History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v1.c14.11

v1.c14.11

But though Chacha spared the Samāni, he was a bigoted Hindu and his usurpation appears to have been actuated by religious motives also. The Chacha-nāma relates that Chacha while at Brahmanabad made certain rules by which he degraded the turbulent Lohanas and Jats in social position. He made it a rule that they should not carry swords except on occasions of urgent necessity, that they should not wear silken cloth, that they should use scarfs of black or red colour, that they should ride horses without saddle, that they must walk about bare-headed and bare-footed, that they must always, when they went out, have with them dogs to distinguish them and that they should supply firewood to the ruler of Brahmanabad, serve as guides and spies, and be trustworthy and honest. The story is certainly well founded that Chacha made these rules. They were enforced during his son's time also and even in the time of the Arabs who conquered Sind, for the Chacha-nāma relates that Mohomed Kasim enforced the same conditions. In fact some of these restrictions are still observed. Many tribes of Jats go about bare-headed still. Even in Rajput times, the Jats were not allowed to cover their heads with turbans or to wear red clothes, or to put a crown on the head of their bridegroom, or to put a *nath* in their women's nose. "The Ghatwals obtained success over the Rajputs and removed the obnoxious provisions. They thus are called Mālik and wear red turbans." (Ibbetson's caste in the Panjab p. 130.)