The word gaddi means ‘seat’ or ‘throne’, this name was given to them because they are the descendants of lord shiva! And the place they lives in is known to be the seat of lord shiva, that’s why they are called gaddi.
And the word gaddi is derived from the word ‘Gaderan’, which means the home of Gaddis.
Gaddi tribe is a semi-nomadic & semi-pastoral tribe of hp and j&k. Gaddis are scheduled tribe of hp mainly found in Bharmour (chamba). They are also found in Kangra & Mandi districts. The chamba district has the highest population of ST’s and has 45.5% of ST population of the whole state!
History-
The history of this tribe is unclear, there are many assumptions about where this tribe originated from! Some trace their ancestry that they escaped from the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb! Some say that they are the ancestors of king Alexander & his army, some say that they are Mongolian emigrants who took refugee in Indian planes and later paved their way to the mountains!
Religion-
Gaddis mostly follows Hinduism. Gaddis are huge devotees of Shivji/ Bholenath. They consider themselves the descendants of lord Shiva! Being a Gaddi myself, I have heard many stories from my grandmother about how Gaddis were the only tribal people who went to the auspicious marriage of lord Shiva and Maa Parvati , crossing the mighty Dhauladhar ranges!
Nuala is a famous festival of this community in which they worship lord shiva & they chant and dance the whole night with offering sheep to lord Shiva!
Costume-
The Gaddi tribe has a very beautiful traditional dress. Gaddi men wore the ‘Chola and Dora’ & whereas the women wore ‘Luanchiri’, a very beautiful gown, they also wear leather shoes called ‘mochru’.
Gaddi women-
Gaddi women are considered very pretty, they look mesmerising when they wear their traditional dress!
Raja Sansar Chand ‘ THE KING OF KANGRA’ fell in love with a gaddi girl named ‘NOKHU’ & made her his queen. RAJ-GADDAN folk song of Chamba depicts the story of Raja Sansar Chand &Nokhu !
Talking about the rights of women-
In early times gaddi tribe gave more importance to the male child & no gaddi women had rights to inherit property of their father! But now time is changing and now High court has ordered that ‘Daughters in the tribal areas of Himachal Pradesh shall inherit property in accordance with Hindu succession Act 1956 ! Now some Gaddis are welcoming the social change & educating the girls and breaking the traditional taboos!
Occupation & survival-
The very popular occupation of Gaddi community is sheep rearing ! But now the things are changing, and the number of sheep rearers are very low. People have shifted with the modern time, now they are doing other jobs as well. Not all gaddis owned sheeps/ goats, many have migrated to the plains of Chamba, Kangra , Mandi, in the search of better & easy living, my own family migrated to the plains of Mandi!
The significant gaddi population whose main source of income is from sheep/goats, lives in areas covered with heavy snow for over more than six months. They follows some dangerous path such as Thamsar glacier, Bara bangal , in search of food for their sheep/ goats. Also the medical facilities in Chamba district is also very scarce because of the tough terrain & difficulty in transportation!
Despite of all these , this tribe is still very dominant and one of the largest in the state, & they respect their culture very much, and most importantly the hospitality of the Gaddi people is just commendable!
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Shreya kapoor 
One response to “Gaddi tribe !”
Nice job 🌹 my sweet & proudable daughter……. keep it up
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