Raut (also spelled as Rawat) is an

Indian caste The caste system in India is the paradigmatic ethnographic example of classification of castes. It has its origins in ancient India, and was transformed by various ruling elites in medieval, early-modern, and modern India, especially the Mug ...

, whose traditional occupation is

herding Herding is the act of bringing individual animals together into a group (herd), maintaining the group, and moving the group from place to place—or any combination of those. Herding can refer either to the process of animals forming herds in ...

. The Rauts are mainly found in the

Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh (, ) is a landlocked state in Central India. It is the ninth largest state by area, and with a population of roughly 30 million, the seventeenth most populous. It borders seven states – Uttar Pradesh to the north, Madhya Prade ...

state, and the neighbouring states of

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

and

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

. Traditionally, they were predominantly distributed in the districts of

Durg Durg is a city in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh, east of the Shivnath River and is part of the Durg-Bhilai urban agglomeration. With an urban population of 1,064,077, Durg-Bhilai is the second largest urban area in Chhattisgarh after Raipur ...

Raipur Raipur ( ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Chhattisgarh. Raipur is also the administrative headquarters of Raipur district and Raipur division, and the largest city of the state. It was a part of Madhya Pradesh before the state of Chh ...

, Bastar,

Nagpur Nagpur (pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, aːɡpuːɾ is the third largest city and the winter capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the 13th largest city in India by population and according to an Oxford's Economics report, Nag ...

and

Bhandara Bhandara () is a city and municipal council which serves the administrative headquarters of eponymous administrative Bhandara Taluka and Bhandara district in the state of Maharashtra, India. It is connected with NH-53 and NH-247. Overview ...

History

Raut may have been a tribal militia in Chhota Nagpur, originating from the

Kawar The Kaouar (or Kawar) is a series of ten oases in the southern Sahara in northeast Niger, covering about from north to south, and east to west. They are on the eastern edge of the Ténéré desert, between the Tibesti Mountains in the east ...

and

Kol tribe The Kol people referred to tribals of Chotanagpur in Eastern Parts of India. The Mundas, Oraons, Hos and Bhumijs were called Kols by British. It also refers to some tribe and caste of south-east Uttar Pradesh. They are mostly landless and depend ...

s, and probably a small number of local

Rajputs 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 ...

Culture

Traditionally, the Rauts were involved in herding and milking cattle. Traditionlly, their main business was sale of milk and milk products.

Raut Nacha Raut Nacha is a dance performed by Yadavas, a caste which are descendants of Krishna Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in hi ...

is a traditional dance of the Raut community which is performed on Diwali. In this dance, the Rauts wear a special costume, sing and dance in a group with sticks in their hands in the village pathways. The Raut men traditionally performed the local folk epic ''Candaini'' (or ''Chandaini'') in a combination of dance and song. The epic tells the story of princess Chanda, who leaves her impotent husband and falls in love with a common man

Veer Lorik Veer Lorik is part of the Bhojpuri folklore of Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh, India. According to S.M. Pandey, it is considered to be the ''Ramayana'' by the Ahir. Veer Lorik is a divine character of the legend of the Ahir of eastern Uttar P ...

. Both the characters are from the Raut caste, and the epic seems to have originated in this caste. As late as 1980, the Candaini performers used to be primarily from the Raut caste, but now people from other communities also take part in the performances. In the 20th century, they underwent

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 ...

, and adopted customs and values of the high-caste Hindus.

Sub-castes and related groups

The main Raut sub-castes include Gawala, Thetwar, Jheriya, and Kosariya. The Rauts are included in the central list of

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 ...

es for Chhattisgarh, along with other herding castes and sub-castes including

Ahir Ahir or Aheer are a community of traditionally non-elite pastoralists in India, most members of which identify as being of the Indian Yadav community because they consider the two terms to be synonymous. The Ahirs are variously described as a ...

, Brajwasi, Gawli, Gawali, Goli, Lingayat-Gaoli, Gowari (Gwari), Gowra, Gawari, Gwara, Jadav,

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 ...

, Thethwar, and Gop/Gopal.

References

Bibliography

* * *{{Cite book , last=Sainī , first=Abhilāshā , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JpeZzwEACAAJ , title=Rāuta jāti: udbhava evaṃ vikāsa , date=2021 , publisher=Saṅkalpa Prakāśana , isbn=978-81-951646-6-0 , language=hi Herding castes Indian castes Social groups of Chhattisgarh