The Ghirth (also known as Ghirath, Ghrit or Chaudhary) is an agricultural
Indian caste
Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultural ...
found in the state of
Himachal Pradesh
Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several peak ...
in
North India
North India is a loosely defined region consisting of the northern part of India. The dominant geographical features of North India are the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the Himalayas, which demarcate the region from the Tibetan Plateau and Centr ...
.
History
According to a legend, the Ghirths are so-called because the Hindu god
Shiva
Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hin ...
made them out of
ghee
Ghee is a type of clarified butter, originating from India. It is commonly used in India for cooking, as a traditional medicine, and for religious rituals.
Description
Ghee is typically prepared by simmering butter, which is churned fro ...
(''ghrita'' in
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominalization, nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cul ...
). This etymology is reflective of the community's traditional occupation of
animal husbandry
Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, selective breeding, and the raising of livestock. Husbandry has a long history, star ...
and
agriculture
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peop ...
. However, some members of the community trace their ancestry to a sage called Ghrit Rishi, and claim connections to the legendary
Kauravas
''Kaurava'' is a Sanskrit term which refers to descendants of Kuru, a legendary king of India who is the ancestor of many of the characters of the epic '' Mahabharata''. Usually, the term is used for the 100 sons of King Dhritarashtra and his ...
mentioned in the ''
Mahabharata
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the '' Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the K ...
''.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Ghirths were the dominant low-caste cultivators and marginal landholders in the Himachal region. Since they were considered as a 'clean' (not
untouchable) low caste, they were employed as domestic servants by the higher castes: their 'clean' status allowed them to perform tasks such as fetching water or cleaning cooking utensils, which the untouchable servants were not allowed to do. Nevertheless, the
Rajput
Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...
, who were the dominant landholding caste of the region, had imposed social restrictions on them. Around 1926, the Ghirths started a movement to achieve upward
social mobility
Social mobility is the movement of individuals, families, households or other categories of people within or between social strata in a society. It is a change in social status relative to one's current social location within a given societ ...
, and started opposing these restrictions. They refused menial work, creating difficulties for the higher castes that earlier employed them as servants.
Related groups
British colonial administrator
Denzil Ibbetson
Sir Denzil Charles Jelf Ibbetson (30 August 1847 – 21 February 1908)Talbot (2012). was an administrator in British India and an author. He served as Chief-Commissioner of the Central Provinces and Berar from 1898 to 1899 and Lie ...
, in his ''Panjab Castes'' (1916), considers Ghirth same as the people that are known as Chahang (or Chang) and Bahti in the eastern and western portion of the lower Himalayan range respectively. The
Anthropological Survey of India
Anthropological Survey of India (AnSI) is the apex Indian government organisation involved in anthropological studies and field data research for human and cultural aspects, working primarily in the fields of physical anthropology and cultural ...
's ''People of India'' series (1996) describes Chahang and Bahti as sub-groups of the Ghirths.
The Ghirth, including the Chahang and Bahti, are classified among the
Other Backward Class
The Other Backward Class is a collective term used by the Government of India to classify castes which are educationally or socially backward. It is one of several official classifications of the population of India, along with Forward caste, Gen ...
es by the government of India. The ''Ghirth, Chahang, Bahti Mahasabha'', established in 1932, represents the interests of these three communities.
Politics
After the Rajput and Brahmans, there is another dominant caste Girth in the Politics of Himanchal.
See also
*
Jat people
The Jat people ((), ()) are a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralism, pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in late medieval time ...
*
Anjana Chaudhary
References
Bibliography
*
*
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{{ref end
Social groups of Himachal Pradesh
Indian castes