The Bhuiyan or Bhuiya are an indigenous community found in the Indian states of

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . It ...

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

and

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

. They are not only geographically disparate but also have many cultural variations and subgroups.

Etymology

The ''Bhuiyans'' name comes from the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

''bhumi'', meaning ''land''. Most of the Bhuiya are agriculturalists and many believe that they are descended from

Bhūmi Bhumi ( sa, भूमि, Bhūmi), also known as Bhudevi and Vasundhara, is a Hindu goddess who is the personification of the Earth. She is a consort of the god Vishnu. According to Vaishnava tradition, she is the second aspect of Vishnu's conso ...

, the Hindu goddess who represents Mother Earth. They are

patrilineal Patrilineality, also known as the male line, the spear side or agnatic kinship, is a common kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is recorded through their father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritanc ...

exogamous Exogamy is the social norm of marrying outside one's social group. The group defines the scope and extent of exogamy, and the rules and enforcement mechanisms that ensure its continuity. One form of exogamy is dual exogamy, in which two groups c ...

groups with strong family ties.

Present circumstances

There are significant economic variations in the Bhuiya community, with some in areas such as Ghatwar and Tikait being landowners but many others being reliant on working the land either independently or as paid labourers. Basket-making, livestock rearing, fishing, hunting and the sale of forest produce such as firewood, honey and resin also contribute to their livelihood, although the practise of food collection has probably mostly died out. Ghatwar were king during medieval period. They rebelled against Nagvanshi king

Pratap Karn Pratap Karn (c.1451-c.1469) was Nagvanshi king in 15th century. According to ''Nag vanshavali'' written by Beniram Mahata, during reign of Pratap Karn, king of Sandhya, Tamar, ghatwar kings rebelled. The king of Tamar indulged in plunder and l ...

. Nagvanshi suppressed Ghatwar rebellion with the help of king of Kharyagarh

Baghdeo Singh Baghdeo Singh was founder of Ramgarh Raj in North Chotanagpur. He was king of Khayaragarh. He was made Fauzdar of Karra under the Nagvanshi. He suppressed rebellion in Tamar for Nagvanshi ruler. Nagvanshi send him to extract taxes from Karpur ...

. In 1857 rebellion,

Tikait Umrao Singh Tikait Umrao Singh was a king and freedom fighter. He was king of small kingdom Bandhgawa which is located in Ranchi district in Jharkhand. In Indian rebellion 1857, he and his brother Ghasi Singh played pivotal role in preventing East India Comp ...

was king of Bandhgawa in

Ormanjhi Ormanjhi is a village in the Ormanjhi CD block in the Ranchi Sadar subdivision of Ranchi district, Jharkhand, India. Geography Location Ormanjhi is located at at an elevation of from mean sea level (MSL). Area overview The map along ...

. He participated in rebellion against East India Company in Ranchi. They have exogamous lineages such as Basuki (cobra), Kachhim (tortoise), Kali (a snake), Sal (a fish), Sigari (fox), Sinjkiri etc in Bihar and Jharkhand. They have titles such as Deshmandal, Ghatowal, Paramanik, Pradhan, Bhogta, Chharidar, Mahto, Rai Thakur, Tikayat, Bhuiya, Manjhi, Nayak, Roy, Singh in Bihar and Jharkhand.

Official classification

In 1931, during British Period, they were listed as primitive tribe. In 1936 they were listed as Backward tribe. In Patna division, Palamu, Hazaribagh, Manbhum and Bengal, they were included in Scheduled Caste. After independence, the

Government of Uttar Pradesh The Government of Uttar Pradesh (ISO: Uttar Pradesh Sarkār; often abbreviated as GoUP) is the subnational government of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh with the governor as its appointed constitutional head of the state by the President of I ...

had classified the Bhuiya as a

Scheduled Caste The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designa ...

but by 2007, they were one of several groups that it redesignated as

Scheduled Tribe The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designa ...

s. As of 2017, this tribal designation applies only for

Sonbhadra district Sonbhadra or ''Sonebhadra'' is the second largest district by area of Uttar Pradesh after Lakhimpur Kheri. It is the only district in India which borders four states, namely Madhya Pradesh to the west, Chhattishgarh to the south, Jharkhand in th ...

. Bhuiya are included in

and Jharkhand. They constitute 21% of total Scheduled Caste population of Jharkhand. The

2011 Census of India The 2011 Census of India or the 15th Indian Census was conducted in two phases, house listing and population enumeration. The House listing phase began on 1 April 2010 and involved the collection of information about all buildings. Information ...

for Uttar Pradesh showed the Bhuiya Scheduled Caste population as 4095.

References

Scheduled Tribes of Uttar Pradesh Scheduled Castes of Uttar Pradesh * Social groups of Assam Social groups of Bihar Social groups of Madhya Pradesh Social groups of Odisha Social groups of Tamil Nadu {{india-ethno-stub

Etymology

Present circumstances

Official classification

See also

References