Kotwalia: A Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group of Gujarat

Kotwalia: A Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group of Gujarat

About Kotwalia: Kotwalia tribe is mainly distributed in the southern parts of Gujarat. Some hold the view that Kotwalias are derived from Gamit tribe. They are also known as Vitolia. Enthoven (1920) while writing about Vitolia says that they are also known as Kotwalia and Wansphodia. They have the skill of preparing bamboo articles. One of their traditional expert craftsman prepared a coat from bamboo material and presented the same to a British Officer. That officer called him by the name of Kotwalia or ‘coat wala’(Singh, 2003). They are the nomadic group. The two clans of Kotwalia are Barodia and Wansphodia. The traditional occupation of Kotwalia is making bamboo articles. In Gujarat bamboo is  called ‘Wans’ and the process of breaking them is known as ‘phodvu’ and hence combining these two words the name of ‘Wansphodia’ originates. It is believed that the Kotwalia used to work as gate keeper or guard generally known as ‘Kotwal’, hence may be known as Kotwalia.

There are four endogamous groups and exogamous kulas among the Kotwalia. The kulas are Gamiti, Choudhary, Dhobi and Nai. The kul members consider their origin from the same legendary ancestor. The kuls are of equal status, kul members help each other at the time of crisis. According to their own perception, they are lower than Rajput, Kunbi, etc. but higher than the Bhangi or Chamar. They consider themselves equal to other tribal communities such as Kokna (Singh, 2003). The Kotwalias speak their own dialects among themselves and with outsiders they speak Gujarati and often Hindi.

                          Kotwalia woman making baskets from bamboo strips

Settlement Pattern: Kotwalia generally prefer to live in the forest and its adjoining region on the banks of Tapi River in small hamlets so that they could easily get their raw materials i.e. bamboo. Their hamlets are separated and near to the other villagers so that they can sell their product and also buy their required articles from the nearby markets. They themselves construct their own houses with bamboo, wood and clay. Their huts were kachcha having one, two or even three rooms sufficient for accommodate their family. They have no bathrooms or sanitary facilities. During last few years, some pucca one room tenements have been constructed for the people of this tribe under Tribal Area Sub Plan- TASP. At some other places, the construction material- wooden slippers, Manglore tiles for roof and bamboos have been provided to them for upgrading their house or for construction of new but kuccha house (Upadhyaya and Pancholi, 2010).

                                                          Inside view of their house

Food Habits: They are generally non vegetarians. Their staple food is nagali, a coarse millet. Roti, dal, rice, corn, etc. are their main food items. They consume eggs, meat and fishes. Drinking of liquor and tea are common and both male and female consume these. On festive occasion such as marriage tadi (local made liquor) and liquor are consumed freely. It is also said that they also used to eat the flesh of dead animals which is left now.

Dress and Ornaments: Old persons wear dhoti and kurta and also large and free size of half pants and cover their head with turban. The youngsters generally put on western dresses like pant, shirts, jackets and t- shirts. Women generally put on saree with colourful blouse. Old women still wear ghagra and choli. They cover their head with a small piece of cloth known as chaniya. The old people both men and women wear ear rings made up of silver. Old women wear ankle and toe fingers rings and ornaments made of silver. They also wear chain, necklaces and black thread around their neck. The married women wear Mangal Sutra and nose ring. The Kotwalia settle their disputes among themselves under the supervision of the elderly persons of their community. If they fail to settle their dispute, then they go for police and very rarely they go to court.

                                                             A Kotwalia girl

                                                               A Kotwalia woman

Social Life: The family types of Kotwalias are patriarchal and both joint and nuclear. The family property is equally distributed among the sons but the eldest son has the dominating status and authority. The women are not allowed to claim the right on property. Although women enjoy status in domestic, economic and ritual related matters and also take part in the social gatherings. They also make contribution to the family income by helping their husband in making baskets and other works.

                                                         A Kotwalia family

References:

-          Enthoven, R.E. 1920- “The Tribes Castes of Bombay.” Bombay Govt. Central Press, rept. Vol. II, 1975. Delhi: Cosmo Publications.

-          Singh, K.S. 2003- “People of India: Gujarat, XXII, (2).” Anthropological Survey of India. Mumbai: Popular Prakashan Pvt. Ltd.

-          Upadhyaya, C. & Pancholi, R. 2010-“ Primitive Tribal Groups of Gujarat. A Baseline Survey.” Tribal Research and Training Institute, Gujarat Vidyapeeth, Ahmedabad.

                                                           view of Tapi river