Kayastha: Difference between revisions
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In [[North India|northern India]] and [[Pakistan]], [[Muslim Kayasths|Muslim Kayasthas]] are descended from members of the Hindu Kayastha community that converted to Islam during the 15th-16th centuries.<ref>{{cite book|author=Kumar Suresh Singh|title=People of India Uttar Pradesh Volume XLII Part 2|page=1046}}</ref> |
In [[North India|northern India]] and [[Pakistan]], [[Muslim Kayasths|Muslim Kayasthas]] are descended from members of the Hindu Kayastha community that converted to Islam during the 15th-16th centuries.<ref>{{cite book|author=Kumar Suresh Singh|title=People of India Uttar Pradesh Volume XLII Part 2|page=1046}}</ref> |
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During the British Raj, British courts classified Kayasthas as [[Shudra]]s, based largely upon the theories of [[Herbert Hope Risley]]. However, the Kayasthas of [[Bengal Presidency |
During the British Raj, British courts classified Kayasthas as [[Shudra]]s, based largely upon the theories of [[Herbert Hope Risley]]. However, the Kayasthas of [[Bengal Presidency]], [[Bombay Presidency]] and the [[United Provinces of Agra and Oudh]] repeatedly challenged this classification, producing a flood of books, pamphlets, family histories and journals to support their position of holding Kshatriya status.<ref>{{cite book |title=Structure and Change in India Society |edition=Reprinted |publisher=Transaction Publishers |year=2007 |origyear=1968 |chapter=Mobility in the nineteenth-century caste system |first=William L. |last=Rowe |editor1-first=Milton |editor1-last=Singer |editor2-first=Bernard S. |editor2-last=Cohn |isbn=978-0-202-36138-3 |page=202 |url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=_g-_r-9Oa_sC |accessdate=2011-12-17}}</ref> |
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==History== |
==History== |
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Revision as of 14:50, 3 October 2013
Kayastha (also referred to as Kayasth or Kayeth) is a caste or community of Hindus originating in India. Kayastha means "scribe" in Sanskrit, reflecting the caste's traditional role as record-keepers and administrators of the state.[1] Kayasthas have historically occupied the highest government offices, serving as ministers and advisors during early medieval Indian kingdoms and the Mughal Empire, and holding important administrative positions during the British Raj.
Origins
Among various theories, Brahmanical religious texts refer to them as a caste of scribes, recruited in the beginning from the Brahmin, Kshatriya, and Vaishya castes, but eventually formed distinct subcastes in northern and western India. In parallel, in eastern India, Bengali Kayasthas are believed to have similarly evolved from a class of officials into a caste between the 5th/6th century AD and 11th/12th century AD, thought to be originally composed of putative Kshatriyas and mostly Brahmins, the missing trait being well-developed subcaste communities. Kayasthas have therefore also been mentioned as a "mixed caste", combining Brahman-Sudra (lower caste) and sometimes Kshatriya as well.[2][3]
Varna status
The exact varna status of Kayasthas has been a subject of debate.[4] According to multiple accounts, they are a literate and educated class of Kshatriyas,[5] and have been referred to as a twice-born caste "whose claims to Kshatriya status need not be caviled at."[6] Other sources rank Kayasthas higher than Kshatriyas (but below Brahmins).[7] Some Kayasthas have claimed Brahmin status, though this has been challenged by other Brahmin groups.[8]
Ronald Inden considered the Kayasthas and the Brahmins to be the "highest Hindu castes" in Bengal.[9] In Maharashtra, the Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu claim Kshatriya status through descent from a king of the Haihaya clan, although this claim has been challenged by other communities.[10]
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.[11]
During the British Raj, British courts classified Kayasthas as Shudras, based largely upon the theories of Herbert Hope Risley. However, the Kayasthas of Bengal Presidency, Bombay Presidency and the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh repeatedly challenged this classification, producing a flood of books, pamphlets, family histories and journals to support their position of holding Kshatriya status.[12]
History
Classical India
Brahmanical religious texts refer to Kayasthas as a caste responsible for writing secular documents and maintaining records from the 7th century AD onward.[2]
According to the historical chronicle known as the Rajatarangini ("River of Kings"), written by Kalhana in the 12th century AD, Kayasthas served as prime ministers and treasury officials under several Kashmiri kings.[13]
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.[14]
According to Abu al-Fazl, Emperor Akbar's prime minister, Kayasthas were rulers of the Pala Empire, one of the major early medieval Indian kingdoms that originated in Bengal.[3]
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.[15]
Medieval India
Upon the Muslim conquest of India, Kayasthas mastered Persian,[2] which became the official language of the Mughal courts.[16]
One of the most notable Kayasthas of the Mughal 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.[17] He also translated the Bhagavata Purana from Sanskrit into Persian.[18]
In Bengal, Kayasthas served as governors, prime ministers and treasury officials under Mughal rule.[19]
As a result of their exalted status amongst Muslim sultans, many Bengali Kayasthas became zamindars and jagirdars.[20]
Maharaja Pratapaditya, the King of Jessore who declared independence from Mughal rule in the early 17th century, was a Kayastha.[21]
British India
During the British Raj, Kayasthas continued to proliferate in public administration, qualifying for the highest executive and judicial offices open to Indians.[19]
Bengali Kayasthas took on the role occupied by merchant castes in other parts of India and 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.[22]
Some of the significant figures of the Indian independence movement were Kayasthas, including the spiritual leaders Swami Vivekananda and Sri Aurobindo, and the revolutionary leader Subhas Chandra Bose.[23][24]
Modern India
Today, there are an estimated 800,000 Kayasthas in India, mostly engaged in professional fields such as law, business, engineering and medicine. Kayasthas that have risen to prominence since independence include the country's first president, Rajendra Prasad, and its second prime minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri.[2]
Kayasthas are considered a Forward Caste, as they do not qualify for any of the reservation benefits alloted to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes that are administered by the Government of India.[25]
Notables
Some noteworthy people of the Kayastha caste of India
References
- ^ Surinder Mohan Bhardwaj (1983). Hindu Places of Pilgrimage in India: A Study in Cultural Geography. University of California Press. p. 231–. ISBN 978-0-520-04951-2. Retrieved 19 April 2011.
- ^ a b c d India Today: An Encyclopedia of Life in the Republic. ABC-CLIO. 2011. pp. 403–404. ISBN 978-0-313-37462-3. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
{{cite book}}: Cite uses deprecated parameter|authors=(help) - ^ a b Andre Wink (1991). Al-Hind, the Making of the Indo-Islamic World, Volume 1. Brill Academic Publishers. p. 269. ISBN 978-90-04-09509-0. Retrieved 3 September 2011.
- ^ Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1970). Who were the Shudras?: How they came to be the fourth Varna in the Indo-Aryan society. Thackers. pp. 177–213. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
- ^ M.K. Prasad, S. Dusre (1877). The Kayastha Ethnology, an Inquiry into the Origin of the Chitraguptavansi and Chandrasenavansi Kayasthas. American Methodist Mission Press/Kessinger Publishing. pp. 8–9 (Preface). ISBN 978-1-104-31197-1. Retrieved 14 August 2011.
- ^ M. L. Mathur (1 January 2005). Caste and Educational Development. Kalpaz Publications. pp. 71–. ISBN 978-81-7835-123-0. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
- ^ K. S. Singh; B. V. Bhanu; Anthropological Survey of India (2004). Maharashtra. Popular Prakashan. p. 134–. ISBN 978-81-7991-100-6. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
- ^ S. N. Sadasivan (October 2000). A social history of India. APH Publishing. pp. 258–. ISBN 978-81-7648-170-0. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
- ^ Inden, Ronald B. (1976). Marriage and Rank in Bengali Culture: A History of Caste and Clan in Middle Period Bengal. University of California Press. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-520-02569-1. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
- ^ Kumar Suresh Singh; Rajendra Behari Lal; Anthropological Survey of India (2003). Gujarat. Popular Prakashan. pp. 283–. ISBN 978-81-7991-104-4. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
- ^ Kumar Suresh Singh. People of India Uttar Pradesh Volume XLII Part 2. p. 1046.
- ^ Rowe, William L. (2007) [1968]. "Mobility in the nineteenth-century caste system". In Singer, Milton; Cohn, Bernard S. (eds.). Structure and Change in India Society (Reprinted ed.). Transaction Publishers. p. 202. ISBN 978-0-202-36138-3. Retrieved 17 December 2011.
- ^ Kalhana (1989). Stein, Sir Marc Aurel (ed.). Kalhana's Rajatarangini: A Chronicle of the Kings of Kashmir. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers. pp. 8, 39, 45. ISBN 978-81-20-80370-1. Retrieved 17 April 2013.
- ^ Jogendra Nath Bhattacharya (1896). Hindu Castes and Sects. Thacker, Spink & Co./Nabu Press. p. 176. ISBN 978-1-143-93343-1. Retrieved 14 August 2011.
- ^ U. A. B. Razia Akter Banu (1992). Islam in Bangladesh. Brill Academic Publishers. pp. 5–6. ISBN 978-90-04-09497-0. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
- ^ Lisa Ballbanlilar (2012). Imperial Identity in Mughal Empire: Memory and Dynastic Politics in Early Modern Central Asia. I.B. Taurus & Co., Ltd. p. 59. ISBN 978-1-84885-726-1. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
- ^ Hugh Tinker (1990). South Asia: A Short History. University of Hawaii Press. p. 56. ISBN 978-0-8248-1287-4. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
- ^ Rahman, M.M. (2006). Encyclopaedia of Historiography. Anmol Publications. p. 168. ISBN 978-81-261-2305-6. Retrieved 26 February 2010.
- ^ a b Jogendra Nath Bhattacharya (1896). Hindu Castes and Sects. Thacker, Spink & Co./Nabu Press. pp. 176–177. ISBN 978-1-143-93343-1. Retrieved 14 August 2011.
- ^ U. A. B. Razia Akter Banu (1992). Islam in Bangladesh. Brill Academic Publishers. pp. 24–25. ISBN 978-90-04-09497-0. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
- ^ E. Lethbridge, ed. (1876). The Calcutta Review, Volume 63. Thomas S. Smith, City Press. p. 14. ISBN 978-1-154-28288-7. Retrieved 26 August 2011.
- ^ Raymond Lee Owens, Ashis Nandy (1978). The New Vaisyas. Carolina Academic Press. p. 81. ISBN 978-0-89089-057-8. Retrieved 14 August 2011.
- ^ Samaren Roy (1999). The Bengalees: Glimpses of History and Culture. Allied Publishers. p. 81. ISBN 978-8170239819. Retrieved 26 June 2012.
- ^ Sugata Bose (2011). His Majesty's Opponent: Subhas Chandra Bose and India's Struggle Against Empire. Harvard University Press. p. 18. ISBN 978-0674047549. Retrieved 22 June 2012.
- ^ Srinivasan, K.; Kumar, Sanjay (1999). Economic and Political Weekly. 34 (42/43): 3,052 http://www.jstor.org/stable/4408536. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
{{cite journal}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ Banhatti, G.S. (1995). Life and Philosophy of Swami Vivekananda. Atlantic Publishers & Distributors. p. 1. ISBN 978-81-7156-291-6. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
- ^ Singh, Anthropological Survey of India (2008). People of India, Volume 16, Part 1. Anthropological Survey of India. p. 496. ISBN 978-81-7046-302-3.
{{cite book}}:|first1=missing|last1=(help)
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. 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.
- Kali Prasad (1877). The Kayastha ethnology, an enquiry into the origin of the Chitraguptavansi and Chandrasenavansi Kayasthas. American Methodist Mission Press, Lucknow.
