Maharaja Bijli Pasi was a king from the

Pasi Pasi may refer to: * Pasi (caste), a Hindu caste of northern India * ''Pasi'' (film), a 1979 Tamil film * Pasi (given name) * Pasi (surname), a surname of the Pasi community * Pasi, Papua New Guinea, a settlement near the coast of Sandaun Provinc ...

community, According to popular belief, he ruled part of what is now

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 ...

Life

The historical evidence regarding existence of a king named Bijli Pasi are lacking. However, in 2000, the

Department of Posts India Post is a government-operated postal system in India, part of the Department of Post under the Ministry of Communications. Generally known as the Post Office, it is the most widely distributed postal system in the world. Warren Hastings ha ...

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

issued a commemorative stamp on him. The move was influenced by caste upliftment movement of Pasis under the leadership of

Dalit Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the Caste system in India, castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold Varna (Hinduism), varna syste ...

leader

Ram Vilas Paswan Ram Vilas Paswan (5 July 19468 October 2020) was an Indian politician from Bihar and the Cabinet Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution in the first and second Modi ministries. Paswan was also the president of the Lok Jansha ...

. According to this commemorative stamp, Bijli Pasi was recognised as founder of the city of Bijnor in

.It is said that he consolidated his position when northern India was divided into several small states prior to the fall of mighty empires of the past.

In Popular Culture

The assertion of Bijli Pasi gave voice to the claims of

s that in the past there were Dalit kings and that they had a glorious history just like upper castes. The warrior image of Maharaja, often seen upon the walls of various Dalit communities (especially people of Pasi Caste) was designed as per the suggestion of

Kanshi Ram Kanshi Ram (15 March 1934 – 9 October 2006), also known as Bahujan Nayak or Manyavar or Saheb, was an Indian politician and social reformer who worked for the upliftment and political mobilisation of the Bahujans, the backward or lower caste ...

, the founder of

Bahujan Samaj Party The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is a national level political party in India that was formed to represent Bahujans (literally means "community in majority"), referring to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes (OBC), alon ...

. He wanted the image to contain the features of five Sikh gurus, who are also worshipped by Dalit communities to date. The specific feature of those gurus is visible in Maharaja's image, upon careful examination.

References

{{Reflist Dalit leaders Fictional Indian people