Bagar, also Bagad (बागड़) and even Bar, a term meaning the "dry country",Nonica Datta

The Tribune, 3 July 1999. refers to the sandy tract of north-western

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and eastern parts of current

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

bordering India. For example, area north and south of

Ravi river The Ravi River () is a transboundary river crossing northwestern India and eastern Pakistan. It is one of five rivers associated with the Punjab region. Under the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, the waters of the Ravi and two other rivers were ...

between Chenab river and

Sutlej The Sutlej or Satluj River () is the longest of the five rivers that flow through the historic crossroads region of Punjab in northern India and Pakistan. The Sutlej River is also known as ''Satadru''. It is the easternmost tributary of the Ind ...

is called Ihang Bar.1892 , Haryana District Gazetteers: Ambala district gazetteer, Page 2.

Etymology

Bagar means the prairie (grazing shrubs and grassland) of northern

Rajputana Rājputana, meaning "Land of the Rajputs", was a region in the Indian subcontinent that included mainly the present-day Indian state of Rajasthan, as well as parts of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, and some adjoining areas of Sindh in modern-day ...

,Elaine King,1998, Tales & legends of India, Page 61. which likely comes from eponymous Arabic word "bagar" meaning "cow" ( sacred to Hindus),2002, Abubakar Garba, "State, city and society: processes of urbanisation", University of Maiduguri - Centre for Trans Saharan Studies, Archaeological Association of Nigeria, Page 82. derived from the Arabic word "cattle".Mohamet Lawan, 1997, No travel is little, Page 66. '' Baggara'' in Arabic means "cattle herders".Deepak Kumar Behera,

Georg Pfeffer Georg Pfeffer (17 January 1943 — 20 May 2020) was a German anthropologist. Born in 1943 in Berlin to a German sociologist father and a British mother, he was schooled in Hamburg. In 1959, he moved to Lahore with his family, and studied at the c ...

, 2002, The concept of tribal society, Page 284.Jemera Rone, Brian Owsley, Human Rights Watch/Africa, 1996, Behind the Red Line: Political Repression in Sudan, Page 274. Bagar tract refers to the semi-arid semi-fertile rain-fed sandy shrubby grassland tract at the confluence of

arid A region is arid when it severely lacks available water, to the extent of hindering or preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life. Regions with arid climates tend to lack vegetation and are called xeric or desertic. Most ar ...

Thar Desert The Thar Desert, also known as the Great Indian Desert, is an arid region in the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent, Subcontinent that covers an area of and forms a natural boundary between India and Pakistan. It is the world's Li ...

and fertile bangar and khadir areas of

Indo-Gangetic Plain The Indo-Gangetic Plain, also known as the North Indian River Plain, is a fertile plain encompassing northern regions of the Indian subcontinent, including most of northern and eastern India, around half of Pakistan, virtually all of Bangla ...

, which as historically inhabited by the cattle herders who remained semi-nomadic until they began to adapt to settled life in the mid to late Medieval Period. Before the adoption of the Arabic name bagar, the area was earlier known as Jangladesh during the

Vedic era The Vedic period, or the Vedic age (), is the period in the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age of the history of India when the Vedic literature, including the Vedas (ca. 1300–900 BCE), was composed in the northern Indian subcontinent, betwe ...

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...

and even in early medieval times at least until the end of Hindu reign of

Prithviraj Chauhan Prithviraja III (IAST: Pṛthvī-rāja; reign. – 1192 CE), popularly known as Prithviraj Chauhan or Rai Pithora, was a king from the Chauhan (Chahamana) dynasty who ruled the territory of Sapadalaksha, with his capital at Ajmer in present- ...

. ''Rājputāna'', meaning "Land of the

Rajputs Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...

", is a historic term for a region in

that includes mainly the present-day

Indian state India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, with a total of 36 entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into districts and smaller administrative divisions. History Pre-indepen ...

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...

, parts of

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

and

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

, as well as adjoining areas of Punjab and Haryana, and some adjoining areas of

Sindh Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...

in modern-day southern Pakistan. It lies to the west of the

Aravalli Hills The Aravalli Range (also spelled ''Aravali'') is a mountain range in Northern-Western India, running approximately in a south-west direction, starting near Delhi, passing through southern Haryana, Rajasthan, and ending in Ahmedabad Gujarat. ...

, and was earlier known as

Samarkand fa, سمرقند , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from the top:Registan square, Shah-i-Zinda necropolis, Bibi-Khanym Mosque, view inside Shah-i-Zinda, ...

, the earlier form of

Registan The Registan ( Uzbek: Регистон, Registon) was the heart of the ancient city of Samarkand of the Timurid Empire, now in Uzbekistan. The name ''Rēgistan'' () means "sandy place" or "desert" in Persian. The Registan was a public square, ...

, before it came to be known as ''Rajputana'', early in the

Medieval Period In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

. The name was later adopted by

British government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...

as the Rajputana Agency for its dependencies in the region of the present-day

n state of Rājasthān, which comprised 18

princely state A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Raj, British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, ...

s, two chiefships and the British district of Ajmer-Merwara, which was renamed to "Rajasthan" in 1949.

Bagri people

Mani Ram Bagri with Rajiv Gandhi and others

The term ''Bagri people'' was originally applied to the Hindu

Jats The Jat people ((), ()) are a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in late medieval times, and subse ...

,B.S. Nijjar, 2008
"Origins and History of Jats and Other Allied Nomadic Tribes of India: 900 B.C.-1947 A.D."
Atlantic Publishers, page 51, .Nonica Datta, 1999
"Forming an Identity: A Social History of the Jats

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

Press, page 12.

Gurjar Gurjar or Gujjar (also transliterated as ''Gujar, Gurjara and Gujjer'') is an ethnic nomadic, agricultural and pastoral community, spread mainly in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, divided internally into various clan groups. They were tradit ...

s and

Rajput Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...

s, such as Bagri Jat and Bagri bishnoi sub casteRobert Vane Russell, 1916
"pt. II. Descriptive articles on the principal castes and tribes of the Central Provinces"
page 435.Robert Vane Russell, 1916
"The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India (Volumes I and II)"

Library of Alexandria The Great Library of Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt, was one of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient world. The Library was part of a larger research institution called the Mouseion, which was dedicated to the Muses, th ...

publication, .B.S. Nijjar, 2008
"Origins and History of Jats and Other Allied Nomadic Tribes of India: 900 B.C.-1947 A.D."
Atlantic Publishers, page 51, .2000
"Haryana District Gazetteers: Rohtak district gazetteer, 1910"
Government of Haryana Gazetteers organization, page 237.Vīrasiṃha, 2006
"The Jats: Their Role & Contribution to the Socio-economic Life and Polity of North & North-west India, Volume 2"
page 305, .Nonica Datta, 1999
"Forming an Identity: A Social History of the Jats

Press, page 12. but now also applied to Bishnoi

2000
"Haryana District Gazetteers: Rohtak district gazetteer, 1910"
Government of Haryana Gazetteers organization, page 237.Vīrasiṃha, 2006
"The Jats: Their Role & Contribution to the Socio-economic Life and Polity of North & North-west India, Volume 2"
page 305, . one of the sections of Agarwal Banias and Maheshwari banias as well as Badhik ("butcher"), Pardhi ("hunter") and

Bawariya Babaria (alternate spellings of which include Bauria, Babariya, Bawaria and Baraiya) are a nomadic tribe found mainly in the Indian states of Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Traditions The Babaria are traditionally a nomadic t ...

(semi-nomads) castes. Prominent bagri people include was politician from Haryana Mani Ram Bagri (1 January 1920 – 31 March 2012, a politician from Haryana),

Raj Bagri, Baron Bagri Raj Kumar Bagri, Baron Bagri, (24 August 1930 – 26 April 2017) was an Indian-born British businessman and a Conservative member of the House of Lords from 1997 to 2010. He was made a life peer in 1997 under the title Baron Bagri, of Regent's ...

(24 August 1930 – 26 April 2017, India-born British businessman and a Conservative member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

from 1997 to 2010, who was made a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...

in 1997).

Bagri language

Bagri people of the sandy dry Bagar tract speak the

Bagri language The Bagri language (باگڑی/बागड़ी) is a language that forms a Dialect continuum, dialect bridge between Haryanvi language, Haryanvi, Rajasthani language, Rajasthani, and Punjabi language, Punjabi and takes its name from the Bagar ...

(बागड़ी), a

dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of Linguistics, linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety (linguisti ...

of overlapping

Rajasthani language Rajasthani (Devanagari: ) refers to a group of Indo-Aryan languages and dialects spoken primarily in the state of Rajasthan and adjacent areas of Haryana, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh in India. There are also speakers in the Pakistani provinces ...

, Haryanvi language and

Punjabi language Punjabi (; ; , ), sometimes spelled Panjabi, is an Indo-Aryan language of the Punjab region of Pakistan and India. It has approximately 113 million native speakers. Punjabi is the most widely-spoken first language in Pakistan, with 80.5 m ...

of the Indo-Aryan family, spoken by about five million speakers.

Bagri region

Bagri region or tract is long strip of shifting sand dunes called ''tibba'' (टिब्बा) and relatively semi-fertile lands between them called ''lal'' (लाळ ) along the western border of

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...

and eastern border of

. The Bagar region has potentially very fertile alluvial soil interspersed with highly permeable very sandy tracts in several places with

water table The water table is the upper surface of the zone of saturation. The zone of saturation is where the pores and fractures of the ground are saturated with water. It can also be simply explained as the depth below which the ground is saturated. T ...

more than 100 feet below ground containing brackish water usually unfit for human consumption, where

dust storm A dust storm, also called a sandstorm, is a meteorological phenomenon common in arid and semi-arid regions. Dust storms arise when a gust front or other strong wind blows loose sand and dirt from a dry surface. Fine particles are transporte ...

s frequent during the warm summer months from April till the end of July when

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...

arrives. Previously the tract was solely based on the rain and irrigation was possible only in the small area of Bagar region in districts of Fatehabad, Sirsa, Hanumangarh and Sriganganagar where the season

Ghaggar river The Ghaggar-Hakra River is an intermittent river in India and Pakistan that flows only during the monsoon season. The river is known as Ghaggar in India, before the Ottu barrage, and as the Hakra in Pakistan, downstream of the barrage, ending ...

flows. After the opening of

Bhakra Nangal Dam Bhakra Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Sutlej River in Bhakra Village near Bilaspur in Bilaspur district, Himachal Pradesh in northern India. The dam forms the Gobind Sagar reservoir. The dam, located at a gorge near the (now submerged ...

canal system in 1963 as well as the earlier

Western Yamuna Canal Western Yamuna Canal is canal in river Yamuna that was dug out and renovated in 1335 CE by Firoz Shah Tughlaq. In 1750 CE, excessive silting caused it to stop flowing. The British raj undertook a three-year renovation in 1817 by Captain GR Blane ...

now irrigate most of Haryana including all of the Bagar region falling in Haryana on its western border. Opening of Indira Gandhi Canal in 1983 brought the water of

and Beas rivers to the fields of Rajasthan including its Bagar tract stabilizing the sand dunes and soil erosion by preventing the expansion of desert.E. Walter Coward, 1980
"Irrigation and Agricultural Development in Asia: Perspectives from the social sciences"

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

press, page 302, . In Haryana, it covers southern parts of

Sirsa district Sirsa district is the largest district of Haryana state. Sirsa is the district headquarters. It is located on National Highway 9 and from the capital Delhi. Etymology The district is named after its headquarters, Sirsa. The name, Sirsa is deri ...

(earlier known as

Bhattiana Bhattiana is a tract of land lying in the Indian states of Haryana and Punjab between Hisar and the Garra. It was named ''Bhattiana'' because of being ruled by Bhatti Rajputs. Origin of name This geographical area derives its name from the ...

), and western villages of Fatehabad, Hisar,

Bhiwani Bhiwani is a city and a municipal council in Bhiwani district in the state of Haryana, Bhiwani was also known as "Gate of Rajputana". Besides being a seat of spiritual learning, the city is at the centre of regional politics and hometown of t ...

and

Charkhi Dadri Charkhi Dadri is a city and headquarters of Charkhi Dadri district in the state of Haryana located in southern Haryana, India, about 90 km from the national capital Delhi. The town was made by joining the villages of Charkhi and Dadri a ...

districts. In

, it covers parts of tehsils of Ganganagar; Bhadra,

Nohar Nohar is a city and a municipality in Hanumangarh district in the Indian state of Rajasthan India Geography Nohar is at . It has an average elevation of . Nohar is a semi-arid area and experiences very low rainfall. Summer in Nohar is full o ...

in Hanumangarh district;

Taranagar Taranagar is a city and a municipality in Churu district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Rajasthan, situated at 28° 41'N 75° 3'E, about 120 miles northeast of Bikaner. Taranagar was earlier known as Reni, named for the ...

tehsil in Churu district.India District Census Handboook, 1961
/ref> In

Punjab (India) Punjab (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northern India. Forming part of the larger Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, the state is bordered by the States and union territories of India, Indian states of Himachal ...

, bagar tract covers Fazilka district and southern villages of Muktsar district.Census India 2001
/ref> In

Punjab, Pakistan Punjab (; , ) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in central-eastern region of the country, Punjab is the second-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the largest province by population. It shares land borders with the ...

, Bagri as minor language is spoken in Bahawalpur and Bahawalnagar district, though these are not considered parts of Bagar tract.Gusain, Lakhan: Reflexives in Bagri. Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, 1994Gusain, Lakhan: Limitations of Literacy in Bagri.

Nicholas Ostler Nicholas Ostler (; born 20 May 1952) is a British scholar and author. Biography and work Ostler studied at Balliol College, Oxford, where he received degrees in Greek, Latin, philosophy, and economics. He later studied under Noam Chomsky at ...

& Blair Rudes (eds.). Endangered Languages and Literacy. Proceedings of the Fourth FEL Conference. University of North Carolina, Charlotte, 21–24 September 2000Gusain, Lakhan: Bagri Grammar. Munich: Lincom Europa (Languages of the World/Materials, 2000, p. 384

Gallery

India - Haryana - Sirsa.svg,

India - Haryana - Fatehabad.svg, Fatehabad district Map rajasthan dist 7 div.png, Bagar tract through eastern parts of

Ganganagar district Sri Ganganagar district is the northernmost district of Rajasthan state in western India. History Named after Maharaja Ganga Singh of Bikaner, Sri Ganganagar district was part of Bikaner state. This was a mostly uninhabited region. The his ...

, Hanumangarh district, Churu district and

Jhunjhunu district Jhunjhunu district is a district of the Indian state of Rajasthan in northern India. The city of Jhunjhunu is the district headquarters. District location The district falls within Shekhawati region, and is bounded on the northeast and east by ...

Punjab district map.png, Bagar tract through Fazilka district (now a separate district, formerly southern part of

Firozpur district Firozpur district, also known as Ferozepur district, is one of the twenty-three districts in the state of Punjab, India. Firozpur district comprises an area of . Firozpur (Ferozepur) is the capital city of the district. It is situated inside t ...

) and southern villages of Muktsar district of

Pakistan Punjab.png, Bagri as minor language is spoken in Bahawalpur and Bahawalnagar district of

, though not considered parts of Bagar tract.

References