Patidar

Patidar is an Indian caste found mostly in Gujarat but also in at least 22 other states of India.[1] The community comprises at least three subcastes - the Anjanas, Kadavas and Levas[2] - and is among the most studied of Indian castes. The process leading to its recognition is a paradigmatic example of the invention of tradition by social groups in India.[3]

Patidar
ReligionsHinduism
RegionPrincipally in Gujarat, but also some other states of India; diaspora notably in United Kingdom, United States, Canada
Patidar reservation agitation.

History

The Patidar community claims to originate from migrant Gurjaras who arrived in the Charotar region during the 11th century and turned from being a martial group to one that concentrated on agriculture. They are Kshatriya in the Hindu ritual ranking system, whose ancestors were mainly cultivators and landlords who engaged in agriculture activities.

The rise to socio-economic prominence of the Kanbi community in Gujarat and its change of identity to that of Patidar can be attributed to the land reforms of the British Raj period.[lower-alpha 1] The Raj administrators sought to assure revenue from the highly fertile lands of central Gujarat by instituting reforms that fundamentally changed the relationship between the two communities of the region, the peasant Kanbi and the warrior Kolis. The two had previously been of more or less equal socio-economic standing, but the land reforms better suited the agricultural peasantry than the warriors.[3]

Governments in India had always relied on revenue from land as their major source of income. With the decline of the Mughal Empire, the extant administrative systems fell apart and anarchy prevailed. The British colonisation of the country took place over a period of many years and had to adapt to the various local land tenure arrangements that had arisen as Mughal power waned. These systems of ownership could be broadly classified as landlord-based (zamindari, vanta or magulzari), village-based (mahalwari, narva) and individually based (ryotwari).[5]

In Gujarat, the British administrators found that all three systems existed. The Kanbis tended to adopt the village-based model and the Kolis the landlord-based variant.[6] The village-based system entailed that organisations jointly owned a village and shared responsibility in some fixed proportion for the land revenues. The division of responsibility might be arranged by the amount of land held by each member (the bhaiachara method) or by ancestry (the pattidari system).[5] Working with this village model enabled the British to impose a fixed revenue demand that was payable whether or not the land was cultivated and that gave landholders the right to sublet and otherwise manage their lands with minimal official interference. It simplified revenue collection and maximised income when compared to a system based on individual responsibility for revenue, in which allowances had to be made for land being out of cultivation. It also allowed a degree of communal self-determination that permitted the rise of economic elites with no reason to engage in political challenges, and hence the rise of the communities then known as Kanbis.[6] Some Kanbis became wealthy enough to enter the world of finance, providing lines of credit to others in their community.[7]

The situation experienced by the Gujarati Kolis, with their preferred landlord-based tenure system, was not so mutually beneficial. They were subject to interference from the British revenue collectors, who intervened to ensure that the stipulated revenue was remitted to the government before any surplus went to the landlord.[6] Being less inclined to take an active role in agriculture personally and thus maximise revenues from their landholdings, the Koli possessions were often left uncultivated or underused. These lands were gradually taken over by Kanbi cultivators, while the Kolis became classified as a criminal tribe due to their failure to meet the revenue demands and their tendency to raid Kanbi villages in order to survive. The Kanbi land takeovers also reduced the Kolis to being the tenants and agricultural labourers of Kanbis rather than landowners, thus increasing the economic inequality between the communities. The difference was further exacerbated by the Kanbis' providing better tenancy arrangements for members of their own community than for Kolis.[7]

The Kanbis' economic well-being was enhanced further from the 1860s due to improvements in crop selection, farming methods and transportation. They began to diversify their business interests and some with higher status also replaced the field labour of their families — especially the women — with hired labour in an attempt to emulate the Bania communities, who had Vaishya status in the varna ranking system.[8] The Kanbis had been of the less respectable Shudra rank.[9][lower-alpha 2]

Reinventing identity

The parcels of land held under the village tenureship system are known as patis and a patidar is the holder of one of those allotments. During the 19th century, the Kanbis generally adopted the Patidar term to describe themselves and thus emphasise the high status associated with their ownership.[7] The community also adopted the surname Patel, which was traditionally applied to village headmen.[10]

The community also began to redefine itself in the context of the Hindu religion. As well as aspiring to kshatriya status, they adopted ritually pure practises such as vegetarianism, worship of Krishna rather than mother goddesses, and giving dowries rather than using the then-prevalent bride price system. They also retained some of their local customs, such as a preference for singing vernacular devotional songs rather than the more Brahmanic Sanskrit variants.[10]

The Patidar practice of hypergamous marriage was also distinct from that of the Kolis, with the former marrying relatively locally and across boundaries within their own community[10][11] while the latter dispersed over a wide area in order to marry with Rajputs.[12] The Patidar system caused the creation of endogamous marriage circles based around groups of equal-status villages known as gols, thus strengthening ties. Simultaneously, the system allowed someone from a relatively poor circle to marry hypergamously into one of the fewer, wealthier Patidar families, whose socio-economic status would be diluted unless they adopted such practices because there were insufficient eligible brides.[13] The marriage situation in Gujarat has become so severe in recent years, with such a significant skew of gender, that in the 2010s the Patidar community organisations elsewhere in India have been encouraging some of their number to contract marriages with Gujarati Patidars, and also encouraging some Kurmi-Patidar marriages. The latter they hold to be acceptable because of a belief that, centuries ago, the two castes had a common origin. The numbers involved are at present reported to be very few but it is seen as a significant break with tradition to marry outside the caste and/or outside their home state. They claim that such marriages also develop new business ties.[14][1]

The Raj administration first recognised the separate caste status of Patidars in the 1931 census of India.[3]

Diaspora

Patidars starting migrating to the British-controlled East Africa more than century ago.[15] In recent decades, many from the East African countries as well as from India have moved to countries such as USA, UK, and Canada.[16]

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References

Notes

  1. Crispin Bates has stated a date of 1815 for the beginning of British land revenue reforms in Kheda district, which places the changes in the pre-Raj period when the East India Company administered the area.[4]
  2. The varna system comprises Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras, with those unclassified being untouchables. Broadly speaking, Vaishyas were business people involved in moneylending, trading and similar activities, while Shudras were manual workers.

Citations

  1. Saiyed, Kamal (11 October 2015). "In Surat, 42 women from Odisha set to tie the knot with Patidars". The Indian Express. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
  2. Somjee 1989, p. 46
  3. Basu 2009, p. 51
  4. Bates 1981, pp. 773-774
  5. Banerjee & Iyer 2005
  6. Basu 2009, p. 52
  7. Basu 2009, p. 53
  8. Basu 2009, pp. 56-57
  9. Clark-Deces 2011, p. 290
  10. Basu 2009, p. 54
  11. Ghurye 2008, pp. 226-228, 451
  12. Jaffrelot 2003, pp. 180-182
  13. Basu 2009, pp. 54-55
  14. Saiyed, Kamal (22 August 2017). "With business and marital ties Patidars look to unite nationally". The Indian Express. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
  15. Rutten, Mario; Patel, Pravin J. (2011). "Mirror Image of Family Relations: Social Links between Patel Migrants in Britain and India". In Johnson, Christopher H.; Teuscher, Simon; Sabean, David Warren (eds.). Transregional and Transnational Families in Europe and Beyond: Experiences Since the Middle Ages. Berghahn Books. pp. 295–11. ISBN 978-0-85745-183-5.
  16. Yagnik, Bharat (13 October 2018). "This Navratri, Kadva Patidars' kuldevi goes places in US, Canada". The Times of India. Retrieved 18 December 2018.

Bibliography

Further reading

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