Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s2.18.2

c48.s2.18.2

The leading tribes seem to have been of western origin, and are supposed to have entered India long after the Vedic Ārya. In upper India they go by the name of Ahīr, derived from the Abhīra just mentioned, a term which was applied by some Sanskrit authors to all tribes of the lower classes throughout the north-west. Under this name they are spread in considerable numbers all over Rājputāna, Mālvā, the south-eastern Panjāb, the upper Gangetic valley and Bihār. To the east, the lack of wide stretches of open pasture has prevented the formation and maintenance of a strong and well-organised pastoral community, so a number of distinct and generally not very large subdivisions are grouped under the general title of Gōālā, recruited from many local castes of lower origin than the pastoral bodies of the north. Many of them, too, are as much agriculturists as cattle-breeders. The same may be said, also, of the Ahīr themselves, in the Panjāb, where they are amongst the most successful and enterprising cultivators of the Province. They have never, it is true, achieved a dominant position anywhere in modern times, but the Jāṭ and Gūjar treat them as equals, except, of course, in regard to intermarriage. According to the Census, about half the total number of Ahīr are found in Agra, Oudh and Bihār. They are said to have migrated to these regions from the plains of Kach, west Rājputāna and Kāṭhiāvāḍ.