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. There were also a number of first-order divisions, mainly of artisans, craftsmen and specialized servants, with small populations. After the commercial revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries, Gujarat had a large number of tradition towns on its long sea-coast. There were Brahman and Vania divisions of the same name, the myths about both of them were covered by a single text. The members of a kings caste were thus found not only in his own kingdom but in other kingdoms as well. Dowry not only continues to be a symbol of status in the new hierarchy but is gradually replacing bride price wherever it existed, and dowry amounts are now reaching astronomical heights. As a consequence, the continuities of social institutions and the potentiality of endogenous elements for bringing about change are overlooked (for a discussion of some other difficulties with these paradigms, see Lynch 1977). If this rule was violated, i.e., if he married a girl with whom the Vanias did not have commensal relations, the maximum punishment, namely, excommunication, was imposed. 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. so roamed around clueless. 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. More of them were located in the plains, than in the bordering highlands. James Campbell (1901: xii), the compiler of gazetteers for the former Bombay presidency comprising several linguistic regions, wrote about Gujarat: In no part of India are the subdivisions so minute, one of them, the Rayakval Vanias, numbering only 47 persons in 1891. 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. Many of them claimed that they were Brahmans but this claim was not accepted by most established Brahmans. Although the name of a Brahman or Vania division might be based on a place name, the division was not territorial in nature. History. [CDATA[ Castes pervaded by divisive tendencies had small populations confined to small areas separated from each other by considerable gaps. 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. <> The Mehta family name was found in the USA, and the UK between 1891 and 1920. All this trade encouraged development of trading and commercial towns in the rest of Gujarat, even in the highland area. They also continued to have marital relations with their own folk. Many of these names were also based on place names. The co-residence of people belonging to two or more divisions of the lower orders within a division of a higher order has been a prominent feature of caste in towns and cities. So far we have considered first-order divisions with large and widely spread populations. The main occupation of Vankars was the weaving of cloth. That the role of the two principles could vary at different levels within a first-order division has also been seen. Hindu society is usually described as divided into a number of castes the boundaries of which are maintained by the rule of caste endogamy. 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). There was an emphasis on being different and separate rather than on being higher and lower. 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.). This does not, however, help describe caste divisions adequately. This list may not reflect recent changes. They were found in almost every village in plains Gujarat and in many villages in Saurashtra and Kachchh. Frequently, a division among Vanias corresponded to a division among Brahmans. There was also another kind of feast, called bhandaro, where Brahmans belonging to a lesser number of divisions (say, all the few in a small town) were invited. To whichever of the four orders a caste division belonged, its horizontal spread rarely, if ever, coincided with that of another. Weavers became beggars, manufacturing collapsed and the last 2000 years of Indian textile industry was knocked down. When divisions are found within a jati, the word sub-jati or sub-caste is used. The Chumvalias and Patanwadias migrated possibly from the same tract and continued to belong to the same horizontal unit after migration. 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. stream Unfortunately, such figures are not available for the last fifty years or so. These linkages played an important role in the traditional social structure as well as in the processes of change in modern India. 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. We had seen earlier that in the first-order division, such as that of the Rajputs, there were no second-order divisions, and no attempt was made to form small endogamous units: hypergamy had free play, as it were. The degree of contravention is less if the couple belong, let us say, to two different fourth-order divisions within a third-order division than if they belong to two different third-order divisions within a second-order division, and so on. 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. To illustrate, among the Khadayata or Modh Vanias, an increasing number of marriages take place between two or more tads within an ekda. 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. 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). 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. 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. The Hindu and Muslim kingdoms in Gujarat during the medieval period had, of course, their capital towns, at first Patan and then Ahmedabad. Here, usually, what mattered was the first-order division, as for example Brahman, Vania, Rajput, Kanbi, carpenter, barber, leather-worker, and so on. rogers outage brampton today; levelland, tx obituaries. Patidars or Patels claim themselves to be descendants of Lord Ram. 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. Together they provide a slice of Gujarati society from the sea- coast to the bordering highlands. The number of tads in an ekda or go I might be two or more, and each of them might be an endogamous units. The unit might possess some other corporate characteristics also. I have discussed above caste divisions in Gujarat mainly in the past, roughly in the middle of the 19th century. The lowest stratum in all the three divisions had to face the problem of scarcity of brides. 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. Thus, at one end, there were first-order divisions, each of which was sub-divided up to the fourth-order, and at the other end there were first-order divisions which were not further divided at all. r/ahmedabad From Mumbai. Systematic study of small caste divisions in villages as well as in towns still awaits the attention of sociologists and anthropologists. Moreover, some leading Anavils did not wish to be bothered about Brahman status, saying that they were just Anavil. I know some ekdas, and tads composed of only 150 to 200 households. We shall return to the Rajput-Koli relationship when we consider the Kolis in detail. 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. While some of the divisions of a lower order might be the result of fission, some others might be a result of fusion. The incidence of exchange marriages and of bachelors in the lowest stratum among the Anavils also was high. Both Borradaile and Campbell were probably mixing up small endogamous units of various kinds. 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). These divisions have, however, been kept out of the present analysis for reasons which have become well known to students of Hindu society since the 1950s. //]]>. 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. In some other cases, mainly of urban artisans, craftsmen and specialized servants, such as Kansaras (copper and bronze smiths), Salvis (silk weavers), Kharadis (skilled carpenters and wood carvers), Chudgars (bangle-makers) and Vahivanchas genealogists and mythographers), the small populations were so small and confined to so few towns that they had few subdivisions and the boundaries of their horizontal units were fairly easy to define. The arrival of the East India Company, however sounded the death knell for the Indian textile industry. Let me illustrate briefly. 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 migration of the Kolis of north Gujarat into central Gujarat and those of the latter into eastern Gujarat was a process of slow drift from one village to another over a period of time. There were similar problems about the status of a number of other divisions. Similarly, in Saurashtra, the Talapadas were distinguished from the Chumvalias, immigrants from the Chumval tract in north Gujarat. 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. They have been grouped in Vaishya category of Varna system. In recent years, however, there has been a tendency to emphasize hierarchy as the primary principle encompassing the principle of division. 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. It used to have a panch (council of leaders) and sometimes also a headman (patel). Caste associations in Gujarat were formed mainly among upper castes to provide welfare (including recreation), to promote modern education, and to bring about reforms in caste customs. For example, there were Khedawal Brahmans but not Khedawal Vanias, and Lad Vanias but no Lad Brahmans. In each of these three divisions the top stratum was clear. 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. The small endogamous units, on the other hand, did not practise either. The purpose is not to condemn village studies, as is caste in a better perspective after deriving insights from village studies. Let us now return to a consideration of the first-order divisions with subdivisions going down to the third or the fourth order. 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. I am not suggesting that the principle of hierarchy was insignificant in the inter- or intra-caste relations in urban centres. 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 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). Content Guidelines 2. 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. There would be a wide measure of agreement with him on both these counts. %PDF-1.7 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. 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. Hence started farming and small scale business in the British Raj to thrive better conditions ahead to maintain their livelihood. 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. Plagiarism Prevention 4. But there were also others who did not wield any power. Homo Hierarchicus. 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. 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.). For example, the Khadayata Brahmans worked as priests at important rituals among Khadayata Vanias. In all there were thirty to forty such divisions. Most of the second-order divisions were further divided into third-order divisions. The chiefly families constituted a tiny proportion of the total population of any second-order division among the Kolis. Usually, it was a small population. This was about 22% of all the recorded Mehta's in USA. Inclusion of a lower-order division in a higher-order one and distinction between various divisions in a certain order was not as unambiguous. There was a continuous process of formation and disintegration of such units. Many primarily rural castes, such as Kolisthe largest castehave remained predominantly rural even today. 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. No one knows when and how they came into existence and what they meant socially. Caste divisions of the first-order can be classified broadly into three categories. Bougies repulsion) rather than on hierarchy was a feature of caste in certain contexts and situations in traditional India, and increasing emphasis on division in urban Indian in modern times is an accentuation of what existed in the past. Gujarati migrations to the nearby metropolis of Bombay the first new centre of administration, industry, commerce, education, and western culture, followed the same links. Ideally, castes as horizontal units should he discussed with the help of population figures. Real Estate Software Dubai > blog > manvar surname caste in gujarat. 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. 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. 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. 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 bulk also was characterized by hierarchy, with the relatively advanced population living in the plains at one end and the backward population living along with the tribal population in the highlands at the other end. 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. The village was a small community divided into a relatively small number of castes; the population of each caste was also small, sometimes only one or two households, with little possibility of existence of subdivisions; and there were intensive relationships of various kinds between the castes. What may be called the census approach influenced a great deal of scholarly work. The small town sections therefore separated themselves from the respective large town sections and formed a new ekda. 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. This was unlike the situation among the Rajputs who did not make any attempt to form small endogamous units. Census officials-turned-scholars, from Risley to Hutton, wrote many of the earlier general works on caste. For example, all Vania divisions were divided into a number of ekdas or gols. Before publishing your articles on this site, please read the following pages: 1. They were involved in agriculture in one way or another. Jun 12, 2022. A large proportion, if not the whole, of the population of many of such divisions lived in towns. This category has the following 18 subcategories, out of 18 total.