The Kudmi are a community in the states of

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . It ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

. They were primarily agriculturalist. .

Classification

Kudmi were classified as a Notified Tribe by the

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 himsel ...

under the terms of the Indian Succession Act introduced in 1865 as they have customary rules of succession. Subsequently, in 1913, they were classified as a Primitive tribe. Then they were omitted from the list of communities listed as tribes in the 1931 census. Again, they were omitted from the Scheduled Tribe list drawn up in 1950. In 2004, the

Government of Jharkhand The Government of Jharkhand also known as the State Government of Jharkhand, or locally as State Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Jharkhand and its 24 districts. It consists of an executive, led by the Gove ...

recommended that they should be listed as a

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 ...

rather than

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, S ...

. The Tribal Research Institute of

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, c ...

recommended against this proposal, claiming they are a sub-caste of the

Kunbi Kunbi (alternatively Kanbi , Kurmi ) is a generic term applied to caste system, castes of traditional farmers in Western India. These include the Dhonoje, Ghatole, Hindre, Jadav, Jhare, Khaire, Lewa (Leva Patil), Lonare and Tirole communities ...

and thus different to tribal people. Therefore, In 2015, the

refused to approve the recommendation of Jharkhand government to list the Kudmi Mahato as Schedule Tribe. They are included in the list of

in the States of Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha.

Culture

The traditional occupation of Kudmi is agriculture. The language of Kudmi is

Kurmali Kurmali or Kudmali (ISO: Kuṛmāli) is an Indo-Aryan language classified as belonging to the Bihari group of languages spoken in eastern India. As a trade dialect, it is also known as Panchpargania (Bengali: পঞ্চপরগনিয়� ...

. The Kudmi people once spoke a distinct language, neither Munda nor Dravidian but also not Indo-Aryan, and at some point switched to the regional Indo-Aryan ''

lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...

'' of that time, leaving a distinct substrate in their New Language. The Kudmis are divided into six divisions. Paribar (family) is the smallest unit. A group of Paribar of same Gusti (Totem/Clan) living in a place is known as Bakhail/Bakhair (unilineage settlement). The members of some Paribars or Bakhair settled in a locality is known as Kulhi. A group of Kulhi with a separate geographical area, burial ground, agricultural field, grazing land and Akhra forms a Gram (village). Traditionally, a village headman is known as Mahato. A group of twelve village form a Pargana headed by Parganadar who solves all the inter village dispute. A group of Paragans forms a Thapal controlled by Deshmandal. Kudmi are divided into 81 totems called Gusti. Some totems are Bakuar, Bansiar, Chiluar, Dumriar, Katiar, Hindoiar, Musuar, Naguar, Sankhuar etc. Tusu, Chait Parab,

Jitia Jitia is a commune located in Vrancea County, Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the w ...

, Karam,

Bandna Bandna (spelt as Bāndnā, Hindi: बांदना) is a agriculture-oriented festival of the Kurmali ethnolinguistic and other related communities, in which domestic cattle and agriculture appliances are worshiped. The festival mostly observ ...

are the major festival of Kudmi. They worship Garamdevata at gramthan and Goroiya in Bandna.

Jhumar Jhumar or Jhoomar (also called Ghumbar in Sandalbar area) is a lively form of music and dance that originated in the Multan and Balochistan, also thrived in Sandalbar areas (Faisal abad, Jhang, Chiniot, Nankana Sahib, Toba Tek Singh districts) ...

and Chhau are their folk dance.

Notable people

Bandhu Mahto Bandhu Mahto is an Indian politician. He was a Member of Parliament, representing Bihar in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of India's Parliament, representing the Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquiall ...

, politician *

Bhajahari Mahato Bhajahari Mahato (1911–2003) was an Indian politician belonging to Lok Sewak Sangha. He was elected thrice as a member of the Lok Sabha. Early life Mahato was born on 1911. He took part in Civil disobedience movement and August movement. ...

, politician * Bidyut Baran Mahato, politician *

Binod Bihari Mahato Binod Bihari Mahato (23 September 1923 – 18 December 1991) was an advocate and politician. He established Shivaji Samaj, a social reform organisation among the Kudumi Mahato people. He was the founder of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, established i ...

, lawyer and politician * Chanku Mahato, freedom fighter *

Chhatradhar Mahato Chhatradhar Mahato ( bn, ছত্রধর মাহাতো) (born 1964) is an Indian political activist and convict from Lalgarh, West Bengal. He was the convener of the ''Police Santrash Birodhi Janasadharaner Committee'' ( – PCAPA) dur ...

, activist and politician * Chittaranjan Mahata, politician * Dhananjay Mahato, freedom fighter and politician * Jyotirmay Singh Mahato, politician * Mriganko Mahato, politician *

Narahari Mahato Narahari Mahato is an Indian politician from Bharatiya Janata Party. He was a member of the 15th Lok Sabha from the Purulia constituency of West Bengal and was a member of the All India Forward Bloc political party. Education and background Mah ...

, politician * Nepal Mahato, politician * Nirmal Mahato, politician * Purnima Mahato, Indian athlete * Rabindra Nath Mahato, politician * Raghunath Mahato, freedom fighter * Santiram Mahato, politician * Sudesh Mahato, politician * Sudhir Mahato, politician * Suman Mahato, politician * Sunil Kumar Mahato, politician * Lal Chand Mahto, politician * Tek Lal Mahto, politician * Tooni Mahto, marine biologist

Notes

References

Sources