There is enormous literature on these caste divisions from about the middle of the 19th century which includes census reports, gazetteers, castes-and- tribes volumes, ethnographic notes and monographs and scholarly treatises such as those by Baines, Blunt, Ghurye, Hocart, Hutton, Ibbet- son, OMalley, Risley, Senart, and others. Roughly, while in the plains area villages are nucleated settlements, populated by numerous castes, in the highland area villages are dispersed settlements, populated by tribes and castes of tribal origin. Usually, the latter were distinguished from one another by prohibition. Weavers became beggars, manufacturing collapsed and the last 2000 years of Indian textile industry was knocked down. This meant that he could marry a girl of any subdivision within the Vania division. On the other hand, there was an almost simultaneous spurt in village studies. There was considerable elaboration in urban areas of what Ghurye long ago called the community aspect of caste (1932: 179) and frequently, this led to juxtaposition rather than hierarchy between caste divisions of the same order. An important idea behind the activities of caste associations is: service to ones caste is service to the nation. The Khedawals, numbering 15,000 to 20,000 in 1931 were basically priests but many of them were also landowners, government officials, and traders. Kayatias and Tapodhans were considered such low Brahmans that even some non-Brahman castes did not accept food and water from them. Today majority of these community members are not engaged in their ancestral weaving occupation still some population of these community contribute themselves in traditional handloom weaving of famous Patola of Patan, Kachchh shawl of Bhujodi in Kutch, Gharchola and Crotchet of Jamnagar, Zari of Surat, Mashroo of Patan and Mandvi in Kutch, Bandhani of Jamnagar, Anjar and Bhuj, Motif, Leheria, Dhamakda and Ajrak, Nagri sari, Tangaliya Shawl, Dhurrie, Kediyu, Heer Bharat, Abhala, Phento and art of Gudri. For example, the Khadayata Brahmans worked as priests at important rituals among Khadayata Vanias. Division and hierarchy have always been stressed as the two basic principles of the caste system. Reference to weaving and spinning materials is found in the Vedic Literature. The Kayatias main occupation was to perform a ritual on the eleventh day after death, during which they took away offerings made to ghosts: this was the main cause of their extremely low status among Brahmans. So instead of a great exporter of finished products, India became an importer of British, while its share of world export fell from 27% to two percent. To whichever of the four orders a caste division belonged, its horizontal spread rarely, if ever, coincided with that of another. For the sake of bravity and simplicity of presentation, I have not provided detailed documentation. While fission did occur, fusion could also occur. Before publishing your articles on this site, please read the following pages: 1. In the case of some of them the small population was so dispersed that a division such as that of barbers, blacksmiths, or carpenters, would be represented by only one or two households in each village and by a significant number of households in towns. There are other sub-castes like Satpanthis, who are mainly centered in Kutch district and have some social customs akin to Muslims . For example, in a Rajput kingdom the families of the Rajput king and his nobles resided in the capital town, while the Rajput landlords and cultivators resided in villages. This list may not reflect recent changes. Simultaneously, there is gradual decline in the strength of the principle of hierarchy, particularly of ritual hierarchy expressed in purity and pollution. According to the Rajputs I know in central Gujarat, the highest stratum among them consisted of the royal families of large and powerful kingdoms in Gujarat and neighbouring Rajasthan, such as those of Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Kachchh, Porbandar, Bikaner, Idar, Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Udaipur, and so on. Prohibited Content 3. The Khadayatas were divided into about 30 ekdas. This bulk also was characterized by hierarchy, with the relatively advanced population living in the plains at one end and the backward population living along with the tribal population in the highlands at the other end. In the second kind of area, indigenous Kolis live side-by-side with immigrant Kolis from an adjoining area. So far we have considered first-order divisions with large and widely spread populations. A recent tendency in sociological literature is to consider jatis as castes. to which the divisions of the marrying couple belong. Once the claim was accepted at either level, hypergamous marriage was possible. There was also another important correlation. Our analysis of caste in towns has shown how it differed significantly from that in villages. No analytical gains are therefore likely to occur by calling them by any other name. Second, there used to be intense intra-ekda politics, and tads were formed as a result of some continuing conflict among ekda leaders and over the trial of violation of ekda rules. Far too many studies of changes in caste in modern India start with a general model of caste in traditional India which is in fact a model of caste in traditional rural India. Gujarat did not have anything like the non-Brahmin movement of South India and Maharashtra before 1947. The two areas merge gradually, and my field work covered most of the spectrum. What may be called the census approach influenced a great deal of scholarly work. New Jersey had the highest population of Mehta families in 1920. We shall return to the Rajput-Koli relationship when we consider the Kolis in detail. //]]>. This tendency reaches its culmination in the world of Dumont. The Rajputs, in association with the Kolis, were probably the only horizontal unit which had continuous internal hierarchy, i.e., hypergamy unbroken by any endogamous subdivisions, and which did not have discernible boundaries at the lowest level. Similarly, the Vanias were divided into such divisions as Disawal, Kapol, Khadayata, Lad, Modh, Nagar, Nima, Porwad, Shirmali, Vayada, and Zarola. Because of these two major factors, one economic and the other political, Gujarat at the beginning of the 19th century had a large urban population, distributed over a large number of small towns. This list may not reflect recent changes. The co-residence of people belonging to two or more divisions of a lower order within a division of a higher order has been a prominent feature of caste in towns and cities. From the 15th century onwards we find historical references to political activities of Koli chieftains. These marriage links do not seem to have allowed, among the Kolis, formation of well organized, small, endogamous units (ekadas, gols) as were found among some other castes. What is really required for a comprehensive understanding is a comparison of traditional with modern caste in both rural and urban areas (including, to be sure, the rural-urban linkages). How many sub-divisions existed in the various divisions of the various orders is a matter of empirical investigation. Some of the other such divisions were Kathi, Dubla, Rabari, Bharwad, Mer (see Trivedi 1961), Vaghri, Machhi, Senwa, Vanzara, and Kharwa. Both were recognized as Brahman but as degraded ones. There would be a wide measure of agreement with him on both these counts. At one end there were castes in which the principle of hierarchy had free play and the role of the principle of division was limited. Not only that, there were also third-order divisions (i.e., ekdas) in one or more second-order divisions, and finally one or more fourth-order divisions (i.e., tads) in one or more third-order divisions. All associations originated in large towns, are more active in towns than in villages, and are led by prominent members in towns. Limitations of the holistic view of caste, based as it is mainly on the study of the village, should be realized in the light of urban experience. For example, there were Khedawal Brahmans but not Khedawal Vanias, and Lad Vanias but no Lad Brahmans. I am not suggesting that the principle of hierarchy was insignificant in the inter- or intra-caste relations in urban centres. A comment on the sociology of urban India would, therefore, be in order before we go ahead with the discussion of caste divisions. These linkages played an important role in the traditional social structure as well as in the processes of change in modern India. For example, just as there were Modh Vanias, there were Modh Brahmans, and similarly Khadayata Vanias and Khadayata Brahmans, Shrimali Vanias and Shrimali Brahmans, Nagar Vanias and Nagar Brahmans, and so on. But many Rajput men of Radhvanaj got wives from people in distant villages who were recognized there as Kolisthose Kolis who had more land and power than the generality of Kolis had tried to acquire some of the traditional Rajput symbols in dress manners and customs and had been claiming to be Rajputs. Homo Hierarchicus. In India Limbachiya is most frequent in: Maharashtra, where 70 percent reside, Gujarat . <> Usually, it was a small population. It is important to note that the more literate and learned Brahmans lived in towns, more particularly in capital and pilgrim towns, which were, indeed, the centres of higher Hindu culture and civilization. Britain's Industrial Revolution was built on the de-industrialisation of India - the destruction of Indian textiles and their replacement by manufacturing in England, using Indian raw materials and exporting the finished products back to India and even the rest of the world. The understanding of changes in caste is not likely to be advanced by clubbing such diverse groups together under the rubric of ethnic group. stream They had an internal hierarchy similar to that of the Leva Kanbis, with tax-farmers and big landlords at the top and small landowners at the bottom. Jun 12, 2022. x[? -E$nvU 4V6_}\]}/yOu__}ww7oz[_z~?=|nNT=|qq{\//]/Ft>_tV}gjjn#TfOus_?~>/GbKc.>^\eu{[GE_>'x?M5i16|B;=}-)$G&w5uvb~o:3r3v GL3or}|Y~?3s_hO?qWWpn|1>9WS3^:wTU3bN{tz;T_}so/R95iLc_6Oo_'W7y; This was about 22% of all the recorded Mehta's in USA. Tapodhans were priests in Shiva temples. : 11-15, 57-75). They were found in almost every village in plains Gujarat and in many villages in Saurashtra and Kachchh. As a consequence, the continuities of social institutions and the potentiality of endogenous elements for bringing about change are overlooked (for a discussion of some other difficulties with these paradigms, see Lynch 1977). It is argued that the various welfare programmes of each caste association, such as provision of medical facilities, scholarships and jobs for caste members contribute, in however small a way, to the solution of the nations problems. Toori. 3 0 obj As could be expected, there were marriages between fairly close kin, resulting in many overlapping relationships, in such an endogamous unit. Privacy Policy 8. History. All the small towns sections in each of the ekdas resented that, while the large town section accepted brides from small towns, they did not reciprocate. It owned corporate property, usually in the form of vadis (large buildings used for holding feasts and festivals, accommodating wedding guests, and holding meetings), huge utensils for cooking feasts, and money received as fees and fines. r/ahmedabad From Mumbai. The urban centres in both the areas, it is hardly necessary to mention, are nucleated settlements populated by numerous caste and religious groups. The emphasis on being different and separate rather than on being higher and lower was even more marked in the relationship among the forty or so second-order divisions. Report a Violation, Caste Stratification: Changing Rural Caste Stratification, Caste in Rural India: Specificities of Caste in Rural Society. A new view of the whole, comprising the rural and the urban and the various orders of caste divisions, should be evolved. The name, Talapada, meaning mdigenous, commonly used in the 19th century, is most clear, since it is clearly distinguished from the other division called Pardeshi, meaning foreign, who during the last one or two centuries immigrated here from the area around Patan in north Gujarat and were, therefore, also called Patan- wadias. Among the Kanbis, while there was hypergamy within the Leva division and possibly, similar hypergamy within the Kadva division, there was no hierarchy or hypergamy between the two second-order divisions. manvar surname caste in gujarat. Further, the castes there are unable to take cognizance of each other in terms of hierarchy or of occupation, and it is in this situation that they can be said to exist by virtue of their differences (296) it is the systematic recognition of difference which is most apparent. The small endogamous units, on the other hand, did not practise either. The Anavil, numbering 30,000 to 40,000 in 1931, were found mainly in south Gujarat. But there were also others who did not wield any power. There was a continuous process of formation and disintegration of such units. ), as contrasted with the horizontal unity of the caste. But during the 18th century, when the Mughal Empire was disintegrating, a large number of small kingdoms came into existence, and each had a small capital town of its own. Co-residence of people, belonging to two or more divisions of a lower order within a higher order was, however, a prominent feature of towns and cities rather than of villages. 2 0 obj The two categories of castes have been deeply conscious of these differences between them and have been talking freely about them. They have been grouped in Vaishya category of Varna system. Use census records and voter lists to . Patel is a surname of the Koli caste of Gujarat in India which have most importance in the politics of Gujarat and Koli Patels of Saurashtra was most benefited under the rule of Indian National Congress party. Although it has been experiencing stresses and strains and has had ups and downs on account of the enormous diversity between the royal and the tribal ends, it has shown remarkable solidarity in recent years. As regards the rest of Gujarat, I have used various sources: my work on the caste of genealogists and mythographys and on the early 19th century village records; the available ethnographic, historical and other literature; and observations made while living m Gujarat. Nor do I claim to know the whole of Gujarat. The primarily rural and lower castes were the last to form associations and that too mainly after independence (1947). He stated: hereditary specialization together with hierarchical organization sinks into the background in East Africa (293). The very low Brahmans such as Kayatias and Tapodhans were invited but made to eat separately from the rest of the Brahmans. Image Guidelines 5. During Mughal Empire India was manufacturing 27% of world's textile and Gujarati weavers dominated along with Bengali weavers in Indian textile trade industry overseas. Castes which did not sit together at public feasts, let alone at meals in homes, only 15 or 20 years ago, now freely sit together even at meals in homes. The Rajput links entailed the spread of Rajput culture in each Koli division and provided a certain cultural homogeneity to all the divisions. The fact that Mahatma Gandhi came from a small third-order division in the Modh Vania division in a town in Saurashtra does not seem to be an accident. No sooner had the village studies begun that their limitations and the need for studying caste in its horizontal dimension were realized. manvar surname caste in gujaratbest imperial trooper team swgoh piett. Usually, these divisions were distinguished from one another by prohibition of what people called roti vyavahar (bread, i.e., food transactions) as well as beti vyavahar (daughter, i.e., marital transactions). Firstly, there were divisions whose population was found almost entirely in towns. It will readily be agreed that the sociological study of Indian towns and cities has not made as much progress as has the study of Indian villages. For example, there was considerable ambiguity about the status of Anavils. A great deal of discussion of the role of the king in the caste system, based mainly on Indological literature, does not take these facts into account and therefore tends to be unrealistic. Nor were ekdas and tads entirely an urban phenomenon. In 1931, the Rajputs of all strata in Gujarat had together a population of about 35,000 forming nearly 5 per cent of the total population of Gujarat. And even when a Brahman name corresponded with a Vania name, the former did not necessarily work as priests of the latter.The total number of second-divisions in a first-order division differed from one first-order division to another. They wrote about the traditional Indian village, but not about the traditional Indian town. Although caste was found in both village and town, did it possess any special characteristics in the latter? Further, during this lengthy process of slow amalgamation those who will marry in defiance of the barriers of sub-caste, will still be imbued with caste mentality (1932: 184). Similarly, although the number of marriages between the second-order divisions in the Vania division, i.e., between Khadayata, Modh, Shrimali, Lad, Vayada, etc., has been increasing, the majority of marriages take place within the respective second-order divisions. Finally, while an increasing number of marriages are taking place even across the boundaries of first-order divisions, as for example, between Brahmans and Vanias, and between Vanias and Patidars, such marriages even now form an extremely small proportion of the total number of marriages. What I am trying to point out, however, is that greater emphasis on division (Pococks difference, Dumonts separation. Nevertheless, a breakdown of the population of Gujarat into major religious, caste and tribal groups according to the census of 1931 is presented in the following table to give a rough idea of the size of at least some castes. The unit might possess some other corporate characteristics also. Another major factor in the growth of urban centres in Gujarat was political. Indian textiles especially of Gujarat have been praised in several accounts by explorers and historians, from Megasthenes to Herodotus. The migrants, many of whom came from heterogeneous urban centres of Gujarat, became part of an even more heterogeneous environment in Bombay. While certain first-order divisions were found mainly in towns, the population of certain other first-order divisions was dispersed in villages as well as in towns, the population of the rural and the urban sections differing from one division to another. Most of the other eighty or so second-order divisions among Brahmans, however, seem to be subdivided the way the Vania second-order divisions were subdivided into third-order and fourth-order divisions. Hypergamy was accompanied by sanskritization of at least a section of the tribal population, their claim to the Kshatriya Varna and their economic and political symbiosis with the caste population. These and many other artisans, craftsmen and servants reflected the special life-style of the town. Frequently, each such unit had a patron deity, housed in a large shrine, with elaborate arrangements for its ownership. We have analyzed the internal structure of two first-order divisions, Rajput and Anavil, which did not have any second-order divisions, and of several second-order divisionsTalapada and Pardeshi Koli, Khedawal Brahman, and Leva Kanbiwhich did not have any third-order divisions. The Kolis in such an area may not even be concerned about a second-order divisional name and may be known simply as Kolis. The change from emphasis on hierarchy to emphasis on division is becoming increasingly significant in view of the growth of urban population both in absolute number and in relation to the total population. It is not claimed that separation, or even repulsion, may not be present somewhere as an independent factor (1972: 346,n.55b). In contrast, there were horizontal units, the internal hierarchy and hypergamy of which were restricted to some extent by the formation of small endogamous units and which had discernible boundaries at the lowest level. While some of the divisions of a lower order might be the result of fission, some others might be a result of fusion. After the commercial revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries, Gujarat had a large number of tradition towns on its long sea-coast. The urban community included a large number of caste groups as well as social groups of other kinds which tended to be like communities with a great deal of internal cohesion. In effect, the Vania population in a large town like Ahmedabad could have a considerable number of small endogamous units of the third or the fourth order, each with its entire population living and marrying within the town itself. Sometimes a division could even be a self-contained endogamous unit. Each ekda or gol was composed of a definite number of families living in certain villages and/or towns. Moreover, a single division belonging to any one of the orders may have more than one association, and an association may be uni-purpose or multi-purpose. The Rajputs in Radhvanaj, the village I have studied in central Gujarat, had no great difficulty in establishing their claim to being Rajputs: they owned substantial amounts of land under a traditional Rajput tenure, dominated village politics and possessed certain other traditional Rajput symbols. This does not solve the problem if there are four orders of divisions of the kind found in Gujarat. Frequently, social divisions were neatly expressed in street names. I do not, however, have sufficient knowledge of the latter and shall, therefore, confine myself mainly to Rajputs in Gujarat. To obtain a clear understanding of the second-order divisions with the Koli division, it is necessary first of all to find a way through the maze of their divisional names. But there was also another process. Whatever the internal organization of a second-order division, the relationship between most of the Brahman second-order divisions was marked by great emphasis on being different and separate than on being higher and lower. Frequently, the urban population of such a division performed more specialized functions than did the rural one. The handloom weavers of Gujarat, Maharastra and Bengal produced and exported some of the world's most desirable fabrics. I do not propose to review the literature on caste here; my aim is to point out the direction towards which a few facts from Gujarat lead us. One important first-order division, namely, Rajput, does not seem to have had any second-order division at all. The latter continued to be the provincial capital during Mughal rule. Some ekdas did come into existence in almost the same way as did the tads, that is to say, by a process of fission of one ekda into two or more ekdas. I have discussed above caste divisions in Gujarat mainly in the past, roughly in the middle of the 19th century. I have, therefore, considered them a first-order division and not a second-order one among Brahmans (for a fuller discussion of the status of Anavils, see Joshi, 1966; Van der Veen 1972; Shah, 1979). One of the reasons behind underplaying of the principle of division by Dumont as well as by others seems to be the neglect of the study of caste in urban areas (see Dumonts remarks in 1972: 150). The point is that there was nothing like the endogamous unit but there were only several units of various orders with defined roles in endogamy. cleophas parade thibodaux, bausch and lomb rewards card balance,
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