Vajram-And-RaviVajram-And-Ravi
hamburger-icon

Who are Hattis?

12-01-2025

01:19 PM

timer
1 min read
Who are Hattis? Blog Image

Overview:

The vibrant Boda Tyohar festival, the largest annual celebration for the Hatti tribes of the Trans-Giri region in Himachal Pradesh, kicked off recently with much enthusiasm and traditional fervour.

About Hattis:

  • The Hattis is a close-knit community who take their name from their traditional occupation of selling home-grown crops, vegetables, meat, and wool at small-town markets known as ‘haats’.
  • Hatti men traditionally don a distinctive white headgear on ceremonial occasions.
  • The Hatti homeland straddles the Himachal-Uttarakhand border in the basin of the Giri and Tons rivers, both tributaries of the Yamuna. The Tons marks the border between the two states.
  • There are two main Hatti clans: one in the Trans-Giri area of the Sirmaur district in Himachal Pradesh and the other in Jaunsar Bawar of Uttarakhand.
  • The two Hatti clans have similar traditions, and intermarriages are common.
  • They are governed by a traditional council called ‘khumbli’ which decides community matters.
  • Economy:
    • The Hatti population relies on agriculture for livelihood and bare subsistence since their climate is ideal for growing "Cash Crops."
    • Moreover, the rise in Kinnaur, Lahaul, and Spiti's seasonal tourism, often called “eco-tourism”, served as a merged source of income.
  • According to the 2011 census, members of the community numbered 2.5 lakh, but at present population of the Hattis is estimated at around 3 lakhs.
  • In 2023, the Indian government granted Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to the Hatti community in Himachal Pradesh.
    • The Jaunsar- Bawar region of Uttarakhand was granted tribal status in 1967.

Q1: Who are pahadi people in India?

The word 'Pahadi' essentially means "dwellers of mountains." It is associated with the population of Himalayan Indian regions, comprising Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttarakhand, and parts of northern Uttar Pradesh, along with Nepal.

Source: CNBC