Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s2.4.2

c48.s2.4.2

Whether because the Jāṭ arrived there direct from Sindh and remained at a distance from the seat of the predominant body of his tribe, or whether by reason of admixture with inferior Rājput blood, his physique and social position are lower. The Jāṭ par excellence is the peasantry of the Sikh tracts, where the tradition of political supremacy is still green, and the Jāṭ has nothing to gain in public estimation from either Brāhman, Rājput or Paṭhān. Along the Jamnā, he has succumbed to the prevailing influences, and looks up to the Rājput, whilst in the west, he does the same to the leaders of Muslim society, and his name has been there bestowed upon any cultivator of that religion, whatever his caste. Like the Rājput and other great communities in the north-west, the Jāṭ places religious considerations beneath tribal in his domestic arrangements, so it appears from the Census that one third of the population bearing this name are Muslim, one fifth Sikh, and just under half, Brāhmanist. As stated above, the Jāṭ is in the first place a cultivator, and the women of his family share to the full his enthusiasm in the pursuit of the family calling. The Sikh Jāṭ is also a born soldier, not merely a combatant, but a disciplinarian, and equally efficient on the snow-clad ridges of Afghānistān and the steamy plains of Tïentsin.