Yuezhi

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Map showing Scythia, including the Indo-Scythian region (modern name Punjab region).

Yuezhi (यूची, यूती) were ancient people who lived in northwest part of China. They are considered to be Jats. Khotan (खोतान) was previously known in Chinese as Yutian. According to James Legge, Fahian has mentioned Khotan as Yu-teen.[1][2]

Variants of Yuezhi

Yuezhi and Jats

Ram Swarup Joon[3] writes about Hanga Chaudhary: Hangamas was a General of the Kushan, Yuechi or Tushar kings. Hanga is very well known in history. He belonged to Tushar or Kasvan dynasty and was appointed as the Governor of Mathura. His descendants came to be called Hanga. They have about 80 villages in district of Mathura.

James Todd[4] writes We must therefore voyage up the Indus, cross the Paropanisos, to the Oxus or Jihun, to Sakatai1 or Sakadwipa, and from thence and the Dasht-i Kipchak conduct the Takshaks, the Getae, the Kamari, the Chatti, and the Huns, into the plains of Hindustan. We have much to learn in these unexplored regions, the abode of ancient civilisation, and which, so late as Jenghiz Khan's invasion, abounded with large cities. It is an error to suppose that the nations of Higher Asia were merely pastoral ; and De Guignes, from original authorities, informs us that when the Su invaded the Yueh-chi or Jats, they found upwards of a hundred cities containing the merchandise of India, and with the currency bearing the effigies of the prince.

Hukum Singh Panwar

Hukum Singh Panwar (Pauria)[5] writes - Another term Yuch-Chih, (with its two branches, Siao-Yueh-Chih or little Yueh-Chih and Ta-Yueh-Chih or great Yueh-Chih) is equally noteworthy. This term, variously spelt by scholars, comes from archaic Chinese. It was pronounced from the

The Jats:Their Origin, Antiquity and Migrations: End of page 345

fourth century B.C. to about the first century A.D .. as "ngiwattsic = ngiwattia" which, according to B. Karlgren 100 points to a a foreign word Gut-tia in China. The Chinese adopted this name to designate newly encountered foreigners, probably the Dai or Tai101 (Dahae or Tahae) of the Iranian writers or the Dadicae of Herodotus. Scholars, earlier were doubtful if this was the real import of Yueh-Chih, but the uncertainty was remove by H.W.Bailey, a keen student of Chinese language, who 102 identified the Yueh-Chih with the Jatoi or Iaii, mentioned by Ptolemy and who were the Jats of Cunningham, Tod and Elphinstone etc.103 .

The archaic Chinese pronunciation of Yueh-Chih as nagiwatteh might have been responsible for its vernaculansation as Jatah or Jeteh (Yatah or Yattah) till medieval times and Ywati for other forms prefixed with 'Y'. There is every probability that 'ngiwattia' was transformed into Gut-tia, and was abbreviated as Guti or Gut in course of time. (Guti as a variant will be described in the sequel).

We may also note that what MacRitchie has observed : namely that the form Jaut of Jat, (which he came across in the memoirs of Lord Combermare), appears to offer the best compromise...with the popular English form as a similar word Ghat, viz. Ghaut104 which exactly sounds like Chinese, ngiwat. It is significant, further, that British officers called Jat as Gat but in writing that they spelt it as Gat or Gaut105

What is pertinent to our inquiry is the question of the identity of the foreigners for whom the Chinese use the term Yueh-Chih. Further, from where did these Yueh-Chich penetrate in to China? The term obviously would not indicate the nelghbouring people like the Mongols and the Turks. It is far more plausible to link this term With terms we have already explored at some length, i.e. the getae and with the Iatii of Ptolemy, the Jatii of Pliny and the Jats of Cunningham, who were natives at that period of the countries between the Sindh and Oxus valleys, and whom we have already identified With Sakas.

Some of these adventurous tribes of the Sakas from India at Buddha's time penetrated as far as Kucha, (Kusa in sanskrit106) or Lobnor, where, Chinese gave these aliens the name Yueh-Chih' which came nearest to their original name in sound . These tribes

The Jats:Their Origin, Antiquity and Migrations: End of page 346

derived or we are given a new name in their new home Kucha or (Kusha) and became famous in history as the Kushanas107. Consequently, it was but natural for later historians to regard the Kushanas as a branch the Yueh-Chih108 There is still a tendency among historians to regard the Jats , as the descendants of the Yueh-Chih or to regard them as one of their branches, the Kushanas, but the truth is just the reverse. The names Yueh-Chih and Kushan are later names given to Jats or a branch of them who migrated to Central Asian regions from Sindh in ancient period. Our reading of historical facts pertaining to the tribal movements to and in the Central Asian countries, leads us to the firm conclusion that scholars like Cunningham and Tod, astute and honest though they were, have discovered the Jat horse as well as the Yueh-Chih cart, but have managed only to put the cart before the horse.

100. Mukherjee, B.N.; Kushan Genealogy, Skt. Coll., Calcutta, 1967, p. 37. Karlgren. JAOS, 1945, Vol. LXV, p. 77. B. Karlgren, Analytic Dic. of Chinese and Sino-Japanese, nos. 879 and 1347; Paris, 1923.

101. Mukherjee, B.N.; op.cit., p. 38, Camb. His. Vol.II, pt.I, LVIIIf. JIH, Vol. XII p.6.

102. Mukherjee, B.N., op.cit., p. 39. J. Marquardt, Eranshahr, p. 206, Cf. also E. G.Polleyblank, Asia Major, ns. 1963, Vol. IX, p. 109; Asia Maj., 1964, Vol. XI 6; JRAS, 1966, p. 17. Pulleyblank equates ngiwat-cie + ngiwat-tehy with Iato (= Ywati).

103. Ibettson, Denzil; op.cit., 1916, p. 97.

104. Mac. Ritchie, op.cit., p. 78.

105. Princep, Sett, R. of Sialkot, S. 136; 1865. H.A Rose, Gloss. of Trib. and Castes Vol. III, p. 416.

106. Bagchi, P.C; Ind. and Cen. Asia, Calcutta, 1955, p. 68. Mukherjee B.N., op., cit., pp. 6-7, 11-12, Sakas also were driven to that region from Ind.; Mukherjee B.N.; op.cit., pp. 26-27. For Indian rule and influence in Cen. Asia, Cf. Kalyanraman, Aryatarangini, vol. II, Bombay, 1970. p. 9, A Stein also sopports it.

107. Ibid. Bagchi holds that Kuci or Kuchi or Kusi is the archaic pronunciatio Kucinam of Kucina from which a genetive plural form would be Kusana. Most ancient name of Khotan was Godana (Ibid. p. 49) which proves the existence of Indians there in the remote past.

108. Ogel, B.; in Central Asia in Kushan period-Dushanbe Report, vol. II, Moscow, 1975, p. 172. Ali Sami, in Ibid., p. 146, Y. Zuev, in Ibid., Vol. II, p. 277; Y. Zadneprovs],:y, in Ibid., p. 296. Bongard Levin and G. Kotovsky, A His. of Ind., Bk., I, Moscow, 1979, p. 117. K.V. Trever, q. by Gankovsky, op.cit., p. 86.

Thot: the Jat King of Yutivansha

Thot (थोत) was an ancient Jat King of Yuti vansha of Bundi area in Rajasthan around 4-6th century . The Ancestry of Thot was:

Thot → Chandrasena → Kartika (m. Gunaniwas) → Daruka (+Mukunda) → Kuhala → Dhunaka

According to Thakur Deshraj, Yuezhi people lived in north-west China. In 165 BCE, there was a war of these people with Hignu people in which Yuezhi were defeated and they moved to west in search of new lands. One of the groups of Yuezhi people was Kushan. Kadphises united all the five branches of Yuezhi and hence forth they were called Kushan. Thakur Deshraj says that Kushans were the people from Krishnavanshi, who moved with Pandavas in the great migration to north. The word Kushan has been derived from the sanskrit word 'Karshney' or 'Karshnik'. Kushan is nothing but Kaswan gotra found in Jats.

Bhim Singh Dahiya has also proved in his book Jats: The Ancient Rulers that Yuezhi are Jats and Kaswan is nothing but Kushan.

Alexander Cunningham considers Jats of India, Goths of Europe and Yuezhi of China as same people.

James Tod found an inscription of Jat Raja Thot at Ramchandrapura.

Yuezhi and Scytho-Siberian culture

Esther Jacobson in his book 'The Deer Goddess of Ancient Siberia: A Study in the Ecology of Belief' , notes:

"The most western of the Early Nomads' relatives and those most familiar to the modern observer were Scythians. They are believed to have arrived in the lands of the Caucasus, the Crimea, and the rich steppe north of the Black Sea by the sixth century B.C.... In the late years of the first millennium B.C., the successors to the Early Nomads and Sakas served as the vehicles for the transformation of Eurasian nomadism into statehood. The Xiongnu of Mongolia gathered an array of nomadic peoples together into a confederation which became the major geopolitical opponent of the Chinese Han Dynasty. In the same period, the second and first centuries B.C., the Yuezhi established hegemony over the vital steppe region west of the borders of Han China and extending through Bactria to the borders of India. Indeed, after their conversion to Buddhism, the Yuezhi- by then known as the Kushans- proceeded to conquer India and to establish the great Kushan Dynasty. Despite these political transformations and despite significant distinctions in language and physical anthropology between the Xiongnu and their Early Nomadic relatives, they as well as the Yuezhi/Kushans may properly be considered to have belonged to the larger Scytho-Siberian culture."[6]

Ta-Yue-Che and Siao-Yue-Che

Bhim Singh Dahiya writes:

"It is important to note that the Chinese word 'Yue-che" is pronounced as "Gut-tia" according to Karl-Gren, meaning the "Moon People".[7] Later on, the Chinese chronicles show, that under pressure of another tribe of the same stock, called by the Chinese as Hiung-nu or Hoa, the Yue-che moved southward and westward. The branch that was numerically weaker went to the South towards Tibet and were called 'Siao-Yue-Che", meaning the "little Yue-che". The main body moved westward and occupied Dahia (or Tahia, Bactria, Balkh). They were called "Ta-Yue-che" meaning the "Great Guttia" or great Jats. As shown above the word 'Yue-che' is pronounced as Guttia and therefore Ta-Yue-che is exactly the same as the word "Massa Getae" of the Greeks and the Persians. All the Chinese sources agree that the Kusanas were from the Yue-che race. The Chinese author of Thung-Kiang-Nu, writes in the year 555 A.D. that the Aptal or Hephthalites were of the race of Ta-Yue-che. Further the encyclopaedia of Ma-Tuan-g-Lin says that the Yeta are of the race of Ta-Yue-che, and further that the I-Tan belonged to the same race as Yue-che."[8]

Bhim Singh Dahiya goes on to state that:

"The Chinese were right in stating that the Hiung-nu were a part of the Yue-Che (reads as Guti) people, and these Guti people had two divisions, the Ta-Yue-Che and the Siao-Yue-Che, exactly corresponding to the Massagetae and Thyssagetae of Herodotus (a classical Greek writer of fifth century BC), meaning the "Great-Jats" and the "Little-Jats" respectively. Almost every tribe of Ancient Middle East (West Asia) and Central Asia, is represented among the present day Jats in India."[9]

Suevi and Getes

James Todd[10] writes about the Suiones, Suevi, or Su that Now the Su, Yueh-chi, or Yuti, are Getes, according to De Guignes. Marco Polo calls Cashgar, where he was in the sixth century, the birthplace of the Swedes ; and De la Croix adds, that in 1691 Sparvenfeldt, the Swedish ambassador at Paris, told him he had read in Swedish chronicles that Cashgar was their country. When the Huns were chased from the north of China, the greater part retired into the southern countries adjoining Europe. The rest passed directly to the Oxus and Jaxartes ; thence they spread to the Caspian and Persian frontiers. In Mawaru-l-nahr (Transoxiana) they mixed with the Su, the Yueh-chi, or Getes, who were particularly powerful, and extended into Europe. One would be tempted to regard them as the ancestors of those Getes who were known in Europe. Some bands of Su might equally pass into the north of Europe, known as the Suevi. The meaning of Suevi is uncertain, but the word has no connexion with that of any Central Asian tribe.

उत्तरऋषिक

विजयेन्द्र कुमार माथुर[11] ने लेख किया है ... उत्तरऋषिक (AS, p.89) - 'लोहान् परमकाम्बोजानृषिकानुत्तरानपि, सहितांस्तान् महाराज व्यजयत् पाकशासनि:।'[12] अर्जुन ने अपनी दिग्विजय-यात्रा के प्रसंग में उत्तर-ऋषिकों से घोर युद्ध करने के पश्चात् उन पर विजय प्राप्त की थी। संदर्भ से अनुमेय है कि उत्तर-ऋषिकों का देश वर्तमान सिन्क्यांग (चीनी तुर्किस्तान) में रहा होगा। कुछ विद्वान् ऋषिक को यूची का ही संस्कृत रूप समझते हैं। चीनी इतिहास में ई. सन् से पूर्व दूसरी शती में यूची जाति का अपने स्थान या आदि यूची प्रदेश से दक्षिण-पश्चिम की ओर प्रव्रजन करने का उल्लेख मिलता है। कुशान इसी जाति से सम्बद्ध थे। ऋषिकों की भाषा को आर्षी कहा जाता था। सम्भव है रूसी और ऋषिक शब्दों में भी परस्पर सम्बन्ध हो। ('ऋ' का वैदिक उच्चारण 'रु' था जो मराठी आदि भाषाओं में आज भी प्रचलित है।)

किपिन

विजयेन्द्र कुमार माथुर[13] ने लेख किया है ...किपिन (AS, p.189) चीन के प्राचीन इतिहास-लेखकों ने भारत के इस प्रदेश का कई बार उल्लेख किया है.चीनी इतिहास सीन हानशू (Thien Han Schu) के अनुसार साइवांग या शक नामक जाति यूचियों (यूची=ऋषिक) द्वारा अपने निवास स्थान से निकाल दिए जाने पर दक्षिण में आकर किपिन देश में राज्य करने लगी (दे. जर्नल ऑफ एशियाटिक सोसायटी 1903, पृ. 22) सिल्वनलेवी के मत में किपिन कश्मीर ही का चीनी नाम है किंतु स्टेनकोनो के अनुसार कपिश या पूर्वी गंधार को चीनी लेखकों ने किपिन कहा है (देखें एपिग्राफिक इंडिका 16, पृ. 291). चीनी यात्री सुंगयुन ने भी किपिन का उल्लेख किया है. किपिन कुभा (=काबुल) का रूपांतर भी हो सकता है.

जाटों का विदेशों में जाना

ठाकुर देशराज[14] ने लिखा है .... उत्तरोत्तर संख्या वृद्धि के साथ ही वंश (कुल) वृद्धि भी होती गई और प्राचीन जातियां मे से एक-एक के सैंकड़ों वंश हो गए। साम्राज्य की लपेट से बचने के लिए कृष्ण ने इनके सामने भी यही प्रस्ताव रखा कि कुल राज्यों की बजाए ज्ञाति राज्य कायम का डालो।

सारे यदुओं का एक राष्ट्र हो चाहे वे भोज, शूर, अंधक, वृष्णि, दशार्ण आदि कुछ भी कहलाते हों। इसी तरह सारे कुरुओं का एक जाति राष्ट्र हो; पांचाल, पौरव, गांधार, मद्र, पांडव सब मिलकर एक संघ कायम कर लें। किन्तु इसको कोई क्या कहे कि कम्बखत कुरु लोग और यादव लोग आपस में ही लड़कर नष्ट हो गए। यदि वेदो के पंचजना:, कहे जाने वाले, यदु, कुरु, पुरू, आदि संगठित हो जाते तो आज सारे संसार में वैदिक धर्मी ही दिखाई देते। किंतु ये तो लड़े, खूब लड़े। एक दो वर्ष नहीं, सदियों तक लड़े। यही कारण हुआ कि अनेकों समूहों को देश छोड़ विदेशों में भटकना पड़ा। कौनसा खानदान भारत से बाहर (उस बृहतर भारत से बाहर जिसमें काबुल, कंधार, उद्यान और मानसरोवर

[पृ.148]: आ जाते हैं) कब गया, यह तो हम 'जाट शाही' अथवा विदेशों में जाट साम्राज्य नामक पुस्तक में बताएंगे। यहां तो थोड़े से खानदानों का ही जिक्र करना है।

द्वारिका के जाट-राष्ट्र पर हम दो विपत्तियों का आक्रमण एक साथ देख कर प्रभास क्षेत्र में यादवों का आपसी महायुद्ध और द्वारिका का जल में डूब जाना। अतः स्वभावतः शेष बचे जाटों को दूसरी जगह तलाश करने के लिए बढ़ना पड़ा। वज्र को तो पांडवों ने ले जाकर मथुरा का राजा बना दिया। लेकिन स्वयं भगवान श्रीकृष्ण के आठ पटरानियों से 17 पुत्र थे। पुराण अन्य रनियों से 80800 पुत्र बताते हैं। खैर हम 17 को ही सही मान कर चलते हैं। इनमें से दो चार तो बच्चे ही होंगे। ये लोग पूर्व-दक्षिण की ओर तो बढ़ नहीं सकते थे। क्योंकि साम्राज्य का हौआ दक्षिण से ही बढ़ रहा था। दूसरे उधर आबादी भी काफी थी। अतः पश्चिम उत्तर की ओर बढ़े।

उधर पांडवों में भी परीक्षित को इंद्रप्रस्थ का राज्य देने के बाद भीम, नकुल, सहदेव के कई पुत्र शेष रह जाते हैं। स्वयं युधिष्ठिर के भी यौधेयी रानी से पैदा होने वाले यौधेय बाकी थे। अतः उन्हें भी नए देश खोजने के लिए उत्तर पश्चिम की ओर बढ़ना पड़ा। यदि हम हरिवंश, यादव दिग्विजय और महाभारत तथा पुराणों के वर्णन में से सच्चाई को छांट लेने की कोशिश करें तो हमें ज्ञात होता है कि पेशावर से ऊपर उद्यान

[पृ.149]: में जहां तख्तेवाही अथवा भीम का तख्त है वहां भीम के पुत्र आबाद कर दिए गए। और मुगलों के आने तक वे लोग वहां पर आनंद से पीढ़ी-दर-पीढ़ी आबाद रहे। भीम का गल जाना वहीं माना जाता है। कहा जाता है कि युधिष्ठिर नहीं गले थे। इस तरह युधिष्ठिर के साथी कैस्पियन सागर के किनारे तक पहुंच जाते हैं।वे यौधेय ही धेय, धे और यूनानी लेखकों की भाषा में (Dahae) ढे और ढहाये हैं। कुछ लोग ऐसे ही जेन्थोई कहने लगे। यह शब्द जाट यौधेय का अपभ्रंश है, जो केवल भाषा भेद से जेन्थोई हो गया है। इन ढे लोगों को लेकर ही स्ट्रेबो और हेरोडोटस आदि ने भारतीय जाटों को विदेशी समझा है। इस्लाम के जोर के समय इनका एक समूह है भारत में आकर फिर आबाद हो गया जो आजकल ढे नाम से प्रसिद्ध है। यौधेयों का एक समूह आरंभ में पंजाब में ही रह गया था जो आजकल जोहिया कहलाता है।

शिविओं का एक समूह उद्यान को छोड़कर चीन की पूर्वी हद पर पहुंच गया, जो वहां की भाषा में श्यूची कहलाने लगा। कुशान लोग ही श्यूची (शिविची) लोगों की एक शाखा थे जो कि तुर्क देश में बसने के कारण तुरक नाम से भी याद किए हैं। वास्तव में यह वैसे ही तुरक थे जैसे मुंबई के रहने वाले पारसी, हिंदुस्तानी हैं। अर्थात रक्त से तुरक नहीं थे हालांकि पुराणों के कथनानुसार तुरक (तुरुष्क) यदुवंशी की संतान हैं।

[पृ.150]: ईसा की पहली शताब्दी में फिर ये भारत में आ गए और पुरुषपुर अथवा पेशावर को अपनी राजधानी बनाया।

यदुवंश में एक गज हुआ है। जैन पुराणों के अनुसार गज कृष्ण का ही पुत्र था। उसके साथियों ने गजनी को आबाद किया। भाटी, गढ़वाल, कुहाड़, मान, दलाल वगैरह जाटों के कई खानदान गढ गजनी से लौटे हुए हैं।

See also

Further Readings

External links

References

  1. ↑ A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms/Chapter 2,f.n.13
  2. ↑ A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms/Chapter 3
  3. ↑ Ram Swarup Joon: History of the Jats/Chapter V,p. 87
  4. ↑ James Todd Annals/Chapter 6 Genealogical history of the Rajput tribes subsequent to Vikramaditya, Vol I, pp.74
  5. ↑ The Jats:Their Origin, Antiquity and Migrations/Jat-Its variants,pp.345-347
  6. ↑ Jacobson, Esther (1993). The Deer Goddess of Ancient Siberia: A Study in the Ecology of Belief - Volume 55 of Studies in the History of Religions (illustrated ed.). BRILL. p. 6. ISBN 9004096280, 9789004096288. (Please Note : "For the sake of clarity, the general term, Early Nomads, will be used throughout this book to refer to the Scytho-Siberians located in South Siberia and in parts of northern Mongolia, while regional cultural designations will be used as appropriate.")
  7. ↑ Jari-Churpentier, Die-Ethno Graphische Stellung der Toohaser, 1917, Pp. 347-388.
  8. ↑ Dahiya, Bhim Singh (1980): Jats, the ancient rulers: a clan study (First Edition: 1980). Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd. p. 25
  9. ↑ http://www.iranian.com/History/2005/March/Gutians/
  10. ↑ James Todd Annals/Chapter 6 Genealogical history of the Rajput tribes subsequent to Vikramaditya, Vol I, pp.73fn-4
  11. ↑ Aitihasik Sthanavali by Vijayendra Kumar Mathur, p.89
  12. ↑ सभा पर्व महाभारत 27, 25
  13. ↑ Aitihasik Sthanavali by Vijayendra Kumar Mathur, p.189
  14. ↑ Thakur Deshraj: Jat Itihas (Utpatti Aur Gaurav Khand)/Navam Parichhed,pp.147-150

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