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{{short description|Sub caste of Yadav in Maharashtra}}

'''Gavli''' ([[Devanagari]]: गवळी) is a [[Hindus|Hindu]] caste found in the [[States and union territories of India|Indian states]] of [[Maharashtra]] and [[Madhya pradesh]].<ref name="Malhotra 1982" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Mehta |first=B. H. |title=Gonds of the Central Indian Highlands |volume=II |year=1994 |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |location=New Delhi |pages=568–569 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gu_cN0MhteMC&pg=PA568}}</ref> They a part of the [[Yadav]] community.{{sfnp|Jaffrelot|2003|p=187}} They are referred as Golla in [[Andhra Pradesh]], [[Telangana]] and [[Karnataka]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Saraswati|first=Baidyanath|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x4wdAQAAIAAJ&q=Mhaske|title=The Cultural Dimension of Ecology|date=1998|publisher=Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts|isbn=978-81-246-0102-0|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Tribes|first=Karnataka (India) Legislature Committee on the Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xYAkAQAAMAAJ&q=golla+gauli|title=Report|publisher=Karnataka Legislature Secretariat.|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Commission|first=Third Karnataka Backward Classes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a3TaAAAAMAAJ&q=golla+gauli|title=The Justice-journey of the Karnataka Backward Classes|date=1990|publisher=Government of Karnataka|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y6ABAAAAMAAJ&q=golla+gauliga|title=Karnataka State Gazetteer: Shimoga|date=1975|publisher=Director of Print., Stationery and Publications at the Government Press|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=General|first=India Office of the Registrar|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cQUdAQAAMAAJ&q=+gavali|title=Census of India, 1961|date=1962|publisher=Manager of Publications|language=en}}</ref> [[Yadava]], [[Konar (caste)|Konar]], Manyani Nair, [[Golla (caste)|Golla]] and [[Ahir]] Gawli are considered to be synonymous names.<ref>{{cite book|title=Maharashtra State Gazetteers: Buldhana |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w1EbAAAAIAAJ |year=1976 |publisher=Director of Government Printing, Stationery and Publications, Maharashtra State, 1976 |page=224}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Singh|first1=K. S.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jw9uAAAAMAAJ&q=Gavali|title=India's Communities|last2=India|first2=Anthropological Survey of|date=1998|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-563354-2|language=en}}</ref>

Gavli are distributed all over Maharashtra. Although Reginald Edward has classified Gawlis as sub-caste of many different castes [[Ahir|Ahir Gawli]] (sub-caste of famous [[Yadav]] caste of North India) whereas Hanbar Gawli, Singaji Gawli and [[lingayat|Lingayat Gawli]] are different from [[Yaduvanshi Aheer|Yadav Gawli Ahir Yadav Gawli]].{{sfnp|Rao|1979|p=129}}{{sfnp|Enthoven|1990|p=368}}{{sfnp|Feldhaus|1989|p=101}} Along with [[Maratha]] and [[Kunbis]], [[Yaduvanshi Aheer|Ahir Gawlis]] are considered one of the allied castes of [[Maratha|Maratha caste]] and have been included in the [[Maratha Light Infantry|Maratha Regiment]] in the past.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Constable |first1=Philip |year=2001 |title=The Marginalization of a Dalit Martial Race in Late Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century Western India. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2659700 |journal=The Journal of Asian Studies |volume=60 |issue=2 |pages=439–478 |doi=10.2307/2659700 |jstor=2659700 |pmid=18268829 |access-date=2020-11-28 |s2cid=40219522}}</ref>{{sfnp|Jaffrelot|2003|p=163}}

==Origin==
The [[Yadav]] (Gavli) community claims descent from the Great [[Yadava|Yadav families]] to one of which lord [[Krishna]] the eighth incarnation of [[Vishnu]] belonged.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KTEoAAAAMAAJ|title=Report of the Indian Statutory Commission ...|last=commission|first=Great Britain Indian statutory|date=1930|publisher=H. M. Stationery Office|language=en|quote=The Yadav Gavli community claims descent from the Great Yadav families to one of which Shri Krishna the eighth incarnation of Vishnu belonged.}}</ref>{{sfnp|Jaffrelot|2003}} The whole of the [[North India]], [[Gujarat]] and [[Deccan Plateau|Deccan]] were ruled by the Kings of the [[Yadava|Yadav families]]. They have kept up their [[Kshatriya|Kshatriya caste]] traditions, customs and occupations. They have given considerable recruits to the government and included in the [[Marathi people|Maratha regiments]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}

==Sub-groups==

While [[M. S. A. Rao]] classifies Gavli caste of [[Konkan|Konkan region]] into Dabholis and Chevlis,{{sfnp|Rao|1979|p=129}}{{sfnp|Rao|1972|p=76}} Siraj-ul-Hassan classifies Gavlis in the [[Nizam]]'s former [[Hyderabad state]], i.e., [[Marathwada region]], into two divisions, namely Nagarkar and Vajarkar.{{sfnp|Hassan|1989|p=196}}{{sfnp|Feldhaus|1989|p=101}} On the other hand, castes like [[Dhangar]] Gavlis, [[Golla (caste)|Golla]] Gavlis, [[Kuruba]] Gavlis and [[Lingayat]] Gavlis are sub-castes of [[Yadav]]/[[Ahir]] and [[Lingayats]] respectively, These groups are the separate from the original [[Ahir|Ahir Yadav Gawli]] community. {{sfnp|Rao|1979|p=129}}{{sfnp|Enthoven|1990|p=368}} Dabholis and Chevlis are localized castes of their respective regions. Gavlis are classified as [[Other Backward Class]] in [[Reservation in India|Indian system of reservation]].<ref name="MH OBC">{{cite report |author=Central Commission for Backward Classes |date= 2020-10-20|title=Central List of OBCs Maharashtra|url=http://www.ncbc.nic.in/user_panel/GazetteResolution.aspx?Value=mPICjsL1aLsN%2BCCWgSsv8%2BuAyaBuDqnRoSLrvXbEEJTY%2By0eazrlMjhC5BUvBdUU|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201110054503/http://www.ncbc.nic.in/user_panel/GazetteResolution.aspx?Value=mPICjsL1aLsN%2BCCWgSsv8%2BuAyaBuDqnRoSLrvXbEEJTY%2By0eazrlMjhC5BUvBdUU|archive-date= 10 November 2020}}</ref>

===Lingayat Gavli===

They are a sub-group of [[Lingayats]] and speak [[Kannada]] amongst themselves. They follow [[Veerashaivism]] as a religion.{{sfnp|Rao|1979|p=129}}

===Dabholis and Chevlis===

They are a localized caste of [[Ratnagiri]] and [[Colaba]] region. They claim higher status than all other Gavli sub-groups of Maharashtra. [[Vithal Krishnaji Khedkar]] belonged to the Gavli caste of Ratnagiri. He was one of the founding members of the [[All-India Yadav Mahasabha]] which was inaugurated in 1924 at [[Allahabad]]. He protested against the fact that the [[Southborough Committee]] did not consider [[Yadav]] Gavlis as [[Maratha (caste)|Marathas]].{{sfnp|Rao|1972|p=78}}{{sfnp|Jaffrelot|2003|p=163}}

===Nagarkar and Vajarkar===
They are found in the [[Marathwada region]] and in some parts of [[Telangana]]. Their division into two groups is based on their habitats and modes of life. Nagarkar are those Gavlis who have settled as a pastoralist caste on the edges of villages or towns (''nagar''). Vajarkar Gavlis are pastoralists who lived in forested areas with better grazing, similar to Dhangar Gavlis who live in the [[Western Ghats]]. ''Vajar'' is derived from [[Sanskrit]] ''vraja'', which means cattle-shed. Both Nagarkars and Vajarkars have no traditions and cannot give any account of their origin, nor of their former settlement. It is possible that they may be an offshoot of [[Lingayat]] community. Like other Lingayats, they wear a [[lingam]] round their necks and worship it daily with offerings of flowers and food before they dine. They rank higher, socially, than the [[Maratha]] [[Kunbis]] and are equal to those groups of the Lingayats who have undergone [[Diksha]]. They do not eat animal food. They worship [[Khandoba]], [[Nagoba Jatara|Nagoba]], [[Bhavani]] of [[Tuljabhavani Temple|Tuljapur]], [[Ganesha]] and other major [[Hindu]] gods.{{sfnp|Hassan|1989|p=196-199}}{{sfnp|Feldhaus|1989|p=101}}

===Dhangar Gavli===

Dhangar Gavli, referred as Gavli or Gouly, is a sub-caste of [[Dhangar]] caste cluster. They are found in southern [[Maharashtra]], [[Goa]] and northern [[Karnataka]]. Among Dhangars they are also referred as Dange or Mhaske. They are cattle/buffalo herding pastoral people and practice shifting cultivation. They primarily kept buffaloes because of their ability to defend themselves against panthers and tigers in the traditional habitat as buffaloes are more heavily built than cattle. [[Hatkar]]s and Gavlis used to be a single group of people in the past with their traditional occupation as cattle herding. Gavlis trace their migration to [[western ghats]] from Chaphal via [[Nanegaon]], Kelawali, Irewadi and finally to Sadawaghpur. The migration is believed to have occurred around the 15th century AD. Their subsistence has been primarily on ragi, jowar, buttermilk and some lentils and dried fish. Starting in the 1960s, Gavlis became major suppliers of milk in [[Pune]], [[Kolhapur]] and other major regions around their settlement.{{sfnp|Lukacs|2001|p=443-450}}<ref name="Malhotra 1982">{{cite journal |title=Ecology of a pastoral caste: Gavli Dhangars of peninsular India| url=http://library.isical.ac.in:8080/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10263/1447/HE-10-1-1982-P107-143.pdf |first=K. C. |last=Malhotra |journal=Human Ecology |volume=10 |issue=1 |date=March 1982 |pages=107–143 |doi=10.1007/BF01531107| s2cid=154253698 }}</ref>

In Goa under colonialism, the community shied away from the rest of society as they wanted to escape the grazing tax and ban on Kumeri introduced by the [[Portuguese Empire]]. Gavli leaders claim that they had fled to remote hilly and forested areas to avoid religious persecution. They were not part of the [[Comunidade]] anywhere in Goa. It is claimed that throughout the Portuguese rule in Goa they were so insulated that not a single Gavli got converted to [[Christianity]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Kerkar |first=Rajendra |date=2019-01-11 |title=Tribal tag for Dhangars long pending|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/tribal-tag-for-dhangars-long-pending/articleshow/67478622.cms |location=Goa|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201024214451/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/tribal-tag-for-dhangars-long-pending/articleshow/67478622.cms |archive-date=24 October 2020 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Team | last=Herald| date= 2013-10-24| title=Dhangars-Gouly treated like outsiders, says report| url=https://www.heraldgoa.in/Goa/The-Sunday-Roundtable/dhangarsgouly-treated-like-outsiders-says-report/71208| location=Goa| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201024214457/https://www.heraldgoa.in/Goa/The-Sunday-Roundtable/dhangarsgouly-treated-like-outsiders-says-report/71208| archive-date=24 October 2020}}</ref>

[[Mhasoba]],{{sfnp|Feldhaus|1989|p=25,26}} [[Vitthal]], [[Padmavathi|Padubai]],{{sfnp|Feldhaus|1989|p=47,167}} [[Ambabai]],{{sfnp|Feldhaus|1989|p=46}} [[Banai (goddess)|Banai]],{{sfnp|Feldhaus|1989|p=60}} Kanhoba ([[Krishna]]){{sfnp|Feldhaus|1989|p=167}} and Yelubai ([[Renuka#Renuka vs. Yellamma|Yellamma]]){{sfnp|Feldhaus|1989|p=56}} are the major deities of Gavlis. According to some traditions, Banai, wife of [[Khandoba]] is Gavli.{{sfnp|Feldhaus|1989|p=60}} They consider Vitthal as a [[Kannadiga]] Gavli and not Krishna from [[Dwarka]]. Vitthal is worshiped alongside his wife Padubai.{{sfnp|Feldhaus|1989|p=47}}

==Assimilation into Yadav community==
In the 1920s, English educated [[Yadav]]s emerged in different parts of India, who provided a different kind of leadership. [[Vithal Krishnaji Khedkar]], a Gavli from Maharashtra, along with [[Ahir]] leaders of [[North India]] founded All-India Yadav Mahasabha (AIYM) in 1924 to promote [[Sanskritization]] of Gavli and Ahir community. Dr. Khedkar was born in Bombay on 16 October 1873. His forefathers had been [[Tehsildar]]s of [[Khede]], a town in Ratnagiri District, his grandfather was in the [[Bombay Army|Bombay Police]], and his father was Vithal Krishnaji.<ref>{{cite book|first=M. S. A. |last=Rao |title=Social Movements and Social Transformation: A Study of Two Backward Classes Movements in India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wWEiAQAAMAAJ |year=1987 |publisher=Manohar, 1987 |isbn=9780836421330 |page=139}}</ref> AIYM militated cowherds, herdsmen and milksellers all over India to call themselves Yadav, adopt the last name "Yadav", and practice vegetarianism and teetotalism.{{sfnp|Rao|1979|p=141}} They claimed that they have descended from the [[Yadu]] dynasty of the [[Puranas]], hence the term ''Yadav'', through the [[Abhira tribe|Abhira]] tribe. [[Lord Krishna]], a cowherd, was the hero-god of Abhiras.{{sfnp|Jaffrelot|2003|p=189,194-196}} Based on [[epigraphy]], historian P. M. Chandorkar argued that the [[Ahirs]] and Gavlis "should be identified with" the [[Abhira tribe|Abhira]] and [[Yadavas|Yadava]] tribes mentioned in ancient [[Sanskrit]] works.{{sfnp|Guha|2006|p=47}}

==Relationship with Deccan Yadavas==
[[File:Daulatabad Fort Geography.jpg|thumb|The hill of Devagiri, the capital of Yadavas]]
The word ''Yāḍava'' is formed from yāḍu and yāḍu means Sheep or Goat in [[Tamil language|Tamil]]. In the [[Deccan Plateau|Deccan region]], the original worshippers of pastoralist god [[Vitthal]] – the [[Golla (caste)|Gollas]] and [[Kurubas]] of [[Andhra Pradesh]] and [[Karnataka]] and Gawlis and [[Dhangar]]s of [[Maharashtra]], especially southern Maharashtra – are continued to be called "Yāḍavas". Similar to them, several royal families who enhanced the magnificence of Vitthal's worship are called "Yādavas". The difference here is "ḍ" and "d", where "Yāḍavas" represents [[Dravidian languages|Dravidian]] version and "Yādavas" is the [[Sanskrit]]ized version of it. Linguistically this difference is subtle, and so "Yāḍavas" became "Yādavas", i.e., most of these royal dynasties arose from pastoralist groups and took the name ''Yādava'' in order to raise their status by connecting themselves with [[Krishna]]'s clan, [[Yadu]] dynasty of the [[Puranas]]. They elevated their traditional pastoralist god ([[Vitthal]]) into a form of [[Vishnu]]-[[Krishna]] and accorded high prestige to his worship.{{sfnp|Dhere|2011|p=234,238,241}}

The [[Yadavas of Devagiri|Seuna Yadava]] dynasty, which ruled present-day Maharashtra and north Karnataka, arose out of the valorous deeds of [[Dridhaprahara]], founder of the dynasty, who protected cattle. According to the traditional sources, [[Devagiri]], the capital of Seuna Yadavas, was founded by a king who was a [[Golla (caste)|Golla]]/Gavli.{{sfnp|Feldhaus|1989|p=101}}{{sfnp|Wink|2001|p=231}}<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Müller|first1=Friedrich Max|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I1c8AAAAMAAJ&q=devgiri|title=German Scholars on India: Contributions to Indian Studies|last2=Kultur-Referat|first2=Germany (West) Botschaft India|date=1976|publisher=Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series Office|language=en}}</ref> The idea that the Seunas were a Gavli dynasty survives to this day in folk traditions of the [[Nashik]]-[[Khandesh]] area, where they are traditionally called "Gavli Kings".{{sfnp|Dhere|2011|p=237,246,247}}{{sfnp|Dhavalikar |2014|p=274}} During the reign of Seuna Yadavas and their rival [[Hoysala|Hoysala Yadavas]], the temple of [[Vitthal]] at [[Pandharpur]], under their purview, grew from a small pastoral deity site to a major temple complex.{{sfnp|Novetzke|2016|p=93}}

==Notable people==
* [[Arun Gawli]] (born 1955), Indian politician
* [[Shekhar Gawli]] (1975–2020), Indian cricketer
* [[Vandana Gawli]], Indian politician
* [[Sachin Ahir]], Politician, Deputy Leader of [[Shiv Sena]] in a [[Maharashtra Legislative Assembly]], and Former Minister of State of [[Government of Maharashtra]]

== References ==
<references />

===Bibliography===

* {{Cite book|first = Sumit |last=Guha|title=Environment and Ethnicity in India, 1200-1991| url = https://archive.org/details/environmentethni0000guha/page/46/mode/2up |year=2006| publisher = University of Cambridge|isbn=978-0-521-02870-7}}
* {{cite book|last=Rao|first=M. S. A.|author-link1=M. S. A. Rao|year=1979|title= Social movements and social transformation: a study of two backward classes movements in India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tZAiAAAAMAAJ |location=Delhi |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=9780333902554}}
* {{cite book|first=Susan |last=Bayly|title=Caste, Society and Politics in India from the Eighteenth Century to the Modern Age|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HbAjKR_iHogC&pg=PA383|year=2001|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-79842-6|author-link=Susan Bayly}}
* {{cite book|first=Christophe |last=Jaffrelot|author-link1=Christophe Jaffrelot|title=India's Silent Revolution: The Rise of the Lower Castes in North India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qJZp5tDuY-gC|year=2003|publisher=C. Hurst & Co. Publishers|isbn=978-1-85065-670-8}}
* {{cite book|first=Ramchandra |last=Dhere|author-link1=Ramchandra Chintaman Dhere|title=Rise of a Folk God: Vitthal of Pandharpur South Asia Research |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jUeeAgAAQBAJ |year=2011|publisher=Oxford University Press, 2011 |isbn=9780199777648}}
* {{cite book|first=Syed Siraj ul|last=Hassan|title=The castes and tribes of H.E.H. the Nizam's dominions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lYSd-3yL9h0C|access-date=2011-07-25|year=1989|publisher=Asian Educational Services|isbn=978-81-206-0488-9}}
* {{cite book|first=R. E. |last=Enthoven|author-link1=Reginald Enthoven|title=The Tribes and Castes of Bombay, Vol 1 |url=https://archive.org/details/bk616/page/n395/mode/1up?q=gavli |year=1990|publisher=Asian Educational Services |isbn=9788120606302}}
* {{cite book|first=Madhukar |last=Dhavalikar|author-link1=Madhukar Keshav Dhavalikar|title=Socio-economic Archaeology of India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YkR3Ke81LoMC |year=2014|publisher=Archaeological Survey of India, 2014 }}
* {{cite book|first=M. S. A. |last=Rao|author-link=M. S. A. Rao|title=Tradition, rationality, and change: essays in sociology of economic development and social change|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pcoorxw2rrYC|year=1972|publisher=Popular Prakashan}}
* {{cite book|title=The Quotidian Revolution: Vernacularization, Religion, and the Premodern Public Sphere in India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z9kbDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA94|last=Novetzke|first=Christian Lee|year=2016|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=9780231542418|doi=10.7312/nove17580|author-link1=Christian Lee Novetzke}}
* {{cite book|last=Lukacs|first=John|author-link=John Lukacs|year=2001|title=The People of South Asia: The Biological Anthropology of India, Pakistan, and Nepal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PLTzBwAAQBAJ|publisher=Springer|isbn=9781489950031}}
* {{cite book|last=Feldhaus|first=Anne|author-link=Anne Feldhaus|editor-last=Sontheimer|editor-first=Gunther-Dietz|title=Pastoral Deities in Western India
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rvaEQgAACAAJ|year=1989|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780195055009}}
* {{cite book|last=Wink|first=Andre|year=2001|title=Nomads in the Sedentary World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-v_RORENFbMC&dq=gavli+dhangar&pg=PA231|publisher=Routledge (Taylor and Francis Group)|isbn=9780203037201}}

{{Social groups of Maharashtra}}
{{Social groups of Rajasthan}}

[[Category:Indian castes]]

Gavli - Revision history

Dr. Editor at 05:30, 2 June 2026