Bhil Dungri Garasia
Encyclopedia
The Dungri Garasia are a sub-group of the Bhil
ethnic community found in the state of Gujarat in India
. They have scheduled tribe status.
dialect. According to their traditions, this community of Bhil
s migrated from Mewar
about three hundred years ago, to escape the Muslim
forces attacking the Maharana Pratap. They are now found in the taluqas of Meghraj, Bhiloda, Bijoynagar, and Khed Brahma of Sabarkantha District
. The community still speak Mewari.
The Dungri Garasia are mainly settled agriculturist, who are split between small landowners and landless agricultural labourers. Literacy rates are growing, and many Dangri Garasia have begun to immigrate to urban centres. Like other Bhil
communities, they have their own tribal religion and Shyamlajimata is their tribal deity.
Bhil
Bhils are primarily an Adivasi people of Central India. Bhils are also settled in the Tharparkar District of Sindh, Pakistan. They speak the Bhil languages, a subgroup of the Western Zone of the Indo-Aryan languages....
ethnic community found in the state of Gujarat in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. They have scheduled tribe status.
Origin
The word Dungri literally hills and Garasia means a clearer of forest in the RajasthaniRajasthani language
Rajasthani Rajasthani Rajasthani (Devanagari: , Perso-Arabic: is a language of the Indo-Aryan languages family. It is spoken by 50 million people in Rajasthan and other states of India and in some areas of Pakistan. The number of speakers may be up to 80 million worldwide...
dialect. According to their traditions, this community of Bhil
Bhil
Bhils are primarily an Adivasi people of Central India. Bhils are also settled in the Tharparkar District of Sindh, Pakistan. They speak the Bhil languages, a subgroup of the Western Zone of the Indo-Aryan languages....
s migrated from Mewar
Mewar
Mewar is a region of south-central Rajasthan state in western India. It includes the present-day districts of Pratapgarh, Bhilwara, Chittorgarh, Rajsamand, Udaipur, Dungarpur, Banswara and some of the part of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. The region was for centuries a Rajput kingdom that later...
about three hundred years ago, to escape the Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
forces attacking the Maharana Pratap. They are now found in the taluqas of Meghraj, Bhiloda, Bijoynagar, and Khed Brahma of Sabarkantha District
Sabarkantha district
Sabarkantha is a district in Northeast of Gujarat state of India.-Geography:The administrative headquarters of the district is Himmatnagar, about 80 km from Ahmedabad....
. The community still speak Mewari.
Present Circumstances
The Dungri Garasia are an endogamous community. They consists of two sub-divisions, the Bhagat and Samsar, who do not intermarry. These sub-divisions in turn consist of clans, which are exogamous. The major clan groupings are the Pandor, Parmar, Moria, Damor, Gameti, Taral, Bagora, and Katara.The Dungri Garasia are mainly settled agriculturist, who are split between small landowners and landless agricultural labourers. Literacy rates are growing, and many Dangri Garasia have begun to immigrate to urban centres. Like other Bhil
Bhil
Bhils are primarily an Adivasi people of Central India. Bhils are also settled in the Tharparkar District of Sindh, Pakistan. They speak the Bhil languages, a subgroup of the Western Zone of the Indo-Aryan languages....
communities, they have their own tribal religion and Shyamlajimata is their tribal deity.