Patelia

Brief Details of Patelia

Patelia

The term 'Patelia' has been derived from the term Patel which locally means 'headman'. The Patelias are mostly distributed in Panchamahal district. They are also distributed in Surat, Kheda, Sabarkantha and Ahmedabad districts. They speak among themselves in Bhili and with outsiders in Gujarati. They use Gujarati script. They also speak in Hindi. They have been listed under the category of scheduled tribes; according to 1981 census, their population was 70,230 and in 2001 they were 1,09,390. The Patelia are non-vegetarian. They take mutton, chicken, eggs and fish. Maize and wheat constitute staple diet for them. Rice is taken occasionally. They eat pulses of tur, urad, gram, chawala and moong. Ground nut oil is used for cooking purposes. They consume all the vegetables available in their area. Locally available fruits they take. They make use of roots and tubers also which they gather from the forest. Consumption of alcoholic drinks is common among them. They distill liquor from mahua (Bassia latifoliaj) or mollasses. They smoke bidi and use tobacco. The community has a number of exogamous clans. All the clans enjoy an equal status. The Patelia clans have been grouped under six broader categories; they appear to have been borrowed from Rajputs. They are Farmer, Solanki, Jadav, Chauhan, Gohil and Rathor. Parmar includes Skya, Bhagat, Gangodiya Budia, Glot, Godad, Wagal, Chautar, Kochara Devaliya, Suswad and Eal, clans. Solanki Comprises of Jhaniya, Rojada (Rose), Nalwaya, ananiya, Cohari, Bariya, Chopada and Hihor. Jadav consists of clans like Khaped, Bhuriya, Damor, Hathila. Chauhan includes clans like B'habhor, Pasya, Katara, Mori, Dundawa, Dhokiya and Wawadiya. Gohil have only one clan, Gamar Rathore includes clans like Chota and Bada. According to the Gazetteer of India (1972), "The Patelias found in Dohad claims Rajput descent". This is the plausible explanation for the grouping of clans under Rajput clan categories.

The Patelia are monogamous. They follow community endogamy and clan exogamy. They also exclude the members of the clan of mother's brother in marriage alliances. The marriage age for the girls is from sixteen to eighteen years and for boys it is from eighteen to twenty years. Negotiated marriage type is most prevalent, but lugda-ladi (marriage without full rites) and bhagedi-vivah (marriage by elopement) are also prevalent among them. The symbols of the marital status of a woman are mangalsutra (beed necklace), kankcu in hair parting, nose pin and toe rings. Bride price is paid in cash. The Patelias are patrilineal in descent and patrilocal in residence. Divorce and remarriages are permitted. Widow remarriage (naturun) is also allowed. This involves a brief ritual. In cases of divorce, the children become the responsibility of the father. Compensation is paid to the aggrieved party.

Extended and nuclear types of families co-exist among the Patelia. They favour extended type of family. The daughter-in-law maintains avoidance relations with her husband's father and elder brother as she keeps a veil before them. Property is equally divided among the sons. The eldest son succeeds the father. Inter- family linkages within and outside the community remain warm and friendly. : Women do not inherit parental property. They fully help their men folk in the economic activities. They participate in all, the various agricultural operations. Apart from this they also do’ tile household work. Patelia women are also employed in permanent jobs. They contribute to the family income in a big way and play an important role in the management of family affairs. Patelia women collect fuel and fodder. They also participate in socio religious activities. However the final authority rests upon the eldest male in the family. Women have a lower social status than men.

The pre-delivery ritual- khol bharana or godi bharana takes place in the seventh month of her first pregnancy. She remains at her parents' house during her confinement. Coconut and wheat are put in her lap and she embraces her husband's elderly female kin. During childbirth, a service of a day a midwife is obtained. They take services of hospital also. Chhatti is celebrated on the sixth day. The house is cleaned and clothes are washed. The mother takes a purificatory bath in lukewarm water. The pollution period for the mother extends up to forty days to the day of worshipping the well. After that she starts doing normal work. Mundan (head shaving) ceremony is held only in case of the first son. Once the negotiation is finalized, the boy's party once again visits the girl's house to settle the day for solemnizing the marriage. 'Marriage is officiated by a Brahman priest. Ganesh-poojan is followed by grih-poojan, the erection of marriage booth takes place on the next day. Marriage rituals are performed in the bride's house. The groom with the procession comes to the bride's house. Four rounds of the sacred fire are made by the bride and the bridegroom. A feast is arranged. After the rituals the bride leaves with her husband to the groom's/house. Consummation of marriage takes place at the bridegroom's house. The dead are cremated. In case of death of children below three years of age are buried. The funeral rites in such cases are completed within three days. Otherwise pollution period is observed for twelve days. Bones are collected on the second day in a small earthen pot and later on disposed off in the Narmada River. Dashakarma is held on the tenth day and pagadi, succession rites on the eleventh day after death. The funeral feast is held on the twelfth day. Eldest son acts, as the chief mourner. The widow makes four reverse phera of her husband's corpse before taking the corpse for cremation. On the eleventh day, she wears new dress and after this she can be remarried if she desires so. Traditional occupation of the Patelia is agriculture and almost every family in the village possesses cultivable land. They get water from canals and make use of chemical fertilizers. Children and women work in family farms. Apart from agriculture, several of them also work as wage labourers. They are in Varity of services too. Animal husbandry is an important source of earning. A good number of Patelias also work as wage labourers in construction work. The Patelia have samajj panch or nate panch; The headman of the samaji panch is Pramukh or Patel and his post is hereditary Agewans (five members of panch) are elected by a voice vote. It settles the disputes among the community members at the village level. A bigger organization involving 25 villages known as Samast Patelia Gujarati Panch exist. It was constituted in the year 1971. The officials of the Samast Patelia Gujarati Panch are President, Vice-president, Secretary, Joint Secretary, Treasurer etc. They work for the welfare of the community and initiate reforms. It is also working for the removal of evil habits like alcoholism and so on. They propitiate various deities like Ramedeo Pir, Shiva, etc. Mostly they are devi-worshippers. The propitiate Kalka devi, Chamunda devi, Ambaji, (Sabarkantha). They have affiliation to various sects like Swami Muktanande Panari etc: They worship Ram, Krishna and Ganpati. They also practice ancestor worship. The Patelia celebrate a number of festivals throughout the year. Some of them are Holi, Dhuleti, Rakhi, Navratri, Dussehra, Diwali, Janmashtami, Shivratri, Diwasa, Dashera and Ramnavmi. They have a rich oral tradition. They do garba dance also during Navratri festival. The women sing folk songs. Traditional inter-community linkages are found with a number of communities in the area. The Brahman priest is consulted during naming ceremony of the child, death rites and marriage. The Gosai works as a temple-priest. The barber serves on the occasion marriage and death rites of the Patelias. They have commensally norms with all the groups except the Harijans take girls from the Bhils. But these cases are very few and are of rare occurrences. The Patelia have linkages with the Vaniya, Desari, Jain, Bhil and Modiye communities in the area. There is an M.L.A. belonging to this community in Panchmahal district. The Patelia participate in the political activities' at the local, taluka and district levels. The Patelia are receiving educational 'facilities in the schools and colleges. They send their children to schools and put them in the hostels too, whenever it becomes necessary. They educate the girls also. According to 2001 census 36,523 males and 20,513 female were literate out of the total population of 1,09,390. They go to the hospitals and dispensaries for health and medical care. They have a positive attitude towards the family welfare programmes. The Patelia get drinking water from wells, hand pumps and taps. They get financial assistance under the IRDP as well as ITDP programmes. Their houses are electrified. They make use of firewood, coal, cow-dung cakes as fuels. Midday meals are provided to the children in the schools. They avail of the facilities of public distribution system (ration). Banking facilities are also available to them in urban centers and towns.