Alternative Names
The Jats constitutes one of the largest and diverse communities living in northwestern India and Pakistan. According to Westphal-Hellbusche and Wesphal (1964), the Arabic equivalent of Jat is Zutt, a generic term used for “men from India.” The word Jat also means “bunch of hair” and the Jats themselves claim that they have descended from the hair of lord Shiv. According to Ibbetson (1916), Jats are of Indo-Aryan (or Indo- Scythian) descent. Bowles (1977) argues that the word Jat in the Punjabi language means a “grazer” or “herdsman,” but notes Ibbetson’s (1916) suggestion that a shift from the Punjabi soft “t” to a hard “t” in some Muslim areas means an agriculturalist.
Location and Linguistic Affiliation
The Jats are distributed over a wide and diverse geographic area—from the hot and humid regions in northwestern India to the hills and plains in southern Pakistan—presenting extensive cultural, linguistic, and religious diversity. Some Jat groups have also been...
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References
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© 2004 Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers
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Khanna, S.K. (2004). Jat. In: Ember, C.R., Ember, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Medical Anthropology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-29905-X_79
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-29905-X_79
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