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Gujarati People

Gujarati people or Gujaratis as they are commonly called is a broad spectrum name for anyone who comes from the Indian state of Gujarat or can trace their ancestors to Gujarat. They also speak Gujarati, which is a language.

The Gujarati people trace their lineage to the Gujjars who ruled north western India centuries ago. This region was the former Indus Valley. However, now this region is partly in Gujarat, India and partly in Punjab, Pakistan.

Besides Gujarat, the Gujarati people are found across the Indian states of Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. They can also be found in former Portuguese colonies of India, namely Daman and Diu and Dadra Nagar Haveli. People will be surprised to learn that there are Gujarati people in Pakistan. These are mostly Muslim Gujaratis who migrated to Pakistan in 1947 after partition of India took place to found present India and Pakistan. A number of these Gujarati people still have families living in India.

Many Gujarati people have done well for themselves mainly due to hardwork and entrepreneurship. In Europe, you will find of Gujarati people in Belgium who are diamond merchants while in the US many Gujarati people are successful running motels.

Some famous Indian Gujarati people are Mahatma Gandhi, Mukesh Ambani and his brother Anil Ambani of Reliance Industries, Morarji Desai, former Prime Minister of India and Vikram Sarabhai, the first head of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Vegetarianism is widespread amongst Hindu Gujarati which is attributed to the influence of Jainism. Gujarati cuisine is famous world over and Tarla Dalal, an internationally renowned, cookbook writer has contributed quite a bit to this. Gujarati people eat an Indian bread called rotli along with rice and vegetable curries. They also tend to use a lot of clarified butter known as Ghee. Gujarati Jains do not eat garlic or onions. The Gujaratis living in the northern part of Gujarat use red chilli powder in their cooking while those living in the south tend to use green chilli and coriander.

Casteism is still very prevalent amongst Gujarati people. The Brahmins are the priestly class while the Banias are the traders. The landowners are called the Patidars, they are considered to the most influential amongst the Gujarati people in the state of Gujarat in terms of economy and politics. The fourth group of Gujarati people are the aborigines and they are mostly found in the hilly regions of Gujarat.

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