27-562: The Konkan is a stretch of land by the western coast of India , bound by the river Daman Ganga at Damaon in the north, to Anjediva Island next to Karwar town in the south; with the Arabian Sea to the west and the Deccan plateau to the east. The hinterland east of the coast has numerous river valleys, riverine islands and the hilly slopes known as the Western Ghats ; that lead up into
54-753: A decent caste in Punjab . They follow endogamy with clan exogamy. The number of Kumhars speaking Bengali language here is more than other Kumhars. The sub-castes of Kumhars found here are- Khuntakati Kumhars and Prajapati Kumhars. Khuntkati Kumhars are the original inhabitants of this place and their popular surnames are - Pal, Bhagat, Kumbhar, Bera, Pradhan and Chaudhary . The Kumhars of Chamba are expert in making pitchers, Surahis, vessels, grain jars, toys for entertainment and earthen lamps. Some of these pots bear paintings and designs also. Kumhars are found in Satara , Sangli , Kolhapur , Sholapur and Pune . Their language
81-650: Is Marathi . They use Devnagari script for communication. There are Kumbhars who do not belong to Maratha clan lives in Maharashtra and have occupation of making idols and pots. Hathretie and Chakretie (or Challakad) Kumhars are found in Madhya Pradesh . Hathretie Kumhars are called so because they traditionally moved the "chak" (potter's wheel) by hands ("hath"). Gola is a common surname among Kumhars in Madhya Pradesh. They are listed among Other Backward Classes in
108-545: Is bounded by the Western Ghats mountain range (also known as Sahyadri) in the east, the Arabian Sea in the west, the Daman Ganga River in the north, and the River Aghanashini in the south. The Gangavalli flows in the district of Uttara Kannada in present-day Karnataka . Its northern bank constitutes the southernmost portion of Konkan. The towns of Karwar , Ankola , Kumta , Honavar , and Bhatkal fall within
135-675: Is indisputable. They are further divided into two groups-clean caste and unclean caste. Among the Kumhars are groups such as the Gujrati Kumhar, Kurali ke Kumhar, Lad, Haral and Telangi. They all, bear these names after different cultural linguistic zones or caste groups but are termed as one caste cluster. In Punjab , Kumhars (also called Prajapat ) belongs to Hinduism & Sikhism. In ancient times pottery being their occupation. But many hundred years ago, they shifted to Farming occupation. Most of them have their own land. They are considered as
162-508: The Malabar unto the southernmost tip to Kanyakumari (Cape Comorin). In ancient tradition Coastal South West Indian Subcontinent extends till Sri Lanka . The people along coastal south west India exhibit vast diversity along an underlying commonality as a result of long history of contact with west Asian Mediterranean traders along the Arabian sea coastline. The region includes Gujaratis in
189-672: The Marumakkathayam of the nairs and a section of Mappila Muslims . This is also manifested in feminine deity oriented festivals and rituals celebrating Shakti or feminine power like Navratri festival among the Gujarati People and Thiruvathira festival among the Malayali people. Kumbhar Kumhar or Kumbhar is a caste or community in India , Nepal , Bangladesh and Pakistan . Kumhars have historically been associated with
216-513: The tablelands of the Deccan . The region has been recognised by name, since at least the time of Strabo in the third century CE . It had a thriving mercantile port with Arab tradesmen from the 10th century. The best-known islands of Konkan are Ilhas de Goa , the site of the Goa state 's capital at Panjim ; also, the Seven Islands of Bombay , on which lies Mumbai , the capital of Maharashtra and
243-660: The west asian world. Several west Asian communities have also settled and become part of the diversity of coastal south west India. These include the Parsis , Bohras and Baghdadi Jews in the westernmost region, the Bene Israel along the South western region the descendants of mediterranean traders along Coorg and Mangalore , the Jonakan Mappilas along Malabar region, and the cochin jews and Syriac Nasranis along
270-1077: The Konkan coast. The largest city on the Konkan coast is Mumbai , the state capital of Maharashtra . Districts on the Konkan coast are, from north to south: The main ethnolinguistic group of the Konkan region is the Konkani people . Specific caste and communities found in the region are the Aagri , Koli , Bhandari , Kunbi , Maratha , Gabit , Mangela, Karadi, Phudagi, Vaiti, Kharvi , Teli , Kumbhar , Nhavi , Dhobi , Kasar , Sutar , Lohar , Chambhar , Mahar , Dhangar , Gaud Saraswat Brahmin (also includes Rajapur Saraswats and Chitrapur Saraswats), Kudaldeshkar , Pathare Prabhu , Gomantak Maratha , Chitpavan Brahmins , Karhade Brahmins , Daivadnya , Kayastha Prabhu , Panchkalshi , Vani , Komarpant , Vadval Gavli , Ghorpi, Nath Jogi, Gurav , Pagi, Kalan, Ghadi, Padti, Vanjari, Namdev Shimpi and others. Billava , Bunt , Nadavara , Mogaveera and Linghayat communities found in
297-514: The Kumhara who offered a full plant. Brahma was pleased by the devotion of the potter to his work and awarded him the title Prajapati . There is an opinion that this is because of their traditional creative skills of pottery, they are regarded as Prajapati . The potters are classified into Hindu and Muslim cultural groups. Among Hindus, inclusion of artisan castes, such as potters, in the Shudra varna
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#1732845455605324-485: The Lord, who created the universe. According to a legend prevalent among Kumhars Once Brahma divided sugarcane among his sons and each of them ate his share, but the Kumhara who was greatly absorbed in his work, forgot to eat. The piece which he had kept near his clay lump struck root and soon grew into a sugarcane plant. A few days later, when Brahma asked his sons for sugarcane, none of them could give it to him, excepting
351-849: The Vanarmare is found in southern parts of Konkan, which was originally associated with the hunting of monkeys. The Gauda and Velip tribes are found in Goa. The Jewish community called Bene Israel is mainly found in Raigad district . The Christians included Bombay East Indians in North Konkan and Mumbai , Goan Catholics in Goa , Karwari Catholics in Uttara Kannada as well as Mangalorean Catholics in Udupi and Dakshina Kannada . Major Muslim communities like Konkani Muslims and Nawayaths are scattered throughout
378-620: The art of pottery. The Kumhars derive their name from the Sanskrit word Kumbhakar meaning earthen-pot maker. Dravidian languages conform to the same meaning of the term Kumbhakar . The term Bhande , used to designate the Kumhar caste, also means pot. The potters of Amritsar are called Kulal or Kalal , the term used in Yajurveda to denote the potter class. A section of Hindu Kumhars honorifically call themselves Prajapati after Vedic Prajapati,
405-464: The drapes are called as lungi or mundu for men. and veshti for women. Another common cultural element of coastal south west India includes relatively more role for women in social system. Towards the southernmost tip of coastal south western India the social system is considerably more matri-focal with instances of matrilineal and matriarchal tradition like amongst the Bunt community of Tulus and
432-437: The earth", or "piece of the corner", derived from Sanskrit words: koṇa (कोण, corner) + kaṇa (कण, piece). Xuanzang , the noted Chinese Buddhist monk, mentioned this region in his book as Konkana Desha ; Varahamihira 's Brihat-Samhita described Konkan as a region of India; and 15th-century author Ratnakosh mentioned the word Konkandesha. The Konkan extends throughout the western coasts of Maharashtra , and Goa . It
459-477: The headquarters of Konkan Division . Historically, the limits of Konkan have been flexible, and it has been known by additional names like " Aparanta " and "Gomanchal", the latter being defined as the coastal area between the Daman Ganga River in the north and the Gangavalli River in the south. The ancient Sapta Konkan was a larger geographical area that extended from Gujarat to Kerala and included
486-475: The parts of Karnataka which are near to Konkan. Tribal communities include the Katkari , Thakar, Konkana , Warli and Mahadev Koli, mainly found in the northern and central parts of Konkan. The Dubla and Dhodia tribes live in southern Gujarat , Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Palghar district of Maharashtra . Palghar district has the largest percentage of tribal population in Konkan. A small nomadic tribe called
513-434: The people of coastal south west India includes cuisine that consists of agrarian and coastal products and clothing that involves long flowing drapes with bare midriff for both men and women suited for humid and warm climate. Throughout the region women wear drapes called saree in various styles. In the western corner of the region the drapes are called as Dhoti for men. and Chaniya choli for women, further southwards
540-528: The same row in the Central List of Other Backward Classes of the state of Rajasthan. In Bengal Kumhars are one among the ceremonially pure castes. In Odisha they are two types (Odia Kumbhar and Jhadua Kumbhar) who provide vessels for the rice distribution to Jagannath temple. They are belongs to Other Backward Classes in the state of Odisha. The Kannuaja Kumhars are considered to be a decent caste in both Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Although they sometimes use
567-703: The southernmost region of South India . The linguistic diversity of the Coastal south west India includes Languages of the Dravidian language family including Malayalam , Tulu , and Kannada ; languages belonging to the western zone of Indo Iranian language families including Gujarati , Marathi , Konkani and languages belonging to the central zone of the Indo-Iranian language families including Urdu and Persian . The region also has speakers of Semitic languages like Arabic , Hebrew and Aramaic . The common elements of
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#1732845455605594-452: The state. In Rajasthan, Kumhars (also known as Prajapat) have six sub-groups namely Mathera, Kheteri, Marwara, Timria and Mawalia. In the social hierarchy of Rajasthan, they are placed in the middle of the higher castes and the Harijans . They follow endogamy with clan exogamy. The National Commission for Backward Classes has kept both the Kumhar and Kumawat castes separately but together in
621-604: The term Pandit as their Surname. The Magahiya Kumhars are treated little inferior to the Kanaujias and the Turkaha (Gadhere). They belong to other backward classes . Kumhars are listed among the Other Backward Classes of Gujarat, where they are listed with the following communities: Prajapati (Gujjar Prajapati, Varia Prajapati, Sorthia Prajapati), Sorathiya Prajapati. The Central Bureau of Statistics of Nepal classifies
648-479: The westernmost region, Maharashtrians and Goans along the western coastline, Kannadigas in its south western coastline and Tuluvas and Malayalis in its southernmost region of South India . As a result of the thriving trade between the Mediterranean world and South West Indian coastline along the Arabian sea, there has been significant intermingling between the people of Coastal South West India and
675-691: The whole region of coastal Maharashtra and coastal Karnataka . However, this segment overlaps the Konkan and Malabar coast continuum; and usually corresponds to the southernmost and northernmost stretches of these locales respectively. According to the Sahyadrikhanda of the Skanda Purana , Parashurama threw his axe into the sea and commanded the Sea God to recede up to the point where his axe landed. The new piece of land thus recovered came to be known as Saptah-Konkana , meaning "piece of earth", "corner of
702-612: The whole region. They are reportedly descendants of people who came from Hadhramaut (in Yemen or South Arabia ), and other parts of Arabia and the Middle East . The Siddis have their roots in Africa . spanish as well West Coast of India Coastal South West India is a geo-cultural region in the Indian Subcontinent that spans the western half of Coastal India . The region
729-720: Was referred as Sapta Konkan region in the Skanda Purana . Coastal South West India spans across the entire Arabian Sea coastline of the Indian subcontinent from the coastline of the Gulf of Kutch in its westernmost corner and stretches across the Gulf of Khambhat , and through the Salsette Island and Mumbai along the Konkan and southwards across the Raigad region and through Kanara and further down through Mangaluru ( Mangalore ) and along
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