Page:The Sikhs (Gordon).djvu/25

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ORIGIN OF THE SIKHS.
5

suits of war and peace according to the times.

The origin of the Jat tribe has been the subject of much discussion among distinguished oriental writers, but the weight of authority is all in favour of it being a relic of the Scythians, who at various times before and after the Christian era, swarming off from their camping-grounds in High Asia, pushed their way into the Punjab and established their dynasties there with the northern form of Budhism. The Indo-Aryans, who had occupied India many centuries before, vainly attempted to stem the torrent of these fresh invaders from the north, and waged constant war with them until, according to ancient legendary history, they gained a great victory in the middle of the sixth century a.d. and "freed India from the Huns," by which name these Scythians were also known. After this Budhism gradually gave way to the ascendancy of the Brahmans, under whose influence Hinduism had lost all resemblance