Gour or Goud is a caste of

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in East India, eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north ...

similar to

Gopal (caste) Gopal or Gouda is an Indian caste, from Odisha State in East India. Their traditional occupations include dairy farming, cattle herding, cultivation and carrying palanquins of deities. They also worked as Paikas (soldiers) under the kings. Gop ...

of Odisha. Locally they are also known as Ahir, Gour Gowala. Most of them speak the local form of Odia language which they lebel as Singhbhumi Odia.

Subdivisions

The Gour is divided into four

endogamous Endogamy is the cultural practice of marrying within a specific social group, religious denomination, caste, or ethnic group, rejecting any from outside of the group or belief structure as unsuitable for marriage or other close personal relatio ...

subdivisions that are Krishna Goud, Nanda Goud, Jharia Goud, Magadha Goud and . They are found in the river basin of Subarnarekha. Their society divided into both

totemic A totem (from or ''doodem'') is a spirit being, sacred object, or symbol that serves as an emblem of a group of people, such as a family, clan, lineage, or tribe, such as in the Anishinaabe clan system. While the word ''totem'' itself is an ...

and non totemic based lineage that are Nag (Serpent), Kachim (Tortoise), Sal (a fish), Jam Jhodia, Chara (a bird), Bar Behera, Bhaisa, Hathi, Hanumat, Kutar, Kudranosa, Palai and Rout. They use Gop, Gope, Gour, Dandapat, Pradhan, Majhi, Barik, Bera, Giri, Saw, Patra and Behera as surnames.

History

The Gour are one of the earliest settlers of

Singhbhum district Singhbhum was a district of India during the British Raj, part of the Chota Nagpur Division of the Bengal Presidency. It was located in the present-day Indian state of Jharkhand. Chaibasa was the district headquarters. Located in the southern ...

Jharkhand. Traditionally they worked with

livestock Livestock are the Domestication, domesticated animals that are raised in an Agriculture, agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, Egg as food, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The t ...

in a

semi-nomadic Nomads are communities without fixed habitation who regularly move to and from areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the population of nomadic pas ...

way of life. As well as they were good warriors. In the matter of fact , the Gour fought with the Kurmi with the help of Kol ( Ho) and

Munda __NOTOC__ Munda may refer to: Places India * Munda, a village in Hanumangarh district, Rajasthan, India * Munda Majra, a former village in Haryana, India * Munda Pind, a village in Punjab, India Pakistan * Munda, a village near Bilyamin in Kur ...

during their settlement in the river basin of

Sankhya Samkhya or Sankhya (; ) is a dualistic orthodox school of Hindu philosophy. It views reality as composed of two independent principles, '' Puruṣa'' ('consciousness' or spirit) and ''Prakṛti'' (nature or matter, including the human mind an ...

Koel The true koels, ''Eudynamys'', are a genus of cuckoos from Asia, Australia and the Pacific. They are large sexually dimorphic cuckoos that eat fruits and insects and have loud distinctive calls. They are brood parasites, laying their eggs in th ...

and Karo. After winning the war they placed a landmark stone pillar at Hatnabeda village, adjoining to Kotgarh, near the Saranda forest. The staple food of Gours is ''Marh Bhat'' (rice with boiled water) and '' Pakhal Bhat'' (rice with cold water) and sessional vegetable. They are non vegetarian thus consume egg, fish, meat ( goat, deer, sheep, borha and others except beef). They also consume ''Hanria'' (rice beer), ''Mod'' ( wine from Mahua flower). The Gours of Kolhan region are in the social cluster of Ho tribe. And they are classified as Backward Classes in 1980 after representation submitted by Singhbhum Gour Kalyan Samiti to the erstwhile Government of Bihar.

References

{{Reflist Castes Social groups of Jharkhand Social groups of Odisha Social groups of West Bengal Indian castes Ethnic groups in India Other Backward Classes