The Sindhi Jats (Sindhi: سنڌي جت/جاٽ) are the Sindhi community, who are the indigenous population of Sindh.[1][page needed][2][3]

Sindhi Jats
Languages
Sindhi (different dialects).
Religion
Islam
Related ethnic groups
Jats

Background

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All the Jats of Sindh are muslims except one tribe of "Jātia" which is a hindu tribe of Thar desert. The Jats of Sindh are mainly divided into three sections:

  1. First are Larai Jutts/Jat (Sindhi: جت) known for their ancient ancestral camel-herding profession,[4][5] they speak Juttki/Jatki a very old dialect of Sindhi language, Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai has also written some poems in Juttki/Jatki dialect of Sindhi, in his famous book of "Shah jo Risalo". These Jutts are in much love with Shah latif, as much as so they memorize whole book of Shah jo Risalo, and make their children remember the whole book. In fact in older times, the boys and girls were not got married until they memorized the whole book. These jutts are mainly found in "Lāṛu" region of lower Sindh, the city "Jati" is named after them.[6][7]
  2. Central Sindhi Jats (Sindhi: جاٽ).[8]
  3. Sirai Jats (Sindhi: سيرائي جاٽ).

History

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The Jats are one of the ancient Sindhi tribes, many Arab, Persian, and Greek historians have written about Jats, and ancient Hindu texts have also mentioned them. The Arab historians like Al-Biladuri and Ibn Hawqal mentions two Sindhi tribes "Zutts (Jats) and 'Meds".[9]

The Sindhi Jats were pastoralists in lower Sindh, the original homeland of the Sindhi Jats was the lower Indus valley of Sindh. They were nomadic pastoralists who had migrated from the lower Indus river valley of Sindh to the northern parts of Sindh (including present-day Multan) and later to Punjab and other north Indian regions.[10][page needed][11][12][page needed] Some of these Jats migrated as far as Iraq,[13][page needed] and were referred as Zutts (Arabic: الزُّطِّ, romanized: Az-Zutt) by arabs in early Arab writings. During the Arab conquest of Sind in 711 AD, Jats underwent resettlement orchestrated by al-Ḥajāj to a comparable riverine setting in Lower Iraq, referred to as the Baṭāʾiḥ. Subsequently, both al-Walīd I and Yazīd I oversaw the relocation of additional Jat groups to northwestern Syria, accompanied by water buffaloes suitable for the region's warm coastal plains. Nevertheless, a notable portion of the Jat populace chose to remain in Iraq.[14]

Jats were the first people of the Indian subcontinent who embraced Islam during the Prophet Muhammad era,[15] they fought on the side of Ali in the Battle of the Camel in 656 under their chief, Ali B. Danur.[16][page needed] The Jats of Arabia helped Muhammad bin Qasim in the conquest of Sind in the eighth century.[17][page needed]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Khushalani, Gobind (2006). Chachnamah Retold : An Account Of The Arab Conquest Of Sindh. Bibliophile South Asia. ISBN 978-81-85002-68-2. JATS: One of the important tribes of ancient Sindh, generally a farming community.
  2. ^ Butt, Allah Rakhio (1998). Papers on Sindhi Language & Linguistics. Institute of Sindhology, University of Sindh. p. 280. ISBN 978-969-405-050-8.
  3. ^ Allānā, G̲h̲ulām ʻAlī (1986). Sindi Culture: A Preliminary Survey. Indus Publications. pp. 3 and 100.
  4. ^ Cheesman, David (2013-12-16). Landlord Power and Rural Indebtedness in Colonial Sind. New Delhi, India, Asia: Routledge. p. 36. ISBN 978-1-136-79449-0.
  5. ^ "Indus Delta's unique 'Kharai' camels on verge of extinction". Daily Times. 2017-10-28. Retrieved 2024-01-22. Jatt (Also Jat or Jath) is an ingenious community in lower Sindh, Makran and Katch (or Kachh) area of India.
  6. ^ Wink, André (2002). Al-Hind, the Making of the Indo-Islamic World: Early Medieval India and the Expansion of Islam 7Th-11th Centuries. BRILL. pp. 154–160. ISBN 978-0-391-04173-8.
  7. ^ "Indus Delta's unique 'Kharai' camels on verge of extinction". Daily Times. 2017-10-28. Retrieved 2024-01-22. In the famous love story of Sassi Punnuh from Sindhi folklore, Punnuh was a Jatt from Makran who falls in love with Sassi and came to Sindh to marry her. Famous Sindhi poet Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai has also sung about Jatts and their camels in his poetry.
  8. ^ Pirzada, Din Ali (1995). Growth of Muslim Nationalism in Sindh: Parting of Ways to Pakistan. Mehran Publishers.
  9. ^ Saḥrāʼī, Tāju (2012). Lake Manchar: The Most Ancient Seat of Sindhu Cultures. Culture Department, Government of Sindh. p. 42. Al-Biladuri mentions names of two Sindhi tribes 'Jats' and 'Meds'.
  10. ^ Asher, Catherine B.; Talbot, Cynthia (2006-03-16). India Before Europe. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-80904-7.
  11. ^ Tiemann, Günter (1963). "Review of The Jat of Pakistan". Anthropos. 58 (5/6): 936–938. ISSN 0257-9774. JSTOR 40456070.
  12. ^ Khazanov, Anatoly M.; Wink, Andre (2012-10-12). Nomads in the Sedentary World. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-12194-4.
  13. ^ Wink, André (1991). Indo-Islamic society: 14th - 15th centuries. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-13561-1. ...and although some of these migrated as far as Iraq,
  14. ^ C.E. Bosworth (2012). "al-Zuṭṭ". Encyclopaedia of Islam New Edition Online (EI-2 English). Brill. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_sim_8217.
  15. ^ Nizam, Muhammad Huzaifa (2023-01-15). "HOW THE INDUS VALLEY FED ISLAM'S GOLDEN AGE". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2024-01-22. these Jatts, known as Zutt in Arabic, were amongst the earliest in Persia to accept Islam and thus join with the Muslim armies in their further conquests. They were also later replenished with more of their men, when the Indus Valley fell into the hands of the Ummayad Caliphate in 711 CE.
  16. ^ Zakeri, Mohsen (1995). Sasanid Soldiers in Early Muslim Society: The Origins of 'Ayyārān and Futuwwa. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 978-3-447-03652-8.
  17. ^ Mayaram, Shail (2003). Against History, Against State: Counterperspectives from the Margins. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-12730-1.