Post by kuldeepadhana on Oct 1, 2006 4:21:00 GMT -5
SPREAD OF GUJJARS
By Sir G. A. Grieerson (1851-1941)
The Gurjaras (or in modern vernaculars, Gujars) were a foreign tribe who passed into India from the north west and gradually spread (A. D. 400-600) as far south as Khandesh and Gujrat. The present Gujars of Punjab and of the United Province preserve more of their foreign traits than the Gujar settlers further to the south and east. Though better looking, the Punjab Gujars in language, dress and calling so closely resemble their associates the Jats as to suggest that the two tribes entered India about the same time. Their present distribution shows that Gujars spread further east and south than the Jats.
The earliest Gujar settlement seems to have been in the Punjab and in the United Provinces from the Indus to Mathura, where they still differ greatly in dress and language from most of the other inhabitants. From Mathura, the Gujars seem to have passed to east Rajputana, and from there, by way of Kota and Mandasor to Malwa, where though their original character is considerably altered, the Gujars of Malwa still remember that their ancestors came from Doab between the Ganges and Jamna. In Malwa they spread as far east as Bhilsa and Saharanpur, from Malwa they passed south to Khandesh and west, probably by the Ratlam-Dohad route to the province of Gujrat. In the other direction, the Gujars extended north and are now found roaming over the Himalayas north of the Punjab and over the hills of Kashmir. It is an interesting fact that where they have not been absorbed into the rest of the population as in the
plains of Punjab (where two districts, Gujrat and Gujaranwala are named after them), they are always found to speak some dialect of one and the same language, closely connected with eastern Rajasthani and with Gujarati. The grammar of the Gujars of Swat is almost the same as that of Rajputs of Jaipur.
Nearly all that precedes is taken, and partly verbally quoted, from Chapter I of the Eary History of Gujrat by Dr. Bhagvanlal Indra ji, in Vol. I Part-I of the Bombay Gazetteer. He, however, derives the name “Gujarat” from the Sanskrit Gurjara-Rashtra through the Prakrit Gujjararattha. As shown by Dr. Fleet in the article quoted in the note published in the journal of Royal Asiatic Society for 1906 it is incorrect.
By Sir G. A. Grieerson (1851-1941)
The Gurjaras (or in modern vernaculars, Gujars) were a foreign tribe who passed into India from the north west and gradually spread (A. D. 400-600) as far south as Khandesh and Gujrat. The present Gujars of Punjab and of the United Province preserve more of their foreign traits than the Gujar settlers further to the south and east. Though better looking, the Punjab Gujars in language, dress and calling so closely resemble their associates the Jats as to suggest that the two tribes entered India about the same time. Their present distribution shows that Gujars spread further east and south than the Jats.
The earliest Gujar settlement seems to have been in the Punjab and in the United Provinces from the Indus to Mathura, where they still differ greatly in dress and language from most of the other inhabitants. From Mathura, the Gujars seem to have passed to east Rajputana, and from there, by way of Kota and Mandasor to Malwa, where though their original character is considerably altered, the Gujars of Malwa still remember that their ancestors came from Doab between the Ganges and Jamna. In Malwa they spread as far east as Bhilsa and Saharanpur, from Malwa they passed south to Khandesh and west, probably by the Ratlam-Dohad route to the province of Gujrat. In the other direction, the Gujars extended north and are now found roaming over the Himalayas north of the Punjab and over the hills of Kashmir. It is an interesting fact that where they have not been absorbed into the rest of the population as in the
plains of Punjab (where two districts, Gujrat and Gujaranwala are named after them), they are always found to speak some dialect of one and the same language, closely connected with eastern Rajasthani and with Gujarati. The grammar of the Gujars of Swat is almost the same as that of Rajputs of Jaipur.
Nearly all that precedes is taken, and partly verbally quoted, from Chapter I of the Eary History of Gujrat by Dr. Bhagvanlal Indra ji, in Vol. I Part-I of the Bombay Gazetteer. He, however, derives the name “Gujarat” from the Sanskrit Gurjara-Rashtra through the Prakrit Gujjararattha. As shown by Dr. Fleet in the article quoted in the note published in the journal of Royal Asiatic Society for 1906 it is incorrect.
