Jatt Sikh

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A Jatt Sikh (also Jat Sikh) is an ethnoreligious group from the Indian subcontinent. There are nearly 11 million Jatt Sikhs in South Asia, mostly in Punjab, where they comprise 42.5% of the population.[1]

Contents

[edit] History

Colonel James Todd classified Jatts as one of the Rajput tribes[2], while Major Alexander Cunningham believed that they belong to the later wave of immigrants from the north-west, probably of Indo-Scythian origin.[3] Cunningham's belief is also shared by many other writers, who consider the Jatt Sikhs to be the merged descendants of the original Indo-Aryans and a later addition of Indo-Scythian tribes.[4][5]

A 2003 genetic study by Sidhu, Kaur et al. indicates that "Caucasian" (White people), Jatt Sikh and other Indian populations may have their origin from a "common ancestral group", as all have partially overlapping frequency distribution of the alleles. The 216 bp allele is reported in Jat Sikhs and the other Indian populations, but not in "Caucasians". However, the allele with 218 and 244 bp, reported by Mahajan et al.[6] (1998) for other Indian populations, is absent from the Jat Sikh population samples studied by Sharma and Litt (1992).[7] Similarly, the allele with 212 bp has been reported in Jat Sikh population by Sharma and Litt, but not reported for Indian population by Mahajan et al. (1998). Therefore, Sidhu, Kaur et al. conclude that confirmation of these genetic studies in future may confirm Cunningham's belief that the Jatt Sikhs are the descendants of an immigrant population. The authors believe that the presence of the common allele having 216 bp in Jatt Sikh and other Indian populations may be due to later genetic intermixing.

Traditionally, the Jatt Sikhs have been endogamous at caste level and exogamous at the (gotra) sub-caste level.[2]

The Jatt Sikh community has constituted an important source of recruits for the Indian Army.[8]

[edit] See also

  • For more on the wider ethnic group, which crosses religious boundaries, see Jat people.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Jatt Sikh
  2. ^ a b Sidhu, I.S.; K. Kaur, V.K. Sarhadi, D.S. Joshi, R. Mukhopadhaya, S.K. Mahajan, A.J.S. Bhanwer (2003). "Study of Genetic Polymorphism at D21S11 and D21S215 Loci in the Jat Sikh Population of Punjab". International Journal of Human Genetics 3 (1): 45–50. ISSN 0972-3757. 
  3. ^ Alexander Cunningham, The Ancient Geography of India.
  4. ^ Bhim Singh Dahiya, Jats the Ancient Rulers, Dahinam Publishers, Sonepat, Haryana.
  5. ^ Professor B. S. Dhillon (1994). History and study of the Jats. Beta Publishers. ISBN 1895603021. 
  6. ^ Mahajan SK, Mukhopadhyaya R, Gangabhagirathi R, Mathur M, Shettigar SKG, Desai U, Joshi DS 1998. Microsatellite polymorphism on HC21 in Indian population. In: JR Singh (Ed.): Current Concepts in Human Genetics. Amritsar: Guru Nanak Dev University Press.
  7. ^ Sharma, V; Litt M. (April 1992). "Tetranucleotide repeat polymorphism at the D21S11 locus". Human Molecular Genetics 1 (1): 67. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/hmg/1.1.67-a. ISSN 0964-6906. 
  8. ^ Tan Tai Yong. The Garrison State: The Military, Government, and Society in Colonial Punjab, 1849-1947. SAGE Publications, 187. ISBN 978-0761933366. OCLC 57043090. 

[edit] External Link