The Kashyap Rajput or Kashyap are a caste in India. They are sometimes called the Koshyal or Kanshilya.

History

''Kashyap'' is originally one of the eight primary gotras (clans) of the

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 (gur ...

s, being derived from

Kashyapa Kashyapa ( sa, कश्यप}, ) is a revered Vedic sage of Hinduism., Quote: "Kasyapa (Rudra),(Vedic Seer)..." He is one of the Saptarishis, the seven ancient sages of the ''Rigveda''. Kashyapa is the most ancient and venerated rishi, ...

, the name of a rishi (hermit) from whom the eponymous gotra Brahmins believe to have descended. The Brahmanical clan system was later emulated by people as an early example of the

sanskritisation Sanskritisation (or Sanskritization) is a term in sociology which refers to the process by which castes or tribes placed lower in the caste hierarchy seek 'upward' mobility by emulating the rituals and practices of the dominant castes or upper ...

process. In more recent times, the All-India Kashyap Rajput Mahasabha pressure group was established prior to the 1941 census of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

to lobby the census authorities to record the caste as ''Kashyap Rajput'' rather than by any other name.

Kashyap communities

There were proposals in 2013 that some or all of the communities related to Kashyap in the state should be reclassified as

Scheduled Castes 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 ...

under India's system of positive discrimination; this would have involved declassifying them from the

Other Backwards Class The Other Backward Class is a collective term used by the Government of India to classify castes which are educationally or socially backward. It is one of several official classifications of the population of India, along with General castes, S ...

category. Whether or not this would happen was a significant issue in the campaign for the 2014 Indian general election. They are among 17 OBC communities that were again proposed for Scheduled Caste status by the Samajwadi Party-controlled

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 ...

. However, this proposal, which relates to votebank politics, has been stayed by the courts; the prior attempt had been rejected by the

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, ...

References

Citations Bibliography * * * * {{refend Other Backward Classes Social groups of Uttar Pradesh

History

Kashyap communities

See also

References