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I am not suggesting that the principle of hierarchy was insignificant in the inter- or intra-caste relations in urban centres. 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. 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. 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. A new view of the whole, comprising the rural and the urban and the various orders of caste divisions, should be evolved. 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. 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. 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). Sometimes a division corresponding to a division among Brahmans and Vanias was found in a third first-order division also. 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. There are thus a few excellent studies of castes as horizontal units. Content Guidelines 2. 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. Many of them claimed that they were Brahmans but this claim was not accepted by most established Brahmans. 3.8K subscribers in the gujarat community. 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). 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. 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. There were also a number of first-order divisions, mainly of artisans, craftsmen and specialized servants, with small populations. The two former ekdas continued to exist with diminished strength. 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; They were thus not of the same status as most other second-order divisions among Brahmans. If the Varna divisions are taken into account, then this would add one more order to the four orders of caste divisions considered above. 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. 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. Since after expansion of British textile markets and decline of Indian textile industry Vankars suffered a lot. 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). 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. Patidars or Patels claim themselves to be descendants of Lord Ram. There were similar problems about the status of a number of other divisions. But there were also others who did not wield any power. 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 Khedawals, numbering 15,000 to 20,000 in 1931 were basically priests but many of them were also landowners, government officials, and traders. They adopted Rajput customs and traditions, claimed Rajput status, and gave daughters in marriage to Rajputs in the lower rungs of Rajput hierarchy. If the first-order divisions are called jatis and castes, the second-order divisions would be called sub-jatis or sub-castes. 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. 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. Koli Patels are recognised as a Other Backward Class caste by Government of Gujarat. Most associations continue to retain their non-political character. The hierarchy, however, was very gradual and lacked sharpness. That the role of the two principles could vary at different levels within a first-order division has also been seen. Reference to weaving and spinning materials is found in the Vedic Literature. The humble Charkha (spinning wheel) and khadi became a dominant symbol of self-reliance, self-determination and nationalist pride. They took away offerings made to Shiva, which was considered extremely degrading. 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. The handloom weavers of Gujarat, Maharastra and Bengal produced and exported some of the world's most desirable fabrics. 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. This does not solve the problem if there are four orders of divisions of the kind found in Gujarat. Fortunately, they have now started writing about it (see Rao 1974). There is a patterned widening of the connubial field along an area chalked out historically. The existence of ekdas or gols, however, does not mean that the divisiveness of caste ended there or that the ekdas and gols were always the definitive units of endogamy. Asking different questions and using different methods are necessary. Many second-order divisions were further divided into two or three status categories. 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 Brahmans were divided into such divisions as Audich, Bhargav, Disawal, Khadayata, Khedawal, Mewada, Modh, Nagar, Shrigaud, Shrimali, Valam, Vayada, and Zarola. Broach, Cambay and Surat were the largest, but there were also a number of smaller ones. This meant that he could marry a girl of any subdivision within the Vania division. 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. This stratum among the Kanbis coped with the problem mainly by practising remarriage of widows and divorced women. However, on the basis of the meagre information I have, I am able to make a few points. Since these were all status categories rather than clear- cut divisions, I have not considered them as constituting third-order divisions. Although my knowledge is fragmentary, I thought it was worthwhile to put together the bits and pieces for the region as a whole. 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. r/ahmedabad From Mumbai. The bulk of the population was spread all over the villages as small landholders, tenants and labourers. 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. I do not, however, have sufficient knowledge of the latter and shall, therefore, confine myself mainly to Rajputs in Gujarat. Report a Violation, Caste Stratification: Changing Rural Caste Stratification, Caste in Rural India: Specificities of Caste in Rural Society. 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. A comment on the sociology of urban India would, therefore, be in order before we go ahead with the discussion of caste divisions. We shall return later to a consideration of this problem. It used to have a panch (council of leaders) and sometimes also a headman (patel). 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 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. 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. In particular, the implications of the co-existence of lower-order divisions within a higher- order division in the same town or city should be worked out. The main occupation of Vankars was the weaving of cloth. 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). For describing the divisions of the remaining two orders, it would be necessary to go on adding the prefix sub but this would make the description extremely clumsy, if not meaningless. The Brahmans and Vanias seem to have had the largest number of divisions as mentioned earlier, about eighty in the former and about forty in the latter. 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. 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. endobj An important idea behind the activities of caste associations is: service to ones caste is service to the nation. Hindu society is usually described as divided into a number of castes the boundaries of which are maintained by the rule of caste endogamy. The tad thus represented the fourth and last order of caste divisions. 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. Thus, the result was the spread of the population of a caste division towards its fringes. In other words, it did not involve a big jump from one place to another distant place. Thus, while each second-order Koli division maintained its boundaries vis-a-vis other such divisions, each was linked with the Rajputs. Nor do I claim to know the whole of Gujarat. Nor were ekdas and tads entirely an urban phenomenon. We will now analyze the internal structure of a few first-order divisions, each of which was split into divisions going down to the fourth order. 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. The migrants, many of whom came from heterogeneous urban centres of Gujarat, became part of an even more heterogeneous environment in Bombay. 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. 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. Division and hierarchy have always been stressed as the two basic principles of the caste system. They are divided into two main sub-castes: Leuva Patels and Kadva Patels, who claim to be descendants of Ram's twins Luv and Kush respectively. Usually, a single Koli division had different local names in different parts of Gujarat, but more about this later. Content Filtrations 6. There was an emphasis on being different and separate rather than on being higher and lower. The three trading castes of Vania, Lohana and Bhatia were mainly urban. The most important of them was the Koli division, which was, the largest division and mainly included small landholders, tenants and labourers. The degree of contravention involved in an inter-divisional marriage, however, depends upon the order (i.e., first-order, second-order, etc.) 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. Hence started farming and small scale business in the British Raj to thrive better conditions ahead to maintain their livelihood. Real Estate Software Dubai > blog > manvar surname caste in gujarat. In addition, they carried on overland trade with many towns in central and north India. The point is that there was nothing like the endogamous unit but there were only several units of various orders with defined roles in endogamy. The urban centres in both the areas, it is hardly necessary to mention, are nucleated settlements populated by numerous caste and religious groups. TOS 7. This category has the following 18 subcategories, out of 18 total. The change from emphasis on hierarchy to emphasis on division is becoming increasingly significant in view of the growth of urban population both in absolute number and in relation to the total population. 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. 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. The Hindu and Muslim kingdoms in Gujarat during the medieval period had, of course, their capital towns, at first Patan and then Ahmedabad. The most Mehta families were found in USA in 1920. The Mehta family name was found in the USA, and the UK between 1891 and 1920. Castes which did not sit together at public feasts, let alone at meals in homes, only 15 or 20 years ago, now freely sit together even at meals in homes. 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.