Rajput: Gaur, Chamar Gaur

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Rajput:Gaur, Chamar Gaur

This section was written in 1916 when conditions were different. Even in 1916 its contents related only to Central India and did not claim to be true of all of India. It has been archived for its historical value as well as for the insights it gives into British colonial writing about the various communities of India. Indpaedia neither agrees nor disagrees with the contents of this article. Readers who wish to add fresh information can create a Part II of this article. The general rule is that if we have nothing nice to say about communities other than our own it is best to say nothing at all. Readers will be able to edit existing articles and post new articles directly on their online archival encyclopædia only after its formal launch. See examples and a tutorial.

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 a book. During scanning some errors are bound to occur. Some letters get garbled. Footnotes get inserted into the main text of the article, interrupting the flow. Readers who spot errors might like to correct them, and shift footnotes gone astray to their rightful place.

Colonel Tod remarks of this tribe: “The Gaur tribe was once respected in Rajasthan, though it never there attained to any considerable eminence. The ancient kings of Bengal were of this race, and gave their name to the capital, Lakhnauti.“ This town in Bengal, and the kingdom of which it was the capital, were known as Ganda, and it has been conjectured that the Gaur Brahmans and Rajputs were named after it. Sir H.M. Elliot and Mr. Crooke, however, point out that the home of the Gaur Brahmans and Rajputs and a cultivating caste, the Gaur Tagas, is in the centre and west of the United Provinces, far removed from Bengal; the Gaur Brahmans now reside principally in the Meerut Division, and between them and Bengal is the home of the Kanaujia Brahmans. General Cunningham suggests that the country comprised in the present Gonda District round the old town of Sravasti, was formerly known as Gauda, and was hence the origin of the caste name. [531] The derivation from Gaur in Bengal is perhaps, however, more probable, as the name was best known in connection with this tract.

The Gaur Rajputs do not make much figure in history. “Repeated mention of them is found in the wars of Prithwi Raj as leaders of considerable renown, one of whom founded a small state in the centre of India. This survived through seven centuries of Mogul domination, till it at length fell a prey indirectly to the successes of the British over the Marathas, when Sindhia in 1809 annihilated the power of the Gaur and took possession of his capital, Supur.“ [532] In the United Provinces the Gaur Rajputs are divided into three groups, the Bahman, or Brahman, the Bhat, and the Chamar Gaur. Of these the Chamar Gaur, curiously enough appear to rank the highest, which is accounted for by the following story: When trouble fell upon the Gaur family, one of their ladies, far advanced in pregnancy, took refuge in a Chamar’s house, and was so grateful to him for his disinterested protection that she promised to call her child by his name. The Bhats and Brahmans, to whom the others fled, do not appear to have shown a like chivalry, and hence, strange as it may appear, the subdivisions called after their name rank below the Chamar Gaur. [533]

The names of the subsepts indicate that this clan of Rajputs is probably of mixed origin. If the Brahman subsept is descended from Brahmans, it would be only one of several probable cases of Rajput clans originating from this caste. As regards the Bhat subcaste, the Charans or Bhats of Rajputana are admittedly Rajputs, and there is therefore nothing curious in finding a Bhat subsection in a Rajput clan. What the real origin of the Chamar Gaurs was is difficult to surmise. The Chamar Gaur is now a separate clan, and its members intermarry with the other Gaur Rajputs, affording an instance of the subdivision of clans. In the Central Provinces the greater number of the persons returned as Gaur Rajputs really belong to a group known as Gorai, who are considered to be the descendants of widows or kept women in the Gaur clan, and marry among themselves. They should really therefore be considered a separate caste, and not members of the Rajput caste proper. In the United Provinces the Gaurs rank with the good Rajput clans.

In the Central Provinces the Gaur and Chamar—Gaur clans are returned from most Districts of the Jubbulpore and Nerbudda divisions, and also in considerable numbers from Bhandara.

The Joshua Project’s view of the Gaurs

Text source: Keith Carey/ The Joshua Project writes:

Where are they located?

The Gaurs are located in Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and especially Rajasthan.

What are their lives like?

Though Hindu Gaur Rajputs are still in the armed forces or own land, many have moved on to other livelihoods.

What are their needs?

Text source: Keith Carey/ The Joshua Project adds: Hindu Gaur Rajputs are going through an identity crisis. They can no longer depend on land ownership or military careers, especially with the Indian government reserving prestigious jobs for "backward" (ie, underprivileged) castes.