United provinces". Rawlinson also holds that
Gurjara invaders came from Central Asia and split into two streams. They
rapidly rose to great power and founded the Rajput tribes of Rajputana. The
Gurjaras were in the main pastoral people but had their chiefs and fighting
men. When the tribe rose to power in India, they were treated by the Brahmi¸as
as equivalent to Kshatriyas and were called Rajputs, while the bulk of
people who still followed their pastoral avocations remained as a
subordinate caste under the title of Gurjaras or in modern language Gujaras.
The Gujar herdsmen as distinct from the fighting Gurjars who became Rajputs
are found in greatest number in the north west of India from the Indus to
the Ganges. On the other hand they are found in the hills of Jammu and
Kashmir called Gujar. All the Gujars even if coming from the same stock may
not be speaking the same language. For example, "If the Swāt
Gujurs and the Mēwāt
and Mēwā
Rajputs come of one stock, it is not so wonderful that they should speak a
language essentially one. Certainly there is no difficulty in believing that
all the Himalayan tribes both in Swāt
and eat of Chambā,
who speak forms of Rajasthani, may be largely of the same blood as the Rājpūts
of Eastern Rājputānā.
Of course, I do not mean that a pure race is to be found any-
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6 ‘The Rajputs claim to be the ancient Kshatriyas
and found their ideals of conduct upon the heroes of the Hindu epics; but
modern research seems to show that they are mainly the dscendants of Gurjar,
Huna and other central Asian tribes who found their way across the North
West frontier in the fifth and sixth centuries." India-A Short Cultural
History by H.G. Rawlinson. pp. 199-200.
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where in India-almost every caste is of very much
mixed blood." The resemblance of Gojri with dialects make Grierson
believe that Gujars belong to the same stock as many Rajput clans in
Rajputana, the Punjab and the United Provinces, that their (Gujars)
ancestors emigrated from Rajputana after they had acquired the Rajasthani
speech, and that the most likely time for such emigration is the ninth
century, when the Gurjar-Rajput power dominated all northern and
north-western India with its capital at Kanauj.8
According to Bamzai9 also Gujars are Rajputs as he
points out, "They are said to be Rajputs who migrated from Rajasthan
and adopted the Muslim faith".
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In Poonch and Rajauri districts the villages are heavily populated with
Gujjars and the villages surveyed for this study have majority of Gujjars
along with persons of some professional clans such as barbers, cobblers and
blacksmiths. Barbers and Cobblers in those villages also claim themselves
the speakers of Gojri langauge an some of them have reported to come from
Gujjar community but adopted their professions long back so now they don’t
enjoy the equal status with them. Besides they are surrounded by Pahari
speakers and in certain places Gujjars and Pahari speakers are
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7 Grierson, G.A. Linguistic Survey of India Vol. IX,
part IV, Reprint 1968. p.10.
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8 Ibid.cf.p.12.
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9 Bamzai; Prithvinath Kaul. A History of Kashmir.
Metropolitan Book Co.(pvt.) Ltd., 1962. p.16.
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