Thursday, January 19, 2012

A brief Introduction

Gaddis are a community  living mainly in the Himachal Pradesh . They are Hindus and belong to several castes including Ahir,Brahmin, Rajput mugyal,thakur jaryal, Dhangar/Gaderiya, Khatri, Rana and Thakur.
They are widely respected for their honesty, friendliness and peaceful lifestyle. They have great faith in Gods and Goddesses especially Lord Shiva. The language (dialect) spoken within the community is Gaddi. Old people used the Tankri script. Crime is almost unknown in Gaddi villages. Gaddi is a generic term used for all of the indigenous population of the Bharmaur area of Chamba district and some regions of Jammu and Kashmir.

The Gaddis include Savarnas - such as Brahman, Rajput, Khatri, Thakur, Rathi and the non–savarnas like Hali, Rihare and Dom Although all are categorised as scheduled tribes by virtue of either their living in a scheduled area or having semi-nomadic lifestyle, the non-savarnas are included separately as scheduled castes. There is custom prevalent among the savarna of calling themselves as Gaddi whereas calling others by their respective caste names. Most common Rajput Gaddi Castes are: Chouhans, mugyal,Lalhals, Purhans, Sanu, Bersain, Jaryal, Sanjan etc.
The Basua on first Baisakh, the Patroru on first Bhadon, the Sair on first Assuj, the Lohri on first Magh, and the Dholru on first Chet are the fairs they celebrate.

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