Page 105 - Understanding NCERT Histroy 09th

1.2 On the Plateaus, Plains and Deserts
Pastoralists were also found in the plateaus, plains and deserts of India.
l In Maharashtra region, Dhangars were an important pastoral community which were
mostly shepherds, blanket weavers, and buffalo herders. During the monsoon season,
Goyal Brothers Prakashan
Dhangars used to stay in the central plateau region of Maharashtra.
l By October, the Dhangars harvest their bajra crop and they moved towards the westward
direction. After that they marched for a month and reached to the Konkan region.
l In this region, Dhangars were welcomed by the Konkani peasants. After the cutting of
the Kharif crops, the fields had to be fertilised and to make ready for the rabi crops.
l The dry central plateau region of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh was covered with stone
and grass, and this region was largely inhabited by cattle, goats, and sheepherders, called
Gollas.
l The Kurumas and Kurubas were the sheep and goats herder and sold woven blankets.
During the dry season, they moved to the coastal tracts and left when the monsoon
begins. Another well-known group of graziers were Banjaras.
l They were found in the villages of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh
and Maharashtra.
l Raika group of herders lived in the deserts of Rajasthan. During the monsoon season,
the Raikas of Barmer, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur and Bikaner stayed in their own villages, where
pasture was already available. By October, when the grass land became dry, they moved
out in search of other pastures along with water.
l And again they returned during the next monsoon season. Pastoral groups’ life was
sustained by a number of factors. They had to decide how long the herds could stay at
one place and where the water and pasture is available for their survival.
l They had to develop a good relation with farmers on the way of their movement, so
that the herds could enter in the harvested fields and provide manure to the agricultural
tracts.

Source B (Page no. 101)
The accounts of many travellers tell us about the life of pastoral groups. In the early nineteenth
century, Buchanan visited the Gollas during his travel through Mysore. He wrote:
‘Their families live in small villages near the skirt of the woods, where they cultivate a little
ground, and keep some of their cattle, selling in the towns the produce of the dairy. Their
families are very numerous, seven to eight young men in each being common. Two or three
of these attend the flocks in the woods, while the remainder cultivate their fields, and supply
the towns with firewood, and with straw for thatch.’

From: Francis Hamilton Buchanan, A Journey from Madras through the Countries of Mysore,
Canara and Malabar (London, 1807).

Activity
(Page no. 101)
Q. Read Sources A and B.
 Write briefly about what they tell you about the nature of the work undertaken by
men and women in pastoral households.
Ans. Men graze the cattle and tend their herds in woods. Women visit the nearby markets to sell
milk, butter milk and ghee. Some men also cultivate small patches of land near forests.
 Why do you think pastoral groups often live on the edges of forests?
Ans. They live on the edges of forest so that they can tend their flock of cattle in the woods,
as well as cultivate small patches of land near forest.

H-96 History Class IX