Kayastha

Kayastha

"Calcutta Kayastha", from a 19th century book
Languages
Bengali, Hindi, Punjabi, Marathi, Oriya, Assamese, Maithili and Urdu
Religion
Hinduism

Kayastha (also referred to as Kayasth or Kayeth) is a caste or community of Hindus originating in India. Kayastha means "scribe" in Sanskrit, and has traditionally denoted members of the writer caste.

According to the Hindu scriptures known as the Puranas, Kayasthas are descended from King Chitragupta, a deity tasked by Brahma, the god of creation, with recording the deeds of humanity, upholding justice and the rule of law and judging whether human beings go to heaven or hell upon death.

Kayasthas are considered a Forward Caste, as they do not qualify for any of the reservation benefits administered by the Government of India.

Varna status

The exact varna status of Kayasthas has been a subject of debate. According to multiple accounts, they are a learned class of Kshatriyas, and have been referred to as a twice-born caste "whose claims to Kshatriya status need not be caviled at". Other sources rank Kayasthas even higher than Kshatriyas, referring to them as "a caste between Brahmins and Khatris" and "a mixed caste". Some Kayasthas have claimed Brahmin status, though this has been challenged by other Brahmin groups.

In Bengal, Kayasthas, alongside Brahmins, are regarded as the "highest Hindu castes" that comprise the "upper layer of Hindu society".

In Maharashtra, the Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu claim Kshatriya status through descent from a Kshatriya king of the Haihaya clan.

In northern India and Pakistan, Muslim Kayasthas are descended from members of the Hindu Kayastha community that converted to Islam during the 15th-16th centuries.

During the British Raj, British courts classified Kayasthas as Shudras, based largely upon the theories of Herbert Hope Risley. However, the Kayasthas of Bengal, Bombay and the United Provinces forcefully and persistently challenged this classification and claimed the rank of Kshatriyas, utilizing their knowledge of writing in a flood of pamphlets, books, caste and family histories and journals to support their position.

Mythological origins

According to the Puranas, after Brahma had created the four varnas (Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras), Yamaraj, the lord of death, requested Brahma to help him record the deeds, both good and evil, of men and to administer justice. Brahma went into meditation for 11,000 years and when he opened his eyes he saw a man holding a pen and ink-pot in his hands, as well as a sword girdled to his waist. Brahma spoke:

Thou hast been created from my body (kaya); therefore, shall thy progeny be known as the Kayasthas. Thou hast been conceived in my mind (chitra) and in secrecy (gupta); thy name shall also be Chitragupta.

Brahma then enjoined the newly-named Chitragupta to dispense justice and punish those who violated dharma (law):

Oh son, having obtained my positive commands, thou shall be posted forever in the kingdom of Dharmaraja for the discrimination of virtue and vice! Let the religious duties prescribed for the Kshatriya caste be followed by thee according to rule.

Chitragupta had two wives, Shobhavati (Iravati) and Nandani and had twelve divine sons; eight from the former and four from the latter. The twelve sons started the twelve sub-castes of Kayastha:

Mathur Gaur/Gour Bhatnagar Saxena

Ambashtha Nigam Karn Kulshreshtha

Srivastava Suryadhwaja Valmiki Asthana

History

Ancient India

According to Kalhana's history of Kashmir, known as Rajatarangini, Kayasthas were tax-collectors and financiers under several Kashmiri kings. King Lalitaditya Muktapida, who ruled Kashmir in middle of the 8th century AD, was a Kayastha emperor of the Karkota Dynasty.

In Bengal, during the reign of the Gupta Empire beginning in the 4th century AD, when systematic and large-scale colonization by Aryan Kayasthas and Brahmins first took place, Kayasthas were brought over by the Guptas to help manage the affairs of state. Prior to the 13th century AD, during the rule of Hindu kings, Kayasthas dominated public service and had a near-monopoly on appointments to government positions.

According to Abu al-Fazl, Emperor Akbar's prime minister, Kayasthas were rulers of the Pala Empire, one of the major Middle Kingdoms of India that originated in Bengal.

The rulers of the Sena Empire, which reigned over Bengal during the 11th-12th centuries AD, were Kayasthas belonging to the Gaur sub-caste.

Islamic and British India

The Kayastha's affinity for learning and socio-economic status, both enabled and dictated that the community develop expertise in the changing administrative policies and official languages, as different empires were established in India. With the Muslim conquest of India, the community learned and adapted to Persian, Turkic, Arabic and later Urdu. Importantly, the community created, maintained and developed empire-wide administrative practices in monetary policy, jurisprudence and taxation.^{[citation needed]}

One of the most notable Kayasthas of the period was Raja Todar Mal, Emperor Akbar's finance minister and one of the court's nine Navaratnas, who is credited with establishing the Mughal revenue system. He also translated the Bhagavata Purana from Sanskrit into Persian.

Government service roles continued into the British colonial era, where many Kayasthas were the first to learn English and become civil servants, tax officers, junior administrators, teachers, legal helpers and barristers. During this period, Kayasthas were more likely than members of other communities to undertake academic training in England and often rose to the highest positions accessible to Indians. As a consequence of their relatively large proportion amongst Indian students abroad, and because many hit ceilings of progression because of racial status, community members played pivotal roles in the early political groups that questioned British rule in India.^{[citation needed]}

The Kaithi script, developed during the 16th century and used for legal and administrative purposes in parts of North India during Mughal and British rule, derives its name from Kayastha, the community that was the script's most prevalent user.

In Bengal, Kayasthas attained very high administrative positions under Mughal rule, serving as governors, prime ministers and treasury officials. During the subsequent British Raj, Kayasthas continued to proliferate in public administration, qualifying for the highest executive and judicial offices open to Indians.

As a result of their exalted status amongst Muslim sultans, many Bengali Kayasthas became zamindars and jagirdars. According to Abu al-Fazl, most of the Hindu zamindars in Bengal were Kayasthas.

Maharaja Pratapaditya, the legendary King of Jessore who declared independence from Mughal rule in the early 17th century, was a Kayastha.

Bengali Kayasthas also took on the role occupied by merchant castes in other parts of India and directly profited from business contacts with the British. In 1911, for example, Kayasthas and Brahmins owned 40% of all the Indian-owned mills, mines and factories in Bengal.

Surnames

Kayastha surnames and family names include the following:

• Bose/Basu
• Ghosh
• Guha
• Mitra
• Datta/Dutta
• Sen

Notables

Main article: List of Kayasthas

Further reading

• Maithili Karna Kayasthak Panjik Sarvekshan by Binod Bihari Verma, A Survey of Panjis of Maithil Karna Kayasthas.
• R V Russel (Superintendent of Ethnography) and Rai Bahadur Hiralal (1916). The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India: Volume III. Macmillan and Co. Limited, London. 
• Asok Mitra (Indian Civil Service, Superintendent of Census Operations) (1953). The tribes and castes of West Bengal. Superintendent, Govt. Print. West Bengal Govt. Press. http://books.google.com/books?id=2bTUAAAAMAAJ. Retrieved 28 April 2011. 
• Colonial Perceptions of Indian Society and the Emergence of Caste(s) Associations Lucy Carroll, The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 37, No. 2 (Feb., 1978), pp. 233–250.