Rabari

Members of the Raika or Devasi are a Indian community mainly found In the states of Rajasthan , punjab , haryana ,uttarakhand and gujrath they are also found in nepal , pakisthan and afganisthan, they are pastoralists.

The raikas are also known by other names such as Desai, Raibari Dewasi, Hiravanshi, Rebari, Rebadi and Rayka or Raika and also Maldhari.

Origin

Raikas have lived in different parts of India for a millennia. The Raikas are comparatively a very recent migrant . Although their main deity of woship is lord krishna , they claim their origin from lord Shiva , the word devasi came from the sanskrit word devashish (mercy of the lord )the Raikas of uttarakhand were the rulers of doti kingdom, Kings of Doti were called Raikas (also Rainka Maharaj). Later on Raikas, after defeating the Khas Malla of Karnali Zone, were able to establish a strong Raikas Kingdom in Far Western Region and Kumaun which was Doti. So far, the historical evidences of following Raikas have been discovered: