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| {{Short description|Subcaste of Bhil community of Gujarat}}
| | #REDIRECT [[Rathwa people]] |
| {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2019}}
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| {{Use Indian English|date=December 2019}}
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| {{Infobox ethnic group
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| | group = Rathwa, Rathawa,Rathava
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| | image = Kavant_Fair_255.jpg
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| | image_caption = Rathwa women in Kavant fair in 2018, [[Gujarat]], India.
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| | region1 = India
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| | pop1 = 642,881<ref name=Census2011>{{cite web|url=http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/PCA/ST.html|title=A-11 Individual Scheduled Tribe Primary Census Abstract Data and its Appendix|accessdate=2017-03-24|work=Census of India 2011|publisher=[[Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India|Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India]]}}</ref>
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| | region2 = {{spaces|14}}[[Gujarat]]
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| | pop2 = 642,348<ref name=Census2011></ref>
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| | region3 = {{spaces|14}}[[Maharashtra]]
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| | pop3 = 488<ref name=Census2011></ref> | |
| | region4 = {{spaces|14}}[[Karnataka]]
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| | pop4 = 45<ref name=Census2011></ref>
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| | languages = [[Rathwi Bareli language|Rathwi]], [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]], [[Hindi language|Hindi]]
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| | religions = Traditional religion<ref>{{e19|bgd}}</ref>
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| | related =
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| The '''Rathwa''' (also spelled '''Rathawa''', '''Rathva''', '''Rahava''', '''Rathia''' and '''Rathiya''') are an [[adivasi]] ([[Indigenous peoples|indigenous tribal]]) community mostly living in the state of [[Gujarat]], India.
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| ==History and origin==
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| The Rathwa derive their name from the word ''rathbistar'', which means an inhabitant of a forest or hilly region. Their communal belief is that they came to the Gujarat area in the [[Middle Ages]] from what is now known as [[Madhya Pradesh]]. According to the [[Government of Gujarat]], they are now found in the [[talukas]] of [[Chhota Udaipur]], Jabugam and [[Nasvadi]] in [[Vadodara district]] and the Baria, [[Halol]] and [[Kalol (Panchmahal)|Kalol]] talukas of [[Panchmahal district]].<ref name="trti"/>{{efn|Vadodara district was split in 2013, with the creation of [[Chhota Udaipur district]] from its eastern aspect. The last census was [[2011 Census of India|that of 2011]], meaning that up-to-date population figures for what are now two districts were not available as of 2017.<ref name="alles31">{{cite book |chapter=Hints of Ontology in Eastern Gujarat: Structures of Space in Rathva Cultural Practices |first=Gregory D. |last=Alles |page=31 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e-g7DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA31 |title=Marginalised and Endangered Worldviews: Comparative Studies on Contemporary Eurasia, India and South America |editor1-first=Lidia |editor1-last=Guzy |editor2-first=James |editor2-last=Kapaló |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |year=2017 |isbn=978-3-64390-644-1}}</ref>}}
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| Although sometimes referred to as the Rathwa Koli, and sometimes self-identifying as such,<ref name="trivedi">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wXh-ohgvf2UC&pg=PA358|title=Tribal Land Systems: Land Reform Measures and Development of Tribals|last=Trivedi|first=Harshad R.|date=1993|publisher=Concept Publishing Company|isbn=978-8-17022-454-9|page=358}}</ref> they are treated as inferior by the [[Koli people]].<ref name="trti">{{cite web |url=http://trti.gujarat.gov.in/rathwa |title=Brief Details of Rathwa |publisher=Tribal Research & Training Institute, Government of Gujarat |accessdate=2019-06-02}}</ref> Some sources say that they are in fact descended from migrant [[Bhil people]], although [[Shereen Ratnagar]] noted that those Rathwa to whom she spoke during her anthropological studies rejected that association and that labels such as ''Koli'' and ''Bhil'' were historically imposed upon communities by administrative outsiders as catch-all terms.<ref name="trivedi"/><ref name="ratnagar11">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tcTz54VVHF4C&pg=PA11|title=Being Tribal |page=11 |first=Shereen |last=Ratnagar |authorlink=Shereen Ratnagar |publisher=Primus Books |year=2010 |isbn=978-9-38060-702-3}}</ref>{{efn|Sources from the medieval period suggest that the term ''koli'' was applied generically to lawless people, whilst 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 [[Kunbi]]s. At some stage, ''koli'' became accepted as a [[Caste system in India|caste]] and thus superior to the tribal Bhils.<ref name="ratnagar11"/>}} Bhils and Kolis historically co-existed in the hills of what is now Gujarat, which sociologist [[Arvind Shah]] says has led to confusion of the two groups, not helped by there being "hardly any modern, systematic, anthropological, sociological or historical study" of the Kolis.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EjORKo7maRUC&pg=PA168 |title=The Structure of Indian Society: Then and Now |last=Shah |first=Arvind M. |authorlink=Arvind Shah |year=2012 |page=168 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-13619-770-3}}</ref> The Rathwa themselves were barely studied until a seminal paper produced by R. B. Lal in 1970, in part because they lived as niche communities in steep, densely forested, relatively inaccessible areas.<ref name="vidyarthi">{{cite book |title=Rise of Anthropology in India: A Social Science Orientation |volume=1 |first=Lalita Prasad |last=Vidyarthi |authorlink=L. P. Vidyarthi |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |year=1978 |page=270 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c3TqmBoQnf4C&lpg=PA270}}</ref>
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| [[File:Rathwa Tribal Dance Gujarat.jpg|thumb|Rathwa Tribal Dance ]]
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| ==Present circumstances==
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| Rathwa culture is at its most pure in the remote hilly areas of Chhota Udaipur, where most are concentrated, and becomes more diluted elsewhere.<ref name="alles"/> They speak the [[Rathwi Bareli language|Rathwi language]] among themselves and mostly the [[Gujarati language]] when communicating with outsiders, although [[Hindi language|Hindi]] is also used.<ref name="trti"/> Their literacy rates are low, being around 35 per cent at the time of the [[2001 Census of India]] and under 30 per cent in outlying areas.<ref name="alles">{{cite journal |title=Tribal Chic: Crossing Borders in Eastern Gujarat |first=Gregory D. |last=Alles |journal=Journal of the American Academy of Religion |volume=80 |issue=3 |date=September 2012 |pages=623–658 |doi=10.1093/jaarel/lfs016 |jstor=23250719}}</ref> However, these rates should improve because the community now recognises the need for education and there is an improved school system for their villages.<ref>{{cite book |chapter=Hints of Ontology in Eastern Gujarat: Structures of Space in Rathva Cultural Practices |first=Gregory D. |last=Alles |page=32 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e-g7DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA32 |title=Marginalised and Endangered Worldviews: Comparative Studies on Contemporary Eurasia, India and South America |editor1-first=Lidia |editor1-last=Guzy |editor2-first=James |editor2-last=Kapaló |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |year=2017 |isbn=978-3-64390-644-1}}</ref>
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| The Rathwas are culturally indistinguishable - even by themselves - from the [[Dhanka|Dhanak]] and [[Naikda]] tribes of the area, having similar dress, similar celebrations of life events such as birth, marriage and death, similar religious beliefs, songs and dance. Like the Dhanka and Naikda, they are [[endogamy|endogamous]] and this lack of inter-community marriage is the one thing that clearly separates them from each other.<ref name="ratnagar13"/> Lal recorded the community as practising a [[patrilineality|patrilinea]]l system of inheritance and subsisting mainly through agriculture, supplemented by food gathering, fishing and hunting.<ref name="lal">{{cite journal |title=The Rathawas of Chota-Udaipur: A Short Ethnographic Note |first=R. B. |last=Lal |journal=Journal of Social Research |volume=XIII |issue=2 |pages=119–126 |year=1970}}</ref> They have a number of [[exogamy|exogamous]] clans, including the Hamania, Thebaria, Mahania, Kothari Baka and Fadia.<ref name="trti"/> Lal recorded around 32 [[sept]]s.<ref name="lal"/>
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| [[File:Pithora wall painting.JPG|thumb|A pithora wall painting]]
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| As with other tribes of the region, [[ancestor worship]] is common among the Rathwas. They believe in a omnipresent deity called Babo Pithora or Baba Deb, who is depicted with other scenes of everyday life in religious paintings on the walls of their houses.<ref name="trti"/><ref name="parikh"/> Gregory Alles believes that these artworks are akin to [[Cosmography|cosmographs]]. merging aspects of real life with an imaginary world.<ref name="alles"/> They appeal to the deity in times of need and create the painting - called a [[Pithora (painting)|pithora]] - as a thanks for resolution of those needs.<ref name="parikh"/> Pithora ritual art, described by Ratnagar as "vibrant colours ... teeming with gods, people, plants, birds and animals", is unique to the Rathwa and significant in its appeal to tourists; aside from practising it in their own houses, the Rathwa also paint pithora in the houses of Dhanak and Naikda people.<ref name="ratnagar13">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tcTz54VVHF4C&pg=PA13|title=Being Tribal |page=13 |first=Shereen |last=Ratnagar |authorlink=Shereen Ratnagar |publisher=Primus Books |year=2010 |isbn=978-9-38060-702-3}}</ref>
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| [[File:Kavant Fair 90.jpg|thumb|left|Rathwa man with face painted in Kavant fair in 2018, [[Gujarat]], India.]]
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| Horses have a particularly prominent role in worship as Babo Pithora is thought to ride one. Not only do the animals feature in the pithora paintings but clay models of them, sourced from [[Kumbhar]] potters, are also offered in thanks at temples. No member of a family is permitted to sit with their back facing the pithora in the house.<ref name="trti"/><ref name="parikh">{{cite journal |title=Pithora: Survey of a Living Socio-Cultural Tradition in Gujarat |first=Vibhuti P. |last=Parikh |journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress |volume=63 |year=2002 |pages=203–208 |jstor=44158089}}</ref> Aside from worship of ancestors, nature and tribal deities, Lal noted some aspects of Hinduism integrated into their belief systems;<ref name="lal"/> the number professing solely Hindu beliefs has been increasing under the influence of [[sampradaya]]s.<ref name="alles31"/> Although Gujarat is a [[Alcohol prohibition in India|"dry" state]], the Rathwas also traditionally consider alcohol to be a gift from god that alleviates temporal sorrows while awaiting death, and will travel to smuggle it from neighbouring states or brew it in their own homes.<ref name="alles"/><ref>{{cite book |chapter=Opening the Beer Gates: How Liberalization Caused Growth in India's Beer Market |first1=Abhimanyu |last1=Arora |first2=Anjor |last2=Bhaskar |first3=Bart |last3=Minten |first4=Anneleen |last4=Vandeplas |title=The Economics of Beer |editor-first=Johan F. M. |editor-last=Swinnen |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-19150-501-0 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eB6KRnib_m0C&pg=PR4-IA2}}</ref>
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| Government agencies have struggled to define the Rathwa, whom Ratnagar says were not separately recorded from the Kolis until the census of 1971.<ref name="trivedi"/><ref name="ratnagar11"/> However, Lal's paper notes population figures from 1961, which was also a census year.<ref name="vidyarthi"/> The community is classified as a [[Scheduled Tribe]] in three states under [[Reservation in India|India's system of positive discrimination]], those being Gujarat, [[Karnataka]] and [[Maharashtra]].<ref name=Census2011/>
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| ==References==
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| '''Notes'''
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| {{notelist}}
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| '''Citations'''
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| {{reflist}}
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| {{Social groups of Gujarat}}
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| [[Category:Scheduled Tribes of Gujarat]]
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| [[Category:Scheduled Tribes of Karnataka]]
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| [[Category:Scheduled Tribes of Maharashtra]]
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