Introductory - Global Sikh Studies

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the Gurus, and for most part of the eighteenth century, it was the Sikh
ideology that influenced the Jats and other elements who joined the
movement. It was not the Jats’ character which distorted the movement
during its revolutionary phase, as it happened later.
Besides, there is no data to infer that Jats were the prominent
element among the Sikhs when Guru Hargobind decided to militarize
the movement, or that the Jats used to come armed when they came
to pay homage to the Gurus.
It has been assumed that the Jats must have joined in large
numbers because Guru Arjan established some religious centres in
the rural areas of Majha. The Jats are well known for their indifference
towards deep religious affairs. The short interval of time between the
opening of these centres and the time when the influx of Jats into the
Sikh ranks is supposed to have aroused Jahangir’s misgivings is not
such as to favour the theory of largescale enrolment of the Jats in
Sikhism. Bhai Gurdas has given the names of about 200 prominent
Sikhs of Guru Arjan. Of these ten were Brahmins, eight Jats (including
two whose caste is given as Jatu, which is Rajput sub-caste), there
fishermen, three calcio-printers, two Chandals, two brick-layers, two
Bhatts, one potter, one goldsmith and one Mohammadan. The rest
either belonged to Khatri and other castes connected with commerce,
etc., or did not have their castes specified.
The above figures indicate clearly the caste-wise composition
of Guru Arjan’s important Sikhs. The constitution of the general
Sangat is not likely to have been materially different. The number of
Khartis and castes connected with commerce, professions, etc., is many
times more than the combined number of Jats and lower castes. Among
the latter category, the low castes out-number the Jats. The
conjecture about Jats having joined Guru Arjan in large numbers is
contradicted even by Mohsin Fani, who says; ‘Some Sikhs of the
Guru do agricultural work and some trade, and a multitude takes
up service. These figures, thus knock out the bottom of the
assumption that the setting up of rural centres increased the
proportion of Jats among the Guru’s followers to such an extent as to
cause apprehensions in Jahangir’s mind. Besides, as already stated, it
would be going beyond the limits of historical propriety to reject