The Aryans arrived in India approximately 3,500 years ago, after the Harappan cities ceased to exist. Aryans likely arrived in waves over the centuries, with horses, intermingling with existing populations and forming various pastoral communities with shared gene pools. They fought with earlier inhabitants (as revealed in Ramayana) and with each other (as revealed in Mahabharata).

Those who stayed in the Indus river basin, in Punjab and Haryana, remained mostly pastoral and established the horse-trading kingdoms like Gandhara, Kekeya, Madra, and Trigarta while those who moved towards Gangetic plains developed a new agriculture based culture, dominated by Brahmins, with kingdoms like Kuru, Panchal, Kanyakubja, Saket, Kashi.

It is only in the Sindh, Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana region that the ancient Aryan tradition of pastoral communities thrived, giving rise to communities like Rajputs, Jaats (or Jutt) and Gujars. Many of these pastoral people married Greek (Yavana), Scythians (Saka), Parthians (Pahalava), Kushans and Hunas who controlled trade routes that passed through this region between 300 BC and 500 AD.

Despite Aryan roots, these three groups had different fates: Rajputs were seen as royal, Jaats were seen as farmers, and Gujars as herdsmen, declared Criminal Tribes by the British.

Caste and Punjab

Brahmin domination barely exists in the caste groups of Punjab and Haryana. The division is primarily between the ‘upper caste’ of landowners, herders, traders and soldiers and ‘lower caste’ community. Despite the absence of a dominant Brahmin community, nearly 20-30% of Punjab and Haryana is made of Dalits.

This is ironic considering the anti-caste egalitarian stance of religions and social movements that thrived here: Islam, Sikhism and Arya Samaj. It makes one think if ‘jati’ pre-existed the four-fold ‘varna’ system that Brahmins popularised.

When we think of Punjab today, we imagine green fields and vast agricultural lands. However, this agricultural boom in the Indus river basin occurred only after 1500 AD, around the time of the Tughlaqs and the Mughals. It was during this period that canals were constructed in the region, and immigrant Arabs and Sus introduced the technology of the water wheel and commercial farming.

Many pastoral Jaat communities, who previously tended large herds of cows, buffaloes, sheep, and goats, began to establish farms and became rich and powerful peasant-proprietors, who owned and tilled their own land. These farms differed significantly from the older ones, which were situated on alluvial soil. This early ‘Islamic’ agrarian revolution gave rise to a new Punjab.

Until this medieval agricultural revolution, most people in Punjab were pastoralists, subsistence farmers, or traders. Both the traders and the pastoralists claimed Kshatriya lineage.

The traders (Khatri) explained that when Parshuram killed all the Kshatriyas, they chose to abandon arms and adopt the merchant’s balance, becoming traders who engaged in commerce with the Northwest, across the Hindu Kush mountains, Iran, and Central Asia.

The Kshatriyas who repurposed their swords

The other Kshatriyas repurposed their swords into ploughshares, becoming farmers (Jaat). Following the Su agricultural revolution of the 15th-16th century, Jaats of West Punjab embraced Islam. Jaats in East Punjab resisted conversion and joined Sikh gurus and many became part of the Khalsa.

The Jaats in Haryana stayed Hindu. They were seen as ‘low’ by Brahmins and Rajputs because they practiced remarriage, until the rise of Arya Samaj in the 19th century who reminded all that remarriage of Jaat was an ancient memory of Vedic ‘niyoga’ ceremonies.

Some pastoral groups in Haryana came to be known as the Gujars. Hostility with the British led to Gujars being treated as criminal tribes in the 19th century, causing them to lose their social status.

Further south, near Rajasthan, those who rode horses and camels, and who defended their cattle with swords, and refused to do peasant work, became known as Rajputs, especially after the rise of Mughal rule. Brahmins declared these were Kshatriyas of the solar, lunar and re lineages.

In India’s caste hierarchy, the Rajputs and Khatris are closely linked to the Brahmins. Most Brahmins lived in the hills of Punjab, brought there by local kings, but they had little influence over the pastoral people. From a Brahminical perspective, the Jaats and Gujars were not considered Dvijas (twice-born).

However, the Jaats and Gujars regarded themselves as warriors with Kshatriya lineage. They cared for cattle in a manner reminiscent of the ancient Aryans, asserting their Aryan roots.

Widow remarriage and the Jaat community

This disagreement has often caused discord between these communities. Interestingly, Jaat communities practised customs similar to those referenced in the Rigveda. For instance, when a man died, his widow was encouraged to rejoin the world of the living.

In the Jaat community, widow remarriage was permitted, usually within the family. Known as ‘chadar chadhana’ (offering the bridal drape), this practice was not observed among the Rajputs, Khatris, or Brahmins.

Among the Rajputs, the practices of jauhar and sati gained prominence. Upper Caste families frowned upon widow remarriage. This distinction contributed to the perception of Jaats as socially inferior, even after many converted to Sikhism. It was only with the arrival of the Arya Samaj in the 19th century that the Jaat community began to receive recognition. They even started wearing the sacred janeu thread.

Moving north towards the northern parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan, we encounter the Pashtun people. References to the Pakhtas in the Vedas suggest a possible connection. The Pashtun people, who are now Muslims, claim their ancestors came from Israel and were monotheists even before the advent of Islam.

They assert that their ancestors fought alongside Muhammad and embraced Islam, although they maintained monotheistic beliefs prior to this. This narrative emerged during the Mughal period, in the 14th and 15th centuries.

Were they also part of the Vedic lineage like the Jaats, Gujars, and Khatris? We may never know for certain, but it is a thought worth considering.