Gowari
caste in India
Gowari is an Indian caste of cattleman or herdsmen, predominantly residing in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh.
Overview
Gowari is one of over 700 tribal groups in India. In censuses conducted in India from 1871 to 1941, tribals were enumerated separately from other religions, identified by various classifications such as Other religion-1871, Aboriginal 1881, Forest Tribe-1891, Animist-1901, Animist-1911, Primitive-1921, Tribal Religion-1931, and "Tribe-1941". However, starting from the 1951 census, tribals have been counted within the Hindu category. Despite occasional errors in literature, they do not speak a distinct language. The principal deities of the Gowāris are the Kode Kodwan or deified ancestors, worshipped during annual festivals and weddings.
The original ancestors are believed to be Kode Kodwan, the names of two Gond gods, Bāghoba (the tiger-god), and Meghnāth, son of Rāwan, after whom the Gonds are called Rāwanvansi or descendants of Rāwan. There are two main castes among the Gonds: (1) Aadi Gond or Dhur Gond, and (2) Raj Gond. Adi Gonds, known as ordinary Gonds, mostly inhabit forest areas away from modern civilization, while Raj Gonds are those who were kings with their own land and kingdom. The Gond people called him Rajgond, who was earlier a chieftain or a king living among the Gond tribes.
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This entry incorporates text from “Gowari” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.