Kinship, Custom and Hierarchy Among the Jats

Kinship, Custom and Hierarchy Among the Jats

Dr. S. S. Rana

Peasant communities like the Jats and other allied castes settled in the north and north west India have continued to lead a fulfilling social life for millenniums. Their kin relationships cemented through a hierarchical arrangement evolved through natural inclinations and based on sound psycho-scientific principles have contributed to the emergence of numerous customs and traditions.
The parameters of kinship are multiple and all of these intertwined and come into play in a variety of ways depending upon their nature and the locale of their relative functionality. Kinship is fostered on the basis of the bonding by blood relationship and affinal/connubial relationship, the latter turning into the former category as soon as a married woman becomes a mother. It is made more broad based in certain areas of social interaction. The extended form of kinship applicable in the case of the residents of the same village to begin with is known as brotherhood (bhaichara) with the operation of several factors, the major being the commonality of gotra. The other factors are the geographical proximity leading to frequent interaction between the members of different villages working in adjacent farm lands. This is called seem jod brotherhood. Closely related to this is the brotherhood of gohand- the extent up to which the cattle of each other reach for grazing. Then we have the brotherhood of nyota nithar built by some persons of one village with selected members of other village/s of the neighbouring areas in extending reciprocal invitations at feasts, especially on occasions like marriage irrespective of having different gotra. The code operating between two brothers is observed by all members of such brotherhood. Marriages are not contracted irrespective of the exemption available from the mandatory prohibitions of gotra. But it must be stated here that such brotherhood in mot cases is found to be selectively and voluntarily forged except in case of matrimonial alliances where it takes a universal character.
Kinship through blood relationship may be a matter of accident of birth but kinship through connubial relationship being the vital cord of the social fabric is just not a result of matrimonial contrivance to be taken for granted to yield certain privileges. It is rather a tender plant to be nurtured assiduously and continuously through out one’s life through inputs both material and psychological by every one when in the role of bride giver (which is the lot of almost every one some day). Therefore, rural communities have evolved, through centuries, customs and practices, which have not only contributed to the enrichment of kinship relationships but have also gone a long way in making life purposeful and enjoyable.
Thus we have the kins on the bride givers’ side willingly and happily coming forward with best possible gifts for the new born baby of their daughter/sister along with presents for all kins in the new family. As the major items of clothes are supposed to be of yellow colour the custom is called Pilia dena. Married sister living in the same village or a nearby village also visit the newborn male child and offer gifts in cash and clothes and some ornament. This custom called Rupayya Potada dena has, in the modern times, turned into a real pompous affair. After the mandatory period of forty days of confinement the young mother visits her parental home and returns with a good amount of presents, mostly clothes and expensive ornaments for herself and in some cases also for her husband and sister- in –law/ mother- in – law if the child was a boy. Since the custom is related to the time of sutakant (end of the period of confinement) is known in common language as Chhuchhak. By this time Dusar and Teesar have been dealt with by the parental side of a young wife incurring, ungrudgingly, a good amount of expenditure on clothes and other useful items. Come Savan (the month of plenty of rain) and the father-in- law of the newly married girl, still living with her parents heads for the home of his counterpart with bagfuls of sweet meats and new garments for his daughter-in-law as a good will gesture towards strengthening the kinship bond. This seasonal event would, in subsequent years, turn into a reverse visit of the bride’s brother carrying similar gifts on the eve of the teej festival for the sister in her marital home. Since the gifts invariably included among other gifts a bagful of cookies like suhalies the visit got the name Kothali lejana. Of course, the bride giver brothers continue visiting married sisters carrying for them gifts (Siddhha) on the eve of all other festivals round the year. This system is geared towards nurturing and strengthening the kinship ties. However, it fades off slowly with the passage of time when the new generation takes over.
Bhat bharna is a major event when a brother accompanied by several kins comes to attend the marriage of a child of his sister. He offers a fair amount of cash according to his capacity and clothes for the bride/ bridegroom and members of the family. He also does not forget to offer a rupayya each to all the housewives of his village/gotra married in that village. In fact the custom is open ended for all occasions in case of cross cousins. The emotive value of the custom is far more superior to the financial support that it ensures. This is why we have the kins of the grandmother of the bride /groom chipping in for offering Badabhat, though discreetly modest not to excel the effort of the kins of the mother. In farming communities as elsewhere parents spare no effort in getting for their daughter best possible grooms forgetting the financial burden they might have to bear.
Probably no one would disagree that all these and many more customs cementing kinship bonding are a product of the natural process of social networking among the older communities otherwise leading a sedentary life. But it is generally less realized that they also reflect the psyche of equity among the bride givers who would like to compensate their daughters/sisters for their having surrendered rights in land not withstanding the latest laws enhancing empowerment of women. A survey done of this phenomena could yield quite a revealing result. People of the non farming communities, especially the elite among them would hardly be able to appreciate the nuances of this aspect of the ways of the Jats. It is true that land can be partitioned, but it is also true that land can not be parceled and dispatched to other quarters, even if it were to be the marital home of a married daughter/ sister. Alternatively if the female were to come back and settle on the land of her share after partition of the parental land the very purpose of sending her away to another home is defeated bringing in its train the oddities of social etiquette in face of time honoured customs. A few examples of aberrations in the customs have ended in disastrous results. The spectrum in urban areas is quite different, but the social fabric of rural India as of now for its very survival does not countenance thoughtless tinkering on the part of the State which does not think twice before throwing the baby away along with the bath water. Hasn’t the experience of the so called modern societies shown that any imbalance between individual and social choices would lead to unhealthy consequences mot good for either. A recent report of there being nearly 50% children being born to unwed mothers in U.K. has set the Government and social scientists thinking seriously to meet the invasion of so called modernity. Custom if respected at least for its length of experience can serve better than a clueless law. The practice among village communities of arranging the marriages of their daughters at a fairly young age was, one can argue, an answer to several questions arising in the world of modernity today. The stereotype of taking early marriage as a sign of backwardness needs to be reviewed in the context of socio-biological sync.
Hierarchy is the key and basic factor common to both kinship and custom for their functionality and operation. Degrees of kin relationships fashions the levels of hierarchy and for practicing it customs are developed. The dimensions of hierarchy are, indeed, innumerable which permeate the Jat life at several levels. To begin with the community finds itself deciding ungrudgingly to accept a place lower to that of the Brahmins in the hierarchy of the caste system. None would miss to notice the willing regard they show to the members of that caste by using the term dada while addressing them regardless of their economic status or comparatively junior age. At the same time the jat does not forget to assert his hierarchy vis-à-vis the other castes. Above all the Jat consider the hierarchy of the Panchayat as sacrosanct and would go to any length to uphold its ruling. The Jats have, in the recent years, demonstrated a strong penchant for caste codes.
In the context of family the male with highest kinship degree takes precedence. The eldest son (gotrapatya) followed by younger son/sons if any and grandsons continue to wait in the wings as Yuvapatyas till their turn comes to fill the bill. Bride takers take precedence over bride givers among the kin relations. We often hear and ourselves repeat words like –ham ladki wale sada jhukte hain. Bride givers’ grown up children part taking the left over food (especially the ghee soaked sugar) of the visiting bride takers is perhaps indicative of the acceptance of higher hierarchy of the latter. There were times when the parents hardly visited their daughter in her marital home, and if some special circumstances took them there eating food at her quarter was a taboo, which however, was not the practice in case of kins of equal or lower degree like brothers and nephews. But there were occasions when the bride givers too called the shots. In older times when boys and girls, especially the latter were married off at a younger age the custom of Theek was in place. Before the young maiden was to be brought to her marital home for regular stay the husband had to visit ( in some cases more than once) simply to fix the date (theek karna) when he could take her along. It used to be a tough mission for a young man to crack the stubborn posture of the canny mother- in-law for agreeing on a date. The spectacle of the young lass, more than keen to accompany her husband, eves dropping from behind some cover, holding her breath has given coinage to the following words depicting her dilemma: Maa, ghaltee ho te mindhi chotti karaoon, nahi te gitwad mein jake thepadi pathoon- mother, tell me, if you are ready to send me with my husband, I get my hairdo; otherwise I go and make dung cakes in the yard. The parameters of hierarchy in kinship relations both in its narrow and wider sense can be described as follows:
Hierarchy of age is very important. It prevails in all situations accept where other well defined over riding factors come in to reckoning. Among equals in kinship degree age determines as to who would take precedence on occasions like i) receiving greetings from younger people; ii) occupying seat on the head side of bed; iii) drawing the first (inaugural) pull at the hukkah in a gathering, the youngest of the lot is to operate the rotation; iv) representing the kins at marriages and other ceremonies; v) eldest male among the members of the barat receiving on the front at the shirt the customary stamp of palm dipped in hina given by the bride’s mother at the send off gathering ; vi)among the ladies the eldest having the privilege of opening the knot of the loads of wares (gathari kholana) that a newly married woman brings to her in-laws family vii) and to set rolling the process of distributing the sweet meats contained therein. Interestingly the right to take precedence on the basis of seniority in age is mostly asserted with the declaration, ‘tere se pahle anaj khana seekha tha- I happened to taste grain before you could do it.’
Hierarchy of degree in kinship, though generally coinciding would over rule the precedence given to age. An uncle may be junior in age to a nephew in extraordinary circumstances, but he would find a senior position in hierarchy. Progeny fathered in old age normally falls in this category. This way we find that heirship and hierarchy are inter linked closely. And last but not the least hierarchy comes into full play in the custom of observing of the custom of drawing the veil on the part of the Jat women when they appear before certain affinal kins.
It is a pity that that not enough attention has been paid to the study of the sociology of the Jats on scientific lines. As bearers of a rich tradition of the vedic culture the Jats offer a gold mine of material for research. At least the universities located in the areas where Jats abound need to pick up the spade and start digging earnestly, and indeed deeply. Some German scholars have, during the past few decades, shown the way.


, Phone: 28081836]