Is there a diff between Jat and Jaat?

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I am not sure if they are the same people or not.

‘Jat’ I think is a Punjabi family or biradari. A Jat could be either Muslim or Sikh. As far as I know, there are no Hindu Jat.

But ‘Jaat’ I have heard are mostly Hindus. There probably would be some Muslims too.

Jat homeland is Punjab and Jaat homeland is Rajasthan. But these two regions are very close, and names are similar too. So I am wondering if Jat and Jaat are the same people?! What do you think?

Just like Punjabi Sikhs, Jaat also use to have names ending with Singh.

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Re: Is there a diff between Jat and Jaat?

jaat is a zaat [caste] while jat/jut [as in hut] means ‘jaahil/illiterate’ as in 'jaahil/jut/gaNwaar as per my understanding.

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Re: Is there a diff between Jat and Jaat?

Jaat is a caste, as Araain, Rajput, Kashmiri Butt etc etc. Jatt, depending on which side of the border you are on, can also be simply a caste, or it can be a hetrogenous group of people. Jatt Muslims are those that converted from either Hinduism or Sikhism, and now Jatt is relegated to an identification marker of sorts. Within the Jatts of Pakistan there are other sub-groups. Jatt are traditionally Punjabi, farmers or laborers, aka peasant, and loads of Sikhs/Punjabi from India side classify themselves as Jatt. (Any quick listen to a Punjabi song will have at least one line celebrating their Jatt heritage/status). But they can be Hindu or Sikh. Jatt like I said was a term used for farmers or laborers and so because of that any farmer or laborer in Rajhstan/UP could be called a Jatt, possibly because of the proximity of these states/provinces.

TL;DR Jatt and Jaat are two different groups. I know more about the Jatt than I know about the Jaat.

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Re: Is there a diff between Jat and Jaat?

What Ess Emm said and

http://www.paklinks.com/gs/culture-literature-and-linguistics/599348-difference-between-jatt-and-jaat.html

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Re: Is there a diff between Jat and Jaat?

Jatt refers to the caste - in Punjabi communities.

Jaat - some people also use the term “jaat paat” refers to the caste system.

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Re: Is there a diff between Jat and Jaat?

Singh isn’t actually a last name which is considered Jatt - it was done precisely for the opposite reason, to get rid of the caste system and unite the Sikh community.
Jatt last names in the Sikh community refer to particular areas in North India where they are from - like Gill, Grewal, Dhillon, etc.

Singh is used nowadays by mostly Sikh men to unite their faith - and Kaur is used by their women. But not everyone uses this as a last name - most keep it as a middle name and maintain their last names which allow people to figure out which caste they are.

I actually learned this few weeks back when asking my Sikh friend.