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77-519: Joanna Nobilis Sombre ( c.  1753 – 27 January 1836), popularly known as Begum Samru (née Farzana Zeb un-Nissa ), a convert Catholic Christian, started her career as a nautch (dancing) girl in 18th century India, and eventually became the ruler of Sardhana , a small principality ( jagir ) near Meerut . She was the head of a professionally trained mercenary army, inherited from her European mercenary husband, Walter Reinhardt Sombre . This mercenary army consisted of Europeans and Indians. She

154-836: A cavalry charge from the Raj before marching from the field in good order. She inducted Jats into her irregular armies. After the fall of Aligarh in September 1803, she was induced to surrender to Lord Lake and afterwards lived on good terms with the British, receiving visitors including the Bishop of Calcutta, Reginald Heber , Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army Lord Combermere and Italian adventurer Jean-Baptiste Ventura . She died at Sardhana in January 1837 at

231-508: A colourful description of her intimate connection with royal splendour. The Puranas highlight her auspicious presence as a symbol of good luck. Buddhist literature also testifies to the high esteem in which she was held in society. She appears through the ages in different incarnations from apsara [celestial virgin] in divine form to ganika [attendant], devdasi [spiritual dancer], nartika [ordinary dancer], kanchani, tawaif [cultured professional courtesan] and nautch girl [dancer member of

308-564: A couple of mussaulchis who held their torches first to the face and then lower down as if showing off the charms of the dancers to the best advantage. Roopmati was a famous Hindu nautch girl from Saharanpur , who married Baz Bahadur , the Muslim sultan of Malwa . Akbar the Great is said to have invaded Malwa after hearing about her beauty. In 1561 Akbar's army, led by Adham Khan and Pir Muhammad Khan, attacked Malwa and defeated Baz Bahadur in

385-400: A form of perfect symmetry, and although dedicated from infancy to this profession, they in general preserve a decency and modesty in their demeanor, which is more likely to allure than the shameless effrontery of similar characters in other countries. The nautch party musicians historically played four instruments: sarangi , tabla , manjeera and dholak . A fifth instrument, the harmonium ,

462-577: A garden palace at nearby Deeg . According to historian, Eric Stokes , When the power of the Bharatpur raja was riding high, fighting clans of Jats encroached into the Karnal/Panipat, Mathura, Agra, and Aligarh districts, usually at the expense of Rajput groups. But such a political umbrella was too fragile and short-lived for substantial displacement to be effected. When Arabs entered Sindh and other Southern regions of current Pakistan in

539-684: A line or a circle to perform a dance similar to the fox-trot as two or three sang, and they repeated the refrain . The nautch girls performed in small troupes called the "nautch parties", which consisted of just one or two people to 10 or more, including dancers and singer, and their husbands often played the role of musicians and handlers. A nautch girl is not a Domni (hereditary female singer), Kasbi (a female belonging to family which practices hereditary sex trade), Randi (first generation prostitute), Tawaif (elegant and cultured female master of arts, including singing and dancing), Kanjari (low-class uncultured Tawaif), Nochi (young girl trainee under

616-574: A practice which is called Jathera. There are conflicting scholarly views regarding the varna status of Jats in Hinduism. Historian Satish Chandra describes the varna of Jats as "ambivalent" during the medieval era. Historian Irfan Habib states that the Jats were a "pastoral Chandala-like tribe" in Sindh during the eighth century. Their 11th-century status of Shudra varna changed to Vaishya varna by

693-607: A relative, and embraced her when she entered the zenana (women) quarters. as the English visitor Ann Deane noted in late December 1808: " ....and afterwards I accompanied her to the royal residence ......we then ascended ....to the zenanah ['women's quarters'].... the begum now led the way through crowds of eunuchs ....Here we were met by the queen Dowager....an ugly, shriveled old woman, whom the begum embraced." Begum Samru's palace in Chandni Chowk , now called Bhagirath Palace,

770-451: A result, many nautch girls lost their former patrons and were pushed further into prostitution, as local mistresses for the British were replaced with wives from Britain. Some references use the terms nautch and nautch girls to describe Devadasis who used to perform ritual and religious dances in the Hindu temples of India. However, there is not much similarity between the devadasis and

847-623: A tawaaif) or Devdasi (temple dancer devoted to the practice of spiritual dancing); she belongs to her own distinctive class. A nautch girl is a dancer who makes a living by entertaining men, women and children of all social classes, regions, castes and religions on various occasions including parties, weddings, christenings, religious ceremonies, and other social events. Their dances were simplified combination of kathak , dasi attam and folk dance . Wandering troops of nautch girls often traveled to different places, performed impromptu roadside dance performances or just turned up uninvited to perform at

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924-509: Is also regarded as the only Catholic ruler in Northern India , as she ruled the principality of Sardhana in 18th- and 19th-century India. Begum Sumru died immensely rich but without an heir . Her inheritance was assessed at approximately 55.5 million gold marks in 1923 and 18 billion deutsch marks in 1953. Her inheritance continues to be disputed to this day. An organisation named "Reinhards Erbengemeinschaft" still strives to resolve

1001-646: Is based on Begum Samru. Nautch Over time, the nautch travelled outside the confines of the imperial courts of the Mughals, the palaces of the nawabs and the princely states , and the higher echelons of the officials of the British Raj , to the places of zamindars . However under the British Raj they came to be reviled as lewd by the Victorian standards of the British and not well tolerated. As

1078-608: Is depicted as a prominent noble lady in TV drama series Beecham House first aired June 2019. The role was portrayed by Indian actress Lara Dutta . She also features as a prominent character in the novel Flashman and the Cobra by Robert Brightwell . Begum Samru appears as the antagonist in the British colonial author William Browne Hockley's short story "The Natch". Sir Walter Scott's Old Mother Montreville in The Surgeon's Daughter

1155-470: Is given to women in comparison to men. The birth of a male child in a family is celebrated and is considered auspicious, while the reaction to the birth of a female child is more subdued. In villages, female members are supposed to get married at a younger age and they are expected to work in fields as subordinate to the male members. There is general bias against education for the female child in society, though trends are changing with urbanisation. Purdah system

1232-495: Is often known as Jatni . By the time of Muhammad bin Qasim 's conquest of Sind in the eighth century, Arab writers described agglomerations of Jats, known to them as Zutt , in the arid, the wet, and the mountainous regions of the conquered land of Sindh. The Arab rulers, though professing a theologically egalitarian religion, maintained the position of Jats and the discriminatory practices against them that had been put in place in

1309-521: Is used as the official residence cum camp office of the district collector of Gurugram district. The Jharsa place is built in Islamic style. A 1882 land revenue settlement report records that the idol of Sitla Mata was brought to Gurugram 400 years earlier (15th century). Begum Samru claimed the offering to Sitla Mata temple of Gurugram during the Chaitra month and the revenue from the offerings given to

1386-569: The Basilica of our Lady of Graces , which she commissioned. The shift in attitude to nautch girls can be attributed to the British Raj , who after capturing Lahore from the Sikhs after the Anglo-Sikh wars did not share the same attitude towards dancing girls. While the British men were happy to take local women as concubines and mistresses they were uninterested in becoming patrons of

1463-714: The Indian Army , including the Jat Regiment , Sikh Regiment , Rajputana Rifles and the Grenadiers , where they have won many of the highest military awards for gallantry and bravery. Jat people also serve in the Pakistan Army especially in the Punjab Regiment . The Jat people were designated by officials of the British Raj as a " martial race ", which meant that they were one of the groups whom

1540-565: The Indus valley , and gradually became agriculturalist farmers. Around 1595, Jat Zamindars controlled a little over 32% of the Zamindaris in the Punjab region. According to historians Catherine Asher and Cynthia Talbot, The Jats also provide an important insight into how religious identities evolved during the precolonial era. Before they settled in the Punjab and other northern regions,

1617-871: The Pakistani Punjab and Pakistan in general. Jat communities also exist in Pakistani-administered Kashmir , in Sindh, particularly the Indus delta and among Seraiki -speaking communities in southern Pakistani Punjab, the Kachhi region of Balochistan and the Dera Ismail Khan District of the North West Frontier Province . In Pakistan also, Jat people have become notable political leaders, like Hina Rabbani Khar . Many Jat people serve in

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1694-620: The community-funded completion of the Darbar Sahib to house the Guru Granth Sahib and serve as a rallying point and center for Sikh activity, established the beginnings of a self-contained Sikh community, which was especially swelled with the region's Jat peasantry. They formed the vanguard of Sikh resistance against the Mughal Empire from the 18th century onwards. It has been postulated, though inconclusively, that

1771-802: The states of Patiala , Faridkot , Jind , and Nabha were ruled by the Sikh Jats. According to anthropologist Sunil K. Khanna, Jat population is estimated to be around 30 million (or 3 crore ) in South Asia in 2010. This estimation is based on statistics of the last caste census and the population growth of the region. The last caste census was conducted in 1931, which estimated Jats to be 8 million, mostly concentrated in India and Pakistan. Deryck O. Lodrick estimates Jat population to be over 33 million (around 12 million and over 21 million in India and Pakistan, respectively) in South Asia in 2009 while noting

1848-411: The 17th century, with some of them aspiring to improve it further after their 17th-century rebellion against the Mughals. He cites Al-Biruni and Dabistan-i Mazahib to support the claims of Shudra and Vashiya varna respectively. The Rajputs refused to accept Jat claims to Kshatriya status during the later years of the British Raj and this disagreement frequently resulted in violent incidents between

1925-514: The Begum had saved Delhi from an invasion by a force of 30,000 Sikhs , under Baghel Singh in 1783. They had encamped at Tis Hazari (the name of the place being derived from the number of those who constituted the force, estimated at 30,000). Thanks to the Begum's parleys, the Sikhs did not enter the city and went back to Punjab after getting a generous monetary gift from Shah Alam. In 1787(?), when

2002-458: The Begum in 1802, in a fit of enthusiasm he gave her a hearty kiss, which appalled her troops. But with her customary tact, Begum Samru pacified them by saying that it was only "the kiss of the Padre to a repentant child". The Begum, though only 4 + 1 ⁄ 2 feet tall, wore a turban and rode on horseback as she led her troops to battle. So invincible did she seem that the superstitious spread

2079-564: The British favoured for recruitment to the British Indian Army . This was a designation created by administrators that classified each ethnic group as either "martial" or "non-martial": a "martial race" was typically considered brave and well built for fighting, whilst the remainder were those whom the British believed to be unfit for battle because of their sedentary lifestyles. However, the martial races were also considered politically subservient, intellectually inferior, lacking

2156-511: The Jats of Rajasthan – excluding those of Bharatpur district and Dholpur district – are entitled to reservation of central government jobs under the OBC reservation. In 2016, the Jats of Haryana organized massive protests demanding to be classified as OBC in order to obtain such affirmative action benefits. Many Jat Muslim people live in Pakistan and have dominant roles in public life in

2233-592: The Mughal and British era, nautch girls regularly performed at durbars . Nautch girls were also invited to perform on the special events of the native Indians where guests congregated in a separate performance hall, nautch girls sat with the nautch party, composed of attendant musicians and two or more nautch girls, whose numbers vary depending on the status of the host. Hindi women in general are finely shaped, gentle in their manners, and have something soft and even musical in their voices. An exceedingly graceful dance of

2310-652: The Natch girls is called the "Kite dance". The air is slow and expressive, and the dancers imitate in their gestures the movements of a person flying the kite. The nautch, performed only by the girls, evolved into several styles, three of which were most essential, the mor nach (the dance of peacock to attract peahens), patang nach (the kite dance imitating both the kite and the kite flier) and qahar ka nach (the palki pallbearer 's dance, erotic and suggestive dance performed as finale ) were popular types of dance. Jealousy and love are hardly ever better portrayed than by

2387-614: The age of 85, bequeathing the greater part of her property to David Ochterlony Dyce Sombre , who descended from Walter Reinhardt Sombre, from his first wife. Several stories and novels have been written based on her political and diplomatic astuteness and on crucial battles fought by troops directly commanded by her. She built palaces at Sardhana, Chandni Chowk in Delhi and Jharsa. The paragana of Badshahpur - Jharsa in Gurugaon in Haryana

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2464-527: The army because the administration believed Hindus to be inferior for military purposes. The Indian Army admitted in 2013 that the 150-strong Presidential Bodyguard comprises only people who are Hindu Jats, Jat Sikhs and Hindu Rajputs. Refuting claims of discrimination, it said that this was for "functional" reasons rather than selection based on caste or religion. Deryck O. Lodrick estimates religion-wise break-up of Jats as follows: 47% Hindus, 33% Muslims, and 20% Sikhs. Jats pray to their dead ancestors ,

2541-412: The battle of Sarangpur (29 March 1561). One of the reasons for Adham Khan's attack seems to be his lust for Rani Roopmati. She, however, poisoned herself upon hearing of the fall of Mandu . Baz Bahadur fled to Khandesh . Pyari Jan was a famous nautch girl of Delhi in 1815. From time immemorial Indian poets have sung praises of the 'public woman', the professional entertainer. The epics give us

2618-616: The colonial period in the early 20th century, further waves of Jat conversions, from Hinduism to Sikhism, continued during the preceding decades. Writing about the Jats of Punjab , the Sikh author Khushwant Singh opined that their attitude never allowed themselves to be absorbed in the Brahminic fold. The British played a significant role in the rise of Sikh Jat population by encouraging Hindu Jats to convert to Sikhism so as to get larger number of Sikh recruits for their army. In Punjab ,

2695-443: The colonial period. During much of this time, non-elite tillers and pastoralists, such as the Jats or Ahirs , were part of a social spectrum that blended only indistinctly into the elite landowning classes at one end, and the menial or ritually polluting classes at the other. During the heyday of Mughal rule, Jats had recognized rights. According to Barbara D. Metcalf and Thomas R. Metcalf : Upstart warriors, Marathas, Jats, and

2772-445: The dark flashing eyes, and unrestrained passion, of an Indian natch girl. Very few English admire this exhibition on the first representation, but by repetition it ceases to disgust, and at length, in many cases, comes to form the chief enjoyment of life. It is a fact, however, that whenever this fatal taste is acquired, the moral being of the man becomes more and more enervated, until its healthier European characteristics that are lost in

2849-454: The death of Walter Reinhardt in 1778, she succeeded to his principality yielding about £90,000 per annum. Over time, she became powerful, ruling over a large area from Sardhana, Uttar Pradesh . Her conduct in the internal management of her estate was highly commendable. On 7 May 1781, aged around thirty, Begum Samru was baptized Joanna Nobilis , by a Roman Catholic priest. Throughout her life, she had only one friend, Begum Umdaa, belonging to

2926-665: The deity for rest of the month was distributed among the prominent Jat families of the area. In 1818, Bharawas district was disbanded and Gurugram was made a new district. In 1821, the Bharaswas cantonment was also moved to Hidayatpur in Gurugram. The palace built by her in Sardhana near Meerut was the centre of much activity during the reign of Mughal Emperor, Akbar Shah. Shah Alam II , the predecessor and father of Akbar Shah, regarded Begum Samru as his daughter. He did so because

3003-467: The earliest rebel leaders who fought against the Mughal rule during Aurangzeb 's era. The Hindu Jat kingdom reached its zenith under Maharaja Suraj Mal (1707–1763). The community played an important role in the development of the martial Khalsa panth of Sikhism. By the 20th century, the landowning Jats became an influential group in several parts of North India, including Punjab , Western Uttar Pradesh , Rajasthan , Haryana and Delhi . Over

3080-474: The earliest significant historical Sikh figures, and significant numbers of conversions occurred as early as the time of Guru Angad (1504–1552), the first large-scale conversions of Jats is commonly held to have begun during the time of Guru Arjan (1563–1606). While touring the countryside of eastern Punjab, he founded several important towns like Tarn Taran Sahib , Kartarpur , and Hargobindpur which functioned as social and economic hubs, and together with

3157-427: The emperor, Shah Alam II , blind and feeble, was in pursuit of Najaf Quli Khan and trying to quell the rebellion stirred up by him, an incident occurred at Gokalgarh that brought the Begum closer to Shah Alam. Seeing that the emperor's troops were wavering in their resolve to attack the rebel leader, she advanced with a force of 100 men and whatever big guns she had and opened fire on Najaf Quli Khan and his men. This did

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3234-533: The formerly well tolerated courtesans of Lahore , and even less interested in spending lavish sums upon them. The Victorian purity movement, which spread from England to the colonies and the Indian mutiny of 1857 further reinforced these views on local practices such as dancing girls which were seen as lewd by the Victorian standards of the British Raj. British women were imported into India (and modern day Pakistan) as respectable wives to replace local mistresses. In

3311-480: The geographical strengths of these religions. During the decline of Mughal rule in the early 18th century, the Indian subcontinent 's hinterland dwellers, many of whom were armed and nomadic, increasingly interacted with settled townspeople and agriculturists. Many new rulers of the 18th century came from such martial and nomadic backgrounds. The effect of this interaction on India's social organization lasted well into

3388-464: The homes of their richer patrons who were customarily obliged to pay them. They performed everywhere, in the homes of their patrons, public places or on stage, also in Mughal courts, palaces of nawabs , mahals (castles) of rajas , bungalows of British officers, homes of nobles , havelis (mansions) of zamindars (landowners) and many other places. They [nautch girls] are extremely delicate in their person, soft and regular in their features, with

3465-561: The imperial lines of communications had by the end of the century spawned a range of petty states linked by marriage alliance and religious practice. The Jats had moved into the Gangetic Plain in two large migrations, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries respectively. They were not a caste in the usual Hindu sense, for example, in which Bhumihars of the eastern Gangetic plain were; rather they were an umbrella group of peasant-warriors. According to Christopher Bayly: This

3542-421: The increased militarization of the Sikh panth following the martyrdom of Guru Arjan (beginning during the era of Guru Hargobind and continuing after) and its large Jat presence may have reciprocally influenced each other. At least eight of the 12 Sikh Misls (Sikh confederacies) were led by Jat Sikhs, who would form the vast majority of Sikh chiefs. According to censuses in gazetteers published during

3619-423: The inheritance issue. Begum Samru was of slight stature, (never growing more than 4'8'' tall), fair complexion and distinguished by exceptional leadership abilities of an uncommon order. More than once, she headed her own troops in action. She was reportedly of Kashmiri descent. When she was in her early teens, she married (or started living with) a mercenary soldier Walter Reinhardt Sombre of Luxembourg , who

3696-487: The initiative or leadership qualities to command large military formations. The British had a policy of recruiting the martial Indians from those who has less access to education as they were easier to control. According to modern historian Jeffrey Greenhunt on military history, "The Martial Race theory had an elegant symmetry. Indians who were intelligent and educated were defined as cowards, while those defined as brave were uneducated and backward". According to Amiya Samanta,

3773-743: The like, as coherent social groups with military and governing ideals, were themselves a product of the Mughal context, which recognized them and provided them with military and governing experience. Their successes were a part of the Mughal success. As the Mughal empire faltered, there were a series of rural rebellions in North India. Although these had sometimes been characterized as "peasant rebellions", others, such as Muzaffar Alam , have pointed out that small local landholders, or zemindars , often led these uprisings. The Sikh and Jat rebellions were led by such small local zemindars, who had close association and family connections with each other and with

3850-619: The long period of Hindu rule in Sind. Between the eleventh and the sixteenth centuries, Jat herders at the Sind migrated up along the river valleys, into the Punjab, which may have been largely uncultivated in the first millennium. Many took up tilling in regions such as western Punjab , where the sakia (water wheel) had been recently introduced. By early Mughal times, in the Punjab, the term "Jat" had become loosely synonymous with "peasant", and some Jats had come to own land and exert local influence. The Jats had their origins in pastoralism in

3927-509: The martial race was chosen from people of mercenary spirit (a soldier who fights for any group or country that will pay him/her), as these groups lacked nationalism as a trait. The Jats participated in both World War I and World War II , as a part of the British Indian Army. In the period subsequent to 1881, when the British reversed their prior anti-Sikh policies, it was necessary to profess Sikhism in order to be recruited to

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4004-469: The mid-nineteenth century, with the spread of western education and pressure from the increased number of Christian missionaries after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, dance was stigmatized and shunned by Europeans and Indians alike. Consequently, nautch girls abandoned by their patrons were often forced to take up prostitution for survival, and by the early 20th century the respectable art of

4081-462: The nautch girls. The former performed dances, mostly Indian classical dances, including the ritual dances, in the precincts of the Hindu temples to please the temple deities, whereas the nautch girls performed nautches for the pleasure of men. In 1917, attributing the adjective to a woman in India would suggest her entrancing skill, tempting style and alluring costume could mesmerize men to absolute obedience. Earlier, devotional dances were performed in

4158-614: The nautch had acquired a derogatory connotation. Jat people The Jat people , also spelt Jaat and Jatt , are a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India and Pakistan . Originally pastoralists in the lower Indus river -valley of Sindh , many Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in late medieval times, and subsequently into the Delhi Territory , northeastern Rajputana , and

4235-540: The other Jagirdar family of Sardhana, who became her closest friend and remained so until her death. Even after Begum Umdaa was married, Begum Samru took out time to visit her to Meerut in good and bad. Farzana was courted by some of the European officers who were associated with her husband. Among them were Le Vassoult, a Frenchman, and George Thomas , an Irishman. The Begum favoured the Frenchman and when, in 1793,

4312-416: The pastoralist Jats had little exposure to any of the mainstream religions. Only after they became more integrated into the agrarian world did the Jats adopt the dominant religion of the people in whose midst they dwelt. Over time the Jats became primarily Muslim in the western Punjab, Sikh in the eastern Punjab, and Hindu in the areas between Delhi Territory and Agra, with the divisions by faith reflecting

4389-469: The peasants under them, and who were often armed. These communities of rising peasant-warriors were not well-established Indian castes, but rather quite new, without fixed status categories, and with the ability to absorb older peasant castes, sundry warlords, and nomadic groups on the fringes of settled agriculture. The Mughal Empire, even at the zenith of its power, functioned by devolving authority and never had direct control over its rural grandees. It

4466-521: The post-independence situation. Through this participation they have been able to significantly influence the politics of North India . Economic differentiation, migration and mobility could be clearly noticed amongst the Jat people. Jats are classified as Other Backward Class (OBC) in seven of India's thirty-six States and UTs , namely Rajasthan , Himachal Pradesh , Delhi , Uttarakhand , Uttar Pradesh , Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh . However, only

4543-399: The professional troupe]. Begum Samru (christened as Joanna Nobilis Sombre) was an 18th-century ruler who started her life as a nautch girl and became ruler of Sardhana , a small principality near Meerut and the only ever Catholic ruler of India. She rose to prominence through marriage to her European husband Walter Reinhardt Sombre and inherited his estate after his death. She is buried in

4620-478: The rumour spread that she had married him, her troops mutinied. The couple sought to escape secretly by night - Le Vassoult on horseback and the Begum in a palanquin. Misinformed that Le Vassoult had been shot, she stabbed herself but survived. Her lover, however, died of a self-inflicted wound to the head. One version has it that she suggested a suicide pact but only nicked herself when the unsuspecting Le Vassoult shot himself dead. When British General Lord Lake met

4697-477: The seventh century, the chief tribal groupings they found were the Jats and the Med people . These Jats are often referred as Zatts in early Arab writings. The Muslim conquest chronicles further point at the important concentrations of Jats in towns and fortresses of Lower and Central Sindh. Today, Muslim Jats are found in Pakistan and India. While followers important to Sikh tradition like Baba Buddha were among

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4774-427: The temples by the devdasi for spiritual reasons only. During the mughal era , dance for entertainment became popular, and many rulers took dance girls in their entourages even at their battle-camps. The early British migrants to India were often given tawaifs as welcome gifts or rewards. In 18th century, young princes were sent to nautch girls to learn tehzeeb (elegance and court manners) and culture. During

4851-423: The total population. In the 20th century and more recently, Jats have dominated as the political class in Haryana and Punjab. Some Jat people have become notable political leaders, including the sixth Prime Minister of India, Charan Singh and the sixth Deputy Prime Minister of India, Chaudhary Devi Lal . Consolidation of economic gains and participation in the electoral process are two visible outcomes of

4928-540: The trick and Najaf sought the Begum's help to make his peace with Shah Alam. Thankful for her intervention, the emperor bestowed special honours on her at the royal court and declared her to be "his most beloved daughter". Not only that, she was also confirmed in her estate at Sardhana, which was the subject of a dispute with Louis Balthazar alias Nawab Zafaryab Khan, another son of her late husband, General Sombre, by his first wife, Badi Bibi (senior wife).Until his death, Emperor Shah Alam and his major wives treated her almost as

5005-563: The two communities. The claim at that time of Kshatriya status was being made by the Arya Samaj , which was popular in the Jat community. The Arya Samaj saw it as a means to counter the colonial belief that the Jats were not of Aryan descent but of Indo-Scythian origin. During the colonial period, many communities including Hindu Jats were found to be practicing female infanticide in different regions of Northern India. A 1988 study of Jat society pointed out that differential treatment

5082-574: The unavailability of precise statistics in this regard. His estimation is based on a late 1980s population projection of Jats and the population growth of India and Pakistan. He also notes that some estimates put their total population in South Asia at approximately 43 million in 2009. In India, multiple 21st-century estimates put Jats' population share at 20–25% in Haryana state and at 20–35% in Punjab state. In Rajasthan, Delhi, and Uttar Pradesh, they constitute around 9%, 5%, and 1.2% respectively of

5159-468: The voluptuous indolence that enthrals the generality of the western Asiatics. The " zamindari nautch" patronised by the Zamindar of Baghmundi was known as the araiha , in which two or four nautch girls and two jhumar singers in company of about 20 male dancers took part in the singing and dancing. Part of the songs were repeated by the dancing girls and by the male dancers, and the nautch girls formed

5236-462: The western Gangetic Plain in the 17th and 18th centuries. Of Hindu , Muslim and Sikh faiths, they are now found mostly in the Indian states of Punjab , Haryana , Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan and the Pakistani regions of Sindh , Punjab and AJK . The Jats took up arms against the Mughal Empire during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Gokula , a Hindu Jat landlord was among

5313-523: The word that she was a witch who could destroy her enemies just by throwing her cloak towards them. Her army occupied the left of the Maratha line at the battle of Assaye and hers was the only part of the Maratha force that was not driven in disarray from the battlefield. Having annihilated an advance by the 74th Highlanders and a picket detachment commanded by a Colonel Orrock , her army then withstood

5390-520: The years, several Jats abandoned agriculture in favour of urban jobs, and used their dominant economic and political status to claim higher social status. On 13 April, International Jat Day is celebrated every year all around the world. The Jats are a paradigmatic example of community- and identity-formation in early modern Indian subcontinent . "Jat" is an elastic label applied to a wide-ranging community from simple landowning peasants to wealthy and influential Zamindars . A female Jat

5467-449: Was a society where Brahmins were few and male Jats married into the whole range of lower agricultural and entrepreneurial castes. A kind of tribal nationalism animated them rather than a nice calculation of caste differences expressed within the context of Brahminical Hindu state. By the mid-eighteenth century, the ruler of the recently established Jat kingdom of Bharatpur , Raja Surajmal , felt sanguine enough about durability to build

5544-484: Was also ruled by Begum Samru. Begum Samru Place at Gurugram lies between Badshahpur - Jharsa in Gurgaon . The pargana of Badshahpur-Jharsa was ruled by Begum Samru. She built a palace for herself between Badshahpur and Jharsa. Jharsa was the place of Samru's principal cantonment. Parts of her fort compound have been completely lost to encroachments. Palace building is located between Gurgaon and Jharsa village, which

5621-570: Was built in a garden gifted by Akbar Shah , a later day mughal, to the Begum when he ascended the throne after the death of Shah Alam II in 1806. Her palatial building still stands in Chandni Chowk, New Delhi. It is currently owned by the Central Bank of India , Chandni Chowk Branch. Begum Samru died on 27 January 1836 at the age of 82 or 83 and was buried under the Basilica of Our Lady of Graces which she had built. The Begum Samru

5698-463: Was introduced in the beginning of the 20th century. Musicians performed while standing in the courts, palaces and the homes of rich patrons. They performed while sitting in the homes of poor patrons and in public performances. Singers of the nautch party used thumri , dadra , ghazal and geet . A mama , usually an older and experienced maidservant, who sat in a corner of the dais preparing paan (betel nut) and beedi (Indian cigar) for patrons,

5775-483: Was operating in India. Walter Reinhardt Sombre, then 45 years old, came to Chawri Bazar and fell for the charms of Farzana, then a tawaif of 14, says Johan Lall in his "Begum Samru - Faded Portrait in a Gilded Frame". A soldier of fortune, Sombre moved from Lucknow to Rohilkhand (near Bareilly), then to Agra, Deeg and Bharatpur and back to the Doab. Farzana helped him in those times of intrigue and counter-intrigue. On

5852-688: Was responsible for taking care of nautch girls, their meals, and safekeeping of the jewelry worn by them. A muhafiz was an unarmed guard who maintained order, acted as usher, and ensured protection during performance and travel. Mashalchis (one or two lamp bearers) of the troupe were responsible for the lighting during night performances. The tent was most glaringly lighted, massaulchis or torch-bearers stood here and there ready to attend to any person who might require them…we had scarcely seated ourselves ere two of them made their appearance, floating into our presence, all tinsel colored muslin and ornaments: they were followed by three musicians, and attended by

5929-688: Was these zemindars who gained most from these rebellions, increasing the land under their control. The triumphant even attained the ranks of minor princes, such as the Jat ruler Badan Singh of the princely state of Bharatpur. In 1669, the Hindu Jats, under the leadership of Gokula , rebelled against the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in Mathura . The community came to predominate south and east of Delhi after 1710. According to historian Christopher Bayly Men characterised by early eighteenth century Mughal records as plunderers and bandits preying on

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