Vishwakarma (caste)

2022-07-25T05:39:44Z

Dheeraj L D: Vishwakarma community are vedic Brahmins. They are meantioned in Rigveda... Source Rigveda

{{short description|Hindu artisan caste}}
The '''Vishwakarma''' community, also known as the '''Vishwabrahmin''' of [[Brahmin]]s sect, are a social group of India, sometimes described as a [[Caste system in India|caste]]. The community comprises five sub-groups{{mdash}}[[carpenter]]s, [[blacksmith]]s, [[bronze]] smiths, [[goldsmith]]s and [[stonemasons]]{{mdash}}who believe that they are descendants of [[Vishvakarma]], a Hindu deity.

They worship various forms of this deity and follow five [[Vedas]]{{mdash}}[[Rigveda]], [[Yajurveda]], [[Samaveda]], [[Atharvaveda]], and [[Fifth Veda|Pranava Veda]].<ref>"The Panchals are the followers of the five Vedas, the fifth being Pranava Veda."{{cite book|last=Karnataka (India)|title=Karnataka State Gazetteer: Belgaum|year=1987|publisher=Printed by the Director of Print, Stationery and Publications at the Govt. Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8Lm1AAAAIAAJ}}</ref>

== Origin myths ==

The community claims descent from the god Vishvakarma, who is considered by Hindus to be the divine architect or engineer of the universe. He had five children — [[Manu (child of Vishwakarma)|Manu]], [[Mamuni Mayan|Maya]], [[Tvastar]], Shilpi and Visvajna — and these are believed by the Vishwakarma community to have been the forebears of their five sub-groups, being respectively the [[gotra]]s (clans) of blacksmiths, carpenters, bell metalworkers (metal casters), stonemasons and goldsmiths.<ref name="Varghese" /> It is not known whether these five subgroups historically practised [[endogamy]], which is a frequently-found feature of the Indian caste system.<ref name="Ramaswamy">{{cite journal |title=Vishwakarma Craftsmen in Early Medieval Peninsular India |first=Vijaya |last=Ramaswamy |journal=Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient |volume=47 |issue=4 |year=2004 |pages=548–582 |jstor=25165073 |doi=10.1163/1568520042467154}} {{subscription required}}</ref>

The [[origin myth]]s of the Vishwakarma community were first consolidated in the early 18th century, during the [[Colonial India|British colonial rule]]. These myths were compiled in the ''[[Vishvakarma Puranam|Vishwakarma Puranam]]'', whose original manuscript is undated but was most probably created in the mid-17th or 18th century.{{sfn|Vijaya Ramaswamy|2008|p=277}} According to a popular myth recorded in the ''Vishwakarma Puranam'', the five children of the god Vishwakarma served the gods as artisans, and possessed the ability to create things by simply imagining them. They had conserved their ''[[vīrya (Hinduism)|veerya]]'' by being celibates, and lived in a fort on the coast of Ilangapuri ([[Sri Lanka]]).{{sfn|Vijaya Ramaswamy|2008|pp=287-288}} The fort was made of [[lodestone]], and the enemy weapons thrown at it were stuck to its walls, rendering it invincible. Their chief enemy was Karunakaran, a vassal of the [[Chola dynasty|Chola]] emperor. In order to defeat the Vishwakarmas, Karunakaran planted many beautiful women (Brahmin women according to some versions of the legend) in the fort. These women married the Vishwakarmas, thus destroying their spiritual power, and learned the secret that a certain type of poisonous grass could be used to burn up the fort. Using this secret, the enemy blew up the fort, and the Vishwakarmas were scattered in various areas, where they were forced to work as artisans and craftsmen for mortal humans.{{sfn|Vijaya Ramaswamy|2008|p=288}}

== History ==
While many sources refer to the five sub-groups of the Vishwakarma as artisans, historian Vijaya Ramaswamy<ref>{{cite web |title=Vijaya Ramaswamy {{!}} Jawaharlal Nehru University - Academia.edu |url=https://jnu.academia.edu/VijayaRamaswamy |website=jnu.academia.edu |access-date=14 October 2020}}</ref> believes that the Vishwakarma of the medieval period should be distinguished as craftsmen, arguing that "... while every craftsman was an artisan, every artisan was not a craftsman". Ramaswamy notes that the socio-economic and geographic stability of a medieval village-based maker of [[plough]]s differed considerably from that of the various people who banded together as Vishwakarma and lived a relatively itinerant lifestyle that was dependent on the "temple economy" that waxed and waned as dynasties such as the [[Vijayanagar Empire]] were formed and disintegrated. The latter group, who did work in proximity to each other while constructing and embellishing temples, had opportunities for socio-economic advancement but also bore the risks of withdrawal of patronage and changes in religious focus.<ref name="Ramaswamy" />

== Position in society ==
The Vishwakarma have claimed a higher social status for many years, and believe that the trades which they traditionally follow are superior to the work of a manual labourer because they require artistic and scientific skills as well as those of the hand. According to George Varghese, their claim to high status is "one of the mainstays of Vishwakarma identity" in what is otherwise a fragmented, incoherent community that has often suffered from internal differences of opinion.<ref name="Varghese">{{cite journal |journal=Economic and Political Weekly |volume=38 |issue=45 |date=8–14 November 2003 |pages=4794–4802 |first=George |last=Varghese K. |title=Globalisation Traumas and New Social Imaginary: Visvakarma Community of Kerala |jstor=4414253}}</ref>

Their claim has been voiced by Edava Somanathan, a member of the community and its only historian in the written word. Somanathan's works, according to Varghese, "... are written from a pro-community perspective. Therefore, there are a lot of exaggerations and [[Anti-Brahminism|anti-brahmin]] tirades in Kerala". Somanathan argues that the artisanal groups were a part of the [[Indus Valley Civilisation]], pre-dating the arrival of Brahmins and their caste-based division of society. He claims implausible achievements are evidenced in both the arts and sciences during that egalitarian pre-Brahmin era, including the construction of aeroplanes.<ref name="Varghese" />

This claim to Brahmin status is not generally accepted outside the community, despite their assumption of some high-caste traits, such as wearing the [[sacred thread]], and the Brahminisation of their rituals. For example, the sociologist [[M. N. Srinivas]], who developed the concept of [[sanskritisation]], juxtaposed the success of the [[Lingayat]] caste in achieving advancement within [[Karnataka]] society by such means with the failure of the Vishwakarma to achieve the same. Their position as a [[Idangai|left-hand caste]] has not aided their ambition.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Modern Anthropology of India: Ethnography, Themes and Theory |first=Aya |last=Ikegame |chapter=Karnataka: Caste, dominance and social change in the 'Indian village' |editor1-first=Peter |editor1-last=Berger |editor2-first=Frank |editor2-last=Heidemann |publisher=Routledge |year=2013 |page=128 |isbn=9781134061112 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sBgLb8XIGR8C&pg=PA128}}</ref> They have been included in the list of [[Other Backward Class]]es in some states of India.<ref>[http://www.ncbc.nic.in/User_Panel/CentralListStateView.aspx Central List of OBCs]</ref>

== Synonyms ==
=== Tamil Nadu ===
The Tamil Vishwakarmas are locally known as [[Kammalan|''Kammalar'']], although they prefer to be known as Vishwakarma. They are divided into the ''Kannar'' (brass-workers), ''Kollar'' (blacksmiths), ''Tattar'' (goldsmiths), ''Tatchar'' (carpenters) and ''Kartatchar'' (sculptor).<ref name="Ramaswamy2007">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H4q0DHGMcjEC&pg=PA107|title=Historical dictionary of the Tamils|last=Ramaswamy|first=Vijaya|publisher=Scarecrow Press|year=2007|isbn=978-0-8108-5379-9|pages=107–108|access-date=16 January 2012}}</ref>

=== Karnataka ===
The Vishwakarma caste of south [[Karnataka]] is composed of several sub-castes: Kulachar, Uttaradi (goldsmiths), Matachar (founders), Muulekammaras, and Chikkamanes. Sub-castes do intermarry, and have a hierarchy among themselves.<ref name="gold">{{cite book |editor1-first=A. W. |editor1-last=van den Hoek |editor2-first=D. H. A. |editor2-last=Kolff |editor3-first=M. S. |editor3-last=Oort |title=Ritual, State, and History in South Asia: Essays in Honour of J. C. Heesterman |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EtwtSZwyWpgC&pg=PA433 |pages=442–455 |publisher=BRILL |first=Jan |last=Brouwer |chapter=The Latecomers: A case study of caste and sub-caste of goldsmiths in Karnataka, South India|year=1992 |isbn=9004094679 }}</ref>{{vs|date=June 2013}}

==See also==
* [[Panchal]]
* [[Tarkhan]]
* [[Daksha]]
* [[Great Architect of the Universe]]
* [[Vishwakarma Day]]
* [[Kami (caste)]]
* [[Lohar]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===

{{ref begin}}
* {{cite book |author=Vijaya Ramaswamy |chapter=Traditional Crafts, Technology, and Society in Pre-Colonial Peninsular India |editor=Rajat Datta |title=Rethinking a Millennium: Perspectives on Indian History from the Eighth to the Eighteenth Century |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2H4PGhFB9ScC&pg=PA277 |year=2008 |publisher=Aakar Books |isbn=978-81-89833-36-7 }}
{{ref end}}

== Further reading ==
*{{cite book |first=Jan |last=Brouwer |chapter=The Visvakarma Worldview |title=Prakriti: The Integral Vision |volume=1 (Primal Elements: The Oral Tradition) |editor-first=Baidyanath |editor-last=Saraswati |year=1995 |publisher=Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts |location=New Delhi |isbn=81-246-0037-6 |url=http://ignca.nic.in/ps_01011.htm}}
*{{cite book |first=Jan |last=Brouwer |chapter=The Story of the Magnetic Fort |title=The Leiden Tradition in Structural Anthropology: Essays in Honour of P.E. de Josselin de Jong |editor1-first=Rob |editor1-last=de Ridder |editor2-first=Jan A. J. |editor2-last=Karremans |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden |year=1987 |isbn=9789004085176 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bQcVAAAAIAAJ}}
*{{cite book |first=Jan |last=Brouwer |title=The Makers of the World: Caste, Craft and Mind of South Indian Artisans |url=https://archive.org/details/makersofworld00brou |url-access=registration |location=Delhi |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1995}}
*{{cite book|first=John Duncan Martin |last=Derrett |title=Essays in Classical and Modern Hindu Law: Dharmaśāstra and related ideas |url=https://archive.org/details/essaysinclassica0001derr |url-access=registration |year=1976 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-04475-3 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/essaysinclassica0001derr/page/45 45]–46}}
*{{cite book |first=Vijaya |last=Ramaswamy |chapter=Traditional Crafts, Technology, and Society in Pre-colonial Peninsular India |editor-first=Rajat |editor-last=Datta |title=Rethinking a Millennium: Perspectives on Indian History from the Eighth to the Eighteenth Century : Essays for Harbans Mukhia |publisher=Aakar Books |location=Delhi |year=2008 |isbn=9788189833367 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2H4PGhFB9ScC&pg=PA275}}

[[Category:Blacksmith castes]]
[[Category:Carpenter castes]]
[[Category:Goldsmith castes]]

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Vishwakarma (caste)