The Rabari people (also known as Desai, Rabari, Raika, and Dewasi people) are an ethnic group from the
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 s ...
also found in Gujarat
Kutch region.
Origin Myth
The Rabari
myth of origin is kshatriya that
Shiva
Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...
put them on earth to tend to the camels owned by
Parvati
Parvati ( sa, पार्वती, ), Uma ( sa, उमा, ) or Gauri ( sa, गौरी, ) is the Hindu goddess of power, energy, nourishment, harmony, love, beauty, devotion, and motherhood. She is a physical representation of Mahadevi i ...
.
Rabaris claim to be originally from
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
, travelling via
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
to
Balochistan
Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...
, (
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
), where there still is a temple of the Charani Goddess
Hinglaj
Hinglaj (Devanagari: हिंगलाज, bal, هنگلاج, sd, هنگلاج, ur, ) is an important Hindu pilgrimage place in Balochistan, Pakistan and Kuldevi of many Kshatriya, Charan, Rajpurohits and other Hindu Communities of India ...
who they worship. According to Sigrid Westphal-Helbusch, the significant migrations of Rabaris took place between 12th to
14th century, when they moved from
Marwar
Marwar (also called Jodhpur region) is a region of western Rajasthan state in North Western India. It lies partly in the Thar Desert. The word 'maru' is Sanskrit for desert. In Rajasthani languages, "wad" means a particular area. English tra ...
to
Sindh (
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
) and
Kutch. The migrations of Rabaris in fact follow similar paths as that of
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 ...
and
Charans, two other migrant group in this region, indicating intertwined histories. Westphal-Helbusch ascribes the goddess worship traditions of Rabaris to the
Charan influence.
References
Bibliography
*....
Further reading
*
* Mirella Ferrera, People of the world. Published by VMB publisher 13100 Vercelli, Italy 2005
*
Modern nomads
Social groups of Gujarat
Maldhari communities
Social groups of Rajasthan
{{Social groups of Rajasthan