Jatav

Jatav

जाटव
Languages
Hindi, Awadhi, Rajasthani, Haryanvi
Religion
Hinduism (majority) and Buddhism(minority)

Jatav , also known as Jatava/Jatan/ Jatua/Jhusia /Jataau/Jatiya, is an Indian community that are considered to be a subcaste of the Charmakar caste, who are classified as a Scheduled Caste under modern India's system of positive discrimination.Jatavs mostly live in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and boundaries of Haryana as well as the Union Territory of Delhi in northwest India.

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.

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".

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.

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 Charmakar and petitioned the government of the British Raj to be officially classified differently: disassociating themselves from the Charmakar 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. 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.

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 Charmakar. 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". This acceptance is attributed to the protections available to the scheduled castes.

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.

Religion

Most of the Jatavs belongs to the Hindu ,Some Jatavs also became Buddhists in 1956, after B. R. Ambedkar converted him to Buddhism, in 1990 many more converted to Buddhism.

Status in the states

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.

States	Notes	Status in the states	Ref.
Andhra Pradesh	Counted with Chamar, Mochi, Muchi, Chamar-Ravidas, Chamar-Rohidas	SC
Assam		OBC
Bihar	Counted with Chamar and Ravidas. In some districts, along with Mochi.	SC
Chhattisgarh	Counted with Chamar, Chamari, Bairwa, Bhambhi, Jatav, Mochi, Regar, Nona, Rohidas, Ramnami, Satnami, Surjyabanshi, Surjyaramnami, Ahirwar, Chamar, Mangan, Raidas.	SC
Delhi	Counted with Chamar.	SC
Gujarat	—	SC
Haryana	—	SC
Himachal Pradesh	Counted with Chamar, Rehgar, Raigar, Ramdasi, Ravidasi, Ramdasia, Mochi and known as Jatia.	SC
Madhya Pradesh	Counted with Chamar, Chamari, Bairwa, Bhambhi, Jatav, Mochi, Regar, Nona, Rohidas, Ramnami, Satnami, Surjyabanshi, Surjyaramnami, Ahirwar, Chamar Mangan, Raidas.	SC
Rajasthan	Counted along with Chamar, Bhambhi/Bambhi, Meghwal, Mochi, Raidas, Rohidas, Regar, Raigar, Ramdasia, Asadaru, Asodi, Chamadia, Chambhar, Chamgar, Haralavya, Harali, Khalpa, Machigar, Mochigar, Madar, Madig, Telugu, Mochi, Kamati, Mochi, Ranigar, Rohit, Samgar.	SC
Uttarakhand	Also known as Jhusia or Jatava.	SC
Uttar Pradesh	Counted along with Chamar,Jatav, Gautam, Ahirwar, Raidas, Kureel, Dhusia, Dohre, Bharti, Kardam, Anand, Chandra Ramdasia, Ravidassia.	SC
West Bengal	Also known as Jatua, or Jatve.	SC and OBC

Notable Jatavs

• Chetram Jatav -was a freedom fighter who participated in the Indian Rebellion of 1857
• Mayawati -is an Indian politician. She has served four separate terms as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.
• Meira Kumar-is an Indian politician and former diplomat.
• Baby Rani Maurya-is an Indian politician, currently serving as a minister in the Government of Uttar Pradesh since March 2022.
• Asim Arun-is an Indian politician and resigned 1994 Batch Indian Police Service officer. Arun is the member of Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly from Kannauj Sadar since March 2022.
• Ram Ji Lal Suman-is an Indian politician
• Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan- is an Indian politician

Sources

• Chandel, M. P. S. (1990). A Social Force in Politics: Study of Scheduled Castes of U.P. Mittal Publications. ISBN 9788170991939.
• Berger, Peter; Heidemann, Frank (2013). The Modern Anthropology of India: Ethnography, Themes and Theory. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-13406-118-1.
• Lynch, Owen M. (1970). "The Politics of Untouchability: A Case From Agra". In Singer, Milton B.; Cohn, Bernard S. (eds.). Structure and Change in Indian Society. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 978-0-20236-933-4.
• Rawat, Ramnarayan S. (2011). Reconsidering Untouchability: Chamars and Dalit history in North India. Indiana University Press. p. 127. ISBN 978-0-253-22262-6.
• Duncan, Ian (2019d). "Dalits and the Raj". Indian Economy and Social History. 56 (2): 119–145. doi:10.1177/0019464619835646. S2CID 182465046.