Jatav

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use Indian English Template:Short description Jatav, also known as Jatava/Jatan/ Jatua/Jhusia /Jatia/Jatiya, is an Indian Dalit community that are considered to be a subcaste of the Chamar caste, who are classified as a Scheduled Caste under modern India's system of positive discrimination.

According to the 2011 Census of India, the Jatav community of Uttar Pradesh comprised 54% of that state's total 22,496,047 Scheduled Caste population.

History

Some Jatav authors have disputed being Scheduled. In the 1920s, Jatavs claimed to be survivors of the ancient war between Parashuram, the legend of the Brahmins, and Kshatriyas, forced into hiding. Their proof of ancestry is a series of correspondences or status similarities between Jatav and other Kshatriya clans. According to Owen Lynch, "These included identical gotras, and such Kshatriya-like ceremonies as shooting a cannon at weddings and the use of the bow and arrow at the birth saṃskāra".Template:Sfn

According to M. P. S. Chandel

Jatavs pressed hard for their (Kshatriya) claim. But as is said many times earlier that in the caste federal system of India, changes seldom occur and in case of scheduled castes as also established by M. N. Shrinivas there are no chances at all. So the caste of Jatavs went to a predestined end. It is unfortunate that such a powerful effort (Lynch 1969) could result in nothing but the result in other fields were rewarding and exemplary. Jatav elites using cultural sentiments and striking the chord of psyche succeeded in pursuing several strategies in getting political successes.

In the early part of the 20th century, the Jatavs attempted the process of sanskritisation, claiming themselves to be historical of the Kshatriya varna. They gained political expertise by forming associations and by developing a literate cadre of leaders, and they tried to change their position in the caste system through the emulation of upper-caste behavior. As a part of this process, they also claimed not to be Chamars and petitioned the government of the British Raj to be officially classified differently: disassociating themselves from the Chamar community would they felt, enhance their acceptance as Kshatriya. These claims were not accepted by other castes and, although the government was amenable, no official reclassification as a separate community occurred due to the onset of World War II. An organisation of young Jatavs, called the Jatav Vir, was formed in Agra in 1917, and a Jatav Pracharak Sangh was organised in 1924. They joined with local Banias to establish a front and thus one of them won the seat of the mayor in Agra, and another became a member of the Legislative Council.

Under the leadership of Jatav Mahasabha in the 1931 census, he took an aggressive stand for his demand to include Jatavs in the Kshatriya class and to rename them as 'Jatav' from Chanwar Chamar. They were successful and in the new census of India the Tanners were called 'Jatav'.

Earlier pressing for the Kshatriya status, the new issues emerged among Jatavs in 1944–45. The Jatavs formed the Scheduled Caste Federation of Agra having ties with the Ambedkar-led All India Scheduled Caste Federation. They started recognizing themselves as Scheduled Caste and hence "Dalit". This acceptance is attributed to the protections available to the scheduled castes.

According to Owen Lynch:

The change is due to the fact that Sanskritisation is no longer as effective a means as is political participation for achieving a change in the style of life and a rise in the Indian social system, now composed of both caste and class elements.

Religion

Most of the Jatavs belongs to the Hindu Religion. Some Jatavs also became Buddhists in 1956, after B. R. Ambedkar converted him to Buddhism. On September 5, 1990, around a thousand members of the Jatav community from village Jaunpur near Agra converted to Sikhism in a protest against the upper caste people who halted the marriage procession taken out by Jatav Chamar Community.

Along with the mainstream religious identity, the Jatav community follows Guru Ravidas as well and gathered in tens of thousands as protestors in Delhi against the demolition of Ravidas Temple.

Demographics

Jatavs are often combined with Chamar, Ahirwar, Ravidassia and other subcastes and are given Scheduled Caste in major North Indian states under India's positive reservation system.

As of the 2011 Census, there were 22,496,047 Jatav/Chamars in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, of whom 22,371,352 declared themselves as Hindu, 113,765 declared themselves as Buddhist, and 10,930 declared themselves as Sikh. According to this census, Jatavs make 11.25% of the State's population.

Jatavs along with Jhusia, Dhusia, (Chamar Caste) in Uttar Pradesh by Districts (2011)

Districts	2011 India census
	Jatav, Chamar, Jhusia, Dhusia Caste Population	%
Agra	698,052
Aligarh	448,957
Ambedkar Nagar	476,378
Amroha	272,548
Ayodhya	82,033
Auraiya	252,284
Azamgarh	918,153
Bagpat	101,703
Bahraich	209,787
Ballia	312,313
Balrampur	36,929
Banda	260,450
Barabanki	253,468
Bareilly	285,956
Basti	390,962
Bijnor	664,676
Budaun	395,763
Bulandshahr	543,381
Chandauli	326,088
Chitrakoot	151,148
Deoria	310,322
Etah	158,640
Etawah	230,849
Farrukhabad	150,180
Fatehpur	234,667
Firozabad	274,968
Gautam Buddha Nagar	140,049
Ghaziabad	552,299
Ghazipur	551,443
Gonda	80,635
Gorakhpur	551,785
Hamirpur	132,171
Hardoi	568,601
Hathras	256,879
Jalaun	274,763
Jaunpur	682,060
Jhansi	296,345
Kannauj	169,938
Kanpur Dehat	263,541
Kanpur Nagar	338,979
Kasganj	163,835
Kaushambi	105,054
Kushinagar	313,738
Lakhimpur Kheri	427,978
Lalitpur	168,109
Lucknow	281,541
Maharajganj	289,658
Mahoba	142,036
Mainpuri	173,017
Mathura	363,698
Mau	366,689
Meerut	468,170
Mirzapur	318,382
Moradabad	567,243
Muzaffarnagar	419,594
Pilibhit	119,926
Pratapgarh	249,075
Prayagraj	442,938
Rae Bareli	253,489
Rampur	205,052
Saharanpur	640,625
Sant Kabir Nagar	249,254
Sant Ravidas Nagar	212,174
Shahjahanpur	229,487
Shravasti	41,129
Siddharthnagar	271,095
Sitapur	525,845
Sonbhadra	217,580
Sultanpur	319,156
Unnao	325,301
Varanasi	325,036

Notable Jatavs

• Chetram Jatav -was a freedom fighter who participated in the Indian Rebellion of 1857

See also

• Jatav Mahasabha
• Ravidassia
• Mochi
• Chamar
• Chamar Regiment