Jat people in Mahabharata period

Jat people find a mention in most ancient Indian literature like Mahabharata and Rig Veda. Over sixty clans are named in the Rig Veda. Bhim Singh Dahiya, Aryan Tribes and the Rig Veda, Dahinam Publishers, 16 B Sujan Singh Park, Sonepat, Haryana,India,1991] In the Mahabharata as they are mentioned ‘"Jartas"’ in ‘Karna Parva’. The famous Sanskrit scholar Panini (traditionally dated 520-460 BCE, with estimates ranging from the 7th to 4th centuries BCE) has mentioned in his Sanskrit grammar known as "unicode|Aṣṭādhyāyī" in the form of "shloka" as जट झट संघाते or “"Jat Jhat Sanghate"”. [Dr Mahendra Singh Arya, Dharmpal Singh Dudi, Kishan Singh Faujdar & Vijendra Singh Narwar: Ādhunik Jat Itihasa (The modern history of Jats), Agra 1998, Page-1 ] This means that the terms 'Jat' and 'democratic federation' are synonymous. He has mentioned many Jat people clans as settled in Punjab and North west areas. They are mentioned in the grammar treatise of Chandra of the fifth century in the phrase sentence अजय जर्टो हुणान or “"Ajay Jarto unicode|Huṇān"”, which refers to the defeat of Huns by the Jartos under the leadership of Yasodharman. The inscriptions of Mandsaur and Bijayagadh theorise on phonetic grounds that Yasodharman, the ruler of Malwa, may have been Jat people of the Virk gotra ( clan). CV Vaidya, History of Medieval Hindu India ] [ [http://www.mssu.edu/projectsouthasia/history/primarydocs/Epigraphy/Gupta-Era/bijayagadh_stone_pillar.htm Bijayagadh Stone Pillar Inscription of Vishnuvardhana] ] - [ [http://www.mssu.edu/projectsouthasia/history/primarydocs/Epigraphy/Gupta-Era/mandasor_pillar.htm Mandasor Pillar Inscription of Yashodharman] ]

Mahabharata Shalya Parva section 45 says, "Listen now to the names of those other combatants armed with diverse weapons and clad in diverse kinds of robes and ornaments, that Skanda procured: ....Akshasantarjana, Kunadika, Tamobhrakrit, Ekaksha, Dwadasaksha, Eka Jata ... Beholding the installation of Kartikeya, These and many other mighty companions, O king, came to the high-souled and illustrious Kartikeya". [ [http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m09/m09045.htm Mahabharata Shalya Parva section 45] ] This has been illustrated in following shlokas in the online edition of Mahabharata in Sanskrit along with Devanagari as under:

:अक्षसंतर्जनॊ राजन कुनथीकस तमॊ ऽभरकृत akṣasaṃtarjano rājan kunadīkas tamo 'bhrakṛt [ [http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/mbs/mbs09044.htm Mahabharata in Sanskrit Ch-44/53] ]

:एकाक्षॊ थवाथशाक्षश च तदैवैक जटः परभुः ekākṣo dvādaśākṣaś ca tathaivaika jaṭaḥ prabhuḥ [ [http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/mbs/mbs09044.htm Mahabharata in Sanskrit Ch-44/54] ]

The Jat people historian, Dharmpal Singh Dudee, has explained the above legend of the Mahabharata, in which Brahma nominated Swami Kartikeya as "senapati" of all the beings and performs his coronation on this position. On the occasion of coronation, Swami Kartikeya received various offerings from manifold people. One of these was a chief of all the senapatis (generals) named Jat people. [Dr Mahendra Singh Arya, Dharmpal Singh Dudee, Kishan Singh Faujdar & Vijendra Singh Narwar: Ādhunik Jat Itihasa (The modern history of Jats), Agra 1998, Page 2] This shloka reads in Sanskrit as under:

अक्षः सन्तर्जनो राजन् कुन्दीकश्च तमोन्नकृत।

एकाक्षो द्वादशक्षश्च तथैवैक जटः प्रभु ।।

Translation- O Rajan! Akshaḥ santarjana, kundīka, tamonnakrata, ekāksha, dwādashāksha and a 'Jat' the chief lord offered to Swami Kartikeya.

Thus appearance of Jat name in Mahabharata along with Brahma shows that name of Jat is as antique as Brahma. [Dr Mahendra Singh Arya, Dharmpal Singh Dudee, Kishan Singh Faujdar & Vijendra Singh Narwar: Ādhunik Jat Itihasa (The modern history of Jats), Agra 1998, Page 2] Mahabharata Anushasan Parva mentions in chapter 17 that one of the names of "parmatma" or "parmeshwar" is "Jata (जट)" as given shloka 86 as under in Devanagari and IAST: [ [http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/mbs/mbs13017.htm The Mahabharata in Sanskrit, Book 13, Chapter 17/86] ]

:महानखॊ महारॊमा महाकेशॊ महाजटः mahānakho mahāromā mahākeśo mahājaṭaḥ :असपत्नः परसाथश च परत्ययॊ गिरिसाधनः asapatnaḥ prasādaś ca pratyayo girisādhanaḥ

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