Abstract
The Gavlis are a pastoral caste of the forested hill tracts of India 's Western Ghats region. This paper examines their shift under British colonial rule from buffalo-keepers to goatherds to cultivators of increasingly marginal hill tracts, the context of forest exploitation and malaria control as well as more recent dairy development programs of the Indian government. It concludes that if present trends continue Gavlis everywhere will follow the same progression, eventually becoming landless migrants.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abdushelishvilli, M. G., and Malhotra, K. C. (1981).Biology of the People of Maharashtra. Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow.
Agarwala, S. N. (1967).Population. National Book Trust, New Delhi.
Allchin, F. R. (1963). Cattle and economy in neolithic South India. In Mourant, A. E., and Zeuner, F. E. (eds.),Man and Cattle, University Press, Glasgow, pp. 149–155.
Bombay Gazetteer Kanara (1883). Vol. XXV, Part I. Government Central Press, Bombay.
Braidwood, R. J., and Reed, C. A. (1957). The achievement and early consequences of food production: A consideration of the archaeological and natural-historical evidence. InCold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology, Vol. XXII,Population Studies: Animal Ecology and Demography, Long Island, pp. 19–46.
Census of India (1971). District census handbooks: Pune, Kolaba, Satara, Ratnagiri, Kolhapur.
Cockrill, W. R. (1974).The Husbandry and Health of the Domestic Buffalo. F.A.O., Rome.
Dikshit, K. D. (1902).Mahabaleshwar. Gyan Prakash, Pune (in Marathi language).
Duff, J. G. (1826).A History of the Mahrattas, Vol. I. Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green, London.
Dutt, R. (1960).The Economic History of India, Vols. I, II. Government of India Press, New Delhi.
Eisenberg, J. F., and Seidensticker, J. (1976). Ungulates in Southern Asia: A consideration of biomass estimates for selected habitats.Biological Conservation 10: 293–308.
Enthoven, R. E. (1920–1922).Tribes and Castes of Bombay Presidency, Vols. 1–4. Government Printing Press, Bombay.
Gadgil, M. (1979). Hills, dams and forests: Some field observations from the Western Ghats.Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Sciences C2: 291–303.
Gadgil, M., and Malhotra, K. C. (1979). On the role of religious myths in symbolizing the conflict of dispersing human groups.Indian Antrhopologist 9: 83–92.
Gaussen, H., Legris, P., Labroue, L., Meher-Homji, V. M., and Viart, M. (1966a).International Map of the Vegetation and Environmental Conditions, Mysore. French Institute, Pondichery.
Gaussen, H., Legris, P., Labroue, L., Meher-Homji, V. M., and Viart, M. (1966b).International Map of the Vegetation and Environmental Contiditons, Mysore. French Institute, Pondichery.
Gaussen, H., Legris, P., Labroue, L., Meher-Homji, V. M., and Viart, M. (1968).International Map of the Vegetation and Environmental Conditions, Kathiawar. French Institute, Pondichery.
Indian Council of Medical Research (1951). Results of diet survey in India 1935–48. Special report, New Delhi.
Karve, I. (1968).Maharashtra Land and Its People. Maharashtra Government Press, Bombay.
Kate, S. L., Mukherjee, B. N., Malhotra, K. C., Phadke, M. A., Mutalik, G. S., and Sainani, G. S. (1978). Red cell Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency and hemoglobin variants among ten endogamous groups of Maharashtra and West Bengal.Human Genetics 44: 339–343.
Malhotra, K. C. (1978). Morphological composition of the people of India.Journal of Human Evolution 7: 45–53.
Malhotra, K. C. (in prep.).The Gavli Dhaganrs of Maharashtra: A Biosocial Profile.
Malhotra, K. C., Morton, N. E., Lalouel, J. M., and Yee, S. (1977). Population biology of the Dhangars of Maharashtra, India. I. Phenotypic bioassay.Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Conference, Indian Society of Human Genetics, Madras, Abstract No. 67, Madras University, Madras.
Malhotra, K. C., Chakraborty, R., and Chakravartti, A. (1978). Gene differentiation among the Dhangar caste-cluster of Maharashtra, India.Human Heredity 28: 26–36.
Misra, R. P. (1970).Medical Geography of India. National Book Trust, New Delhi.
Ranganatham, S., Sundararajan, A. R., and Swaminathan, M. (1937). Survey of the nutritive value of Indian foodstuffs. Part I. The chemical composition of 200 common foods.Indian Journal of Medical Research 24: 689–706.
Russell, R. V. (1916).Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces in India, Vols. 1–4. Macmillan, London.
Sastri, P., Gadgil, M., and Malhotra, K. C. (1977). A proposal for the compatible development of animal husbandry and forestry interests of North Kanara. Technical Report, Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology, Bangalore.
Sopher, D. E. (1975). Indian pastoral castes and livestock ecologies: A geographic analysis. In Leshnik, L. S., and Sontheimer, G. (eds.),Pastoralists and Nomads in South Asia, Otto Harrassowitz, Weisbaden, Heidelberg.
Undevia, J. V., Malhotra, K. C., and Dudhwalla, F. (1973). G-6-PD deficiency and abnormal haemoglobin among the Dhangars of Maharashtra.Proceedings of the Conference of Indian Physicians, Udaipur, Abstract No. 41, Udaipur.
Vishwanathan, D. K. (1950).Malaria and Its Control in Bombay State. Chitrashala Press, Poona.
Wharton, C. (1968). Man, fire and wild cattle in southeastern Asia.Proceedings of the Eighth Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference, pp. 107–167.
Zeuner, F. E. (1963). The history of the domestication of cattle. In Mourant, A. E., and Zeuner, F. E. (eds.),Man and Cattle, University Press, Glasgow, pp. 9–19.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gadgil, M., Malhotra, K.C. Ecology of a pastoral caste: Gavli Dhangars of peninsular India. Hum Ecol 10, 107–143 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01531107
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01531107