Kushwaha (sometimes, Kushvaha)
is a community of the Indo-Gangetic Plain which has traditionally been involved in agriculture (including
beekeeping). The term has been used to represent different subcastes, being those of the
Kachhis,
Koeris and
Muraos. Under the Indian governments system of positive discrimination, the Kushwahas are classified as a "Backward" or "Other Backward class". From the 20th century onwards, they began to claim descent from the
Suryavansh (Solar) dynasty via
Kusha
Kusha was a Suryavansha
The Solar dynasty ( IAST: Suryavaṃśa or Ravivaṃśa in Sanskrit) or the Ikshvaku dynasty was founded by the legendary king Ikshvaku.Geography of Rigvedic India, M.L. Bhargava, Lucknow 1964, pp. 15-18, 46-49, 92-98 ...
, who was one of the twin sons of
Rama
Rama (; ), Ram, Raman or Ramar, also known as Ramachandra (; , ), is a major deity in Hinduism. He is the seventh and one of the most popular '' avatars'' of Vishnu. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Bein ...
and
Sita
Sita (; ) also called as Janaki and Vaidehi is a Hindu goddess and the female protagonist of the Hindu epic, ''Ramayana''. She is the consort of Rama, the avatar of the god Vishnu, and is regarded as a form of Vishnu's consort, Lakshmi. She ...
. Previously, they had worshipped
Shiva
Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...
and
Shakta
Shaktism ( sa, शाक्त, , ) is one of several major Hindu denominations, wherein the metaphysical reality is considered metaphorically a woman and Shakti ( Mahadevi) is regarded as the supreme godhead. It includes many goddesses, all ...
.
Origin
The Kushwaha claim descent from the Suryavansh dynasty through Kusha, a son of the mythological Rama, an
avatar
Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appeara ...
of
Vishnu
Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism.
Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" withi ...
, a myth of origin developed in the twentieth century. Prior to that time, the various branches that form the Kushwaha community - the Kachhis, Koeris, and Muraos - favoured a connection with Shiva and Shakta.
Ganga Prasad Gupta, a proponent of Kushwaha sanskritization, claimed in the 1920s that Kushwaha families worshiped
Hanuman
Hanuman (; sa, हनुमान, ), also called Anjaneya (), is a Hindu god and a divine '' vanara'' companion of the god Rama. Hanuman is one of the central characters of the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. He is an ardent devotee of Rama and on ...
- described by Pinch as "the embodiment of true devotion to Ram and Sita" - during
Kartika, a month in the
Hindu lunar calendar
The Hindu calendar, Panchanga () or Panjika is one of various lunisolar calendars that are traditionally used in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, with further regional variations for social and Hindu religious purposes. They adopt a s ...
.
Demographics and distribution
William Pinch notes a Kushwaha presence in
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
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 ...
,
and they are also recorded in
Haryana
Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land a ...
.
Outside India, they are found in the
Terai
, image =Terai nepal.jpg
, image_size =
, image_alt =
, caption =Aerial view of Terai plains near Biratnagar, Nepal
, map =
, map_size =
, map_alt =
, map_caption =
, biogeographic_realm = Indomalayan realm
, global200 = Terai-Duar savanna a ...
of Nepal, where they have variously been officially recorded as ''Kushwaha'' and as ''Koiri''. They also have significant presence among Bihari diaspora in
Mauritius
Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It ...
. The migration of
Biharis
The Biharis () is a demonym given to the inhabitants of the Indian state of Bihar. Bihari people can be separated into three main Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic groups, Bhojpuris, Maithils and Magadhis. They are also further divided into a v ...
to neighbouring countries was a phenomenon which became more pronounced in the post independence
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. Thus, small island nations like Mauritius has significant population of people of Indian origin. The tradition and culture of
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 ...
migrants in countries like Mauritius is quite different from Indian subcontinent. This is so with ''
varna
Varna may refer to:
Places Europe
*Varna, Bulgaria, a city in Bulgaria
**Varna Province
**Varna Municipality
** Gulf of Varna
**Lake Varna
**Varna Necropolis
*Vahrn, or Varna, a municipality in Italy
*Varniai, a city in Lithuania
* Varna (Šaba ...
'' status and "social hierarchy" as both these terms have several variation in Mauritius vis a vis India. The traditional ruling elites like
Rajput
Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...
s 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 (gur ...
s are politically and economically marginalised on the island while cultivating castes like Koeri,
Ahir, Kurmi,
Kahar
The Kahars are a community of palanquin bearers originating from the Gangatic region.
Kahars are present in most parts of India, but are concentrated in North India. They are found mainly in West Uttar Pradesh, in Sarsawa, Saharanpur, Farruk ...
and others have improved their social and financial position.
According to Crispin Bates:
Economy
According to Arun Sinha, the Koeris were known for their market gardening activities. Since
Indian independence, the land reform movement was making it difficult for the erstwhile upper-caste landlords to maintain their existing holdings. The growing pressure from left-wing militants backed by
CPI(ML) and some local political parties, as well as the weakening of the
Zamindari system
A zamindar (Hindustani language, Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian language, Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous Raja, ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughal Em ...
was making it difficult for them to survive in the rural areas. Hence, the decades following independence were marked by the urbanization of upper castes. Their migration to cities was accompanied by selling off of their unproductive holdings, which were mostly bought by the peasants of cultivating middle castes, who were financially sound enough to purchase land. Some of the land was also bought from Muslim families who were migrating to
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
. The Koeris, along with
Kurmi
Kurmi is traditionally a non-elite tiller caste in the lower Gangetic plain of India, especially southern regions of Awadh, eastern Uttar Pradesh and parts of Bihar. The Kurmis came to be known for their exceptional work ethic, superior til ...
s and
Yadav
Yadav refers to a grouping of traditionally non-elite, Quote: "The Yadavs were traditionally a low-to-middle-ranking cluster of pastoral-peasant castes that have become a significant political force in Uttar Pradesh (and other northern state ...
s were the main buyers of these lands.
However, since the peasant castes considered their land to be their most productive asset, they rarely sold it. The zeal of peasant castes to buy more and more land gradually changed their economic profile, and some of them became 'neo-landlords'. This transformation caused them to attempt to protect their new economic status from those below them, especially the Dalits, who were still mainly landless labourers. Thus they adopted many of the practices of their erstwhile landlords.
The pattern of land reform in states like
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 ...
which mainly benefitted the middle castes like those of Koeris was also responsible for the imperfect mobilisation of backward castes in the politics. The space carved by backwards in electoral politics after 1967 was dominated mainly by these middle peasant castes and they were the biggest beneficiary of the ''politics of
socialism
Socialism is a left-wing Economic ideology, economic philosophy and Political movement, movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to Private prop ...
'', the proponent of which were people like
Ram Manohar Lohia.
The unequitable political space at the disposal of other ''Backward Castes'' and
Scheduled Castes was thus an implicit implication of these land reforms as according to Varinder Grover:
The differences between upper backward castes and the extremely backward castes and Dalits due to unequal distribution of the benefits of land reforms was thus a major challenge before the CPI(ML) in mobilisation of collective force of lower castes against the upper caste landlords. The upper backward castes like Koeri were initially less attached to the CPI(ML) due to their economic progress and the communists were successful in mobilising them only in some regions like
Patna
Patna (
), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...
,
Bhojpur,
Aurangabad
Aurangabad ( is a city in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarters of Aurangabad district and is the largest city in the Marathwada region. Located on a hilly upland terrain in the Deccan Traps, Aurangabad is the ...
and
Rohtas district. These success were attributed to the widespread
dacoity
Dacoity is a term used for "banditry" in the Indian subcontinent. The spelling is the anglicised version of the Hindi word ''daaku''; "dacoit" is a colloquial Indian English word with this meaning and it appears in the ''Glossary of Colloquial ...
and oppressive attitude of the upper caste landlords faced by these hardworking caste groups which propelled them to join the fold of revolutionary organisations.
Political presence
The Kushwaha also engaged in political action during these latter days of the Raj. Around 1933–1934, the Koeris joined with the Kurmis and Yadavs to form the
Triveni Sangh
Triveni Sangh was a caste coalition and political party established in Shahabad District of Bihar in pre-independence India to voice the political solidarity of "middle peasant castes" as well as to carve a space in democratic politics for the ...
, a caste federation that by 1936 claimed to have a million supporters. This coalition followed an alliance for the 1930 local elections which fared badly at the polls. The new grouping had little electoral success: it won a few seats in the 1937 elections but was stymied by a two-pronged opposition which saw the rival
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
wooing some of its more wealthy leading lights to a newly formed unit called the "''Backward Class Federation''" and an effective opposition from upper castes organised to keep the lower castes in their customary place. Added to this, the three putatively allied castes were unable to set aside their communal rivalries and the Triveni Sangh also faced competition from the
All India Kisan Sabha
All India Kisan Sabha ( AIKS; lit. ''All India Farmers Union'', also known as the Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Sabha), is the peasant or farmers' wing of the Communist Party of India, an important peasant movement formed by Sahajanand Saraswati in 1 ...
, a peasant-oriented socio-political campaigning group run by the Communists. The appeal of the Triveni Sangh had waned significantly by 1947
but had achieved a measure of success away from the ballot box, notably by exerting sufficient influence to bring an end to the
begar system of forced unpaid labour and by providing a platform for those voices seeking reservation of jobs in government for people who were not upper castes. Many years later, in 1965, there was an abortive attempt to revive the defunct federation.
The Kisan Sabha was dominated by peasant castes like the Koeri, Kurmi and Yadav, which led some historians such as
Gyan Pandey to term them mainly movements of the middle peasant castes who organized against ''bedakhil'' (eviction), with limited participation of other communities. The reality, however, was more complex. Dalit communities like the Chamars and Pasis, whose traditional occupations were leatherwork and toddy-tapping respectively, formed a significant portion of the landless peasantry and were thus significant in the Kisan Sabha, and present were even members of the high castes such as Brahmins.
The Koeris also had significant presence in the Naxalite movement of 1960's rural Bihar, particularly in
Bhojpur and nearby areas like
Arrah
Arrah (also transliterated as Ara) is a city and a municipal corporation in Bhojpur district (formerly known as Shahabad district) in the Indian state of Bihar. It is the headquarters of Bhojpur district, located near the confluence of the G ...
, where an economic system dominated by the upper caste landlords was still in place. Here, the Communist upsurge against the prevalent feudal system was led by
Jagdish Mahto, a Koeri teacher who had read
Ambedkar and
Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
and was sympathetic to the cause of
Dalit
Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold varna system of Hinduism and were seen as forming ...
s.
Mahto organised his militia under the banner of
Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist), which assassinated many upper-caste landlords in the region . These violent clashes demarcated the dividing lines between Koeris and
Bhumihar
Bhumihars, also called Babhan, are a Hindu caste mainly found in Bihar (including the Mithila region), the Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, the Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh, and Nepal.
The Bhumihars claim Brahmin stat ...
s in the Ekwaari.
[^ Its first mass leader was Jagdish Mahto, a koeri teacher who had read ambedkar before he discovered Marx and started a paper in the town of arrah called Harijanistan("dalit land")..]
For much of the 20th century, the Koeries were generally less politically effective, even less involved, than the Kurmis and Yadavs who broadly shared their socio-economic position in Hindu society. The latter two groups were more vociferous in their actions, including involvement in caste rioting, whilst the Koeris had only a brief prominence during the ascendancy of
Jagdeo Prasad. This muted position changed dramatically in the 1990s when the rise to power of
Lalu Prasad
Lalu Prasad Yadav (born 11 June 1948) is an Indian politician and president of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). He is a former Chief Minister of Bihar (1990-1997), a former Railway Minister of India (2004-2009), and a former Member of Parliam ...
in Bihar caused an assertion of Yadav-centric policies that demanded a loud reaction.
Earlier, the Koeris were given fair representation in Laloo Yadav as well as
Rabri Devi
Rabri Devi Yadav (born 1 January 1955) is an Indian politician who formerly served three terms as the Chief Minister of Bihar, the first and only woman till date to have held the office. She is a Member of Bihar Legislative Council (MLC), and ...
regime. The backward politics unleashed by Laloo Prasad resulted in rise to political prominence of numerous backward castes, among which Koeri were prominent.
In this period, caste remained the most effective tool of political mobilisation and even leaders who were theoretically against caste-based politics also appealed to caste loyalties to secure their victory. The Rabri Devi government had appointed ten Koeris as minister in her cabinet, which was sought by many community leaders as a fair representation to the clan.
The portrayal of Laloo Yadav as a "Messiah of backward castes" lost the ground when the Yadav ascendancy in politics led other aspirational backward castes to move away from his party. In the meantime during 1990s,
Nitish Kumar
Nitish Kumar (born 1 March 1951) is an Indian politician, who is serving as Chief Minister of Bihar since 22 February 2015, having previous held the office from 2005 to 2014 and for a short period in 2000. The leader of the Janata Dal (Unit ...
, who was projected as the leader of Kurmi and Koeri communities formed the
Samta Party Samta may refer to:
*Samta, India, a village and a gram panchayat in Howrah, West Bengal, India
*Samtah or Samta, a village and sub-division in Jizan Province, Saudi Arabia
* Samta colony, an area in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India
* Samta sthal, the m ...
, leading to the isolation of Koeri-Kurmi community from Yadavs and Laloo Prasad.
[ While Samta with its leader Nitish is considered to be the party of Koeri-Kurmi, Bihar people's party led by Anand Mohan is perceived to be a party having sympathy and support of Rajputs.]
Thus, the decades following independence witnessed a complete shift of power from upper castes to the "upper backward castes": a term coined to describe castes like the Koeri, Yadav, Kurmi and
Bania in Bihar. The transfer of power was also witnessed at the local level of governance. The upper caste were first to acquire education and they benefitted from it initially but with the expansion in electoral franchise and growth of "party system", they lost the ground to upper backward communities. Nepotism and patronage for fellow caste members in government, which had previously been an upper-caste phenomenon, was now available to the upper backward communities. This phenomenon continued with
Karpoori Thakur
Karpoori Thakur (24 January 1924 – 17 February 1988) was an Indian politician from the Bihar state. He was popularly known as Jan Nayak (Hindi for people's hero). He served as the Chief Minister of Bihar from December 1970 to June 1971 (Socia ...
in the 1970s, who had provided 12% reservation to lower backward castes and 8% to upper backwards in which Koeri were included. The peak of this patronage was reached during the tenure of Laloo Yadav.
From 1990 onwards the solidarity of backward castes was severely weakened due to division among the Koeri-Kurmi community and Yadavs. The former's voting pattern was in quite contrast to that of the latter. When Samta Party allied with the
Bhartiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...
, Koeris voted for this alliance and thus in 1996 Lok Sabha elections BJP fared well, primarily with the support of Koeri and Kurmis. The division among backwards also costed their representation in the assemblies. It was seen that profile of Bihar legislative assembly was changing rapidly since 1967 and till 1995-96 the representation of upper caste was reduced to as lower as 17%. But, the division among backwards served as a hope to the upper castes to at least increase their representation. The success of BJP-Samta coalition however also consolidated the Koeris and the Kurmis, who now emerged as political force in 1996 elections.
Since 1996 the Koeris voted en masse for the JD (U) and BJP coalition. The caste based polarisation in states like Bihar drifted the dominant backward castes away from the
Rashtriya Janata Dal and distributed their votes to various political parties. The Koeris who constituted one of the most populous caste group were shifted first towards
JD (U)-
BJP
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Mo ...
coalition. Later after the expulsion of
Upendra Kushwaha
Upendra Singh Kushwaha (born 6 February 1960) is an Indian politician and Member of Legislative Council of Bihar assembly. He was the former Minister of State for Human Resources and Development in the Government of India. He is former MP fro ...
from the JD (U) and formation of
Rashtriya Lok Samata Party
Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (abbreviated as RLSP; translation: ''National People's Equity Party'') was a political party in India led by Upendra Kushwaha. It was launched on 3 March 2013 and was based in the state of Bihar. The party came into ex ...
, their votes were distributed amongst the JD (U) on the one hand and the new social coalition made by BJP with
Lok Janshakti Party
The Lok Janshakti Party ( LJP, "People’s Manpower Party") was a state political party mainly based in the state of Bihar, India. The party was formed in 2000 when Ram Vilas Paswan split from Janata Dal. The party had a considerable followin ...
and Rashtriya Lok Samata Party on the other hand.
In 2015
Bihar Legislative Assembly
The Bihar Legislative Assembly, also known as the Bihar Vidhan Sabha, is the lower house of the Bihar Legislature where the first elections were held in 1952.
The total strength of membership in the Assembly was 331, including one nominated ...
elections the
Janata Dal (United)
Janata Dal (United) ("People’s Party (United)”) abbreviated as JD(U) is an Indian political party with political presence mainly in eastern and north-eastern India. JD(U) is recognised as a state party in the states of Bihar , Arunachal Pr ...
allied with its rival
Rashtriya Janata Dal due to differences with
Bhartiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...
. The social composition of these parties and the core voter base are such that this coalition drew immense support from the
Yadav
Yadav refers to a grouping of traditionally non-elite, Quote: "The Yadavs were traditionally a low-to-middle-ranking cluster of pastoral-peasant castes that have become a significant political force in Uttar Pradesh (and other northern state ...
,
Kurmi
Kurmi is traditionally a non-elite tiller caste in the lower Gangetic plain of India, especially southern regions of Awadh, eastern Uttar Pradesh and parts of Bihar. The Kurmis came to be known for their exceptional work ethic, superior til ...
and Kushwaha caste who hardly voted together after the 1990s. Consequently, the coalition emerged with massive victory with the number of legislators from these agrarian castes reaching higher as compared to previous elections. Later the coalition was ripped apart and in 2020 Assembly elections the disunity among the three castes and split of votes led to huge decline in number of Kushwaha legislators.
Culture and beliefs
![The women of Kushwaha caste celebrating Chhath Mahaparva in Bihar](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/The_women_of_Kushwaha_caste_celebrating_Chhath_Mahaparva_in_Bihar.jpg)
In the central
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 ...
backward castes like Koeri are numerically and politically powerful and hence they reject the traditional ''
Jajmani system
The jajmani system or yajman system was an economic system most notably found in villages of the Indian subcontinent in which lower castes performed various functions for upper castes and received grain or other goods in return. It was an occupa ...
'' which relies upon Brahmanical notion of purity and pollution. The backward caste groups in this region thus do not avail the services of
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 ...
priests to perform their rituals. In most of the cases, Koeri households employ a Koeri priest to perform their rituals and their services are also availed by other backward castes like Yadav. These priest who belong to Koeri caste are different from the Brahmin priests in their approval of widow remarriage. They also promote non-vegetarianism and do not grow ''tuft'' like the Brahmins. The ''tika'' (liquid form of sandalwood on the head) which is made by the Brahmin priests on their forehead is also disapproved by them.
Classification
Disputed varna status
The Kushwaha were traditionally a peasant community and considered to be of the
Shudra
Shudra or ''Shoodra'' (Sanskrit: ') is one of the four '' varnas'' of the Hindu caste system and social order in ancient India. Various sources translate it into English as a caste, or alternatively as a social class. Theoretically, class ser ...
varna
Varna may refer to:
Places Europe
*Varna, Bulgaria, a city in Bulgaria
**Varna Province
**Varna Municipality
** Gulf of Varna
**Lake Varna
**Varna Necropolis
*Vahrn, or Varna, a municipality in Italy
*Varniai, a city in Lithuania
* Varna (Šaba ...
. Pinch describes them as "skilled agriculturalists".
The traditional perception of Shudra status was increasingly challenged during the later decades of
British Raj
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was him ...
rule, although various castes had made claims of a higher status well before the British administration instituted its first census. The
Kurmi
Kurmi is traditionally a non-elite tiller caste in the lower Gangetic plain of India, especially southern regions of Awadh, eastern Uttar Pradesh and parts of Bihar. The Kurmis came to be known for their exceptional work ethic, superior til ...
community of cultivators, described by
Christophe Jaffrelot as "middle caste peasants", led this charge in search of greater respectability.
Pinch describes that "The concern with personal dignity, community identity, and caste status reached a peak among Kurmi, Yadav, and Kushvaha peasants in the first four decades of the twentieth century."
Identification as Kushwaha Kshatriya
From around 1910, the Kachhis and the Koeris, both of whom for much of the preceding century had close links with the British as a consequence of their favoured role in the cultivation of the
opium poppy, began to identify themselves as Kushwaha
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 ...
. An organisation claiming to represent those two groups and the Muraos petitioned for official recognition as being of the Kshatriya varna in 1928.
This action by the All India Kushwaha Kshatriya Mahasabha (AIKKM) reflected the general trend for social upliftment by communities that had traditionally been classified as being Shudra. The process, which
M. N. Srinivas
Mysore Narasimhachar Srinivas (1916–1999) was an Indian sociologist and social anthropologist. He is mostly known for his work on caste and caste systems, social stratification, Sanskritisation and Westernisation in southern India and th ...
called
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 ...
, was a feature of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century caste politics.
The position of the AIKKM was based on the concept of
Vaishnavism
Vaishnavism ( sa, वैष्णवसम्प्रदायः, Vaiṣṇavasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as the ...
, which promoted the worship and claims of descent from Rama or Krishna as a means to assume the trappings of Kshatriya symbolism and thus permit the wearing of the
sacred thread
''Upanayana'' ( sa, उपनयनम्, lit=initiation, translit=Upanāyanam) is a Hindu educational sacrament, one of the traditional saṃskāras or rites of passage that marked the acceptance of a student by a preceptor, such as a ''guru'' ...
even though the physical labour inherent in their cultivator occupations intrinsically defined them as Shudra. The movement caused them to abandon their claims to be descended from Shiva in favour of the alternate myth that claimed descent from Rama. In 1921, Ganga Prasad Gupta, a proponent of Kushwaha Sanskritization, had published a book offering proof of the Kshatriya status of the Koeri, Kachhi, Murao and Kachwaha.
His reconstructed history argued that the Kushwaha were Hindu descendants of Kush and that in the twelfth century they had served Raja
Jaichand
Jaya-chandra ( IAST: Jayacandra, r. c. 1170–1194 CE) was a king from the Gahadavala dynasty of northern India. He is also known as Jayachchandra ( IAST: Jayaccandra) in inscriptions, and Jaichand in vernacular legends. He ruled the Antarvedi ...
in a military capacity during the period of Muslim consolidation of the
Delhi Sultanate. Subsequent persecution by the victorious Muslims caused the Kushwaha to disperse and disguise their identity, foregoing the sacred thread and thereby becoming degraded and taking on various localised community names.
Gupta's attempt to prove Kshatriya status, in common with similar attempts by others to establish histories of various castes, was spread via the caste associations, which
Dipankar Gupta describes as providing a link between the "urban, politically literate elite" members of a caste and the "less literate villagers". Some communities also constructed temples in support of these claims as, for example, did the Muraos in
Ayodhya
Ayodhya (; ) is a city situated on the banks of holy river Saryu in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
Ayodhya, also known as Saketa, is an ancient city of India, the birthplace of Rama and setting of the great epic Ramayana. Ayodhya wa ...
.
Some Kushwaha reformers also argued, in a similar vein to Kurmi reformer Devi Prasad Sinha Chaudhari, that since
Rajput
Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...
s,
Bhumihar
Bhumihars, also called Babhan, are a Hindu caste mainly found in Bihar (including the Mithila region), the Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, the Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh, and Nepal.
The Bhumihars claim Brahmin stat ...
s and
Brahmins
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 ...
worked the fields in some areas, there was no rational basis for assertions that such labour marked a community as being of the Shudra varna.
William Pinch describes the growth of militancy among agricultural castes in the wake of their claims to Kshatriya status. Castes like Koeris, Kurmis and Yadavs asserted their Kshatriya status not merely by words but they joined the
British Indian Army as soldiers in large number. The growing militancy among them turned rural Bihar into an arena of conflict in which numerous caste-based militias surfaced and atrocities against the Dalits became the new norm. The militias founded during this period were named after folk figures or popular personalities who were revered by the whole community.
Classification as Backward Caste
Kushwahas are classified as a Most Backward Caste (MBC) in some of the states of India. In 2013, the Haryana government added the Kushwaha, Koeri and Maurya castes to the list of backward classes.
In Bihar they are categorized as
Other Backward 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, ...
. The various subcastes of Kushwaha community viz Kachhi,
Shakya
Shakya ( Pāḷi: ; sa, शाक्य, translit=Śākya) was an ancient eastern sub-Himalayan ethnicity and clan of north-eastern region of the Indian subcontinent, whose existence is attested during the Iron Age. The Shakyas were organised ...
and Koeri are categorized as OBC in
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 ...
also.
References
Notes
Citations
Further reading
*
*{{cite book, title=From popular movement to rebellion:The Naxalite dacade, page= 317,318, first=Ranbir, last=Samaddar, publisher=Routledge, location =New york, year=2019, isbn= 978-0-367-13466-2 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BjZ7DwAAQBAJ&q=jagdish+prasad+mahto+naxal&pg=PT317, access-date=30 May 2020
Agricultural castes
Shaktism
Social groups of Bihar
Social groups of Uttar Pradesh
Suryavansha
Vaishnavism