Kalita is an ethnic group or a caste of

Hindus 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 ...

belonging to the state of

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

North East India , native_name_lang = mni , settlement_type = , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = , motto = , image_map = Northeast india.png , ...

.Kangkan Kalita (6 October 2020)
"Study traces Kalitas to Himachal in 4122 BC"
''The Times of India''. Kalita is a forward caste and belongs to General or Unreserved category. Kalita represents a category in the tribe-caste continuum of Assamese society that is placed between the Keot on one side and

Kayastha Kayastha (also referred to as Kayasth) denotes a cluster of disparate Indian communities broadly categorised by the regions of the Indian subcontinent in which they were traditionally locatedthe Chitraguptavanshi Kayasthas of North India, the C ...

, Ganak and

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 ...

on the other. According to historians like S.L.Barua, Kalitas started migrating from North and East India to Assam during the 11th century rule of Dharmapal.

Origin

Legendary origins

According to the

Purana Purana (; sa, , '; literally meaning "ancient, old"Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature (1995 Edition), Article on Puranas, , page 915) is a vast genre of Indian literature about a wide range of topics, particularly about legends an ...

tradition, the Kalitas are considered as pure

Aryan Aryan or Arya (, Indo-Iranian *''arya'') is a term originally used as an ethnocultural self-designation by Indo-Iranians in ancient times, in contrast to the nearby outsiders known as 'non-Aryan' (*''an-arya''). In Ancient India, the term ' ...

, though this is not accepted as absolute truth. Though the Aryan descent theories endorse the arrival of the Kalitas "before the rise of the existing professional castes", the Kalitas generally claim to belong to the

Kshatriya Kshatriya ( hi, क्षत्रिय) (from Sanskrit ''kṣatra'', "rule, authority") is one of the four varna (social orders) of Hindu society, associated with warrior aristocracy. The Sanskrit term ''kṣatriyaḥ'' is used in the con ...

caste, and call themselves ''kulalupta'', ''kula'' meaning caste and ''lupta'' meaning gone ("lost caste") in the context of the legend that the Kalitas "were Ksatriyas who fled from the wrath of

Parasurama Parashurama (), also referred to as Rama Jamadagnya, Rama Bhargava and Veerarama, is the sixth avatar among the Dashavatara of the preserver god Vishnu in Hinduism. He is believed to be one of the ''Chiranjivi, Chiranjeevis'' (Immortals), who ...

who was determined to exterminate the Ksatriya and later concealed themselves in the forest of Assam.

Other hypothesis of origins

According to the legends, they are "the non-Vedic Aryans" who are responsible for bringing Aryan culture to Assam. Having mingled with local population, they still preserve certain elements of Aryan culture even after localising their culture to some extent. B.S. Guha has found similarities between some surnames of "Alpine

Nagar Brahmin The Nagar Brahmin is a Hindu Brahmin subcaste mainly from the Indian state of Gujarat. Author T. Sasaki says, Among Brahmins in Gujarat Nagar Brahmins were most prominent subdivision in the political, economic and social activities of this ...

s" of Gujarat with those of North East India, as referred in the Nidhanpur land grants of Kamarupa King Bhaskaravarman (6th century A.D.) such as ''Datta, Dhara, Deva, Nandi, Sena, and Vasu,'' etc. and connects them with the ''Kalitas'' of Assam.Phani Deka
''The great Indian corridor in the east''
Again, historian Kanaklal Barua mentions these surnames while referring to the Nidhanpur inscription and says that these surnames "now belong almost exclusively to the

Bengali Kayastha A Bengali Kayastha is a Bengali Hindu who is a member of the Kayastha community. The historical caste occupation of Kayasthas throughout India has been that of scribes, administrators, ministers and record-keepers; the Kayasthas in Bengal, along ...

s". Few scholars including K.R. Medhi, K.L. Barua, P.C. Choudhuri, M. Neog, B. K. Kakati made speculations by drawing the references of ''Greek'' records, words like ''Kakatiai, Kalaiai, Kaltis, Koudontai, Kudutai, Gurucharitis'' and few early religious literatures to establish the ''Kalitas'' through materials not based on ethnology or anthropology. According to B.C. Allen, all the Hinduised people except Brahmins were Kalita barring other aboriginal groups like Bodo-Kachari. Mirroring the history of

lower Assam Lower Assam division is one of the 5 administrative divisions of Assam. It was formed in 1874, comprising Undivided Kamrup district of Western Assam, undivided Darrang and Nagoan districts of Central Assam and Khasi & Jaintia hills of Meghalaya ...

, the Kalitas were regarded to be a part of the Koches. They are considered to be the original priestly class of the Koch ethnic group but with the introduction of Brahmins by

Biswa Singha Biswa Singha (1515–1540) was the progenitor king of the Koch dynasty of the Kamata kingdom. He was able to unify different Bodo-Kachari tribal groups, replace the Baro-Bhuyans of Kamata kingdom, and establish a dynasty the remnant of which ...

, the Kalitas were replaced from their original priesthood position. In

Upper Assam Upper Assam is an administrative division of the state of Assam comprising the undivided Lakhimpur and Sivasagar (previously, Sibsagar) districts, of the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra valley. The other divisions are: Lower Assam, North Assam a ...

, Kalita represents the highest category in the tribe-caste continuum of Assamese society. In this process, a tribal neophyte usually belonging to Kachari, Garo, Lalung, Mikir peoples, takes initiation in a

Sattra Satras are institutional centers associated with the Ekasarana tradition of Vaishnavism, largely found in the Indian state of Assam and neighboring regions. Numbering in the hundreds, these centers are generally independent of each other and ...

under a Guru and successively discards his own beliefs and habits to be replaced by the Hindu social code. It is also observed that lowercaste groups such as the Sut and even Duliya (a section of Nath Jogis) in an attempt for upward mobility in the caste hierarchy describe themselves as Sut Kalita and Duliya Kalita and this is true for artisan caste like the Kumar, Komar, Sonari, Katani, Nat (Dancers) who attach the term Kalita to their name for similar purposes.

Demand of reservation

Since 1988, few people of the Kalita community has been demanding

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 ...

status. All Assam Kalita Janogosthi Student Union (AAKJSU) has demanded 50% reservation in government sector jobs and demanded reservation of 25 MLA seats in Assam, 3 in Lok Sabha and 2 in Rajya Sabha seats from Assam. They also demanded the formation of a Kalita Development Council and the Pagjyotishpur Autonomous Council.

Notable Kalitas

Maniram Dewan Maniram Dutta Baruah, popularly known as Maniram Dewan (17 April 1806 – 26 February 1858), was an Assamese nobleman in British India. He was one of the first people to establish tea gardens in Assam. A loyal ally of the British East India C ...

, Freedom fighter, one of the first people to establish tea garden in Assam.

References

Bibliography

Printed sources

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Internet

{{Assam Indo-Aryan peoples Cultural history of Assam Indian castes Politics of Assam Social groups of Assam Assamese-language surnames