1800 to 1900′s photographs and illustrations of the Hindu Jats
The Hindu Jats where a distinguished people in the South/East Punjab region (modern day Haryana), Eastern Rajputana (namely sovereign kingdoms of Bharatpur and Dholpur – modern day Rajasthan), Western UP (Meerut, Aligarh, Harda, etc…) and Rural Delhi, often forming a large percentage of the nobility, and occupying feudal rights over vast tracts of land.
Below are various photographs and illustrations, from British and French sources, of Jat Sirdars in the 19th Century:
Jat Nobles of Dholepore – “India and Its Native Princes by By Louis Rousselet, Charles Randolph Buckle”
Thakur Tej Singh – of Aligarh’s original Jat nobility of the Thenua Jats.
More about this clan in the book “The Jat Rules of Upper Doab” by Jagbir Singh
from ‘The People of India’, published from 1868 to the early 1870′s by W.H. Allen, for the India Office
Dhokul Singh – A Hindu Jat Landholder of Meerut
From ‘The People of India’, published from 1868 to the early 1870′s by W.H. Allen, for the India Office.
Maharaj Rana Bhagwan Singh of Dholepore
“India and Its Native Princes by By Louis Rousselet, Charles Randolph Buckle”
‘The Maharaj Rana Bhagwan Sing, an old man of about sixty, is a true specimen of the Jat warrior. He has a gentle but manly expression of countenance… …from his waist hung a formidable array of arms – a heavy katar, two short sabres, a dagger, and a brace of pistols; and he leaned on a large shield of transparent rhinoceros hide, embossed with gold’
Portrait of Sir Bhagwant Singh (d. 1873), Maharaj Rana of Dholpur from the ‘Album of cartes de visite portraits of Indian rulers and notables’ by Bourne and Shepherd, early 1870s. Dholpur [Dhaulpur], located in Rajasthan, was ruled by the Maharaj Ranas who belonged to the Bamraolia Jat clan. Bhagwant Singh succeeded his father, Kirat Singh the first Maharaj rana of Dholpur, in 1836 continuing to govern under British protection. In 1869 Bhagwant was created a Grand Commander of the Star of India for his loyalty during the Uprising of 1857. He was succeeded in 1873 by his grandson Nihal Singh. The expression of valor and aggression (Veerta) in the portrait is an important and common pose of the Maharajas of North-West India.