Pahari Speaking community and the demand of reservation: A Study of Pahari Community of Rajouri and Poonch

Abstract

The Pahari people, also known as the Pahari-speaking people, are an ethnolinguistic ethnic group found in Jammu and Kashmir, India. There are two major categories to which they belong. In the first Linguistic Survey of India, G.A. Grierson categorised five primary Pahari languages as Western Pahari, which are spoken by the majority of the Pahari people. Bhadarwahi, Sarazi and Bhalesi dialects are present in Jammu's Doda, Ramban, Kishtwar and Kathua districts, as are the Gaddi and Kangri-Dogri languages and their people. In Jammu and Kashmir, one group speaks Lahnda dialects such as Pahari–Pothwari in Poonch and Rajouri Districts and Hindko in Baramulla and Kaupwara Districts, although they call themselves 'Pahari Speaking People.' ethnic Indo-Aryan people who have traditionally lived in a certain mountain range are the Paharis of Jammu and Kashmir. Our research is limited to identifying the 'Paharis of Jammu and Kashmir' 1as a distinct social and ethnic group living in the State, but to properly classify them, it is necessary to understand the term 'Paharis' on a much larger scale, commensurate with its historically general use defining a huge mass of diverse individuals inhabiting different parts of the Himalayas in India, Nepal, and Pakistan The lexical definitions of the word Pahari will be useful in this endeavour as well.