Gadaria people
Introduction The '''Gadaria''' or '''Gadariya''' (also known as '''Baghel''', '''Pal''', '''Gadri''', '''Gayri''', or '''Gaari''') is a herding caste that was traditionally involved professionally in livestock breeding, especially sheep. They are primarily found in Uttar Pradesh and in some parts of Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. In Gujarat, they are called Bharwad.
Etymology The word Gadaria is derived from the old Hindi word ''Gadar'', which means ''sheep''.
History In the early 1910s, an educated class of Gadarias formed All India Pal Kshatriya Mahasabha. There were debates within the community whether to add Kshatriya suffix to the community name. In the 1930s, they started referring to themselves as "Pali Rajput", a synonym of Pal Kshatriya. They started caste magazines like "Pal Kshatriya Samachar" and "Shepherd Times". Later the community went through the process of de-sanskritisation and dropped the suffix Kshatriya. Among the reasons cited for de-sanskritization were losing autonomy of their caste identity and avoiding being submerged into the identity of high castes.
Sub-castes and clans There are two major subdivisions amongst Gadarias, namely Dhangar and Nikhar. They share the same gotras such as Chauhan, Parihar, Sisodiya, Shirashwar, Chandel, Mohania, Kula etc are some of the gotras amongst them.
Classification In Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Delhi they are classified as Other Backward Class in the Indian System of Reservation.
Religion They practice Hinduism, worship family deities and various other deities including Ram, Krishna, Shiva, Vishnu, Hanuman, Kali, Chandi and Lakshmi. Some of them wear sacred thread. Majority of them are vegetarians.
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