This village was owned by a clan where they and peasants used to till who were jatts. These were small clans - some of them local, some from outside - which settled in small villages. However pandits status was lower than khatris. So there were qazi and pandits in villages co-existing together.
Religion-wise, majority were hindus, but ruling class was muslims. This 'caste' was very useful to muslim rulers as they could count and trade - exactly the people they wanted. Khatris were traders and supposed to be offshoots of kshatriyas - who became traders after losing right to rule. So if you knew farsi, you could work in official position. They were the ruling minority class who needed people to work under them. When Guru Nanak Dev ji was born, the rulers were muslims with persian as their main language. Understanding of sikh history would be incomplete without studying caste/religion dynamics of punjab during and after Guru Nanak Dev ji times.Īlthough punjab had castes, the was less caste discrimination compared to other indian regions because of many reasons hard to discuss here. The dynamics of power are fluid and dependent on times and political turmoils. Jatt is ofc not the best caste, but currently it holds a lot of power - political and otherwise in punjab for a long time. In Zafarnama Guru Mahraj invites Aurangzeb to Bathinda and assures him that the Brars, the community that dominates the place won't harm him as they are Sikhs of the Guru. Jokes on us, today they are the most business minded and rich.ītw another thing to consider is while caste system was given away, the various castes, clans have been used as identifiers. The Gurus were Bedi's or Sodhi's, whom we today taunt as Bhaape. Watch this documentary on caste discrimination in Punjab. Due to this today there are instances where we have separate Gurdwaras for Jatts, separate for lower castes, where the higher body of Gurdwara committee or others won't subjugate them. Ravidasi, Mazhabi, Ramgarhiye, Ramdasi, Sikligar, Banjaare etc come under lower caste. Today majority Sikhs are jatts and are the upper castes. But as is the tendency of man, after the saints depart, people again fall back to Manmukhta. Everyone would eat together, a Brahmin would be served by a Shudra. What the Gurus did is end the distinction of Varnas, castes and everyone became a Singh or a Kaur. Have a read at this thread of JungNigang. But Jatts were never considered high caste, only after the time of the Guru's did the Jatts become affluent and came to be identified as upper castes. Today majority Jatts are Sikhs, though can be Hindu or Muslim as well. Proud and hardworking people, had the honor of warriors, would be on their toes if anyone threatened their lands and culture. So Jatts were a tribe or clan of farmers, land holders.
Today all Khokhars are muslim and in Pakistan. In 1206 CE, an assassin from Khokhar clan/tribe of Jatts killed Ghori, though in later centuries, Khokhars were overpowered and converted to Islam by sword. Sikh Punjabi caste system or simply caste system has existed from a long time. Now that there's some wealth in it, earned by feeding a starving nation for whom Punjab has ruined itself ecologically, now suddenly these RWers have a problem with "troublesome" Jatts who stand up for themselves owning the land. But no one talks about farming being a thankless job with little money until relatively recently (still is for most), or that our grandfather's generation cleared and tilled the land themselves using only their own labor, for no other reason beside an intense love of their land. On another note, during these farmer protests, the RW has tried various divisive tactics like Punjabi/non-Punjabi, Sikhs/non-Sikhs, and also Jatt/non-Jatt, whining that Jatts own the land in Punjab at the expense of others. People only see the glory, not the struggle. I agree that discrimination is bad and all, but no one ever talks about the Jatts themselves being thought of as "neech" people by savarnas for millenia until Sikhi empowered them to talk control of the lands they toil on, and raising their own position by their own strength.