The Karan or Karana is a community of

scribes A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of automatic printing. The profession of the scribe, previously widespread across cultures, lost most of its promi ...

found in the state of

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

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 ...

. The post of Karana used to be a professional designation that was occupied by literate members of the lower as well as the higher castes. They also held

Karanam Karanam (also spelled as Karnam), is a title and surname native to Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Traditionally, Karanam or Karnam was a title used by people who maintained the accounts and records of the villages and used in collec ...

post in some parts of

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

, where they speak

Odia Odia, also spelled Oriya or Odiya, may refer to: * Odia people in Odisha, India * Odia language, an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family * Odia alphabet, a writing system used for the Odia languag ...

and played the similar role in Odisha as that of the

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 ...

s of

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

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 Be ...

. Traditionally they were the official record-keepers in the royal courts of the Odia princely states historically (

Orissa Tributary States The Orissa Tributary States, also known as the Garhjats and as the Orissa Feudatory States, were a group of princely states of British India now part of the present-day Indian state of Odisha. The Orissa Tributary States were located in the Ga ...

). Today they are a politically dominant community and have reigned over the politics of Odisha for 40 years.

History

Hindu Scriptures

Various Hindu scriptures such as Smrtis and

Puranas 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 ...

mention Karan as a mixed caste. According to puranic accounts, the offspring of a

Vaishya Vaishya (Sanskrit: वैश्य, ''vaiśya'') is one of the four Varna (Hinduism), varnas of the Hinduism, Hindu social order in India. Vaishyas are classed third in the order of caste hierarchy. The occupation of Vaishyas consists mainly ...

father and a

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 ...

mother is called a Karan, which places them below Vaishyas & above Shudras as per Manu's law. Amarkosha mentioned Karan along with Ambastha & Chandalas as mixed castes. Coolbrooke also supports the mixed origin of Karan mentioned above.

Mediaeval Period

The frequent admission of land grants to princes,

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 o ...

and various officials gave rise to a new new class of scribes. They were recruited from lower as well as higher castes. However the Karanas crystallized into a distinct caste only in the 10th or 11th century AD owning to social mobility. Any mention of the term prior to that period simply denotes its functional aspect rather than a caste affiliation.

Social Status

The Karanas are a forward caste of Odisha. In mediaeval Odisha, Karanas climbed the social ladder by supplying brides to the ruling dynasties. An example of this can be found in the Arasavali copper plate of the Eastern Ganga monarch Vajrahasta III. During the British colonial era, many Karanas of Odisha had received

zamindari A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as a ...

s. In recent post-Independence era India, they have also played a dominant role in politics. Such is their prominence in politics that many members from the Karan community have been elected as the Chief Ministers of Odisha, hence they are also dubbed as the political caste of Odisha.

Surnames

Prominent surnames of the Karan community include

Patnaik Patnaik/ Pattnaik/ Pattanayak/ Pattanaik / Pattnayak is a native Odia surname native to Odisha, northeastern districts of Andhra Pradesh and southern districts of West Bengal in India. Notable people Notable people with the surname include: * An ...

Mohanty Mohanty/Mahanty/Mahanti is a native Odia surname native to Odisha but is also used in neighbouring states of Odisha such as Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and West Bengal because of migration. Notable Person:- *Akshaya Mohanty (1937–20 ...

, Das etc.

Notable people

Biju Patnaik Bijayananda Patnaik (5 March 1916 – 17 April 1997) was an Indian politician, aviator and businessman. As politician, he served twice as the Chief Minister of the State of Odisha. Early life His parents lived in Bellaguntha, Ganjam distri ...

Janaki Ballabh Patnaik Janaki Ballabh Patnaik (3 January 1927 – 21 April 2015) was an Indian politician who had been Governor of Assam from 2009 to 2014. A leader of the Indian National Congress, he was Chief Minister of Odisha from 1980 to 1989 and again from 1995 ...

Naveen Patnaik Naveen Patnaik (born 16 October 1946) is an Indian politician serving as the current and 14th Chief Minister of Odisha. He is also the president of the Biju Janata Dal, a writer and has authored three books. He is the longest-serving chief min ...

Nabakrushna Choudhury Nabakrushna Choudhuri (23 November 1901 – 24 June 1984) was an Indian politician and activist. He served as Chief Minister of the Indian state of Odisha. He was a freedom fighter who participated in the Non-cooperation Movement, the Civil Di ...

Biren Mitra Biren Mitra (26 November 1917 – 25 May 1978) was an Indian politician, a leader of the Indian National Congress and the Chief Minister of Odisha from 2 October 1963 to 21 February 1965. Biren Mitra started his student politics with AISF (Commu ...

"Rediff.com 2000"

References

{{ref list Social groups of Odisha