Heri (caste)

The Heri are a Hindu caste found in the states of Haryana and Punjab in India. They are also known as Nayak, Thori and Aheri.^[1][2]

Origin

The Heri claim to have originated in Rajasthan, and said to have immigrated some four centuries ago. According to traditions, the word Heri is derived from the Rajasthani word her, meaning a herd of cattle. They were still quite recently a nomadic community. The Heri are one of the many Gypsy like groupings found in North India, with their specialist occupation being that they were expert trackers and hunters. They still speak Rajasthani, and are found throughout Haryana.^[3]

In Punjab, the term Thori, Aheri and Heri appears to be synonymous. They used to carry merchandise on pack animals. According to their traditions, the Aheri are Rajputs by origin, who were soldiers in the army of Maharana Pratap. After the defeat of the Maharan by the Mughal Empire, the Aheri were hunted down by the Mughal armies. To escape the Mughals, they fled and settled in Punjab. The Aheri are found mainly in the districts of Patiala, Bhatinda, Firuzpur, and Faridkot.^[4]

In the Colonial period, Aheri were listed under the Criminal Tribes Act, 1871, as being a tribe "addicted to the systematic commission of non-bailable offences."^[5] After independence, they were denotified in 1952, when the Criminal Tribes Act was replaced with the Habitual Offenders Act, but the community continues to carry considerable social stigma.^[6]

Present circumstances

The Heri of Haryana are strictly endogamous, and practice clan exogamy. Their clans are referred to as gotras, the main ones being the Biwal, Boyet, Chavariya, Chhaparwal, Dable, Deekeya, Jediya, Jhachochar, Kagra, Lora, Sarsar and Sirsiya (These all are the subcaste or goattr of Nayak ). Although Hindu, they practice a form ancestor worship known as pittar pooja. Pittar refers to an ancestor who died as bachelor.^[7]

In Haryana, they are now mainly a community of settled agriculturist, but their landholdings are extremely small. Many are landless labourers or sharecroppers. A small number are also involved in the manufacture of baskets from the mulberry tree. They live in multi-caste villages, but their settlements are often found on the outskirts of villages. They remain an extremely marginalized community, with high incidences of extreme poverty.^[8]

The Aheri of Punjab speak Rajasthani among themselves, and Punjabi with outsiders. They are strictly endogamous, and practice clan exogamy. Within the Aheri community, the Thori sub-group are considered of inferior status, and there are no intermarriage between the Thori sub-group and other Aheris. Their clans called gots from the Sanskrit gotra or clan, the main ones being the Bhatta, Chahurwal, Chandalia, Dekhta, Dahinwal, Dharoria, Dharuheria, Ganchand, Ghaman, Hogal, Gotala, Hajipuria, Jhindia, Junbal, Mahta, Mewal, Panwal, Rathore, Sagaria, Saillingia, Samelwal, Sandlas, Sarsut and Sendhi.

The members of the community are primarily employed as agricultural labourers and working in brick kilns. While many of those who have immigrated to towns and cities are mostly casual labourers and rickshaw pullers. They are an extremely marganilized group, facing both economic and societal discrimination. Almost the entire community lives below the official poverty line as defined by the Government of India. The Aheri have been campaigning to obtain Scheduled tribe status, which allow to benefit from official affirmative action policies.^[9]

See also

• Aheria

References