Jat people in Shāhnāma

According to Dr S.M. Yunus Jaffery, Jat people have been mentioned in Shāhnāma ("The epic of kings") , the national epic of Persia (modern Iran), by Hakīm Abul-Qāsim Firdawsī Tūsī (Persian: حکیم ابوالقاسم فردوسی توسی‎ ), more commonly transliterated as Firdowsi (935–1020), the most revered Persian poet. The Shāhnāma tells the mythical and historical past of Iran from the creation of the world up until the Islamic conquest of Iran in the 7th century. The Shâhnameh recounts the history of Iran, beginning with the creation of the world and the introduction of the arts of civilization (fire, cooking, metallurgy, law) to the Aryans and ends with the Arab conquest of Persia. The scene that has been drawn by Firdowsi in his Shahnama is in the legend of Rostam and Sohrab. Sohrab was in search of Rostam, his father. Both, the father and son had heard the heroic deeds of each other, but none of them wanted to disclose his identification. Sohrab while being in search of his father leads his army to the White Castle (Dazh-e-Safid) in Iran. Hujir, guardian of the castle, sees the army come and goes to meet them. Sohrab asked Hujir about the heroes and war champions of Iran as under:, ,

English version

"I would ask all

About the king, the rebellions and the troops

All the renowned ones of that region

Such as Tus, Kaous and Gudarz

The knights and the valliants of the country of Iran

Like, Gostahm and praiseworthy Giv

About Bahram, and the renowned Rostam

I ask you about every Jat, you count them for me"

Persian version in Roman

"Bedu goft kaz to beporsm hamah

ze shah o ze gardankashan o ramah

hamah namdaran e an marz ra

chu tous o chu kaous a gudarz ra

daliran o gordan eIran zamin

chou Gostahm o choun Giv ba afrin

ze Behram o az Rostam e namdar

ze har jat beorsam be man bar shomar"

However, as pointed out in detail on the Discussion Page, neither the full Persian text of the Shahnama nor standard modern English translations make any mention at all of Jats and it appears that Jaffery's version is suspect.

Dr S.M. Yunus Jaffery writes that Firdowsi has used word Jat for those war-like persons, a word that seems to be equivalent of Yaudheyas that has been often used in the history of Kushan period. It should be pointed out here that the word Kushan has been used in Shahnama at several places. Tarikh-e-Bayhaqi, also called Tarikh-e-Masudi is history of Ghaznavid dynasty (366-582 AH/976-1186 AD). An extract from this book has been given in Loghat Nama-e-Dehkhoda, the encyclopedia of Persia, compiled by Ali Akbar Dehkhoda in Persia. Under the entry ‘Jat’ it says:

“Ahmad escaped with his nobles and other persons, who were three hundred riders and bigger convicts. But Telak remained with him. He wrote letters to Hindu rebellious Jats that they should not take the way of abjected ones.”

Dr S.M. Yunus Jaffery writes that under the same entry, the quotation of Adib Peshawar has also been given. Probably he has written about the Jat people in Afghanistan:

“They are a clan of Hindus, now most of them have been honoured to adopt the Islamic faith. In the verbal history I have been told that people of Panni clan in Afghanistan are Jats in their origin. There are some small pockets of Jats in towns like Roudsar".