I do not, however, have sufficient knowledge of the latter and shall, therefore, confine myself mainly to Rajputs in Gujarat. Of particular importance seems to be the fact that a section of the urban population was more or less isolatedsome may say, alienatedfrom the rural masses from generation to generation. This was because political authorities were hierarchized from little kingdom to empire and the boundaries of political authorities kept changing. 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. 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. This list may not reflect recent changes. 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. 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. (surname) Me caste; Mer (community) Meta Qureshi; Mistri caste; Miyana (community) Modh; Motisar (caste) Multani Lohar; Muslim Wagher; Mutwa; N . All Brahman divisions did not, however, have a corresponding Vania division. Moreover, some leading Anavils did not wish to be bothered about Brahman status, saying that they were just Anavil. One important first-order division, namely, Rajput, does not seem to have had any second-order division at all. endobj 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. I shall first provide an analysis of caste in the past roughly during the middle of the 19th century, and then deal with changes in the modern times. A recent tendency in sociological literature is to consider jatis as castes. All associations originated in large towns, are more active in towns than in villages, and are led by prominent members in towns. That the role of the two principles could vary at different levels within a first-order division has also been seen. Usually, the affairs of the caste were discussed in large congregations of some fifty to hundred or even more villages from time to time. Sindhollu, Chindollu. And how flexibility was normal at the lowest level has just been shown. There was also another important correlation. Although it has been experiencing stresses and strains and has had ups and downs on account of the enormous diversity between the royal and the tribal ends, it has shown remarkable solidarity in recent years. 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. 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. Caste associations have been formed on the lines of caste divisions. Early industrial labour was also drawn mainly from the urban artisan and servant castes. The existence of flexibility at both the levels was made possible by the flexibility of the category Rajput. Thus, while each second-order Koli division maintained its boundaries vis-a-vis other such divisions, each was linked with the Rajputs. The understanding of changes in caste is not likely to be advanced by clubbing such diverse groups together under the rubric of ethnic group. 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. endobj 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. 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. 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. Hence started farming and small scale business in the British Raj to thrive better conditions ahead to maintain their livelihood. The most important example of primarily political caste association is the Gujarat Kshatriya Sabha. The main thrust of Pococks paper is that greater emphasis on difference rather than on hierarchy is a feature of caste among overseas Indians and in modern urban India. The incidence of exchange marriages and of bachelors in the lowest stratum among the Anavils also was high. 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. Content Filtrations 6. These and many other artisans, craftsmen and servants reflected the special life-style of the town. yorba linda football maxpreps; weiteste entfernung gerichtsbezirk; wyoming rockhounding locations google maps; Disclaimer 9. For example, there were Khedawal Brahmans but not Khedawal Vanias, and Lad Vanias but no Lad Brahmans. (Frequently, such models are constructed a priori rather than based on historical evidence, but that is another story). Usually, it was a small population. 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 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. The number of tads in an ekda or go I might be two or more, and each of them might be an endogamous units. 3 0 obj The castes pervaded by hierarchy and hypergamy had large populations spread evenly from village to village and frequently also from village to town over a large area. 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.). While fission did occur, fusion could also occur. More common was an ekda or tad having its population residing either in a few neighbouring villages, or in a few neighbouring towns, or in both. The hierarchy, however, was very gradual and lacked sharpness. 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. Pages in category "Social groups of Gujarat" The following 157 pages are in this category, out of 157 total. One may say that there are now more hypogamous marriages, although another and perhaps a more realistic way of looking at the change would be that a new hierarchy is replacing the traditional one. Nevertheless, a breakdown of the population of Gujarat into major religious, caste and tribal groups according to the census of 1931 is presented in the following table to give a rough idea of the size of at least some castes. 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. Leva Kanbis, numbering 400,000 to 500,000 m 1931, were the traditional agricultural caste of central Gujarat. A comment on the sociology of urban India would, therefore, be in order before we go ahead with the discussion of caste divisions. %PDF-1.7 But the hypergamous tendency was so powerful that each such endogamous unit could not be perfectly endogamous even at the height of its integration. window.__mirage2 = {petok:"uGhRfiuY26l2oZgRlfZRFSp4BWPIIt7Gh61sQC1XrRU-3600-0"}; 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. The point is that the Rajput hierarchy, with the princely families at the top, merged at the lower level imperceptibly into the vast sea of tribal and semi-tribal people like Bhils and Kolis. This list may not reflect recent changes. There was another kind of ambiguity about the Brahman status or two other divisionsKayatia and Tapodhan. The Rajputs relationship with the Kolis penetrated every second-order division among them, i.e., Talapada, Pardeshi, Chumvalia, Palia, and so on. 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. 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. The decline was further accelerated by the industrial revolution. 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 small town sections therefore separated themselves from the respective large town sections and formed a new ekda. 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. Plagiarism Prevention 4. If the Varna divisions are taken into account, then this would add one more order to the four orders of caste divisions considered above. Since the beginning of the modern reform movement to encourage inter-caste marriages-most of which are in fact inter-tad or inter-ekda marriagesthe old process of fission into ekdas and tads has come to a halt, and it is, therefore, difficult to understand this process without making a systematic historical enquiry. The Vanias provide an example of such castes. 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. There are other sub-castes like Satpanthis, who are mainly centered in Kutch district and have some social customs akin to Muslims . The ekdas have not yet lost their identities. 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. The associations activities in the field of marriage, such as reform to customs, rituals and ceremonies, and encouragement of inter-divisional marriages, are also seen by the members as a service to the nationas the castes method of creating a casteless modern society. Image Guidelines 5. 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. What may be called the census approach influenced a great deal of scholarly work. The institutions of both bride and bridegroom price (the latter also called dowry) were rampant in castes with continuous internal hierarchydowry mainly at the upper levels, bride price mainly at the lower levels, and both dowry and bride price among status-seeking middle level families. Let me illustrate briefly. If the marriage took place within the Vania fold but outside the tad or ekda, as the case may be, the punishment varied according to the social distance between the tads or ekdas of the bride and the groom. 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). 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). Even the archaeological surveys and studies have indicated that the people of Dholavira, Surkotada. It is noteworthy that many of their names were based on names of places (region, town, or village): for example, Shrimali and Mewada on the Shrimal and Mewar regions in Rajasthan, Modh on Modhera town in north Gujarat, and Khedawal on Kheda town in central Gujarat. 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. 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 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. A new view of the whole, comprising the rural and the urban and the various orders of caste divisions, should be evolved. Almost all the myths about the latter are enshrined in the puranas (for an analysis of a few of them, see Das 1968 and 1977). 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. Gujarat did not have anything like the non-Brahmin movement of South India and Maharashtra before 1947. In each of these three divisions the top stratum was clear. A large number of priestly, artisan and service castes also lived in both villages and towns: Bramhans, barbers, carpenters, blacksmiths, shoemakers, leather-workers, scavenges, water-carriers, palanquin-bearers, and so on. 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. : 11-15, 57-75). At the other end were castes in which the principle of division had free play and the role of the principle of hierarchy was limited. 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. 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. If the first-order divisions are called jatis and castes, the second-order divisions would be called sub-jatis or sub-castes. In all there were about eighty such divisions. The two areas merge gradually, and my field work covered most of the spectrum. 100 Most Popular Indian Last Names Or SurnamesWhy Don't Tamil People Have Last Names?-----A . 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. The freedom struggle brought the Indian handloom sector back to the fore, with Mahatma Gandhi spearheading the Swadeshi cause. It used to have a panch (council of leaders) and sometimes also a headman (patel). Many of them became the norm-setting elite for Gujaratis in the homeland. 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. Our analysis of caste in towns has shown how it differed significantly from that in villages. Till the establishment of democratic polity in 1947, hardly any caste association in Gujarat had manifest political functions. The Khadayatas were divided into about 30 ekdas. In 1920 there were 2 Mehta families living in New Jersey. For example, there was considerable ambiguity about the status of Anavils. 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. What I am trying to point out, however, is that greater emphasis on division (Pococks difference, Dumonts separation. In any case, castes are not likely to cease to be castes in the consciousness of people in the foreseeable future. The most important of them was the Koli division, which was, the largest division and mainly included small landholders, tenants and labourers. Both Borradaile and Campbell were probably mixing up small endogamous units of various kinds. 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. 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. 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. Most inter-divisional marriages take place between boys and girls belonging to the lowest order in the structure of divisions. In the plains, therefore, every village had one or more towns in its vicinity. Since these were all status categories rather than clear- cut divisions, I have not considered them as constituting third-order divisions. Although the ekda or tad was the most effective unit for endogamy, each unit of the higher order was also significant for endogamy. Frequently, the shift from emphasis on co-operation and hierarchy in the caste system to emphasis on division (or difference or separation) is described as shift from whole to parts, from system to elements, from structure to substance. The Hindu and Muslim kingdoms in Gujarat during the medieval period had, of course, their capital towns, at first Patan and then Ahmedabad. 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. They then spread to towns in the homeland and among all castes. Simultaneously, there is gradual decline in the strength of the principle of hierarchy, particularly of ritual hierarchy expressed in purity and pollution. Real Estate Software Dubai > blog > manvar surname caste in gujarat. 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. 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. 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). In India Limbachiya is most frequent in: Maharashtra, where 70 percent reside, Gujarat . So far we have considered first-order divisions with large and widely spread populations. 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. Gujarati migrations to the nearby metropolis of Bombay the first new centre of administration, industry, commerce, education, and western culture, followed the same links. All this trade encouraged development of trading and commercial towns in the rest of Gujarat, even in the highland area. Nor were ekdas and tads entirely an urban phenomenon. No one knows when and how they came into existence and what they meant socially. The main occupation of Vankars was the weaving of cloth. 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. In the second kind of area, indigenous Kolis live side-by-side with immigrant Kolis from an adjoining area. Frequently, the urban population of such a division performed more specialized functions than did the rural one. 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. Many second-order divisions were further divided into two or three status categories. The following 157 pages are in this category, out of 157 total. Leva Sheri and Kadva Sheri, named after the two major second-order divisions among the Kanbis. Similarly, the Vanias were divided into such divisions as Disawal, Kapol, Khadayata, Lad, Modh, Nagar, Nima, Porwad, Shirmali, Vayada, and Zarola. 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. Tirgaar, Tirbanda. There is a patterned widening of the connubial field along an area chalked out historically. We shall return to the Rajput-Koli relationship when we consider the Kolis in detail. 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. The most Mehta families were found in USA in 1920. Toori. 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. Reference to weaving and spinning materials is found in the Vedic Literature. It is not claimed that separation, or even repulsion, may not be present somewhere as an independent factor (1972: 346,n.55b). 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. The very low Brahmans such as Kayatias and Tapodhans were invited but made to eat separately from the rest of the Brahmans. Hindu society is usually described as divided into a number of castes the boundaries of which are maintained by the rule of caste endogamy. Sometimes castes are described as becoming ethnic groups in modern India, particularly in urban India. 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 small ekda or tad with its entire population residing in a single town was, of course, not a widespread phenomenon. While some of the divisions of a lower order might be the result of fission, some others might be a result of fusion. It was also an extreme example of a division having a highly differentiated internal hierarchy and practising hypergamy as an accepted norm. Since after expansion of British textile markets and decline of Indian textile industry Vankars suffered a lot. However, on the basis of the meagre information I have, I am able to make a few points. 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. Similarly, in Saurashtra, the Talapadas were distinguished from the Chumvalias, immigrants from the Chumval tract in north Gujarat. In any case, the population of any large caste was found in many kingdoms. Far too many studies of changes in caste in modern India start with a general model of caste in traditional India which is in fact a model of caste in traditional rural India. A first-order division could be further divided into two or more second-order divisions. . This meant that he could marry a girl of any subdivision within the Vania division. The highest stratum among the Leva Kanbi tried to maintain its position by practising polygyny and female infanticide, among other customs and institutions, as did the highest stratum among the Rajput. The tad thus represented the fourth and last order of caste divisions. Traditionally, the Brahman division was supposed to provide the priests for the corresponding divisions. 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. 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. There are thus a few excellent studies of castes as horizontal units. Weaving and cloth trading communities of Western India particularly of Gujarat are called Vankar/Wankar/Vaniya. The purpose is not to condemn village studies, as is caste in a better perspective after deriving insights from village studies. 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. 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. As could be expected, there were marriages between fairly close kin, resulting in many overlapping relationships, in such an endogamous unit.

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