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Jotedar
Jotedars, also known as ''Haoladars'', ''Ganitdars'' or ''Mandals'', were "wealthy peasants" who comprised one layer of social strata in agrarian Bengal during Company rule in India. Jotedars owned relatively extensive tracts of land; their land tenure status stood in contrast to those of under-ryots and bargadars (sharecroppers), who were landless or land-poors. Many jotedars were bhadraloks (upper caste members) who adopted the ''de jure'' status of ryot (peasant) solely for the financial benefit that the Bengal Tenancy Act of 1885 afforded to ryots. Others belonged to the intermediate landowning peasant castes such as Sadgops, Aguris, Mahishyas, Rajbongshis, Shershahabadia and the rural, less educated Brahmins. By the 1920s a gentrified fraction of Jotedars emerged from the more prosperous peasants among the tribes such as Santhals and the Scheduled Castes such as the Bagdi and the Namasudra Namasudra, also known as Namassej, is an ''Avarna'' community originating from easte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Social Stratification
Social stratification refers to a society's categorization of its people into groups based on socioeconomic factors like wealth, income, race, education, ethnicity, gender, occupation, social status, or derived power (social and political). As such, stratification is the relative social position of persons within a social group, category, geographic region, or social unit. In modern Western societies, social stratification is typically defined in terms of three social classes: the upper class, the middle class, and the lower class; in turn, each class can be subdivided into the upper-stratum, the middle-stratum, and the lower stratum. Moreover, a social stratum can be formed upon the bases of kinship, clan, tribe, or caste, or all four. The categorization of people by social stratum occurs most clearly in complex state-based, polycentric, or feudal societies, the latter being based upon socio-economic relations among classes of nobility and classes of peasants. Whether socia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mahishya
Mahishya, also spelled Mahisya, is a Bengali Hindu traditionally agrarian caste, and formed the largest caste in undivided Bengal. Mahishyas are considered as Forward caste. Mahisyas traditionally lived in Bengal and Orissa region. In late twentieth century the Mahisyas were considered as the single most important 'middle-caste' group in south-western Bengal and the dominant caste in lower Midnapore district and southern 24 Parganas. They predominantly live in South Bengal, especially in the districts of Purba Medinipur, Paschim Medinipur, Hooghly, South 24 Parganas, Purba Bardhaman, Paschim Bardhaman and Howrah. Mythology According to ancient texts like Manusmriti, the term ''Mahishya'' refers to one born to a Kshatriya father and a Vaishya mother, supposed to be engaged in the profession of astronomy or agriculture. History The group now known as Mahishyas were originally known as Kaibartas or Kaivartas. From eighth to thirteenth century, there are numerous examples o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indian Feudalism
Indian feudalism refers to the feudal society that made up India's social structure until the Mughal Dynasty in the 16th century. The Guptas and the Kushans played a major role in the introduction and practice of feudalism in India, and are examples of the decline of an empire caused by feudalism. Terminology Use of the term feudalism to describe India applies a concept of medieval European origin, according to which the landed nobility held lands from the Crown in exchange for military service, and vassals were in turn tenants of the nobles, while the peasants (villeins or serfs) were obliged to live on their lord's land and give him homage, labor, and a share of the produce, notionally in exchange for military protection. Feudalism is most likely introduced to India when the Kushan Dynasty from Central Asia invaded India and introduced new policies of their own. The term Indian feudalism is used to describe taluqdar, zamindar, jagirdar, ghatwals, mulraiyats, sardar, manka ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Namasudra
Namasudra, also known as Namassej, is an ''Avarna'' community originating from eastern and central Bengal. The community was earlier known as ''Chandala'' or ''Chandal'', a term usually considered as a slur. They were traditionally engaged in fishing and as boatmen, and later in cultivation too. They lived outside the four-tier ritual ''varna'' system and thus were outcastes. Etymology There is a dearth of discussion as to the etymology of the word ''namasudra'' in pre-nineteenth-century Bengali literature and its period of origin is also undetermined. Several theories have been suggested but there is no broad consensus supporting any of them. Origins The Namasudra community was earlier known as ''Chandala'' or ''Chandal'', a term usually considered as a slur. They lived outside the four-tier ritual ''varna'' system and thus were outcastes and untouchables in the eyes of the caste Hindu communities. The community was traditionally engaged in fishing and as boatmen, in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bagdi
The Bagdi or Wagdi are a people of India who are one of the Bhil tribes. They historically spoke the Wagdi language. However today the largest number of Bagdi speak Hindi with others speaking such languages as Malvi and Marwari. See also * Bagdi Raja Adi Malla (694 - 710 CE.), also known as Bagdi Raja, was the founder of the Mallabhum (Malla Dynasty) sometime in the 7th century CE.Malabhum, Bishnupur-Chandra, Manoranjan; 2004; Kolkata. Deys Publishing History Origins There are at least two d ... References Scheduled Tribes of India Social groups of Madhya Pradesh Social groups of Rajasthan {{India-ethno-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Santhal People
The Santal or Santhal are an Austroasiatic speaking Munda ethnic group in South Asia. Santals are the largest tribe in the Jharkhand and West Bengal state of India in terms of population and are also found in the states of Odisha, Bihar and Assam. They are the largest ethnic minority in northern Bangladesh's Rajshahi Division and Rangpur Division. They have a sizeable population in Nepal. The Santals speak Santali, the most widely spoken Munda languages of Austro-asiatic language family. Etymology Santal is most likely derived from an exonym. The term refers to inhabitants of in erstwhile Silda in Medinapore region in West Bengal. The sanskrit word ''Samant'' or Bengali ''Saont'' means plain land. Their ethnonym is ("sons of mankind"). History Origins According to linguist Paul Sidwell, Austro-Asiatic language speakers probably arrived on coast of Odisha from Indochina about 4,000–3,500 years ago. The Austroasiatic speakers spread from Southeast Asia and mixed exte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brahmin
Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (guru or acharya). The other three varnas are the Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra. The traditional occupation of Brahmins is that of priesthood at the Hindu temples or at socio-religious ceremonies, and rite of passage rituals such as solemnising a wedding with hymns and prayers.James Lochtefeld (2002), Brahmin, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 1: A–M, Rosen Publishing, , page 125 Traditionally, the Brahmins are accorded the highest ritual status of the four social classes. Their livelihood is prescribed to be one of strict austerity and voluntary poverty ("A Brahmin should acquire what just suffices for the time, what he earns he should spend all that the same day"). In practice, Indian texts suggest that some Brahmins historicall ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shershahabadia
Shershabadia is a community found in the state of West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand in India. They belong to Shaikh community and also form a significant part of the Shaikhs of West Bengal and Bihar. Common surnames used by the community include Shekh, Sekh, Haque, Islam, Mondal.People of India Bihar Volume XVI Part Two edited by S Gopal & Hetukar Jha pages 876 to 877 Seagull Books Most of them are Sunni Muslims who associate with the Ahl-i Hadith movement. These people mostly live in chars and dubas (lower land) along Gangetic river lines from Katihar district of Bihar on the north bank and Rajmahal District of Jharkhand on the south bank to Murshidabad districts of West Bengal on the South bank and Malda district of West Bengal on the north bank. Terminology The word Shershabadia (from Persian: شرشابادیا) literally means (the language and/or the people) of the land known as Shershabad. The term is derived from the community's place of origin known as Jawar-e-Sarsabad o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rajbongshi People
The Rajbanshi, also Rajbongshi and Koch-Rajbongshi, are peoples from Lower Assam, North Bengal, eastern Bihar, Terai region of eastern Nepal, and Bhutan who have in the past sought an association with the Koch dynasty. Today, they speak various Indo-Aryan languages, though in the past they might have spoken Tibeto-Burman languages. In 2020, Kamatapur Autonomous Council has been created for socio-economic development and political rights of Koch-Rajbongshi community. They are related to the ethnic Koch people found in Meghalaya but are distinguished from them as well as from the Hindu caste called Koch (caste), Koch in Upper Assam that receives converts from different tribes. Rajbanshi (''of royal lineage'') alludes to the community's claimed connection with the Koch dynasty. Etymology The Rajbanshi (literal meaning: ''of the royal lineage'') community gave itself this name after 1891 following a movement to distance itself from an ethnic identity and acquire the higher ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aguri (caste)
Aguri, also known as Ugra Kshatriya, is an agricultural caste or community of Hindus found in the districts of Bardhaman, Birbhum, Hooghly and Bankura in the state of West Bengal in India. Aguris are now considered as a middle-caste group and according to Gail Omvedt, constitute "more prosperous owner-peasants" among the peasant communities of Bengal. History Aguris are a cultivating and trading caste. According to Santosh Kumar Kundu, they were brought by the ruler of Burdwan from Agra to West Bengal to fight against the British colonists. William Benjamin Oldham, a British civil servant and ethnographer who wrote ''Some Historical and Ethnical Aspects of Burdwan District'' (1891), said that they originated from marriage alliances between the Sadgop rulers of Gopbhum and the Khatri rulers of Burdwan. He based this on the Aguri's own account but McLane believes that Oldham was misled by the Aguri. Citing a 1589 work by Mukundaram. McLane says that the Aguri were present "almos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bengal Presidency
The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William and later Bengal Province, was a subdivision of the British Empire in India. At the height of its territorial jurisdiction, it covered large parts of what is now South Asia and Southeast Asia. Bengal proper covered the ethno-linguistic region of Bengal (present-day Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal). Calcutta, the city which grew around Fort William, was the capital of the Bengal Presidency. For many years, the Governor of Bengal was concurrently the Viceroy of India and Calcutta was the de facto capital of India until 1911. The Bengal Presidency emerged from trading posts established in Mughal Bengal during the reign of Emperor Jahangir in 1612. The East India Company (HEIC), a British monopoly with a Royal Charter, competed with other European companies to gain influence in Bengal. After the decisive overthrow of the Nawab of Bengal in 1757 and the Battle of Buxar in 1764, the HEIC expanded ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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