1 JAT, RAJPUT, AND ALLIED CASTES. 105
2 427. Jats of the Western Plains.— Pirst of all then let us purge our
3 tables of that nondescript class kuo-\Yn as Jats on the Indus, and, to a less
4 extent, in the lower valleys of the Satluj, Chauiib, and Jahlam, and in
5 the Salt-range Traet. Mr. 0''Erien writes as follows of the Jats of Muzaffar-
6 garh : —
7 " In tliis dUti'ict the word Jat incluJes that congeries of Mubammadan tribes which are
8 " not Saiyads, Biloches, Pathana or Qureshis. According to this definition Jats would include
9 " Kajput*. This I believe is correct. The Jat-; hare always been recruited from the Kajputs.
10 " There is not a Jat in the district who has any knowledge, real or fancied, of his ancestors that
11 "would not say that lie was once a Rajput. Certain Jat tribes have names and traditions which
12 " seem to connect them more closely with Hindustan. Some bear the Eajpiit title of Rai, and
13 "others, though iluhammadans, associate a Brahmin with the ilulla at marriage ceremonies, while
14 " Punwars, Parihar^, Bhattis, Joyas and others bear the names of well-known tribes of Rajputana.
15 "The fact is that it is impossible to define between Jats and JIusalman Rajpiits. And the
16 " difiiculty is rendered greater by the word Jat also meaning an agriculturist irrespective of his
17 "race, and Jataki agriculture. In conversation about agi'iculture I have been referred to a Saiyad
18 " Zalld;ir with the remark — Ask Anwar Shah ; he is a better Jat than we are.
19 " The Jat tribes are exceedingly numerous. There are 165 in the Sananwan tahsil alone.
20 " They have no large divisions embracing several small divisions. Nor do they trace their
21 " origin to common stock. So tribe is pre-eminent in birth or caste. Generally Jats marry into
22 " their own tribe, but they liave no Iiesitatiou in marrying into other tribes. They give their
23 " daughters freely to Biloches in marriage. But the Biloches say that they do not give their
24 " daughters to Jats. This is, however, a Bilocli story ; many instances of Jats married to Biloches
25 " could be named." '
26 Besides this, the word Jat, spelt with a soft instead of a hard t, denotes
27 a camel grazier or camel driver. " The camel cannot lift its load ; the camel-
28 " man (Jat) bites its tail." The fact seems to be that the Biloches who came
29 into the districts of the lower frontier as a dominant race, contemptuoulsy
30 included all cultivating tribes who were not Biloch, or of some race such as
31 Saiyad or Pathan whom they had been accustomed to look upon as their
32 equals, under the generic name of Jat, until the people themselves have lost
33 the very memory of their origin. It is possible that our own officers may
34 have emphasized the confusion Ijy adojiting too readily the simple classification
35 of the population as the Biloch or peculiar peoide on the one hand and the
36 Jat or Gentile on the other, and that the so-called Jat is not so ignorant of
37 his real origin as is commonly supposed. But the fact that in this part of the
38 Panjab tril>e quite over-shadows and iiuleed almost supersedes caste, greatly
39 increases the ditHculty. As Wx. Kue remarks^" If you ask a Jat his caste
40 " he will generally name some sub-division or clan cjuite unknown to fame."
41 However caused, the result is that in the Derajat, !^Iuzaffargarh, and much of
42 Multan, if not indeed still further east and north, the word Jat means little
43 more than the heading " others or unspecified " under which Census officers
44 are so sorely tempted to class those aliout whom they know little or nothing.
45 A curious instance of the manner in which the word is used in these parts is
46 afforded by the result of some inquiric s I made about the Machhi or fisherman
47 caste of Derail Ghiizi Khiin. The reply sent me was that there were two
48 castes, Maclihis or fishermen, and Jat iVIachhis who had taken to agriculture.
49 It is probable that not long hence these latter will drop the Machhi, perhaps
50 forget their ^lachhi origin, and IjCcome Jats pure and simple ; thoitgh they
51 may not imjiroljably retain as their clan name the old Machhi clan to which
52 *P. I06they belonged, or even the word Machhi itself. I give on the next page* a
53 ' list of castes which, on a rough exauiination of the clan tables of the Jats
54 of the Multan and Derajat divisions and Bahawalpui-, I detected among the
55 ■ Among the organised Biloch tribes of the frontier, however, Biloch girls are not given to
56 Jate.