The Gujjars are a well known semi-nomadic, pastoral community. They derive their name from Gujarat from where they migrated to Jammu & Kashmir. They are spread over Srinagar, Anantnag, Pulwama, Doda, Kishtwar, Jammu and other districts of the state. The climate of the region where they live and move in search of pasturage is cold with low humidity, and has low rainfall, thin forests and medium to heavy snowfall during winters. The terrain is hilly and surrounded by the Pir Panjal and Himalayan ranges. The language of the Gujjar is known as Gujri. They speak Kashmiri, Hindi and Punjabi while communicating with others.
Dastar (long turban), beard, salwar and kameez (shirt) are the dress and identification markers of the community. Women put on a special type of cap (topi) on their head. Most of the adult members have their beard dyed with mehndi or henna. The Gujjar are non-vegetarians and consume meat of goat, sheep, chicken and fish. Their staple food consists of maize, rice and wheat and pulses such as moong (green gram) and moth (brown gram). They are fond of taking salty tea with bread. Social divisions among the Gujjars exist on the basis of religion and occupation. Among the Gujjars of Kashmir there are two sections, Jamindar and Dodhi. The Jamindar Gujjars are mostly engaged in cultivation while the Dodhi Gujjars subsist on sale of milk and milk products and rearing of buffaloes on contract basis. The Muslim Gujjars are divided into various exogamous sections or gotras such as Kasana, Chechi, Padhana, Lodha, Khatana, Paswar, and Bangri, which regulate the marriage alliances. They perceive themselves in the middle order of the regional social hierarchy and others also recognize them in the same way.
Endogamy at the religious and the community level is always maintained and considered the rule of marriage. Both parallel and cross-cousin marriages are practiced and preference is given to the cousins while selecting a bride for marriage. Marriages are settled through negotiations but love marriages also take place. Monogamy is the norm though polygamy is also permissible according to the Sharia (Islamic Law).
Interpersonal relationship among the family members is established with due love towards youngsters and respect towards the elders. The eldest member of the family is treated as the head and he takes the responsibility of looking after the family affairs. Among the Gujjars, the women have equal status and play important roles in the economic, social and religious spheres of life. They remain engaged in household works. Milking of cattle, collection of fuel and fodder, and bringing potable water are their duties besides assisting their men-folk in agricultural activities.
Besides controlling the family expenditure, they contribute to the family income by engaging themselves in productive work. Among the Gujjars, the rituals connected with childbirth, marriage, death and other social functions are observed with great zeal and enthusiasm.
As mentioned earlier, there are two types of Gujjars in Jammu & Kashmir, Jamindar and Dodhi. The primary occupation of the Jamindar Gujjars is agriculture, besides animal husbandry, but the Dodhi Gujjars are exclusively pastoral people. They still move from low to high and high to low altitude hills in search of pastures for their buffaloes on which their whole economy is based. They live mainly on the sale of milk and its products. Sometimes, they rear buffaloes on contract basis. Agriculture is also taken up by them as a secondary occupation and is done only in winter when they stay in their original habitat. During other seasons, they give the land to the sharecroppers. Most of the milk and milk products are sold in the cities, but during their summer pasturage the products are sometimes exchanged with other essential commodities. The Jamindar Gujjars possess larger size of land than the Dodhi Gujjars. There is no bonded labour system among them but children of the family are sometimes engaged for paddy and maize cultivation. They also work as grazers. Pastoralism is still considered their traditional occupation, but they are now taking up other traditional occupations such as business, government and private jobs, and even defence services. The Gujjars have their own biradari panchayat to resolve the disputes within the community.
The Gujjars follow Islam. On different occasions, they visit the mosques and other sacred shrines. Id-ul-Zuha, Id-ul-Fitr, Shab-e-Qadr, Urs-e-Nabi, the Prophet's birthday Id-ul-Milad, and Miraj-e-Alam are also celebrated. On the birthday, the Prophet's hair relic is displayed at the Hazratbal shrine. They participate in the Urs such as Urs-e-Shah Hamdan. There is no exclusive art or craft of the Gujjars, but a few members have the skill of making certain woollen articles from sheep wool. On different social occasions, folk songs are sung by women, but there is no traditional musical instrument of the community. Since they move from one place to another from high mountain ranges to low along with their cattle in search of green pasture, they establish cordial relations with all the Muslim and non-Muslims communities of the region where they camp. Their relations with the Bakarwal are very close as they are considered a section of the Gujjar.
The attitude of the Gujjar towards formal education is not positive, particularly towards the girls' education, because they lead a nomadic life. Boys study up to the primary level and a few of them have reached higher level. Though a few mobile primary schools have been introduced by the Jammu & Kashmir government to provide education to their children, the Scheme could not be successful due to their short stay in one camp and their frequent movement to new places having extreme climate and difficult access. They do not pay much attention towards modern medicare system and still prefer the traditional indigenous medicines.
