Our analysis of the internal organization of caste divisions has shown considerable variation in the relative role of the principles of division and hierarchy. Also, the horizontal spread of a caste rarely coincided with the territorial boundaries of a political authority. 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. Literally, ekda meant unit, and gol circle, and both signified an endogamous unit. 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 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. As soon as there is any change in . 4 0 obj
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. I would suggest that this feature of urban caste, along with the well known general tendency of urban culture to encourage innovation, provided the groundhowever diffuse that ground might have beenfor a favourable response to the anti-hierarchical ideas coming from the West. Homo Hierarchicus. The most important of them was the Koli division, which was, the largest division and mainly included small landholders, tenants and labourers. What is really required for a comprehensive understanding is a comparison of traditional with modern caste in both rural and urban areas (including, to be sure, the rural-urban linkages). Indian textiles especially of Gujarat have been praised in several accounts by explorers and historians, from Megasthenes to Herodotus. Although I have not, during my limited field work, come across hypergamous marriages between Rajputs and Bhils, ethnographic reports and other literature frequently refer to such marriages (see, for example, Naik 1956: 18f; Nath I960. Most associations continue to retain their non-political character. While we can find historical information about the formation of ekdas and tads there are only myths about the formation of the numerous second-order divisions. Frequently, a division among Vanias corresponded to a division among Brahmans. 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. 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. In the meanwhile, it is important to note that there does not seem to have been any attempt to form small endogamous units (ekdas, gols) at any level among the Rajputs unlike attempts made as we shall see, among some other hypergamous castes in Gujarat. Reference to weaving and spinning materials is found in the Vedic Literature. 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. 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. It was also an extreme example of a division having a highly differentiated internal hierarchy and practising hypergamy as an accepted norm. If the Varna divisions are taken into account, then this would add one more order to the four orders of caste divisions considered above. Frequently, social divisions were neatly expressed in street names. Content Guidelines 2. We have analyzed the internal structure of two first-order divisions, Rajput and Anavil, which did not have any second-order divisions, and of several second-order divisionsTalapada and Pardeshi Koli, Khedawal Brahman, and Leva Kanbiwhich did not have any third-order divisions. They were thus not of the same status as most other second-order divisions among Brahmans. There is enormous literature on these caste divisions from about the middle of the 19th century which includes census reports, gazetteers, [] I do not, however, have sufficient knowledge of the latter and shall, therefore, confine myself mainly to Rajputs in Gujarat. [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. 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. Koli Patels are recognised as a Other Backward Class caste by Government of Gujarat. A recent tendency in sociological literature is to consider jatis as castes. One important first-order division, namely, Rajput, does not seem to have had any second-order division at all. Division and hierarchy have always been stressed as the two basic principles of the caste system. The advance made in recent years is limited and much more needs to be done. 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 two considered themselves different and separateof course, within the Kanbi foldwhere they happened to live together in the villages in the merger zone between north and central Gujarat and in towns. Although my knowledge is fragmentary, I thought it was worthwhile to put together the bits and pieces for the region as a whole. The boundaries of caste division were fairly clear in the village community. 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. 1 0 obj
Many of them became the norm-setting elite for Gujaratis in the homeland. <>/Metadata 3086 0 R/ViewerPreferences 3087 0 R>>
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. 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. 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 degree of contravention is highest if the couple belong to two different first-order divisions. I describe here three prominent units of the latter type, namely, Anavil, Leva Kanbi, and Khedawal Brahman. This reflects the high degree of divisiveness in castes in Gujarat. 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. The Vanias provide an example of such castes. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. He stated: hereditary specialization together with hierarchical organization sinks into the background in East Africa (293). 100 Most Popular Indian Last Names Or SurnamesWhy Don't Tamil People Have Last Names?-----A . 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. For example, the Patanwadia population was spread continuously from the Patan area to central Gujarat, and the Talapada population from central Gujarat to Pal. 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. 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. [CDATA[ 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. 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. As weaving is an art and forms one of the most important artisan community of India. The decline was further accelerated by the industrial revolution. 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. * List of Scheduled Tribes in Gujarat; A. . This surname is most commonly held in India, where it is held by 2,496 people, or 1 in 307,318. Castes pervaded by divisive tendencies had small populations confined to small areas separated from each other by considerable gaps. Similarly, the Vanias were divided into such divisions as Disawal, Kapol, Khadayata, Lad, Modh, Nagar, Nima, Porwad, Shirmali, Vayada, and Zarola. Caste associations have been formed on the lines of caste divisions. 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. There are other sub-castes like Satpanthis, who are mainly centered in Kutch district and have some social customs akin to Muslims . The Khadayatas were divided into about 30 ekdas. Significantly, a large number of social thinkers and workers who propagated against the hierarchical features of caste came from urban centres. The most important example of primarily political caste association is the Gujarat Kshatriya Sabha. Since Vankars were involved in production and business they were known as Nana Mahajans or small merchants. Plagiarism Prevention 4. Simultaneously, there is gradual decline in the strength of the principle of hierarchy, particularly of ritual hierarchy expressed in purity and pollution. Together they provide a slice of Gujarati society from the sea- coast to the bordering highlands. 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. The existence of flexibility at both the levels was made possible by the flexibility of the category Rajput. While fission did occur, fusion could also occur. This was about 22% of all the recorded Mehta's in USA. 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. The castes of the three categoriesprimarily urban, primarily rural, and rural-cum-urbanformed an intricate network spread over the rural and urban communities in the region. These linkages played an important role in the traditional social structure as well as in the processes of change in modern India. Similarly, in Saurashtra, the Talapadas were distinguished from the Chumvalias, immigrants from the Chumval tract in north Gujarat. 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. 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. Content Filtrations 6. The tribal groups in the highland area, such as the Bhils and Naikdas, also did not have any urban component. The guiding ideas were samaj sudharo (social reform) and samaj seva (social service). There are thus a few excellent studies of castes as horizontal units. And even when a Brahman name corresponded with a Vania name, the former did not necessarily work as priests of the latter.The total number of second-divisions in a first-order division differed from one first-order division to another. Jun 12, 2022. Inclusion of a lower-order division in a higher-order one and distinction between various divisions in a certain order was not as unambiguous. The urban community included a large number of caste groups as well as social groups of other kinds which tended to be like communities with a great deal of internal cohesion. 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. 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. 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. . The Hindu population of Gujarat was divided first of all into what I have called caste divisions of the first order. 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. (Frequently, such models are constructed a priori rather than based on historical evidence, but that is another story). 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. There were also a number of first-order divisions, mainly of artisans, craftsmen and specialized servants, with small populations. 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. The two together formed a single complex of continental dimension. 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. This stratum among the Kanbis coped with the problem mainly by practising remarriage of widows and divorced women. Once the claim was accepted at either level, hypergamous marriage was possible. 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. This meant that he could marry a girl of any subdivision within the Vania division. 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. The two categories of castes have been deeply conscious of these differences between them and have been talking freely about them. They then spread to towns in the homeland and among all castes. Since these were all status categories rather than clear- cut divisions, I have not considered them as constituting third-order divisions. 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. Firstly, there were divisions whose population was found almost entirely in towns. 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. <>
3.8K subscribers in the gujarat community. From the 15th century onwards we find historical references to political activities of Koli chieftains. ADVERTISEMENTS: Division and Hierarchy: An Overview of Caste in Gujarat! Moreover, some leading Anavils did not wish to be bothered about Brahman status, saying that they were just Anavil. Asking different questions and using different methods are necessary. Prohibited Content 3. 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. 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. Real Estate Software Dubai > blog > manvar surname caste in gujarat. 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. Nor were ekdas and tads entirely an urban phenomenon. There was apparently a close relation between a castes internal organization and the size and spatial distribution of its population. 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. Both Borradaile and Campbell were probably mixing up small endogamous units of various kinds. I know some ekdas, and tads composed of only 150 to 200 households. Till the establishment of democratic polity in 1947, hardly any caste association in Gujarat had manifest political functions. So far we have considered first-order divisions with large and widely spread populations. The small ekda or tad with its entire population residing in a single town was, of course, not a widespread phenomenon. Many primarily rural castes, such as Kolisthe largest castehave remained predominantly rural even today. The unit might possess some other corporate characteristics also. 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. 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. Most of the second-order divisions were further divided into third-order divisions. In addition, they carried on overland trade with many towns in central and north India. They took away offerings made to Shiva, which was considered extremely degrading. 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. These marriage links do not seem to have allowed, among the Kolis, formation of well organized, small, endogamous units (ekadas, gols) as were found among some other castes. Advances in manufacturing technologies flooded markets in India and abroad with cheap, mass-produced fabrics that Indian handlooms could no longer compete with. 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). Some of the other such divisions were Kathi, Dubla, Rabari, Bharwad, Mer (see Trivedi 1961), Vaghri, Machhi, Senwa, Vanzara, and Kharwa. 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. Gujarat did not have anything like the non-Brahmin movement of South India and Maharashtra before 1947. Here, usually, what mattered was the first-order division, as for example Brahman, Vania, Rajput, Kanbi, carpenter, barber, leather-worker, and so on. But during the 18th century, when the Mughal Empire was disintegrating, a large number of small kingdoms came into existence, and each had a small capital town of its own. //]]>. Hindu society is usually described as divided into a number of castes the boundaries of which are maintained by the rule of caste endogamy. Kolis were the largest first-order division in Gujarat. The Kolis in such an area may not even be concerned about a second-order divisional name and may be known simply as Kolis. yorba linda football maxpreps; weiteste entfernung gerichtsbezirk; wyoming rockhounding locations google maps; The urban centres in both the areas, it is hardly necessary to mention, are nucleated settlements populated by numerous caste and religious groups. The purpose is not to condemn village studies, as is caste in a better perspective after deriving insights from village studies. Nor do I claim to know the whole of Gujarat. Gujarat- A state in India. 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. The Brahmans were divided into such divisions as Audich, Bhargav, Disawal, Khadayata, Khedawal, Mewada, Modh, Nagar, Shrigaud, Shrimali, Valam, Vayada, and Zarola. I have bits and pieces of information about relations between a considerable numbers of other lower-order divisions in their respective higher-order divisions. In recent years, however, there has been a tendency to emphasize hierarchy as the primary principle encompassing the principle of division. 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. They are described by the ruling elite as robbers, dacoits, marauders, predators and the like. The same problems would arise in the reverse direction if, as many scholars have done, the term caste cluster, caste complex or caste category is used for divisions of a higher order and the term caste or jati is used for divisions of a lower order. 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 primarily urban castes and the urban sections of the rural-cum- urban castes were the first to take advantage of the new opportunities that developed in industry, commerce, administration, the professions and education in urban centres.
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