The Jat Regiment, also known as The Royal Jats, is an infantry regiment of the Indian Army, of which it is one of the longest-serving and most decorated regiments. The regiment has won 19 Battle Honours between 1839 and 1947, and post-independence it has won five Battle Honours, including 2 Ashok Chakra, 1 Victoria Cross, 2 George Cross, 11 Kirti Chakra, 8 Mahavir Chakra, 3 Military Medal, 53 Shaurya Chakras, 38 Vir Chakras and 343 Sena Medals. During its 200-year service history, the regiment has participated in various actions and operations in India and abroad, including the First and the Second World Wars.
The Regiment claims its origins from the Calcutta Native Militia, that was raised as a garrison unit for local guard duties in 1795, which later became an infantry battalion of the Bengal Army. Following the Indian Rebellion of 1857, many of the units of the Bengal Army were disbanded. Jats from the areas of today's western Uttar Pradesh and areas around Delhi were recruited to put down the Gurjar rebellion towards the end of 1857 and the beginning of 1858. After 1860, there was a substantial increase in the recruitment of Jats into the British Indian Army. From 1892, there was a move to convers infantry battalions to pure class/caste composition battalions. Two battalions of Hindu Jats - the 6th (Jat) Regiment of Bengal (Light) Infantry and 10th Jat Infantry Regiment were formed from the 6th Bengal Infantry and 10th Bengal Infantry. Following World War I, there was an expansion in the number of battalions and both the regiments raised an additional battalion. Following the war, the composition of the Jat regiments were changed to 50% Hindu Jats, 25% Punjabi Mussalmans and 25% Rajput Mussalmans.
Following the reorganisation of 1922, the 9th Jat Regiment was formed by merging four active battalions and one training battalion into a single regiment. The oldest battalion joining the Regiment was the 18th Infantry Regiment, which traced its unbroken history to the Calcutta Native Militia, raised in 1795. The prefix 9th came from this battalion, which was ninth in the seniority of raising of still surviving battalions raised by the East India Company.
The new Jat Regiment received Muslim troops from the disbanded 5th Light Infantry and 17th Loyal Infantry Regiment in January 1922. 2/6 Royal Jat LI, which was raised from within 6 Jat (LI) was designated the training battalion and the depot and started functioning in Bareilly from 1 January 1922. Troops from 1/6 Royal Jat LI, 2/6 Royal Jat LI and 10th Jats were distributed to the two other new battalions. The fifth Battalion of the Regiment was raised by amalgamating elements of two disbanded battalions of the Bombay Army, the 2nd and 3rd/150th Infantry Regiment, and adding troops from the 6th Jat Light Infantry. 119 Infantry Regiment (Mooltan) of the erstwhile Bombay Army formed the 2nd battalion. Its class composition was 50% Meo Rajputs from Rajputana and the balance being Hindu Gurjars and Muslims from the Deccan and the United Provinces. Since its class composition was different from the 9th Jat Regiment, all the existing personnel were posted out and troops from 21 different units were posted-in to form a composition of 50% Hindu Jats and 25% Muslim Rajputs (Ranghars), and 25% Punjabi Muslims.
The reorganisation plan included raising one territorial battalion for protection of home territories, the first TA battalion was raised in Meerut on 11 March 1922 as the 11th Bn/9th JAT Regiment, Indian Territorial Force. By mid 1924, the organisation stabilised with the presence of three regular, one TA and one training battalion. In 1930, two battalions of the Grenadiers were added to the Regiment and the 10th Training Battalion of the 9th Jat Regiment was renamed the 10th Battalion, 4th/9th Regiments. With World War II, there was an expansion of the army and training of recruits for the Grenadiers was moved out of Bareilly on 15 July 1941 to Nasirabad. The Jat Centre reverted to its old designation of the 10th Battalion, the 9th Jat Regiment. During the war, the TA battalion converted to a regular battalion and designated as 7/9 Jat. New units of were raised between July 1940 and August 1943 (4th, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15 as active battalions, 25, 26 and 27 Garrison battalions, and a Machine Gun battalion). Most of them were disbanded after the war between March and December 1946. Vide the Indian Army Order number 134/S/45, the prefixed numeral of 'Ninth' was dropped of on 28 November 1945 and the regiment was designated simply as "The Jat Regiment". Post partition, the Muslim troops left for the newly formed Pakistani army (to the 16th Punjab Regiment and Frontier Force Regiment); with the Jat Regiment taking in Hindu Jat troops from the Punjab Regiments (mainly the 15th Punjab Regiment) allotted to Pakistan.
Soldiers of the Jat Regiment are recruited predominantly from the from the Hindu Jat community of Northern India (89%) and the rest from Sikh Jats. These Jats are from Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi, and Uttar Pradesh, with the exception of three battalions whose ethnic make-up is as follows -
Under the Agnipath Scheme, recruitment from other classes would happen.
The regimental insignia presently consists of The Roman numeral nine representing its ninth position in the regimental hierarchy of the Indian Army of the 1920s. It is surmounted by the national emblem of India â the Ashoka lion capital (which replaced the crown after independence in 1954), while a scroll below bears the title 'Jat Regiment' in capitals. The insignia also has a bugle indicating the light infantry antecedents of two of its battalions, 1 and 2/6 Jat LI. The shoulder titles are in brass with the word 'Jat' in capitals. Prior to 1955, the shoulder titles had the words '9 Jats' in capitals mounted by the tudor crown. The present uniform of the Jat Regiment includes a dark blue lanyard on the left shoulder.
The motto of the regiment is Sangathan Va Veerta, which translates to Unity And Valour. The battle cry, adopted in 1955, in Hindi, is à ¤Âà ¤¾à ¤ à ¤¬à ¤²à ¤µà ¤¾à ¤¨, à ¤Âà ¤¯ à ¤Âà ¤Âà ¤µà ¤¾à ¤¨ (IAST: JÃÂt BalwÃÂn, Jai BhagwÃÂn) (The Jat is Powerful, Victory Be to Lord!).
The regimental colours - blue, yellow and green represent the colours of the flags of 3rd, 2nd and 1st battalions of the Jat Regiment respectively.
In the 1920s, when the offices of the Eastern Command headquarters were moving from the winter headquarters in Lucknow to its summer headquarters in Nainital, the GOC-in-C of Eastern Command, General Sir George de Symons Barrow and his wife Sybilla Barrow halted en route at Bareilly. Sybilla Barrow who wanted to draw a ideal young Jat, painted the Subedar Major of the Jat Regimental Centre - Mauji Ram and made another one as she imagined how he would have looked as a young recruit. These paintings are now displayed at the Jat Regimental Centre, Bareilly. Subedar Major (Honorary Captain) Mauji Ram's image is an iconic symbol and is often displayed as a regimental symbol.
The Jat Regimental Centre is located in Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh. It traces its origins to the raising of Calcutta Native Militia on 10 July 1795. It went through the following changes - 1859 - The Alipore Regiment, 1861 - 22nd Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry (on conversion to Infantry of the line), 1861 - 18th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry, 1864 - 18th (The Alipore) Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry, 1885 - 18th Regiment of Bengal Infantry, 1902 - 18th Musalman Rajput Infantry, 1903 - 18th Infantry, 1922 - 10th Bn, the 9th Jat Regiment (along with 2nd Bn, 6th Jat Light Infantry Regiment and elements of 1/50th Kumaon) as the Training Centre, 1923 - Amalgamation with the elements of the disbanded 4th Bn, the 9th Jat Regiment, with the Training Battalion receiving the identity and seniority of the 18th Infantry, 1930 - 10th Bn, the 4th/9th Regiments (Combined training centre of the 4th Bombay Grenadiers and the 9th Jat Regiment), 1941 - 10th Bn, the 9th Jat Regiment (after the demerger of 4th Bombay Grenadiersâ training companies), 1942 - Regimental Centre, the 9th Jat Regiment and finally in 1945 as The Jat Regimental Centre.
The Jat Regiment has 27 Battalions including 21 regular infantry battalions, 4 Rashtriya Rifles battalions and 2 Territorial Army battalions, as of August 2020. -
When a unit is decorated for counter-insurgency operations, unit citations are given instead of battle or theatre honours.
ï - indicates that the award was given posthumously.
The Jat Regiment is affiliated to INS Trishul of the Indian Navy on 20 January 2009. It was affiliated with the No. 24 Squadron of the Indian Air Force on 19 November 2010.
Operations following the designation as a Jat Regiment -