The Leuva Patidar Samaj
of Leicester.
LPS Leicester is a community organisation set up in around 1984 to bring together Leuva Patidars originating form Surat, Navsari and Valsad districts of Gujarat. The prime purpose of the organisation was, and is to further the Hindu religion and culture specific to our origin and to bring together or ethnic community.
Since its humble beginnings, the LPS Leicester community is grown to be one of the largest in the UK and in 2015 became a registered Charity. The Charity now organises religious and cultural events throughout the year, events specific for the young to the very elderly, sports coaching and tournaments, personal wellbeing events and fund-raising events.
Our History and Culture
The Leuva Patidar community of Surat, Navsari, and Valsad districts of southern part of Gujarat has a history, which goes back to several centuries. These Patidars and their descendents residing all over the world are compassionate, hard working and very resourceful people. These Patidars are involved in various enterprises.
We have not forgotten our roots, culture and the rich heritage, hence we have been actively involved in local and national organisations which promote cultural, religious, sports important festivals and other functions. Here in Leicester we have about 800 families of whom about 600 families are members.
We all know that we have come from the state of Gujarati in India, but now let us look into the History of Leuva Patidars. Who are we? Where did our forefathers come from? These are some of the questions our children or we may ask. The burden of responsibility falls on us to provide all the information to our children to fulfil their curiosity about the Leuva Patidar identity, culture and history. The following data is compiled from several sources and in certain places its accuracy may be questionable, but overall the data is accurate enough to log this information for the future generations.
The Leuva Patidar also known as the Leuva Patels of Gujarat are the descendants of the Aryan Race. It is, therefore safe to assume that the history of Aryans is in true fact.
The history of the Leuva Patidars of Gujarat
The Aryan Race of central Asia were the ranchers and farmers in the Highland region of Pamir in central Asia. The migration of these Aryan people of Pamir began approximately four thousand years ago when some of them moved westward towards Europe and Iran some of them moved to the southern part of Asia. The latter group entered India through Afghanistan and settled in Punjab in north India. These settlers were mainly involved in cattle rearing and farming. These Aryans being hard working and resourceful people became prosperous and culturally advanced.
The old sacred text (Rig-Veda) describes "Purush-Sukta" the four classes, which were necessary to delegate the responsibilities to run an efficient community for these very advanced thinking people. The four categories of workers were BRAHMINS, KSHATRIYAS, VAISHYAS and SUDRAS. In earlier times it was a common practice for a Sudra to become Brahmin, the Vsaishya to become Kshatriya and so on. In simple terms the system was not as rigid as it became later on when the people were stereotyped, belonging only to one particular caste. The system was supposed to utilise the labour according to one’s capabilities and adequacies of successfully working at a particular function or a task. In the Rig-Veda there is mention of Kshatriya girls marrying Brahmin, as was the example of King Saryata’s daughter Sukanya marrying Cyarana. It seems the caste system played no role in percentage of psyche of a particular person, the only criteria required in order to belong to a particular class was the know-how, the capability and willingness to perform
a particular task efficiently. It seems each man’s worth was weighed by his virtue. In true form this was a very organized culturally advanced society.
Brahmins were the advisers, educators or teachers; Kshatriyas were the defenders of an area, a region or kingdom. Vaishyas were the tradesmen, shopkeepers or landowners and the Sudras were farmers, helpers, or involved in menial type of work. During the peace times, it was common for certain Kshtyras to work the fields or rear chattels. These Kshtryas were known as KURMI KSHATRIYA. As the time passed the word KURMI changed to KUNBI and later to KANBI. This KURMI (KUNBI) KSHATRIYA population grew in Punjab to a point when families did not possess enough land to cultivate and this was one of the reasons for their migration. Another reason for this exodus from the Punjab area was the atrocities, mistreatment and loss of family members encountered during the attack by the King Sairas of Iran in 600 B.C., King Dairas of Iran in 518 B.C and Alexander the Great of Greece in 300 B.C. These families called the KURMI KSHATRIYAS having endured losses of family members and setbacks in life progression started emigrating either eastbound or southbound towards Rajasthan, and to Binmal in Gujarat, their plight from Punjab, it seems was for survival as well as making a better life for their families.
When the Kurmi Kshatriyas came to Gujarat, they first came to Saurastra, then to Vadnagar, later on to Vadodara & Baruch. During A.D 1820’s, the Kurmis, by that time known as Kanbis, moved to Surat Districts and then to Valsad Districts. In addition to being known as Kanbis, they were also known as KADVAS and LEVAS. It took nearly 5000 years for some of the original Aryans descendents to have reached Surat and Valsad, the southern part of Gujarat State.
The Leuva Patidars are recognised by different terms according to their origin. The ones living in Leya part were known as Leys-Kurmi, and those living in Karad part were known as Karad-Kurmi. Later on the Leya-Kurmi came to be known as Leuva -Kanbi and the Karad-Kurmi became Kadva-Kanbi.
Patel
The surname Patel is the most widely used name today. Originally the Kurmis of Punjab, after having settled in Gujarat around 1400 A.D. were allocated the uncultivated land in Petlad Taluka by the Solankis, the rulers of Gujarat at the time. The Solanki ruler allocated land equivalent to one village to each family for cultivation. The Kanbi family being highly motivated and hard working to succeed, cultivated the land and prospered. The King had an agreement with Kanbis and had appointed a headman, whose responsibility was to keep the records of the crops on a PAT. The person keeping the record was known as PATLIK, and was shortened to PATAL, and eventually to PATEL. Prior to the introduction of the name Patel in Gujarat, they were known as Kanbis. Patel is not a cast, but a surname adopted by the most of original Kanbis.
Patidar
Patidar means "owner of land". ‘PATI’ means land and ‘DAR’ means the person who owns it. In Mehamdavad, Kheda district, around 1700.A.D., the ruler of Gujarat, Mohammed Begdo, selected the best farmer from each village and gave them land for cultivation. In return, the Patidar paid the ruler a fixed income for a certain period of time, after which, the Patidar acquired the ownership of the land. The Patidars hired hard working and knowledgeable work force to cultivate the land and in due course of time, they became the owners of the land. These Patidars were from then onwards identified as Patel Patidars.
Our Charity
We are a registered charity serving the Leuva Patidar Community based in Leicester. Our core objectives are to advance the Hindu Religion, Culture and Traditions as practiced by the Leuva Patidars originating from Surat, Navsari and Valsad districts of Gujarat, India. Our other objectives include the relief of poverty for our community members by providing social, sports and recreational activities which they would otherwise not have access to because of their ethnic, cultural and or language barriers.
Our religious activities include organising, facilitating and funding various events in the Hindu calendar like Navratri, Bhajans and gatherings for the numerous religious events that take place during the year.
Our social, sports and recreational activities include organising and subsidising elderly lunch clubs for our older and frail members, cricket, netball and football training and tournaments for our more able members. We also provide topical talks and hold special events to promote health and wellbeing awareness to the community.
How We Raise Our Funds
We raise funds through member donations, nominal membership fees and via fundraising events such as sports tournaments, outdoor challenges such as Trekking, Cycling, Skydiving etc. We also hold themed dinner and dances to raise funds.
Our Management Structure
The Charity is run by a group of elected members from the community and form the managing committee. The Committee provide their services on a purely voluntary basis and are required to manage in strict accordance with Charity Commission’s laws and regulations. The Charity also has its own comprehensive set of governing documents that are used as the reference in managing the Charity. A new committee is elected every three years.
The Committee is supported by various members of the community either as individuals or by a sub group. Mahila Mandal is an example of such a sub group formed by a group of ladies who provide various services during the larger religious events as well as fund raise for the charity.
How to be part of the Charity
If you are a Leuva Patidar who originates from the Surat, Navsari and Valsad Districts or are married to or a descendant of someone who is Member then you can apply to be a Member too.
Anyone can support the charity by making direct donations via the links below or participate in many of our fund-raising events. There are many religious and cultural events that we organise where anyone from the wider community can attend as long as they are a guest of a member.
For any further information feel free to contact us.