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By end of the September the Bakarwals were on the move again, this time on their
downward journey, back to their winter base. When the high mountains were covered with
snow, the herds were grazed in the low hills.

Goyal Brothers Prakashan
VI. Long Answer Questions
1. Name all the pastoral communities of India and also mention about the area they live.
Ans. Total seven pastoral communities living in India, they are:
l The Gujjar Bakarwals of Jammu and Kashmir.
l The Gaddi shepherds of Himachal Pradesh.
l The Gujjar cattle herders of Garhwal and Kumaon.
l The Dhangar pastoral community in the central plateau of Maharashtra.
l The Gollas, Kurumas and Kurubas in the dry central plateau of Karnataka and Andhra
Pradesh.
l The Banjaras in the villages of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and
Maharashtra.
l The Raikas in the deserts of Rajasthan.

2. Describe the cycle of seasonal movement of the Gujjar Bakarwals of Jammu and Kashmir.
Ans. (i) The Gujjar Bakarwals of Jammu and Kashmir were pastoralists of Himalayan
mountains. So, the seasonal rhythms of their movement were defined by the cold and
the snow of the mountains.
(ii) They moved annually between their summer and winter grazing grounds. In winter,
when the high mountains were covered with snow, they lived with their herds in the
low hills of the Siwalik range. The dry scrub forests here provided pasture for their
herds.
(iii) By the end of April they began their northern march for their summer grazing grounds.
They crossed the PirPanjal passes and entered the valley of Kashmir.
(iv) With the onset of summer, the snow melted and the mountainsides were lush green
that provided rich nutritious forage for the animal herds.
(v) By the end of September, the Bakarwals were on the move again, to return back to
their winter base.
3. Who were Dhangars? Explain in brief about their movement.
Ans. Dhangars were an important pastoral community of Maharashtra. Most of them were
shepherds, some were blanket weavers, and still others were buffalo herders. The Dhangar
shepherds stayed in the central plateau of Maharashtra during the monsoon. This was a
semi-arid region with low rainfall and semi – arid quality of soil.
It was covered with thorny scrub. Only dry crops like bajra could be sown here. In the
monsoon this tract became a vast grazing ground for the Dhangar flocks. By October the
Dhangars harvested their bajra and moved to the Konkan.
The Konkan was a flourishing agricultural tract with high rainfall and rich soil. Here the
shepherds with the help of the Konkani peasants made the fields ready for the rabi harvest.
They manured the fields and fed on the stubble. The Konkani peasants also gave supplies
of rice which the shepherds took back to the plateau where grain was scarce.
With the onset of the monsoon the Dhangars left the Konkan and the coastal areas with
their flocks and returned to their settlements on the dry plateau because the sheep could
not bear the wet monsoon conditions.

4. How did the laws enforced by the colonial government affect the lives of the pastoralists?
Ans. The laws brought a lot of hardships to the pastoral communities in India. The colonial
government took over their grazing lands and converted them into cultivated fields. As a

History Class IX H-111