Introduction
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0.1. According to 19611 census Gojri is spoken by
2,09,327 speakers in Jammu and Kashmir by Gujjars a semi-nomadic tribe and
according to 19712 census it is spoken by 3,30,485
persons. This is third largest spoken language in Jammu and Kashmir state
in the order Kshmiri, Dogri and Gojri. They are spread in all the
districts of Jammu and Kashmir state except Ladakh and the concentration of their population is in Poonch and Rajourri districts of Jammu and
Kashmir. According to the 1961 census, the languages given as Gujjari and
Gujari which are spoken by the Gujjar nomads in Himachal Pradesh (Gujari
1448) and Madhya Pradesh (Gujari 453) may be same as Gojri or as dialects
or Gojri. Besides India Gojri speakers are also found in Pakishan occupied
part of Kashmir. The number of Gojri speakers in that area may be around
two lakhs. And this Gojri
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1Nigam, R.C.Langauges hand book on mother tongues
in census. Census Centenary Monograph No.
2lbid
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resembles
Gojri of Jammu and Kashmir6
because the speakers of the language are the same
people separated by political boundaries. Besides
Bakarwali returned by 5941 speakers in 1961and
treated as unclassified is considered by Gujjars
a form of Gojari with hardly any variation. The
fact seems to be that Gujjars and Bakarwals were
the same people but are now separated from each
other because of their different professions.
Bakarwals mainly keep goat and sheep and Gujjars
keep buffaloes and cows. Among Gujjars and Bakarwals
there are further two sub groupings based on the
possession of agricultural lands. Bakarwals are
mostly landless and most of the time they go after
their goats and sheep from one place to another
in search of grass. The Gujjars mostly own lands
but Dodhi or Banaira Gujjars do not have lands
and so they are fully nomads. But all of them
are one in one respect as they all go to their
respective summer pastures located at the high
hills for grazing their herds and in that respect
they all are pastoral nomads. The investigator
for this study has collected data from the Gujjars
who own lands and go to their pasture during summer
and rainy seasons. They call their summer pastures
as  òk
where they usually spend four to five months from
April to August. In their òk
there is always a danger of wild animals to their
live to be very careful. Besides they also have
to bear biting cold and rainly seasons. Thus their
life is quite hard. The old persons usually live
behind in their settlements to take care of their
crops and grass. They, thus are agriculture-pastoral
seminonads. They grow maize as it is their staple
food. Each settlement is
quite apart from the other, may be due to hill
topography. And the dividing lines between the
villages are usually hills, river, etc.
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The name Gujjar appears in Sanskrit inscriptions as Gurjar and nobody can
doubt that the modern Gujars represent the ancieny Gurjaras. The earliest
reference to these people occurs in the Harshacharita, a work of the early
part of the 7the century A.D. According to one modern theory, which however
has not been accepted by all the scholars, the Gurjars entered India,
together with Hū as
and other marauding tribes about 6th century A.D.3
According to another view, Gurjara or Gujar were an important Hūa
tribe, who entered India about 4th century A.D.4
Grierson5 in 1901 in the chapter on Language says
about Gujars while talking of Rajasthani, "Before finally leaving the
consideration of Rajasthani, it is necessary to mention the interesting
tribe of Gujjars, or Gujars, who appear, to have entered India from the
north west in about the 5th century A.D. There are two branches of them-a
Northern and a Southern. The Southern Gujarat. The Northern spread over the
Punjab, where they gave their name to two districts (Gujarat and Gujrānwalā
in Pakistan) and the Western part of the
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3Rawlison, H.G. India-A Short Cultural History. London
1937. cf. p.111.
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4Walker, Benjamin: Hindu World (An Encyclopedic Survey
of Hinduism) Vol. 1,p.468.
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5Census of India, (1901). Vol. I, pt I. Report §
586.
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