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. //]]>. 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. They adopted Rajput customs and traditions, claimed Rajput status, and gave daughters in marriage to Rajputs in the lower rungs of Rajput hierarchy. There would be a wide measure of agreement with him on both these counts. The urban centres in both the areas, it is hardly necessary to mention, are nucleated settlements populated by numerous caste and religious groups. Since Rajput as a caste occurred all over northern, central and western India (literally, it means rulers son, ruling son), the discussion of Rajputs in Gujarat will inevitably draw us into their relationship with Rajputs in other regions. 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. While almost all the social structures and institutions which existed in villagesreligion, caste, family, and so onalso existed in towns, we should not assume that their character was the same. We shall return later to a consideration of this problem. So in this way, the Maharashtra caste list is given to all cast Aarakshan belonging to the Scheduled Castes category for the state of MH. The chiefly families constituted a tiny proportion of the total population of any second-order division among the Kolis. I am dealing here only with certain typical situations. Also, the horizontal spread of a caste rarely coincided with the territorial boundaries of a political authority. The Khedawals, numbering 15,000 to 20,000 in 1931 were basically priests but many of them were also landowners, government officials, and traders. I know some ekdas, and tads composed of only 150 to 200 households. 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. 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. I will not discuss the present situation in detail but indicate briefly how the above discussion could be useful for understanding a few important changes in modern times. The Rajput hierarchy had many levels below the level of the royal families of the large and powerful kingdoms: lineages of owners of large and small fiefs variously called jagir, giras, thakarat,thikana, taluka, and wanted-, lineages of substantial landowners under various land tenures having special rights and privileges; and lineages of small landowners. 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 migrants, many of whom came from heterogeneous urban centres of Gujarat, became part of an even more heterogeneous environment in Bombay. 4 0 obj 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. For example, the Patanwadia population was spread continuously from the Patan area to central Gujarat, and the Talapada population from central Gujarat to Pal. In all there were thirty to forty such divisions. Which caste is Vaya surname? : r/gujarat - reddit.com Further, during this lengthy process of slow amalgamation those who will marry in defiance of the barriers of sub-caste, will still be imbued with caste mentality (1932: 184). Unfortunately, such figures are not available for the last fifty years or so. 92. The handloom weavers of Gujarat, Maharastra and Bengal produced and exported some of the world's most desirable fabrics. In recent years, however, there has been a tendency to emphasize hierarchy as the primary principle encompassing the principle of division. 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). Weavers became beggars, manufacturing collapsed and the last 2000 years of Indian textile industry was knocked down. 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. As soon as there is any change in . 4 GUJARAT 4273 SHODA . endobj As for the size of other castes, I shall make mainly relative statements. Usually, a single Koli division had different local names in different parts of Gujarat, but more about this later. 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). 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. Frequently, social divisions were neatly expressed in street names. The main reason was that Anavils did not practise priesthood as a traditional occupation, nor were they involved in traditional Sanskrit learning. The Hindu population of Gujarat was divided first of all into what I have called caste divisions of the first order. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. All Brahman divisions did not, however, have a corresponding Vania division. In central Gujarat, at least from about the middle of the 18th century, the population of the wealthy and powerful Patidar section of the Kanbis also lived in townsan extremely interesting development of rich villages into towns, which I will not describe here. While some of the divisions of a lower order might be the result of fission, some others might be a result of fusion. 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. Caste divisions of the first-order can be classified broadly into three categories. The existence of flexibility at both the levels was made possible by the flexibility of the category Rajput. Gujarat did not have anything like the non-Brahmin movement of South India and Maharashtra before 1947. What I am trying to point out, however, is that greater emphasis on division (Pococks difference, Dumonts separation. There was apparently a close relation between a castes internal organization and the size and spatial distribution of its population. Reference to weaving and spinning materials is found in the Vedic Literature. They had an internal hierarchy similar to that of the Leva Kanbis, with tax-farmers and big landlords at the top and small landowners at the bottom. 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. Here, usually, what mattered was the first-order division, as for example Brahman, Vania, Rajput, Kanbi, carpenter, barber, leather-worker, and so on. Some of the other such divisions were Kathi, Dubla, Rabari, Bharwad, Mer (see Trivedi 1961), Vaghri, Machhi, Senwa, Vanzara, and Kharwa. Similarly, in Saurashtra, the Talapadas were distinguished from the Chumvalias, immigrants from the Chumval tract in north 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. 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. The incidence of exchange marriages and of bachelors in the lowest stratum among the Anavils also was high. Toori. 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. Hypergamy was accompanied by sanskritization of at least a section of the tribal population, their claim to the Kshatriya Varna and their economic and political symbiosis with the caste population. 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. How many sub-divisions existed in the various divisions of the various orders is a matter of empirical investigation. There is enormous literature on these caste divisions from about the middle of the 19th century which includes census reports, gazetteers, [] The Anavil, numbering 30,000 to 40,000 in 1931, were found mainly in south Gujarat. They also continued to have marital relations with their own folk. They were thus not of the same status as most other second-order divisions among Brahmans. It has already been mentioned that every first-order division was not divided into second-order divisions, and that every second-order division was not divided into third-order divisions, and so on. Leva Kanbis, numbering 400,000 to 500,000 m 1931, were the traditional agricultural caste of central Gujarat. Systematic study of small caste divisions in villages as well as in towns still awaits the attention of sociologists and anthropologists. In some parts of Gujarat they formed 30 to 35 per cent of the population. Whatever the internal organization of a second-order division, the relationship between most of the Brahman second-order divisions was marked by great emphasis on being different and separate than on being higher and lower. The small endogamous units, on the other hand, did not practise either. Division and Hierarchy: An Overview of Caste in Gujarat! We shall return to the Rajput-Koli relationship when we consider the Kolis in detail. Since Vankars were involved in production and business they were known as Nana Mahajans or small merchants. to which the divisions of the marrying couple belong. The Rajputs, in association with Kolis, Bhils, and such other castes and tribes, provide an extreme example of such castes. Most of the second-order divisions were further divided into third-order divisions. Copyright 10. Gujarat- A state in India. (Frequently, such models are constructed a priori rather than based on historical evidence, but that is another story). Hypergamy tended to be associated with this hierarchy. Significantly, a large number of social thinkers and workers who propagated against the hierarchical features of caste came from urban centres. This list may not reflect recent changes. In an area of the first kind there are no immigrant Kolis from elsewhere, and therefore, there is no question of their having second-order divisions. In the second-order divisions of the Vanias the small endogamous units functioned more effectively and lasted longer: although the hypergamous tendency did exist particularly between the rural and the urban sections in a unit, it had restricted play. Leva Sheri and Kadva Sheri, named after the two major second-order divisions among the Kanbis. After the commercial revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries, Gujarat had a large number of tradition towns on its long sea-coast. ), as contrasted with the horizontal unity of the caste. 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 Mehta family name was found in the USA, and the UK between 1891 and 1920. The advance made in recent years is limited and much more needs to be done. 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 . 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. From the 15th century onwards we find historical references to political activities of Koli chieftains. All associations originated in large towns, are more active in towns than in villages, and are led by prominent members in towns. 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. Moreover, some leading Anavils did not wish to be bothered about Brahman status, saying that they were just Anavil. However, it is well known that there were subtle arguments regarding the status of certain royal families being Rajput. [CDATA[ Broach, Cambay and Surat were the largest, but there were also a number of smaller ones. More of them were located in the plains, than in the bordering highlands. Many second-order divisions were further divided into two or three status categories. The purpose is not to condemn village studies, as is caste in a better perspective after deriving insights from village studies. There was also another important correlation. The most important of them was the Koli division, which was, the largest division and mainly included small landholders, tenants and labourers. 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. The Chumvalias and Patanwadias migrated possibly from the same tract and continued to belong to the same horizontal unit after migration. 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. 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. The ekdas have not yet lost their identities. To whichever of the four orders a caste division belonged, its horizontal spread rarely, if ever, coincided with that of another. Tirgaar, Tirbanda. 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). Frequently, each such unit had a patron deity, housed in a large shrine, with elaborate arrangements for its ownership. Content Filtrations 6. We have analyzed the internal structure of two first-order divisions, Rajput and Anavil, which did not have any second-order divisions, and of several second-order divisionsTalapada and Pardeshi Koli, Khedawal Brahman, and Leva Kanbiwhich did not have any third-order divisions. 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 boundaries of caste division were fairly clear in the village community. 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. We shall return to this issue later. Indian textiles especially of Gujarat have been praised in several accounts by explorers and historians, from Megasthenes to Herodotus. There were Brahman and Vania divisions of the same name, the myths about both of them were covered by a single text. 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. This account of the divisions is based on various sources, but mainly on Bombay Gazetteer (1901). 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.). Created Date: 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. A large proportion, if not the whole, of the population of many of such divisions lived in towns. 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. Till the establishment of democratic polity in 1947, hardly any caste association in Gujarat had manifest political functions. I am not suggesting that the principle of hierarchy was insignificant in the inter- or intra-caste relations in urban centres. These linkages played an important role in the traditional social structure as well as in the processes of change in modern India. Each ekda or gol was composed of a definite number of families living in certain villages and/or towns. Weaving and cloth trading communities of Western India particularly of Gujarat are called Vankar/Wankar/Vaniya. For example, among almost every Vania division there was a dual division into Visa and Dasa: Visa Nagar and Dasa Nagar, Visa Lad and Dasa Lad, Visa Modh and Dasa Modh, Visa Khadayata and Dasa Khadayata, and so on. Similarly, the Vanias were divided into such divisions as Disawal, Kapol, Khadayata, Lad, Modh, Nagar, Nima, Porwad, Shirmali, Vayada, and Zarola. Visited Ahmedabad for the weekend to meet a friend but her family had a medical emergency. 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. I have discussed above caste divisions in Gujarat mainly in the past, roughly in the middle of the 19th century. 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. That Rajputs were one of the divisions, if not the only division of the first-order, not having further divisions, has already been mentioned. 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. Tapodhans were priests in Shiva temples. This surname is most commonly held in India, where it is held by 2,496 people, or 1 in 307,318. 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 two considered themselves different and separateof course, within the Kanbi foldwhere they happened to live together in the villages in the merger zone between north and central Gujarat and in towns. The Rajputs relationship with the Kolis penetrated every second-order division among them, i.e., Talapada, Pardeshi, Chumvalia, Palia, and so on. 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. An important idea behind the activities of caste associations is: service to ones caste is service to the nation. Roughly, while in the plains area villages are nucleated settlements, populated by numerous castes, in the highland area villages are dispersed settlements, populated by tribes and castes of tribal origin. 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. It seems the highland Bhils (and possibly also other tribes) provided brides to lower Rajputs in Gujarat. 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. Kuntasi, Lothal and Somnath of Gujarat regions in Harrapan civilization were familiar with weaving and the spinning of cotton for as long as four thousand years ago. Patidars or Patels claim themselves to be descendants of Lord Ram. 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. 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). Most inter-divisional marriages take place between boys and girls belonging to the lowest order in the structure of divisions. The degree of contravention involved in an inter-divisional marriage, however, depends upon the order (i.e., first-order, second-order, etc.) Frequently, the urban population of such a division performed more specialized functions than did the rural one. The significant point, however, is that there were small endogamous units which were not, like ekdas and tads, part of any higher-order division. This was dramatized in many towns at the mahajan (guild) feasts when all the members of the guild of traders would eat together. In 1931, their total population was more than 1,700,000, nearly one-fourth of the total population of Gujarat. Advances in manufacturing technologies flooded markets in India and abroad with cheap, mass-produced fabrics that Indian handlooms could no longer compete with. 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). One important first-order division, namely, Rajput, does not seem to have had any second-order division at all. 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 tribal groups in the highland area, such as the Bhils and Naikdas, also did not have any urban component. 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. The number of tads in an ekda or go I might be two or more, and each of them might be an endogamous units. 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. Hindu society is usually described as divided into a number of castes the boundaries of which are maintained by the rule of caste endogamy. 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. 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. Nor were ekdas and tads entirely an urban phenomenon. 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. <>/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>> That the sociological study of urban areas in India has not received as much attention as that of rural areas is well known, and the studies made so far have paid little attention to caste in urban areas. New Jersey had the highest population of Mehta families in 1920. 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. (surname) Me caste; Mer (community) Meta Qureshi; Mistri caste; Miyana (community) Modh; Motisar (caste) Multani Lohar; Muslim Wagher; Mutwa; N . 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. Kolis were the largest first-order division in Gujarat. I describe here three prominent units of the latter type, namely, Anavil, Leva Kanbi, and Khedawal Brahman. The main occupation of Vankars was the weaving of cloth. Any one small caste may look insignificant in itself but all small castes put together become a large social block and a significant social phenomenon. Castes pervaded by divisive tendencies had small populations confined to small areas separated from each other by considerable gaps. 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. Marriages were usually confined to neighbouring villages, so that marriage links were spread in a continuous manner from one end of the region to another.
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