In the plains, therefore, every village had one or more towns in its vicinity. Our analysis of the internal organization of caste divisions has shown considerable variation in the relative role of the principles of division and hierarchy. The larger castes and even larger subdivisions among them used to have their houses segregated on their own streets (called pol, sheri, khadki, vad, khancho). Caste Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster manvar surname caste in gujarat. While fission did occur, fusion could also occur. The understanding of changes in caste is not likely to be advanced by clubbing such diverse groups together under the rubric of ethnic group. 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. Their origin myth enshrined in their caste purana also showed them to be originally non-Brahman. 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 Ghurye pointed out long ago, slow consolidation of the smaller castes into larger ones would lead to three or four large groups being solidly organized for pushing the interests of each even at the cost of the others. The Hindu population of Gujarat was divided first of all into what I have called caste divisions of the first order. They also continued to have marital relations with their own folk. manvar surname caste in gujarat. 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. They were thus not of the same status as most other second-order divisions among Brahmans. 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. 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. The purpose is not to condemn village studies, as is caste in a better perspective after deriving insights from village studies. gujarati surnames castes I shall first provide an analysis of caste in the past roughly during the middle of the 19th century, and then deal with changes in the modern times. For example, there was considerable ambiguity about the status of Anavils. Use census records and voter lists to . As could be expected, there were marriages between fairly close kin, resulting in many overlapping relationships, in such an endogamous unit. 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. I have bits and pieces of information about relations between a considerable numbers of other lower-order divisions in their respective higher-order divisions. Many of them claimed that they were Brahmans but this claim was not accepted by most established Brahmans. 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. Before publishing your articles on this site, please read the following pages: 1. 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. 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 tribal groups in the highland area, such as the Bhils and Naikdas, also did not have any urban component. 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. Nor do I claim to know the whole of Gujarat. 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 marital alliances of the royal families forming part of the Maratha confederacy, and of the royal families of Mysore in south India and of Kashmir and Nepal in the north with the royal families of Gujarat and Rajasthan show, among other things, how there was room for flexibility and how the rule of caste endogamy could be violated in an acceptable manner at the highest level. 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. This account of the divisions is based on various sources, but mainly on Bombay Gazetteer (1901). Apparently this upper boundary of the division was sharp and clear, especially when we remember that many of these royal families practised polygyny and female infanticide until middle of the 19th century (see Plunkett 1973; Viswa Nath 1969, 1976). Division and Hierarchy: An Overview of Caste in Gujarat! Content Guidelines 2. A recent tendency in sociological literature is to consider jatis as castes. Although some of them set up shops in villages they rarely became full-fledged members of the village community. 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. All Brahman divisions did not, however, have a corresponding Vania division. The fact that Mahatma Gandhi came from a small third-order division in the Modh Vania division in a town in Saurashtra does not seem to be an accident. endobj While some of the divisions of a lower order might be the result of fission, some others might be a result of fusion. manvar surname caste in gujarat Some of the other such divisions were Kathi, Dubla, Rabari, Bharwad, Mer (see Trivedi 1961), Vaghri, Machhi, Senwa, Vanzara, and Kharwa. 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. A fundamental difficulty with these paradigms of change, as indicated by the above analysis, is that they are based on a partial conception of the systematic or structural whole in the past partially because it does not cover the urban situation and the complexity of horizontal units. manvar surname caste in gujarat - Be Falcon 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. The lowest stratum in all the three divisions had to face the problem of scarcity of brides. As soon as there is any change in . Limbachiya Surname Origin, Meaning & Last Name History - Forebears 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. <>/ExtGState<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageB/ImageC/ImageI] >>/Annots[ 9 0 R] /MediaBox[ 0 0 612 792] /Contents 4 0 R/Group<>/Tabs/S/StructParents 0>> 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. Hypergamy was accompanied by sanskritization of at least a section of the tribal population, their claim to the Kshatriya Varna and their economic and political symbiosis with the caste population. The humble Charkha (spinning wheel) and khadi became a dominant symbol of self-reliance, self-determination and nationalist pride. 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. Hence as we go down the hierarchy we encounter more and more debates regarding the claims of particular lineages to being Rajput so much so that we lose sight of any boundary and the Rajput division merges imperceptibly into some other division. * List of Scheduled Tribes in Gujarat; A. . (Frequently, such models are constructed a priori rather than based on historical evidence, but that is another story). 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. The small endogamous units, on the other hand, did not practise either. Division and hierarchy have always been stressed as the two basic principles of the caste system. New Jersey had the highest population of Mehta families in 1920. Frequently, the urban population of such a division performed more specialized functions than did the rural one. The significant point, however, is that there were small endogamous units which were not, like ekdas and tads, part of any higher-order division. 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. 100 Most Common Surnames in India | Probability Comparison Thus, the result was the spread of the population of a caste division towards its fringes. However, on the basis of the meagre information I have, I am able to make a few points. 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). 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. Literally, ekda meant unit, and gol circle, and both signified an endogamous unit. There is enormous literature on these caste divisions from about the middle of the 19th century which includes census reports, gazetteers, [] Our analysis of caste in towns has shown how it differed significantly from that in villages. The error is further compounded whenalthough this is less commonthe partial, rural model of traditional caste is compared with the present urban situation, and conclusions are drawn about overall change. He stated: hereditary specialization together with hierarchical organization sinks into the background in East Africa (293). Usually, it was a small population. Together they provide a slice of Gujarati society from the sea- coast to the bordering highlands. But the hypergamous tendency was so powerful that each such endogamous unit could not be perfectly endogamous even at the height of its integration. The Mehta family name was found in the USA, and the UK between 1891 and 1920. 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. The co-residence of people belonging to two or more divisions of the lower orders within a division of a higher order has been a prominent feature of caste in towns and cities. Visited Ahmedabad for the weekend to meet a friend but her family had a medical emergency. Ideally, castes as horizontal units should he discussed with the help of population figures. I am dealing here only with certain typical situations. 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. There was also another important correlation. This was because political authorities were hierarchized from little kingdom to empire and the boundaries of political authorities kept changing. 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. 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). 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. Many of these names were also based on place names. 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 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. Frequently, The ekdas or gols were each divided into groups called tads (split). One of the clearly visible changes in caste in Gujarat is the increasing number of inter-divisional or so-called inter-caste marriages, particularly in urban areas, in contravention of the rule of caste endogamy. They were involved in agriculture in one way or another. Significantly, a large number of social thinkers and workers who propagated against the hierarchical features of caste came from urban centres. Toori. Although my knowledge is fragmentary, I thought it was worthwhile to put together the bits and pieces for the region as a whole. That the role of the two principles could vary at different levels within a first-order division has also been seen. 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 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. 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. As weaving is an art and forms one of the most important artisan community of India. Tapodhans were priests in Shiva temples. Broach, Cambay and Surat were the largest, but there were also a number of smaller ones. . 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. In all there were thirty to forty such divisions. They are described by the ruling elite as robbers, dacoits, marauders, predators and the like. 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. 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. Systematic because castes exist and are like each other in being different (298). The unit might possess some other corporate characteristics also. 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. In contrast, there were horizontal units, the internal hierarchy and hypergamy of which were restricted to some extent by the formation of small endogamous units and which had discernible boundaries at the lowest level. The migrants, many of whom came from heterogeneous urban centres of Gujarat, became part of an even more heterogeneous environment in Bombay. The degree of contravention involved in an inter-divisional marriage, however, depends upon the order (i.e., first-order, second-order, etc.) I have not yet come across an area where Kolis from three or more different areas live together, excepting modern, large towns and cities. There was also a third category called Pancha, derived from the word punch (meaning 5) and denoting extremely low Vania. Gujarat protests: Who are the Patidars, and why are they angry? The migration of the Kolis of north Gujarat into central Gujarat and those of the latter into eastern Gujarat was a process of slow drift from one village to another over a period of time. % Since these were all status categories rather than clear- cut divisions, I have not considered them as constituting third-order divisions. 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. <>/Metadata 3086 0 R/ViewerPreferences 3087 0 R>> The main point is that we do not completely lose sight of the lowest boundary among these three hypergamous divisions as we do among the Rajputs. %PDF-1.7 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Kayatias and Tapodhans were considered such low Brahmans that even some non-Brahman castes did not accept food and water from them. Until recently, sociologists and anthropologists described Indian society as though it had no urban component in the past. They adopted Rajput customs and traditions, claimed Rajput status, and gave daughters in marriage to Rajputs in the lower rungs of Rajput hierarchy. The most Mehta families were found in USA in 1920. 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).