The most important of them was the Koli division, which was, the largest division and mainly included small landholders, tenants and labourers. 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. Most of the second-order divisions were further divided into third-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. 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. The main occupation of Vankars was the weaving of cloth. Significantly, a large number of social thinkers and workers who propagated against the hierarchical features of caste came from urban centres. If the first-order divisions are called jatis and castes, the second-order divisions would be called sub-jatis or sub-castes. No one knows when and how they came into existence and what they meant socially. We shall return to this issue later. Division and Hierarchy: An Overview of Caste in Gujarat! endobj 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. The larger castes and even larger subdivisions among them used to have their houses segregated on their own streets (called pol, sheri, khadki, vad, khancho). 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. Hypergamy tended to be associated with this hierarchy. Rajput hypergamy seems to have provided an important mechanism for integration of the lower caste and tribal population into the Hindu society over the entire length and breadth of northern, western, central and even eastern India. The degree of contravention involved in an inter-divisional marriage, however, depends upon the order (i.e., first-order, second-order, etc.) Nor do I claim to know the whole of Gujarat. They were thus not of the same status as most other second-order divisions among Brahmans. The error is further compounded whenalthough this is less commonthe partial, rural model of traditional caste is compared with the present urban situation, and conclusions are drawn about overall change. 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. 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. Such a description not only overlooks the diversity and complexity of caste divisions and the rural-urban Link- ages in them but also leads to placing them in the same category as Muslims, Christians, Parsis, Jains, Buddhists, and so on. so roamed around clueless. As soon as there is any change in . 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. %PDF-1.7 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. 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). Before publishing your articles on this site, please read the following pages: 1. 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. . This was because political authorities were hierarchized from little kingdom to empire and the boundaries of political authorities kept changing. Gujarat- A state in India. For the sake of bravity and simplicity of presentation, I have not provided detailed documentation. (Frequently, such models are constructed a priori rather than based on historical evidence, but that is another story). From the 15th century onwards we find historical references to political activities of Koli chieftains. Thus, at one end, there were first-order divisions, each of which was sub-divided up to the fourth-order, and at the other end there were first-order divisions which were not further divided at all. 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. A large proportion, if not the whole, of the population of many of such divisions lived in towns. 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. In 1920 there were 2 Mehta families living in New Jersey. Secondly, it is necessary to study intensively the pattern of inter-caste relations in urban centres as something differentat least hypotheticallyfrom the pattern in villages. 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. The complex was provided a certain coherence and integrityin the pre- industrial time of slow communicationby a number of oral and literate traditions cultivated by cultural specialists such as priests, bards, genealogists and mythographers (see in this connection Shah and Shroff 1958). Ideally, castes as horizontal units should he discussed with the help of population figures. Pocock goes on to observe that diminution of emphasis upon hierarchy and increasing emphasis upon difference are features of caste in modern, particularly urban, India: there is a shift from the caste system to individual castes and this reflects the change that is taking place in India today (290). 3.8K subscribers in the gujarat community. 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. Thus, while each second-order Koli division maintained its boundaries vis-a-vis other such divisions, each was linked with the Rajputs. While we do get evidence of fission of caste divisions of a higher order into two or more divisions of a lower order, the mere existence of divisions of a lower order should not be taken as evidence of fission in a division of a higher order. Sometimes a division could even be a self-contained endogamous unit. We shall return later to a consideration of this problem. 2 0 obj The small ekda or tad with its entire population residing in a single town was, of course, not a widespread phenomenon. In India Limbachiya is most frequent in: Maharashtra, where 70 percent reside, Gujarat . hu)_EYUT?:fX:vOR,4g4ce{\(wcUO %OW-Knj|qV]_)1?@{^ $:0ZY\fpg7J~Q~pHaMVSP5bLC}6+zwgv;f f^v4[|vug+vO0h t7QNP}EYm+X[x~;O|z5tq ]-39aa{g-u5n:a56&`3y.f-a@a"0v-a@$%`Z]]Iqb56aR0g 30V9EM%K"#|6uN? =O|8alCcs):~AC<5 q|om57/|Sgc}2c#)U~WL}%T]s> z. For example, there were Khedawal Brahmans but not Khedawal Vanias, and Lad Vanias but no Lad Brahmans. Created Date: I have bits and pieces of information about relations between a considerable numbers of other lower-order divisions in their respective higher-order divisions. More of them were located in the plains, than in the bordering highlands. Real Estate Software Dubai > blog > manvar surname caste in gujarat. 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. Real Estate Software Dubai > blog > manvar surname caste in gujarat. To illustrate, among the Khadayata or Modh Vanias, an increasing number of marriages take place between two or more tads within an ekda. This does not, however, help describe caste divisions adequately. 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. 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. It was also an extreme example of a division having a highly differentiated internal hierarchy and practising hypergamy as an accepted norm. 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. Leva Sheri and Kadva Sheri, named after the two major second-order divisions among the Kanbis. 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. But the hypergamous tendency was so powerful that each such endogamous unit could not be perfectly endogamous even at the height of its integration. There are thus a few excellent studies of castes as horizontal units. This last name is predominantly found in Asia, where 93 percent of Limbachiya reside; 92 percent reside in South Asia and 92 percent reside in Indo-South Asia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Category:Social_groups_of_Gujarat&oldid=1080951156, Social groups of India by state or union territory, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 4 April 2022, at 12:36. Hindu society is usually described as divided into a number of castes the boundaries of which are maintained by the rule of caste endogamy. This meant that he could marry a girl of any subdivision within the Vania division. Although they claimed to be Brahman they were closely associated with agriculture. Systematic study of small caste divisions in villages as well as in towns still awaits the attention of sociologists and anthropologists. 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. The primarily rural and lower castes were the last to form associations and that too mainly after independence (1947). 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. 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. Sometimes a division corresponding to a division among Brahmans and Vanias was found in a third first-order division also. 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. There was also another important correlation. 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. This tendency reaches its culmination in the world of Dumont. For example, the Khadayata Brahmans worked as priests at important rituals among Khadayata Vanias. These and many other artisans, craftsmen and servants reflected the special life-style of the town. The very low Brahmans such as Kayatias and Tapodhans were invited but made to eat separately from the rest of the Brahmans. There was another kind of ambiguity about the Brahman status or two other divisionsKayatia and Tapodhan. Unfortunately, although the Kolis are an important element in Gujarats population, their earlier ethnography is confusing, and there is hardly any modern, systematic, anthropological, sociological or historical study, so that the confusion continues to persist. 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. The chiefly families constituted a tiny proportion of the total population of any second-order division among the Kolis. A block printed and resist-dyed fabric, whose origin is from Gujarat was found in the tombs of Fostat, Egypt. The hierarchy, however, was very gradual and lacked sharpness. 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. There were similar problems about the status of a number of other divisions. 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. 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. 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. A comment on the sociology of urban India would, therefore, be in order before we go ahead with the discussion of caste divisions. Our analysis of the internal organization of caste divisions has shown considerable variation in the relative role of the principles of division and hierarchy. 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. While some of the divisions of a lower order might be the result of fission, some others might be a result of fusion. It is not claimed that separation, or even repulsion, may not be present somewhere as an independent factor (1972: 346,n.55b). 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. In any case, the population of any large caste was found in many kingdoms. The main reason was that Anavils did not practise priesthood as a traditional occupation, nor were they involved in traditional Sanskrit learning. The two together formed a single complex of continental dimension. This stratum among the Kanbis coped with the problem mainly by practising remarriage of widows and divorced women. 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. 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. Vankar is described as a caste as well as a community. Although some of them set up shops in villages they rarely became full-fledged members of the village community. Weavers became beggars, manufacturing collapsed and the last 2000 years of Indian textile industry was knocked down. All this trade encouraged development of trading and commercial towns in the rest of Gujarat, even in the highland area. I know some ekdas, and tads composed of only 150 to 200 households. The ekdas have not yet lost their identities. The lowest stratum among the Khedawals tried to cope with the problem of scarcity of brides mainly by practising ignominious exchange marriage and by restricting marriage of sons in a family to the younger sons, if not to only the youngest. 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. Since Vankars were involved in production and business they were known as Nana Mahajans or small merchants. Report a Violation, Caste Stratification: Changing Rural Caste Stratification, Caste in Rural India: Specificities of Caste in Rural Society. 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. endobj 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. 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. Almost every village in this area included at least some Leva population, and in many villages they formed a large, if not the largest, proportion of the population. Firstly, there were divisions whose population was found almost entirely in towns. Although the ekda or tad was the most effective unit for endogamy, each unit of the higher order was also significant for endogamy. There were also a number of first-order divisions, mainly of artisans, craftsmen and specialized servants, with small populations. 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. 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. Although the name of a Brahman or Vania division might be based on a place name, the division was not territorial in nature. The Vanias provide an example of such castes. Reference to weaving and spinning materials is found in the Vedic Literature. 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. 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 guiding ideas were samaj sudharo (social reform) and samaj seva (social service). 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 significant point, however, is that there were small endogamous units which were not, like ekdas and tads, part of any higher-order division. There were Brahman and Vania divisions of the same name, the myths about both of them were covered by a single text. 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). Although the number of inter-ekda marriages has been increasing, even now the majority of marriages take place within an ekda. If this rule was violated, i.e., if he married a girl with whom the Vanias did not have commensal relations, the maximum punishment, namely, excommunication, was imposed. Patidars or Patels claim themselves to be descendants of Lord Ram. Both were recognized as Brahman but as degraded ones. 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. Each unit was ranked in relation to others, and many members of the lower units married their daughters into the higher units, so that almost every unit became loose in the course of time. Since these were all status categories rather than clear- cut divisions, I have not considered them as constituting third-order divisions. 1 0 obj 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 Kolis in such an area may not even be concerned about a second-order divisional name and may be known simply as Kolis. In recent years, however, there has been a tendency to emphasize hierarchy as the primary principle encompassing the principle of division. Division and hierarchy have always been stressed as the two basic principles of the caste system. The Hindu and Muslim kingdoms in Gujarat during the medieval period had, of course, their capital towns, at first Patan and then Ahmedabad. This does not solve the problem if there are four orders of divisions of the kind found in Gujarat. 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. 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. 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. This list may not reflect recent changes. 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. This account of the divisions is based on various sources, but mainly on Bombay Gazetteer (1901). But there was also another process. Another clearly visible change in caste in Gujarat is the emergence of caste associations. The population of certain first-order divisions lived mainly in villages. This reflects the high degree of divisiveness in castes in Gujarat. This category has the following 18 subcategories, out of 18 total. Both Borradaile and Campbell were probably mixing up small endogamous units of various kinds. 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. manvar surname caste in gujaratbest imperial trooper team swgoh piett. Many of these names were also based on place names. The patterns of change in marriage and in caste associations are two of the many indications of the growing significance of the principle of division (or separation or difference) in caste in urban areas in Gujarat. Castes pervaded by divisive tendencies had small populations confined to small areas separated from each other by considerable gaps. A block printed and resist-dyed fabric, whose origin is from Gujarat was found in the tombs of Fostat, Egypt. ADVERTISEMENTS: Division and Hierarchy: An Overview of Caste in Gujarat! A recent tendency in sociological literature is to consider jatis as castes. Typically, a village consists of the sections of various castes, ranging from those with just one household to those with over u hundred. They adopted Rajput customs and traditions, claimed Rajput status, and gave daughters in marriage to Rajputs in the lower rungs of Rajput hierarchy. TOS 7. 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. stream 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. I am dealing here only with certain typical situations. 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. [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. The indigenous Kolis in the highland area of Pal in eastern Gujarat were called Palia, but there was another smaller population of KoUs, who were locally called Baria but were actually Talapada immigrants from central Gujarat. 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.