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. Castes pervaded by divisive tendencies had small populations confined to small areas separated from each other by considerable gaps. For example, a good number of villages in central Gujarat used to have both Talapada and Pardeshi Kolis and Brahmans belonging to two or three of their many second-order divisions. But this is not enough. 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. 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. The Anavil, numbering 30,000 to 40,000 in 1931, were found mainly in south Gujarat. The two former ekdas continued to exist with diminished strength. Prohibited Content 3. In all there were about eighty such divisions. 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. The boundaries of caste division were fairly clear in the village community. rogers outage brampton today; levelland, tx obituaries. According to the Rajputs I know in central Gujarat, the highest stratum among them consisted of the royal families of large and powerful kingdoms in Gujarat and neighbouring Rajasthan, such as those of Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Kachchh, Porbandar, Bikaner, Idar, Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Udaipur, and so on. 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). 3 0 obj The Khadayatas were divided into about 30 ekdas. 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.). It has been pointed out earlier that an emphasis on the principle of division existed in the caste system in urban centres in traditional India. The main aim of this paper is to discuss, on the basis of data derived mainly from Gujarat, these and other problems connected with the horizontal dimension of caste. Usually, these divisions were distinguished from one another by prohibition of what people called roti vyavahar (bread, i.e., food transactions) as well as beti vyavahar (daughter, i.e., marital transactions). Vankar is described as a caste as well as a community. The Mehta family name was found in the USA, and the UK between 1891 and 1920. 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. A new view of the whole, comprising the rural and the urban and the various orders of caste divisions, should be evolved. These prefixes Visa and Dasa, were generally understood to be derived from the words for the numbers 20 (vis) and 10 (das), which suggested a descending order of status, but there is no definite evidence of such hierarchy in action. Visited Ahmedabad for the weekend to meet a friend but her family had a medical emergency. 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 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). Srinivas has called the unity of the village manifested in these interrelations the vertical unity of the village (1952: 31f. 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. Besides the myths, the members of a second-order division, belonging to all ekdas, shared certain customs and institutions, including worship of a tutelary deity. The very low Brahmans such as Kayatias and Tapodhans were invited but made to eat separately from the rest of the Brahmans. Simultaneously, there is gradual decline in the strength of the principle of hierarchy, particularly of ritual hierarchy expressed in purity and pollution. The tad thus represented the fourth and last order of caste 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. The main occupation of Vankars was the weaving of cloth. Caste associations have been formed on the lines of caste divisions. r/ahmedabad From Mumbai. 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. 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, the urban population of such a division performed more specialized functions than did the rural one. For example, in a Rajput kingdom the families of the Rajput king and his nobles resided in the capital town, while the Rajput landlords and cultivators resided in villages. The Chumvalias and Patanwadias migrated possibly from the same tract and continued to belong to the same horizontal unit after migration. As soon as there is any change in . Usually, a single Koli division had different local names in different parts of Gujarat, but more about this later. Our analysis of the internal organization of caste divisions has shown considerable variation in the relative role of the principles of division and hierarchy. 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. Gujarati migrations to the nearby metropolis of Bombay the first new centre of administration, industry, commerce, education, and western culture, followed the same links. Let us now return to a consideration of the first-order divisions with subdivisions going down to the third or the fourth order. We will now analyze the internal structure of a few first-order divisions, each of which was split into divisions going down to the fourth order. The two together formed a single complex of continental dimension. 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). Reference to weaving and spinning materials is found in the Vedic Literature. % So far we have considered first-order divisions with large and widely spread populations. 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.). There was another kind of ambiguity about the Brahman status or two other divisionsKayatia and Tapodhan. For example, just as there was a Shrimali division among Sonis (goldsmiths). 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. Literally, ekda meant unit, and gol circle, and both signified an endogamous unit. While we do get evidence of fission of caste divisions of a higher order into two or more divisions of a lower order, the mere existence of divisions of a lower order should not be taken as evidence of fission in a division of a higher order. We have seen how one second-order division among Brahmans, namely, Khedawal, was marked by continuous internal hierarchy and strong emphasis on hypergamy on the one hand and by absence of effective small endogamous units on the other. 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. It was also an extreme example of a division having a highly differentiated internal hierarchy and practising hypergamy as an accepted norm. The members of a kings caste were thus found not only in his own kingdom but in other kingdoms as well. endobj I am not suggesting that the principle of hierarchy was insignificant in the inter- or intra-caste relations in urban centres. Asking different questions and using different methods are necessary. Once the claim was accepted at either level, hypergamous marriage was possible. 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. The most important of them was the Koli division, which was, the largest division and mainly included small landholders, tenants and labourers. 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. stream No one knows when and how they came into existence and what they meant socially. Kayatias and Tapodhans were considered such low Brahmans that even some non-Brahman castes did not accept food and water from them. 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. 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. 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 the case of some of them the small population was so dispersed that a division such as that of barbers, blacksmiths, or carpenters, would be represented by only one or two households in each village and by a significant number of households in towns. Real Estate Software Dubai > blog > 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. The bulk of the population was spread all over the villages as small landholders, tenants and labourers. 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; In 1931, their total population was more than 1,700,000, nearly one-fourth of the total population of Gujarat. Frequently, a division among Vanias corresponded to a division among Brahmans. 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. 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 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. While fission did occur, fusion could also occur. Weaving and cloth trading communities of Western India particularly of Gujarat are called Vankar/Wankar/Vaniya. Firstly, there were divisions whose population was found almost entirely in towns. 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. <> First, since the tads were formed relatively recently, it is easier to get information about their formation than about the formation of ekdas. More of them were located in the plains, than in the bordering highlands. Usually, the affairs of the caste were discussed in large congregations of some fifty to hundred or even more villages from time to time. Tirgaar, Tirbanda. I have discussed above caste divisions in Gujarat mainly in the past, roughly in the middle of the 19th century. 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. I have done field work in two contiguous parts of Gujarat: central Gujarat (Kheda district and parts of Ahmedabad and Baroda districts) and eastern Gujarat (Panchmahals district). 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. The Brahmans were divided into such divisions as Audich, Bhargav, Disawal, Khadayata, Khedawal, Mewada, Modh, Nagar, Shrigaud, Shrimali, Valam, Vayada, and Zarola. 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. 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. What I am trying to point out, however, is that greater emphasis on division (Pococks difference, Dumonts separation. The unit might possess some other corporate characteristics also. And how flexibility was normal at the lowest level has just been shown. The migrants, many of whom came from heterogeneous urban centres of Gujarat, became part of an even more heterogeneous environment in Bombay. Their origin myth enshrined in their caste purana also showed them to be originally non-Brahman. They wrote about the traditional Indian village, but not about the traditional Indian town. 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. 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. We shall return to this issue later. 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. In each of these three divisions the top stratum was clear. We shall return to the Rajput-Koli relationship when we consider the Kolis in detail. 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. All associations originated in large towns, are more active in towns than in villages, and are led by prominent members in towns. Another clearly visible change in caste in Gujarat is the emergence of caste associations. The two areas merge gradually, and my field work covered most of the spectrum. 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. Marco Polo a Venetian merchant on his visit to India in 13th century Gujarat observed that "brocading art of Gujarat weavers is par excellent". Early industrial labour was also drawn mainly from the urban artisan and servant castes. For example, there was considerable ambiguity about the status of Anavils. Moreover, some leading Anavils did not wish to be bothered about Brahman status, saying that they were just Anavil. Although the name of a Brahman or Vania division might be based on a place name, the division was not territorial in nature. Since these were all status categories rather than clear- cut divisions, I have not considered them as constituting third-order divisions. The Hindu population of Gujarat was divided first of all into what I have called caste divisions of the first order. I have bits and pieces of information about relations between a considerable numbers of other lower-order divisions in their respective higher-order divisions. 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. They were found in almost every village in plains Gujarat and in many villages in Saurashtra and Kachchh. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The guiding ideas were samaj sudharo (social reform) and samaj seva (social service). 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. A recent tendency in sociological literature is to consider jatis as castes. Some of the other such divisions were Kathi, Dubla, Rabari, Bharwad, Mer (see Trivedi 1961), Vaghri, Machhi, Senwa, Vanzara, and Kharwa. Since after expansion of British textile markets and decline of Indian textile industry Vankars suffered a lot. That Rajputs were one of the divisions, if not the only division of the first-order, not having further divisions, has already been mentioned. The urban centres in both the areas, it is hardly necessary to mention, are nucleated settlements populated by numerous caste and religious groups. Although some of them set up shops in villages they rarely became full-fledged members of the village community. 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. Unfortunately, such figures are not available for the last fifty years or so. Leva Sheri and Kadva Sheri, named after the two major second-order divisions among the Kanbis. 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.