Gavli Explained

Gavli (also spelled as Gawli or Gavali) (Marathi: गवळी) is a Hindu caste in the Indian states of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.[1] [2] They are a part of the Yadav community.[3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]

Etymology

The name Gavli may have been derived from gau(गौ/गाय), meaning cow.[10] [11]

History

Origin

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.[12] 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. The community claims descent from the Great Yadav families to one of which lord Krishna the eighth incarnation of Vishnu belonged.[13] 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.

Gavli are distributed all over Maharashtra(Ahir Gawli, Lingayat Gawli).[14] 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, Hanbar Gawli and Singaji Gawli are different from Yadav-Ahir Gawli. 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.[15]

Relationship with Deccan Yadavas

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.

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.[16] 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". 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.

Notable people

References

  1. Malhotra . K. C. . March 1982 . Ecology of a pastoral caste: Gavli Dhangars of peninsular India . Human Ecology . 10 . 1 . 107–143 . 10.1007/BF01531107 . 154253698.
  2. Book: Mehta, B. H. . Gonds of the Central Indian Highlands . II . 1994 . Concept Publishing Company . New Delhi . 568–569 .
  3. Book: Saraswati, Baidyanath. The Cultural Dimension of Ecology. 1998. Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts. 978-81-246-0102-0. en.
  4. Book: Tribes, Karnataka (India) Legislature Committee on the Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled. Report. Karnataka Legislature Secretariat.. en.
  5. Book: Commission, Third Karnataka Backward Classes. The Justice-journey of the Karnataka Backward Classes. 1990. Government of Karnataka. en.
  6. Book: Karnataka State Gazetteer: Shimoga. 1975. Director of Print., Stationery and Publications at the Government Press. en.
  7. Book: General, India Office of the Registrar. Census of India, 1961. 1962. Manager of Publications. en.
  8. Book: Maharashtra State Gazetteers: Buldhana . 1976 . Director of Government Printing, Stationery and Publications, Maharashtra State, 1976 . 224.
  9. Book: Singh. K. S.. India's Communities. India. Anthropological Survey of. 1998. Oxford University Press. 978-0-19-563354-2. en.
  10. Book: Singh, K. S. . India's Communities . 1998 . Anthropological Survey of India . 978-0-19-563354-2 . 988 . en.
  11. Book: Ghurye, Govind Sadashiv . Caste and Race in India . 1969 . Popular Prakashan . 978-81-7154-205-5 . 32 . en.
  12. Book: Pearl, Raymond . Human Biology . 1993 . Wayne State University Press . 306 . en.
  13. Book: commission, Great Britain Indian statutory . Report of the Indian Statutory Commission ... . 1930 . H. M. Stationery Office . 461 . en.
  14. Web site: Wadkar,Dhondiram Sambhajirao . Golla jamatiche lokjeevan v loksahityacha abhyaslatur v nanded jilhyachya sandarbhat . live . Shodhganga.
  15. 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 . 10.2307/2659700 . 2659700 . 18268829 . 2020-11-28 . 40219522.
  16. Book: Müller. Friedrich Max. German Scholars on India: Contributions to Indian Studies. Kultur-Referat. Germany (West) Botschaft India. 1976. Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series Office. en.

Bibliography

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