Social Ethics Of Khap Panchayats

KHAP PANCHAYATS AMONG THE JATS OF NORTH-WEST:
A SOCIO-HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION OF MEDIEVAL PERIOD

ABSTRACT
Khap Panchayat is most thirsted area not only for social scientists but most disputed and controversial issue for media persons, social workers and political activists. Our Honorable Supreme Court has made some harsh and strict comments on these Khap Panchayats. Khap Panchayats may be wrong in their functioning and activities in present time but at the time of their origin and in medieval period they did perform a number of social, political, administrative and judiciary functions. They fought against invaders, provided external and internal security to the community. The volunteers of these Khap Panchayats participated in many wars
Exact origin of Khap Panchayats can not be found out but we may broadly consider the period of its development in 600 AD (Rajpurohit & Prakash 2015; Singhal, Malik & Malik 2013). But they attracted the attention of scholars only when the electronic media highlighted certain of their decisions which violated the human rights of individuals. These decisions were mainly related to marriages which violated the traditional moral code of conduct, especially the concept of village Bhaichara (brotherhood), Gotra Bhaichara (clan brotherhood) or Khap Bhaichara (brotherhood of persons belonging to same Khap, signifying equality within the Khap), which form the basis of community harmony in Indian villages, especially those in northern India (Sangwan 2009). Khap Panchayats are understood to have come into existence as a social system for maintenance mechanism in agrarian societies. They are the legacies of the tribal councils, formed by various tribes with a purpose of facilitating resolution of intra-tribal disputes and inter-tribal inter-course (Singh 2010). The Sarv-Khap Pancyayat, according to local beliefs, was organized in 7th century by emperor Harsha at Prayag (modern Allahabad). The written historical records of different Khap Panchayats and Sarva Khap Panchayats are evident that there was a meeting (10th Ashad, Samvat 1256, 1191 AD) of Sarva Khap Panchayats held at Tikri Village of Meerut which was attended by 60,000
The history of Jats is glorious not only in Mughal period but also in Delhi Saltnat. The informationin from the Chachnama, in 809 AD that Jats reared cattle in the area of Sindh (Chachnama). According notable historian Satish Chandra “The Jat living on the both sides of the river Jamuna has a strong sense of clan brotherhood and egalitarians reflected in their clan brotherhood with culminated in a Chhaap. The Chhaap was somewhat like a tribal Jirga, but was more hierarchical (Chandra 2006). During the phase of Delhi Saltnat, the Jats emerged as an important farmer community in the area of Punjab. Abul Fazl in his Ain-i-Akbari describes that Jat as among the best farmers in the north-western region . Later on, Jat acquired a large number of Zamidaris in Delhi and Agra Subas (Abul Fazl). The French writer Modave Comte writes: Although the Jats are gentle people and if they are not forced to take arm, they tame delight in farming on their fair will. For me, the hard work of the Jats are appreciable because of the facts, that they have not left to earth unploughed and their fields are far better maintained (Comte 1937). The position of Jats during the Mughal period was much strong than that of Saltnat. Ain-i-Akbari (1595AD) had lot of descriptions of Jat Zamidaris. During the 16th century Delhi Suba