Note 1607 — SECTION III. HINDŪSTĀN

Both names are thus spelled in the Bābur-nāma. In view of the inclination of Turkī to long vowels, Bābur’s short one in Jat may be worth consideration since modern usage of Jat and Jāt varies. Mr. Crooke writes the full vowel, and mentions that Jāts are Hindūs, Sikhs, and Muḥammadans (Tribes and Castes of the North-western Provinces and Oude, iii, 38). On this point and on the orthography of the name, Erskine’s note (Memoirs p. 294) is as follows: “The Jets or Jats are the Muḥammadan peasantry of the Panj-āb, the bank of the Indus, Sīwīstān etc. and must not be confounded with the Jāts, a powerful Hindū tribe to the west of the Jamna, about Agra etc. and which occupies a subordinate position in the country of the Rājpūts.”