Dhangar Bharwad

Dhangar Bharwad identity formed around herding cattle, sheep, and goats across the arid and semi-arid regions of western India, a trade passed from father to son across generations. Seasonal migration in search of pasture and water led entire families to spread across different regions of India and, further west, into the province of Sindh in Pakistan, where they now form a smaller but established community.

Over time, the wandering life has been giving way to settlement in villages, a process still underway that is reshaping the people's economy and community ties without erasing their pastoral origin.

Cattle, buffalo, sheep, and goats remain at the center of Dhangar Bharwad economic life. As Hindus, they do not slaughter cows or buffalo, animals they consider sacred, but they live off the sale of milk and dairy products from these herds, alongside selling goat and sheep meat to support their families.

The caste’s position in the traditional social hierarchy, combined with low schooling levels, means the people are still viewed with prejudice by other groups, even as they leave the wandering life behind. Children often struggle to attend school regularly, which perpetuates, generation after generation, the cycle of limited access to formal education and the opportunities it could open.

The Hindu faith is deeply intertwined with Dhangar Bharwad identity. Among the most venerated deities are Khandoba and Biroba, both associated with Shiva and recognized as special guardians of shepherds, which draws the religion close to the community’s own trade.

Fairs and festivals dedicated to these deities bring families together around rituals tied to agricultural cycles and the well being of the herds. Many children are named in honor of these deities or of ancestors, a custom that reinforces the continuity between faith, family, and occupation.

Gujarati, the language of the majority of Dhangar Bharwad in India, has had a complete Bible for more than a century and a half, with printed editions, apps, and audio available today. Even so, this broad access to Scripture rarely reaches the people’s villages and pastoral camps, where Hinduism remains virtually the only religious reference known. In Pakistan, the Sindhi speaking Dhangar Bharwad face a reality even further removed from the biblical text in their own heart language.

Being Dhangar Bharwad is, in practice, being Hindu: faith is bound up with caste, pastoral trade, and family honor, so that considering another religion sounds like abandoning one’s own origin. Low schooling and the isolation of many communities, especially those still living by seasonal migration with their herds, make contact with any Christian witness even rarer.

Social prejudice tied to caste and pastoral occupation, combined with limited access to schooling, keeps many Dhangar Bharwad families locked in a cycle of little education and few opportunities outside herding. There is a concrete need for dignity, for regular education for children, and for social recognition for a people historically viewed with disdain for their caste and trade.

In the spiritual realm, the need is just as great: there is practically no Christian community among them, nor anyone who speaks of Jesus in the language and culture of this pastoral people, whether in the villages already settled or among the families still following the herds.