Origin of Jat People From Shiva's Locks - Reasons Behind The Account

Reasons Behind The Account

According to Y.P. Shastri the account was propounded to win back the Jats, who had en masse embraced Buddhism, to Neo-Hinduism preached and propagated by Shankaracharya and his followers. This account seemed to work wonders as there are no followers of Buddhism in Jats. Whereas Y.P. Shastri hints at religious purpose of the account, A.B. Mukerjee, an ethno-geographer stresses its political and social purpose. According to him " at the end of the ancient period of Indian History great instability prevailed in the social structure of the people and great political changes were effected. The Rajputs became the rulers and Jats their subject, a fact very well borne out by historical data (Denzil Ibbetson:1916) consequently, the social status of the latter groups declined and they were regarded as of lowly ranks. Of course, after the fall of Harsha Vardhana of the Virk gotra, the political and social status of the Jats especially in Rajasthan, had declined to a great extent. Possibly to counteract the intolerable superiority assumed by the Rajputs, this account might have been invented.

The account is obviously figurative and its use is simply allegorical. The meaning it conveys is that there were so many ganas of warrior tribes at the command of Virabhadra or Kartikeya, the son of Shiva, whose abode was the Sivalak mountain. The function of this mythological account may be to ensure a more honourable antiquity and status to the Jats in comparison with others. Historians Kephart, Hewitt and Waddel count the Jats among the ruling races of prehistoric times in India.