manvar surname caste in gujaratmanvar surname caste in gujarat

For example, the Khadayata Brahmans worked as priests at important rituals among Khadayata Vanias. 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. 3.8K subscribers in the gujarat community. I should hasten to add, however, that the open-minded scholar that he is, he does not rule out completely the possibility of separation existing as independent principle. I describe here three prominent units of the latter type, namely, Anavil, Leva Kanbi, and Khedawal Brahman. Before publishing your articles on this site, please read the following pages: 1. The tad thus represented the fourth and last order of caste divisions. Limitations of the holistic view of caste, based as it is mainly on the study of the village, should be realized in the light of urban experience. Division and hierarchy have always been stressed as the two basic principles of the caste system. No sooner had the village studies begun that their limitations and the need for studying caste in its horizontal dimension were realized. 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. Weaving and cloth trading communities of Western India particularly of Gujarat are called Vankar/Wankar/Vaniya. Similarly, in Saurashtra, the Talapadas were distinguished from the Chumvalias, immigrants from the Chumval tract in north Gujarat. Sometimes castes are described as becoming ethnic groups in modern India, particularly in urban India. 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). 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. 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. Traditionally, the Brahman division was supposed to provide the priests for the corresponding divisions. The Mehta family name was found in the USA, and the UK between 1891 and 1920. In 1920 there were 2 Mehta families living in New Jersey. Radhvanaj Rajputs were clearly distinguished from, and ranked much above local Kolis. This does not solve the problem if there are four orders of divisions of the kind found in Gujarat. Early industrial labour was also drawn mainly from the urban artisan and servant castes. This tendency reaches its culmination in the world of Dumont. We shall return to the Rajput-Koli relationship when we consider the Kolis in detail. 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. Sindhollu, Chindollu. 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. While some of the divisions of a lower order might be the result of fission, some others might be a result of fusion. Usually, a single Koli division had different local names in different parts of Gujarat, but more about this later. 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. Tirgaar, Tirbanda. In India Limbachiya is most frequent in: Maharashtra, where 70 percent reside, Gujarat . Division and Hierarchy: An Overview of Caste in Gujarat! Patel is a surname of the Koli caste of Gujarat in India which have most importance in the politics of Gujarat and Koli Patels of Saurashtra was most benefited under the rule of Indian National Congress party. 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 two areas merge gradually, and my field work covered most of the spectrum. 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. Fortunately, they have now started writing about it (see Rao 1974). 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). The Khedawals, numbering 15,000 to 20,000 in 1931 were basically priests but many of them were also landowners, government officials, and traders. These and many other artisans, craftsmen and servants reflected the special life-style of the town. 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. Hence started farming and small scale business in the British Raj to thrive better conditions ahead to maintain their livelihood. 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. Today majority of these community members are not engaged in their ancestral weaving occupation still some population of these community contribute themselves in traditional handloom weaving of famous Patola of Patan, Kachchh shawl of Bhujodi in Kutch, Gharchola and Crotchet of Jamnagar, Zari of Surat, Mashroo of Patan and Mandvi in Kutch, Bandhani of Jamnagar, Anjar and Bhuj, Motif, Leheria, Dhamakda and Ajrak, Nagri sari, Tangaliya Shawl, Dhurrie, Kediyu, Heer Bharat, Abhala, Phento and art of Gudri. Frequently, each such unit had a patron deity, housed in a large shrine, with elaborate arrangements for its ownership. 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. They are divided into two main sub-castes: Leuva Patels and Kadva Patels, who claim to be descendants of Ram's twins Luv and Kush respectively. It will readily be agreed that the sociological study of Indian towns and cities has not made as much progress as has the study of Indian villages. 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. 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. One of the reasons behind underplaying of the principle of division by Dumont as well as by others seems to be the neglect of the study of caste in urban areas (see Dumonts remarks in 1972: 150). From the 15th century onwards we find historical references to political activities of Koli chieftains. 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. 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. On the other hand, there was an almost simultaneous spurt in village studies. There were Brahman and Vania divisions of the same name, the myths about both of them were covered by a single text. I have not yet come across an area where Kolis from three or more different areas live together, excepting modern, large towns and cities. The primarily urban castes linked one town with another; the primarily rural linked one village with another; and the rural-cum-urban linked towns with villages in addition to linking both among themselves. 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. Let us now return to a consideration of the first-order divisions with subdivisions going down to the third or the fourth order. 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. For example, among the Vanias the most general rule was that a marriage of a boy could be arranged with any girl who was bhane khapati, i.e., with whom he was permitted to have commensal relations (roti vyavahar). 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. They were involved in agriculture in one way or another. That there was room for flexibility and that the rule of caste endogamy could be violated at the highest level among the Rajputs was pointed out earlier. There were similar problems about the status of a number of other divisions. Sometimes a division corresponding to a division among Brahmans and Vanias was found in a third first-order division also. This account of the divisions is based on various sources, but mainly on Bombay Gazetteer (1901). 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. 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. They worked not only as high priests but also as bureaucrats. 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. 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. Simultaneously, there is gradual decline in the strength of the principle of hierarchy, particularly of ritual hierarchy expressed in purity and pollution. <> One important first-order division, namely, Rajput, does not seem to have had any second-order division at all. The hypergamous tendency was never as sharp, pervasive and regular among the Vania divisions as among the Rajputs, Leva Kanbis, Anavils and Khedawals. 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. endobj Although the name of a Brahman or Vania division might be based on a place name, the division was not territorial in nature. In other words, it did not involve a big jump from one place to another distant place. 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. There was considerable elaboration in urban areas of what Ghurye long ago called the community aspect of caste (1932: 179) and frequently, this led to juxtaposition rather than hierarchy between caste divisions of the same order. There were about three hundred divisions of this order in the region as a whole. Nor were ekdas and tads entirely an urban phenomenon. If the Varna divisions are taken into account, then this would add one more order to the four orders of caste divisions considered above. 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. During Mughal Empire India was manufacturing 27% of world's textile and Gujarati weavers dominated along with Bengali weavers in Indian textile trade industry overseas. A comment on the sociology of urban India would, therefore, be in order before we go ahead with the discussion of caste divisions. r/ahmedabad From Mumbai. Patidars or Patels claim themselves to be descendants of Lord Ram. Since Vankars were involved in production and business they were known as Nana Mahajans or small merchants. But this is not enough. professor melissa murray. There was a continuous process of formation and disintegration of such units. 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. Although the ekda or tad was the most effective unit for endogamy, each unit of the higher order was also significant for endogamy. They then spread to towns in the homeland and among all 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. No one knows when and how they came into existence and what they meant socially. to which the divisions of the marrying couple belong. TOS 7. Castes pervaded by divisive tendencies had small populations confined to small areas separated from each other by considerable gaps. Although my knowledge is fragmentary, I thought it was worthwhile to put together the bits and pieces for the region as a whole. 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 freedom struggle brought the Indian handloom sector back to the fore, with Mahatma Gandhi spearheading the Swadeshi cause. Plagiarism Prevention 4. They adopted Rajput customs and traditions, claimed Rajput status, and gave daughters in marriage to Rajputs in the lower rungs of Rajput hierarchy. Many of these names were also based on place names. 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. Frequently, The ekdas or gols were each divided into groups called tads (split). endobj Frequently, social divisions were neatly expressed in street names. Our analysis of the internal organization of caste divisions has shown considerable variation in the relative role of the principles of division and hierarchy. 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. 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.). 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. Asking different questions and using different methods are necessary. % In any case, castes are not likely to cease to be castes in the consciousness of people in the foreseeable future. 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. The two former ekdas continued to exist with diminished strength. Even the archaeological surveys and studies have indicated that the people of Dholavira, Surkotada. window.__mirage2 = {petok:"uGhRfiuY26l2oZgRlfZRFSp4BWPIIt7Gh61sQC1XrRU-3600-0"}; 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. And how flexibility was normal at the lowest level has just been shown. Toori. 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. Castes having continuous internal hierarchy and lacking effective small endogamous units, such as Rajputs, Leva Kanbis, Anavils and Khedawals, do not have active associations for lower-order divisions. Typically, a village consists of the sections of various castes, ranging from those with just one household to those with over u hundred. 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. The existence of ekdas or gols, however, does not mean that the divisiveness of caste ended there or that the ekdas and gols were always the definitive units of endogamy. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Each ekda or gol was composed of a definite number of families living in certain villages and/or towns. 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 members of a kings caste were thus found not only in his own kingdom but in other kingdoms as well. 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. History. It seems the highland Bhils (and possibly also other tribes) provided brides to lower Rajputs in Gujarat. Significantly, a large number of social thinkers and workers who propagated against the hierarchical features of caste came from urban centres. 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 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. . To have a meaningful understanding of the system of caste divisions, there is no alternative but to understand the significance of each order of division and particularly the nature of their boundaries and maintenance mechanisms. 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. The Brahmans were divided into such divisions as Audich, Bhargav, Disawal, Khadayata, Khedawal, Mewada, Modh, Nagar, Shrigaud, Shrimali, Valam, Vayada, and Zarola. 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. Marco Polo a Venetian merchant on his visit to India in 13th century Gujarat observed that "brocading art of Gujarat weavers is par excellent". In recent years, however, there has been a tendency to emphasize hierarchy as the primary principle encompassing the principle of division. So far we have considered first-order divisions with large and widely spread populations. The decline was further accelerated by the industrial revolution. 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. 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. The three trading castes of Vania, Lohana and Bhatia were mainly urban. Nor do I claim to know the whole of Gujarat. The urban centres in both the areas, it is hardly necessary to mention, are nucleated settlements populated by numerous caste and religious groups. 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. The population of certain first-order divisions lived mainly in villages. 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. 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. There is enormous literature on these caste divisions from about the middle of the 19th century which includes census reports, gazetteers, castes-and- tribes volumes, ethnographic notes and monographs and scholarly treatises such as those by Baines, Blunt, Ghurye, Hocart, Hutton, Ibbet- son, OMalley, Risley, Senart, and others. He does not give importance to this possibility probably because, as he goes on to state, what is sought here is a universal formula, a rule without exceptions (ibid.). It was also an extreme example of a division having a highly differentiated internal hierarchy and practising hypergamy as an accepted norm. 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. No analytical gains are therefore likely to occur by calling them by any other name. 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. 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. (Frequently, such models are constructed a priori rather than based on historical evidence, but that is another story). 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. endobj These linkages played an important role in the traditional social structure as well as in the processes of change in modern India. 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. 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. 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. Their origin myth enshrined in their caste purana also showed them to be originally non-Brahman. The Kolis in such an area may not even be concerned about a second-order divisional name and may be known simply as Kolis. 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. Another clearly visible change in caste in Gujarat is the emergence of caste associations. Frequently, the urban population of such a division performed more specialized functions than did the rural one. In addition, they carried on overland trade with many towns in central and north India. A block printed and resist-dyed fabric, whose origin is from Gujarat was found in the tombs of Fostat, Egypt. There is enormous literature on these caste divisions from about the middle of the 19th century which includes census reports, gazetteers, [] Moreover, some leading Anavils did not wish to be bothered about Brahman status, saying that they were just Anavil. All this trade encouraged development of trading and commercial towns in the rest of Gujarat, even in the highland area. Even if we assume, for a moment, that the basic nature of a structure or institution was the same, we need to know its urban form or variant. 91. Many of them claimed that they were Brahmans but this claim was not accepted by most established Brahmans. 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. Finally, while an increasing number of marriages are taking place even across the boundaries of first-order divisions, as for example, between Brahmans and Vanias, and between Vanias and Patidars, such marriages even now form an extremely small proportion of the total number of marriages. The Chumvalias and Patanwadias migrated possibly from the same tract and continued to belong to the same horizontal unit after migration. 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. manvar surname caste in gujaratbest imperial trooper team swgoh piett. In all there were about eighty such divisions. 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). I have discussed above caste divisions in Gujarat mainly in the past, roughly in the middle of the 19th century. 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. Also, the horizontal spread of a caste rarely coincided with the territorial boundaries of a political authority. Until recently, sociologists and anthropologists described Indian society as though it had no urban component in the past. In the second kind of area, indigenous Kolis live side-by-side with immigrant Kolis from an adjoining area. 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. 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 most important example of primarily political caste association is the Gujarat Kshatriya Sabha. 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. Together they provide a slice of Gujarati society from the sea- coast to the bordering highlands.
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