Ornaments of Status: Meghwals’ and Social Mobility in the EarlyTwentieth-Century Rajasthan (1901–1946)

Abstract

This research paper is an attempt to trace and understand caste and community relations in early-twentieth-century (1901–1946) Rajasthan with a special focus on Jodhpur Princely State. To locate caste-community relations, I attempt to understand socio-politic and economic condition of this state. In the second half of the eighteenth century, it had to encounter the repeated invasions of the Marathas like other states in Rajasthan. With the decline of Maratha power, the state entered into a treaty with the East India Company in January 1818 and accepted British protection. Till the early nineteenth century, the Jodhpur state administration was run on old Rajput polity. In this paper, I will attempt to show how social disputes and conflicts occurred due to the questioning and violations of customs and rituals in different villages of the Jagir and Khalsa areas in Jodhpur? Dominant group-Rajputs (Jagirdars), Mahajans, Muslim Patels and Purohits-tried to guard these customs as the basis of their status and authority, denying these rights to those considered social inferior.