Garha

The Garha or sometimes pronounced Gara and occasionally Gada are a Muslim community or caste found in the states of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, India.

History and origin

The Gada biradari have no sub-divisions, its known as one gada biradari most of the gada biradari emerged from initial Islamic conversions of Gaur Brahmins and Chandravanshi Rajputs by initial Islamic rulers. Most Garha sub-groups claim descent from the Hindu Rajput community. Prior to their conversion to Islam, they were Chandravanshi Rajputs. Some Garha groups also claim descent from the Gaur Brahmin and Gauri community, and claim Gara is simply a corruption of the original Gaur.

They have a caste association, the Anjuman Garha (Garha association), whose primary purpose is look after the socio-economic welfare. The association runs schools imparting religious education, as well as a boarding house for poor boys. They live in multi caste villages, occupying their own quarters. Each of their settlements also contains an informal caste council called biradari panchayat, which acts as an instrument of social control and resolves intra-community dispute.