| Anavil Brahmins | |
|---|---|
| Religions | Hinduism |
| Languages | Gujarati |
| Country | India |
| Populated states | Gujarat |
| Region | West India |
| Ethnicity | Indian |
Anavil Brahmins are a community of Brahmins who, despite not being numerically superior, are particularly dominant in the Surat and Bulsar districts of south Gujarat, India, where they have been significant land-owners and have an influential role in politics.[1][2]
The Anavil are among the lay Brahmins communities who are not allowed to perform a priestly function. They comprise two sub-groups, called the Desai and the Bhathela, though both use the surname Desai.[3] The former acted as tax farmers during the era of the Mughal Empire, and developed into one of the dominant land-owning groups in South Gujarat.[2] They eventually underwent a process of sanskritisation that saw them conform more closely to the classical Brahmin practices, such as dowry marriage, while the Bhathela continued to follow the brideprice system for marriage.[1] The Desai are fewer in number but superior in traditional status.
It includes castes like Desai,Naik,Vashi,Mehta.
They did not practice female infanticide.[4]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Goody, Jack (1990). The Oriental, the Ancient and the Primitive: Systems of Marriage and the Family in the Pre-Industrial Societies of Eurasia. Cambridge University Press. p. 187. ISBN 978-0-52136-761-5.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Streefkerk, Hein (1985). Industrial Transition in Rural India: Artisans, Traders, and Tribals in South Gujarat. Popular Prakashan. p. 131. ISBN 978-0-86132-067-7.
- ↑ Streefkerk, Hein (1985). Industrial Transition in Rural India: Artisans, Traders, and Tribals in South Gujarat. Popular Prakashan. p. 184. ISBN 978-0-86132-067-7.
- ↑ Shah, A. M.; Baviskar, Baburao Shravan; Ramaswamy, E. A.; Srinivas, Mysore Narasimhachar (1996). Social Structure and Change: Women in Indian society. SAGE Publications. p. 197.
Further reading
- Jan Breman (2007). The Poverty Regime in Village India: Half a Century of Work and Life at the Bottom of the Rural Economy in South Gujarat. Oxford University Press.
- Klaas W. van der Veen (1972). I Give Thee My Daughter: A Study of Marriage and Hierarchy Among the Anavil Brahmans of South Gujarat. Van Gorcum.