Dear Members,
Remember, during Aurangzeb’s time we did not have a freedom movement going on, for Aurangjeb's rule was not considered as a foreign rule by the masses and if it was, I have not read about it.
Col Tevathia
Your last remark puts your finger on the core issue.
That
“You have not read about it"
That comment is true for practically all of us, me included.
Growing up, at the end of university life, my impression of the Jats was, that they were an ignorant bunch of ruffians and looteras, with no redeeming features.
The statement that Jats were "robbers and looters' is a common refrain in any history text book. Either they are ignored, as not existing or worth notice, or the comments are denigratory
This I felt was in some contradiction to the Jats I met, and knew.
It was after a lot of digging that I started to uncover material that showed a different picture of the Jats, and for this I am grateful to Historians, like Thakur Desraj, Joon, Ahlswat, Pauria, Kabul Singh, Jagdev Siddhanti etc.
The deeds of the Jats, the history of their republics, the history of the Khaps, the Sarv Khap of Haryana, are no where mentioned.
Surajmal is dismissed in half a paragraph. The resistance to the alien muslim invaders is described a looting and banditory, and rebellion against “Imperial power’..
Nowhere is the resistance to the Muslim invasions mentioned, nor are the wars with Khiljis, the wars with Akbar, the Treaty with Akbar, where he forswore and agreed not to interfere with Jat Sarv Khap affairs, or the Jat role in the 1857 war of independence. The list is only beginning.
Jats are portrayed as ignorant, shudra, peasants’
Nowhere is their extensive educational system of the Sarv Khap highlighted.
It was these reasons that we started the Yahoo Jathistory group to interact with and change perceptions and attitudes amongst Jats and non Jats.
We have had some success in changing perceptions based on the feedback we get.
The real changes will come when the history text books used in India are changed to teach a version of history that gives the Jats their due place in Indian history.
This is an issue that needs to be taken seriously.
Bipin Chandra, Irfan Habib, Dutta, Romila Thapar, are part of the school of 'eminent historians' whose have held the stage of what history was taught for the last 60 years to Indian and foreign students.
To give you an idea , of how strong their teaching have been, and how deeply this teaching has entered the Indian, and even the Jat psyche, you need look no further the Mahmud of Ghazni thread on the History section of this site, and the difficulty we are having in changing what this site has to say about those alleged events.
Readers, who wish to educate themselves, are asked to go through the archives of this and Jathistory group.
If individual help is required, do ask.
There is a need for more activism. We are discssuing this topic there at the moment
We need all the help we can get.
Ravi Chaudhary
