Sadgop

The Sadgop sub-caste is a Bengali Hindu Yadav caste, found in West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand and parts of Bihar state in India. People of India Bihar Volume XVI Part Two edited by S Gopal & Hetukar Jha pages 827 to 831 Seagull Books Traditionally they are engaged in dairy-farming and cultivation. However, historically Sadgop kings had ruled some parts of Bengal such as Gopbhum, Narajole, Narayangarh and Balarampur. They are one of the fourteen castes belonging to 'Nabasakh' group. They are recognized as a General caste.

Origin of the Caste

The Sadgops are an offshoot of the pastoral Gop or Goala caste who broke away from the main jati before the middle of the sixteenth century. Their switch to agriculture was only 'the starting point of rise to eminence'. Through extending their activities to trade, they established control over the land they had put under the plough. Thus, leaders from the group acquired political power at the local level. Later on the group also ventured into trade and worked as officials of the state and the big jamindars. Members of the new group also made achievements in the fields of religion, and from dissident Gop families came popular saints like Syamananda and the founder of the influential Kartabhaja sect, Aulchand. In the process, they changed their jati affiliation by adding sad (sat, 'clean') to their name, thus becoming Sadgops.

The Sadgops are generally recognized as a purified section of the Goala caste, who are associated, like Krishna from whom they trace descent, with tending cattle and providing milk and milk products. They attained their higher position by adopting agriculture as their caste-related occupation.

History and varna

Sadgops have generally been considered as clean shudras (sat-shudras) in the caste structure of Bengal. Like south India social groups of east India usually divided in two grades - Brahmins and Shudras. In the 1910s, Sadgops along with Ahirs, Gops, Gopals, and Goalas began claiming kshatriya status based on claimed descent from the legendary king Yadu. The Yadav-kshatriya movement attracted communities in the Gangetic plain who were associated with a combination of cultivation, cattle-herding, and dairy farming. According to some, Sadgops believe they have descended from Lord Krishna.

Present circumstances

The Sadgop consist of a number of sub-divisions. They are an endogamous group and practice gotra exogamy. The Sadgop are mainly a landholding community, but many Sadgop have settled in Kolkata and other cities of West Bengal. Their own community organization is named as Bangiya Sadgop Samiti.

Notable people

* Rani Shiromani, Zamindar of Karnagarh, one of the leaders of Chuar Rebellion
* Mahendralal Sarkar, Indian physician, founder of Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science

References

{{Bengali Hindu people

Bengali Hindu castes
Social groups of Bihar
Social groups of West Bengal
Social groups of Jharkhand