While fission did occur, fusion could also occur. As weaving is an art and forms one of the most important artisan community of India. Content Guidelines 2. On the other hand, there was an almost simultaneous spurt in village studies. This does not, however, help describe caste divisions adequately. It seems the highland Bhils (and possibly also other tribes) provided brides to lower Rajputs in Gujarat. That the role of the two principles could vary at different levels within a first-order division has also been seen. Hence as we go down the hierarchy we encounter more and more debates regarding the claims of particular lineages to being Rajput so much so that we lose sight of any boundary and the Rajput division merges imperceptibly into some other division. The Brahmans were divided into such divisions as Audich, Bhargav, Disawal, Khadayata, Khedawal, Mewada, Modh, Nagar, Shrigaud, Shrimali, Valam, Vayada, and Zarola. For example, there was considerable ambiguity about the status of Anavils. Frequently, The ekdas or gols were each divided into groups called tads (split). The method is to remove first the barriers of the divisions of the lowest order and then gradually those of one higher order after another. Sometimes castes are described as becoming ethnic groups in modern India, particularly in urban India. So in this way, the Maharashtra caste list is given to all cast Aarakshan belonging to the Scheduled Castes category for the state of MH. The co-residence of people belonging to two or more divisions of the lower orders within a division of a higher order has been a prominent feature of caste in towns and cities. . We shall return to the Rajput-Koli relationship when we consider the Kolis in detail. Besides the myths, the members of a second-order division, belonging to all ekdas, shared certain customs and institutions, including worship of a tutelary deity. There were similar problems about the status of a number of other divisions. Any one small caste may look insignificant in itself but all small castes put together become a large social block and a significant social phenomenon. 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. The degree of contravention involved in an inter-divisional marriage, however, depends upon the order (i.e., first-order, second-order, etc.) They are described by the ruling elite as robbers, dacoits, marauders, predators and the like. <> The main occupation of Vankars was the weaving of cloth. I would suggest that this feature of urban caste, along with the well known general tendency of urban culture to encourage innovation, provided the groundhowever diffuse that ground might have beenfor a favourable response to the anti-hierarchical ideas coming from the West. It is noteworthy that many of their names were based on names of places (region, town, or village): for example, Shrimali and Mewada on the Shrimal and Mewar regions in Rajasthan, Modh on Modhera town in north Gujarat, and Khedawal on Kheda town in central Gujarat. For example, the Patanwadia population was spread continuously from the Patan area to central Gujarat, and the Talapada population from central Gujarat to Pal. % 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; Some of the other such divisions were Kathi, Dubla, Rabari, Bharwad, Mer (see Trivedi 1961), Vaghri, Machhi, Senwa, Vanzara, and Kharwa. 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. Although I have not, during my limited field work, come across hypergamous marriages between Rajputs and Bhils, ethnographic reports and other literature frequently refer to such marriages (see, for example, Naik 1956: 18f; Nath I960. It reflects, on the one hand, the political aspirations of Kolis guided by the importance of their numerical strength in electoral politics and on the other hand, the Rajputs attempt to regain power after the loss of their princely states and estates. Let us now return to a consideration of the first-order divisions with subdivisions going down to the third or the fourth order. Before publishing your articles on this site, please read the following pages: 1. 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. They worked not only as high priests but also as bureaucrats. manvar surname caste in gujarat. In the past the dispersal over a wide area of population of an ekda or tad was uncommon; only modern communications have made residential dispersal as well as functional integration possible. 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. 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. I have discussed above caste divisions in Gujarat mainly in the past, roughly in the middle of the 19th century. Privacy Policy 8. It is possible that there were a few divisions each confined to just one large city and, therefore, not having the horizontal dimension at all. 3 0 obj Division and hierarchy have always been stressed as the two basic principles of the caste system. 1 0 obj On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. While the Rajputs, Leva Patidars, Anavils and Khedawals have been notorious for high dowries, and the Kolis have been looked down upon for their practice of bride price, the Vanias have been paying neither. 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. By the beginning of British rule in the early 19th century, a considerable number of these chieftains had succeeded in establishing petty chiefdoms, each composed of one, and occasionally more than one, village, in all parts of Gujarat. 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. The freedom struggle brought the Indian handloom sector back to the fore, with Mahatma Gandhi spearheading the Swadeshi cause. 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. The chiefly families constituted a tiny proportion of the total population of any second-order division among the Kolis. The sub- the manner in which the ideas of free marriages and castles society are used by both the old and the young in modern India and how a number of new customs and institutions have evolved to cope with these new ideas is a fascinating subject of study. Among the first-order divisions with subdivisions going down to the fourth order, there are associations for divisions of all the orders. Nor do I claim to know the whole of Gujarat. They have been grouped in Vaishya category of Varna system. 91. In the second kind of area, indigenous Kolis live side-by-side with immigrant Kolis from an adjoining area. The village was a small community divided into a relatively small number of castes; the population of each caste was also small, sometimes only one or two households, with little possibility of existence of subdivisions; and there were intensive relationships of various kinds between the castes. Once the claim was accepted at either level, hypergamous marriage was possible. I am not suggesting that the principle of hierarchy was insignificant in the inter- or intra-caste relations in urban centres. Usually it consisted of wealthy and powerful lineages, distinguishing themselves by some appellation, such as Patidar among the Leva Kanbi, Desai among the Anavil, and Baj among the Khedawal. There was also a tendency among bachelors past marriageable age to establish liaisons with lower-caste women, which usually led the couple to flee and settle down in a distant village. First, since the tads were formed relatively recently, it is easier to get information about their formation than about the formation of ekdas. We shall return to this issue later. Gujarat- A state in India. I have done field work in two contiguous parts of Gujarat: central Gujarat (Kheda district and parts of Ahmedabad and Baroda districts) and eastern Gujarat (Panchmahals district). Srinivas has called the unity of the village manifested in these interrelations the vertical unity of the village (1952: 31f. to which the divisions of the marrying couple belong. The essential idea in the category was power, and anybody who wielded powereither as king or as dominant group in a rural (even tribal) areacould claim to be Rajput. Real Estate Software Dubai > blog > manvar surname caste in gujarat. Most inter-divisional marriages take place between boys and girls belonging to the lowest order in the structure of divisions. As for the size of other castes, I shall make mainly relative statements. All of this information supports the point emerging from the above analysis, that frequently there was relatively little concern for ritual status between the second-order divisions within a first- order division than there was between the first-order divisions. James Campbell (1901: xii), the compiler of gazetteers for the former Bombay presidency comprising several linguistic regions, wrote about Gujarat: In no part of India are the subdivisions so minute, one of them, the Rayakval Vanias, numbering only 47 persons in 1891. Although the name of a Brahman or Vania division might be based on a place name, the division was not territorial in nature. manvar surname caste in gujarat. Hypergamy tended to be associated with this hierarchy. Although my knowledge is fragmentary, I thought it was worthwhile to put together the bits and pieces for the region as a whole. 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. To whichever of the four orders a caste division belonged, its horizontal spread rarely, if ever, coincided with that of another. They took away offerings made to Shiva, which was considered extremely degrading. Kayatias and Tapodhans were considered such low Brahmans that even some non-Brahman castes did not accept food and water from them. But this is not enough. When the rural population began to be drawn towards the new opportunities, the first to take advantage of them were the rural sections of the rural-cum-urban castes. 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. 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. Village studies, as far as caste is a part of them, have been, there fore, concerned with the interrelations between sections of various castes in the local context. Plagiarism Prevention 4. Literally, ekda meant unit, and gol circle, and both signified an endogamous unit. A fundamental difficulty with these paradigms of change, as indicated by the above analysis, is that they are based on a partial conception of the systematic or structural whole in the past partially because it does not cover the urban situation and the complexity of horizontal units. 4 GUJARAT 4273 SHODA . Traditionally, the Brahman division was supposed to provide the priests for the corresponding divisions. The point is that the Rajput hierarchy, with the princely families at the top, merged at the lower level imperceptibly into the vast sea of tribal and semi-tribal people like Bhils and Kolis. In the plains, therefore, every village had one or more towns in its vicinity. 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. The degree of contravention is highest if the couple belong to two different first-order divisions. ADVERTISEMENTS: Division and Hierarchy: An Overview of Caste in Gujarat! Many of them became the norm-setting elite for Gujaratis in the homeland. I should hasten to add, however, that the open-minded scholar that he is, he does not rule out completely the possibility of separation existing as independent principle. 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). yorba linda football maxpreps; weiteste entfernung gerichtsbezirk; wyoming rockhounding locations google maps; endobj Although the number of inter-ekda marriages has been increasing, even now the majority of marriages take place within an ekda. Toori. The handloom weavers of Gujarat, Maharastra and Bengal produced and exported some of the world's most desirable fabrics. The decline was further accelerated by the industrial revolution. Broach, Cambay and Surat were the largest, but there were also a number of smaller ones. In an area of the first kind there are no immigrant Kolis from elsewhere, and therefore, there is no question of their having second-order divisions. (Frequently, such models are constructed a priori rather than based on historical evidence, but that is another story). There was also another kind of feast, called bhandaro, where Brahmans belonging to a lesser number of divisions (say, all the few in a small town) were invited. For example, among the Khadayata Vanias there are all-Khadayata associations as well as associations for the various ekdas and sometimes even for their tads (see Shah, Ragini 1978). Caste divisions of the first-order can be classified broadly into three categories. For example, there were two ekdas, each with a large section resident in a large town and small sections resident in two or three neighbouring small towns. r/ahmedabad From Mumbai. I have bits and pieces of information about relations between a considerable numbers of other lower-order divisions in their respective higher-order divisions. There was another kind of ambiguity about the Brahman status or two other divisionsKayatia and Tapodhan. Systematic because castes exist and are like each other in being different (298). Gujarat did not have anything like the non-Brahmin movement of South India and Maharashtra before 1947. They also continued to have marital relations with their own folk. As Ghurye pointed out long ago, slow consolidation of the smaller castes into larger ones would lead to three or four large groups being solidly organized for pushing the interests of each even at the cost of the others. Let me illustrate briefly. Frequently, marriages were arranged in contravention of a particular rule after obtaining the permission of the council of leaders and paying a penalty in advance. To illustrate, among the Khadayata or Modh Vanias, an increasing number of marriages take place between two or more tads within an ekda. The degree of contravention is less if the couple belong, let us say, to two different fourth-order divisions within a third-order division than if they belong to two different third-order divisions within a second-order division, and so on. If the first-order divisions are called jatis and castes, the second-order divisions would be called sub-jatis or sub-castes. There are thus a few excellent studies of castes as horizontal units. I hope to show in this paper how the principle of division is also a primary principle competing with the principle of hierarchy and having important implications for Indian society and culture. 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. Division and Hierarchy: An Overview of Caste in Gujarat! So far we have considered first-order divisions with large and widely spread populations. One important first-order division, namely, Rajput, does not seem to have had any second-order division at all. I will not discuss the present situation in detail but indicate briefly how the above discussion could be useful for understanding a few important changes in modern times. The highland Bhils seem to have provided brides to lower Rajputs on the other side of the highlands also, i.e., to those in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh (see, for example, Doshi, 1971: 7f., 13-15; Aurora 1972: 16, 32f.). The humble Charkha (spinning wheel) and khadi became a dominant symbol of self-reliance, self-determination and nationalist pride. The two areas merge gradually, and my field work covered most of the spectrum. That there was room for flexibility and that the rule of caste endogamy could be violated at the highest level among the Rajputs was pointed out earlier. Indian textiles especially of Gujarat have been praised in several accounts by explorers and historians, from Megasthenes to Herodotus. Our analysis of caste in towns has shown how it differed significantly from that in villages. The marital alliances of the royal families forming part of the Maratha confederacy, and of the royal families of Mysore in south India and of Kashmir and Nepal in the north with the royal families of Gujarat and Rajasthan show, among other things, how there was room for flexibility and how the rule of caste endogamy could be violated in an acceptable manner at the highest level. But there were also others who did not wield any power. To take one sensitive area of purity/pollution behaviour, the concern for observance of rules of commensality has greatly declined not only in urban but also in rural areas. Similarly, the Vanias were divided into such divisions as Disawal, Kapol, Khadayata, Lad, Modh, Nagar, Nima, Porwad, Shirmali, Vayada, and Zarola. History. Leva Sheri and Kadva Sheri, named after the two major second-order divisions among the Kanbis. Briefly, while the Varna model was significant in the total dynamics of the caste system to fit the numerous first-order divisions into the four-fold Varna model in any part of India is impossible, and, therefore, to consider varnas as caste divisions as such is meaningless. Usually, the affairs of the caste were discussed in large congregations of some fifty to hundred or even more villages from time to time. The Rajputs, in association with Kolis, Bhils, and such other castes and tribes, provide an extreme example of such castes. The main point is that we do not completely lose sight of the lowest boundary among these three hypergamous divisions as we do among the Rajputs. Content Filtrations 6. Their origin myth enshrined in their caste purana also showed them to be originally non-Brahman. Nor were ekdas and tads entirely an urban phenomenon. This category has the following 18 subcategories, out of 18 total. 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. Many primarily rural castes, such as Kolisthe largest castehave remained predominantly rural even today. [1], People of India Gujarat Volume XXI Part Three edited by R.B Lal, P.B.S.V Padmanabham, G Krishnan & M Azeez Mohideen pages 1126-1129, Last edited on 14 November 2022, at 23:04, Learn how and when to remove this template message, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vankar&oldid=1121933086, This page was last edited on 14 November 2022, at 23:04. 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. A large number of priestly, artisan and service castes also lived in both villages and towns: Bramhans, barbers, carpenters, blacksmiths, shoemakers, leather-workers, scavenges, water-carriers, palanquin-bearers, and so on. 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. The social relations between and within a large number of such segregated castes should be seen in the context of the overall urban environment, characterized as it was by co-existence of local Hindu castes with immigrant Hindu castes and with the non-Hindu groups such as Jains, Muslims, Parsis and Christians, a higher degree of monetization, a higher degree of contractual and market relations (conversely, a lesser degree of jajmani-type relations), existence of trade guilds, and so on. This was unlike the situation among the Rajputs who did not make any attempt to form small endogamous units. Vankar is described as a caste as well as a community. 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. 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. While almost all the social structures and institutions which existed in villagesreligion, caste, family, and so onalso existed in towns, we should not assume that their character was the same. In some other cases, mainly of urban artisans, craftsmen and specialized servants, such as Kansaras (copper and bronze smiths), Salvis (silk weavers), Kharadis (skilled carpenters and wood carvers), Chudgars (bangle-makers) and Vahivanchas genealogists and mythographers), the small populations were so small and confined to so few towns that they had few subdivisions and the boundaries of their horizontal units were fairly easy to define. When divisions are found within a jati, the word sub-jati or sub-caste is used. The three trading castes of Vania, Lohana and Bhatia were mainly urban. A recent tendency in sociological literature is to consider jatis as castes. The migrants, many of whom came from heterogeneous urban centres of Gujarat, became part of an even more heterogeneous environment in Bombay. The latter continued to be the provincial capital during Mughal rule. There were Brahman and Vania divisions of the same name, the myths about both of them were covered by a single text. Frequently, social divisions were neatly expressed in street names. From the 15th century onwards we find historical references to political activities of Koli chieftains. Radhvanaj Rajputs were clearly distinguished from, and ranked much above local Kolis. 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. I describe here three prominent units of the latter type, namely, Anavil, Leva Kanbi, and Khedawal Brahman. Caste associations have been formed on the lines of caste divisions. In India Limbachiya is most frequent in: Maharashtra, where 70 percent reside, Gujarat . 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. 2 0 obj In a paper on Caste among Gujaratis in East Africa, Pocock (1957b) raised pointedly the issue of the relative importance of the principles of division (he called it difference) and hierarchy. In these divisions an increasing number of marriages are taking place against the grain of traditional hierarchy, i.e., girls of traditionally higher strata marry boys of traditionally lower strata. The bulk of the population was spread all over the villages as small landholders, tenants and labourers. It is not claimed that separation, or even repulsion, may not be present somewhere as an independent factor (1972: 346,n.55b). Even if we assume, for a moment, that the basic nature of a structure or institution was the same, we need to know its urban form or variant. The Kolis seem to have had only two divisions in every part of Gujarat: for example, Talapada (indigenous) and Pardeshi (foreign) in central Gujarat and Palia and Baria in eastern Gujarat (significantly, one considered indigenous and the other outsider). 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. Disclaimer 9. Another clearly visible change in caste in Gujarat is the emergence of caste associations. Kolis were the largest first-order division in Gujarat. The members of a kings caste were thus found not only in his own kingdom but in other kingdoms as well. The primarily rural and lower castes were the last to form associations and that too mainly after independence (1947). Although the ekda or tad was the most effective unit for endogamy, each unit of the higher order was also significant for endogamy. The most Mehta families were found in USA in 1920. More common was an ekda or tad having its population residing either in a few neighbouring villages, or in a few neighbouring towns, or in both. Dowry not only continues to be a symbol of status in the new hierarchy but is gradually replacing bride price wherever it existed, and dowry amounts are now reaching astronomical heights. The small town sections therefore separated themselves from the respective large town sections and formed a new ekda. Far from it, I am only suggesting that its role had certain limitations and that the principle of division was also an important and competing principle. There are other sub-castes like Satpanthis, who are mainly centered in Kutch district and have some social customs akin to Muslims . They were found in almost every village in plains Gujarat and in many villages in Saurashtra and Kachchh. In some parts of Gujarat they formed 30 to 35 per cent of the population. Hindu society is usually described as divided into a number of castes the boundaries of which are maintained by the rule of caste endogamy. Bougies repulsion) rather than on hierarchy was a feature of caste in certain contexts and situations in traditional India, and increasing emphasis on division in urban Indian in modern times is an accentuation of what existed in the past. In each of these three divisions the top stratum was clear. The two together formed a single complex of continental dimension. For example, there were Khedawal Brahmans but not Khedawal Vanias, and Lad Vanias but no Lad Brahmans. 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. These coastal towns were involved in trade among themselves, with other towns on the rest of the Indian sea coast, and with many foreign lands. 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. A new view of the whole, comprising the rural and the urban and the various orders of caste divisions, should be evolved. 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. No one knows when and how they came into existence and what they meant socially. Similarly, in Saurashtra, the Talapadas were distinguished from the Chumvalias, immigrants from the Chumval tract in north Gujarat. A comment on the sociology of urban India would, therefore, be in order before we go ahead with the discussion of caste divisions. While some of the divisions of a lower order might be the result of fission, some others might be a result of fusion. A large proportion, if not the whole, of the population of many of such divisions lived in towns. The tad thus represented the fourth and last order of caste divisions.
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