1888 census returns figure for the total number of baptised Sikhs in India was 1,706,909 and the Jats accounted for 66%. Even though there are no up to date accurate available statistics, some people say their number is as high as 85%. No one could be associated with them for any time without conceiving both respect and liking for them".Īpproximately one third of Jats in South Asia follow Sikhism. In regard to the characteristics of the Jat Sikhs Captain Bingley quoted Thomason in 1899, "they are manly without false pride undemonstrative independent without insolence reserved in manner, but good-natured, light-hearted, and industrious. They thus colonized the Punjab, Northern Rajputana (modern Indian state of Rajasthan), and the western half of the Gangetic Doab (western part of the modern Indian state of Uttar Pardesh in northern India), and a considerable proportion of the inhabitants of these countries are undoubtly of Scythian origin". As far the origin of the Jat Sikhs or in that matter other Jats, Major Barstow remarked in 1928, "It is from these Scythian immigrants that most of the Jat tribes are at any rate partly descended. The Jats are thoroughly independent in character, and assert personal and individual freedom, as against communal or tribal control, more strongly than any other people".