Brief: Don't know much about how it works in other communities, but bringing the detailed point-to-point description of
"Gaut System" found in Farming Communities
(Especially Jats of Khapland). Bringing you the concept of "Gender Equality" which if implemented in its purest form is the base of this system, which has got diluted with time. If someone wish to understand this please go through this article and you shall cheris how sensitive were our elders about their identity, gender equality and social security. Its much beyond just a routine explanation of medical and genetic theory, System of Gaut of Jats is much above and varied concept.
Article comprises of following sections:
- Preface
- What is Gaut of Kheda?
- Gaut and gender equality
- Prevalence of Gaut in relations of various formats
- Pros and cons of Gaut system
- How it works in cities
- Conclusion/Results
1. Preface: “Gaut” system is not something that pertains only to one caste, society, human group, religion or region. It is a worldwide fact found with different notations like
“Surname”, “Nom”, “Gaut”, “Sub-caste” etc. Norms and ethics built up around it vary from country to country, state to state and religion to religion but is a minimum common identifier throughout world. When we see it in Indian context for Hindu religion, North India and South India emerge in picture.
Region and context at the focus of this article is the North Indian Hindu Gaut system found in almost 300 kms radius of Dilli, and is as old as the Satyug, Ramayana and Mahabharta. Gaut of all Brahmin castes are based on names of various Maharishies. Among business, warrior and farming classes, generally it comes through
“Khap System” and is related to ones work, bravery and deeds made and established by respective ancestors
(norms set up on gaut by Khap system have been followed by almost all original and ancient classes of so called Khapland belts till date). Skilled labor classes are also found following the same system in their respective castes. Some Gauts are found in more than two or more castes, for example,
Ehdi caste
(ST category) in my village claims to be the descendents of
Rajputs and shares a common Gaut
“NAYAK”. Similarly
“MALIK” and
“PUNIA” Gaut are found both in Jats as well as Ravidasies.
"MALIK" gaut is even found in Hindu Khatries and Muslims.
I was born and brought up in this system so have been observing both sides of the coin since infant age.
Interesting about this research is that there are some extremely wonderful examples found on gender equality, which in fact motivated me to bring this research to public. Our study elaborates that Gaut system is the spinal bone of a village social system, especially a village like mine. Before proceeding to next, I should not forget to mention that my village is at the focal point of this article as a reference (see the complete list of
castes habituating in my village).
2. Gaut of Kheda is defined as:
“The very first Gaut of each caste found at the time of settling down of a village or you can say at the time of laying down the stone of village establishment, which is called as
“Dada Nagar Kheda”. For example in Nidana, Gaut of Kheda is Malik for Jats, Bhardwaj for Brahmins, Garg for Baniyas, Nayak for Ehdies and so on for all other castes might settled down in village at that time.
Parallel to this, village ancestors established a liberal philosophy towards life, which is described as
"the liberty for residing of anyone in village with gesture of brotherhood". So people coming to reside in village on later times would be liberal to settle and practice either of theirs or village' traditions. But to keep the concept of equality of gender which is directly related to Gaut of Kheda, the new settlers would be abiding by minimum norms of village identity. And Gaut of Kheda was put under one of these norms.
3. Gaut and gender equality:
When peeped into the psycological build up of "Gaut of Kheda System" author finds that it is run by the theory of gender equality, i.e.
“Gaut of Kheda should prevail for posterities of village' sons and daughters both when either of them chooses/comes to reside or stay in village.” Generally Gaut is seen in relation to male dominancy whereas truth is more auspicious and cheering than that when it comes to farming community of Khap belt especially.
Gaut of Kheda has nothing to do with male dominancy; it is rather pretained to village identity.
While studying the village on Gaut topic, I came across some families which are known as
Dhani ki Aulad, means posterity of village daughter. Before this even I was carrying the similar opinion that a village is the habitat to posterity of son only. But when investigated further about the story of almost 20 families in my village, I found that they are the posterity of my
Cousin Grand-Bua (in distant group of my village) who lived some four or five generations ago and living in their maternal village with their mother Gaut Malik since then. Whereas and according to Hindu traditional system, their Gaut ought to be the Gaut of their father i.e. of Jamai of our village. This put me under another question, how it comes?
In answer to that village elders told me that our ancestors set a rule that “गाँव में बसने वाली औलादें वो चाहे गाँव की बेटी की हों या गाँव के बेटे की, उनके लिए गोत्र गाँव के खेड़े का चलेगा, इसमें लिंगभेद नहीं होगा और खेड़े का गोत्र सर्वोपरी रहेगा| उन्होंने कहा कि गाँव में बहु बसे या जमाई, गोत्र गाँव के खेड़े का चलेगा, बहु और जमाई के अपने गोत्र पीछे छूट जायेंगे| मतलब गाँव की बेटी के गाँव में बसने पर बेटी का गोत्र (यानि गाँव के खेड़े का गोत्र) ही उसकी औलादों का गोत्र होगा, जमाई वाला नहीं|"
means Gaut of Kheda for a particular caste should remain unique and primary because this will keep your history, identity and posterities of both genders intact.
Then I asked them, what Gaut’s you avoid for marriage of your posterity? They said that in a similar way, as you do. You leave yours and your mother’s Gaut, we leave ours and our father’s Gaut. Then I asked them why not to call it as adoption system?
They replied that there is a difference in both. In adoption you adopt the both Gaut’s from your adopted parents whereas here you carry both Gaut’s of your original parents. First time I saw such a big example of male and female equality in a region, which is or made infamous on the issue of gender equality.
Analytical postmortem: Beside the biological genetic reports submitted in defense of Gaut system, here comes another point, which I think is of the highest ethics and attributive in approach. That Gaut is not only related to your blood but to your identity and history too. And I don’t find anything wrong in it, rather felt amazed when saw a wonderful example of male and female equality.
4. Prevalence of Gaut in relations of various formats:
This table describes the standard ethical parameters for how to call a woman of your gaut (your sister) married in your close relations:
Sr. |
Relation Format |
If she belongs to your Gaut |
If she is out of your Gaut |
1 |
Wife of uncle from mother side (MAMA) and grand-mother side (CHACHA) |
Haryana village ideal ethical norms say that she will be your "BUA" but "BHAAT" can not be practiced because she is "BAHU" of house of your mother or grand-mother and your mother can't stand on door-step of her parents as "SAHLE" to her siblings. You would call your "MAMA" as "MAMA" and "CHACHA" as "CHACHA" and her as your "BUA" as on relation level she would be considered as sister to your father. You and your father would be giving money to her on each travel to your "MAMA" home as per custom. |
She will be your "MAMI" and "CHACHI" respectively. |
2 |
Wife of cousin from mother side (brother) and grand-mother side (brother) |
Haryana village ideal ethical norms say that she will be your "SISTER" but "BHAAT" can not be practiced because she is "BAHU" of house of your mother or grand-mother and your mother can't stand on door-step of her parents as "SAHLE" to her siblings. You would call your "Cousin" as "Cousin" and her as your "SISTER" as on relation level she would be in cousin band. You would be giving money to her on each travel to your "MAMA" home ("DADA" home for your children) as per custom. |
She will be your "BHABHI" in both cases. |
5. Pros and cons of Gaut system:
- Newness
Cons: It’s not a new concept Dhayani (Dhaani) is very familiar concept among Jats and rural communities of Haryanvi and Punjabi.
Pros: This may be new and first time know how or hear fact for rural descendents who are born and brought up in cities.
- Adoption versus Dhaani
Cons: It is similar to adoption system.
Pros: There is a difference in both. In adoption, you adopt the both gaut’s from your newly adopted parents whereas in Dhaani ki Aulaad system, you carry the gaut’s of your original parents. Gaut of mother as your primary gaut and father's as secondary.
- Connotation
Cons: In a male dominated society gaut of children is known after father's gaut while mother plays only a submissive role.
Pros: Gaut of Kheda of village has nothing to do with male dominancy. It may be true in urban context but in rural both male and female have equal consideration under “Gaut of Kheda” system. Read “Gaut and gender equality” section above.
- Kheda and identity
Cons: Single Kheda does not represent the whole society.
Pros: Kheda is not of one caste or society rather of all castes and their very first gaut of the time when village was settled down. It can also be defined using "Maslow's theory of needs" which states that self identity and group identity are the ultimate symptoms of a human being and so provides the gaut of kheda. So it is related more to village origination identity, one's social relishing.
- Majoritarian versus Gender Equality
Cons: Gaut of Kheda promotes majoritarian?
Pros: Very broad concept, one needs to understand the pre and post new gaut entry situations of village, which happen like this:
Situation pre-new gaut enters a village, for example, my village was a single gaut village almost a half century ago. At that time village was free to marry their children in any gaut except gaut of kheda. Malik gaut people of my village got married to many girls from “Rathi” gaut, who were called as "Bahu-Bhabhi".
Situation post-new gaut entered the village, almost 50 years ago a family of “Rathi” gaut comes for rehabilitation from somewhere in my village; a village whose social system is run by the rule of “Gaam and Gaut”. But another rule set by our ancestors was of humanity, brotherhood and freedom of abode for anyone anywhere on earth. Following this rule “Rathi” family was welcomed in village. But as per rule of “Gaam and Gaut” they were told that as in our village there are already many “Bahus-Bhabhies” from your gaut and we won’t be able to consider them as our daughters/sisters as it would be the insult to relation they are already aligned in, but yes your daughters will be our village daughters/sisters as per the "Gaam and Gaut" system. They were told that you either adore our gaut or carry with yours but for later choise you are ought to take care of the dignity around the Gaut of Kheda a minimum while marrying your sons. So they happily agreed to former proposal and adorn "Malik" as their gaut and today that one family has grown up to a group of 10 families.
- Dictatorship versus gender equality
Cons: Other gaut’s can’t get marry to girls of “Gaut of Kheda”.
Pros: As per definition of “Gaut of Kheda” given under section “Gaut and gender equality”, allowing marrying and bringing brides from “Gaut of Kheda” will dissolve this concept. Moreover if it is about permitting then village already has girls from gaut of Kheda, so one need not to look for bride from gaut of kheda outside of village. And here come another contradiction that as per “Gaam and Got” concept, daughter of village can’t be bride of village son. So in order to protect these principals, it is prohibited for other gaut’s to get marry to girls from “Gaut of Kheda”.
Even people from Gaut of Kheda consider the girls of other gaut as their sisters and that too besides knowing the fact that there were/are many brides of other gaut already in village before entry of that gaut families (explained in point 5 above). It is also to avoid the situation where one may say that why in a village “Gaut of daughter” is not considered as “prime gaut for her posterity”, because when she goes to her in-laws, her posterity has to adorn gaut of their father as prime and hers as secondary. And if same will be followed for the case of her being habituating in her natal village then the sense of gender equality will be vanish from "Gaut of Kheda" system? So the purpose of “Gaut of Kheda” is served as' "whether it is the posterity of son of village or daughter of village residing in village, they should adore the gaut of their father for the case of posterity of son and gaut of their mother for the case of posterity of daughter (Dhaani ki aulaad)" and that is the "Gaut of Kheda" for both.
If still one says it as dictatorship of one group over the other then I should reply them this way: Haryana’s primary language is Hindi and secondary is Punjabi or Punjab’s primary language is Punjabi and secondary is Hindi, does it state any kind of dictatorship of one language group over the other? Or if all ten gurus in Sikhism belong to one caste only so should it be seen as dictatorship of one caste over the other on the name of religion? One further says where it come the Sikhism in this matter? Yes, it comes in the way as for one Sahni Khatri from Panchkula Khaps comes in his way and he filed an affidavit in court to ban the Khaps.
हालाँकि अगर अब कोई ये कहे कि फिर तो खेड़ा के गोत्र वालों को भी गाँव के दूसरे गोत्रों को शादी के वक्त छोड़ना चाहिए, तो ऐसी बात करने वाला यह भी जरूर देखे कि एक ऐसे दौर में जहां पहले से ही नानी और दादी के गोत्रों को हटा इस बोझ को कम किया जा रहा है या करने की वकालतें हो रहीं हैं, ऐसे में वो खुद ही अपनी बात के विपक्ष में जा के खड़ा हो रहा है| क्योंकि गाँव के दूसरे गोत्रों को जोड़ने से यह बोझ वापिस बढ़ेगा ही और कम नहीं होगा| और जब बात मलिक और दहिया जैसे बड़े गोत्रों की हो तो समस्या और भी जटिल हो जाती है|
- Old versus New
Cons: Every coin has two sides, in ancient times this majoritarian would have progressive and valid.
Pros: It is still valid. Take the example of 1947, when Pakistani Punjabi brothers migrated to almost every village of Haryana? Weren’t they welcomed open heartedly? Don't you think that if it would have the dictatorship of majoritairian of Gaut of Kheda, these brothers would have ever habituated here? Also they didn't adore any of your custom even after habituating here.
Another fresh and recent most example is of expatriates from other states, who inflow to our land from Bihar, Bangal, Nepal and other East-northern States in search of job and work. Did anyone objected or object their entry and habitation in our villages?
Imagine if the concept of "Gaut of Kheda" would not have been there, we would have lost our identity a long ago. Because we live in a region, which has been the most prone to foreign invaders' high ambitions of capturing our heart Dilli. I believe our ancestors would have been among the smartest races on earth, who knew very well how to save your identity by being in such uncertain situations and frequent amalgamation with other generations and human breeds. They must have given a thought to this also that even if their descendents will not write their history, this "Gaut of Kheda" concept will keep their identity intact. Though those invaders are gone but for us they are replaced by expatriates (employment and better life seekers from other sister states) now (as mentioned in above paragraph) and this inflow seems endless.
And in this way our community as a whole is/has been/will be capable of protecting our identity. And if we are still boasting of having oldest alive and still applicable social engineering system in world then and perhaps it should be due to our "Gaut of Kheda System", which sailed us intactly through the era of attacks by Mohmmad Gouri and Mahmood Gajanvi in 10th-11th centuries through colonial period then migration of population within India and now under the recent inflow of sister states expatriates. Some norms are like a divine boon to a community and this is proving so for us, the ancient Haryanvies, even today!
- Misconception
Cons: If girl resides in her parental village after marriage, she resides with her husband’s gaut as prime.
Pros: Knowingly or unknowingly you are taking opposite stand to gender equality concept defined under "Gaut of Kheda". Gaut of Kheda, provides the right to its daughter that incase of her being settled at natal village, her posterities will adopt her "Gaut" as prime and her husband's as secondary.
- Genetic Angle of Gaut
Cons: Gaut is to be understood in the parameters of genetics from scientific angle.
Pros: Gentical researches says that living and marrying within one group/gaut ends up with disappearing or reaching of full clans at the verge of disappearance like Parsi community in our country and many animal breeds disappeared in South Africa?
One research published in “The Tribune” of 18th May 1990, states on its page number 7 that according to doctor Sobti of Dayanand Medical College of Ludhiana there is a huge surplus of thalassaemia (a hereditary hemolytic disease caused by faulty hemoglobin synthesis) found 7.5 percent in communities migrated from Punjab of Pakistan. Report recommends them to do inter-caste or broadening the width of inter-gaut marriages to overcome this disease.
6. How it works in cities: Cities have been the center of commerce, trade, employment and advanced education since ancient times. Consequently, have been the centers of attraction for generations across religions and castes. Rural populations have been migrating from villages to cities with sets of own cultures and ethical values. Despite changing in their profession and way of life, they follow their rural roots when it comes to culture and cultural values.
About three decades ago this migration was not of much taste. People used to settle in older city colonies at those times. But now a day this flow is on exponential growth. When it comes to Haryana and cities falling in 300kms radius of Dilli, every newly developed sector, Urban Estates, Housing Board and Defense colonies are packed with population of people migrated from rural backgrounds.
But even then and as a reference to this article, they still follow the rituals and ethics inherited from their village ancestors and culture; of which “Gaut” is the strongest determinant. It is perhaps and because they still relate it to their social as well as historical identity and still practice it in auspicious matters like marriages and brotherhood.
Even after hailing from different villages and staying in same colony, they still leave gauts of self and mother a minimum while marrying their posterities. They still do meetings, form organizations, do get-togethers and social gatherings on the basis of same origin, gaut, caste and religion. Only the thing which has changed is that you may find the departure of Baaraat from front street and it's welcoming in back-street, this is obvious and understandable.
7. Conclusion: Gaut of Kheda promotes gender equality and preserves your social identity within same social group. As it is the integral interest of each social group to preserve the existence of their people, generations and symptoms so serves the purpose.
Disclaimer: Before making any mind on the basis of this article please consult it will your family or village elders. Our bad luck is that we are still struggling for getting the exact written records of these local and our own social and psychological theories. No one is seen discussing them on large scale across generations. And these historical and still ongoing ignorance perhaps are proving the reasons for some anti-social people to splotch one sided assumptions like dictatorship, majoritarian and 100% male dominancy on our system. Be aware and start discussing/asking these concepts from elders.
