Patel is an Indian surname or title, predominantly found in the state of Gujarat, representing the community of land-owning farmers and later businessmen, agriculturalists and merchants. Traditionally the title is a status name referring to the village chieftains during medieval times, and was later retained as successive generations stemmed out into communities of landowners. There are roughly 500,000 Patels outside India, including about 150,000 in the United Kingdom and about 150,000 in the United States. Nearly 1 in 10 people of Indian origin in the US is a Patel.
Bhatia is a group of people and a caste found in Punjab, Sindh and Gujarat. Traditionally, they have been a trading and merchant community. The Bhatias primarily live in Northwestern India and Pakistan. The Bhatias, Lohanas and Khatris were similar communities and were known to intermarry. The Bhatias recruit Saraswat Brahmins as priests.
Parmar is a Rajput clan found in Northern and Central India, especially in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and North Maharashtra. The clan name is also used by Kōḷīs, Garoḍās, Līmaciyā Valands, Mōcīs, Tūrīs, Luhārs, Kansārās, Darajīs, Bhāvasārs, Cūnvāḷiyās, Ghañcīs, Harijans, Sōnīs, Sutārs, Dhobīs, Khavāsas, Rabārīs, Āhīrs, Sandhīs, Pīñjārās, Vāñjhās, Dhūḷadhōyās, Rāvaḷs, Vāgharīs, Bhīls, Āñjaṇās, Mer and Ḍhēḍhs.
The Chudasama are a Rajput clan found in the state of Gujarat in India. They are offshoot of the Samma tribe of Sind. The Chudasama dynasty of Junagadh once ruled Thatta of Sind and Chudachandra laid foundation in Gujarat with Junagadh as its capital.
Baria, or Baraiya,Bareeya and Bariya is a clan (Gotra) of the Koli caste found in the Indian State of Gujarat and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. the Devgad Baria was their Stronghold or given their name to Baria State in Gujarat. according to the historian Y.V.S Nath, the ruling royal family of Baria State is original Koli by caste but later they claimed to be of Rajput origin to be in high status among other Princely States.
The Koli is an Indian caste found in Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka, Odisha and Jammu and Kashmir states in India. Koli is an agriculturist caste of Gujarat but in coastal areas they also work as fishermen along with agriculture. In the beginning of 20th century, the Koli caste was recognised as a Criminal Tribe under Criminal Tribes Act by the Indian Government because of their anti-social activities during World War I.
Darbar or Durbar or Darbar Sahib is a title of honor or respect used mainly in the Indian states of Gujarat and Rajasthan. Chieftain or Lord of small petty princely states, which existed in the pre-independence era, who used title as together with honorific Saheb, to be referred as Darbar Saheb.
Jadav is a caste of India who are classified as an Other Backwards Class in the country's system of positive discrimination. They have a presence in the states of Gujarat and Rajasthan.
The Chudasama dynasty ruled parts of the present-day Saurashtra region of Gujarat state in India between the 9th and 15th centuries. Their capital was based in Junagadh and Vamanasthali, and they were later classified among the Rajput clans. They claimed to be of Lunar race from which the deity Krishna sprung.
Paul Hockings is an anthropologist whose prime areas of focus are the Dravidian languages, social, visual and medical anthropology.
Georg Pfeffer was a German anthropologist. Born in 1943 in Berlin to a German sociologist father and a British mother, he was schooled in Hamburg. In 1959, he moved to Lahore with his family, and studied at the city's Forman Christian College for 3 years. Later, he moved back to Germany and studied at the University of Freiburg where he also completed his Ph.D.
Bhāt is a "generic term" used to refer to a bard in India. The majority of Bhats hail from Rajasthan and worked as genealogists for their patrons, however, they are viewed as mythographers. In India, the inception of Rajputization was followed by the emanation of two groups of bards with a group of them serving the society's influential communities and the other serving the communities with lower ranking in the social hierarchy.
Dirk Herbert Arnold Kolff is a Dutch historian and Indologist. Born at Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Kolff earned a doctorate degree from the Leiden University in 1983 with a doctoral thesis on the research subject of armed peasantry in northern India. He is a professor emeritus of modern South Asian history and the former Chair of Indian History at the Leiden University.
Gadhavi is an honorific title of the Charans of Gujarat. In earlier times, as some Charans were owners or governors of forts, i.e. Gadh, they came to be known as Gadhavi. It is synonymous with Charan and is used as a surname. It is also spelled as Gadhvi or Gadvi.
The Darbar, Durbar or Darbar Sahib is a honorific title of Koli caste in the Indian state of Gujarat. During the reign of Maratha Empire and British Indian Empire, Koli Darbars were petty rulers of several villages and jagirs and known as Pallavi Darbar Sahib and Koli Thakor for their landholdings. The Kolis who were enjoying the power called Koli Darbar often use Sang, Singh and Sinh as their middle name. according to the Harald Tambs-Lyche, the Kolis who respected as Darbar Sahib were not agriculturist like other Khedut Kolis of Gujarat and generally follow the Kshatriya ways of Koli society.
Chunvalia, or Chuvalia, Chunwalia is a subcaste of the Koli caste found in the Indian state of Gujarat. The Chunvalia Kolis were the first Indian caste to adopt the game of cricket in India. Chunvalia Kolis were classified as a Criminal Tribe under Criminal Tribes Act by government of the British Raj because of their purported anti-social behaviour and activities, such as alleged highway and gang robberies (dacoity), theft of animals and crops, murder and blackmail in Gujarat. During the First World War, Chunwalia Kolis were enlisted as soldiers in British Indian Army by the Bombay government of British India.
Meldi Mata is a Hindu goddess and household deity who protects farmland. A legend says that she can grant any wish. She is mainly famous in the western state of Gujarat. She is a revered goddess for gujrati farming Hindus and people of Chunvalia Koli. Her vahana is a goat. She has eight hands which hold a variety of weapons.
Pagi is a title used by the Koli caste of the Indian state of Gujarat during the rule of Mughals, Muslims, British, and princely states in British India. They specialised in the tracking of thieves by means of their footprints. Pagi was a title equal to the detective conferred on the Kolis of Talpada and Chunwalia subcastes.
The Talapada, or Talpada, is a subcaste of the Koli caste of Gujarat state in India. Talapada Kolis are agriculturists by profession. they were members of the Gujarat Kshatriya Sabha, an organisation launched by Natwarsinh Solanki who was a Koli elite. In 1907, they were classified by the British as a Criminal Tribe, ascribing to them a range of anti-social activities such as highway robbery, murder, and theft of animals, cattle and standing crops. They were also alleged to be blackmailers and hired assassins.
Tumbel is a clan and division of the Charanas of Gujarat, Sindh, and Balochistan. Historically, they were known for their military services in the kingdoms of Kutch and Nawanagar.
