Vatalia: Difference between revisions

'''Vatalia''' or '''Vataliya Prajapati''' are an [[endogamy|endogamous]]<ref name="Kumar2004"/> [[Hindu]] group and a sub-caste of Prajapati or [[Kumbhar]] caste found only in [[Gujarat]] and are among the [[Socially and Educationally Backward Class]]es of Gujarat, India.<ref>[http://sje.gujarat.gov.in/ddcw/showpage.aspx?contentid=1736&lang=english List of Socially and Educationally Backward Classes declared by Gujarat State]</ref>

Vatalia or "Polluted" are said to be off-springs of [[Brahmin]] father by a [[Kumbhar]] wife and as such are polluted Brahmins, who are now considered a part of  

Kumbhar community, as they took up job of potter.<ref name="General1966">{{cite book|author=India. Office of the Registrar General|title=Census of India, 1961: Gujarat|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TQAdAQAAMAAJ|accessdate=22 February 2015|year=1966|publisher=Manager of Publications|page=10}}</ref> Their [[kuladevata]] are said to be Lord  [[Hanuman]].<ref name=pg>{{cite book|title=Bulletin of the Deccan College Post-Graduate & Research Institute|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nnlDAAAAYAAJ|accessdate=22 February 2015|year=1995|publisher=Dr. A. M. Ghatage, director, Deccan College Postgraduate and Research Institute|pages=145, 167}}</ref>

Vatalia along with other Prajapati sub-divisions like Sorathia, Gujjar, Varia, Parjiya are included in [[backward class]] communities of Gujarat.<ref name="Bose1980">{{cite book|author=Pradip Kumar Bose|title=Traditional craft in a changing society: potters and their craft in Gujarat|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XzBYAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=22 February 2015|year=1980|publisher=Centre for Social Studies|pages=23, 116}}</ref>

Among their associations with other Kumbhar castes - they eat together with [[Varia community|Varia]], Gujjar and Koria Kumbhars but do not inter-marry.<ref name="Saraswati1978">{{cite book|author=Baidyanath Saraswati|title=Pottery-making Cultures and Indian Civilization|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aqrB_Nzr5QcC&pg=PA69|accessdate=5 March 2015|year=1978|publisher=Abhinav Publications|isbn=978-81-7017-091-4|pages=69–}}</ref> However, they would neither eat nor intermarry with [[Maru (surname)|Maru]] and Khambhati Kumbhars of [[Saurashtra (region)|Saurashtra]].<ref name="Saraswati1978"/>

Their population is mostly found in [[Saurashtra (region)|Saurashtra]] in cities of [[Ahmedabad]], [[Surat]], [[Bhavnagar]], [[Vadodara]] and [[Amroli]], [[Savarkundla]], [[Rajula]], [[Talaja, Bhavnagar|Talaja]],  Khambha, Katargaon regions.<ref name="Kumar2004"/><ref name=mj/> Outside Gujarat, there is notable population of community in [[Mumbai]].

In Talaja, they are known as '''Tarahariya''' after the Tarahara village founded by Vatalia community, where the community members from other area still comes to pay homage to their Kulladevata temple of Hanuman.<ref name=pg/>

The community was subject of medical study  with respect to [[G6PD deficiency]] and medical research in 2005, which concluded that Vataliya Prajapatis have high incidence of G6PD deficiency without severe chronic [[hemolytic anemia]]<ref name=mj>{{cite journal| pmid=15738610 | volume=59 | title=G6PD deficiency in Vataliya Prajapati community settled in Surat | year=2005 | journal=Indian J Med Sci | pages=51–6 | author=Gupte SC, Patel PU, Ranat JM | doi=10.4103/0019-5359.13903}}</ref><ref name="Kumar2004">{{cite book|author=Dhavendra Kumar|title=Genetic Disorders of the Indian Subcontinent|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bpl0LXKj13QC&pg=PA607|accessdate=4 March 2015|date=20 October 2004|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-1-4020-1215-0|pages=491, 496, 607}}</ref>

The community publishes their own community periodical since 1958, which is circulated amongst the All India Vataliya Prjapati Community Association.<ref>{{cite book|title=Press in India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dtAfAQAAIAAJ|accessdate=4 March 2015|year=1958|publisher=Office of the Registrar of Newspapers.|page=171}}</ref>{{Qn|date=June 2015}}