The Ethnology of India. 79 



latterly other races have dominated and the higher classes among the 

 Jats have lost somewhat of their position. In the south and west of 

 the Punjab too they have long been subject to Mahommedan rulers, 

 but latterly as Sikhs they became rulers of the whole Punjab and of 

 the country beyond as far as the upper Jumna, in all which territories 

 they are still in every way the dominant population. Over great tracts 

 of this country, I should say that three villages out of four are Jat, and 

 that in each Jat village the Jats constitute perhaps two-thirds of the 

 entire population, the remainder being low caste Helots, with a few 

 traders, artisans, &c. 



The Juts of the Indus seem on the map to be separated from the 

 Jauts of Bhurtpore and Agra by the whole breadth of Rajpootana, but 

 the fact is that the ordinary geographical nomenclature gives rise to 

 much misconception on the subject. By far the greater part of what 

 we call Rajpootana is, ethnologically speaking, much more a Jat than 

 a Rajpoot country. The great seat of Rajpoot population and ancient 

 power and glory is on the Granges, and it is said that since the Mahorn- 

 medans conquered them there, the chief Rajpoot houses have as it were 

 doubled back on the comparatively unfruitful countries which now bear 

 their name, but where, notwithstanding, the most numerous section 

 of the population is Jat. Col. Tod expressly tells us that northern 

 Rajpootana was partitioned into small Jat republics, before the 

 Rajpoots were driven back from Ajoodea and the Ganges. It is clear 

 then that the Jats extend continuously east from the Indus over 

 Rajpootana. They do not seem to have occupied (or at least do not 

 now occupy) lower Scinde, nor are they found in Goozerat, although 

 in the history of the latter country mention is made of incursions of 

 Jat horsemen on the frontier in conjunction with Katties. Their line 

 of settlement lies farther north. They may have arrived on the 

 Saraswatee, before its banks lost their moisture, and if so, their passage 

 to the east would be comparatively easy. Throughout the more open 

 parts of Rajpootana they share the soil with the Aboriginal or semi- 

 Aboriginal Meenas, the remains of the Bramin population, and the 

 dominant Rajpoots ; the Jats having, I gather, the largest share of the. 

 cultivation. The southern and more hilly parts of Rajpootana (where 

 Mhairs, Meenas, and Bheels so much hold their own,) are not Jat, but 

 iin Malwa again they are numerous, and seem to share that Province 

 with Rajpoots and Koonbees. 



