Koli people

For the ethnic group found in Goa, see Kharvi.

The Koli people are historically an ethnic Indian group native to Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana states.

In Mumbai, Native Christians include Koli East Indian Catholics, who were converted by the Portuguese during the 16th century.

History

Nineteenth century

The Kolis of Gujarat intermixed with Rajputs due to the practice of hypergamous marriage, which was commonly used to enhance or secure social status . Some Kolis had also once held small princedoms before the British Raj period and some were still significant landholders and tenants in the twentieth century. However, most Kolis had lost their once-equal standing with the Patidar community due to the land reforms of the Raj period and, for example, most Kolis in the Surashtra region of Gujarat were still occupied as agricultural labourers or tenant cultivators in the 1990s.

Twentieth century

During the later period of the Raj, the Gujarati Kolis became involved in the process of what has subsequently been termed sanskritisation. At that time, in the 1930s, they represented around 20 per cent of the region's population and members of the local Rajput community were seeking to extend their own influence by co-opting other significant groups as claimants to the ritual title of kshatriya. The Rajputs were politically, economically and socially marginalised because their own numbers — around 4 - 5 per cent of the population — were inferior to the dominant Patidars, with whom the Kolis were also disenchanted. The Kolis were among those whom the Rajputs targeted because, although classified as a criminal tribe by the British administration, they were among the many communities of that period who had made genealogical claims of descent from the kshatriya. The Rajput leaders preferred to view the Kolis as being kshatriya by dint of military ethos rather than origin but, in whatever terminology, it was a marriage of political expedience.

In 1947, around the time that India gained independence, the Kutch, Kathiawar, Gujarat Kshatriya Sabha (KKGKS) caste association emerged as an umbrella organisation to continue the work begun during the Raj. Christophe Jaffrelot, a historian and political scientist, says that this body, which claimed to represent the Rajputs and Kolis, "... is a good example of the way castes, with very different ritual status, join hands to defend their common interests. ... The use of the word Kshatriya was largely tactical and the original caste identity was seriously diluted."

The relevance of the kshatriya label in terms of ritual was diminished by the practical actions of the KKGKS which, among other things, saw demands for the constituent communities to be classified as Backward Classes in the Indian scheme for positive discrimination. Kshatriyas would not usually wish to be associated with such a category and indeed it runs counter to the theory of sanskritisation, but in this instance it suited the socio-economic and political desires. By the 1950s, the KKGKS had established schools, loan systems and other mechanisms of communal self-help and it was demanding reforms to laws relating to land. It was also seeking alliances with political parties at state level; initially, with the Indian National Congress and then, by the early 1960s, with the Swatantra Party. By 1967, the KKGKS was once again working with Congress because, despite being a haven for Patidars, the party leadership needed the votes of the KKGKS membership. The Kolis gained more from the actions of the KKGKS in these two decades than did the Rajputs, and Jaffrelot believes that it was around this time that a Koli intelligentsia emerged. Ghanshyam Shah, a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, describes the organisation today as covering a broad group of communities, from disadvantaged Rajputs of high prestige to the semi-tribal Bhils, with the Kolis in the middle. He notes that its composition reflects "a common economic interest and a growing secular identity born partly out of folklore but more out of common resentment against the well-to-do castes".

As of 2004, the Kolis of Gujarat were the largest caste cluster in the state, comprising around 24 per cent of the population, and were spread widely. They remained educationally and occupationally disadvantaged compared to communities such as the Brahmins and Patidars. Their many Jātis include the Bareeya, Khant and Thakor, and they also use Koli as a suffix, giving rise to groups such as the Gulam Koli and Matia Koli. Some do not refer to themselves as Koli at all.

Classification

As of 2012, various communities bearing the Koli name appear in the central lists of Other Backward Classes maintained by the National Commission for Backward Classes, although at least one is also in part recognised as a Scheduled Tribe. These classifications have been in force since at least 1993.

The Government of India classified the Koli community as Scheduled Caste in the 2001 census for the states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

• Basu, Pratyusha (2009), Villages, Women, and the Success of Dairy Cooperatives in India: Making Place for Rural Development, Cambria Press, ISBN 9781604976250
• Fuller, Christopher John (Winter 1975), "The Internal Structure of the Nayar Caste", Journal of Anthropological Research, 31 (4), JSTOR 3629883 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
• Jaffrelot, Christophe (2003), India's Silent Revolution: The Rise of the Lower Castes in North India (Reprinted ed.), C. Hurst & Co., ISBN 9781850653981
• James, V. (1977), "Marriage Customs of Christian Son Kolis", Asian Folklore Studies, 36 (2): 131–148, JSTOR 1177821 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
• Shah, Ghanshyam (2004), Caste and Democratic Politics In India (Reprinted ed.), Anthem Press, ISBN 9781843310860
• Singhji, Virbhadra (1994), The Rajputs Of Saurashtra, Popular Prakashan, ISBN 9788171545469

Further reading

• Bayly, Susan (2001). Caste, Society and Politics in India from the Eighteenth Century to the Modern Age. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521798426.

External links

• Plants and animals important to the Koli-Agri community in Maharashtra on Biodiversity of India

See also

• Koli Christians