Jaga (Rajasthan)

Jagas are a social caste based group of people higher up in the Hindu hierarchy who held the traditional job of genealogists of primarily Rajput, Gurjar and Meenas^[1] families mainly in Rajasthan and surrounding states. They had power and a matching responsibility for accuracy as^[2] their testimony in legal matters was tenable in the courts. Jagas visited villages in their charge every two to three years to record the events and collect the customary fees in the form of cattle, elephants (from very rich patrons), grain and money to which they were entitled. Jagas have also been described as Bhats.^[2]

References

1. Rajasthan, Volume 1, K. S. Singh, Published by Popular Prakashan, 1998, pp.434
2. Sir Henry Miers Elliot (1869). Memoirs on the history, folk-lore, and distribution of the races of the North Western Provinces of India: being an amplified edition of the original supplemental glossary of Indian terms. Trübner & co. pp. 141–. Retrieved 11 June 2011.