Patti (subdivision)
Traditional residential sub-division or unit found in settlements of Punjab
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A patti or puttee is a traditional residential sub-division or unit found in settlements of Punjab. Historically, they tended to be inhabited by a particular social-group, whose names they often derive their own name from. The pattis consisted of agnates who held ancestrally inherited rights to a particular land-holding.[1] The holder of a patti is known as a pattidar.[2] It can be further divided into tholas.[3]
Description
Punjabi villages, known as pinds, which function as social-units, can be traditionally divided in different ways.[4] One method is to divide them into pattis, which are further divided into tholas/thulas or als.[4] A patti can be described as being a residential sub-classification of a village unit, which usually exists as a group of houses (often clustered together in a group and demarcated roughly from others) around a street, with the street being known as a gali or bihi.[4] Richard Saumarez Smith describes it as being the principal subdivision of a village, which can be further subdivided into tholas.[3] The common holding of a village or of a patti was known as a shamilat.[3] Pattidaris were divided tenures or estates based upon ancestral holdings/shares, in-contrast to the Zamindari system, which is undivided tenure.[3] The bhaiachara system was another manner of dividing a pattidari (divided) estate for land tenure shares which were not ancestral.[3]
A patti is commonly named after the clan or lineage of the founder or the predominant group that inhabit them.[4] Another naming method is based on actual or perceived characteristics of its inhabitants.[4] The sub-division of a patti, known as a thula, are named after minimal lineages.[4] Small, compact pattis may have no further subdivisions.[4] Whilst a thula is a localized descent unit, an al is a descent unit which may not be localized and can be found dispersed in different pattis or even villages.[4] Various service-orientated castes inhabit different pattis, alongside the dominant Jats, Rajputs, and other castes.[4] Pattis are also known as gali-mohalas.[4] In larger villages, a single patti may have its own panchayat.[4]
Pattis can also be divided into gwand, which usually consists of five-to-ten housing units which are adjacent to one another.[4] Neighbours of a gwand are known as gwandies, and may belong to differing caste-backgrounds.[4] The housing unit is known as a ghar, with Punjabi houses traditionally being further subdivided into three components: dlan (main-room), rasoi or chula chaunka (kitchen), and vchra (yard).[4] Another method of dividing the house-unit is: andrla (kitchen, bedroom, store) and bahrla (farm, animals, fodder, ) ghar, which separates the domestic domain of women from the external one.[4] H. S. Bhatti believes the andrla and bahrla ghar division method is a later development.[4]
Vehra
A second method of dividing a village is by divvying it up by vehra (also known in some areas as agwar) or yards, which function as local-units but in some cases may be formed from a single-descent unit.[4] This method is tied with lower castes, as the yard that low-caste groups, such as Chamars, inhabit are known as chamahri, which is isolated from the other yards inhabited by other groups of the village.[4] In some villages, the service-orientated castes have their own vehra, which may be known as Naeean da vehra (barber-caste yard) or Ghumaran da vehra (potter-caste yard).[4]
These habitational divisions interact with social groupings, lineages, and clans, such as kul/kandan, sharika/bhaichar, moohi (sub-clan), got (clan), and jaat (caste).[4]
History
The concept of patti originated from a need to define a share of ancestral land, with the holdings being classified into various pattis, also known as a panna (lot), whose number varied based upon the number of claimants or descendants.[5] They were usually established by the original settlers of the village, often Jats.[1] Later-on during British-rule, the concept was transformed into a classification category for village types.[5]
Various terms are derived from the word Patti, such as toponyms such as Patiala, and titles such as patwari.[6]
Punjabi units of locality
The units of locality in Punjab, after region and sub-region, are as follows from maximal outer boundaries to minimal central units:[4]
- Ilaka (area): an ambiguous term that refers to an area of relatively close, demarcated cluster of villages or habitations dominated by a particular social-group or a common caste/clan.[4] Symbolically represented by the term baran koh, which refers to a radius of twelve miles, that traditionally could be covered by foot in one-day's travel.[4]
- Banna-channa (boundary): a group of five or six adjacent villages within an ilaka.[4]
- Pind (village): the most important unit of locality.[4] Consists of a boundary-line (banna) around its territory and a pathway that encircles the village, known as phirni.[4] Other features are the darwaja (common-gate) and sath (common gathering-place).[4]
- Patti (subdivision of a village)[4]
- Thola (division of a patti)[4]
- Gwand (five-to-ten adjacent houses)[4]
- Ghar (house)[4]