Sundhi also known as Sodhi or Sundi or Sudi or Sudhi or Shoundika, is an Indian

caste Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultura ...

whose traditional occupation has been

brewing Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source (commonly cereal grains, the most popular of which is barley) in water and #Fermenting, fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with Yeast#Beer, yeast. It may be done in a brewery ...

of alcoholic drinks. According to Suratha Kumar Malik, Sundhi castes belong to the Dalit community, who are hooch traders and do small businesses. The Sundhis are included in the

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 ...

category in the states of

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 ...

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 ...

and

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 in the

Scheduled Caste 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 ...

category in

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 ...

, where they are also known as

Shunri Shunris are a Bengali Hindu caste whose traditional occupation is the distillation and selling of country wine. History In the census of 2001, the Shunris numbered 317,543 in West Bengal, consisting of 1.7% of the total Scheduled caste popul ...

(except Saha).Singh, K. S. (1992). People of India: The scheduled castes. India: Anthropological Survey of India. p. 1244

References

Indian castes Brewing and distilling castes Social groups of Bihar Social groups of Jharkhand Social groups of Odisha Social groups of West Bengal {{India-ethno-stub