The Gadia Lohar Community Women - A Strength To Reckon With...

By Tharangini

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It was in late winter one year when we were returning after spending the morning observing the migratory birds near Magadi lake in Gadag district, Karnataka, that a group of people gathered around and watching something intently caught our attention. 

A breather before the next hit, while her husband
adjusted the piece of iron.

The namesake winter did nothing to alleviate the heat of the afternoon as we disembarked from our vehicle to join the curious crowd. A petite lady of no more than 5 feet tall stood holding a hammer looking as if she could give Thor a run for his money. The crowd, including us looked on intently as she braced herself, took a mean stance and swung the hammer high above her head and brought it down, with more might than we thought she was capable of, on a piece of iron that was held in place by her, I must say very very confident, husband.

A sweet smile and an obliging pose before the
seemingly effortless strike.

And then down came the hammer flattening the iron.

It was fascinating to watch as she brought down the hammer  with immaculate precision and no decrease in force every single time and it was time for me to get a bit educated about the 'Gadia Lohar' also called as the Gaduliya Lohars community. As the name suggests they are the nomadic iron-smiths or blacksmiths from Rajasthan.  The story goes thus, they were originally a part of Maharana Pratap's army, entrusted with the noble task of forging weapons for his army, But when the army was defeated by the Mughals the Lohar community packed their belongings and set out on a nomadic journey vowing never to return till the fort was liberated and never to settle down elsewhere. 

Her friend nearby was equally petite with an inversely proportional strength.
The massive swing and the perfect aim was really not be messed with.

Her husband adjusted the iron with precision.

When I did look up more on them, they are ideally seen with their elaborately designed carts and the colorful attire of the women-folk is unmistakable. This group however looked different. I guess spending a lot of time in Karnataka, they were draped in a simpler saree and instead of carts their mobile home in the form of a tempo stood behind them. Their vigor however matched to what might have been during their glorious era. 

Her face full of concentration and his face full of mirth. There was a definite trust
that the hammer will not land in a wrong place.

These two ladies were bringing down the hammer and showing the iron who was the boss when we were there. Just the sheer power of these ladies must have brought in a lot more business. The men looked happy and content holding the iron in place and maybe really amused yet soaking in all the attention they were attracting.  

As one lady took a break I requested her to hand me her hammer,  just to see if I could look as cool holding it.  Needless to say after a few seconds she kindly offered to rescue me from the embarrassment of unsuccessfully trying to look grand holding a hammer that weighed over 5kgs. My respect for her and her tribe skyrocketed instantly. 

Her expression said it all, the determined strike, the effort behind it and the focus on the result.
His expression said it all too, this was their life and why not enjoy work.

We watched them for some more time and then it was time for us to move on. They would have probably been there for a couple of days more before leaving for another part of the state. They had other vows as well I learned - to not live in a house, not sleep on a cot, not light lamps at night and not to use ropes to draw water from a well. I could not stick around to find out more as to how much was being followed by this group. I will probably spend more time with them if I get a chance to meet them again. But I must say all of us did come out of this encounter pretty impressed.

Where did I see them: Somewhere near here...