The Basor or Bansor or Vanskaar are a

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

caste Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultura ...

found in the state 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 ...

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 ...

, India. They have

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 ...

status and also belongs to kshatriya status because they also used to make bamboo based weapons for soldiers.People of India Uttar Pradesh Volume XLII Part One edited by A Hasan & J C Das page 212 to 215 Manohar Publications

Origin

The Basor were traditionally involved in the manufacture of bamboo furniture, bamboo handcraft etc. Their name means an artist and also a worker in bamboo. The Basor / Vanskaar are found mainly in the districts of

Jalaun Jalaun is a city and a municipal board in Jalaun district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. History In early times Jalaun seems to have been the home of kurmi clans, the jalaunya kurmi in the east and the Kachwahas in the west. The villag ...

, Hamirpur,

Mahoba Mahoba is a city in Mahoba District of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh in the Bundelkhand region, well known for the ninth century granite Sun temple built in Pratihara style. It is also well known for the 24 rock-cut Jain tirthankara image ...

Jhansi Jhansi (; Hindi: झांसी, Urdu: ) is a historic city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It lies in the region of Bundelkhand on the banks of the Pahuj River, in the extreme south of Uttar Pradesh. Jhansi is the administrative hea ...

Kanpur Kanpur or Cawnpore ( /kɑːnˈpʊər/ pronunciation (help·info)) is an industrial city in the central-western part of the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Founded in 1207, Kanpur became one of the most important commercial and military stations o ...

and Banda. Some Basor belongs to Jabalpur, Bhopal and Sagar districts of Madhya Pradesh. They speak

Bundelkhandi Bundeli (Devanagari: बुन्देली or बुंदेली; or Bundelkhandi) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Bundelkhand region of central India. It belongs to the Central Indo-Ayran languages and is part of the Western Hi ...

dialect, although most can also understand the high version of

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

, known as

khari Boli Kauravi ( hi, कौरवी, ur, ), also known as Khaṛībolī is a set of Western Hindi varieties of Shauraseni Prakrit mainly spoken in Northwestern Uttar Pradesh. Standard Hindi and Urdu are based on Khariboli, specifically on its De ...

Present circumstances

The Basor practice strict community endogamy, as well as clan exogamy, which is a common practice among most

North India North India is a loosely defined region consisting of the northern part of India. The dominant geographical features of North India are the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the Himalayas, which demarcate the region from the Tibetan Plateau and Central ...

n Hindus. Their clans are called

gotra In Hindu culture, the term gotra (Sanskrit: गोत्र) is considered to be equivalent to lineage. It broadly refers to people who are descendants in an unbroken male line from a common male ancestor or patriline. Generally, the gotra fo ...

s, the main ones being the Bahmangot, Dhuneb, Katahriya, Sikarwar, Samangot, Sonach and Supa. Marriages do not occur with the

Muslim Bansphor The Muslim Bansphor are a Muslim community found in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. They are Muslim converts from the Hindu Bansphor caste. Present circumstances The Bansphor practice strict community endogamy, and like other neighbour ...

community. The Basor live in multi-caste villages, but occupy their own distinct quarters. Each of their settlement contains an informal caste council, known as a

panchayat The Panchayat raj is a political system, originating from the Indian subcontinent, found mainly in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. It is the oldest system of local government in the Indian subcontinent, and historical ment ...

. The panchayat is headed by a pradhan, a position which is hereditary. In addition, there is an overarching panchayat of between three and four villages, which headed by a chaudhary. The panchayat resolves any intra-community dispute, as well as acting an instrument of social control. They are Hindus and have

Lakshmi Lakshmi (; , sometimes spelled Laxmi, ), also known as Shri (, ), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism. She is the goddess of wealth, fortune, power, beauty, fertility and prosperity, and associated with ''Maya'' ("Illusion"). Alo ...

and

Durga Durga ( sa, दुर्गा, ) is a major Hindu goddess, worshipped as a principal aspect of the mother goddess Mahadevi. She is associated with protection, strength, motherhood, destruction, and wars. Durga's legend centres around co ...

as their tribal deities. The Basor are marginal farmers, sharecroppers and also belongs to kshatriya status. Their traditional occupation was basket making, bamboo handcraft items and animal husbandry. Like other artisan castes, they have seen in their traditional occupation, with a concurrent rise in the number of daily wage labourers. Traditionally, they used to work as a labourers and bamboo works. They also act as village musicians especially during processions, marriages and other socio-religious ceremonies. 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 Basor population as 129,885.

References

{{reflist Scheduled Castes of Uttar Pradesh