1 36 A Short History of the Sikhs.
2 the Jat tribe ; and since the Jats have always
3 supplied the Khalsa with the bulk of its recruits,
4 a word as to their origin and character is necessary.
5 In the Punjab, as in India generally, the Brahmins
6 rank above all other castes ; the Rajputs stand
7 second, and the Khatris third. The Jats occupy
8 the fourth place in the social scale, though they
9 assert superiority over the Khatri and claim equality
10 of rank with the Rajput. Their origin is uncertain.
11 Some writers affirm their Scythian extraction, and
12 hold that they are the descendants of the Getse,
13 one of the many Scythian tribes who swarmed into
14 India before the Christian era. But beyond the fact
15 that many of the Punjab tribes are of undoubted
16 Scythic origin, there seems little to support this
17 view. The Jats themselves claim to be derived
18 from the same stock as the Rajputs, and point to
19 Central India as the cradle of their race. Their
20 traditions, as well as their racial characteristics, are
21 in accordance with this claim ; and in the absence
22 of any direct evidence to the contrary, there is no
23 reason to dispute it. The Jats are neither an in-
24 tellectual nor a cultured race. They care little
25 for education, and seldom attain to distinction in
26 any walk of life where learning and brain-power are
27 the chief qualities in demand. As courtiers, lawyers,
28 ministers, or diplomatists, they are no match for the
29 astute Brahmin or the sharp-witted Muhammadan,
30 and they generally prefer to leave such positions to
31 others, and to seek their fortunes in more congenial,
32 if humbler, spheres. But what the Jat lacks in
33 intelligence he makes up for by his courage, his