Haryana Paul Samaj

The Gadaria are also referred to as Baghela or Pal, are a community of shepherds. The word Gadaria is derived from the Hindi word gadar meaning sheep and denotes “one who keeps or tends sheep”. Ethnologists, Russel and Hiralal (1916), describe them as “an occupational shepherd caste of northern India,” while another authority, William Crooke (1896), calls them “a caste of shepherds and blanket weavers.”

The traditional occupation of a majority of the Gadaria continues to be herding and rearing of sheep and goats for their wool, milk and meat. They also sell their animals in the local markets and fairs. Most of them own small-to-medium sized plots of land, or have acquired them under one of the official land-for-the-landless schemes in the post-independence period, and practice agriculture as a subsidiary occupation.