Editing Jat people (section)

===Indo-Scythian lineage === 

:See main article: [[Indo-Scythian origin of the Jats]]
[[Image:Scythian Warrior horseman.jpg|thumb|200px|A Scythian Warrior horseman from 300 BC.]]
[[Image:Ethnic Groups-The Jat People Genetic DNA Profiles.jpg|thumb|200px|The Jat People Genetic DNA Profiles]]
[[image:Aral_map.png|thumb|200px|Map of area around the [[Oxus River]] valley ''(modern name Amu Darya)]]
[[Image:Asia_323bc.jpg|thumb|200px|Asia in 323 BC, showing various [[Central Asian]] tribes including the [[Massagetae]], [[Scythians]], [[Dahae]] and their neighbors.]]
[[Image:Scythia-Parthia 100 BC.png|thumb|200px|Map showing [[Scythia]], including the [[Indo-Scythian]] region ''(modern name Punjab region)''.]]
[[Image:A view from Zoji La.jpg|thumb|200px|The [[Sindh valley]] is at the base of the Zojila Pass]]
[[Image:Scythian King-Azes II Drawing.jpg|thumb|200px|Scythian King - Azes II Drawing.]]

Professor [[B. S. Dhillon]] states that the Jats are mainly of [[Indo-Scythian]] lineage with composite mixing of Sarmatians, Goths & Jutes in [[History and study of the Jats]]. Historian [[James Tod]] agreed in considering the Jats to be of Indo-Scythian Stock.<ref>Tod, J., (Lt. Col.), Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, Vol.1, Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., London, 1972 (reprint), first published in 1829, pp. 623.</ref> Moreover, [[Alexander Cunningham|Sir Alexander Cunningham]], Former Director-General of the Archeological Survey of India, considered the Jats to be the Xanthii (a Scythian tribe) of Scythian stock who he considered very likely called the Zaths (Jats) of early Arab writers.<ref>[[Alexander Cunningham|Sir Alexander Cunningham]], (Sir, Major-General, and former Director-General of the [[Archeological Survey of India]]), Coins of the Indo-Scythians, Sakas, and Kushans, Indological Book House, Varanasi, India, 1971, first published in 1888, pp. 33.</ref> He stated "their name is found in Northern India from the beginning of the Christian era." These people were considered by early Arab writers to have descended from Meds and Zaths.<ref>[[Alexander Cunningham|Sir Alexander Cunningham]], (Sir, Major-General, and former Director-General of the [[Archeological Survey of India]]), Coins of the Indo-Scythians, Sakas, and Kushans, Indological Book House, Varanasi, India, 1971, first published in 1888, pp. 33.</ref><ref>Rose, H.A., A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province, Reprinted by the Languages Dept., Patiala, Punjab, 1970, first published in 1883, pp. 362-363, (Vol. II), 58 (Vol. I).</ref> Sir Cunningham believes they "were in full possession of the valley of the Indus towards the end of the seventh century.<ref>[[Alexander Cunningham]], ''The Ancient Geography of India: The Buddhist Period, Including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang'' (1871), pp. 290-291.</ref>

[[Stephen Fuchs]] suggests that the Jats probably migrated from [[Central Asia]] to India as a "predatory nomadic tribe".<ref>Fuchs, Stephen (1973). [https://openlibrary.org/books/OL15000677M/The_aboriginal_tribes_of_India The Aboriginal Tribes of India (1st ed.)]. Macmillan Publishers (Holtzbrinck Publishing Group). p. 129. ISBN 0333900227, 9780333900222.</ref> [[Natalya Romanovna Guseva]] considered the Jats to be the descendants of the [[Sakas]].<ref>Author: Наталья Романовна Гусева (1994). Book: Индия в зеркале веков: религия, быт, культура. Publisher: Российская академия наук, Ин-т этнологии и антропологии им. Н.Н. Миклухо-Маклая. Page: 49. Quote: " Саки были тем этногенетическим пластом, на основе которого сформировались джаты, составляющие и в наше время подавляющую маооу населения Пенджаба. "</ref>


*[[Alexander Cunningham|Sir Alexander Cunningham]], ''(Former Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India)'' wrote: ''The Xanthii ''(a Scythian tribe)'' are very probably the Zaths (Jats) of the early Arab writers. As the Zaths were in [[Sindh]] to the west of the [[Indus]], this location agrees very well with what we know of the settlement of the [[Sakas]] (Scythians) on the Indian frontier.''<ref>[[Alexander Cunningham|Sir Alexander Cunningham]], (Sir, Major-General, and former Director-General of the [[Archeological Survey of India]]), Coins of the Indo-Scythians, Sakas, and Kushans, Indological Book House, Varanasi, India, 1971, first published in 1888, pp. 33.</ref>


*[[Sir John Marshall]], ''(Former Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India)'' wrote: "''These Scythian invaders came principally from the three great tribes of [[Massagetae]] (great Jats), [[Sacaraucae]], and [[Dahae]] (still exists as a Jat clan of Punjab)<ref>Dahiya, B.S., Jats: The Ancient Rulers, Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, India, 1980, pp. 23.</ref>, whose home at the beginning of the second century B.C. was in the country between the [[Caspian|Caspian sea]] (sea) and the [[Jaxartes]] river (Central Asia).<ref>[[Sir John Marshall]], (Sir, Hon. Fellow of King's College, Cambridge University, and formerly Director-General of Archaeology in India), A Guide to Taxila, Cambridge University Press, London, 1960, pp. 24.</ref>
	 	

*[[Arthur Edward Barstow]] wrote: ''"Greeks of Bactria (partly modern Afghanistan)'', expelled by the hordes of [[Scythian]]s, entered India in the second and first centuries BC and are said to have penetrated as far as Orissa ''(an Indian province in south-east)''. Meanwhile the Medii, Xanthii, Jatii, Getae and other Scythian races, were gradually working their way from the banks of the [[Oxus River|Oxus]] ''(River valley in [[Central Asia]])'' into Southern Afghanistan and the pastoral highland about [[Quetta]] ''(a Pakistani city)'', whence they forced their way by the Bolan Pass, through the Sulaiman Mountains into India, settling in the Punjab about the beginning of the first century AD. It is from these [[Scythian]] immigrants that most of the Jat tribes are at any rate partly descended."''<ref>Barstow, A. E., The Sikhs: An Ethnology, Reprinted by B.R. Publishing Corporation, Delhi, India, 1985, first published in 1928, pp. 105-135, 63, 155, 152, 145.</ref>


*[[A. H. Bingley]] wrote: ''"It is from these Scythian Immigrants that most of the Jat tribes are at any rate partly descended."''<ref>Bingley, A. H., Handbooks for the Indian Army: Sikhs, Compiled Under the Orders of the Government of India, Printed at the Government Central Printing Office, Simla, India, 1899, pp. 8-9, 3.</ref>


*Professor [[Joyce Pettigrew]] wrote: ''"Another view holds that the Jats came from Asia Minor and [[Armenia]] in the successive invasions during the period 600 B.C. to A.D. 600."''<ref>Professor J. Pettigrew, Robber Noblemen: A Study of the Political System of the Sikh Jats, Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., London, 1975, pp. 25, 238.</ref>


*Professor [[Henry Smith Williams]] wrote: ''"The extent of the Scythian invasion has been variously estimated. Some scholars believe that they virtually supplanted the previous population of India (means Punjab), and there seems little doubt that by far the most numerous section of the Punjab population is of Scythian origin."''<ref>Professor H. S. Willliams, The Historians' History of the World, 21 Vols., The Outlook Company, New York, 1905, Vol. 2, pp. 481.</ref>


*Professor [[Pritam Singh Gill]] wrote: ''"There is a general concensus of opinion that Jats, and with them Rajputs and Gujjars were foreigners who came from their original home, near the [[Oxus]], [[Central Asia]]."''<ref>Professor P. S. Gill, Heritage of Sikh Culture, New Academic Publishing Co., Jullundur, Punjab, 1975, pp. 12-13.</ref>


*Professor [[Tadeusz Sulimirski]] wrote: ''"The evidence of both the ancient authors and the archaeological remains point to a massive migration of Sacian ([[Sakas]])/[[Massagetan]] ("great" Jat) tribes from the Syr Daria Delta ([[Central Asia]]) by the middle of the second century B.C. Some of the [[Syr Daria]]n tribes; they also invaded North India."''<ref>Professor T. Sulimirski, The Sarmatians, Praeger Publishers, New York, 1970, pp. 113-114.</ref>


*[[Horace Arthur Rose]] wrote: ''"Many of the Jat tribes of the Punjab have customs which apparently point to non-Aryan origin. Suffice it to say that both Sir [[Alexander Cunningham]] and [[Colonel Tod]] agreed in considering the Jats to be of [[Indo-Scythian]] Stock. The former identified them with the Zanthi of Strabo ''(Greek Geographer of the ancient times)'' and the Jatii of Pliny ''(Roman writer)'' and [[Ptolemy]] ''(Another Greek Geographer of the ancient times)''; and held that they probably entered the Punjab from their home on the Oxus (in Central Asia) very shortly after the Meds or Mands (still exist as one of the Jat clans of the Punjab), who also were Indo-Scythians, and who moved into the Punjab about a century before Christ."''<ref>Rose, H. A., A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province, Reprinted by the Languages Dept., Patiala, Punjab, 1970, first published in 1883, pp. 362-363, (Vol. II), 58 (Vol. I).</ref>


*[[Sir Henry Miers Elliot]] wrote: ''"These ignorant tribes (Jats) pointing to the remote Ghazni (Afghanistan) as their original seat, the very spot we know to have been occupied by the Yuechi, or, as Klaproth says, more correctly, Yuti, in the first centuries of our era, after the Sakas ''(a Scythian tribe)'' were repelled back from the frontiers of India, and left the country between India and Persia open for their occupation. The Jat tribes not doubt emigrated, no at all once, but at different times, and it is probable that those in the North-West are among the latest importations."''<ref>Sir H. M. Elliot, Encyclopaedia of Caste, Customs, Rites and Superstitions of the Races of Northern India, Vol. 1, Reprinted by Sumit Publications, Delhi, 1985, first published in 1870, pp. 133-134.</ref>


*[[I. Sara]] wrote: ''"Recent excavations in the [[Ukraine]] and [[Crimea]]. The finds points to the visible links of the Jat and Scythians."''<ref>Sara, I., The Scythian Origins of the Sikh-Jat, The Sikh Review, March 1978, pp. 26-35.</ref>


*[[Sir Mountstuart Elphinstone Grant Duff]] wrote: ''"My conclusion, therefore, is, that the Jats may be of Scythian descent."''<ref>Elphinstone, M. (Hon.), The History of India, Reprinted by Kitab Mahal Private Ltd., Allahabad, India, 1966, first published in 1874, pp. 226-229, 16-17, 12.</ref>


*[[Ujagir Singh Mahil]] wrote: ''"Jat were called Scythians; because they were the inhabitants of the ancient country of [[Scythia]]. The Jats who invaded the Punjab and conquered India up to [[Benares]] were called Indo-Scythians."''<ref>Mahil, U. S., Antiquity of Jat Race, Atma Ram & Sons, Delhi, India, 1955, pp. 2, 9,14.</ref>


*[[James Francis Katherinus Hewitt]] wrote: ''"Further evidence both of the early history and origin of the race of Jats, or [[Getae]], is given by the customs and geographical position of another tribe of the same stock, called the [[Massagetae]], or great (massa) Getae."''<ref>Hewitt, J. F., The Ruling Races of Prehistoric Times in India, South-Western Asia and Southern Europe, Archibald Constable & Co., London, 1894, pp. 481-487.</ref>


*[[Sir George Fletcher MacMunn]] ''(Sir and Lt. General)'' wrote: ''"Alexander came to India in his capacity as the holder of the Persian throne. From his camp near Kabul (Afghanistan), the Macedonian (Alexander) summoned those chiefs whom Skylax ''(Persian general)'' had conquered in the old time afore, to come and renew their homage to their ancient Persian overlord in the person of himself. Several obeyed his summons, others did not, and it has been surmised that those who did were later arrivals, of Jat or Scythian origin, outside the normal Aryan fold as later comers to India."''<ref>MacMunn, G. ''(Sir and Lt. General)'', The Martial Races of India, Reprinted by Mittal Publications, Delhi, India, 1979, first published in 1932, pp. 21-22.</ref>


*[[Syed Muhammad Latif]] wrote: ''"A considerable portion of the routed army of the Scythians settled in the Punjab, and a race of them, called Nomardy, inhabited the country on the west bank of the Indus (river). They are described as a nomadic tribe, living in wooden houses, after the old Scythian fashion, and settling where they found sufficient pasturage. A portion of these settlers, the descendants of Massagetae, were called Getes, from whom sprung the modern Jats."''<ref>Latif, S. M., History of the Panjab, Reprinted by Progressive Books, Lahore, Pakistan, 1984, first published in 1891, pp. 56.</ref>


*Dr. Gopal Singh wrote: "''The Jats of the Panjab, are Scythians in origin and came from Central Asia, whose one branch migrated as far south in Europe as [[Bulgaria]]. "''<ref>Dr. Singh, G., A History of the Sikh People (1469-1978), World Sikh University Press, Delhi, India, 1979, pp. 11-12.</ref>


*N. Singh wrote: "''The Scythians appear to originate from Central Asia. They reached [[Punjab region|Punjab]] between 50 B.C. and A.D. 50. It seems probable that the Scythian ancestors of the Jats entered the [[Sindh Valley]] (presently in Pakistan Kashmir) between 100 B.C. and A.D. 100."''<ref>Singh, N., Canadian Sikhs, Canadian Sikhs' Studies Institute, 21 Jay Avenue, Nepean, Ontario, Canada, 1994, pp. 164.</ref>


*[[Satya Shrava]] wrote: "''The Jats are none other than the Massagetae (Great Getae) mentioned in [[Diodorus Siculus|Diodorus]] as an off-spring of the ancient Saka tribe.... a fact now well-known.''"<ref>Shrava, Satya (1981). The Sakas in India. New Delhi: Pranava Prakashan, 1981.</ref>


*[[Bakhshish Singh Nijjar]] wrote: "''The Jats are the descendants of Scythians, whose kingdom's capital was [[Scythia]], in the present [[Ukraine]] (Ukrainian), Soviet Social Republic, is the constituent Republic of the European USSR (Population 49,757,000) in 1947. Now Ukraine's capital is [[Kiev]], the third leading city in [[Russia]]. Before the invasion of the golden herd, 13th century B.C. Scythian, ancient kingdom of indeterminate boundaries, centered in the area north of the Black Sea.''"<ref>Nijjar, B. S. (2008). Origins And History Of Jats And Other Allied Nomadic Tribes Of India. Atlantic Publishers & Dist. ISBN 8126909080, 9788126909087.</ref>


*[[Rima Hooja]] suggests that the Jats are "probably descendants of the Scythians who entered India in early historical times".<ref>Hooja, Rima (2006). A History of Rajasthan. Rupa Publications, India. p. 431. ISBN 8129108909, 9788129108906.</ref>