Various facets of the Kadva Patidar lifestyle
This community being agriculture centric, following are woven into the fabric of life

Halotra
The new year of the season of farming starts on jeth sud 2. the celebration of the arrival of the rainy seaso menas Halotra. On this day, every farmer, after praying to his ‘ hal and Ox” starts to till the land. Eats the Lapsi at the farm as the ladies of the house bring lapsi bhat, all the while singing songs and together they eat at the far. The ox are also fed nice food.

Anujo:
On some festival or once a month, a holiday is kept in the farm. On that day, no farmer takes his ox to the fields. On the two days of the fair celebrating the vasant panchmi and vaishakhi purnima at Mataji’s, the Anujos are observed

Palli:
This is a puja for Mataji. On the Bajot of Navratri, seven grains are cooked and offered. The diyas are made of these grains and then with festivities these are sent off in the waters of the pond and Prasad is distributed.

Dhundhiya Dev-
If the monsoons are late, the DhundhiyaDev’s are made of the mud and the aldies go house to house singing and dancing and water is sprayed on the Dhundhiya devs.

Bandhuka Vivaha
The farming oriented community had no time for marriages. Every year, as per the auspicious time from Mataji, the entire eligible community members used to tie the knot. Where, the child marriages used to be commonly prevalent.

Mass Marriages:
The changes during the times of the Bandhuka vivaha, the protests from the reformers, the ban on child marriages, the new thought of the mass marriages become prevalent. The community, in their villages started getting married in the mass marriages. Economic benefits also arose out of the practice.

Celebration of ‘Ujani’:
Kuldevi Umiya Mataji- In the lives of the Kadva Patidar community in the region of Unjha, ‘Ujani’ festival play a very major role. Most of the villages celebrate ‘Ujani’ in the Aso or Bhadarva months of the Hindu calendar.The entire villages gathers around some pond, around the temple and sing and dance their way to a glorious celebration the whole day. At some places the horse races also take place and the after meals are cooked there itself and partaken together. There are Havans and prayers in the temples. This way people get a break from the monotony of the routine and everyone gets to enjoy. It has come to become a great tradition of their culture.

‘Jem or Mor Pavo’
When someone is blessed with a son, they do the ‘Jem’. When the Mango’s flower in the month of Fagan, as per the hindu calendar, then the Jem is celebrated. The son is fed the flower of mango by his sister or his father’s sister, bhua. The family, who is celebrating ‘Jem’ takes care of the family, esp the daughters, sisters, maternal uncle and aunt. They all celebrate with geity, singing songs and dance.

‘Garba of the Son”
For the first born son, there is a custom of taking out the Garba. In navratri also, a Garba is taken out. The Garba made of mud, brass or silver is taken out in the night by the daughters, sisters and bhuas and celebrated around in the Chauk.

Mataji ni Jatar:
The childless families keep the ‘Badha’ of Mataji and are blessed with son thereafter. There are ‘badhas’ of Garba also and also the ‘badha’ of playing Jatar. The heroes of the temple (Trgaraos) perform the Jatar and they are called home at night to perform the jatar. The villagers celebrate the same. In Jatar they stage the play of Mataji.

Chaulkriya-Babri
When a son is born, the first time his hair is cut is known as ‘chaulkriya or babri’. This acivity is done at the temple of Ma Umiya also, though mostly it is done at the Bahucharji Mataji temple in north Gujarat. If the baby is born after the ‘badha’ at some other temple or some other deity, the ‘babri’ is done at that temple. Relatives are invited for the function and the foi gets to take the hair of the first ‘babri’.

Karbatu:
As per the ‘badha’ taken, the person or the family has to go to the same place where they had taken the ‘badha’ when the wish is fulfilled. This function is called ‘karbatu’.
This way, these rituals associated with the village llife are the part and parcel of the life. To break the monotony of the routine life, they have been woven in the religious fabric and make the life more worth while.

Kadva patidar’s fifty two branches- section 1

The Unjha Temple- section 2

The introduction to Unjha- section 3

• The introduction that showcases the brotherhood of the Kadva Patidars
• five years programme
• 10 years proagramme
• important dates of the Mataji trust
• The Umiya Mataji Trust foundation
• The list of the temples of Ma Umiya
• The pictures of the main Temple
• Social travels
• Architecture -2