Vatalia or Vataliya Prajapati are an endogamous[1] Hindu group and a sub-caste of Prajapati found only in Gujarat.[2]
Vatalia are said to be off-springs of Brahmin father by a Kumbhar wife and as such are polluted Brahmins In the eighth century AD,[3] who are now considered a part of Prajapati community, as they took up job of potter.[4] Their kuladevata are said to be Lord Hanuman.[5]
Vatalia along with other Prajapati sub-divisions like Sorathia, Gujjar, Parjiya are included in backward class communities of Gujarat.[6]
Among their associations with other Kumbhar castes - they eat together with Gujjar and Koria Kumbhars but do not inter-marry.[7] However, they would neither eat nor intermarry with Maru and Khambhati Kumbhars of Saurashtra.[7]
Their population is mostly found in Saurashtra in cities of Ahmedabad, Surat, Bhavnagar, Vadodara and Amroli, Savarkundla, Rajula, Talaja, Khambha, Katargam regions.[1][8] 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.[5]
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[8][1]
The community publishes their own community periodical since 1958, which is circulated amongst the All India Vataliya Prjapati Community Association.[9][need quotation to verify]
References
edit- ^ a b c Dhavendra Kumar (20 October 2004). Genetic Disorders of the Indian Subcontinent. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 491, 496, 607. ISBN 978-1-4020-1215-0. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
- ^ List of Socially and Educationally Backward Classes declared by Gujarat State
- ^ "Surnames | વાટલિયા પ્રજાપતિ". vataliyaprajapati.com.
- ^ India. Office of the Registrar General (1966). Census of India, 1961: Gujarat. Manager of Publications. p. 10. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
- ^ a b Bulletin of the Deccan College Post-Graduate & Research Institute. Dr. A. M. Ghatage, director, Deccan College Postgraduate and Research Institute. 1995. pp. 145, 167. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
- ^ Pradip Kumar Bose (1980). Traditional craft in a changing society: potters and their craft in Gujarat. Centre for Social Studies. pp. 23, 116. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
- ^ a b Baidyanath Saraswati (1978). Pottery-making Cultures and Indian Civilization. Abhinav Publications. pp. 69–. ISBN 978-81-7017-091-4. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
- ^ a b Gupte SC, Patel PU, Ranat JM (2005). "G6PD deficiency in Vataliya Prajapati community settled in Surat". Indian J Med Sci. 59 (2): 51–6. doi:10.4103/0019-5359.13903. PMID 15738610.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Press in India. Office of the Registrar of Newspapers. 1958. p. 171. Retrieved 4 March 2015.