The Patidar community in India, popularly known as Patels, is primarily from Hindu Agricultural Communities and is found mainly in Gujarat. Patidar are land owners (‘PATI’ means land and ‘DAR’ means the person who owns it) and apart from Gujarat, they have presence in different states of India as well like Punjab, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Karnataka, as well as metropolitan cities like Mumbai, and Delhi. Over the years, the Patels have made their presence felt in a big way in UK and US as well so much so that in the US, the surname ‘Patel’ bags 174 place out of the top 500 list of most common last names.

The Patel

Best known for producing raw gold from earth, it is said that then the Gujarat ruler, Mohammed Begdo, chose the best farmer from every village and gifted them with a land for cultivation purpose. In return, the Patidar would pay the ruler a certain income for a certain period of time, thereafter; the Patidar would acquire the land ownership. These Patidars were referred to as Patel Patidars from then onwards. Today, the Patel community in Gujarat is divided in four sub-castes (1) the Kadavas (2) the Leuas (3) the Anjanas (4) the Matis. Leua Patels are generally found in Central Gujarat while Kadava Patidars are majorly found in North Gujarat, while the Matia Patidars, a sub-section of the Leuas and are found in south Gujarat.

It goes without saying that majority of Patels are Hindus, however, there’s a significant presence of Patels in Muslims and Parsi communities as well. For that matter, even Pakistani’s citizens carry the Patel Surname. So, it won’t be an exaggeration, if we say that Patel surname is ubiquitous, a community that has settled all across the world in search for a better life and prosperous living.

For the starters, the enterprising Patels have been an important cog in US’s hospitality wheel what with 60 percent of the mid-sized motels being run by people of Indian origin, and of these, not surprisingly though, about one-third have the surname Patel as per the Asian American Hotel Association (A.A.H.O.A). As per the records, most of these Patels got settled in US during 1960s and 1970s. They arrived here for higher studies and seemingly did manage to get their engineering and other PG degrees, but couldn’t land themselves with satisfactory professional jobs, eventually resorting to buying dilapidated properties and turning them around as profit making motels.

There’s also a story that says that Indians who migrated to Uganda and Kenya during the British Raj may have probably adopted the surname Patel, and so subsequently passed on the adopted surname to the descendants of these migrants. On the other hand, original Patels who migrated to East Africa and South Africa changed their surnames to signify the birthplace, or their trade for that matter. The descendants of these migrants subsequently carried on with their adopted surnames.

Apparently, the Patidar Community has given Gujarat many great personalities like Sardar Vallabhai Patel, Vitthalbhai Patel (brother of Sardar Patel ),Bhailalbhai Patel alias ‘Bhaikaka’ the architect of Vallbhvidyanagar, , Shri Arvind N. Mafatlal, Shri Jaikrishna, and well-known literary figures like Ishwar Petalikar, Raghuvir chaudhary and Pannalal Patel.