Life and culture of Jats

The Life and culture of Jats is full of diversity and approaches most closely to that ascribed to the traditional Aryan colonists of India. The Jat lifestyle was designed to foster a martial spirit. As the situation changed, some Jats started retiring to the country-side and became landed barons and the rest landlords with their swords girded round their waists. They would draw the sword out of the scabbard at the command of their panchayat to fight with the invaders. Jats have a history of being brave and ready fighters. Jats are among the best farmers in India. [The Hindu: A look at India's villages - I By Gilbert Etienne] ]

Professions

The Jats, like some South Asians, are also found in many other professions. Traditionally they have formed part of the land & gentry and ruling upper classes [The modern history of Jats - Dr Mahendra Singh Arya, Agra India.] .

A number of Jats belong to the political classes and have produced many leaders, including the 7th Prime Minister of India, Prime Minister Choudhary Charan Singh. Moreover, there have been many Jat Kings and warriors throughout history [History of the Jatt Clans - Dr H.S Duleh.] . A large number of Jats serve in the Indian Army, including the Jat Regiment, Rajputana Rifles, Sikh Regiment and the Grenadiers and have won many of the highest military awards for gallantry and bravery. Jats also serve in the Pakistan Army especially in the Punjab Regiment, where they have also been highly decorated.

Jats in agriculture

Some of the Jats are born in villages and after primary education, acquaint themselves with agriculture and by the age of sixteen, they take over the traditional profession of agriculture with their parents. After obtaining maturity, some young Jats either increase the agriculture family businesses or head for the city to setup a businesses. Until about fifty years ago, they used to ride horses. They took pride in horse riding; Jats have a reputation as excellent horsemen. The majority of Jats in Rajasthan desert area used to keep camels for riding. With the change of the animal era to machinery, Jats, too, have changed over to tractors and tillers in place of bullocks, and Jeep instead of horse or camel. [Mangal sen Jindal (1992): History of Origin of Some Clans in India (with special Reference to Jats), Sarup & Sons, 4378/4B, Ansari Road, Darya Ganj, New Delhi-110002 ISBN 81-85431-08-6]

Green revolution

The green revolution of agriculture in India led to significant increases in agricultural production between the 1940s and 1960s. This transformation occurred as the result of programs of agricultural research, extension, and infrastructure development with the hard work of Jat farmers, especially in the areas inhabited by Jats. The green revolution has brought the Jats a lot of money. It is the result of green revolution that the Jat regions in India are among the most prosperous on a per-capita basis (Haryana, Punjab and Gujarat are among the wealthiest of Indian states). [Mangal sen Jindal (1992): History of Origin of Some Clans in India (with special Reference to Jats), Sarup & Sons, 4378/4B, Ansari Road, Darya Ganj, New Delhi-110002 ISBN 81-85431-08-6]

The Green Revolution also brought changes in lifestyle of Jat farmers. Aspirations increased – there was demand for better education for children, better housing and better consumer goods. The traditional joint family system is being gradually replaced by the nuclear family. [ [http://punjabgovt.nic.in/agriculture/TheGreen.htm The Green Revolution] ]

Politics also changed. There was a gradual shift of power from the urban elite to the rural elite. The Jats became the dominant political group and as a result, development of agriculture became the top priority of every successive government. Supply of agricultural inputs at cheaper rates became a core demand. In order to relieve farmers from money lenders, co-operative societies and commercial banks were established in large numbers to provide agricultural credit to the farming community. As agricultural became modernised, electricity for agricultural purpose was required at cheap rates for long hours. Similarly, fertilizers and pesticides were also required to be supplied at cheap rates. Thus, successive governments responded by granting subsidies. [ [http://punjabgovt.nic.in/agriculture/TheGreen.htm The Green Revolution] ]

The impact of the Green Revolution differed through the regions of Punjab. The Doaba region saw a sizeable immigration of Jat Sikhs to England, United States and Canada. Money remittances from overseas communities were used by the Jat Sikh farmers in the Doaba to improve their houses, increase lands and to buy machines. Recruitment in the army has always been an important adjunct to the agricultural economy. However, the trend of supplementing agricultural income from other sources was unevenly spread through the different regions. The Doaba region was foremost in this trend, followed by Majha and, only a part of the Malwa region, like the districts of Ludhiana and Patiala. [ [http://punjabgovt.nic.in/agriculture/TheGreen.htm The Green Revolution] ]

Clothing and food habits have changed. Bright saris, readymade shirts and trousers, canvas shoes have replaced the old dhoti in the new generations. Milk with tea and sugar is common, fruit and vegetables are less uncommon. TV sets, bicycles, even scooters and cars and mobiles can be seen in villages. Education is progressing very fast. [ [http://www.hindu.com/2004/03/04/stories/2004030404000400.htm The Hindu - Scale to measure village development] ]

Love for land

Jats adorn above all other things, the land which they cultivate. His love and respect for the soil is no less than his own mother. In case, little of his land is usurped by some one, even by his own cousin, he will prefer to die in a quarrel than to allow the other to usurp his land. His love for land spells no bound. [Mangal sen Jindal (1992): History of Origin of Some Clans in India (with special Reference to Jats), Sarup & Sons, 4378/4B, Ansari Road, Darya Ganj, New Delhi-110002 ISBN 81-85431-08-6]

Jats love gardens. A "chaupal" is a necessity in every Jat village. They are loyal to the country of their habitation. [Mangal sen Jindal (1992): History of Origin of Some Clans in India (with special Reference to Jats), Sarup & Sons, 4378/4B, Ansari Road, Darya Ganj, New Delhi-110002 ISBN 81-85431-08-6]

Love for animals

A Jat in a village or on his farm cannot do without one or two buffaloes or cows because without milk, curd, ghee and chhachh (cream separated curd), his daily diet remains incomplete. chhachh (Hindi: छाछ) is distributed free to the needy neighbours. During period about five decades back, if a stranger traveler requested a Jat for a glass of water to quench his thirst, he was offered with a glass of "Mattha" or "lassi" (diluted curd mixed with sugar and spices). He did not mind if some one extracted one or two sugar canes or watermelons from his field to feed oneself for taste. It was customary for a Jat to offer a quarter kilo "gur" to one who happened to be sitting in the "kolowh" at the time of preparation. [Mangal sen Jindal (1992): History of Origin of Some Clans in India (with special Reference to Jats), Sarup & Sons, 4378/4B, Ansari Road, Darya Ganj, New Delhi-110002 ISBN 81-85431-08-6]

Food habits

Jat food habits are very simple. Jats are mostly non-meat eaters as a result of Buddhist influence. Their staple food is wheat or bajra, vegetables and plenty of milk, curd and ghee. Jats consider non-vege food undesirable but some of Jats started taking non-vege food after German war. Presently the proportion of meat eater Jats is very limited. Jat women are normally quite ignorant about cooking of non-vege dishes. Jats earlier were not in habit of taking wine but it is slowly growing in modern times due to influence of other societies.

Milk, curd and ghee is the main food component of Jats. Jats in rural area keep domestic milking animals. On special occasions halva, kheer and chawal are prepared. Rice is consumed with a lot of ghee and sugar. Rabadi prepared from chhachh used to be very common dish in villages. Dal, churma, Dal bati churma and lapsi are also very common. Papar and mangodi are made from "moong" and "moth" which are used for vegetables through out the year. Jat habitations have a plenty of kair and khejri trees. The fruit of kair is used as vegetable and in making curry. Kair is used in pickles and used throughout the year. Khejri pods are used as vegetables.

Hard working people

Jats are the backbone of cultivation and in city business. In agriculture they have proved to be the best farmers. A young Jat of India, energetic as he is, labours hard or rather very hard in his vocation at the time of work and recreates fully at the leisure time. He enjoys sound sleep after hard work. At the age of 40-45 his sons replace him in his hard work. He then enjoys cool breeze under a tree in his gher (cattle shed) or in "Chaupal" with "hooka" (hubble bubble) with others. At the age of sixty he is adorned as Chaudhary (village headman) and as a right commands respect from the whole of village folk. In past times, a Chaudhary proved to be an intelligent and impartial judge in deciding the petty conflicts in the village. [Mangal sen Jindal (1992): History of Origin of Some Clans in India (with special Reference to Jats), Sarup & Sons, 4378/4B, Ansari Road, Darya Ganj, New Delhi-110002 ISBN 81-85431-08-6]

Jat woman

A traditional Jat woman’s beauty of character is that she always works shoulder to shoulder with her husband. Lighter duties of maintaining the animals are left to them while the males do heavy work. She looks after the home and males look after outside the home. A Jat woman gets up early in the morning. First, she has to mill the grains in a hand-mill or quern to make the flour, then she milks the buffaloes/cows and gives fodder to them and other animals. She sweeps the house and then churns the curd. She brings water from village well. Then she prepares breakfast and takes it to the field for her husband. Again, she prepares lunch and once more goes to the field to serve it to the males working there. Once she comes back home, she is busy with her "charkha" to spin yarn out of cotton or wool. She fills her family's need for clothing at home. Many of the ladies go to a commonplace with charkha to chitchat and enjoy the society. Mahatma Gandhi, who used it as a tool to gain independence, realized the importance of charkha in the Indian economy. In the evening she prepares dinner. After feeding every member of the family, she eats her food, and gives large sized glasses of milk to everyone. Even after all of the labor, she does not feel dizzy and does not fail to please her husband. The busy day keeps her active and healthy to keep doctors away. She seldom needs a nursing home. Her only demand is heavy silver or gold ornaments. [Mangal sen Jindal (1992): History of Origin of Some Clans in India (with special Reference to Jats), Sarup & Sons, 4378/4B, Ansari Road, Darya Ganj, New Delhi-110002 ISBN 81-85431-08-6]

Clothes and ornaments

Man's garments

The men's clothes consists of a white turban, shirt, dhoti, jooties and cotton or woolen shawl. Jats narmally keep with them woolen blanket made of sheep-wool during winters. [Thakur Deshraj: Jat Itihasa (Hindi), Maharaja Suraj Mal Smarak Shiksha Sansthan, Delhi, 1934, 2nd edition 1992.]

Women's garments

Women wear "unicode|oḍhaṇi" (ओढणी) (veil) shirt or "āngī" (आंगी) (short blouse) "ghāgharī" (घाघरी) (heavy skirt) "jūtī" (जूती) (country made shoes)and heavy ornaments around the neck, wrists and ankles. Rajasthani women wear "kurtī" (कुर्ती), "kānchalī" (कांचळी) and "ghāgharā" (घाघरा). Traditional jat women wear woolen ghaghara known as "dhābalā" (धाबळा) with a strong woolen rope tied to it in the waste. [Thakur Deshraj: Jat Itihasa (Hindi), Maharaja Suraj Mal Smarak Shiksha Sansthan, Delhi, 1934, 2nd edition 1992.]

Ornaments: There are different kinds of ornaments in use in different states. Ornaments are liked by both jat men and women.

Men's ornaments

Men in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab wear "gande" (गंडे), "tore" (तोड़े), "janjīr" (जंजीर), "unicode|angūṭhī" (अंगूठी), "chhāp" (छाप), "bīrabalī" (बीरबली), "bāliyān (बालियां)" etc. Men in Rajasthan wear "kare" (कड़े) in ankles, "gurde" (गुर्दे) and "murkī" (मु्र्की) in ears and "hār" (हार) in neck. [Thakur Deshraj: Jat Itihasa (Hindi), Maharaja Suraj Mal Smarak Shiksha Sansthan, Delhi, 1934, 2nd edition 1992.]

Women's ornaments

Women wear various ornaments made of gold and silver such as "bichhue" (बिछुए), "sānkar" (सांकर), "chhallī" (छल्ली), "chhade" (छड़े), "lachchhe" (लच्छे), "sānkarī" (सांकरी), "unicode|kaḍe" (कड़े), "pājeb" (पाजेब), "sānth" (सांठ), "bānkadā" (बांकड़ा), "kamardhanī" (कमरधनी), "mhel" (म्हेल), "janjīr"(जंजीर), "gulaband" (गुलबंद), "hansalī" (हंसली), "kanthī" (कंठी), "pachamaniā" (पचमणिया), "mohanamālā" (मोहनमाला), "jhumkā" (झुमका), "long" (लॉग), "eran" (एरन), "vālī" (वाली), "turputī" (तुरपुती), "jhubajhubī" (झुबझुबी), "nāth" (नथ), "borlā" (बोरला), "unicode|senṭhā" (सेंठा), "long" (लॉग), "sulliyā" (सुल्लिया), "Teotā" (टेवटा), "mādaliā" (मादळिया), "unicode|bangaḍī" (बंगड़ी), "ānvalā" (आंवळा), "nevarī" (नेवरी), "pātī" (पाती) etc. [Thakur Deshraj: Jat Itihasa (Hindi), Maharaja Suraj Mal Smarak Shiksha Sansthan, Delhi, 1934, 2nd edition 1992.]

References