Rise and Glory History of Halari Visa Oshwals

Author(s): Rati Dodhia
Publisher: Rati Dodhia

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Part III. Settlement in Halar
At the present time most villages have been modernized. There is electricity, a better water supply and radios and televisions for news as well as entertainment.
Halari Oshwals and Gurjar Oshwals
It was a peaceful life in Halar in the beginning. But as time passed natural disasters like floods and famines every few years started taking a toll on the people. The lack of food and poverty plagued the village community. The village people lived simple lives, dressed in simple clothes, spoke Cutchhi as their mother tongue and called themselves Halari Oshwals, while the city dwellers lived and dressed more fashionably, spoke Gujarati and called themselves Gurjar Oshwals.
As time passed the city dwellers started feeling ashamed of their village brethren and looked down upon them. Thus well-educated, wealthy, influential city dwellers separated themselves from less affluent, uneducated village dwellers. Instead of using their wealth and influence to improve the conditions of their village brethren the city dwellers acted as barriers and obstructed their progress. They were ashamed to recognize village dwellers as Oshwals. The Halari Visa Oshwals were given title mahajans, meaning 'great people', by the Royal family because of their honesty and patriotism. The city Oshwals instead of calling them mahajans use to call them majans as an insult. The villagers were illiterate, unsophisticated, not well dressed. Therefore whenever they went to Jamnagar they would be treated as inferiors. Even on days of religious festivals they were not invited. If some came to participate they were seated separately away from the main crowd during the celebrations and were given only two ladus (balls of sweetmeat) and a handful of ganthiya (chick pea chips) per person. Instead of being handed to them this would be dropped in their hands from a distance so that the other person would not touch the villagers.