TheDogar are aPunjabi people ofMuslim heritage (bradari).[1] 'Dogar' is commonly used as alast name.[1]
Dogar people settled inPunjab during theMedieval period.[2] They have been classified as a branch of theRajput[3] (a large cluster of interrelated peoples from theIndian subcontinent). Initially apastoral people, the Dogartook up agriculture in the Punjab, where they became owners of land in the relatively arid central area where cultivation required particularly strenuous work.[4] In addition to cultivating crops such asjowar (millet) andwheat, they seem partly to have continued pastoral practices, sometimesas nomads.[2] The arid conditions proved challenging, especially in the light of competition from peoples with more established agricultural ways (notably theJats), and over the centuries the Dogar people developed a long-lasting reputation for marauding behaviour,[4] such as animal raiding and other types of theft, including highway robbery.[2]
In the late 17th century, the Dogars residing within thefaujdari of Lakhi Jangal (in present-dayMultan) were among the tribes that challenged the authority of theMughal emperorAurangzeb.[5]
In the Sufi poetWaris Shah's tragic romance of 1766,Heer Ranjha, Dogars are scorned as commoners (along with Jats and other agricultural groups).[6]
...and we come across scathing remarks about 'plebeians' such as Jats, Dogars and other agricultural castes.