The Orh (also known as Oad, Odh, Orh Rajput or Orad Rajput)[1][2] is a community of drifting labourers in Gujarat, Kathiawar, and parts of Rajasthan.[3] They are said to hold a variety of occupations. As artisans, they are carpenters, masons and stoneworkers and were considered to be Dalits.[4][5][6] As traders, they deal in grain, spices, perfumes, and cloth.[7] They are spread across 40 villages in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh where they bear surnames like Gadahi, Bhagat, Galgat, Kahlia, Kudavali, Maangal, Majoka, Mundai, Sarvana, and Virpali.[2] The Orh are recognised as part of the Other Backward Classes (OBC) in the state of Rajasthan.[8] In Pakistan, the community is settled in Sindh, Balochistan and lower Punjab, where their primary occupation is to build mud-houses, locally referred to as Oadki houses.[9][10]
^ abSabha, India Parliament Lok (2006). Lok Sabha Debates. Lok Sabha Secretariat. pp. 393, 395.
^Pal, Sushilaben; Narula, S. C. (1998). "Some Ballads and Legends : Gujarati Folklore". Indian Literature. 42 (5 (187)): 172–184. ISSN0019-5804. JSTOR23338788. Oads are not gypsies, but a drifting tribe of labourers in Gujarat, Kathiawad, and some parts of Rajasthan. They drift and shift lock, stock and barrel with their families wherever work is to be had.
^Vir, Dharam; Manral, Manju (1990). Tribal Women: Changing Spectrum in India. Classical Publishing Company. p. 113. ISBN9788170541035. ritually impure and so untouchables (Achhut) . They are village artisans who are more frequently described by their occupational subdivisions, e . g . Lobar (Blacksmith), Tamta (Coppersmith), Orh (Stoneworker and Mason) and so on .
