Indian Antiquary Vol 54

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Stephen Meredyth Edwardes, Krishnaswami Aiyangar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 36

THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
(FEBRUARY, 1925
THE JAT OF BALUCHISTAN.1
BY DENYS BRAY, C.S.I. (Chiefly from material collected by R. B., Diwan Jamiat Rdi, M. Aziz-uddin, Tahsildar
of Nasirabad, and L. Mộti Ram, Tahsildar of Sibi.) 1. Numbers.--3,753 Jats were enumerated at the census of 1901, being found chiefly in Kaldt (3,245) and Sibi (491), with a few odd families in Quetta and Zhôb. The following notes apply more especially to the Sibi Jats, from whom most of the material was obtained.
2. Origin.-At that census the Jats were classified as a clan of the Jat race, probably on the ground that their language is Jatki; but though this net is possibly wide enough to hold them, the two names Jat and Jat must be very carefully distinguished. They usually *pose as Balôch, much to the disgust of the Balôch himself. They hark back in approved fashion to Chakar Khan, the great Rind, and attribute their drop in the social scale either to their refusal to support him in his struggle with the Låshåris, or to their ancestral profession as camel-drivers, from which they are supposed to derive their name. According to Balôch tradition, so far from having dropped in the social scale, they have gone up a step or two, degraded though their condition is. For in the old days they were little better than savages, living unwashed, unshaven, unclothed, partly on their camels and partly on their women-their two sources of livelihood to this day. As for their absurd claims to kinship, the Balôch gay that Mir Chakar Khân himself had to warn them of the inevitable consequences of such impertinence, and Heaven proved him in the right by wiping out ten thousand of them in next day's battle. But though it seems clear that their claims to blood relationship are really preposterous, it is equally clear that their connexion with the Balôch is of long standing. In the old ballads they are styled Rauchi or R&vchi.
3. Lack of organisation.--They can hardly be said to have any organisation at all. The bonds between their various sections, of which thirteen were recorded at the census of 1901, are of the frailest, and in the individual section it is a case of kiri kiyi sardarên, or one tentone chieftain, as the proverb says. Latterly they have begun to awake to the idea that union is not without strength, and are beginning to follow, though very gingerly, the lead of their mótabars, notably of Sher Khân among the Barhånis and Gulzar in the Bugtî country. But if each man is a chieftain in his own tent, they are a cringing lot to the outside world, submitting with whispering humbleness to any indignity put upon them. Even among themselves a flood of abuse or a cuff with the hand or a blow with a shoe is the utmost limit of their valour.
4. Nomadic life.-Winter and summer they are on the move in search of grazing for their camels, carrying with them a mat-tent, a hand-mill, some pots and pans and a few sticks of furniture. Being notorious evil-livers and expert camel-lifters, they are not allowed to camp close to a village unless they have taken service with some big man.
5. Occupation of the men.-They are camel-breeders, camel-graziers and carriers. The camel indeed is their main staff of life. It supplies them with milk and with hair for making sacking and blankets, while the hair of the tail is twisted into ropes. When the camel trade is slack, they go out as day-labourers in the bazaars, or cut crops for the zamindars, or hawk about their home-made mats of dwarf-palm leaves. The large stave (lath) they carry has come to be regarded as the badge of their race.
6. Occupation of the women. The women have to do most of the household work ; they make and wash the clothes, bring in water and fuel, milk the camels, cook the food on a pan (taut) over three stones, and pitch and strike the tents, while much of their spare time is spent in making dwarf-palm mats, which find a ready sale among the tribesmen.
1 This article was contributed to the Journal in 1910, but was unfortunately mislaid until a recent date--ED.