The Rabari people (also known as Desai, Rabari, Raika, and Dewasi people) are an ethnic group from the
Rajasthan also found in Gujarat
Kutch region.
Origin Myth
The Rabari
myth
Myth is a folklore genre consisting of Narrative, narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or Origin myth, origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not Objectivity (philosophy), ...
of origin is kshatriya that
Shiva put them on earth to tend to the camels owned by
Parvati.
Rabaris claim to be originally from
Iran, travelling via
Afghanistan to
Balochistan, (
Pakistan), where there still is a temple of the Charani Goddess
Hinglaj who they worship. According to Sigrid Westphal-Helbusch, the significant migrations of Rabaris took place between 12th to
14th century
As a means of recording the passage of time, the 14th century was a century lasting from 1 January 1301 ( MCCCI), to 31 December 1400 ( MCD). It is estimated that the century witnessed the death of more than 45 million lives from political and n ...
, when they moved from
Marwar to
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 ...
(
Pakistan) and
Kutch. The migrations of Rabaris in fact follow similar paths as that of
Rajputs and
Charans
Charan (IAST: Cāraṇ; Sanskrit: चारण; Gujarati: ચારણ; Urdu: ارڈ; IPA: cɑːrəɳə) is a caste in South Asia natively residing in the Rajasthan and Gujarat states of India, as well as the Sindh and Balochistan provinces of ...
, two other migrant group in this region, indicating intertwined histories. Westphal-Helbusch ascribes the goddess worship traditions of Rabaris to the
Charan
Charan ( IAST: Cāraṇ; Sanskrit: चारण; Gujarati: ચારણ; Urdu: ارڈ; IPA: cɑːrəɳə) is a caste in South Asia natively residing in the Rajasthan and Gujarat states of India, as well as the Sindh and Balochistan provinces ...
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