ABSTRACT
This chapter shows the historical continuity between the organization of factions in the past and in the present. It relates a relevant section of the history of the Jats in order to illustrate the historical persistence of the faction as a traditional mode of political organization in the rural areas. The history of the Jats during the eighteenth century appears to have been characterized by uniformity in the pattern of political allegiance and in the type of political situation generally current at any given time. Throughout history the community has been broken into various political coalitions and never represented by any single political allegiance or alliance. Unwittingly, the effect of this pattern has always been that it has been pregnant with the possibilities of guarding the community on all fronts or of betraying it on all fronts.
