The Brahmans were divided into such divisions as Audich, Bhargav, Disawal, Khadayata, Khedawal, Mewada, Modh, Nagar, Shrigaud, Shrimali, Valam, Vayada, and Zarola. In India Limbachiya is most frequent in: Maharashtra, where 70 percent reside, Gujarat . 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. Also, the horizontal spread of a caste rarely coincided with the territorial boundaries of a political authority. manvar surname caste in gujarat r/ahmedabad From Mumbai. The following 157 pages are in this category, out of 157 total. Patidars or Patels claim themselves to be descendants of Lord Ram. 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. The main occupation of Vankars was the weaving of cloth. I have discussed above caste divisions in Gujarat mainly in the past, roughly in the middle of the 19th century. The incidence of exchange marriages and of bachelors in the lowest stratum among the Anavils also was high. In any case, the population of any large caste was found in many kingdoms. They took away offerings made to Shiva, which was considered extremely degrading. Further, during this lengthy process of slow amalgamation those who will marry in defiance of the barriers of sub-caste, will still be imbued with caste mentality (1932: 184). Almost all the myths about the latter are enshrined in the puranas (for an analysis of a few of them, see Das 1968 and 1977). Inclusion of a lower-order division in a higher-order one and distinction between various divisions in a certain order was not as unambiguous. Vankar is described as a caste as well as a community. Similarly, in Saurashtra, the Talapadas were distinguished from the Chumvalias, immigrants from the Chumval tract in north Gujarat. Moreover, some leading Anavils did not wish to be bothered about Brahman status, saying that they were just Anavil. 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. 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. 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. 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. They were involved in agriculture in one way or another. Both Borradaile and Campbell were probably mixing up small endogamous units of various kinds. Roughly, while in the plains area villages are nucleated settlements, populated by numerous castes, in the highland area villages are dispersed settlements, populated by tribes and castes of tribal origin. 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. <> A large proportion, if not the whole, of the population of many of such divisions lived in towns. The highest stratum among the Leva Kanbi tried to maintain its position by practising polygyny and female infanticide, among other customs and institutions, as did the highest stratum among the Rajput. There is a patterned widening of the connubial field along an area chalked out historically. 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. Firstly, there were divisions whose population was found almost entirely in towns. This list may not reflect recent changes. 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. 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. 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. At one end there were castes in which the principle of hierarchy had free play and the role of the principle of division was limited. 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. In recent years, however, there has been a tendency to emphasize hierarchy as the primary principle encompassing the principle of division. The ekdas have not yet lost their identities. 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. A comment on the sociology of urban India would, therefore, be in order before we go ahead with the discussion of caste divisions. Privacy Policy 8. endobj The above brief analysis of change in caste in modern Gujarat has, I hope, indicated that an overall view of changes in caste in modern India should include a careful study of changes in rural as well as in urban areas in relation to their past. Broach, Cambay and Surat were the largest, but there were also a number of smaller ones. All this trade encouraged development of trading and commercial towns in the rest of Gujarat, even in the highland area. Most associations continue to retain their non-political character. The latter continued to be the provincial capital during Mughal rule. 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. They were thus not of the same status as most other second-order divisions among Brahmans. The most important example of primarily political caste association is the Gujarat Kshatriya Sabha. In the plains, therefore, every village had one or more towns in its vicinity. Although it has been experiencing stresses and strains and has had ups and downs on account of the enormous diversity between the royal and the tribal ends, it has shown remarkable solidarity in recent years. 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. Plagiarism Prevention 4. However, it is well known that there were subtle arguments regarding the status of certain royal families being Rajput. 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). 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. The division had an elaborate internal hierarchy, with wealthy and powerful landlords and tax-farmers at the top and small landholders, tenants and labourers at the bottom. It was also an extreme example of a division having a highly differentiated internal hierarchy and practising hypergamy as an accepted norm. He stated: hereditary specialization together with hierarchical organization sinks into the background in East Africa (293). 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. On the other hand, there was an almost simultaneous spurt in village studies. The humble Charkha (spinning wheel) and khadi became a dominant symbol of self-reliance, self-determination and nationalist pride. The small ekda or tad with its entire population residing in a single town was, of course, not a widespread phenomenon. I hope to show in this paper how the principle of division is also a primary principle competing with the principle of hierarchy and having important implications for Indian society and culture. 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. The degree of contravention is highest if the couple belong to two different first-order divisions. They have been grouped in Vaishya category of Varna system. The Vanias provide an example of such castes. 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. 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. This category has the following 18 subcategories, out of 18 total. The small endogamous units, on the other hand, did not practise either. 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. Nor were ekdas and tads entirely an urban phenomenon. Since after expansion of British textile markets and decline of Indian textile industry Vankars suffered a lot. 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 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. The two categories of castes have been deeply conscious of these differences between them and have been talking freely about them. I am dealing here only with certain typical situations. They also continued to have marital relations with their own folk. 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. Leva Sheri and Kadva Sheri, named after the two major second-order divisions among the Kanbis. New Jersey had the highest population of Mehta families in 1920. Although they claimed to be Brahman they were closely associated with agriculture. 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. What may be called the census approach influenced a great deal of scholarly work. Sometimes a division could even be a self-contained endogamous unit. In each of these three divisions the top stratum was clear. 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. 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. 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. Caste Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster 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. It seems the highland Bhils (and possibly also other tribes) provided brides to lower Rajputs in Gujarat. 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. 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. For example, there were Khedawal Brahmans but not Khedawal Vanias, and Lad Vanias but no Lad Brahmans. A few examples are: Brahman (priest), Vania (trader), Rajput (warrior and ruler), Kanbi (peasant), Koli (peasant), Kathi (peasant), Soni goldsmith), Suthar (carpenter), Valand (barber), Chamar (leatherworker), Dhed (weaver) and Bhangi (scavenger). 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. Fortunately, they have now started writing about it (see Rao 1974). Although my knowledge is fragmentary, I thought it was worthwhile to put together the bits and pieces for the region as a whole. to which the divisions of the marrying couple belong. Hence started farming and small scale business in the British Raj to thrive better conditions ahead to maintain their livelihood. After the commercial revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries, Gujarat had a large number of tradition towns on its long sea-coast. Another clearly visible change in caste in Gujarat is the emergence of caste associations. The Kayatias main occupation was to perform a ritual on the eleventh day after death, during which they took away offerings made to ghosts: this was the main cause of their extremely low status among Brahmans. Most inter-divisional marriages take place between boys and girls belonging to the lowest order in the structure of divisions. 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.