Lably
Skip to content

Kolis

  • 28 min read
  • 7 chapters

Related on Lably

Through India, Gujarat and British Raj

Lab · Class 6–11How India Is GovernedLab · Class 6–12Ancient Indian Ocean TradeLab · Class 7–11Disaster ManagementLab · Class 6–10Maps & Projections

History

Some of the Bhil chief's of early medieval Ahmedabad claim the status of Kolis in the medieval period. The Kolis of Gujarat being a part of the agricultural population, the Kolis might have included some other social groups claiming agriculturist status. The Kolis were not good cultivators in the medieval period and are not described as an economically homogeneous caste at the end of the nineteenth century. The character of the Kolis, as agriculturists, varies much in different parts of the Gujarat. Crimes of violence are occasionally committed among Kolis they were known as outlaw. but, as a warrior caste, they have settled down in the position of peaceful husbandmen marked contrast to their lawless practices fifty years ago. The Kolis of medieval Gujarat too figure in medieval source more as lawless elements than as peaceful producers. Raja Vikramajit, Shahjahan's governor of Gujarat, had to conduct an expedition in 1622 against Jagirdar Kolis in north of Ahmedabad who had been for generations a terror to travellers. Between 1662 and 1668, a Baluchi adventurer impersonating the late Dara Shikoh successfully gathered around himself a large number of the Kolis of Viramgam and Chunwal. The Mughal commander Mohabat Khan had to march out to drive him away and take control of the Kolis. Records of the East India Company mention that the Ahmedabad route to Surat was particularly dangerous because of the constant irruption of brigands, robbers, piracy and highwaymen Kolis. In fact, in 1644, some Kolis attacked a caravan between Ahmedabad and Broach, Kolis armed with bows and arrows and muskets attacked Fidauddin Khan's forces in the mid-eighteenth century; the Kolis also launched guerrilla attacks on Gaikwad forces. But it is significant that the eighteenth-century Kolis of Gujarat refused to accept the Bhils as a Koli, Alexander K. Forbes, writing on the Kolis and the Bhils of Mahikantha in the period of the Gaikwads, mentions that tribal bhils were trying to be in Koli status. The above point indicates that the status of "Koli' had become a respectable one for those tribal groups in Gujarat who sought to distinguish themselves from the larger mass of their kinsmen. The Kolis seem to have attained an important socio political status by the fourteenth century, at least on Konkan coast in Maharashtra. A Koli kingdom is known to have been founded by Jayba Popera in North Konkan in 1342. The chief of the celebrated Janjira fort was a Koli named Ram Patil in the time of Shivaji, Kolis had served the Maratha army under their Koli commanders Yesaji Kank and Tanaji Malusare since the time of Shivaji and exercised considerable control over the Konkan coast. The Bahmanis conferred the rank of Sardar on Koli chiefs who held charge of hill tracts. In contrast, we have noted that the Kolis of Gujarat were mostly perceived as a predatory tribe. From the way they are described in the literature of the medieval period and in travellers accounts, we suspect that some descendants of medieval Bhil chiefs, particularly those of Ahmedabad, could have claimed the status of Koli.

Sign in to keep reading

6 more chapters are free with a Lably account.

More in India

MuslimsAdherents of IslamPresidencies and provinces of British India1612–1947 British directly-ruled administrative divisions in IndiaStates and union territories of IndiaIndia is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, for a total of 36 sSikhsReligious groupInternational Alphabet of Sanskrit TransliterationTransliteration scheme for Indic scriptsPrime Minister of IndiaHead of government