Patel

Patels explicitly describe themselves as a “modern” caste and reveal, in their self-description and practices, an entanglement with terms that we would commonly associate with Western epistemes. Their acquired image as the quintessential modern caste predisposes them, for the most part, to a “severe practicality” in the realms of household and farm economics. Patels are still driven by a desire to acquire social distinction. As in the past, when the upper strata of Patidars had differentiated themselves from the lower levels by contracting hypergamous marriages. The early Patidar families married their daughters to Anavil Brahmins, the 'old aristocracy' of the area, who were tax collectors for the Mughals before the Marathas came.