and as result of conversion, his clansmen followed his example. In neighbouring Ludhiana district, all the conversion were said to have occurred during the rule of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. With many clans only sections converted, and this was seen in the large Sandhu Garewal clan, who were Muslim in Samrala, while in the northern parts of Ludhiana District were exclusively Sikh.[10]

This process of incremental conversion was seen by the presence of members of a particular clan, some who had become Sikh while others had converted to Islam.[11] In the plains and high plateau of Punjab, there are many communities of Jat, some of whom had converted to Islam by the 18th Century, while others had become Sikhs. As a result, some clans such as the Virk are largely Muslim, while others such as Pannun and Bal have Muslim branches, but are largely Sikh.[12] According 1901 Census of India, the Muslim Jats numbered 1,957,000, while Hindu Jats numbered 1,595,000 and Sikh Jats numbered 1,390,00 in the Punjab.[13]

Jat Muslim - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia