# Wagher

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Wagher
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Wagher.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagher
> Source revision: 1322728243
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

Social group of Gujarat, India

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Wagher" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (April 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

A photograph of a Vagher man, 1911

**Wagher**, **Vagher** or **Waghir** ([Gujarati](/source/Gujarati_language): [ISO 15919](/source/ISO_15919): *Vāghēr or*) is a [jāti](/source/J%C4%81ti) from the [Saurashtra](/source/Saurashtra_(region)) and Kutch regions of [Gujarat](/source/Gujarat) in India. [1][2] They speak [Kutchi](/source/Kutchi_language) as a mother tongue.[3]

## History

### Rebellion against the British East India Company

After the [British East India Company](/source/East_India_Company) bombarded the temple of Krishna in [Bet Dwarka](/source/Bet_Dwarka) and sacked the town in the 1800s, the Hindu Waghers of [Okha](/source/Okha%2C_India) rose up against the company. On the seas they took to piracy and targeted British ships. Attempts at peace were thwarted after the British set a trap for Mulu Manek, one of the Wagher leaders, with the pretext of negotiating disarmament. Also, during the course of the war the Wagher leader Jodha Manek and his soldiers seized [Kodinar](/source/Kodinar). The Waghers made their final stand at the Aabhparo peak in the Barda Hills, during the course of which the British poisoned natural water reservoirs in order to draw the Waghers out. In the aftermath of this war the British occupied of the region of [Okha](/source/Devbhumi_Dwarka_district) and transferred it to [Baroda State](/source/Baroda_State).[1][4]

British colonial authorities held racist views towards the Waghers, with Kincaid describing them as a 'tribe born of thieves'.[4] Colonial theories attempted to discredit the Hindu identity of martial jātis including the Waghers and attempted to find or concoct theories suggestive of a foreign origin based on scant evidence.[4]

## Present circumstances

The community still speaks [Kutchi](/source/Kutchi_language), and are [endogamous](/source/Endogamous). They have several [clans](/source/Clan), the main ones being the Kamora ,Vagha, Kara, Manek, Ker, Sumaniya, Gad, Giggla, Mapani, Jam, Tilayat and Bhagad. The community maintain the practice of clan exogamy. They are a major landowning community in the [Dwarka](/source/Dwarka) sub-division of [Jamnagar](/source/Jamnagar_district) District. The community are still mainly farmers, but like other Gujarat castes, they have migrated to other parts of India and overseas in search of work.

Many Muslim Waghers from Kutch are employed in fishing.[2] In 1993 the [Mandal Commission](/source/Mandal_Commission) classified the Waghers as an [Other Backward Class](/source/Other_Backward_Class).[5]

## Notable people

- [Ram Singh Malam](/source/Ram_Singh_Malam)[6][7][8] – 18th Century navigator, architect and craftsman from Kutch

## See also

- [Mer](/source/Mer_(community))

- [Jadeja](/source/Jadeja)

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:0_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:0_1-1) Thakkar, Chirayu (2017). ["Transposing tirtha: Understanding religious reforms and locative piety in early modern Hinduism"](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40613-017-0061-0). *International Journal of Dharma Studies*. **5** (1): 1–20. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1186/s40613-017-0061-0](https://doi.org/10.1186%2Fs40613-017-0061-0). [hdl](/source/Hdl_(identifier)):[10034/620548](https://hdl.handle.net/10034%2F620548). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [39693950](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:39693950) – via Springer.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:1_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:1_2-1) Ramani, Srinivasan (2010). "Development and Displacement: Resentment in the Kutch". *Economic and Political Weekly*. **45** (8): 15–18. [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [25664135](https://www.jstor.org/stable/25664135).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Savla, Mavji K. (1977). ["Kutchi Poetry : A Promise in the Offing"](https://www.jstor.org/stable/24158362). *Indian Literature*. **20** (5): 101–106. [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [24158362](https://www.jstor.org/stable/24158362).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:2_4-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:2_4-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-:2_4-2) Vyas, Maulik (2018). ["Texts of Historipoeia and India"](https://www.gapinterdisciplinarities.org/res/articles/Paper-4%20(3).pdf) (PDF). *Gap Bodhi Taru*. **1** (2): 17–28.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["Central List of OBCs"](http://www.ncbc.nic.in/user_panel/GazetteResolution.aspx?Value=mPICjsL1aLuo5Ww%2fEcQPqeqoATXAB7p%2fQEBF7wOoZVUZeNdA4Fs5xoHN3KPmF8ST). *National Commission for Backward Classes*. 10 September 1993. Retrieved 22 May 2020.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-:12_6-0)** Sastri, K. A. Nilakanta (1959). ["Ram Singh Malam of Mandvi"](https://books.google.com/books?id=M9a1AAAAIAAJ). *Journal of the Assam Research Society*. **XIII**. Kamarupa Anusandhan Samiti (The Assam Research Society): 19–21. [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [565646864](https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/565646864).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-:GVK_7-0)** Parikh, Pravinchandra (January 2002). [Thaker, Dhirubhai](/source/Dhirubhai_Thaker) (ed.). *ગુજરાતી વિશ્વકોશ* [*Gujarati Encyclopedia*] (in Gujarati). Vol. XV. [Ahmedabad](/source/Ahmedabad): Gujarati Vishwakosh Trust. p. 806. [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [248968453](https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/248968453).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-:22_8-0)** Jethi, Pramod; London, Christopher W. (2000). "A Glorious Heritage: Maharao Lakhpatji and the Aina Mahal". In London, Christopher W. (ed.). [*The Arts of Kutch*](https://web.archive.org/web/20190326073029/http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/33395042/glorious-heritage-maharao-lakhpatji-aina-mahal). Mumbai: Marg Publications and National Centre for the Performing Arts. pp. 48–61. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [8185026483](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/8185026483). [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [44835875](https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/44835875). Archived from [the original](http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/33395042/glorious-heritage-maharao-lakhpatji-aina-mahal) on 26 March 2019 – via EBSCOHost.

v t e Gujarati people Brahmin communities Aboti Brahmin Audichya Brahmins Bardai Brahmins Girnara Brahmin Khedaval Brahmin Modh Brahmin Nagar Brahmin Sachora Brahmins Shrimali Brahmin Sompura Brahmins Tapodhan Brahmin Warrior communities Chauhan Chudasama Dabhi Kolis Karadiya Kathi Gohil Jadeja Jethwa Jhala Jinkara Mer Maiya Nadoda Parmar Rathor Rajput Rehvar Sarvaiya Sagar Solanki Thakor Vala Wagher Mercantile communities Bhatia Bhanushali Lohana Vaniya (Agarwal, Oswal, Modh) Agricultural communities Aboti Brahmin Anavil Anjana Chaudhari Charan Bhanushali Kathi people Koli Kanbi/Patidar (Leva, Kadva) Pastoral communities Ahir Bharwad Rabari Genealogist communities Barot Motisar Rawal Artisan communities Bhambi Khalpa Bhambi Rohit Gihara Gurjar Kshatriya Kadia Kansara Koshti Kumhar (Prajapati) Kutch Gurjar Kshatriya Mistry Mestri Panchal Sikligar Suthar Sai Suthar Shenva Sompura Salat Sathwara Salat Salaat (Muslim) Soni Vankar Vanzha Valand Tribal communities Bamcha Bhil Dungri Garasia Vasava Bhoi Damor Dangi Dhanka Dhodia Gamit Garasia Godha Halpati Kharwa Koli Meghwal Naikda Padhar Padharia Patanwadia Pateliya Rathodia Rathwa Tirgar Thori Vagri Muslim communities Ansari Baloch Bhadala Bohra/Vohra (Alvi, Dawoodi, Patani, Sulaymani, Sunni, Patel) Chhipa Chundrigar Halaypotra Hingora Kadia Kagzi Ker Khoja Machiyar Makwana Muslim Malik Mandali Mansoori Memon Meta Qureshi Miyana Molesalam Momna Multani Lohar Mutwa Nagori Nayak Node Panar Patni Jamat Pathans of Gujarat Salaat (Muslim) Samma Sandhai Muslims Shaikhs of Gujarat Shaikhda Sayyid of Gujarat Siddi Tai Vyapari Jain communities Navnat Zoroastrian communities Iranis Parsis Other communities Kapadi Dhedh Mahyavanshi Thathagar See also Genetic studies on Gujarati people

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Wagher](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagher) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagher?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.