Origin

The Gadhai claim to have immigrated from Rajasthan

Rajasthan

Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...

, about five hundred years ago. They were first settled in Kutch, where they were employed by the local Rajput

Rajputs of Gujarat

The Rajputs form an important element in the Hindu population of the state of Gujarat in India. They are also known as the Darbars, especially in the Kathiawar and Kutch regions...

s, and then brought to Saurashtra

Saurashtra

Saurashtra is a region of western India, located on the Arabian Sea coast of Gujarat state. It is a peninsula also called Kathiawar after the Kathi Darbar who ruled part of the region once. The Peninsula is shared with the Kachchh region which occupies the north, Saurashtra or Sorath forming the...

 by the Kathi

Kathi (caste)

The Kathi are a Hindu caste found in the state of Gujarat in India. Kathi is also a big gotra of Yaduvanshi Ahirs of Haryana. Also inter-marriage between the Ahir and the Kathi is an old phenomenon.Kathi tribe is named as Catti or Cat'hi and has been named as 36 royal races by James Tod.-History...

 rulers. The Gadhai bred donkeys, which were the main beasts of burdens. They are said to get their name from the Gujarati

Gujarati language

Gujarati is an Indo-Aryan language, and part of the greater Indo-European language family. It is derived from a language called Old Gujarati which is the ancestor language of the modern Gujarati and Rajasthani languages...

 word for a donkey, which is gadha, and gadhai means a donkey keeper. The Gadhai were also involved in selling salt. According to their traditions, the community were once Rajput

Rajput

A Rajput is a member of one of the patrilineal clans of western, central, northern India and in some parts of Pakistan. Rajputs are descendants of one of the major ruling warrior classes in the Indian subcontinent, particularly North India...

s, who lost status as a result of their conversion to Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

. They are now found mainly in the districts of Amreli

Amreli District

Amreli district is one of the 26 administrative districts of the state of Gujarat in western India. The district headquarters are located at Amreli. The district occupies an area of 6,760 km² and has a population of 1,393,918 of which 22.45% were urban . From Amreli district maximum number of...

, Bhavnagar

Bhavnagar district

Bhavnagar is a peninsular district of South-Eastern Gujarat. Bhavnagar city is the administrative headquarters of the district. It had a population of 2,469,630 of which 37.86% were urban as of 2001. It covers an area of over 9940 km²...

 and Junagadh

Junagadh district

Junagadh District is a district of the Indian state of Gujarat. Its administrative headquarters is the city of Junagadh.-Geography:The district is located on the Kathiawar peninsula in western Gujarat. It is surrounded by Rajkot District , Porbandar District , Amreli District...

. The Gadhai speak Gujarati

Gujarati language

Gujarati is an Indo-Aryan language, and part of the greater Indo-European language family. It is derived from a language called Old Gujarati which is the ancestor language of the modern Gujarati and Rajasthani languages...

, but some also understand Urdu

Urdu

Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...

.

Present Circumstances

The community is divided into thirteen clans, all whom intermarry. There main clans are the Lalliya, Rathore (Rathod), Savant, Musia, Gagaina, Ming, Saag, Zorana, Sayara, Mamodia, Lallagh, Kalia and Naar.

The Gadhai have seen a decline in their traditional occupation, which was selling salt. Many are now small and medium sized farmers. A smaller number are sharecroppers, with a few employed as agricultural labourers. The Gadhai are Sunni 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...

s, and have customs similar to other Gujarati Muslim

Gujarati Muslim

The term Gujarati Muslims is usually used to signify an Indian Muslim from the State of Gujarat in west India, who speaks the Gujarati Language as a mother-tongue and follows certain customs different from the rest of Indian Muslims...

communities.