Gujar
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From The Tribes And Castes Of The Central Provinces Of India
By R. V. Russell
Of The Indian Civil Service
Superintendent Of Ethnography, Central Provinces
Assisted By Rai Bahadur Hira Lal, Extra Assistant Commissioner
Macmillan And Co., Limited, London, 1916.
NOTE 1: The 'Central Provinces' have since been renamed Madhya Pradesh.
NOTE 2: While reading please keep in mind that all articles in this series have been scanned from the original book. Therefore, footnotes have got inserted into the main text of the article, interrupting the flow. Readers who spot these footnotes gone astray might like to shift them to their correct place.
Gojar
Gujar
A great historical caste who have given their cai notice name to the Gujarat District and the town of Gujaranwala caste. in the Punjab, the peninsula of Gujarat or Kathiawar and the tract known as Gujargarh in Gvvalior. In the Central Provinces the Giijars numbered 56,000 persons in 191 1, of whom the great majority belonged to the Hoshangabad and Nimar Districts. In these Provinces the caste is thus practically confined to the Nerbudda Valley, and they appear to have come here from Gwalior probably in the middle of the sixteenth century, to which period the first important influx of Hindus into this area has been ascribed.
But some of the Nimar Giijars are immigrants from Gujarat. Owing to their distinctive appearance and character and their exploits as cattle-raiders, the origin of the Giijars has been the subject of much discussion. General Cunningham identified them with the Yueh-chi or Tochari, the tribe of Indo-Scythians who invaded India in the first century of the Christian era.
The king Kadphises 1. and his successors belonged to the Kushan section of the Yueh-chi tribe, and their rule extended over north-western India down to Gujarat in the period 45-225 A.D. Mr. V. A. Smith, however, discards this theory and considers the Gujars or Gurjaras to have been a branch of the white Huns who
- invaded India in the fifth and sixth centuries. He writes : J " The earliest foreign immigration within the limits of the
historical period which can be verified is that of the Sakas in the second century B.C. ; and the next is that of the Yueh-chi and Kushans in the first century A.u. Probably none of the existing Rajput clans can carry back their genuine pedigrees so far.
The third recorded great irrup- tion of foreign barbarians occurred during the fifth century and the early part of the sixth. There arc indications that the immigration from Central Asia continued during the third century, but, if it did, no distinct record of the event has been preserved, and, so far as positive knowledge goes, only three certain irruptions of foreigners on a large scale through the northern and north-western passes can be proved to have taken place within the historical period anterior to the Muhammadan invasions of the tenth and eleventh centuries. The first and second, as above observed, were those of the Sakas and Yueh-chi respectively, and the third was that of the Hunas or white Huns.
It seems to be clearly established that the Hun group of tribes or hordes made their principal permanent settlements in the Punjab and Rajputana. The most important element in the group after the Huns themselves was that of the Gurjaras, whose name still survives in the spoken form Gujar as the designa- tion of a widely diffused middle-class caste in north-western India. The prominent position occupied by Gurjara kingdoms in early mediaeval times is a recent discovery. The existence of a small Gurjara principality in Bharoch (Broach), and of a larger state in Rajputana, has been known to archaeologists for many years, but the recognition of the fact that Bhoja and the other kings of the powerful Kanauj dynasty in the ninth, tenth and eleventh centuries were Gurjaras is of very recent date and is not yet general.
Certain misreadings of epigraphic dates obscured the true
history of that dynasty, and the correct readings have been
established only within the last two or three years. It is now definitely proved that Bhoja {arc. A.D. 840-890), his predecessors and successors belonged to the Pratihara
(Parihar) clan of the Gurjara tribe or caste, and, consequently,
1 Early History of India, 3rd ed. pp. 409, 411.
that the well-known clan of Parihar Rajputs is a branch of the Gurjara or Gujar stock." l 2. The Sir J. Campbell identified the Gujars with the Khazar Gujars tribe of Central Asia
2 " What is known of the early Khazars. history of the Gujaras in India points to their arrival during the last quarter of the fifth or the first quarter of the sixth century (a.D. 470-520). That is the Gujaras seem to have formed part of the great horde of which the Juan-Juan or Avars, and the Ephthalites, Yetas or White Hunas were leading elements. The question remains
How far does the arrival of the Gujara in India, during the early sixth century, agree with what is known of the history of the Khazar ? The name Khazar appears under the following forms : Among Chinese as Kosa, among Russians as Khwalisses, among Byzantines as Chozars or Chazars, among Armenians as Khazirs and among Arabs as Khozar. Other variations come closer to Gujara. These are Gazar, the form Kazar takes to the north of the sea of Asof ; Ghysar, the name for Khazars who have become Jews ; and Ghusar, the form of Khazar in use among the Lesghians of the Caucasus. Howarth and the writer in the Encyclopedia Britannica follow Klaproth in holding that the Khazars are the same as the White Hunas. . . . " Admitting that the Khazar and White Huna are one, it must also be the case that the Khazars included two distinct elements, a fair or Ak-Khazar, the Akatziroi or Khazaroi of Byzantine historians, and a dark or Kara Khazar.
The Kara Khazar was short, ugly and as black as an Indian. He was the Ughrian nomad of the steppes, who formed the rank and file of the army. The White Khazar or White Huna was fair-skinned, black -haired and beautiful, their women (in the ninth and tenth centuries) being sought after in the bazars of Baghdad and Byzantium. According to Klaproth, a view adopted by the writer in the Encyclopedia Britannica, the White Khazar represented the white race 1 Mr. Smith ascribes this discovery Kielhorn's paper on the Gwalior In- to Messrs. A. M. T. Jackson {Bombay scription of Mihira Bhoja in a German Gazetteer, vol. i. Part I., 1896, p. journal. 467) ; D. R. Bhandarkar, Gurjaras {J. 2 Bombay Gazetteer, Hindus of Bo. B.A.S. vol. xx.) ; and Epigraphic Gujarat, Appendix B, The Gujars. Notes {ibidem, vol. xxi.) ; and Professor
which, since before Christ, has been settled round the Caspian. As White Hunas, Ephthalites,1 White Ughrians and White Bulgars, this white race were the carriers between Europe
and East Asia ; they were also the bearers of the brunt of the Tartar inroads. A trace both of the beautiful and coarse clans seems to survive in the complimentary Marwar proverb, ' Handsome as a Huna,' and in the abusive Gujarat proverb, 'Yellow and short as a Huna's beard.' Under its Hindu form Gurjara, Khazar appears to have become the name by which the great bulk of the sixth -century horde was known." Sir J. Campbell was of opinion that the Sesodia or Gahlot Rajputs, the most illustrious of all the
clans, were of Gujar stock, as well as the Parihar, Chauhan,
and Chalukya or Solanki ; these last were three of the Agnikula clans or those created from the firepit,2 and a Solanki dynasty ruled in Gujarat. He also considered the Nagar Brahmans of Gujarat to be derived from the Gujars and considerable sections of the AhTr and Kunbi castes. The Badgujar (great Gujar) clan of Rajputs is no doubt also an aristocratic branch of the caste. In Ajmere it is said that though- all Gujars are not Rajputs, no Rajput becomes a hero unless he is suckled by a Gujar woman. Giijarika dudh, nahari ka dudli ; or ' Gujar's milk is tiger's milk.' A Rajput who has not been suckled by a Gujar woman is a gidar or jackal.3 The fact of the White Huns being tall and of fine features, 3. Preda- in contrast to the horde which invaded Europe under Attila, ^"j accounts for these characteristics being found among the of the highest Rajput clans, who, as has been seen, are probably nor J tbern derived from them.
The Gujar caste generally is now, India. however, no doubt of mixed and impure blood. They were distinguished in the past as vagrant and predatory marauders, and must have assimilated various foreign elements. Mr. Crooke writes of them : 4 " The Gujars as a tribe have always been noted for their turbulence and habit of 1 The Khazars were known to the 2 See article on Panwar Rajput, Chinese as Yetas, the beginning of para. 1. Yeta-i-li-to, the name of their ruling 3 Campbell, loc. fit. p. 495. family, and the nations of the west 4 Tribes and Castes, article Gujar, altered this to Hyatilah and Ephthalite. para. 12. The description is mainly Campbell, ibidem. taken from Elliott's History of India as told bv its own Historians.
cattle-stealing. Babar in his Memoirs describes how the commander of the rearguard captured a few Gujar ruffians who followed the camp, decapitated them and sent their heads to the Emperor. The Gujars of Pali and Pahal became exceedingly audacious while Sher Shah was fortifying Delhi, and he marched to the hills and expelled them so that not a vestige of their habitations was left. Jahanglr remarks that the Gujars live chiefly on milk and curds and seldom cultivate land ; and Babar says
' Every time I entered Hindustan the Jats and Gujars have regularly poured down in prodigious numbers from the hills and wilds to carry off oxen and buffaloes. These were the wretches that really inflicted the chief hardships and were guilty of the chief oppression in the country.' They maintained their old reputation in the Mutiny when they perpetrated numerous outrages and seriously impeded the operations of the British Army before Delhi." In northern India the Gujars are a pastoral caste.
The saying about them is — Ahir, Gadaria, Gujar, E tinon taken ujar, or, ' The Ahir, Gadaria and Gujar want waste land ' ; that is for grazing their flocks. In Kangra the Gujars generally keep buffaloes. Here they are described as " A fine, manly race with peculiar and handsome features. They are mild and inoffensive in manner, and in these hills are not distinguished by the bad pre-eminence which attaches to their race in the plains."
Sir D. Ibbetson had a very unfavourable opinion of the Gujars of the plains, of whom he wrote as follows : 2 " The Gujar is a fine stalwart fellow, of precisely the same physical type as the Jat ; and the theory of aboriginal descent which has been propounded is to my mind con- clusively negatived by his cast of countenance. He is of the same social standing as the Jat, or perhaps slightly inferior ; but the two eat and drink in common without any scruple, and the proverb says : ' The Jat, Gujar, Ahir and Gola are all hail fellow well met' But he is far inferior 1 Description of the Kangra Gujars Punjab Census Report {\&&i), para. 481. by Mr. Barnes. Quoted in Ibbetson's - Census Report, para. 4S1.
in both personal character and repute to the J at. He is lazy to a degree, and a wretched cultivator ; his women, though not secluded, will not do field - work save of the lightest kind ; while his fondness for cattle extends to those of other people. The difference between a Gujar and a Rajput cattle - thief was once explained to me thus by a Jat : ' The Rajput will steal your buffalo. But he will not send his old father to say he knows where it is and will get it back for Rs. 20, and then keep the Rs. 20 and the buffalo too. The Gujar will.' " The Gujars of the Central Provinces have, however, 4- -^ub- entirely given up the predatory habits of their brethren in northern India and have developed into excellent cultivators and respectable law-abiding citizens. In Hoshangabad they have three subcastes, Lekha, Mundle and Jadam.
The Mundle or ' Shaven ' are so called because they take off their turbans when they eat and expose their crowns bare of hair, while the Lekha eat with their turbans on. The Mundle are also known as Rewe, from the Rewa or Nerbudda, near which they reside. The Jadam are probably an offshoot from the cultivating caste of Hoshangabad of that name, Jadam being a corruption of Jadubansi, a tribe of Rajputs.
The Badgujars, who belong to Nimar, consider themselves the highest, deriving their name from bara or 'great' Gujar. As already seen, there is a Badgujar clan of Rajputs. The Nimar Badgujars, however, were formerly engaged in the somewhat humble calling of clearing cotton of its seeds, and on this account they are also known as Ludhare, the word lodhna meaning to work the hand-ginning machine (charkht). It seems possible that the small caste of Lorhas of the Hoshangabad District, whose special avocation is to grow san - hemp, may be derived from these Ludhare Gujars.
The Kekre or Kanwe subcaste are the lowest and are of illegitimate descent. They are known as Kekre or ' Crabs,' but prefer their other name. They will take food from the other subcastes, but these do not return the compliment. Another group in the Sohagpur Tahsll of Hoshangabad are the Lilorhia Gujars. They say that their ancestors were grazing calves when some of them with their herdsmen were stolen by Brahma.
Then Krishna created fresh cowherds and the Lilorhias were made from the sweat of his forehead (lilat). After- wards Brahma restored the original cowherds, who were known as Murelia, because they were the first players on the murli or flute.1 The Badgujars or highest branch of the clan are descendants of these Murelias. The caste have also a set of exogamous groups, several of which bear the names of Rajput clans, while others are called after villages, titles or nicknames or natural objects. A man is not permitted to marry any one belonging either to his own sept or that of his mother or grandmother. s. Mar- At a Gujar wedding four plough-yokes are laid out to nage. form a square under the marriage booth, with a copper pot full of water in the centre.
At the auspicious moment the bride's hand is placed on that of the bridegroom, and the two walk seven times round the pot, the bridegroom leading for the first four rounds and the bride for the last three. Widows are allowed to remarry, and, as girls are rather scarce in the caste, a large price is often paid for the widow to her father or guardian, though this is not willingly admitted. As much as Rs. 3000 is recorded to have been paid. A widow marriage is known as Natra or Pat.
A woman is forbidden to marry any relative of her first husband. When the marriage of a widow is to take place a fee of Rs. 1-4 must be paid to the village proprietor to obtain his consent. The Gujars of the Bulandshahr District of the United Provinces furnish, Mr. Crooke says,2 perhaps the only well - established instance of polyandry among the Hindus of the plains. Owing to the scarcity of women in the caste it was customary for the wife of one brother, usually the eldest, to be occasionally at the disposal of other unmarried brothers living in the house.
The custom arose owing to the lack of women caused by the prevalence of female infanticide, and now that this has been stopped it is rapidly dying out, while no trace of it is believed to exist in the Central Provinces. 6. Disposal The bodies of unmarried persons are buried, and also of the dead. .
1 Cf. Krishna s epithet of Murhdhar and shepherds in Greek and Roman or the flute-player, and the general mythology. association of the flute with herdsmen 2 Ibidem. ion.
of those who die of any epidemic disease. Others are cremated. The funeral of an elderly man of good means and family is an occasion for great display. A large feast is given and the Brahman priests of the caste go about inviting all the Gujars to attend. Some- times the number of guests rises to three or four thousand. At the conclusion of the feast one of the hosts claps his hands and all the guests then get up and im- mediately depart without ceremony or saying farewell. Such an occasion is known as Gujarwada, and the Gujars often spend as much, or more, on a funeral as on a wedding, in the belief that the outlay is of direct benefit to the dead man's spirit.
This idea is inculcated and diligently fostered by the family priests and those Brahmans who receive gifts for the use of the dead, the greed of these cormorants being insatiable. The household goddess of the caste is known as Kul 7 . Re Devi, the word kul meaning family. To her a platform is llg erected inside the house, and she must be worshipped by the members of the family alone, no stranger being present. Offerings of cocoanuts, rice, turmeric and flowers are made to her, but no animal sacrifices.
When a son of the family dies unmarried, an image of him, known as Mujia, is made on a piece of silver, copper or brass, and is worshipped on Mondays and Fridays during the month of Magh (January). On one of these days also a feast is given to the caste. Each member of the caste has a guru or spiritual preceptor, who visits him every second or third year and receives a small present of a cocoanut or a piece of cloth. But he does not seem to perform any duties. The guru may belong to any of the religious mendicant castes.
A man who is without a guru is known as Nugra and is looked down on. To meet him in the morning is considered un- lucky and portends misfortune. Sir C. Elliot l characterised the Mundle Gujars as " A very religious race ; they never plough on the new moon nor on the 8 th of the month, because it is Krishna's birthday. Their religious and social head is the Mahant of the Ramjidas temple at Hoshangabad." In Nimar many of the Gujars belong to the Pirzada sect, 1 Hoshangabad Settlement Report, para. 16. acter.
which is a kind of reformed creed, based on a mixture of Hinduism and Islam. 8. Char- The Gujars wear the dress of northern India and their women usually have skirts (lahenga) and not saris or body- cloths. Married women have a number of strings of black beads round the neck and widows must change these for red ones. As a rule neither men nor women are tattooed. The men sometimes have their hair long and wear beards and whiskers. The Gujars are now considered the best cultivators of the Nimar District. They are fond of irrigation and sink unfaced wells to water their land and get a second crop off it.
They are generally prosperous and make good landlords. Members of the caste have the custom of lending and borrowing among themselves and not from outsiders, and this no doubt conduces to mutual economy and solvency. Like keen cultivators elsewhere, such as the Panwars and Kurmis, the Gujar sets store by having a good house and good cattle. The return from a Mundle Gujar's wedding, Captain Forsyth wrote,1 is a sight to be seen. Every Gujar from far and near has come with his whole family in his best bullock-cart gaily ornamented, and, whatever the road may be, nothing but a smash will prevent a breakneck race homewards at full gallop, cattle which have won in several such races acquiring a much coveted reputation throughout the District. 1 Nimar Settlement Report (1868).
