Leva Kanbis, numbering 400,000 to 500,000 m 1931, were the traditional agricultural caste of central Gujarat. 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 handloom weavers of Gujarat, Maharastra and Bengal produced and exported some of the world's most desirable fabrics. Moreover, a single division belonging to any one of the orders may have more than one association, and an association may be uni-purpose or multi-purpose. <> How many sub-divisions existed in the various divisions of the various orders is a matter of empirical investigation. Fortunately, they have now started writing about it (see Rao 1974). It is a coalescence of Kolis and Rajputs on the modern political plane based on the foundation of the traditional social and cultural symbiosis under the rubric of Kshatriya. Pages in category "Social groups of Gujarat" The following 157 pages are in this category, out of 157 total. Copyright 10. 92. The two together formed a single complex of continental dimension. Our analysis of caste in towns has shown how it differed significantly from that in villages. Usually, the latter were distinguished from one another by prohibition. The latter continued to be the provincial capital during Mughal rule. 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. Although the people of one tad would talk about their superiority over those of another tad in an ekda, and the people of one ekda over those of another in a higher-order division, particularly in large towns where two or more tads and ekdas would be found living together, there was no articulate ranking and hypergamy among them. 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. 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. The Rajputs relationship with the Kolis penetrated every second-order division among them, i.e., Talapada, Pardeshi, Chumvalia, Palia, and so on. 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. Inclusion of a lower-order division in a higher-order one and distinction between various divisions in a certain order was not as unambiguous. It is not easy to find out if the tads became ekdas in course of time and if the process of formation of ekdas was the same as that of the formation of tads. They wrote about the traditional Indian village, but not about the traditional Indian town. 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. 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. To illustrate, among the Khadayata or Modh Vanias, an increasing number of marriages take place between two or more tads within an ekda. 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. This reflects the high degree of divisiveness in castes in Gujarat. They adopted Rajput customs and traditions, claimed Rajput status, and gave daughters in marriage to Rajputs in the lower rungs of Rajput hierarchy. * List of Scheduled Tribes in Gujarat; A. . They are described by the ruling elite as robbers, dacoits, marauders, predators and the like. Their origin myth enshrined in their caste purana also showed them to be originally non-Brahman. While some of the divisions of a lower order might be the result of fission, some others might be a result of fusion. A recent tendency in sociological literature is to consider jatis as castes. 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. Census officials-turned-scholars, from Risley to Hutton, wrote many of the earlier general works on caste. Toori. //]]>. Both Borradaile and Campbell were probably mixing up small endogamous units of various kinds. The two former ekdas continued to exist with diminished strength. Nowadays, in urban areas in particular, very few people think of making separate seating arrangements for members of different castes at wedding and such other feasts. This list may not reflect recent changes. Significantly, a large number of social thinkers and workers who propagated against the hierarchical features of caste came from urban centres. A block printed and resist-dyed fabric, whose origin is from Gujarat was found in the tombs of Fostat, Egypt. The two categories of castes have been deeply conscious of these differences between them and have been talking freely about them. 3.8K subscribers in the gujarat community. They were involved in agriculture in one way or another. 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. At one end there were castes in which the principle of hierarchy had free play and the role of the principle of division was limited. Koli Patels are recognised as a Other Backward Class caste by Government of Gujarat. It is argued that the various welfare programmes of each caste association, such as provision of medical facilities, scholarships and jobs for caste members contribute, in however small a way, to the solution of the nations problems. There was apparently a close relation between a castes internal organization and the size and spatial distribution of its population. Division and hierarchy have always been stressed as the two basic principles of the caste system. That the role of the two principles could vary at different levels within a first-order division has also been seen. Weaving and cloth trading communities of Western India particularly of Gujarat are called Vankar/Wankar/Vaniya. 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. They also continued to have marital relations with their own folk. professor melissa murray. 91. The census operations, in particular, spread as they were over large areas, gave a great impetus to writings on what Srinivas has called the horizontal dimension of caste (1952: 31f;1966: 9,44,92,98-100,114-17). Kayatias and Tapodhans were considered such low Brahmans that even some non-Brahman castes did not accept food and water from them. Some of the other such divisions were Kathi, Dubla, Rabari, Bharwad, Mer (see Trivedi 1961), Vaghri, Machhi, Senwa, Vanzara, and Kharwa. Many of them claimed that they were Brahmans but this claim was not accepted by most established Brahmans. The marital alliances of the royal families forming part of the Maratha confederacy, and of the royal families of Mysore in south India and of Kashmir and Nepal in the north with the royal families of Gujarat and Rajasthan show, among other things, how there was room for flexibility and how the rule of caste endogamy could be violated in an acceptable manner at the highest level. Similarly, in Saurashtra, the Talapadas were distinguished from the Chumvalias, immigrants from the Chumval tract in north Gujarat. They co-existed in the highlands with tribes such as the Bhils, so much so that today frequently many high caste Gujaratis confuse them with Bhils, as did the earlier ethnographers. Disclaimer 9. 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. 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. Nor were ekdas and tads entirely an urban phenomenon. Similarly, the Khedawal Brahmans were divided into Baj and Bhitra, the Nagar Brahmans into Grihastha and Bhikshuk, the Anavils into Desai and Bhathela, and the Kanbis into Kanbi and Patidar. As weaving is an art and forms one of the most important artisan community of 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. 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. There are other sub-castes like Satpanthis, who are mainly centered in Kutch district and have some social customs akin to Muslims . Most of the second-order divisions were further divided into third-order divisions. Third, although two or more new endogamous units came into existence and marriage between them was forbidden thereafter, a number of pre-existing kinship and affinal relationships continued to be operative between them. From the 15th century onwards we find historical references to political activities of Koli chieftains. In each of these three divisions the top stratum was clear. As for the size of other castes, I shall make mainly relative statements. They worked not only as high priests but also as bureaucrats. 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. There is a patterned widening of the connubial field along an area chalked out historically. 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. This was because political authorities were hierarchized from little kingdom to empire and the boundaries of political authorities kept changing. 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. These coastal towns were involved in trade among themselves, with other towns on the rest of the Indian sea coast, and with many foreign lands. The significant point, however, is that there were small endogamous units which were not, like ekdas and tads, part of any higher-order division. But there was also another process. For example, the Khadayata Brahmans worked as priests at important rituals among Khadayata Vanias. 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. 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. 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. The Kayasthas and Brahma-Kshatriyas, the so- called writer castes, employed mainly in the bureaucracy, and the Vahivancha Barots, genealogists and mythographers, were almost exclusively urban castes. In effect, the Vania population in a large town like Ahmedabad could have a considerable number of small endogamous units of the third or the fourth order, each with its entire population living and marrying within the town itself. In the second-order divisions of the Leva Kanbis, the Anavils and the Khedawals, while the hypergamous tendency was strong, attempts were continually made to form small endogamous units: although the strength of the hypergamous tendency did not allow these units to function effectively, they nevertheless checked its free play to some extent. All associations originated in large towns, are more active in towns than in villages, and are led by prominent members in towns. Frequently, social divisions were neatly expressed in street names. Sindhollu, Chindollu. 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. [CDATA[ Use census records and voter lists to . Image Guidelines 5. 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. 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. 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. We need to formulate some idea of the nature of the Indian urban society and its relation with the rural society in the past, at least at the beginning of the 19th century. www.opendialoguemediations.com. Usually it consisted of wealthy and powerful lineages, distinguishing themselves by some appellation, such as Patidar among the Leva Kanbi, Desai among the Anavil, and Baj among the Khedawal. 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. 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 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 Mehta family name was found in the USA, and the UK between 1891 and 1920. 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. So far we have considered first-order divisions with large and widely spread populations. 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. 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). Real Estate Software Dubai > blog > manvar surname caste in gujarat. Hindu society is usually described as divided into a number of castes the boundaries of which are maintained by the rule of caste endogamy. There were also a number of first-order divisions, mainly of artisans, craftsmen and specialized servants, with small populations. 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 handloom weavers of Gujarat, Maharastra and Bengal produced and exported some of the world's most desirable fabrics. [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. Frequently, the urban population of such a division performed more specialized functions than did the rural one. Till the establishment of democratic polity in 1947, hardly any caste association in Gujarat had manifest political functions. I am dealing here only with certain typical situations. 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. For example, there were two ekdas, each with a large section resident in a large town and small sections resident in two or three neighbouring small towns. Among the Kanbis, while there was hypergamy within the Leva division and possibly, similar hypergamy within the Kadva division, there was no hierarchy or hypergamy between the two second-order divisions. The main occupation of Vankars was the weaving of cloth. Reference to weaving and spinning materials is found in the Vedic Literature. For example, the Patanwadia population was spread continuously from the Patan area to central Gujarat, and the Talapada population from central Gujarat to Pal. <>/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>> The understanding of changes in caste is not likely to be advanced by clubbing such diverse groups together under the rubric of ethnic group. Although my knowledge is fragmentary, I thought it was worthwhile to put together the bits and pieces for the region as a whole. 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. <>/Metadata 3086 0 R/ViewerPreferences 3087 0 R>> The weavers were forced into selling exclusively to the British at extremely low rates, pushing them into poverty. I have bits and pieces of information about relations between a considerable numbers of other lower-order divisions in their respective higher-order divisions. I do not, however, have sufficient knowledge of the latter and shall, therefore, confine myself mainly to Rajputs in Gujarat. Most inter-divisional marriages take place between boys and girls belonging to the lowest order in the structure of divisions. The Anavil, numbering 30,000 to 40,000 in 1931, were found mainly in south Gujarat. All this trade encouraged development of trading and commercial towns in the rest of Gujarat, even in the highland area. 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 . Britain's Industrial Revolution was built on the de-industrialisation of India - the destruction of Indian textiles and their replacement by manufacturing in England, using Indian raw materials and exporting the finished products back to India and even the rest of the world. Asking different questions and using different methods are necessary. There was also another important correlation. A comment on the sociology of urban India would, therefore, be in order before we go ahead with the discussion of caste divisions. The Khedawals, numbering 15,000 to 20,000 in 1931 were basically priests but many of them were also landowners, government officials, and traders. Tapodhans were priests in Shiva temples. No one knows when and how they came into existence and what they meant socially. Frequently, each such unit had a patron deity, housed in a large shrine, with elaborate arrangements for its ownership. Sometimes castes are described as becoming ethnic groups in modern India, particularly in urban India. Simultaneously, there is gradual decline in the strength of the principle of hierarchy, particularly of ritual hierarchy expressed in purity and pollution. The earliest caste associations were formed in Bombay in the middle of the 19th century among migrants belonging to the primarily urban and upper castes from Gujarat, such as Vanias, Bhatias and Lohanas (see Dobbin 1972: 74-76, 121-30, 227f, 259-61). so roamed around clueless. 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. The prohibition of inter-division marriage was much more important than the rules of purity and pollution in the maintenance of boundaries between the lower-order divisions. We shall return to this issue later. Here, usually, what mattered was the first-order division, as for example Brahman, Vania, Rajput, Kanbi, carpenter, barber, leather-worker, and so on. 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. Since Vankars were involved in production and business they were known as Nana Mahajans or small merchants. In any case, the population of any large caste was found in many kingdoms. 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.