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. Literally, ekda meant unit, and gol circle, and both signified an endogamous unit. I describe here three prominent units of the latter type, namely, Anavil, Leva Kanbi, and Khedawal Brahman. The Khadayatas were divided into about 30 ekdas. <>/Metadata 3086 0 R/ViewerPreferences 3087 0 R>> x[? -E$nvU 4V6_}\]}/yOu__}ww7oz[_z~?=|nNT=|qq{\//]/Ft>_tV}gjjn#TfOus_?~>/GbKc.>^\eu{[GE_>'x?M5i16|B;=}-)$G&w5uvb~o:3r3v GL3or}|Y~?3s_hO?qWWpn|1>9WS3^:wTU3bN{tz;T_}so/R95iLc_6Oo_'W7y; The migrants, many of whom came from heterogeneous urban centres of Gujarat, became part of an even more heterogeneous environment in Bombay. 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. Patidars or Patels claim themselves to be descendants of Lord Ram. It is important to note that the more literate and learned Brahmans lived in towns, more particularly in capital and pilgrim towns, which were, indeed, the centres of higher Hindu culture and civilization. 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. A large proportion, if not the whole, of the population of many of such divisions lived in towns. Systematic study of small caste divisions in villages as well as in towns still awaits the attention of sociologists and anthropologists. The two together formed a single complex of continental dimension. Hypergamy tended to be associated with this hierarchy. 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). Hindu society is usually described as divided into a number of castes the boundaries of which are maintained by the rule of caste endogamy. The lowest stratum in all the three divisions had to face the problem of scarcity of brides. For example, all Vania divisions were divided into a number of ekdas or gols. When divisions are found within a jati, the word sub-jati or sub-caste is used. 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. That the role of the two principles could vary at different levels within a first-order division has also been seen. Vankar is described as a caste as well as a community. 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. While the Rajputs, Leva Patidars, Anavils and Khedawals have been notorious for high dowries, and the Kolis have been looked down upon for their practice of bride price, the Vanias have been paying neither. The urban centres in both the areas, it is hardly necessary to mention, are nucleated settlements populated by numerous caste and religious groups. Both were recognized as Brahman but as degraded ones. The two former ekdas continued to exist with diminished strength. Also, the horizontal spread of a caste rarely coincided with the territorial boundaries of a political authority. 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. 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. : 11-15, 57-75). 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. Privacy Policy 8. 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. 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. I will not discuss the present situation in detail but indicate briefly how the above discussion could be useful for understanding a few important changes in modern times. The Vanias provide an example of such castes. to which the divisions of the marrying couple belong. All Brahman divisions did not, however, have a corresponding Vania division. The incidence of exchange marriages and of bachelors in the lowest stratum among the Anavils also was high. These and many other artisans, craftsmen and servants reflected the special life-style of the town. professor melissa murray. No sooner had the village studies begun that their limitations and the need for studying caste in its horizontal dimension were realized. 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. I have discussed above caste divisions in Gujarat mainly in the past, roughly in the middle of the 19th century. This was unlike the situation among the Rajputs who did not make any attempt to form small endogamous 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. % 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 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. 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. Any one small caste may look insignificant in itself but all small castes put together become a large social block and a significant social phenomenon. The latter continued to be the provincial capital during Mughal rule. In 1931, the Rajputs of all strata in Gujarat had together a population of about 35,000 forming nearly 5 per cent of the total population of Gujarat. The Khedawals, numbering 15,000 to 20,000 in 1931 were basically priests but many of them were also landowners, government officials, and traders. The Hindu and Muslim kingdoms in Gujarat during the medieval period had, of course, their capital towns, at first Patan and then Ahmedabad. No one knows when and how they came into existence and what they meant socially. Briefly, while the Varna model was significant in the total dynamics of the caste system to fit the numerous first-order divisions into the four-fold Varna model in any part of India is impossible, and, therefore, to consider varnas as caste divisions as such is meaningless. 3 0 obj Today, there are two kinds of Koli areas. 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. There were similar problems about the status of a number of other divisions. They adopted Rajput customs and traditions, claimed Rajput status, and gave daughters in marriage to Rajputs in the lower rungs of Rajput hierarchy. Most of the second-order divisions were further divided into third-order 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. 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. Typically, a village consists of the sections of various castes, ranging from those with just one household to those with over u hundred. There is a patterned widening of the connubial field along an area chalked out historically. Significantly, a large number of social thinkers and workers who propagated against the hierarchical features of caste came from urban centres. While some of the divisions of a lower order might be the result of fission, some others might be a result of fusion. For example, just as there was a Shrimali division among Sonis (goldsmiths). 1 0 obj Sometimes a division could even be a self-contained endogamous unit. Although the number of inter-ekda marriages has been increasing, even now the majority of marriages take place within an ekda. ), as contrasted with the horizontal unity of the caste. manvar surname caste in gujarat. 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. //]]>. Many of them became the norm-setting elite for Gujaratis in the homeland. All the small towns sections in each of the ekdas resented that, while the large town section accepted brides from small towns, they did not reciprocate. 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. 4 0 obj Jun 12, 2022 . There was not only no pyramid type of arrangement among the many ekdas in a second-order Vania divisionthe type of arrangement found in the Rajput, Leva Kanbi, Anavil and Khedawal divisions-but frequently there was no significant sign of hierarchical relation, except boastful talk, between two neighbouring ekdas. But the hypergamous tendency was so powerful that each such endogamous unit could not be perfectly endogamous even at the height of its integration. 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. <> There was another kind of ambiguity about the Brahman status or two other divisionsKayatia and Tapodhan. TOS 7. 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. I am not suggesting that the principle of hierarchy was insignificant in the inter- or intra-caste relations in urban centres. Broach, Cambay and Surat were the largest, but there were also a number of smaller ones. * List of Scheduled Tribes in Gujarat; A. . But there was also another process. No analytical gains are therefore likely to occur by calling them by any other name. Indian textiles especially of Gujarat have been praised in several accounts by explorers and historians, from Megasthenes to Herodotus. 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. In central Gujarat, for example, one and the same division, freely arranging marriages within it, was known by several names such as Baraiya, Dharala, Khant, Kotwal, Pagi, Patelia, Talapada, Thakarada, and Thakor. 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. Before publishing your articles on this site, please read the following pages: 1. Created Date: 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. So far we have considered first-order divisions with large and widely spread populations. 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.

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