History
Patel Community's History
Who are "Patel's"? – One Interesting Story……
PRIDE OF OUR HISTORY
Today science believes earth may have been formed 4500 millions years ago and living form may have
taken place some 4000 millions years ago. With very slow speed (Time) living form (Jeev) made
progress. Thereafter, very many years later form (Jeev) made progress. And many years later that
is just 1 million years ago the human form took place. In the beginning human progress was very
slow. It was wandering about here and there. Eventually by forming small groups they started
living in small communities all over the place. From this castes, states, nations and empires took place,
and from this different cultures and civilizations evolved. In this way, on this earth many cultures took place,
progressed and disappeared. Its memories are this world’s history.
ARYA CULTURE :
One such culture took place in a country called Pamir in middle Asia. This country was once in the Soviet Union,
 but now it is separate. The world and history has known this culture as Araya culture. Araya culture believes in,
VASUDEV KUTUMB KAM, the world is one family. Arayas started spreading from their original place to adjoining
foreign countries and then out of foreign country boundaries. Some came by way of Iran and Afghanistan to
Bharatvarsh(India) and settled in Punjab. They stayed in Punjab for a long time. Those new migrants (Arya) are our ancestors. These migrants were divided into 4 castes, Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishay and Sudra. Researchers and historians of the Kadwa Patidar believe that Kadwa Patidar originated from the Kshatriya caste. A lot of research
has gone into the origins of the Kadwa Patidar in the last 100150 years and many books have been written on
this subject. In the year 1856 the Gujarat Vernacular Society held a conference on Kadva Patidar’s origins.
There were a lot of articles written from the discussions at this conference. These articles provide interesting
historical evidence for us. Majority of authors believe Kadwa Patidars are derived from the Kshatriya caste.
As we come from the Kshatriya caste we have the right to have ajanoi (Upnayan sanskar). English head of the
Gujarat Vernacular Society, at that time, professor Farbes also believed that the Kadwa Patidar originated from the Kshatriya caste. In 1913 a book, KANBI KHATRIYA DERIVAL (UTAPTI) AND HISTORY was written by late Shree Purushottamdas Parikh. This book throws good light on the nature, habits and behavior of the Kanabi Kshatriya caste, and gives our history in great detail.
- 1. Translation in Sanskrit: Patel - farmer
- 2. In Hindi: Patel - village leader
- 3. Patel - Chief of village. Surname originated from province of Gujarat, India .
- 4. Patel surname is the most widely used name today.
Originally the Kurmis of Punjab, after having settled in Gujarat around 1400 A.D. were allocated the uncultivated land in Petlad Taluka by the Solankis, the rulers of Gujarat at that time. The Solanki ruler allocated land equivalent to one village to each family for cultivation.
The Kanbi family being highly motivated and hard working to succeed, cultivated the land and prospered. The King had an agreement with Kanbis who appointed a headman, whose responsibility was to keep the records of the crops on a PAT. The person keeping the record was known as PATLIK, shortened to PATAL, and eventually to PATEL.
Prior to the introduction of the name Patel in Gujarat, they were known as Kanbis.
- 5 The people known today as Patels or Patidars are descendants of people known in the last century as KANBI, which is derived from the word *Kutumbin*, meaning family. This large and influential caste has its home in Kutch, Saurashtra, North Gujarat, Central and South Gujarat.
They have now spread all over the world.
- 6. The Patels started as a family, clearing and cultivating land. Patels employed craftsmen and workers to work on the farm and maintain their farms. Other tradesmen and workers eventually settled around and small towns took shapes.
Patels eventually became the heads of the town, known as the Kanbi. They were responsible for keeping all the documentation of land ownership. The documents were written on PATTA and the person keeping the records were known as PATTALIK, which eventually led to the people who managed these records as PATEL.
- 7. During the old days, people were classified in villages based on the work they performed... Some were doctors, some were carpenters, some were blacksmiths, some were wine shopkeepers, etc, etc.... The chief of each village had a PATEL surname. Now in some places, it would mean that PATEL is a chief of 5 villages, and in some places, a chief of 1 village.
- 8. Gujarat is a state in west India and North east of the Gulf of Cambay. West and southwestern part of the state touches the Arabian Sea. To the northwest is the country of Pakistan. Northeast of the state borders with Rajasthan. Madhya Pradesh state. To the southeast is the state of Maharashtra.
It is concluded from the books kept by the "BAROTHS" and the "VAHIVANCHAS" that the PATIDAR are originally from PUNJAB. From Punjab they moved to MARVAD and then to GUJARAT.
Around AD 1000, the Badshah of Afghanistan attacked and conquered Punjab. He and his soldiers committed great atrocities on the people of Punjab. The Hindus were forcefully converted to the Islam religion. They kidnapped and raped many women , which forced them to commit suicide. Some of the women were converted to Islam and some soldiers married them in their traditional Islam style. Our forefathers left Punjab to escape from the atrocities of the Afghan king and his soldiers and to save the women. The people who left Punjab were KANBI from Leava and KARAD villages of the GUJARANWALA district (presently in Pakistan). Even today there is a group of people of the KANBI caste in the villages of Punjab.
These KANBI people left Punjab for MARVAD with what little belongings they could fit on their bullock carts. At that time, Marvad was ruled by PARMAR kings and the fame of Rajah Bhoj was widely known. This was the reason our forefathers were attracted to that region. At that time Marvad was very densely populated and it was not possible to acquire enough land.
After staying for a short period in Marvad, they left for Khambhat (Kheda District) on hearing that there was uncultivated land available and this brought them to Gujarat. At this time the SOLANKIS were ruling GUJARAT. The land in the Taluka of PATLAD, which was uncultivated, was granted to us when our forefathers made a request for it to the SOLANKI king. Land equivalent to about one GAM (village) was granted to each family and the Kanbi people settled on this land. The Kanbis being hard workers managed to cultivate the land with great benefits. It was decided that a twelfth portion of the crop would be given to the King in return for the land. But the cost of collecting this twelfth part from each farmer was very high so the king drew up an agreement and appointed a headman for each village. These headmen controlled the farmers and collected crops from them for the king. The agreement of the land was kept in the custody of the elders in the family of the headman. The records of the kingdom and of the crops were kept on the PAT (record or log book) and the person who entered and kept these records was known as "PATLIKH". Patlikh was shortened to PATAL and then became PATEL.
The people that came from the village Leava became known as LEAVA KANBI and those that came from the village KARAD became KARADVA KANBI. The Karadva was shortened to KADVA KANBI. The Kadva Kanbi settled in the  Northern part of Gujarat and the Leava Kanbi settled around Khambhat. The people who settled in Gujarat were very industrious and intelligent and became farmers and in a short period of time, Gujarat started to prosper.
As time went by, the kings and the kingdoms changed and so did the portions of the crops given to the kings. The main industry and income of the kingdoms was agriculture and the kingdoms were sustained on the income from the farms and so the payments were increased to one-sixth part of all crops cultivated.
Then Khambat became the kingdom of the Mauryavansi and the crop collected from the farmers was different each year. It was high at times and low at the other times and was dictated as per the need of the kingdom and hence this part of the kingdom became known as CHAROTAR (from Chad climb up and Utar - climb down).
Between A.D. 1300 -1400, the king of Delhi Allaudin Khilji and his soldiers captured this part of Gujarat and ended the rule of Hindu kings. Allaudin Khilji told his SUBAS (clerks) that the strength of the farmers was in their wealth and so squeeze as much wealth as possible from the farmers without making them completely destitute. Leave only enough for the farmers to sow the following year's crops. Fifty percent of the crops were collected in payment from each farmer leaving them extremely poor. Allaudin Khilji ruled Gujarat for 15 to 20 years.
Mohammed Bagdo became the next ruler of Gujarat and took a third of all crops and outlawed any stealing. To improve farming, he chose the best farmer from each village and handed those farmers the land. In return he asked the chosen farmers to improve the farming, provide security for that village and make the village prosperous and pay the kingdom on fixed cash base (BANDHI AVAK).
This way the tradition of giving part of the crop to the kingdom was abolished and a permanent propriety of the land was granted. Whoever had the propriety of the land were called PATEDAR which changed to KANBI PATIDAR and then became PATEL PATIDAR. This way once again the PATEL PATIDAR became the owners of each village. From then on, the Patel Patidar have maintained themselves as Patidar and have cultivated land by hiring farm labor. Thus the villages of Gujarat started to prosper once again.
Around A.D. 1600 Akbar conquered Gujarat. Akbar had the land measured by the "TODARMAL" and established the "VINDHOTI" system (land tax). This is today's "MAYSHUL" system.
When the Kanbis first came to Kheda from one of the first villages to be established in the Petlad taluka, Bhadran taluka and others were SAUJITRA, NAAR, BHADRAN, KARAMSAD, VIRSAD, DHARMAJ, etc. They slowly became over populated and this brought shortage of houses and agricultural land. In the beginning each family had about 5000 "VIGA" land but when that land was passed on to the successive generations, the share to each family became smaller and smaller which in turn made the families poorer.
Between A.D. 1820 and 1830 some of the poor Patidar families decided to move towards SOUTH GUJARAT and were joined by Leava Patidars from other densely populated villages. They settled around SURAT. The surrounding areas of Surat were dense forests which the Leava Patidars cleared and cultivated the land. Houses were built from the timber of the same jungles and then villages were established.
In the beginning there was a link between the Patidars of the Kheda district and that of the Surat district but as transportation was difficult, the link started to weaken. The main means of transport at that time were bullock carts, horses and camels. It took 10 to 12 days to travel between Charotar and Surat. (The railway first came to India in 1860 and the first rail route was between Bombay and Thane.) Relatives from Surat and Charotar visited each other but the contact gradually decreased over the generations and in the end all links were cut off. Right from the beginning, marriages between the Patidar of Surat and that of Charotar had ceased as this could take over 20 to 25 days of travel.
Between 50 and 60 villages were established by the Patidars who came to Surat and as the population of this group was small, they established between 50 to 60 houses in each village. They built big houses as there was plenty of land. The "KHACHO" (empty land at the back of the house) known as "VAADO", in Surat, were big and so each house had their own well for water. They also had stables built with their houses for the cattle and had an "UKARDO" for the cattle manure. They also kept a "KHARI" (plain clear space) in the "vaado" for bringing in the crops. All these facilities were incorporated in each house. In Charotar, they had faced the difficulties of not having all these conveniences. The Kanbi Patidar were hard workers and so in a short time started to live comfortably and happily.
Between 1840 and 1850, some Leava Patidar thought of going on a pilgrimage to KASHI to see KASHI VISHVANATH, so they started on their journey by bullock carts. There was a group of about 75 to 100 people. On the way they camped at various villages. After four to five weeks they reached a village called PIRANA near Ahmedabad. In Pirana there was a pious man called IMAMSHAH. Imamshah heard of this group of pilgrims and went to meet them. He invited them to dine with him that night. lmamshah himself was a vegetarian and so he always offered vegetarian food to all visitors who came to his village, be they Hindus or Muslims. They talked till late in the night. Then Imamshah asked, if he could give the "darshan" of Kashi Visvanath here, would the group go back. Some people from the group agreed though others objected to this idea.
The group that did not agree continued their journey to Kashi. The others had the "darshan" of Kashi Vishvanath at Pirana as shown by Imamshah and returned to their villages. The other group, after completing the entire pilgrimage, returned about one year later.
Another reason for parting from the Leava Patidar was that many people were tired of following the extreme traditions of the Leava Patidar Samaj. The parting gave them an opportunity to change the traditions to their own view of life.
One of the improvements was the abolishing of "DAHAIJ" or "DAIYAJA" (dowry) system because the poorer Leava Patidars found it extremely difficult to get their daughters married. At times, when they could not come up with the dowry, the girls remained spinsters and had to spend the rest of their life with their brothers and sisters-in-law (bhabhi).
Thus the dowry system was totally abolished and a ruling was passed which said that nobody should give any dowry nor should anybody receive any.
The second improvement was that any women who were widowed or divorced were allowed to remarry and enjoy family life as this was considered their natural right. Many other improvements were also made which are not listed here.
Compiled by: Mahendra Patel
Contribution by: Rohit Patel
OUR POPULATION CENSUS
In a census one hundred and fifty years ago in Year 185152, according to British Collector in Ahmedabad, Kadwa
Kanbis merely numbered 6 lakhs. According to the census there were 3,30,000 men and 2,65,000 were women.There
were 100 boys for every 78 girls newly born. That is why it is possible to believe girls were drowned in milk at birth.
British India government issued a public notice to stop this custom. According to recent census, in Gujarat State,
Kadwa Patidar families are about 450,000 and it is believed total population is 3540 lakhs. Of the total population of
Gujarat State approximately 10% are Kadwa Patidar and 22% are all Patidars.
OUR DERIVAL
Looking at our history it can be said that our caste had behaved according to time andcircumstances. As Kshatriya they have fought battles and have ruled states. Right up to the arrival of freedom Kadwa Patidars were ruling in Patadi. In Ider, Viramgam and other places Kadwa Patidars were receivers of huge lands, given to royal families for their maintenance. While farming, they have worked hard with interest and care. Our movement from middle Asia, our transformation from Kshatriya to Kanabi and thereafter to Patidar were very very slow but were progressive. For centuries dwelling movement was limited to within India only and changes of Kanabi Patidar remained limited. Area of farming and animal keeping remained limited for centuries, but in the last hundred to two hundred years, this has changed. Our community has also adopted the changes. It is in our blood to adopt and live with age - with time. They have achieved great success in scientific farming, animal keeping and breeding.Together with this they adopted new types of living. Adapting to the new era they acquired modem education. Kadwa Patidars made very great progress in modem education and professions like, Doctor, Engineer, Teacher, Professor, Accountant, Lawyer, Writer and Journalist. Readily accepting various different businesses and new industries our community made great progress. In the
last century our community made big changes, great progress and wonderful growth. Since the last few decades
there has been great progress in education. Financially, Kadwa Patidars have become solid and strong.
MA UMIYA: OUR IDOL (SYMBOL) & STRENGTH OF UNITY
In Sane 156 (Vikram Samvat 212) desire of we are all children of MA UMIYA came out. Even after 2000 years the same strong desire exists. Desire and confidence in Ma Umiya has increased every year. In year 1976 at Unjha, Ma Umiya’s 18th centenary celebrations were held. In those celebrations of 5 days, from 25.11.1976 to 29.11.1976, 1.8m Kadwa Patidars came to see (DARSHAN) Ma Umiyaji. That showed great unity and togetherness.
Thereafter in year 1980 at Sidsar village of Saurastra a foundation stone was laid for a large temple. 100 years earlier(on 19.9.1899) Ma herself appeared. The statue in white marble of Ma Umiya was reinstalled and celebrations from 24.3.1985 to 28.3.1985 were held. That is why our faith in Ma Umiya has increased. Last yearSidsarMandir’s 1st centenary celebration was held during the period of 5 days, from 22.4.1999 to 26.4.1999 and approximately 2.5m people came to view Ma. These two celebrations show that no other community has celebrated like Kadwa Patidars. At those both auspicious occasions love and devotion towards MA Umiya was wonderful. In the violent rush by millions of people, great discipline was maintained. At compound of Ma Umiya, egoism of Patidar Samaj was sighted in full glory. These
were proud historical celebrations. Devotion and cheerful happiness were greatly witnessed by everyone.
Thus spiritual influence of Ma Umiya is increasing and more and more Kadwa Patidars are getting happier. With
MA Umiya’s Blessings all developing children can conquer newer lands of ascending success and this power granted
to Kadwa Patidars; has received invaluable inspiration to the developments of all Samaj.
The Kadwa Patidar’s desire of oneness, unity and cooperation is, strengthening day by day due to Ma Umiya. With the desire of all Kadwa Patidar’s progress at heart "Shri Umiya Parivar Utkarsh Nidhi" was founded by Unjha Umiya Mataji Foundation for raising Rs. 1000m. Every one experienced happiness in contributing. These funds will be kept in fixed deposit account and only the interest will be used for all Kadwa Patidar’s educational, financial, social, and religious requirements.
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