Gardi

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The Gardi community in India has its origin in 5000 years of cultural evolution countless invasions taking place in Peninsular India. Gardis are a subcaste of the Bhil community of Deccan.

Gardi or Bhils community essentially were hunting tribes. Some of bhils who with their associations with local chieftains became their personal guards in chieftains private army or men employed to carry out activities eg raid on enemy territory or possessions like grain or wealth for looting purpose became to be known as gardis. Peninsular India or deccan plateau due to its geographical conditions developed into a different entity than the plains of Indus-Ganges-Brahmaputra.

Due to abundance of wild life present in the hilly tract of peninsular India as well uncertain climatic conditions and availability of little cultivable land for ever increasing population it became difficult for gardi to cultivate land, as motivation to live a settled agrarian life was much lesser than do hunting or looting a farmer's standing crop or performing a highway dacoity-robbery on passing trading caravan which was an easier option in old times. The enmity between local chieftains also helped gardi community to live such nomadic life in wild peninsular India. The hunting prowess as well as ability to perform swift raids on well defended small towns in peninsular India made them experts in horse-camel riding, manufacturing and handling weaponry as well as collecting information for future motives. The Gardi community were always had to be one step ahead of their contemporary armies in peninsular India or Deccan otherwise they have to face certain death as per the existing condition. Gardis who had become expert archers were the first to get trained to become musketeers, as they were first to get exposed to guns or muskets which were brought to peninsular India by European traders like Portuguese, Dutch, English and French.

During the period around 1600 AD concept of using muskets or gun by local powers was acknowledged to keep numerically powerful enemy at bay as was case of Adilshahi of Bijapur, Kutubshahi of Golconda and Nizamshahi of Ahmednagar who with their trading activities with Portuguese, Dutch and Englishmen secured few of guns and muskets. Using guns or muskets was considered below dignity by most of so called warrior communities like Rajputs and Pathans from north India whereas Jats, Rohillas, Bundelas, Sikhs, Durranis,Turranis,Iranis settled in Northern plains of Indian Subcontinents were not exposed to such technology. For Rajputs and Pathans the concept of valour or bravery was linked to become an expert swordsmen which require considerable physical strength than to become archer or spearsmen having sharp mind & agile body movements. Rajputs-Pathans due to their food habits-Climatic conditions-Genetic factors were heavily built & those above 20-25 years tend to be bulkier. Rajputs-Pathans considered musketeers-archers job as low caste job reserved for Bhils or Gardis. Circumstance forced this gardi community who were born to handle bow-arrow to become good musketeers or marksmen for various Shahi rulers in deccan leaving their nomadic lifestyle of past. From 1600 though the use of guns-muskets had started its use was isolated as ammunition available for guns was not easily available & had to be imported from Europe. Adilshahi & kutubshahi were the only rulers having few of such guns & that were also not more than double digits in number. Chatrapati Shivaji his sons Sambhaji, Rajaram & his daughter in law used forefathers of gardi community to carry out espionage for raids on Surat, Burhanpur, Jalna, ujjain, pune .Notables among them were Bahirji Naik who carried out espionage for Shivaji & commanded a force of 3000 men from gardi communities like Ramoshis, Dhangars, Bhils, Lamans, Vanzara, Pardhi, Mahadeo Koli, Masan Jogis. Santaji Ghorpade commanded a force of 25000 cavalry men in which gardi community members took active part. During Aurangzeb's deccan campaign when he came as prince-subhedar(governor) to deccan 1656 & later on in 1681 as Emperor to capture deccan shahis' gardis came into contact with Mughal army.

Aurangzeb took over Adilshahi, Kutubshahi & captured forts in Maratha Kingdom, Gardis joined Mughal army in small numbers only to desert it at first instances. Gardis lifestyle was not making them compatible to rigid manasabdari military structure of mughal army where most of officer ranks were held by Pathans & Rajputs. The mughal armies war philosophy was to lay siege to the enemy town or fort then starve the occupants to hunger-thirst force them to surrender or bribe the officer in charge to surrender. Gardis could not fit into this war mechanism & found becoming themselves obsolete or redundant in mughal army. Gardis who had earlier developed good rapport with fellow maratha generals found maratha war strategy of daring commando raids, looting-plundering mughal held territories more compatible to their abilities, moreover centuries of coexistence intermarriages had created a special bondage between marathas and gardis, During Aurangzeb long Deccan campaign stretching around 30 years mughal army came directly in conflict with marathas. Gardis by this time had become soldiers of fortune, experts in horseriding, archery, pikemen & musketeers. They used this expertise to harass and loot mughal held cities as well as military camps. Marathas gave gardis bigger opportunity for looting & plundering not only peninsular India or deccan but also rich mughal held territories like malwa, gujrat, machalipatanam in coastal andhra, trading establishment in krishna-Cavery river basins. With mughals surrendering deccan to marathas this all had to stop. Between 1720 to 1760 trading activity between peninsular India increased multifolds and with aggressive trading activity conducted by French & English. Procuring guns & muskets from Europe became top priority Gardis who until now were loose association of members from multiple maratha communities mentioned above eg Dhangars, Ramoshis, Bhils, Lamans, Vanzara, Pardhi, Mahadeo Koli, Masan Jogis,& others got themselves trained in using guns-muskets while owning it. Continuous exposure to wars helped them to acquire expertise to become musketeers where as other communities took up various activities such as administration, accountancy, trading, farming but those who continued became musketeers & soon became to be known as gardis. Maratha Bargirs-Shiledars in large number also joined to become musketeers. Common activities-livehood, intermarriages, participation in performing religious activities or rituals converted mob or group of people with loose affiliation into a community called gardi. Exposure to Islamic traditions as well firm belief in age hold Hindu rituals converted them into unique community. Gardi community members serving as officers in Maratha or Nizam army took the titles as Khan or Singh. The khan or singh affiliated to name soon became permanent feature in family names. One should not make mistake of tracing a gardi lineage to Pathan or Rajput origin. Gardis became acceptable in Hindu fold of complex caste -community structure. Gardis who embraced Islam also performed sacrifices in front of local goddesses. Sumersingh Gardi, Ibrahim Khan Gardi were well known members from gardi community having Hindu as well as Muslim names. Around 1750 it became obvious for gardi children to take their fathers occupation of becoming musketeer, as it was easier for gardi child to learn using gun-musket as well as procurement of the gun-musket, the reason being guns-muskets were easily available in gardi household. The gardi children mastered the art of using guns-muskets at early age. Gardis between 1715 to 1725 became personal guards of Peshwas who were appointed as prime minister of maratha kingdom by the fourth chatrapati Shahu. Peshwas employed them in big number in their private army to threaten or settle internal scores with other maratha generals or ministers. This was as per on going historical trend in deccan coming from ages. Gardi loyalty to marathas especially peshwas& courage made them a dependable force in maratha army. Ibrahim Khan Gardi an ambitious soldier of fortune or military general was an expert in artillery & was in service of nizam of hyderabad. Due to limited resources at hand & non expansionist or docile policy of Nizam, Ibrahim Khan Gardi was commanding small artillery unit. Ibrahim Khan Gardi was won over by peshwa & he soon joined services of peshwa to command a battalion having strength of 10000 men comprising of cavalry, infantry, artillery, archers such as bowmen-pikemen & bayonet wielding musketeers where as total strength of Nizam's entire army was not exceeding 2000 men's. This was windfall for Ibrahim Khan Gardi & was 1st gardi person to reach highest level of becoming deputy commander in chief as well as artillery in charge of one of the most powerful army in world at that time, this was around 1750. Ibrahim Khan Gardi's artillery as well as bayonet wielding musketeers using guns & muskets procured from French as wellas few from Englishmen. Ibrahim Khan Gardi was 1st artillery in charge who tried procure & use ammunitions for guns from locally procured materials as well as import from Europe. A bright future was awaiting Ibrahim Khan Gardi, Had marathas won the day 14th January 1761 during third battle of panipat, the reason being Ibrahim Khan Gardi was close confident of peshwa as well as his cousin brother Sadashivraobhau-commander in chief of maratha army during panipat military expedition. Other maratha generals who were envy of Ibrahim Khan Gardi's close proximity to peshwa were angry that peshwa's cousin brother Sadashivraobhau-commander in chief of maratha army during panipat military expedition was overruling their instructions & consulting Ibrahim Khan Gardi exclusively while planning strategy during panipat military expedition. They worked mischievously to sabotage strategy suggested by Ibrahim Khan Gardi. Sadashivraobhau along with Ibrahim Khan Gardi had planned & were executing a foolproof battle strategy to pulverise the enemy formations with cannon fire and not to employ his cavalry until the Afghans were thoroughly softened up. With the Afghans now broken, he'd move camp in a defensive formation towards Delhi, where they were assured supplies but jealous of the exploits of their artillery chief envious maratha generals overacted while some left battlefield leaving their defences open resulting defeat of marathas. It was Ibrahim Khan Gardi's battalion having strength of 10000 men comprising of cavalry, infantry, artillery, archers such as bowmen-pikemen, bayonet wielding musketeers which faced & repulsed afghan onslaught or waves of cavalry attack during the battle all of afghan attacks failed to dislodge Ibrahim Khan Gardi's battalion from its defensive positions. About 12,000 Afghan cavalry and infantrymen lost their lives in this opening stage of the battle. Around 45000 men from durrani army of Ahmed Shah Abdalli majority of them Afghan men lost their life due to salvos fired at point blank range into the Afghan ranks. Even when the death news of Vishwasrao peshwa's son &sadashivraobhau reached Ibrahim Khan Gardi's battalion it kept defending its position against a numerically strong afghan army as one by one gardi musketeers fell & remaining members escaped from battle field using darkness as cover on the night of 14th January 1761. Most of envious maratha generals had already escaped to their jahagirs in deccan. Ibrahim Khan Gardi was caught by afghans while performing last rites of his master Sadashivrao bhau-Vishwasrao. Ibrahim Khan Gardi was tortured to death by Najib Khan Rohilla & his rohilla men as revenge for serving marathas. Ibrahim Khan Gardi's loyalty to his master as well as courage to stand upfront against invader distinguishes him from masses as well as make him memorable in various folklore or badd being sung in deccan. Gardis kept on serving peshwas as personal guards as well as musketeers until the end of peshwa rule in 1818.After end of peshwas rule his private army was disbanded, some gardis along with other maratha subcaste joined services of East India Company as sepoys, musketeers, cavalrymen in infantry &artillery units especially in Poona Horse in 1818,Bombay Sappers(?),Madras Sappers, Maratha Light Infantry founded in 1756. Some of gardi subcaste who could not adjust to settled agrarian life returned back to their nomadic way of life to carryout daring raid on trading caravans like pindaris, pardhis, ramoshis until they were individually caught &hunted down. East India Company having selfish motives of increasing its trading activity in deccan branded gardi subcastes as criminal tribes but many settled down around pune, satara, kolhapur, solapur, bijapur, hyderabad, bidar& belgaon to name few cities around deccan plateau. Some gardis who went along deposed peshwa to settle in Kanpur & Bithoor in Uttar pradesh in North India. Gardis along with other maratha subcaste members had also served in personal army of Arthur Wellsley later on Duke of Wellington during his wars with Tipu Sultan, Battle of Akkey against armies of Scindia -Bhosale, Anglo-Afghan & Anglo-Sikh wars to name few.

Over the period gardis were assimilated into Marathi culture. Now most have accepted the Marathi way of life, and have accepted their name of village as their surname with Patil as prefix, or the name of the trade they are practicing. One Sumersingh Gardi and other fellow gardi men were employed by Raghunathrao to murder Narayanrao, his nephew, in 1773, to usurp the title of Peshwa. For that reason the gardi surname became much maligned in Pune. Rarely does one come across a person with Gardi as last name, though still some can be located in Rasta Peth in Pune, in the motor transport business. Gardi as surname has mostly been dropped, or got changed to Garde.