GUJAR, a race in the N. W. Provinces of India, notoriously predatory, but gradually becoming more settled to habits of peaceful industry. Their former importance may be rated by their having given name to the provinces of Gujcmt on the western coast of India, and to Gujerat in the Panjab. They are sometimes considered to be among the prior occupants of India, and have been so reckoned by Tod, who declares them also to be a tribe of Rajputs. Sir R. Jenkins also says that in the Nagpur territory they consider them selves to be Rajputs, and that, as they are descend ants from Lava, Raina's second son, they have an undoubted right to be so regarded. They must at one time have been dominant, for Edrisi, quoting Ibn Khordadbah, states that Juzr or Huzr was the hereditary title of a king as well as the name of the country. Gujar are in Kashmir, in the Pan ja.b, and are spread all over the Delili territory, the Upper Doab and Upper Rohilkhand, and they enutnerate 84 different tribes. In Dehli the chief tribes are the— Cbumayen. IKhare. Bursoee. 1Rowal.
K'hutana. I In the Doab- Sookul. Bede. Ramayn. iKhoobur.
Bysle. Jindhur. Khare. litloondun.
Mavec. Ireelwan. Nagree. 'Kudahun.
h'at'hee. Butar Chotkune. Touhur.
Bhuttee. Adhuna. Budkana. Gorsee.
Kusounee. Cheche Kusane. Kunana.
Bulcsur. ; Kulseean. Rouse.
In Rohillthand— rattan Uattee. Toorbur. ruhynsee.
Klahoobur. 1Motle. Jindhur. Kusane.
Khare. Sooradne.
All these tribes intermarry on terms of equality, the prohibited gotra or tribe being only those of the father, mother, and paternal and maternal vandmother. A great part of the district of baharunpur was called Gujemt during the 18th century. By the Gujar themselves it was said to consist of three parts, and the division is known amongst them to this day, and is usually adopted in ordinary converse. Iu 1811 Colonel Tod's duties called him to a survey, amidst the ravines of the Chambal, of the tmct called Gujargar, a district inhabited by the Gujar tribe. Turbulent and independent, like the sous of Esau, their hand against every man, and every rnan's hand agahlst them, about the middle of the 18th century, their nominal prince, Suraj Mull, the Jit chief of Bhurtpur, had pursued exactly the stune plan toward the population of these villages, whom be captured in a night attack, that Janmeja did to the Takshak, as described iu the 'Maltabharat. He threw them into pits with combustibles, and actually thus consutned them. The Gujar race has largely pressed into the Central Provinces of India, and have settled down to agricultural pur suits ; and those in Hoshangabad and Nemur aro fair farmers. They are agriculturists in the N.W. Provinces, but, whether of the Hindu or :Maho medan faith, they everywhere prefer pasturage to the plough. The Gujuru of Kashmir aro shepherd proprietors, and said to have come from Gujemt in the Panjab; they live in log houses, in recesses at the foot of the Panjal, and in the woods. The Gujar tribe in the Panjab are pro
bably of primitive antiquity. They have not lost the pastoral habits of their mee, though they devote much attention to agriculture, and they are more industrious and less predatory than their brethren of Hindustan. Many of the thieves in Hindustan are of this tribe.
In 1857, in the revolt in India, the whole of the Gujar villages around Dehli, after fifty years of compulsory quiet, broke out and plundered all over that district within a few hours of the outbreak of the mutiny. And whenever any fugitives during the mutiny came to a Gujar village, they were invariably plundered. The instant the strong arm of a government was removed, these and other predatory races+ resumed their ancient habits. They are cultivators and keepers of cattle and buffaloes, living in separate villages of their own, aud are numerous about Dehli and in the Merut and Saharunpur districts of the Doab. They are numerous in the Panjab, on the northern frontier of British India, in Swat and the adjacent hills, and in the hills about Kashmir ; and they are said to have preceded the Swat tribe as the inhabitants and owners of part of the Hazara district east of the Indus. In the hills about Kashmir the Gujar have pastoral vagrant habits. In all the northern, if not in all the Jat country, the Gujar are mach tnixed with the Jat, and form a considerable part of the population. They are numerous in all Northern Rajputana, and extend into Malwa and the adjoining parte of Central India 88 far east as Bundelkhand, one of the chiefs+ in which is a Gujar. The last Nagpur prince is stated to have been a Gujar, but at present there are no Gujar in Gujemt. Those located in the east in Hindustan, trace their origin from the west.
The Gujar have no resemblance to the pre Aryan races. They are a handsome tribe, and both men and women ar.e remarkable for their powerful figures and fair complexions. The women in particular are remarkably good-looking, and have a bold, free carriage and demeanour. Widows can re-rnarry. Like the Sat, they eat all flesh except that of cows or bullocks, and aro particularly fond of wild bog. They drink spirits also, smoke tobacco, ganja or hemp leaves, and their women use opium, as well for themselves as their children. They are wholly uneducated, and affect to despise learning as unmanly. They aro dishonest, untrustworthy, and lawless in a high degree ; mulish, revengeful, and wrong-headed, professing no loyalty to any one ; notorious as successful cattle-lifters, pursuing this branch of robbery with determination and skill, taking great pride in their lawless achievements, and loving to hctu. of past deeds.
Those to the north of Dehli are Maltomedans, but to the ea.st and south they are sometimes half Mahomedans, sometimes half IIindus, but so very lax as to be considered a sect apart.—C. p. 101— 123._Tod's Rajasthan; Elliot, Supp. Gloss.