Similarly, in Saurashtra, the Talapadas were distinguished from the Chumvalias, immigrants from the Chumval tract in north Gujarat. Usually, the latter were distinguished from one another by prohibition. For example, there was considerable ambiguity about the status of Anavils. Gujarati migrations to the nearby metropolis of Bombay the first new centre of administration, industry, commerce, education, and western culture, followed the same links. The castes of the three categoriesprimarily urban, primarily rural, and rural-cum-urbanformed an intricate network spread over the rural and urban communities in the region. 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. 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. 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. The incidence of exchange marriages and of bachelors in the lowest stratum among the Anavils also was high. No one knows when and how they came into existence and what they meant socially. In the plains, therefore, every village had one or more towns in its vicinity. Thus, while each second-order Koli division maintained its boundaries vis-a-vis other such divisions, each was linked with the Rajputs. 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. 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 idea of inter-caste marriage is, moreover, linked with the idea of creating such a society involves a compromise with, if not subtle negation of, the ideal. 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. 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 handloom weavers of Gujarat, Maharastra and Bengal produced and exported some of the world's most desirable fabrics. Marco Polo a Venetian merchant on his visit to India in 13th century Gujarat observed that "brocading art of Gujarat weavers is par excellent". The main aim of this paper is to discuss, on the basis of data derived mainly from Gujarat, these and other problems connected with the horizontal dimension of caste. Copyright 10. This does not solve the problem if there are four orders of divisions of the kind found in Gujarat. //]]>. This was about 22% of all the recorded Mehta's in USA. 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. window.__mirage2 = {petok:"uGhRfiuY26l2oZgRlfZRFSp4BWPIIt7Gh61sQC1XrRU-3600-0"}; Significantly, a large number of social thinkers and workers who propagated against the hierarchical features of caste came from urban centres. 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. 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). 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. It seems the highland Bhils (and possibly also other tribes) provided brides to lower Rajputs in Gujarat. When Mr. H. Borradaile in A.D. 1827 collected information regarding the customs of Hindus, no less than 207 castes which did not intermarry, were found in the city of Surat alone. What I am trying to point out, however, is that greater emphasis on division (Pococks difference, Dumonts separation. Britain's response was to cut off the thumbs of weavers, break their looms and impose duties on tariffs on Indian cloth, while flooding India and the world with cheaper fabric from the new steam mills of Britain. Apparently this upper boundary of the division was sharp and clear, especially when we remember that many of these royal families practised polygyny and female infanticide until middle of the 19th century (see Plunkett 1973; Viswa Nath 1969, 1976). There was another kind of ambiguity about the Brahman status or two other divisionsKayatia and Tapodhan. Early industrial labour was also drawn mainly from the urban artisan and servant castes. The two together formed a single complex of continental dimension. Privacy Policy 8. 2 0 obj State Id State Name Castecode Caste Subcaste 4 GUJARAT 4001 AHIR SORATHA 4 GUJARAT 4002 AHIR 4 GUJARAT 4003 ANSARI 4 GUJARAT 4004 ANVIL BRAHMIN 4 GUJARAT 4005 ATIT BAYAJI BAKSHI PANCH 4 GUJARAT 4006 BAJANIYA 4 GUJARAT 4007 BAJIR . Division and Hierarchy: An Overview of Caste in Gujarat! Together they provide a slice of Gujarati society from the sea- coast to the bordering highlands. There was a continuous process of formation and disintegration of such units. I describe here three prominent units of the latter type, namely, Anavil, Leva Kanbi, and Khedawal Brahman. Nor do I claim to know the whole of Gujarat. The Mehta family name was found in the USA, and the UK between 1891 and 1920. Leva Sheri and Kadva Sheri, named after the two major second-order divisions among the Kanbis. Let us now return to a consideration of the first-order divisions with subdivisions going down to the third or the fourth order. In 1920 there were 2 Mehta families living in New Jersey. 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. For example, there were Khedawal Brahmans but not Khedawal Vanias, and Lad Vanias but no Lad Brahmans. Thus, the result was the spread of the population of a caste division towards its fringes. 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. He does not give importance to this possibility probably because, as he goes on to state, what is sought here is a universal formula, a rule without exceptions (ibid.). Gujarat did not have anything like the non-Brahmin movement of South India and Maharashtra before 1947. 4 GUJARAT 4273 SHODA . There was not only no pyramid type of arrangement among the many ekdas in a second-order Vania divisionthe type of arrangement found in the Rajput, Leva Kanbi, Anavil and Khedawal divisions-but frequently there was no significant sign of hierarchical relation, except boastful talk, between two neighbouring ekdas. Patidars or Patels claim themselves to be descendants of Lord Ram. They were found in almost every village in plains Gujarat and in many villages in Saurashtra and Kachchh. 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. The lowest stratum in all the three divisions had to face the problem of scarcity of brides. 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. In India Limbachiya is most frequent in: Maharashtra, where 70 percent reside, Gujarat . 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. Inclusion of a lower-order division in a higher-order one and distinction between various divisions in a certain order was not as unambiguous. [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. I know some ekdas, and tads composed of only 150 to 200 households. Frequently, a division among Vanias corresponded to a division among Brahmans. 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. manvar surname caste in gujarat. Traditionally, the Brahman division was supposed to provide the priests for the corresponding divisions. This was unlike the situation among the Rajputs who did not make any attempt to form small endogamous units. Systematic study of small caste divisions in villages as well as in towns still awaits the attention of sociologists and anthropologists. 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. Then there were a number of urban divisions of specialized artisans, craftsmen and servants, as for example, Sonis (gold and silver smiths), Kansaras (copper and bronze smiths), Salvis (silk weavers), Bhavsars (weavers, dyers and printers), Malis (florists), Kharadis (skilled carpenters and wood carvers), Kachhias (vegetable sellers), Darjis (tailors), Dabgars (makers of drums, saddles and such other goods involving leather), Ghanchis (oil pressers), Golas ferain and spice pounders and domestic servants), Dhobis (washermen), Chudgars (banglemakers), and Tambolis (sellers of area nuts, betel leaves, etc.). The hierarchy, however, was very gradual and lacked sharpness. These and many other artisans, craftsmen and servants reflected the special life-style of the town. One of the clearly visible changes in caste in Gujarat is the increasing number of inter-divisional or so-called inter-caste marriages, particularly in urban areas, in contravention of the rule of caste endogamy. Thus, finding any boundary between Rajputs and Kolis in the horizontal context was impossible, although there were sharp boundaries between the two in the narrow local context. 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. The two categories of castes have been deeply conscious of these differences between them and have been talking freely about them. The Hindu and Muslim kingdoms in Gujarat during the medieval period had, of course, their capital towns, at first Patan and then Ahmedabad. 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. Many second-order divisions were further divided into two or three status categories. 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. Castes pervaded by divisive tendencies had small populations confined to small areas separated from each other by considerable gaps. In any case, the population of any large caste was found in many kingdoms. Caste divisions of the first-order can be classified broadly into three categories. The pattern of inter-divisional marriages shows how the idea of free marriage, which guides most of the inter-caste marriages, is restricted, modified, and graded according to the traditional structure of caste divisions. The degree of contravention involved in an inter-divisional marriage, however, depends upon the order (i.e., first-order, second-order, etc.) I have not yet come across an area where Kolis from three or more different areas live together, excepting modern, large towns and cities. In addition, they carried on overland trade with many towns in central and north India. In the city, on the other hand, the population was divided into a large number of castes and each of most of them had a large population, frequently subdivided up to the third or the fourth order. 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. Frequently, social divisions were neatly expressed in street names. Sometimes a division could even be a self-contained endogamous unit. Sometimes castes are described as becoming ethnic groups in modern India, particularly in urban India. This list may not reflect recent changes. It is easy to understand that the pattern of change would be different in those first-order divisions (such as Rajput) or second-order divisions (such as Leva Kanbi) which did not have within them subdivisions of lower orders and which practised hypergamy extensively. Prohibited Content 3. 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. A block printed and resist-dyed fabric, whose origin is from Gujarat was found in the tombs of Fostat, Egypt. They wrote about the traditional Indian village, but not about the traditional Indian town. 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. For example, just as there was a Shrimali division among Sonis (goldsmiths). 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. Unfortunately, such figures are not available for the last fifty years or so. Image Guidelines 5. 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. The boundaries of caste division were fairly clear in the village community. 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. In the village strict prohibition of inter-division marriage as well as the rules of purity and pollution and other mechanisms, of which the students of Indian village communities are well aware since the 1950s, maintained the boundaries of these divisions. 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. (surname) Me caste; Mer (community) Meta Qureshi; Mistri caste; Miyana (community) Modh; Motisar (caste) Multani Lohar; Muslim Wagher; Mutwa; N . Created Date: That Rajputs were one of the divisions, if not the only division of the first-order, not having further divisions, has already been mentioned. The main reason was that Anavils did not practise priesthood as a traditional occupation, nor were they involved in traditional Sanskrit learning. caste: [noun] one of the hereditary social classes in Hinduism that restrict the occupation of their members and their association with the members of other castes. The ekdas have not yet lost their identities. There is a patterned widening of the connubial field along an area chalked out historically. 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. The Kanbis (now called Patidars) had five divisions: Leva, Kadya, Anjana, Bhakta, and Matia. manvar surname caste in gujarat. Moreover, some leading Anavils did not wish to be bothered about Brahman status, saying that they were just Anavil. If the Varna divisions are taken into account, then this would add one more order to the four orders of caste divisions considered above. Although some of them set up shops in villages they rarely became full-fledged members of the village community. 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. The Levas, Anavils and Khedawals provide examples of castes whose internal organization had a strong emphasis on the principle of hierarchy and a weak emphasis on that of division. Some of the other such divisions were Kathi, Dubla, Rabari, Bharwad, Mer (see Trivedi 1961), Vaghri, Machhi, Senwa, Vanzara, and Kharwa. Report a Violation, Caste Stratification: Changing Rural Caste Stratification, Caste in Rural India: Specificities of Caste in Rural Society. 3.8K subscribers in the gujarat community. Today, there are two kinds of Koli areas. Gujarat (along with Bombay) has perhaps the largest number of caste associations and they are also more active and wealthy compared to those in other regions. 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). For example, among the Vanias the most general rule was that a marriage of a boy could be arranged with any girl who was bhane khapati, i.e., with whom he was permitted to have commensal relations (roti vyavahar). Usually, it was a small population. The members of a kings caste were thus found not only in his own kingdom but in other kingdoms as well. 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. Koli Patels are recognised as a Other Backward Class caste by Government of Gujarat. Most of the second-order divisions were further divided into 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. Most associations continue to retain their non-political character. 91. To give just one example, one large street in Baroda, of immigrant Kanbis from the Ahmedabad area, named Ahmedabadi Pol, was divided into two small parallel streets. To have a meaningful understanding of the system of caste divisions, there is no alternative but to understand the significance of each order of division and particularly the nature of their boundaries and maintenance mechanisms. 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 many villages in Gujarat, particularly in larger villages, one or two first-order divisions would be represented by more than one second-order division. New Jersey had the highest population of Mehta families in 1920. As weaving is an art and forms one of the most important artisan community of India. An important idea behind the activities of caste associations is: service to ones caste is service to the nation. 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. 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. Our analysis of caste in towns has shown how it differed significantly from that in villages. 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. Many primarily rural castes, such as Kolisthe largest castehave remained predominantly rural even today. <>/Metadata 3086 0 R/ViewerPreferences 3087 0 R>> The census reports provide such figures until 1931, but it is well known that these pose many problems for sociological analysis, most of which arise out of the nature of castes as horizontal units. 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. For example, all Vania divisions were divided into a number of ekdas or gols. TOS 7. The tribal groups in the highland area, such as the Bhils and Naikdas, also did not have any urban component. The Khedawals, numbering 15,000 to 20,000 in 1931 were basically priests but many of them were also landowners, government officials, and traders. stream The most important of them was the Koli division, which was, the largest division and mainly included small landholders, tenants and labourers. 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. Similarly, the Vanias were divided into such divisions as Disawal, Kapol, Khadayata, Lad, Modh, Nagar, Nima, Porwad, Shirmali, Vayada, and Zarola. It was also an extreme example of a division having a highly differentiated internal hierarchy and practising hypergamy as an accepted norm.

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