WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.080 Welcome to the Deep Dive. Today, we're unpacking 00:00:03.080 --> 00:00:06.459 a historical paradox, one that really challenges 00:00:06.459 --> 00:00:09.380 how we view South Asian sociology. Yeah, it's 00:00:09.380 --> 00:00:11.419 a fascinating one. Right, because if you trace 00:00:11.419 --> 00:00:13.699 the history of this one single group of people, 00:00:13.820 --> 00:00:16.140 you find them recorded as high caste royalty, 00:00:16.440 --> 00:00:19.739 like ruling these vast ancient kingdoms. Exactly, 00:00:19.879 --> 00:00:22.660 kings and rulers. But then, and this is the paradox, 00:00:22.960 --> 00:00:25.839 in certain regions today, you find that same 00:00:25.839 --> 00:00:28.879 community living as semi -nomadic forest herders. 00:00:29.280 --> 00:00:32.380 And they are actively fighting for just, you 00:00:32.380 --> 00:00:34.240 know, basic rights to the land they've lived 00:00:34.240 --> 00:00:37.679 on for centuries. So how does one community navigate 00:00:37.679 --> 00:00:40.679 both ends of that socioeconomic spectrum? Well, 00:00:40.799 --> 00:00:42.780 I mean, we often fall into this trap, right, 00:00:42.859 --> 00:00:45.520 of viewing history as a straight line. We assume 00:00:45.520 --> 00:00:48.079 a group just remains static as either the conqueror 00:00:48.079 --> 00:00:49.619 or the conquered. You're either the settler or 00:00:49.619 --> 00:00:51.359 you're the nomad. Right, right. But reality, 00:00:51.439 --> 00:00:53.340 especially in this specific legion, is just much 00:00:53.340 --> 00:00:55.719 more fluid than that. And to trace that fluidity, 00:00:55.759 --> 00:00:58.640 our mission today relies on a really comprehensive 00:00:58.640 --> 00:01:02.179 Wikipedia entry covering the Gujars. Sometimes 00:01:02.179 --> 00:01:03.820 pronounced Gujars, depending on where you are. 00:01:03.859 --> 00:01:05.840 Yeah, both are you. We're tracking this highly 00:01:05.840 --> 00:01:10.340 diverse agricultural and pastoral community across 00:01:10.340 --> 00:01:13.709 India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. And we really 00:01:13.709 --> 00:01:15.810 want to look at how they shape South Asian history 00:01:15.810 --> 00:01:18.950 and honestly how they interact with very rigid 00:01:18.950 --> 00:01:22.170 modern borders. Which is so relevant right now 00:01:22.170 --> 00:01:24.090 because for anyone listening who wants to understand 00:01:24.090 --> 00:01:27.150 the actual mechanics of human identity, religion, 00:01:27.409 --> 00:01:30.769 and borders in practice, I mean far beyond the 00:01:30.769 --> 00:01:33.549 neat little lines drawn on political maps, the 00:01:33.549 --> 00:01:37.209 story of the Gurjars serves as the ultimate masterclass. 00:01:38.120 --> 00:01:40.579 It really does. It reveals how societies actually 00:01:40.579 --> 00:01:43.060 build and rebuild themselves over millennia. 00:01:43.120 --> 00:01:45.379 Okay, let's unpack this, starting with the etymology. 00:01:45.480 --> 00:01:48.760 Yeah. Because the term Gurjar carries some serious 00:01:48.760 --> 00:01:51.120 historical weight. It definitely does. According 00:01:51.120 --> 00:01:53.920 to ancient Sanskrit texts, the root Gur translates 00:01:53.920 --> 00:01:58.280 to enemy and Ujar translates to destroyer. Yeah. 00:01:58.319 --> 00:01:59.959 Put them together and you get destroyer of the 00:01:59.959 --> 00:02:02.629 enemy. Which is quite a formidable title. Yeah, 00:02:02.670 --> 00:02:04.469 no kidding. What that title signifies today is 00:02:04.469 --> 00:02:06.969 incredibly dynamic. Depending on where you travel 00:02:06.969 --> 00:02:09.250 in South Asia, Gurjar doesn't mean just one thing. 00:02:09.349 --> 00:02:11.669 In some administrative contexts, it functions 00:02:11.669 --> 00:02:14.569 as a caste. Right. In others, it's officially 00:02:14.569 --> 00:02:17.689 recognized as a tribe. You also see it represent 00:02:17.689 --> 00:02:20.750 a biridari, which is a kinship group, or even 00:02:20.750 --> 00:02:23.110 a quam, which translates a bit more closely to 00:02:23.110 --> 00:02:25.180 a nation. And linguistically, they're just as 00:02:25.180 --> 00:02:27.479 diverse. Right. Exactly. They adapt to their 00:02:27.479 --> 00:02:30.520 surroundings. So they speak Hindi, Urdu, Pashto 00:02:30.520 --> 00:02:32.919 or Kashmiri while still maintaining their own 00:02:32.919 --> 00:02:35.379 distinct language, which is Gujari. And that 00:02:35.379 --> 00:02:38.099 adaptability, it extends deeply into their religious 00:02:38.099 --> 00:02:41.169 practices as well. Our sources cite a demographic 00:02:41.169 --> 00:02:43.729 breakdown from a few decades ago, and it really 00:02:43.729 --> 00:02:46.349 highlights just how varied this population is 00:02:46.349 --> 00:02:48.430 across different geographies. Could you walk 00:02:48.430 --> 00:02:50.610 us through those numbers? Yeah, the statistics 00:02:50.610 --> 00:02:53.370 from 1988 are actually quite striking. Roughly 00:02:53.370 --> 00:02:56.870 53 % of the total Gurjar population follows Islam. 00:02:57.069 --> 00:03:00.669 Wow. And then about 46 .8 % follow Hinduism. 00:03:00.710 --> 00:03:03.569 And there's a smaller fraction, around 0 .2%, 00:03:03.569 --> 00:03:06.840 that practice Sikhism. So you have this single 00:03:06.840 --> 00:03:10.379 overarching ethnic or tribal identity that successfully 00:03:10.379 --> 00:03:13.680 contains multiple major world religions. What's 00:03:13.680 --> 00:03:15.960 fascinating here is how that identity might have 00:03:15.960 --> 00:03:18.900 originally coalesced. Several historians propose 00:03:18.900 --> 00:03:21.819 that Gujarat started out as the name of a Janapada. 00:03:21.960 --> 00:03:24.699 A Janapada being a tribal kingdom or territory. 00:03:24.960 --> 00:03:29.159 This would be emerging around 570 CE in present 00:03:29.159 --> 00:03:32.439 -day Rajasthan and Gujarat. Over generations, 00:03:32.520 --> 00:03:36.400 that geographic territorial name gradually morphed 00:03:36.400 --> 00:03:39.129 into an ethnic identity. Which creates a massive 00:03:39.129 --> 00:03:41.150 puzzle for modern historians, I imagine. Oh, 00:03:41.169 --> 00:03:44.289 absolutely. When ancient texts mention a grujarajar 00:03:44.289 --> 00:03:46.650 or a grujar king, we have to stop and determine, 00:03:46.830 --> 00:03:49.689 wait, were they a king of an ethnic group called 00:03:49.689 --> 00:03:52.550 the grujars? Or simply a king who ruled over 00:03:52.550 --> 00:03:55.330 a territory bearing that name? It's a complex 00:03:55.330 --> 00:03:58.189 historical detective story. But the texts we 00:03:58.189 --> 00:04:00.150 do have paint them as a major regional force. 00:04:00.370 --> 00:04:02.849 There's this biography from 630 CE called the 00:04:02.849 --> 00:04:05.250 Harsha Charita. Yes. And it describes a certain 00:04:05.250 --> 00:04:07.909 king's father as being a constant... threat to 00:04:07.909 --> 00:04:10.069 the sleep of Gujarat. That's a great line. It 00:04:10.069 --> 00:04:12.030 implies a really serious entrenched rivalry. 00:04:12.389 --> 00:04:14.789 I mean, if you are considered the primary threat 00:04:14.789 --> 00:04:17.029 to an entire kingdom's security, you are dealing 00:04:17.029 --> 00:04:19.509 with a heavily fortified established power. They 00:04:19.509 --> 00:04:22.889 were undeniably a recognized formidable presence 00:04:22.889 --> 00:04:26.170 in northwestern India during that era. But their 00:04:26.170 --> 00:04:28.750 exact origins remain a subject of intense historical 00:04:28.750 --> 00:04:32.149 debate. Early theories speculated that they migrated 00:04:32.149 --> 00:04:35.050 into the region from Central Asia. But modern 00:04:35.050 --> 00:04:37.189 consensus leans away from that. Yeah, it does. 00:04:37.329 --> 00:04:40.110 The much more compelling historical mystery is 00:04:40.110 --> 00:04:42.689 their relationship to the Rajputs, which is India's 00:04:42.689 --> 00:04:45.810 famed traditional warrior class. Right, because 00:04:45.810 --> 00:04:48.110 if you look at the traditional mainstream historical 00:04:48.110 --> 00:04:51.730 narrative today, the Gujar is frequently stereotyped 00:04:51.730 --> 00:04:54.370 simply as a rural herder. Right. There's even 00:04:54.370 --> 00:04:56.910 a persistent cultural myth attempting to explain 00:04:56.910 --> 00:04:59.740 away their past royal connections. The myth suggests 00:04:59.740 --> 00:05:03.379 that any Rajput lineage a Gujar claims is merely 00:05:03.379 --> 00:05:06.160 the result of a Rajput man marrying a Brahmin 00:05:06.160 --> 00:05:08.399 woman, placing them as this sort of fallen warrior 00:05:08.399 --> 00:05:11.379 class. But historian Tanya Jakotyal's analysis 00:05:11.379 --> 00:05:14.160 fundamentally challenges that top -down narrative. 00:05:14.259 --> 00:05:16.600 When you look at the actual historical processes 00:05:16.600 --> 00:05:19.180 of state formation in that region, the evidence 00:05:19.180 --> 00:05:21.420 points in the exact opposite direction. Okay, 00:05:21.500 --> 00:05:24.399 how so? The Rajput warrior class did not exist 00:05:24.399 --> 00:05:27.199 as a separate preordained elite that subsequently 00:05:27.199 --> 00:05:30.680 spawned these pastoral groups. Instead, the Rajput 00:05:30.680 --> 00:05:33.899 identity actually emerged from mobile pastoral 00:05:33.899 --> 00:05:36.540 and tribal communities like the Gujars and the 00:05:36.540 --> 00:05:40.480 Jets. That is wild. So how does a nomadic herding 00:05:40.480 --> 00:05:43.899 community transform into a sedentary aristocratic 00:05:43.899 --> 00:05:46.560 warrior class? What are the actual mechanics 00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:48.660 of that shift? It comes down to resource control 00:05:48.660 --> 00:05:51.910 and the realities of medieval agrarians. economies. 00:05:52.389 --> 00:05:55.310 These mobile groups were not just aimlessly wandering 00:05:55.310 --> 00:05:57.769 the landscape. Right. They had purpose. Exactly. 00:05:57.970 --> 00:06:00.509 Because of their mobility, they actively controlled 00:06:00.509 --> 00:06:03.709 vital trade routes. They managed vast economically 00:06:03.709 --> 00:06:06.569 crucial herds of livestock, and they occasionally 00:06:06.569 --> 00:06:09.569 engaged in strategic armed raids against settled 00:06:09.569 --> 00:06:11.670 agriculturalists. So they were building power. 00:06:11.910 --> 00:06:14.250 As they accumulated wealth and military leverage 00:06:14.250 --> 00:06:16.569 through these activities, certain powerful factions 00:06:16.569 --> 00:06:18.610 within the Gurjar community began to permanently 00:06:18.610 --> 00:06:20.959 settle down. They acquired agriculture. cultural 00:06:20.959 --> 00:06:23.120 land, fortified their new territories, and formed 00:06:23.120 --> 00:06:25.660 strategic marital alliances with other locally 00:06:25.660 --> 00:06:28.480 dominant families. And over several generations, 00:06:28.680 --> 00:06:32.399 these specific settled lineages actively distanced 00:06:32.399 --> 00:06:34.800 themselves from their nomadic pastoral roots. 00:06:35.120 --> 00:06:38.139 They adopted a newly formalized Rajput identity 00:06:38.139 --> 00:06:41.339 to legitimize their status as a sedentary landed 00:06:41.339 --> 00:06:44.779 elite. So the nomads essentially built the aristocracy 00:06:44.779 --> 00:06:47.000 from the ground up. Precisely. That completely 00:06:47.000 --> 00:06:49.120 shifts how we understand early state formation 00:06:49.120 --> 00:06:52.339 in India. But if the nomads built the aristocracy, 00:06:52.560 --> 00:06:54.899 then the transition into the medieval period 00:06:54.899 --> 00:06:57.220 must have been incredibly disruptive to that 00:06:57.220 --> 00:07:00.399 balance of power. As the region became more turbulent, 00:07:00.759 --> 00:07:03.519 how did the ruling empires perceive the Gurjars? 00:07:03.699 --> 00:07:06.300 They were often viewed as a significant administrative 00:07:06.300 --> 00:07:09.100 headache. I can imagine. If you read the writings 00:07:09.100 --> 00:07:11.620 of Babur, the founder of the Mughal Empire, from 00:07:11.620 --> 00:07:15.439 around 1525, he explicitly details his frustrations. 00:07:15.620 --> 00:07:18.600 He describes jats and gujars pouring down from 00:07:18.600 --> 00:07:21.220 the hills in vast numbers during times of revolt, 00:07:21.420 --> 00:07:24.519 carrying off oxen and buffaloes. Wow. He even 00:07:24.519 --> 00:07:27.000 characterized them as being guilty of the severest 00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:29.240 oppression. Which speaks to their enduring mobility, 00:07:29.459 --> 00:07:32.480 right? Right. And their refusal to easily submit 00:07:32.480 --> 00:07:36.220 to centralized authority. Now this era... is 00:07:36.220 --> 00:07:39.180 also marked by profound religious shifts. We 00:07:39.180 --> 00:07:40.819 mentioned their religious diversity earlier, 00:07:41.000 --> 00:07:43.500 and this medieval period is where much of that 00:07:43.500 --> 00:07:46.839 originates. The sources document waves of forced 00:07:46.839 --> 00:07:48.839 conversions to Islam over several centuries. 00:07:49.279 --> 00:07:52.209 Could you outline how that unfolded? It was a 00:07:52.209 --> 00:07:54.670 protracted process spanning hundreds of years. 00:07:54.889 --> 00:07:58.069 It starts around 1026 with Mahmud of Ghazni's 00:07:58.069 --> 00:08:01.689 military campaigns in Gujarat. Later on, Tamerlane's 00:08:01.689 --> 00:08:03.670 sacking of Delhi involved the forced conversion 00:08:03.670 --> 00:08:07.649 of Gurjars in areas like Awad and Meerut. Fast 00:08:07.649 --> 00:08:11.050 forward to the 1700s and the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb 00:08:11.050 --> 00:08:13.430 was aggressively converting Gurjars in Himachal 00:08:13.430 --> 00:08:15.529 Pradesh. And the fallout from those conversions 00:08:15.529 --> 00:08:17.990 was severe. Our sources indicate that in many 00:08:17.990 --> 00:08:20.149 cases, newly converted Gurjars were subsequently 00:08:20.149 --> 00:08:22.550 driven off their ancestral lands by groups like 00:08:22.550 --> 00:08:24.689 the Pathans and Balochis. Right. They were pushed 00:08:24.689 --> 00:08:26.509 from being landowners or established herders 00:08:26.509 --> 00:08:28.430 directly into vagrancy, essentially overnight. 00:08:28.629 --> 00:08:32.309 And that sudden forced displacement deeply influenced 00:08:32.309 --> 00:08:34.830 how they interacted with authority moving forward 00:08:34.830 --> 00:08:37.350 straight through into the British colonial period 00:08:37.350 --> 00:08:39.889 in the 18th and 19th centuries. You see a dual 00:08:39.889 --> 00:08:42.149 survival strategy emerge. What do you mean by 00:08:42.149 --> 00:08:45.070 a dual strategy? Well, some Gurjars managed to 00:08:45.070 --> 00:08:47.830 maintain local power as chieftains. They ruled 00:08:47.830 --> 00:08:50.409 over smaller states in places like Saharanpur 00:08:50.409 --> 00:08:53.070 and Dholpur, integrating themselves into the 00:08:53.070 --> 00:08:55.429 colonial tax hierarchy. OK, so playing the system. 00:08:55.590 --> 00:08:59.350 Exactly. But others took a much more confrontational 00:08:59.350 --> 00:09:02.370 approach. And that confrontational approach brings 00:09:02.370 --> 00:09:05.269 us to a highly memorable event in Delhi during 00:09:05.269 --> 00:09:08.289 British rule. The British administration had 00:09:08.289 --> 00:09:11.370 confiscated land belonging to local Gurjar villagers 00:09:11.370 --> 00:09:15.149 to construct this massive, opulent colonial mansion 00:09:15.149 --> 00:09:18.080 known as the Metcalf House. Right. The Gurjars 00:09:18.080 --> 00:09:20.379 didn't just accept the displacement or file a 00:09:20.379 --> 00:09:23.100 legal grievance. They organized, marched on the 00:09:23.100 --> 00:09:25.720 estate and literally sacked the mansion. They 00:09:25.720 --> 00:09:27.639 tore it apart because it stood on their stolen 00:09:27.639 --> 00:09:29.860 land. If we connect this to the bigger picture, 00:09:30.139 --> 00:09:33.059 it demonstrates exactly how the Gurjars survived 00:09:33.059 --> 00:09:36.600 centuries of relentless empire building. They 00:09:36.600 --> 00:09:39.600 were relentlessly pragmatic. They adapted to 00:09:39.600 --> 00:09:41.279 the immediate pressures of their environment. 00:09:41.559 --> 00:09:44.399 If survival meant establishing themselves as 00:09:44.399 --> 00:09:46.919 tax collecting chieftains within a colonial city. 00:09:46.960 --> 00:09:50.200 system, they utilized that path. And if survival 00:09:50.200 --> 00:09:52.899 required tearing down the physical symbols of 00:09:52.899 --> 00:09:55.220 a state that had displaced them. They executed 00:09:55.220 --> 00:09:57.740 that strategy as well. Which transitions us perfectly 00:09:57.740 --> 00:10:00.700 to how these ancient nomadic traditions clash 00:10:00.700 --> 00:10:04.100 with the modern bureaucratic state. I want to 00:10:04.100 --> 00:10:05.980 look at a specific group called the Vangujars, 00:10:06.080 --> 00:10:09.379 or forest Gujars, who live in the Shivalik hills 00:10:09.379 --> 00:10:11.539 of Uttarakhand. They're a really unique group. 00:10:11.759 --> 00:10:13.679 They are. They represent a fascinating cultural 00:10:13.679 --> 00:10:17.220 synthesis. They practice Islam, yet their social 00:10:17.220 --> 00:10:19.700 structure relies on kinship clans that function 00:10:19.700 --> 00:10:23.159 very similarly to Hindu Gotras, which are these 00:10:23.159 --> 00:10:26.259 exogamous lineages tracing back to a common ancestor. 00:10:26.759 --> 00:10:29.240 Their daily life is also a rare surviving example 00:10:29.240 --> 00:10:32.000 of true pastoral transhumance. Transhumance being 00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:34.919 the seasonal migration. Exactly. It's the practice 00:10:34.919 --> 00:10:37.379 of moving livestock from one grazing ground to 00:10:37.379 --> 00:10:40.039 another in a highly regulated seasonal cycle. 00:10:40.730 --> 00:10:43.110 For the Van Gogh jars, this means establishing 00:10:43.110 --> 00:10:45.250 temporary settlements at the foothills of the 00:10:45.250 --> 00:10:47.750 Himalayas during the harsh winter months. Got 00:10:47.750 --> 00:10:50.789 it. Then, as the snow melts and the weather warms 00:10:50.789 --> 00:10:53.330 up, entire families pack up their households. 00:10:53.610 --> 00:10:56.590 They undertake a grueling, multi -week migration 00:10:56.590 --> 00:10:59.789 up into the high alpine pastures for the summer, 00:10:59.909 --> 00:11:02.730 where the grazing is fresh. The logistics of 00:11:02.730 --> 00:11:04.750 that migration are incredible to think about. 00:11:04.990 --> 00:11:08.070 They travel with these herds of semi -wild water 00:11:08.070 --> 00:11:11.360 buffalo. And their primary livelihood comes from 00:11:11.360 --> 00:11:14.419 selling the milk of these buffalo to local populations 00:11:14.419 --> 00:11:17.159 along their route. But their relationship with 00:11:17.159 --> 00:11:19.659 the herd goes far beyond simple economics. They 00:11:19.659 --> 00:11:22.240 treat these animals with immense reverence, to 00:11:22.240 --> 00:11:24.039 the point where they absolutely refuse to eat 00:11:24.039 --> 00:11:26.360 them or sell them for slaughter. The buffalo 00:11:26.360 --> 00:11:28.620 are deeply integrated into their cultural identity. 00:11:29.120 --> 00:11:31.519 But that historical lifestyle is currently colliding 00:11:31.519 --> 00:11:33.960 with modern conservation policies, specifically 00:11:33.960 --> 00:11:38.159 surrounding India's 2006 Forest Rights Act. State 00:11:38.159 --> 00:11:40.460 forest authorities are tasked with creating and 00:11:40.460 --> 00:11:43.500 maintaining reserved national parks. Right. Their 00:11:43.500 --> 00:11:46.159 standard policy framework dictates that human 00:11:46.159 --> 00:11:48.700 and livestock populations must be kept entirely 00:11:48.700 --> 00:11:51.960 out of these protected ecological zones to preserve 00:11:51.960 --> 00:11:55.100 flora and fauna. Which creates a massive jurisdictional 00:11:55.100 --> 00:11:58.340 and cultural conflict. The Van Gujars argue that 00:11:58.480 --> 00:12:00.700 Their nomadic grazing routes through these exact 00:12:00.700 --> 00:12:03.659 forests date back a thousand years. Under the 00:12:03.659 --> 00:12:06.860 provisions of that very same 2006 act, they claim 00:12:06.860 --> 00:12:09.700 legal rights as traditional forest dwellers. 00:12:10.110 --> 00:12:12.149 It's a fundamental standoff between contemporary 00:12:12.149 --> 00:12:14.769 environmental zoning laws and indigenous historical 00:12:14.769 --> 00:12:17.970 land stewardship. We see a parallel tension regarding 00:12:17.970 --> 00:12:20.149 state recognition with the Baccarat walls in 00:12:20.149 --> 00:12:22.409 the Jammu and Kashmir region. The Baccarat walls 00:12:22.409 --> 00:12:25.070 being another predominantly Muslim nomadic Gujar 00:12:25.070 --> 00:12:27.269 group. Yes. And they constitute a significant 00:12:27.269 --> 00:12:29.429 portion of the scheduled tribe population there. 00:12:29.570 --> 00:12:31.629 However, community leaders consistently argue 00:12:31.629 --> 00:12:33.649 that their numbers are severely undercounted 00:12:33.649 --> 00:12:36.269 in official government censuses. And the mechanics 00:12:36.269 --> 00:12:38.330 of that undercounting are frustratingly simple. 00:12:39.070 --> 00:12:41.230 The government conducts its census during specific 00:12:41.230 --> 00:12:43.549 times of the year. Because the Bacarwals practice 00:12:43.549 --> 00:12:46.909 transhumance, half of their population is actively 00:12:46.909 --> 00:12:50.070 migrating high up in the inaccessible Himalayan 00:12:50.070 --> 00:12:52.529 passes when the enumerators actually arrive. 00:12:52.850 --> 00:12:55.309 The state's sedentary methodology completely 00:12:55.309 --> 00:12:58.350 fails to capture a mobile reality. Here's where 00:12:58.350 --> 00:13:01.029 it gets really interesting. Because these challenges 00:13:01.029 --> 00:13:04.029 aren't isolated to one country. Modern borders 00:13:04.029 --> 00:13:07.169 have essentially drawn arbitrary lines through 00:13:07.169 --> 00:13:10.129 vast interconnected kin networks. Let's trace 00:13:10.129 --> 00:13:12.830 this north into Afghanistan. Home to an estimated 00:13:12.830 --> 00:13:16.110 1 .5 million Gurjars. Primarily in the northeastern 00:13:16.110 --> 00:13:19.129 provinces, right? Our sources highlight a sobering 00:13:19.129 --> 00:13:21.870 event during the COVID -19 pandemic. What exactly 00:13:21.870 --> 00:13:24.919 unfolded there? It really underscores the extreme 00:13:24.919 --> 00:13:27.779 marginalization these communities face in remote 00:13:27.779 --> 00:13:30.600 areas. In regions like Badakhshan, Gurjar populations 00:13:30.600 --> 00:13:33.360 operate with almost zero access to modern medical 00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:35.720 clinics or state health facilities. So when the 00:13:35.720 --> 00:13:37.700 pandemic struck, they were completely isolated. 00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:40.100 Totally on their own. Out of sheer desperation, 00:13:40.460 --> 00:13:43.019 they began treating the virus using the meat 00:13:43.019 --> 00:13:45.779 of an animal called the Andak. What makes this 00:13:45.779 --> 00:13:48.340 critical is that their own Gurjar tribal council 00:13:48.340 --> 00:13:51.399 had explicitly ruled that the meat of the Andak 00:13:51.399 --> 00:13:54.070 was haram. or forbidden, according to Islamic 00:13:54.070 --> 00:13:57.110 dietary law. But the lack of state infrastructure 00:13:57.110 --> 00:14:00.610 pushed them to a point where survival overrode 00:14:00.610 --> 00:14:03.370 strict religious edicts. It is a start indicator 00:14:03.370 --> 00:14:05.750 of state absence. Now, if we look across the 00:14:05.750 --> 00:14:07.990 border into Pakistan, where Gujjars account for 00:14:07.990 --> 00:14:10.610 an estimated 20 % of the total population, the 00:14:10.610 --> 00:14:13.429 dynamic changes. Anthropologists studying the 00:14:13.429 --> 00:14:15.690 region have identified a phenomenon they term... 00:14:16.039 --> 00:14:19.200 Gujarism. Gujarism. Yes. This is a highly organized 00:14:19.200 --> 00:14:22.360 form of kin network activism. The community leverages 00:14:22.360 --> 00:14:24.980 their biridari, their shared ancestral and kinship 00:14:24.980 --> 00:14:27.340 ties, to mobilize politically, economically, 00:14:27.659 --> 00:14:30.379 and sometimes militarily. And the stakes of that 00:14:30.379 --> 00:14:33.000 mobilization can be incredibly high. Take the 00:14:33.000 --> 00:14:35.870 Swat Valley in 2008. There was a local Gujar 00:14:35.870 --> 00:14:38.809 community leader named Pir Samila. In response 00:14:38.809 --> 00:14:41.070 to the Pakistani Taliban advancing into their 00:14:41.070 --> 00:14:43.570 territory, he utilized these kinship networks 00:14:43.570 --> 00:14:46.029 to raise a private tribal army of roughly 10 00:14:46.029 --> 00:14:48.549 ,000 men. 10 ,000 men, yeah. He successfully 00:14:48.549 --> 00:14:51.490 organized these tribesmen to defend 20 different 00:14:51.490 --> 00:14:54.210 villages from militant takeover. It was a massive 00:14:54.210 --> 00:14:57.029 decentralized resistance effort. Tragically, 00:14:57.070 --> 00:14:59.210 his tribal forces were eventually outgunned and 00:14:59.210 --> 00:15:02.029 defeated by the Taliban. Samila was executed. 00:15:02.809 --> 00:15:05.110 And to broadcast a warning against any further 00:15:05.110 --> 00:15:07.730 tribal resistance, the militants publicly hung 00:15:07.730 --> 00:15:10.789 his body. It is a harrowing example of a community 00:15:10.789 --> 00:15:13.629 relying on its own historical networks for defense 00:15:13.629 --> 00:15:17.429 when state security apparatuses fail. Now, the 00:15:17.429 --> 00:15:19.710 form that resistance takes shifts dramatically 00:15:19.710 --> 00:15:22.909 depending on the local political framework. Returning 00:15:22.909 --> 00:15:25.210 to India, specifically the state of Rajasthan, 00:15:25.350 --> 00:15:28.149 we see this mobilization directed squarely at 00:15:28.149 --> 00:15:32.190 the state itself. In 2006 and 2007, the Gujar 00:15:32.190 --> 00:15:34.889 community initiated massive, frequently violent 00:15:34.889 --> 00:15:37.909 protests. Their core demand was a shift in their 00:15:37.909 --> 00:15:40.169 affirmative action classification from other 00:15:40.169 --> 00:15:43.590 backward class or OBC to scheduled tribe or ST 00:15:43.590 --> 00:15:46.230 status. And to understand the intensity of those 00:15:46.230 --> 00:15:48.409 protests, we really need to look at the socioeconomic 00:15:48.409 --> 00:15:50.370 mechanics of those classifications in India. 00:15:50.490 --> 00:15:53.169 We are analyzing this purely as a matter of historical 00:15:53.169 --> 00:15:55.590 fact and socioeconomic struggle. Right, taking 00:15:55.590 --> 00:15:58.159 no political sides here. Exactly. In India's 00:15:58.159 --> 00:16:01.600 affirmative action system, both OBC and ST statuses 00:16:01.600 --> 00:16:04.019 offer reservations in government jobs and educational 00:16:04.019 --> 00:16:07.799 institutions. However, the OBC category is vast 00:16:07.799 --> 00:16:10.720 and incredibly competitive. It encompasses a 00:16:10.720 --> 00:16:14.200 massive percentage of the population. Scheduled 00:16:14.200 --> 00:16:16.820 tribe status, on the other hand, provides a more 00:16:16.820 --> 00:16:19.799 protected quota specifically tailored to marginalized 00:16:19.799 --> 00:16:22.659 indigenous or tribal groups. For a community 00:16:22.659 --> 00:16:25.100 like the Gurjars in Rajasthan who were feeling 00:16:25.100 --> 00:16:28.179 acute economic pressure, Facing severe agricultural 00:16:28.179 --> 00:16:31.539 stagnation and struggling to secure modern livelihoods, 00:16:31.539 --> 00:16:34.340 competing in the massive OBC pool was proving 00:16:34.340 --> 00:16:37.159 untenable. So securing ST status wasn't just 00:16:37.159 --> 00:16:40.080 about prestige. No, it was viewed as a vital 00:16:40.080 --> 00:16:43.159 economic lifeline to guarantee government employment 00:16:43.159 --> 00:16:45.320 for their youth. And the catalyst for these specific 00:16:45.320 --> 00:16:48.539 protests was a perceived betrayal of that lifeline. 00:16:48.879 --> 00:16:51.779 During the 2003 assembly elections, the ruling 00:16:51.779 --> 00:16:54.379 political party had explicitly promised to grant 00:16:54.379 --> 00:16:56.419 the community scheduled tribe status. Right. 00:16:56.500 --> 00:16:58.980 When that promise did not materialize after the 00:16:58.980 --> 00:17:01.759 election, the resulting frustration boiled over 00:17:01.759 --> 00:17:04.740 into the streets. Again, we are reporting on 00:17:04.740 --> 00:17:07.339 this purely as a matter of historical and socioeconomic 00:17:07.339 --> 00:17:10.380 record, but it highlights how fiercely administrative 00:17:10.380 --> 00:17:13.769 labels dictate economic survival. Those underlying 00:17:13.769 --> 00:17:16.369 economic and environmental pressures in Rajasthan 00:17:16.369 --> 00:17:19.069 also triggered some severe demographic adaptations. 00:17:19.529 --> 00:17:22.230 Our sources note that in the early 2000s within 00:17:22.230 --> 00:17:24.470 the Deng region of Rajasthan, the Gurujar community 00:17:24.470 --> 00:17:27.549 experienced drastically falling sex ratios. The 00:17:27.549 --> 00:17:30.130 scarcity of available brides became so acute 00:17:30.130 --> 00:17:33.349 that it led to documented instances of polyandry 00:17:33.349 --> 00:17:35.450 within the community. Yes. Where multiple men 00:17:35.450 --> 00:17:38.029 would marry a single woman. It's a stark illustration 00:17:38.029 --> 00:17:40.470 of how environmental scarcity and socioeconomic 00:17:40.470 --> 00:17:43.509 marginalization can fundamentally alter the core 00:17:43.509 --> 00:17:45.769 social fabric of a community. It really is. So 00:17:45.769 --> 00:17:47.730 what does this all mean? When you pull the threads 00:17:47.730 --> 00:17:50.230 of this deep dive together, the Gujjars stand 00:17:50.230 --> 00:17:53.549 as a testament to radical human resilience. We 00:17:53.549 --> 00:17:55.549 are looking at a people deeply embedded in the 00:17:55.549 --> 00:17:58.009 geography of the subcontinent, literally giving 00:17:58.009 --> 00:18:00.450 their names to major cities like Gujranwala and 00:18:00.450 --> 00:18:03.559 Gushrat in Pakistan. Yet they are simultaneously 00:18:03.559 --> 00:18:06.019 fighting for the basic right to graze cattle 00:18:06.019 --> 00:18:08.319 in the Himalayan foothills. They are navigating 00:18:08.319 --> 00:18:12.059 entirely distinct, wildly complex political and 00:18:12.059 --> 00:18:14.940 legal systems across three separate nations, 00:18:15.140 --> 00:18:18.140 all while maintaining a coherent thread of shared 00:18:18.140 --> 00:18:20.880 identity. This raises an important question regarding 00:18:20.880 --> 00:18:23.160 the nature of the modern state. Our contemporary 00:18:23.160 --> 00:18:25.740 governments are built on the premise of a sedentary 00:18:25.740 --> 00:18:28.700 population. They rely on neat categories, hard 00:18:28.700 --> 00:18:31.519 borders and fixed addresses. How can a system 00:18:31.519 --> 00:18:33.779 designed around staying still adequately govern 00:18:33.779 --> 00:18:36.220 or protect a people whose entire history, whose 00:18:36.220 --> 00:18:39.099 fundamental survival strategy is built on mobility, 00:18:39.480 --> 00:18:41.880 fluid identities and cross -border kin networks? 00:18:42.420 --> 00:18:44.819 The bureaucratic state constantly tries to put 00:18:44.819 --> 00:18:47.279 them in a box, but their history proves they 00:18:47.279 --> 00:18:50.609 have never stayed in one. It is a profound friction 00:18:50.609 --> 00:18:53.549 between a mobile past and a walled present. I 00:18:53.549 --> 00:18:55.390 want to leave you with one final thought to mull 00:18:55.390 --> 00:18:58.529 over. We've examined how they adapted to empires, 00:18:58.650 --> 00:19:01.109 forced displacements, and modern conservation 00:19:01.109 --> 00:19:04.490 laws. But looking ahead, climate change is actively 00:19:04.490 --> 00:19:06.789 altering the geography of the Himalayas and the 00:19:06.789 --> 00:19:09.430 Thar Desert. Water sources are drying up and 00:19:09.430 --> 00:19:11.819 seasonal weather patterns are shifting. How will 00:19:11.819 --> 00:19:13.779 a traditionally nomadic and pastoral community 00:19:13.779 --> 00:19:17.119 adapt to a physically changing Earth? How will 00:19:17.119 --> 00:19:19.460 they alter ancient migration routes to survive 00:19:19.460 --> 00:19:21.980 the next century? Will climate change do what 00:19:21.980 --> 00:19:24.339 empires and borders couldn't and finally force 00:19:24.339 --> 00:19:26.819 the Gurjars to stop moving? It's something to 00:19:26.819 --> 00:19:29.059 think about. Thank you for joining us on this 00:19:29.059 --> 00:19:29.599 deep dive.