Bharwad
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Bharwad
The Bharwad tribe is chiefly the residents of Gujarat in India. The traditional occupation of this tribe is shepherding, apart from that they are also engaged in agricultural activities. The term ‘Bharwad’ has been derived from the Gujarati word ‘badawad’ i.e. ‘bada’ means sheep, and ‘Wada’ means enclosure. They are hence known as ‘Bharwad’. The Bharwad has been divided into two endogamous groups i.e., Mota bhai and nana bhai.
The people who call themselves as Bharwads are descendants of Anavil Bharwads and his associates. They are mainly distributed in Junagadh, Rajkot, Surendranagar and Bhavnagar districts. They are also found in other parts of the state. Bharwads are followers of the Hindu religion, they follow Gujarati script and belong to the Indo-Aryan language family. According to the 2001 census, the population of the Bharwad tribe was 1619 (856 males and 763 Females) (CIIL,2014).