" ETHNIC GROUP OF GUJARAT "


In the inhospitable region of the Kutch they are present the most meaningful and conspicuous tribal communities of the Gujarat. Rabari, Ahir, Bhils, Meghwals, Mochi, Jai, Marwars are some of the ethnic groups, comes in this lost and desert angle of India beginning from the VII° century.


Rabari

Myths and legends flutter on the history and on the origins of the Rabaris in Gujarat, mysterious tribe as anybody other, whose style of life has aroused the curiosity more than few researchers. Tied to Shiva, from which according to the legend they come down through their ancestor Sambal, they are one of the last nomadic people of the world. They cross still today millennial routes through the arid lowlands of the desert of Thar, in western India to the search of pastures for the flocks. Ethnic people coming from Afganistan, constitutes the greatest pastoral community of the Kutch.
The men, tall, thin, often with long moustaches, the head primarily wound in turbans of clear color, wears narrow white pants and a jacket also it white, adherent on the chest. To the ear, what sign badge, an earring of watermarked gold (tolyia).
The women, fascinating, wound in their black suits, with the arms full of jewels in silver and ivory, the hands and the feet arabesqued from mysterious red tattoos, have the head covered by a black or red shawl; they wear blouses or bodices that leave the back naked and they wear long black skirts. While the men conduct to the pasture the flocks, the women, always treated with great in comparison to the inside of the families, they take care of the preparation of the camps and they take care of the children that they wear colored damasked coats and nice pants to puff.


Ahir

You supposes that the Ahir have come in Gujarat from Sind and are established in the Kutch and to Morvi, in the Saurashtra, mixing themself to other ethnic groups.
Community devoted to the agriculture and the sheep-rearing, the Ahir divide him in four mastergroups: Prantharia, Machhoya, Boureecha and Sorathia. The women dress him and they decorate as the women Rabare; from them they distinguish him for a heavy silver ring that they put to the nose.


Bhils

They are one of the most numerous ethnic group and they live in the different zones of the Gujarat. Known also with the name of Kolis, they are separated in subgroups: Tadvi Bhils, Valvi Bhils, Vasava Bhils, Bhil Garasia, Bhilala. They are organized in big groups called Atak, Odakh, Got and Kul; Atak is a whole groups that they bring the same name and that they come down from a same mythical ancestor.
The Bhils, whose name means archer, are teachers in the use of arc and arrows and they have maintained alive, actually to our days, fascinating traditions, displaying an innate resistance to the modernization. The ornaments, the tattoos and the painting of the body, satisfy ancestral and artistic impulses of decoration; the tattoos further to be a personal decoration, they have a specific magic and religious meaning. They practise a free sexual activity; the only restriction called "Taboo" consists in the fact that, they cannot have sexual relationships among members belonging to the same "Totem", or among those people who they live under the tutelar and protecting spirit of the same ancestor.


Meghwals

Native of the Rajasthan, the Meghwals also known with the name of Harijan, appellative given them by the Mahatma Gandhi, lives in the whole Kutch. Teachers in the wool workmanship, cotton and leather, live in groups, out of the villages.
The married women, bring necklaces and bracelets done with beads and in particular occasions, they put to the nose an elaborate ring of gold called "Velado"; the girls not yet married, what sign badge, brings instead a necklace with a silver's pendant representing a leaf.


Garasia

Contrary to the other ethnic groups, the Garasia live in the area of Poshina, to the confluence of the rivers Aakar and Sabarmati, in the north of the Gujarat, to the border with the Rajasthan. Among the Garasia has generally spread the monogamy; they contract marriage among people of the same clan, but not among members of the same village and among people with ties of relative. The marriages can be combined or to happen subsequently to an escape. It's custom for a couple to run away for a period of test, in such case as reimbursement is given a sum in money to the father of the bride; if the union fails, the bride returns home with other maney to deliver to her own parent.
The Garasia believe in Bhagwan, figure of the supreme God, never personified. Their traditional offers are small horses in red clay, that they are usually positioned under sacred trees or next to rocks or to rising of water, elements that are associated to the strength of the spirits. Few is known about these sanctuaries; tied up to religious and ritual observances the terracotta small horses are given in case of necessity and they help to maintain the peace in the life of the village.