Jatav

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Jatav
जाटव
Languages
Hindi, Awadhi, Rajasthani, Haryanvi
Religion
Hinduism [1] (majority) [2] and Buddhism & Ravidassia Panth (minority)

Jatav, also known as Jatava/Jatan/ Jatua/Jhusia /Jatia/Jatiya, is an Indian Dalit community that are considered to be a subcaste of the Chamar caste, who are classified as a Scheduled Caste under modern India's system of positive discrimination.

Contents

According to the 2011 Census of India, the Jatav community of Uttar Pradesh comprised 54% of that state's total 22,496,047 Scheduled Caste population. [3]

History

Some Jatav authors have disputed being Scheduled. In the 1920s, Jatavs claimed to be survivors of the ancient war between Parashuram, the legend of the Brahmins, and Kshatriyas, forced into hiding. Their proof of ancestry is a series of correspondences or status similarities between Jatav and other Kshatriya clans. According to Owen Lynch, "These included identical gotras, and such Kshatriya-like ceremonies as shooting a cannon at weddings and the use of the bow and arrow at the birth saṃskāra". [4] [5]

According to M. P. S. Chandel

Jatavs pressed hard for their (Kshatriya) claim. But as is said many times earlier that in the caste federal system of India, changes seldom occur and in case of scheduled castes as also established by M. N. Shrinivas there are no chances at all. So the caste of Jatavs went to a predestined end. It is unfortunate that such a powerful effort (Lynch 1969) could result in nothing but the result in other fields were rewarding and exemplary. Jatav elites using cultural sentiments and striking the chord of psyche succeeded in pursuing several strategies in getting political successes. [6]

In the early part of the 20th century, the Jatavs attempted the process of sanskritisation, claiming themselves to be historical of the Kshatriya varna. They gained political expertise by forming associations and by developing a literate cadre of leaders, and they tried to change their position in the caste system through the emulation of upper-caste behavior. As a part of this process, they also claimed not to be Chamars and petitioned the government of the British Raj to be officially classified differently: disassociating themselves from the Chamar community would they felt, enhance their acceptance as Kshatriya. These claims were not accepted by other castes and, although the government was amenable, no official reclassification as a separate community occurred due to the onset of World War II. [4] An organisation of young Jatavs, called the Jatav Vir, was formed in Agra in 1917, and a Jatav Pracharak Sangh was organised in 1924. They joined with local Banias to establish a front and thus one of them won the seat of the mayor in Agra, and another became a member of the Legislative Council. [6]

Under the leadership of Jatav Mahasabha in the 1931 census, he took an aggressive stand for his demand to include Jatavs in the Kshatriya class and to rename them as 'Jatav' from Chanwar Chamar. They were successful and in the new census of India the Tanners were called 'Jatav'.

Earlier pressing for the Kshatriya status, the new issues emerged among Jatavs in 1944–45. The Jatavs formed the Scheduled Caste Federation of Agra having ties with the Ambedkar-led All India Scheduled Caste Federation. They started recognizing themselves as Scheduled Caste and hence "Dalit". [7] This acceptance is attributed to the protections available to the scheduled castes. [6]

According to Owen Lynch:

The change is due to the fact that Sanskritisation is no longer as effective a means as is political participation for achieving a change in the style of life and a rise in the Indian social system, now composed of both caste and class elements. [7]

Religion

Most of the Jatavs belongs to the Hindu Religion. Some Jatavs also became Buddhists in 1956, after B. R. Ambedkar converted him to Buddhism. On September 5, 1990, around a thousand members of the Jatav community from village Jaunpur near Agra converted to Sikhism in a protest against the upper caste people who halted the marriage procession taken out by Jatav Chamar Community [8] .

Along with the mainstream religious identity, the Jatav community follows Guru Ravidas as well and gathered in tens of thousands as protestors in Delhi against the demolition of Ravidas Temple [9] .

Demographics

Jatavs are often combined with Chamar, Ahirwar, Ravidassia and other subcastes and are given Scheduled Caste in major North Indian states under India's positive reservation system. [10]

As of the 2011 Census, there were 22,496,047 Jatav/Chamars in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, of whom 22,371,352 declared themselves as Hindu, 113,765 declared themselves as Buddhist, and 10,930 declared themselves as Sikh. According to this census, Jatavs make 11.25% of the State's population [11] .

Jatavs along with Jhusia, Dhusia, (Chamar Caste) in Uttar Pradesh by Districts (2011) [12]
Districts 2011 India census
Jatav, Chamar, Jhusia, Dhusia Caste Population%
Agra 698,052
Aligarh 448,957
Ambedkar Nagar 476,378
Amroha 272,548
Ayodhya 82,033
Auraiya 252,284
Azamgarh 918,153
Bagpat 101,703
Bahraich 209,787
Ballia 312,313
Balrampur 36,929
Banda 260,450
Barabanki 253,468
Bareilly 285,956
Basti 390,962
Bijnor 664,676
Budaun 395,763
Bulandshahr 543,381
Chandauli 326,088
Chitrakoot 151,148
Deoria 310,322
Etah 158,640
Etawah 230,849
Farrukhabad 150,180
Fatehpur 234,667
Firozabad 274,968
Gautam Buddha Nagar 140,049
Ghaziabad 552,299
Ghazipur 551,443
Gonda 80,635
Gorakhpur 551,785
Hamirpur 132,171
Hardoi 568,601
Hathras 256,879
Jalaun 274,763
Jaunpur 682,060
Jhansi 296,345
Kannauj 169,938
Kanpur Dehat 263,541
Kanpur Nagar 338,979
Kasganj 163,835
Kaushambi 105,054
Kushinagar 313,738
Lakhimpur Kheri 427,978
Lalitpur 168,109
Lucknow 281,541
Maharajganj 289,658
Mahoba 142,036
Mainpuri 173,017
Mathura 363,698
Mau 366,689
Meerut 468,170
Mirzapur 318,382
Moradabad 567,243
Muzaffarnagar 419,594
Pilibhit 119,926
Pratapgarh 249,075
Prayagraj 442,938
Rae Bareli 253,489
Rampur 205,052
Saharanpur 640,625
Sant Kabir Nagar 249,254
Sant Ravidas Nagar 212,174
Shahjahanpur 229,487
Shravasti 41,129
Siddharthnagar 271,095
Sitapur 525,845
Sonbhadra 217,580
Sultanpur 319,156
Unnao 325,301
Varanasi 325,036

Notable Jatavs

See also

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References

  1. Rashid, Omar (18 May 2019). "Jatavs power BSP's campaign in U.P." The Hindu . ISSN   0971-751X . Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  2. Duncan 2019d, p. 120.
  3. "Jatavs on top of SC population in UP". The Times of India. 4 July 2015.
  4. 1 2 Lynch 1970 , pp. 216–217.
  5. Rawat 2011, p. 127.
  6. 1 2 3 Chandel 1990, pp. 50–52
  7. 1 2 Berger & Heidemann 2013
  8. Lorenzen, David N. (9 November 1994). Bhakti Religion in North India: Community Identity and Political Action. SUNY Press. p. 95. ISBN   978-0-7914-2026-3 . Retrieved 23 October 2024.
  9. ""Mandir wahin banaenge": Thousands protested against the demolition of Ravidas temple in Delhi". caravanmagazine.in. The Caravan. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
  10. "LIST OF SCHEDULED CASTES" (PDF). Ministry of Social Justice .
  11. "SC-14: Scheduled caste population by religious community, Uttar Pradesh - 2011". censusindia.gov.in. Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 20 October 2024.
  12. "A-10 Appendix: District wise scheduled caste population (Appendix), Uttar Pradesh - 2011". censusindia.gov.in. Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 22 October 2024.

Sources