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. All Brahman divisions did not, however, have a corresponding Vania division. Copyright 10. Thus, while each second-order Koli division maintained its boundaries vis-a-vis other such divisions, each was linked with the Rajputs. Within each of these divisions, small endogamous units (ekdas, gols, bandhos) were organized from time to time to get relief from the difficulties inherent in hypergamy. [CDATA[ The migration of the Kolis of north Gujarat into central Gujarat and those of the latter into eastern Gujarat was a process of slow drift from one village to another over a period of time. 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. rogers outage brampton today; levelland, tx obituaries. The existence of flexibility at both the levels was made possible by the flexibility of the category Rajput. 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. They were found in almost every village in plains Gujarat and in many villages in Saurashtra and Kachchh. 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.). Although my knowledge is fragmentary, I thought it was worthwhile to put together the bits and pieces for the region as a whole. In most parts of Gujarat it merged into the various second-order divisions of the Koli division and possible also into the widespread tribe of Bhils. Real Estate Software Dubai > blog > manvar surname caste in gujarat. Hindu society is usually described as divided into a number of castes the boundaries of which are maintained by the rule of caste endogamy. 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. 100 Most Popular Indian Last Names Or SurnamesWhy Don't Tamil People Have Last Names?-----A . Data need to be collected over large areas by methods other than those used in village studies, castes need to be compared in the regional setting, and a new general approach, analytical framework, and conceptual apparatus need to be developed. Content Guidelines 2. Prohibited Content 3. Thus, the result was the spread of the population of a caste division towards its fringes. 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). Let us now return to a consideration of the first-order divisions with subdivisions going down to the third or the fourth order. Many of them became the norm-setting elite for Gujaratis in the homeland. % Reference to weaving and spinning materials is found in the Vedic Literature. 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. This was dramatized at huge feasts called chorasi (literally, eighty-four) when Brahmans belonging to all the traditional 84 second-order divisions sat together to eat food cooked at the same kitchen. Let me illustrate briefly. The Hindu population of Gujarat was divided first of all into what I have called caste divisions of the first order. Caste associations in Gujarat were formed mainly among upper castes to provide welfare (including recreation), to promote modern education, and to bring about reforms in caste customs. Our analysis of the internal organization of caste divisions has shown considerable variation in the relative role of the principles of division and hierarchy. 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. 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. There was also a third category called Pancha, derived from the word punch (meaning 5) and denoting extremely low Vania. For example, among Vanias in a large town like Ahmedabad many of the thirty or forty second-order divisions (such as Khadayata, Modh, Porwad, Shrimali, and so on) were represented. In fact, inter-tad marriages have increased so much that the tads have more or less lost their identity and such marriages are no longer considered as violating the rule of tad 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 some parts of Gujarat they formed 30 to 35 per cent of the population. One important first-order division, namely, Rajput, does not seem to have had any second-order division at all. In central Gujarat, for example, one and the same division, freely arranging marriages within it, was known by several names such as Baraiya, Dharala, Khant, Kotwal, Pagi, Patelia, Talapada, Thakarada, and Thakor. Hindu society is usually described as divided into a number of castes the boundaries of which are maintained by the rule of caste endogamy. Leva Sheri and Kadva Sheri, named after the two major second-order divisions among the Kanbis. Broach, Cambay and Surat were the largest, but there were also a number of smaller ones. This tendency reaches its culmination in the world of Dumont. This was about 22% of all the recorded Mehta's in USA. 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. They co-existed in the highlands with tribes such as the Bhils, so much so that today frequently many high caste Gujaratis confuse them with Bhils, as did the earlier ethnographers. If the marriage took place within the Vania fold but outside the tad or ekda, as the case may be, the punishment varied according to the social distance between the tads or ekdas of the bride and the groom. The institutions of both bride and bridegroom price (the latter also called dowry) were rampant in castes with continuous internal hierarchydowry mainly at the upper levels, bride price mainly at the lower levels, and both dowry and bride price among status-seeking middle level families. Their origin myth enshrined in their caste purana also showed them to be originally non-Brahman. ADVERTISEMENTS: Division and Hierarchy: An Overview of Caste in Gujarat! With the exclusion of caste (except scheduled caste) from the census since 1951 (practically since 1941, because the census of that year did not result in much reporting), writings on castes as horizontal units greatly declined. Although caste was found in both village and town, did it possess any special characteristics in the latter? All this trade encouraged development of trading and commercial towns in the rest of Gujarat, even in the highland area. There was also another important correlation. The small ekda or tad with its entire population residing in a single town was, of course, not a widespread phenomenon. Ideally, castes as horizontal units should he discussed with the help of population figures. 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. I am not suggesting that the principle of hierarchy was insignificant in the inter- or intra-caste relations in urban centres. This reflects the high degree of divisiveness in castes in Gujarat. 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. 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. They were involved in agriculture in one way or another. 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. Advances in manufacturing technologies flooded markets in India and abroad with cheap, mass-produced fabrics that Indian handlooms could no longer compete with. They are described by the ruling elite as robbers, dacoits, marauders, predators and the like. At the other end were castes in which the principle of division had free play and the role of the principle of hierarchy was limited. 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 same problems would arise in the reverse direction if, as many scholars have done, the term caste cluster, caste complex or caste category is used for divisions of a higher order and the term caste or jati is used for divisions of a lower order. Vankar is described as a caste as well as a community. Unfortunately, such figures are not available for the last fifty years or so. 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. This category has the following 18 subcategories, out of 18 total. Census officials-turned-scholars, from Risley to Hutton, wrote many of the earlier general works on caste. It has been pointed out earlier that an emphasis on the principle of division existed in the caste system in urban centres in traditional India. Caste divisions of the first-order can be classified broadly into three categories. They worked not only as high priests but also as bureaucrats. window.__mirage2 = {petok:"uGhRfiuY26l2oZgRlfZRFSp4BWPIIt7Gh61sQC1XrRU-3600-0"}; The two categories of castes have been deeply conscious of these differences between them and have been talking freely about them. Hypergamy tended to be associated with this hierarchy. Usually, it was a small population. 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). Weaving and cloth trading communities of Western India particularly of Gujarat are called Vankar/Wankar/Vaniya. Nowadays, in urban areas in particular, very few people think of making separate seating arrangements for members of different castes at wedding and such other feasts. Among the first-order divisions with subdivisions going down to the fourth order, there are associations for divisions of all the orders. What I am trying to point out, however, is that greater emphasis on division (Pococks difference, Dumonts separation. More of them were located in the plains, than in the bordering highlands. 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. In each of these three divisions the top stratum was clear. 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. 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. // z. Image Guidelines 5. The Vanias provide an example of such castes. Pages in category "Social groups of Gujarat" The following 157 pages are in this category, out of 157 total. For example, a good number of villages in central Gujarat used to have both Talapada and Pardeshi Kolis and Brahmans belonging to two or three of their many 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. Moreover, the king himself belonged to some caste (not just to the Kshatriya Varna) and frequently a number of kings belonged to the same caste (e.g., Rajput). Division and hierarchy have always been stressed as the two basic principles of the caste system. Indeed, a major achievement of Indian sociology during the last thirty years or so has been deeper understanding of caste in the village context in particular and of its hierarchical dimension in general. 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. 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. 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. 1 0 obj 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. In many villages in Gujarat, particularly in larger villages, one or two first-order divisions would be represented by more than one second-order division. 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. In all there were about eighty such divisions. The freedom struggle brought the Indian handloom sector back to the fore, with Mahatma Gandhi spearheading the Swadeshi cause. The tad thus represented the fourth and last order of caste divisions. So far we have considered first-order divisions with large and widely spread populations. Similarly, in Saurashtra, the Talapadas were distinguished from the Chumvalias, immigrants from the Chumval tract in north Gujarat. The chiefly families constituted a tiny proportion of the total population of any second-order division among the Kolis. I shall first provide an analysis of caste in the past roughly during the middle of the 19th century, and then deal with changes in the modern times. 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. Since after expansion of British textile markets and decline of Indian textile industry Vankars suffered a lot. Marco Polo a Venetian merchant on his visit to India in 13th century Gujarat observed that "brocading art of Gujarat weavers is par excellent". 4 GUJARAT 4273 SHODA . Together they provide a slice of Gujarati society from the sea- coast to the bordering highlands. Indian textiles especially of Gujarat have been praised in several accounts by explorers and historians, from Megasthenes to Herodotus. There are other sub-castes like Satpanthis, who are mainly centered in Kutch district and have some social customs akin to Muslims . 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). The very low Brahmans such as Kayatias and Tapodhans were invited but made to eat separately from the rest of the Brahmans. 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. The main thrust of Pococks paper is that greater emphasis on difference rather than on hierarchy is a feature of caste among overseas Indians and in modern urban India. 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. so roamed around clueless. <>/ExtGState<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageB/ImageC/ImageI] >>/Annots[ 9 0 R] /MediaBox[ 0 0 612 792] /Contents 4 0 R/Group<>/Tabs/S/StructParents 0>> 92. Our analysis of caste in towns has shown how it differed significantly from that in villages. The Khedawals, numbering 15,000 to 20,000 in 1931 were basically priests but many of them were also landowners, government officials, and traders. This list may not reflect recent changes. 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. I describe here three prominent units of the latter type, namely, Anavil, Leva Kanbi, and Khedawal Brahman. Sometimes a division could even be a self-contained endogamous unit. The above brief analysis of change in caste in modern Gujarat has, I hope, indicated that an overall view of changes in caste in modern India should include a careful study of changes in rural as well as in urban areas in relation to their past. Moreover, some leading Anavils did not wish to be bothered about Brahman status, saying that they were just Anavil. There was an emphasis on being different and separate rather than on being higher and lower. 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. In 1920 there were 2 Mehta families living in New Jersey. An important idea behind the activities of caste associations is: service to ones caste is service to the nation. Most of them were, true to their name, rulers at various levels of the political hierarchy from the kingly level to the level of dominant caste in many villages. A few examples are: Brahman (priest), Vania (trader), Rajput (warrior and ruler), Kanbi (peasant), Koli (peasant), Kathi (peasant), Soni goldsmith), Suthar (carpenter), Valand (barber), Chamar (leatherworker), Dhed (weaver) and Bhangi (scavenger). Frequently, the urban population of such a division performed more specialized functions than did the rural one. 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. Toori. To illustrate, among the Khadayata or Modh Vanias, an increasing number of marriages take place between two or more tads within an ekda. Traditionally, the Brahman division was supposed to provide the priests for the corresponding divisions. 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. 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. While fission did occur, fusion could also occur. In no other nation has something as basic as one's clothing or an act as simple as spinning cotton become so intertwined with a national movement. Also, the horizontal spread of a caste rarely coincided with the territorial boundaries of a political authority. The population of certain first-order divisions lived mainly in villages. In the second kind of area, indigenous Kolis live side-by-side with immigrant Kolis from an adjoining area. While some hypergamous and hierarchical tendency, however weak, did exist between tads within an ekda and between ekdas within a second- order division, it was practically non-existent among the forty or so second-order divisions, such as Modh, Porwad, Shrimali, Khadayata and so on, among the Vanias. It was also an extreme example of a division having a highly differentiated internal hierarchy and practising hypergamy as an accepted norm. Frequently, a division among Vanias corresponded to a division among Brahmans. 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. The migrants, many of whom came from heterogeneous urban centres of Gujarat, became part of an even more heterogeneous environment in Bombay. In spite of them, however, sociologists and social anthropologists have not filled adequately the void left by the disappearance of caste from the census and the gazetteer. The division had an elaborate internal hierarchy, with wealthy and powerful landlords and tax-farmers at the top and small landholders, tenants and labourers at the bottom. Asking different questions and using different methods are necessary. A new view of the whole, comprising the rural and the urban and the various orders of caste divisions, should be evolved. What may be called the census approach influenced a great deal of scholarly work. The purpose is not to condemn village studies, as is caste in a better perspective after deriving insights from village studies. 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. I hope to show that the integration of the study of caste in urban areas with that of rural areas is essential to a comprehensive understanding of caste and its implications for Indian society and culture. It is not easy to find out if the tads became ekdas in course of time and if the process of formation of ekdas was the same as that of the formation of tads. As regards the specific case of the Rajput-Koli relationship, my impression is that, after the suppression of female infanticide in the first half of the 19th century, the later prohibition of polygyny, and the recent removal of princely states and feudal land tenures among the Rajputs on the one hand, and the increasing sanskritization as well as Rajputization among the Kolis on the other, marriage ties between these divisions have become more extensive than before. 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. Disclaimer 9. Report a Violation, Caste Stratification: Changing Rural Caste Stratification, Caste in Rural India: Specificities of Caste in Rural Society. Usually, the affairs of the caste were discussed in large congregations of some fifty to hundred or even more villages from time to time. (surname) Me caste; Mer (community) Meta Qureshi; Mistri caste; Miyana (community) Modh; Motisar (caste) Multani Lohar; Muslim Wagher; Mutwa; N . Although the name of a Brahman or Vania division might be based on a place name, the division was not territorial in nature. I have not yet come across an area where Kolis from three or more different areas live together, excepting modern, large towns and cities. These divisions have, however, been kept out of the present analysis for reasons which have become well known to students of Hindu society since the 1950s. We have seen how one second-order division among Brahmans, namely, Khedawal, was marked by continuous internal hierarchy and strong emphasis on hypergamy on the one hand and by absence of effective small endogamous units on the other. They married their daughters into higher Rajput lineages in the local area who in turn married their daughters into still higher nearly royal rajput lineages in Saurashtra and Kachchh. 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. The Mehta family name was found in the USA, and the UK between 1891 and 1920. Castes having continuous internal hierarchy and lacking effective small endogamous units, such as Rajputs, Leva Kanbis, Anavils and Khedawals, do not have active associations for lower-order divisions. //]]>. In recent years, however, there has been a tendency to emphasize hierarchy as the primary principle encompassing the principle of division. A block printed and resist-dyed fabric, whose origin is from Gujarat was found in the tombs of Fostat, Egypt. %PDF-1.7 The highest stratum among the Leva Kanbi tried to maintain its position by practising polygyny and female infanticide, among other customs and institutions, as did the highest stratum among the Rajput.
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