Gadia Lohars (also known as Gaduliya Lohars or Rajput Lohar) are a
nomadic community
A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...
of
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
. They are also found in the
Malwa region of
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...
. They are ''lohar'' (ironsmith) by profession who move on from one place to another place on bullock carts, which in Hindi are called ''gadi'', hence the name 'Gadia Lohar'. These Lohars are different from the
Lohar clan of Iran, Pakistan and India. They usually make and repair agricultural and household implements.
They claim that their forefathers were in the army of
Maharana Pratap
Pratap Singh I (9 May 1540 – 19 January 1597), popularly known as Maharana Pratap (), was king of the Kingdom of Mewar, in north-western India in the present-day state of Rajasthan, from 1572 until his death in 1597. He is notable for leadi ...
of
Mewar. When Mewar fell to the
Mughals
The Mughal Empire was an early modern empire in South Asia. At its peak, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus River Basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north, to the highlands of pre ...
, Maharana Pratrap ran to the forest where he met these people who helped him and his family. They pledged never to return to their homeland, never to settle anywhere else, and never to live under a roof until Maharana Pratap won Chittorgarh back. But Maharana Pratap did not win Chittor back and hence the Lohars continue their pledge even today.
Title and Gotra in Gadia Lohar:
#
Parmar
#
Solanki
#
Sisodia
#
Dabhi
#
Devda
#
Borana
#
Kushwaha
#
Chaturvedi
#
Dadich
#
Koshik
#
Tiwari
Documentaries
A documentary on them entitled "''Gadia Lohar: A Life and Livelihood in Question?''" (Hindi/Mini DV/ 24 minutes / 2005/) was filmed by director Meenakshi Vinay Rai.
Another documentary is
''India's nomads: The forgotten world of the Gadia Lohar'' (Netflix, 2020) 52 minutes, by
Deana Uppal.
Deana Uppal shoots film on the gaddia Lohars
DNA India, March 18, 2019.
See also
* Maharana pratap singh
* Romani people
{{Infobox ethnic group
, group = Romani people
, image =
, image_caption =
, flag = Roma flag.svg
, flag_caption = Romani flag created in 1933 and accepted at the 1971 World Romani Congress
, po ...
Further reading
*Cobas Puente, Esteban
The Gaduliya Lohars: India's wandering blacksmiths
UNESCO Courier, October 1984.
* Davindera, S. (1997). ''Socialization and Education of Nomad Children in Delhi State.'' Regency Publications. .
References
External links
*Lancaster, John
India's Lost Nomads
National Geographic, February 2010.
Photos of Gaduliya Lohars (Loupiote)
Social groups of Rajasthan
Modern nomads
{{India-ethno-stub