Kushwaha
Kushwaha is a Kshatriya Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). The term has been used to represent at least three subcastes, being those of the Kachchis, Koeris and Muraos. They claim descent from the mythological Suryavansh or Solar dynasty via Kusha, who was one of the twin sons of Rama and Sita. Previously, they had claimed their origins to be from Shiva.
Demographics
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The Kushwaha are found in large numbers in West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Nepal, and Mauritius. They are a numerous group comprising 12-17% population in these states and numbering around 10 crore on a rough basis.[citation needed] They are especially populous(25-35%) in Samastipur, Vaishali, Muzaffarpur, Nalanda, Rohtas, Gaya, Buxar, Siwan, West Champaran and East Champaran in Bihar. Bundelkhand, Jhansi, Gorakhpur and Varanashi, in Uttar Pradesh Bokaro, Hajaribagh, Giridih and Ranchi in Jharkhand Gwalior, Indore, Bhopal and Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh Kota, Baran, Chhabra, Chhipabarod) Jhakawar in Rajasthan Lehan, Janakpur and Kathmandu in Nepal. They are uniformly distributed over rest of the state.
Migrant populations have also settled in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Gujrat, Punjab, Haryana, and Assam.
Origins
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Kushwaha generally claim decent from Kush (son of Rama), Maurya dynasty and Maurya empire also from same origin according to Puranic, Yayurved and Boddh Granth. Kushwaha claim historical linkages with kingdoms of Kasi, Kosala, Mauryas, Kushans and numerous Jain-Buddhist Kshatriya kingdoms in Northern and Eastern India.
Religion
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Members of the Kushwaha community follow various religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Those who are Hindu also respect Buddha because they consider him to be an avatar of Vishnu. They are traditionally vegetarian but those living in cities may have turned non-vegetarian in a some way. Popular gods and goddesses among Kushwaha are Rama, Sita, Lakshman, Buddha and Hanuman.
Classification
An organisation claiming to represent the Kushwaha subcastes of the Kachchis, Koeris and Muraos petitioned for those groups to be officially recognised as being of the Kshatriya varna in 1928. This action by the All India Kushwaha Kshatriya Mahasabha reflected a general trend for social upliftment by communities that had traditionally been classified as being in the Shudra varna. The process, which has been called sanskritisation, was a feature of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century caste politics.[1][2] The process was based on the concept of Vaishnavism, which promoted the worship and claims of descent from Rama or Krishna as a means to assume the trappings of Kshatriya symbolism and thus permit the wearing of the sacred thread even though the physical labour inherent in their cultivator occupations intrinsically defined them as Shudra. In the case of the Kushwahas, this movement caused them to abandon their claims to be descended from Shiva in favour of an alternate myth that claimed descent from Rama. Smita Jassal includes the Kachwaha among this group of subcastes,[3] while in 1921 Ganga Prasad Gupta had published a book offering a proof of the Kshatriya status of, according to Badri Narayan, "castes like Koeri, Kachchi, Murao and Kushwaha".[4]
See also
References
- ^ Jaffrelot, Christophe (2003). India's silent revolution: the rise of the lower castes in North India (Reprinted ed.). C. Hurst & Co. p. 199. ISBN 9781850656708. Retrieved 2012-02-06.
- ^ Upadhyay, Vijay S.; Pandey, Gaya (1993). History of anthropological thought. Concept Publishing Company. p. 436. ISBN 9788170224921. Retrieved 2012-02-06.
- ^ Jassal, Smita Tewari (2001). Daughters of the earth: women and land in Uttar Pradesh. Technical Publications. pp. 51–53. ISBN 9788173043758. Retrieved 2012-02-06.
- ^ Narayan, Badri (2009). Fascinating Hindutva: saffron politics and Dalit mobilisation. SAGE. p. 25. ISBN 9788178299068. Retrieved 2012-02-06.