Note 467 — Chapter II · (continued 4)

The Jats inhabited in very ancient times the borders of the Indus in the lower parts of Multan. There they were known to the Greek and Latin writers, under the name of Calhæi, Malli, Oxidracæ as being without a king, “arattas,” and divided into seven communities, who, united by a common danger, resisted Alexander. In the same country they opposed, 1300 years after the Macedonian invader, the irruption of Sultan Muhammed, the Ghaznavid, by whom they were beaten near Multan on the Indus. Inhabitants of mountains as well as of plains, they acted a part in the many wars which took place on the western frontiers of India, either as predatory hordes, or as allies, or as mercenaries of the belligerant parties. During the ensuing disorders of the Indian empire, they extended themselves towards the east of India, and became masters of the mountainous district which is limited, on the east by the rivers Thambul and Jumna; on the west, by the kingdom of Jâipur, which to the south extends as far as twenty coss from Agra; and to the north borders on the province of Delhi. It is not necessary to pursue here the history of the Jats in all its various vicissitudes; I shall only add that, in the year 1707, Thuraman, one of their leaders, laid the foundation of the fortress of Bhurtpúr, 20 miles N. W. from Agra, and that this became celebrated, to our days, as the capital seat of the Jats. They are Hindus of the fourth great caste of Sudras.