Gavli
Gavli (also spelled as Gawli or Gavali) (Marathi: गवळी) are a community of Yadavs found in the Indian states of Maharashtra and Madhya pradesh.[1][2][3]
Etymology[edit]
The name Gavli may have been derived from gay, meaning cow.[4][5]
History[edit]
Origin[edit]
Some authorities have suggested that Ahirs (today Yadavs) migrated to Maharashtra from Punjab and Sindh in early historic times. other researchers have hypothesized that these people have inhabited Maharashtra for the last 5,000 to 10,000 years.[6] Historians such as P. M. Chandorkar, using both literary and epigraphic sources has argued that the modern Ahirs and Gavlis should be identified with the Yadavas and Abhiras of the classical Sanskrit texts. Furthermore, Khandesh region of Maharashtra, at one point ruled by the Abhiras, was formerly known as the land of the Ahirs, and Ahirs in the present day Khandesh region speak Marathi dialect which is continued to be called Ahirani.[7] The community claims descent from the Great Yadav families to one of which lord Krishna the eighth incarnation of Vishnu belonged.[8] The whole of the North India, Gujarat and Deccan were ruled by the Kings of the Yadav families. They have kept up their Kshatriya caste traditions, customs and occupations. They have given considerable recruits to the government and included in the Maratha regiments.[9]
Gavli are distributed all over Maharashtra. Although Reginald Edward has classified Gawlis as sub-caste of many different castes Ahir Gawli (sub-caste of famous Yadav caste of North India) whereas Hanbar Gawli, Singaji Gawli and Lingayat Gawli are different from Yadav-Ahir Gawli.[10][11][12] Along with Maratha and Kunbis, Ahir Gawlis are considered one of the allied castes of Maratha caste and have been included in the Maratha Regiment in the past.[13][14]
Relationship with Deccan Yadavas[edit]
The word Yāḍava is formed from yāḍu and yāḍu means Sheep or Goat in Tamil. In the Deccan region, the original worshippers of pastoralist god Vitthal – the Gollas and Kurubas of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka and Gawlis and Dhangars of Maharashtra, especially southern Maharashtra – are continued to be called "Yāḍavas". Similar to them, several royal families who enhanced the magnificence of Vitthal's worship are called "Yādavas". The difference here is "ḍ" and "d", where "Yāḍavas" represents Dravidian version and "Yādavas" is the Sanskritized version of it. Linguistically this difference is subtle, and so "Yāḍavas" became "Yādavas", i.e., most of these royal dynasties arose from pastoralist groups and took the name Yādava in order to raise their status by connecting themselves with Krishna's clan, Yadu dynasty of the Puranas. They elevated their traditional pastoralist god (Vitthal) into a form of Vishnu-Krishna and accorded high prestige to his worship.[15]
The Seuna Yadava dynasty, which ruled present-day Maharashtra and north Karnataka, arose out of the valorous deeds of Dridhaprahara, founder of the dynasty, who protected cattle. According to the traditional sources, Devagiri, the capital of Seuna Yadavas, was founded by a king who was a Golla/Gavli.[12][16][17] The idea that the Seunas were a Gavli dynasty survives to this day in folk traditions of the Nashik-Khandesh area, where they are traditionally called "Gavli Kings".[18][19] During the reign of Seuna Yadavas and their rival Hoysala Yadavas, the temple of Vitthal at Pandharpur, under their purview, grew from a small pastoral deity site to a major temple complex.[20]
Notable people[edit]
- Hansraj Ahir, NCBC President
- Arun Gawli (born 1955), Indian politician
- Shekhar Gawli (1975–2020), Indian cricketer
- Vandana Gawli, Indian politician
- Sachin Ahir, Politician, Deputy Leader of Shiv Sena in a Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, and Former Minister of State of Government of Maharashtra
References[edit]
- ^ Jaffrelot, Christophe (2003). India's Silent Revolution: The Rise of the Lower Castes in North India. Hurst. p. 187. ISBN 978-1-85065-670-8.
The term "Yadav" covers many castes which initially had different names: Ahir in the Hindi belt, Punjab and Gujarat, Gavli in Maharashtra, Gola in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka etc.
- ^ Malhotra, K. C. (March 1982). "Ecology of a pastoral caste: Gavli Dhangars of peninsular India" (PDF). Human Ecology. 10 (1): 107–143. doi:10.1007/BF01531107. S2CID 154253698.
- ^ Mehta, B. H. (1994). Gonds of the Central Indian Highlands. Vol. II. New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company. pp. 568–569.
- ^ Singh, K. S. (1998). India's Communities. Anthropological Survey of India. p. 988. ISBN 978-0-19-563354-2.
- ^ Ghurye, Govind Sadashiv (1969). Caste and Race in India. Popular Prakashan. p. 32. ISBN 978-81-7154-205-5.
- ^ Pearl, Raymond (1993). Human Biology. Wayne State University Press. p. 306.
- ^ Guha (2006), p. 47:P. M. Chandorkar, using both literary and epigraphic sources has argued that the modern Ahirs and Gavlis - until recently cattle-keepers - should be identified with the Yadavas and Abhiras of the classical Sanskrit texts. He also notes that Khandesh, on the margin of the central Indian forests, was earlier known as the land of the Ahirs, and the local Marathi dialect continued to be called Ahirani.
- ^ commission, Great Britain Indian statutory (1930). Report of the Indian Statutory Commission ... H. M. Stationery Office. p. 461.
- ^ Jaffrelot, Christophe (2003). India's Silent Revolution: The Rise of the Lower Castes in North India. Hurst. p. 164. ISBN 978-1-85065-670-8.
- ^ Rao (1979), p. 129.
- ^ Enthoven (1990), p. 368.
- ^ a b Feldhaus (1989), p. 101.
- ^ Constable, Philip (2001). "The Marginalization of a Dalit Martial Race in Late Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century Western India". The Journal of Asian Studies. 60 (2): 439–478. doi:10.2307/2659700. JSTOR 2659700. PMID 18268829. S2CID 40219522. Retrieved 2020-11-28.
- ^ Jaffrelot (2003), p. 163. sfnp error: multiple targets (3×): CITEREFJaffrelot2003 (help)
- ^ Dhere (2011), p. 234,238,241.
- ^ Wink (2001), p. 231.
- ^ Müller, Friedrich Max; Kultur-Referat, Germany (West) Botschaft India (1976). German Scholars on India: Contributions to Indian Studies. Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series Office.
- ^ Dhere (2011), p. 237,246,247.
- ^ Dhavalikar (2014), p. 274.
- ^ Novetzke (2016), p. 93.
Bibliography[edit]
- Guha, Sumit (2006). Environment and Ethnicity in India, 1200-1991. University of Cambridge. ISBN 978-0-521-02870-7.
- Rao, M. S. A. (1979). Social movements and social transformation: a study of two backward classes movements in India. Delhi: Macmillan. ISBN 9780333902554.
- Bayly, Susan (2001). Caste, Society and Politics in India from the Eighteenth Century to the Modern Age. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-79842-6.
- Jaffrelot, Christophe (2003). India's Silent Revolution: The Rise of the Lower Castes in North India. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. ISBN 978-1-85065-670-8.
- Dhere, Ramchandra (2011). Rise of a Folk God: Vitthal of Pandharpur South Asia Research. Oxford University Press, 2011. ISBN 9780199777648.
- Hassan, Syed Siraj ul (1989). The castes and tribes of H.E.H. the Nizam's dominions. Asian Educational Services. ISBN 978-81-206-0488-9. Retrieved 2011-07-25.
- Enthoven, R. E. (1990). The Tribes and Castes of Bombay, Vol 1. Asian Educational Services. ISBN 9788120606302.
- Dhavalikar, Madhukar (2014). Socio-economic Archaeology of India. Archaeological Survey of India, 2014.
- Rao, M. S. A. (1972). Tradition, rationality, and change: essays in sociology of economic development and social change. Popular Prakashan.
- Novetzke, Christian Lee (2016). The Quotidian Revolution: Vernacularization, Religion, and the Premodern Public Sphere in India. Columbia University Press. doi:10.7312/nove17580. ISBN 9780231542418.
- Lukacs, John (2001). The People of South Asia: The Biological Anthropology of India, Pakistan, and Nepal. Springer. ISBN 9781489950031.
- Feldhaus, Anne (1989). Sontheimer, Gunther-Dietz (ed.). Pastoral Deities in Western India. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195055009.
- Wink, Andre (2001). Nomads in the Sedentary World. Routledge (Taylor and Francis Group). ISBN 9780203037201.