Maldharis of India

The Maldhari People live in the forest of Gir in Gujarat, India. They raise buffalos and sell their milk for living, the heard of buffalos is called “Maldhor” and the people who take care of buffalos are called “Maldharis.” Their lifestyle is different from the people who live in the cities in Gujarat. They are kind of isolated for the cities yet they follow the same traditions, believe in the same God, and celebrate the same festivals as the rest of Gujarat. They are considered a lower cast; hence they don’t have many options to whom they can interact with. It limits their ability for out of cast marriages.

Maldhari people live very simple lifestyle. They live in little villages in the Gir forest in Gujarat. They don’t have electricity or running water. They use candles and lantern for lighting during night times. There is just one hand pump in village that everyone uses for water. They get water from there for all basic needs like drinking, cooking, bathing, to wash their cloths, and for their cattle. They cook their own food; they don’t have restaurants or hotels in their villages. People respect their elders and to go them for advice. There aren’t many crimes or fighting in the village, so they don’t have a police station in their village. People also don’t really care about the government or what they do. (Choudhary 2000)

Since they live in forest and there aren’t any boundaries for them or the wild animals, they often encounter Lions and Tigers. But they have mutual respect for each other and they don’t attack the humans. It’s like you maybe hear once or twice in the entire year that Lions attacked a human and mostly likely that human is an outsider, more likely a tourist. The only way Lions harm them is but attacking their livestock once in a while. But most of the Maldhari people think of it as they are paying the King of the forest to let them live in his forest. (Quammen 2004)

All the Maldharis are vegetarians, so they don’t raise livestock to...