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G.S. Mann: Guru Nanak’s Life and Legacy 39
appearance in the Ain-i-Akbari, see Table 1 in Irfan Habib, “The Jats of
Punjab and Sind.”
65
For references to the Jats in later writings, see Joseph Davey
Cunnigham, A History of the Sikhs [1848] (New Delhi: S. Chand, 1985),
299–300; K. R. Qanungo, History of the Jats [1925] (Delhi: Delhi
Originals, 2003); M. C. Pradhan, The Political System of the the Jats of
Northern India (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1966); and Nonika
Datta, Forming an Identity: A Social History of the Jats (New Delhi:
Oxford University Press, 1999). From the press on this issue in 2010:
“Amritsar: The All-India Jat Reservation Sangharsh Committee launched
its rath yatra from the Golden Temple here today. They are protesting
against the government’s failure to grant OBC (Other Backward Class)
status to the Jat community of Punjab, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir.
The yatra will pass through various districts of three states before
culminating on September 13, [2010] at Sonepat (Haryana), which will
be observed as “Jat Chetavani Divas.” On the day, the district units of
various states would hold rallies across the country, said Yashpal Malik,
national president of the committee, which had already declared to
disrupt the Commonwealth Games. He said the community had been
fighting for getting the OBC status for the past 19 years. He alleged that
the community was feeling dejected over the continuous indifferent
attitude of the governments at the Centre and three states which had
adopted double standards by granting the status to other similar caste and
communities like Yadav, Ahir, Saini, Kamboj, Gurjar etc.“ The Tribune
(Chandigarh, August 29, 2010).
66 See Ganda Singh, “Nanak Panthis,” Panjab Past and Present 1 (1967),
54.
67 I have seen this type of process unfolding in my lifetime. Beginning
with the early 1960s, I remember the Gujjar pastoralists coming down
from the hills and attempting to spend winters or settle down temporarily
in the Punjab. While the farmers were happy to offer their fallow fields
for free cattle manure in return, and urban society was happy to buy
cheaper milk, the Gujjars were invariably seen as petty criminals who
carried arms and were always ready to steal. With the agriculture having
become more intensive in the Punjab in the past decades, their plight has
worsened, and one often sees them squeezed with their cattle onto the
open areas along the roads.