Edited by: P. N. Pushp and K. Warikoo Himalayan Research and Cultural Foundation Har-Anand Publications

The Gujari language is the language of all the Gujars, who constitute a big population group in Jammu and Kashmir State. These Gujars are tall and hardy people. Basically nomadic, with the changed tunes some of them live on agriculture. The majority of them still rear sheep and goats and buffaloes. The Gujars' physical characteristics, language manners, customs, dress and social organisation have very little common with non-Gujar Kashmiris. They have maintained their cultural identity. In appearance Gujars in Kashmir look very much different from non-Gujar Kashmiris. They have long beards and wear a big turban. Inspite of living amidst Kashmiris Gujars have not adopted the former's way of the life and dress.

Spatial Distribution
The Gujar cultural group is found in states of Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhy, Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana, Delhi and Punjab, where they have settled and occupied large tracts of land. In the Jammu and Kashmir State they have conspicuous geographical concentration all over the State except the Ladakh region. In the Kashmir division the concentration of Gujars is on the mountain slopes and side valleys in the areas of Kukernag, Kangan, Tral, Doru, Pahalgam, Shopian, Kulgam, Handwara, Karnah, Kupwara and Uri Tehsils.

In Jammu division the Gujars dominate in the border tehsils along the Line of Actual Control i.e. Haveli, Mendhar, Nowshera and Sunder Bani. There are Gujar pockets found in Bhadarwah, Doda, Gool, Kishtwar, Kathua, Udhampur and Arnas areas.

There are three major groups among the Gujars of Jammu and Kashmir based on the type of animal they rear. The sedentary agriculturist group is called Muqami Gujars. The second group is called Bakarwal Gujars, because they rear Bakri (goat) in large numbers. The third group is Banihara Gujars, who rear buffaloes and live in forests (Bans).

Gujari Language
The language of Gujars has been termed as Parimu or Hindki by Lawrence. It was, however, categorized as Rajasthani by the State in the census reports conducted before partition. Lawrence remarks: "Their language known as Parimu or Hindki is wholly different from Kashmiri language". The scholars after investigations have disagreed with it. The conclusion of Drew about their language being a type of Pahari is also not very palatable to the Census of India, 1911.

Census of India 1941 remarks, "Since after this account of Drew, Gujari has been classified under Pahari, but it is doubtful if this is more correct than its previous classification under Rajasthani. Those families of this nomadic race, which have permanently settled in various parts of Jammu and some parts of Kashmir and taken to agriculture, anyhow adopted the local language but the wandering classes, who from the largest majority, have absolutely no dealings with the natives of the country, and leading the isolated life that they do, far removed from the villages and in the pastures and woods of the land; they have managed to retain their language which continues to be akin to Rajasthani rather than Pahari". The Census of India 1941 remarks, "Gujari the language of the Gujars is included with Rajasthani. Pahari which is shown separately in the Scheme is closely connected with Gujari and is spoken in much the same areas."

Characteristics of Gujari Language
Grierson was of the opinion that the Gujari spoken by the Gujars of the submontane districts of the Punjab and Kashmir was allied to Rajasthani. He says, "one of the two things is quite certain. Either Gujari is a form of Rajasthani or conversely, Rajasthani is a form of Gujari and resemblance of Gujari to Mewari is very striking. But still closer is the resemblance of Gujari to Mewati dialect of Rajasthani spoken in Alwar, some distance to the north of Mewar and separated from that state by the territory of Jaipur".

Roots and Affinities
All the scholars agree on one point that the Gujari of the Gujars of Jammu and Kashmir is a form of Rajasthani. How and when the Gujars entered the State of Jammu and Kashmir is lying in obscurity.

The census of India 1941 informs us: "Historians seem to be satisfied that the tribes called "Gurjaras" were established in the area near Mount Abu in Rajasthan, around 6th century A.D. onwards. It is believed that these and other sections of the tribe were the ancestors of those now known as Gujars in this state. The "Gurjaras" were Hindus at the time they are first noticed in India. They had established a Kingdom of their own at the time of Harsha about 640 A.D. It seems that they, successfully resisted the Arab invasion from the north early in the eighth century A.D. It is alleged that about 750 A.D. the Chapa dynasty of the Gurjaras which had been in power for about 200 years, was displaced by the Pratiharas who seem to have carried on till about 1000 A.D., when their power was broken by the coming of Mahmud of Ghazni. Nothing much appears to be known of the Gurjaras in the Punjab until 980 A.D. When Raja Shankervarman of Kashmir is said to have invaded Gujarat, the Gurjara Kingdom was ruled over by one Lakhandev. A region known as Takka, situated in the area now known as the Punjab was ceded by Shankervarman. It is reasonable to presume that Gurjara tribes had extended to the Punjab and it is probable that such places as Gujarat, Gujranwala and Gujar Khan and Gurdaspur, where Gujar families are still found derived their names from this fact. The Gurjara Kingdom ceased to exist by the time of Akbar the Great when their country was annexed. By this time a number of Gujars, as we will now call them, had embraced Islam and from now onwards the connection of the northern sections with their Hindu ancestors becomes less and less. It is the summary of the views given in various works in an attempt to link the Gujars now living in the Jammu and Kashmir State with those believed to have been their ancestors. The migration of a part of the tribe to the territories now known as the Jammu and Kashmir State is attributed to the outbreak of a serious famine in the region inhabited by the tribe, now known as Rajputana, Gujarat and Kathiawar. The exact period has not been fixed but it is Known as the Satahsiya famine. It is stated that some part of the migrating tribes moved to the Punjab whilst others moved further north to the areas now known as Kaghan, Swat, Hazara, Kashmir and Gilgit. The same source states that the Gujars now living in the Jammu and Kashmir State are parts of two separate migrations, one direct from the Gurjara tribes of Rajputana, Gujarat and Kathiawar, the other, and latter migration, form the Gujar tribes settled in the Punjab.

The scholars trace the historical roots and affinity of the Gujari language from the Gurjara Apabhramsa of the Sanskrit grammarians. Scholars are also of the view that Gujari language spoken by the Gujars in the north-western Himalayas has a very close relation with Marwarib (Rajasthani) which is a region around Mount Abu (Rajasthan) and was known Gurjara Desa in the sixth century A.D.

Gujari Language, Status and Identity in Jammu and Kashmir
The status of a language is generally judged by the number of persons who speak the language. The speakers of Gujari language have been enumerated in the various census reports from 1891 onwards as follows:

Table I explains that since 1891 to 1931 there is a steady increase in their population. Between the decade 1891-1901 the percentage of variation is (+ 24.5), between 1901-1911 (+ 12.7), between 1911-1921 (+ 9.4). The percentage of net variation is +46.42 from 1891 to 1931. According to 1931 census 4,02,781 persons were Gujars, where as according to 1941 census, this population decreased to 3,81,457 persons which is 21,324 less than 1931.

Census of India 1941 remarks about this decrease in 1941, "This decrease cannot be accounted for unless it is due to the fact that in many cases they did not describe themselves correctly. Muslims as a whole show an increase in numbers which compares favourably with the increase of population for the whole State. There is no reason to believe that the Gujar element of the community was an exception to this tendency. Gujars show a decrease in the district Reasi, Poonch and Chenani in the Jammu Province. The tabulation figures for the Gilgit Agency did not separate the various elements of the population. In 1931, 2,454 Gujars were recorded as living in Gilgit Agency. However, it is not necessary to attempt to account for the variations, to do so would be pure guess work when we have no reliable evidence to explain the decrease".

In 1951 the census was not conducted owing to the partition of India in 1947. The Census of India 1961 was not conducted on caste basis and the population of Gujars which had been reckoned separately by the previous censuses was merged with the Muslims of Jammu and Kashmir. Therefore the estimates of the 1961 strength of the Gujar population are far from accurate.

The trend of Gujar population as shown indifferent census reports in the State of Jammu and Kashmir has consistently shown a downward trend and has come down from 37% in 1931 to 25% in 1941 and further down to 10% in 1971 although it showed some increase during the year 1971 census, but this percentage to total population did not improve and showed a further decline of 2%. According to 1981 report Gujars and Bakarwals constitute about 8% of the State population, i.e., from 10% in 1971, the population of this tribe has further decreased to 8% in 1981. In contrast to the figures provided by the census reports other local sources indicate a different picture of their population. R.R. Khojuria mentions that "about 12 lakh people that constituted about 25% of the State population belonged to Gujars and Bakarwals, covering almost one-third of the State land in 1981". The Daily Pratap dated February 2, 1969 mentioned in its column that the total number of persons from Gujars and Bakarwals of Jammu and Kashmir was 14 lakhs and this number decreased to 10 lakhs in 1976 as reported by Jyoteshwar Pathik in one of his essays "Jammu and Kashmir Chronicles".

The analysis of various censuses conducted in the State of Jammu and Kashmir about the Gujari speakers shows that they are consistently decreasing, whereas some scholars indicate a steep increase in their population. This is a moot point of discussion as to why the population of Gujari speakers has shown a considerable decrease in the census reports, despite the fact that since long, this community has not remained open to the syndromes of modernization, and the crises of development around them specially in the field of family planning. Nor has the community fallen a victim to any natural calamity like epidemic, flood, famine or any demographic transformation. It becomes imperative for the State Government as well as for the Government of India to look seriously into the reasons of the tremendous decrease in population of this community.

As the censuses conducted in the past were based on linguistic identity, it created a controversy among the writers, historians and even among Gujars about their real population. They demanded that a special survey or census of the Gujar population be conducted separately for Gujars and their population be estimated on the tribal identity and not on linguistic identity. For linguistic survey does not reveal the actual facts and cannot determine the actual population of Gujars in the State, as there were other people who speak Parimu dialect in the state. The Gujar Bakarwal community of the State was never satisfied with the methods of survey and censuses conducted by the State Government from time to time. The information available in such reports was not accepted by the Gujars. The Gujars alleged that the persons who enumerated them played with the figures as they were having little knowledge about the Gujar Community; obviously the enumerators counted them for the other linguistic group.

This prompted the Gujar-Bakarwal leadership to press upon the Government to change this attitude of discrimination and many representations were made to the Government of Jammu and Kashmir for conducting a separate survey of this community, so that actual figures of Gujari speakers is made known to the community in the State. As such a special census was conducted in the year 1986-87 to find out the actual number of Gujari speakers in the State.

Table III reveals that prior to 1986-87 (Special census) census reports were not accurate. The total population of Gujars in the State according to this census was 5,47,150 and that of Bakarwals as 34,900. Evidently, the total population of Gujars and Bakarwals in the State of Jammu and Kashmir has been 5,82,050 and this was about 9% of the total population.

As the Gujars and Bakarwals are scattered all over the State on the slopes of the mountains, to them it seems that the enumerators have cooked up the figures, and the Gujar Bakarwal community who speak Gujari do not believe the figures projected by the Special survey of 1986-87. As such they have no faith in this special census also.

These conflicting figures of various census reports and other sources reflect the following facts:

i. Since 1931 to 1941 census, the decreasing trend in this decade about Gujari speaking population can be attributed to the fact "that in many cases they did not describe themselves correctly". The policies of begar (forced labour) and repression by the government of the time on Gujars forced them to hide their caste.

ii. Since 1941 to 1961 census, a majority of the Muslim Gujar population from Jammu and Kashmir districts either migrated to Pakistan or the Tehsils of Mirpur, Kotli, Sudhnuti, Bagh and Muzzafarabad under the illegal occupation of Pakistan. These areas were dominated by Gujars. There was, thus, a considerable loss of Gujar population to the State at the time of partition in 1947.

iii. From 1961 to 1981 censuses, the census was not conducted on caste basis but on linguistic basis. The electoral politics in the State of Jammu and Kashmir played its role. The Gujars have been split into various linguistic groups-Hindi, Rajasthani, Punjabi, Gujari, Bakarwali, Pahari, Parimu, Urdu. And in some areas which were dominated by Kashmiri and Dogri speakers, the bilingual Gujars living in these areas were enumerated into these linguistic groups. This resulted into tremendous decrease in their population in the various census reports.

i. The Guiari language which is the language of the Gujars and Bakarwals of Jammu and Kashmir is a form of Marwari (Rajasthani), and has its roots in Sanskrit. These Gujars carried the cultural traits from an area around Mt. Abu (Rajasthan) which was known as Gurjara Desa in the sixth century A.D. to the sub Himalayan ranges in the course of their migrations in historical times. These Gujars had close affinities with the Gujars (Hindu) of the other areas of India.

ii. Various census reports conducted in the State of Jammu and Kashmir about the Gujari speakers have shown that they are consistently decreasing, whereas some research scholars indicate a steep increase in their population. The question arises; why has the number of Gujari speakers shown a considerable decrease in census reports? The community has certainly, not fallen victim to any natural calamity like epidemic, flood, famine or any demographic transformation. Nor have the family planning methods been adopted by them. The State Government as well as the Government of India need to look seriously into the reasons of tremendous decrease of their population.

iii. The information available in census reports is not believed by Gujar-Bakarwals. This has created a feeling of mistrust among them towards the attitude of the Government.

iv. The Gujari language speakers in various census reports have been split into various linguistic groups i.e. Hindi, Rajasthani, Punjabi, Pahari, Gujari, Bakarwali, Parimu and Urdu.

v.  As to the status of Gujari language in Jammu and Kashmir, the Gujari speakers constitute the single largest group of its persons in the state after Kashmiri and Dogri speakers.

1. Lawrence, Walter R, The Valley of Kashmir, Srinagar, Kesar Publishers (Reprinted-1967), p. 316
2. Drew F, The Jammu and Kashmir Territories. 1875, p 110.
3. Census of India, 1911, Vol. XX, Kashmir, I, Report.
4. Census of India, 1941,Vol. XXI, Jammu and Kashmir Part I and II Essay and Tables. p. 302.
5. Census of India, 1941, Jammu and Kashmir pp, 9-11.
6. Sarwari Kasana, "Gujari-Kashmir Te Rajasthani Ki Ekta," Shirazo, J&K Academy of Art, Culture and Languages, Srinagar, Vol.2, 1 June 1979. pp13-19.
7. Census of India, 1941,pp9-10.
8. Khajuria, R.R., Gujars of Jammu and Kashmir. (In Urdu) Srinagar, Gulshan Publications, 1981, p. 138.
9. Jammu and Kashmir Chronicle 1976, Srinagar. Quoted by Dr.R.R.Khujoria in his book, Gujars of Jammu and Kashmir, op cit. p.149.
10. See Census Department of Jammu and Kashmir, Special Census report 1986-87 on Gujars and Bakarwals.
11. Census 1941 op cit pp. 9-10.

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