Koli people

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Koli
कोली, કોલી, कोळी
Muslim, Christian
Related ethnic groups
Kori, Koli Christians

The Koli is an Indian caste found in Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka,[1] Odisha[2] and Jammu and Kashmir states in India.[3] 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 denotified tribe under Criminal Tribes Act by the Indian Government because of their anti-social activities during World War I.

The Koli caste forms the largest caste-cluster in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, comprising 24% and 30% of the total population in those states respectively.[4][5]

History

Early

A Koli woman

There has historically been some difficulty in identifying people as Koli or as

Arvind Shah, by there being "hardly any modern, systematic, anthropological, sociological or historical study" of the Kolis.[6] Sources from the medieval period suggest that the term Koli was applied generically to lawless people, while British colonial studies considered it to be a vague collective noun for varied communities whose sole common feature was that they were inferior to the Kunbis. At some stage, Koli became accepted as a caste and thus superior to the tribal Bhils.[7]

Records of Koli people exist from at least the 15th century, when rulers in the present-day Gujarat region called their chieftains marauding robbers,

dacoits, and pirates. Over a period of several centuries, some of them were able to establish petty chiefdoms throughout the region, mostly comprising just a single village.[8] Although not Rajputs, this relatively small subset of the Kolis claimed the status of the higher-ranked Rajput community, adopting their customs and intermixing with less significant Rajput families through the practice of hypergamous marriage,[9][10] which was commonly used to enhance or secure social status.[11] There were significant differences in status throughout the Koli community, however, and little cohesion either geographically or in terms of communal norms, such as the establishment of endogamous marriage groups.[12]

Koli woman and Koli man with the Bow and Arrow, 19th century

Through the colonial

criminal tribe due to their failure to meet the revenue demands and their tendency to raid Kanbi villages 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.[15]

Twentieth century

A Thakarda Koli from Baroda State in 1911.

During the later period of the Raj, the Gujarati Kolis became involved in the process of what has subsequently been termed

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.[10]

In 1947, around the time that

umbrella organisation to continue the work begun during the Raj. Christophe Jaffrelot, a French 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."[10]

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

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".[16]

The Kolis of Gujarat remained educationally and occupationally disadvantaged compared to communities such as the

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.[4]

Kolis of Bandra during Republic day parade performing Koli Dance

Shial

The Shial, or Shiyal is a clan of Koli caste found in the Indian state of Gujarat. They were noted pirates of Gujarat.[18] The Shial Kolis got their name from the Shial island situated at south coast of Kathiawar.[19] Shial Kolis defeated and captured the Shial island from Portuguese India and made it their stronghold along with Chanch, Gujarat but later they were defeated by Nawab of Janjira and Jafrabad.[20] during the World War I, they were enlisted as soldiers in British Indian Army by British Indian government.[21]

Classification

The Koli community classified as

Scheduled Tribe by State Government of Maharashtra.[26]

The

Scheduled Caste in the 2001 census for the states of Delhi,[27] Madhya Pradesh[28] and Rajasthan.[29]

Criminal Tribes Act

The Koli caste of

Habitual Offenders Act
with slight modifications.

See also

Notes

  1. Kanbi, but by 1931 had gained official recognition as Patidar.[13]

References

  1. ^ "Koli community hopeful of getting ST tag in Karnataka – Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  2. ^ "Odisha – List of Scheduled Tribes" (PDF). ST & SC Development, Minorities & Backward Classes Welfare Department Government of Odisha. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 August 2021. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
  3. ^ "Jammu and Kashmir BJP in favour of reservation for people living along international border". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 8 April 2019. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  4. ^ a b Shah 2004, p. 221.
  5. ISBN 978-81-7387-080-4
    .
  6. ^ Shah 2012, p. 168
  7. ISBN 978-9-38060-702-3
    .
  8. JSTOR 538561
    – via JSTOR.
  9. ^ Shah 2012, p. 169
  10. ^ a b c d e Jaffrelot 2003, pp. 180–182
  11. ^ Fuller 1975, pp. 293–295
  12. ^ a b Shah 2012, p. 170
  13. ^ a b Basu 2009, pp. 51–55
  14. ^ Basu 2009, p. 52
  15. ^ Basu 2009, p. 53
  16. ^ Shah 2004, p. 178.
  17. ^ Shah 2004, p. 302.
  18. ISBN 978-0-19-908959-8
    .
  19. ^ Campbell, James M. (1988). Hindu Castes and Tribes of Gujurat. New Delhi, India, Asia: Vintage Books. pp. 245: Shiale.
  20. ^ The West India Pilot. New Delhi, India: J. D. Potter. 1987. p. 36.
  21. ^ A Short Record of Bombay Recruiting During the Great War. New Delhi, India: Printed at the Government Central Press. 1919. p. 17.
  22. ^ "A community called Koli – Indian Express". archive.indianexpress.com. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  23. ^ "Who is stirring the caste cauldron in Karnataka?". Hindustan Times. 1 March 2021. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  24. ^ "CENTRAL LIST OF OBCs FOR THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA" (PDF).
  25. ^ "कोली को अनुसूचित जाति का दर्जा नहीं: हाईकोर्ट".
  26. ^ "List Of Scheduled Tribes – TRTI, Pune". trti.maharashtra.gov.in. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  27. ^ "N.C.T. Delhi : DATA HIGHLIGHTS: THE SCHEDULED CASTES : Census of India 2001" (PDF). Censusindia.gov. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  28. ^ "Madhya Pradesh : DATA HIGHLIGHTS: THE SCHEDULED CASTES : Census of India 2001" (PDF). Censusindia.gov. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  29. ^ "Rajasthan : DATA HIGHLIGHTS: THE SCHEDULED CASTES : Census of India 2001" (PDF). Censusindia.gov. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  30. JSTOR 26552652
    .
  31. ISBN 978-0-19-563956-8
    .
  32. ISBN 978-0-521-36424-9
    .
  33. ISBN 978-81-7154-807-1
    .
Bibliography

Further reading

External links

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