A History of the Mahrattas v1.c13.22

v1.c13.22

¹ [The surname is derived from the name of the race (Gurjar) which entered India in the trail of the White Huns in A.D. 452, and by A.D. 600 had overrun north-eastern Kāthiāwār and set up a branch at Broach in Gujarāt. Broughton (*Letters from a Mahratta Camp*) mentions ‘Goojours’ as bands of marauders inhabiting the hilly parts of Rājputāna. The Gūjar (Goozur) caste is most numerous in the Panjāb and the upper districts of the United Provinces, small colonies of Gūjars being also settled in the Hoshangābād and Nīmār Districts of the Central Provinces. The Gūjars, who are inveterate cattle-lifters, are regarded as about equal in rank with the Ahīrs, and rather below the Jāts. Many sections of the Gūjars are Musalmans. (Sleeman’s *Rambles*, ed. Smith (1915), p. 192 n.)]