Another major factor in the growth of urban centres in Gujarat was political. Many of them became the norm-setting elite for Gujaratis in the homeland. The number of tads in an ekda or go I might be two or more, and each of them might be an endogamous units. to which the divisions of the marrying couple belong. Sometimes a division corresponding to a division among Brahmans and Vanias was found in a third first-order division also. For example, among the Khadayata Vanias there are all-Khadayata associations as well as associations for the various ekdas and sometimes even for their tads (see Shah, Ragini 1978). In any case, the population of any large caste was found in many kingdoms. 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. 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. Ideally, castes as horizontal units should he discussed with the help of population figures. 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. 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. 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. 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). Use census records and voter lists to . 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. 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. While fission did occur, fusion could also occur. Our analysis of caste in towns has shown how it differed significantly from that in villages. We need to formulate some idea of the nature of the Indian urban society and its relation with the rural society in the past, at least at the beginning of the 19th century. Both Borradaile and Campbell were probably mixing up small endogamous units of various kinds. 1 0 obj
To take one sensitive area of purity/pollution behaviour, the concern for observance of rules of commensality has greatly declined not only in urban but also in rural areas. 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. %
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). The pattern of inter-divisional marriages shows how the idea of free marriage, which guides most of the inter-caste marriages, is restricted, modified, and graded according to the traditional structure of caste divisions. Although the ekda or tad was the most effective unit for endogamy, each unit of the higher order was also significant for endogamy. manvar surname caste in gujaratbest imperial trooper team swgoh piett. %PDF-1.7
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. Indeed, a major achievement of Indian sociology during the last thirty years or so has been deeper understanding of caste in the village context in particular and of its hierarchical dimension in general. We shall return to this issue later. 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. They also continued to have marital relations with their own folk. In some parts of Gujarat they formed 30 to 35 per cent of the population. The Brahmans and Vanias seem to have had the largest number of divisions as mentioned earlier, about eighty in the former and about forty in the latter. Among the first-order divisions with subdivisions going down to the fourth order, there are associations for divisions of all the orders. This meant that he could marry a girl of any subdivision within the Vania division. 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. 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. After the commercial revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries, Gujarat had a large number of tradition towns on its long sea-coast. In 1931, their total population was more than 1,700,000, nearly one-fourth of the total population of Gujarat. 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. The tad thus represented the fourth and last order of caste divisions. Advances in manufacturing technologies flooded markets in India and abroad with cheap, mass-produced fabrics that Indian handlooms could no longer compete with. 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. Copyright 10. 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. 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). There was also another kind of feast, called bhandaro, where Brahmans belonging to a lesser number of divisions (say, all the few in a small town) were invited. The arrival of the East India Company, however sounded the death knell for the Indian textile industry. 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. But this is not enough. Many primarily rural castes, such as Kolisthe largest castehave remained predominantly rural even today. When divisions are found within a jati, the word sub-jati or sub-caste is used. On the other hand, there was an almost simultaneous spurt in village studies. Gujarati migrations to the nearby metropolis of Bombay the first new centre of administration, industry, commerce, education, and western culture, followed the same links. The Hindu and Muslim kingdoms in Gujarat during the medieval period had, of course, their capital towns, at first Patan and then Ahmedabad. * List of Scheduled Tribes in Gujarat; A. . 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. Vankar is described as a caste as well as a community. Gujarat- A state in India. While certain first-order divisions were found mainly in towns, the population of certain other first-order divisions was dispersed in villages as well as in towns, the population of the rural and the urban sections differing from one division to another. The handloom weavers of Gujarat, Maharastra and Bengal produced and exported some of the world's most desirable fabrics. The population of certain first-order divisions lived mainly in villages. This was dramatized in many towns at the mahajan (guild) feasts when all the members of the guild of traders would eat together. 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. Gujarat did not have anything like the non-Brahmin movement of South India and Maharashtra before 1947. 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. It is not claimed that separation, or even repulsion, may not be present somewhere as an independent factor (1972: 346,n.55b). Early industrial labour was also drawn mainly from the urban artisan and servant castes. Most associations continue to retain their non-political character. Pages in category "Social groups of Gujarat" The following 157 pages are in this category, out of 157 total. The advance made in recent years is limited and much more needs to be done. The latter continued to be the provincial capital during Mughal rule. The lowest stratum in all the three divisions had to face the problem of scarcity of brides. This list may not reflect recent changes. Weaving and cloth trading communities of Western India particularly of Gujarat are called Vankar/Wankar/Vaniya. Each ekda or gol was composed of a definite number of families living in certain villages and/or towns. 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. 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. All associations originated in large towns, are more active in towns than in villages, and are led by prominent members in towns. The humble Charkha (spinning wheel) and khadi became a dominant symbol of self-reliance, self-determination and nationalist pride. In fact, inter-tad marriages have increased so much that the tads have more or less lost their identity and such marriages are no longer considered as violating the rule of tad endogamy. Image Guidelines 5. Let me illustrate briefly. 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 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. 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. One important first-order division, namely, Rajput, does not seem to have had any second-order division at all.