What similarities do you notice in the lifestyle of the Gujjar Bakarwals of Jammu and Kashmir and the Gaddi shepherds of Himachal Pradesh?

What similarities do you notice in the lifestyle of the Gujjar Bakarwals of Jammu and Kashmir and the Gaddi shepherds of Himachal Pradesh?

Ans.

(i) Both the Gujjar Bakarwals and the Gaddi shepherds are herders of goat and sheep.

(ii) Both have a similar cycle of seasonal movement.

(iii) In the winter, the Gujjars and Gaddis lived with their herds in the low hills of the Siwalik range grazing their flocks in scrub forests.

(iv) By April, the Gaddis moved northwards and spent the summer in Lahul and Spiti valleys while the Gujjars marched northwards to their summer grazing grounds. They crossed the Pir Panjal passes and entered the Kashmir valley.

(v) By September, both were on the move again back to their winter base. On the way back, the Gaddi shepherds stopped again in the villages of Lahul and Spiti, reaping their summer harvest and sowing their winter crop.