Jatt Pride

The following remarks are made by some Western military officers and others regarding the warrior qualities of the Jats: "Jat Sikhs are manly without false pride---- hundreds of young Jats became Sikhs, and those who but a few years before had proved our stoutest opponents, now joined our (British) ranks and fought for us (British) with a valour and loyalty that is beyond all praise" (Major Barstow [5] pages 152 and 155). "His (Jat) manners indeed do not bear that impress of generations of wild freedom which marks the races of -----, but he is more honest, more industrious, and at least their equal in courage and manliness" (Captain Bingley [8], page 90). "The back-bone of the Sikh people is the great Jat caste (people?), divided and sub-divided into numerous clans----. The Jats are thoroughly independent in character, and assert personal and individual freedom, as against communal or tribal control, more strongly than any other people" (Captain Falcon [6] page 65). "The Jats considered themselves to be born Sikhs and Sardars (roughly means lords or leaders). When the sixth Guru (of the Sikhs), Guru Har Gobind, had succeeded in building up an army the recruits had been drawn from the Jats. Similarly, Guru Gobind Singh, (tenth and last guru of the Sikhs)----coincided with a large influx of the Jats of Manjha (mostly the area of the District Amritsar, Punjab) into the Khalsa (baptised Sikh army). Thirty percent of male Jat Sikhs of Ludhiana district had enlisted in the World War I-----" (Professor Pettigrew [1], pages 41, 26, 16). These show that the warrior spirit of Jat ancestors is still preserved by modern day Jats. Ammianus Marcellinus [11] wrote, "Alani delight in danger and warfare. There the man is judged happy who has sacrificed his life in battle----"