The Zutt of Sindh
The earliest unambiguous written references to the community come from Arab historians after the conquest of Sindh (711–712 CE). Chroniclers of that campaign, and later writers such as al-Baladhuri, repeatedly mention the "Zutt" — the Arabised form of Jat — as a numerous people of the lower Indus, some serving as soldiers, others as herders of buffalo along the rivers. Zutt communities were even settled in Iraq and Syria by the early caliphates, one of the first recorded migrations of the people.
A people of the rivers
From the earliest records, the Jutts appear where the rivers are: the Indus, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej. Medieval geographers describe them as masters of the riverain tracts — grazing great herds of cattle and buffalo, ferrying and fishing, and gradually breaking the river plains to the plough. This intimate bond with the doabs (the lands between rivers) shaped everything that followed: the clan territories, the cattle-culture, and the reputation for endurance that Punjabi proverbs attach to the Jutt to this day.
From pastoralists to cultivators
Between the tenth and sixteenth centuries the community underwent one of the great quiet transformations of Punjab's history: clan by clan, the Jutts moved from pastoral life to settled agriculture. Historians trace this through land records, saint traditions and clan genealogies. As they settled, clans gave their names to the lands they broke: the Gondal Bar, the Kharal country of the Ravi, the Sial dominion of Jhang, the Chattha heartland of the Chenab.