When Mr. H. Borradaile in A.D. 1827 collected information regarding the customs of Hindus, no less than 207 castes which did not intermarry, were found in the city of Surat alone”. 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. Shah derives its name from ‘sahukaar, ’a Gujarati word that means merchant, banker, or money-lender. I will not discuss the present situation in detail but indicate briefly how the above discussion could be useful for understanding a few important changes in modern times. It reflects, on the one hand, the political aspirations of Kolis guided by the importance of their numerical strength in electoral politics and on the other hand, the Rajputs’ attempt to regain power after the loss of their princely states and estates. 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. 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. Thus, Rawal/Raval refers to those who originally came from a family of commanders or kings. The castes of the three categories—primarily urban, primarily rural, and rural-cum-urban—formed an intricate network spread over the rural and urban communities in the region. In any case, castes are not likely to cease to be castes in the consciousness of people in the foreseeable future. In addition, they carried on overland trade with many towns in central and north India. When divisions are found within a jati, the word sub-jati or sub-caste is used. Shroff is derived from ‘seraf,’ a Gujarati word that means banker, cashier, or a money-lender. 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. Thakkar likely derived from the word ‘Thakkura,’ a Middle Indo-Aryan or Sanskrit word, which means ‘God’ or ‘deity.’, Tripathi originates from ‘tripa,’ a Sanskrit word referring to the ‘one who has studied the three Vedas.’. There was apparently a close relation between a caste’s internal or­ganization and the size and spatial distribution of its population. If the Varna divisions are taken into account, then this would add one more order to the four orders of caste divisions considered above. In these divi­sions an increasing number of marriages are taking place against the grain of traditional hierarchy, i.e., girls of traditionally higher strata marry boys of traditionally lower strata. These divisions have, however, been kept out of the present analysis for reasons which have become well known to students of Hindu society since the 1950s. Content Filtrations 6. The culturally rich Western Indian state of Gujarat has given the world some lip-smacking delicacies, dance moves, and popular surnames. Patel's were prominent farmers in northern Gujarat and a sub-caste of Patidars meaning landowners or agriculturist. Rawal/Raval originates from the Sanskrit word ‘Raja,’ meaning king. 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 Rajput’s. Gujarati Brahmins are usually from the state of Gujarat but are dispersed throughout India. The Rajput’s’ relationship with the Kolis penetrated every second-or­der division among them, i.e., Talapada, Pardeshi, Chumvalia, Palia, and so on. That the role of the two principles could vary at different levels within a first-order division has also been seen. The migrants, many of whom came from heterogeneous urban cen­tres of Gujarat, became part of an even more heterogeneous environment in Bombay. The hypergamous tendency was never as sharp, pervasive and regular among the Vania divisions as among the Rajput’s, Leva Kanbis, Anavils and Khedawals. Bougie’s ‘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 in­cidence of exchange marriages and of bachelors in the lowest stratum among the Anavils also was high. Nevertheless, a breakdown of the population of Gujarat into major religious, caste and tribal groups according to the census of 1931 is pre­sented in the following table to give a rough idea of the size of at least some castes. Today, there are two kinds of Koli areas. In an area of the first kind there are no immigrant Kolis from elsewhere, and therefore, there is no question of their having second-order divisions. This does not, however, help describe caste divisions adequately. One may say that there are now more hypogamous marriages, although another and perhaps” a more realistic way of looking at the change would be that a new hierarchy is replacing the traditional one. 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. Kayatias and Tapodhans were consid­ered such low Brahmans that even some non-Brahman castes did not accept food and water from them. The Khadayatas were divided into about 30 ekdas. The two categories of castes have been deeply conscious of these differences be­tween them and have been talking freely about them. To illustrate, among the Khadayata or Modh Vanias, an increasing number of marriages take place between two or more tads within an ekda. A common Gujarati and Sindhi surname, Virani means ‘descendant of Vir.’ The word ‘Vir’ derives from the Sanskrit word ‘Vira,’ meaning a hero. The surname comes from the Hindustani word ‘Munim’ that refers to the head accountant at a shop, factory, or any other business establishment. For example, among almost every Vania division there was a dual division into Visa and Dasa: Visa Nagar and Dasa Nagar, Visa Lad and Dasa Lad, Visa Modh and Dasa Modh, Visa Khadayata and Dasa Khadayata, and so on. If the first-order divisions are called jatis and castes, the second-order divisions would be called sub-jatis or sub-castes. 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. Fortunately, they have now started writing about it (see Rao 1974). Early industrial labour was also drawn mainly from the urban artisan and servant castes. The two former ekdas contin­ued to exist with diminished strength. To have a meaningful understanding of the system of caste divisions, there is no alternative but to understand the significance of each order of division and particularly the nature of their boundaries and maintenance mechanisms. Was high ‘ Mistri ’ is used exist for several centuries, and Lad Vanias no! Another major factor in the latter type, namely, Rajput, does not solve the problem if are. Than on being higher and lower castes were the largest, but more about this later the strength of whole... Or the head publishing your articles on this site, please read the following:! 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