Kulin Kayastha
 |
 A Kayastha of Calcutta, from a 19th century book | |
| Languages | |
|---|---|
| Bengali |
Kulin Kayasthas are a sub-caste of the Kayastha caste in Bengal, India. They are also known as the Kulina Kayasthas.
The Kayasthas are regarded in Bengal, along with the Brahmins, as being the "highest Hindu castes"[1] that comprise the "upper layer of Hindu society".[2] They are subdivided into numerous clans in that region, of which the Kulin are a high-ranking example.[1]
Origin
The caste system in Bengal developed differently from that in neighbouring areas of North India because of the influence of Buddhist rulers in the region at various times up until the eleventh century CE, at which time the Pala dynasty declined. It is traditionally believed that at this point a Hindu king brought in five Brahmins and their five Shudra servants, his purpose being to provide education for the Brahmins already in the area whom he thought to be ignorant. The tradition continues by saying that these incomers settled and each became the founder of a clan. In the case of the five Shudra servants, each clan was of the Kayastha caste.[3]
The five Brahmin clans were each designated as Kulina ("superior") in order to differentiate them from the more established local Brahmins. Four of the Kayastha clans were similarly designated. The fifth was refused the status because they would not accept that they were servants, as was the ritual rank of Shudra, and instead proclaimed themselves to be superior even to the Brahmins.
Legal Position on Kayastha Varna
Babu Shyama Charan Sarcar's work "Vyavastha Darpana", which was relied upon heavily by the High Court of Calcutta and other subordinate courts in Bengal in determining Varna and caste disputes, lays down that Kayasthas of Bengal as well as rest of this country were Kshatriyas, but they (especially those of Bengal) were degenerated and degraded to Sudradom some centuries ago, as some of them used the surname "Dasa" peculiar to the Sudras, and also by omitting to perform the Upanayana ceremony, a must for the Dwija or twice born castes.[4] [5] This position was strongly doubted by a full bench of the Allahabad High Court in determining a 1889 case, wherein it said that such a proposition was difficult to believe both on ethnological and legal grounds.[6]. In a 1926 case, The Patna High Court held the Kayasthas of neighbouring Bihar province, to be of the three regenerate Dwija classes. In the same decision, it strongly doubted the reliance of the courts in Bengal, and especially the Calcutta High Court in its 1884 decision solely on one work, i.e. "Vyavastha Darpan" of Babu Shyama Charan Sarcar, in determining the question as to the Varna status of Kayasthas.The Patna High Court in its decision, delved into the question of determining the varna status of Bengali Kayasthas, and relied on works of authors of repute such as Golap Chandra Sastri, Rajkumar Saravadhikari and Jogesh Chandra Ghosh. Their Lordships placed reliance on Sarvadhikari's book "The Principles of Hindu Law of Inheritance" (1922) in determining this Question. Sarvadhkari, on pages 830-835 of his book, states on careful examination of texts of Srutis, Smrtis and Puranas, judgements of authoritative gazetteers, the darpanas of the Pandits of Sadar Deewani Adalat, Agra, Yaghyavalkya audits commentary and the Mitakshara, that the Kayasthas (throughout the country) are by no means Sudras and are Kshatriyas. Sarvadhikari seriously questions Babu Shyama Charan Sarcars contention that non-observance of certain practices could permanently degrade Higher Castes into Lower Castes, and highlights the questions that will arise in case they resume the said practices.[7] [8][9]. This remained the legal position in this regard until the enactments of the Hindu Marriage Act, Hindu Succession Act and other such legislations put an end to the caste based differences in matters of marriage, adoption, inheritance and succession, by the middle of the last century. Kulin Kayasthas, like all other Kayasthas, do not get caste based reservation and are therefore, recognised as a Forward caste.
Kayasthas of Bengal
During the Gupta Empire, the Kayasthas had not developed into a distinct caste, although the office of the Kayasthas (scribes) had been instituted before the beginning of the period, this can be made out from the contemporary smritis. In many early epigraphs discovered in Bengal, brahmanic names with large number of modern Bengali Kayastha cognomens can be found, suggesting that a large number of Brahmin communities intermixed with oher varnas to form the present day Kayasthas and Vaidyas of Bengal.[10]
Kulinism
Traditionally, it is believed that one King Adisura, the first orthodox Hindu King of Bengal after the decline of the buddhist Pala Dynasty, wished to perform a yajna, for which he couldn't find one Brahmin priest fit for officiating in the yajna, in all of Rarh Bengal. He then wrote to the king of Kannauj to send some learned brahmin priests who could perform the ceremony. The King of Kannauj then sent Five learned Brahmin priests accompanied by five learned Kayasthas. King Adisura, isn't admitted to have been a king of Bengal by Vincent Smith in his Book "History of India During the Hindu Period", but the social rules are based upon the invitation sent by him to the Brahmins and Kayasthas.[11]
After the yajna was over, he requested them to stay back in his country and granted them villages in return. They settled down in Rarh, the country to the west of the Ganges, and were thus called the Rarhi Brahmins and the Dakshin Rarhi Kayasthas. After the death of Adisura, King Ballal Sen, divided the Rarhi Brahmins and Kayasthas into two classes- the Kulins and the Non-Kulins. The Five Kayasthas who accompanied the Brahmins from Kannauj were made Kulin Kayasthas, but one of them, Purushottam Dutt, was degraded for some reason. Other than the Dakshin Rarhis, there are three other classes of Kayasthas in Bengal, the Uttar Rarhis, the Varendris and the Bangajas. Uttar Rarh is the country to the north of the Hooghly and Burdwan districts and the Varendra to the north of the Padma River and west of the Brahmaputra River. The Bangajas are the original Kayastha inhabitants of Bengal inhabiting the entire country of Bengal extending from the Brahmaputra in the North to the Old Bhagirathi in the East, West of the Ganges to the west and the Bay of Bengal to the South, including regions of Varendra and Rarh, before the arrival of the Five emigrants from Kannauj. The Non- Kulin Kayasthas in West Bengal were called the Mouliks and in East Bengal the Bangal Kayasthas. The Mitras are Kulin in West Bengal and Mouliks in East, and the Guhas are Mouliks in West Bengal and Kulins in East. The Ghoses and the Boses are Kulins everywhere.[12]
History
During the Gupta Empire, the Kayasthas had not developed into a distinct caste, although the office of the Kayasthas (scribes) had been instituted before the beginning of the period, this can be made out from the contemporary smritis. In many early epigraphs discovered in Bengal, brahmanic names with large number of modern Bengali Kayastha cognomens can be found, suggesting that a large number of Brahmin communities intermixed with oher varnas to form the present day Kayasthas and Vaidyas of Bengal.[13][page needed]
A period of rule by various Muslim dynasties began in Bengal from the thirteenth century and lasted until 1765, when the British gained control. Many of the population converted to Islam and the lack of a Hindu king as a focal point caused the isolation of those Hindu communities which remained. The Kulin communities suffered particularly badly because their ritual role was to serve a Hindu king via appointments to high state and religious offices, which were denied to them by Muslim rule. Those Hindus, including some Kulins, who did assist, co-operate or mingle with the Muslim rulers were often shunned by the increasingly conservative Hindu community, which was intent on self-preservation and withdrew into its own cultural norms in order to achieve that. Thomas J. Hopkins has said that
In relations with Muslims, it was clear that high-caste Hindus played a zero-sum game in which the degree of involvement with non-Hindu rulers meant a corresponding loss in Hindu social ranking.[14]
Similarly, the Kulin castes generally ignored the British who came into the area and eventually took it over. The British were non-Hindu and so they, like the Muslims before them, were unable to satisfy the Kulin need for roles befitting their ritual status. Other Hindu communities, however, did co-operate with the British and by the early years of the nineteenth century some had become substantial landowners and wealthy people as a consequence. These non-Kulin communities also were the first to take steps towards Westernisation, in part because they realised that alignment with Western ideas would provide a route by which they could advance their social status, and that was something which could never occur under the Hindu ritual system as they would always be ranked lower than the Kulins.[15]
References
- ^ a b 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 2011-10-31.
- ^ Bhattacharya, Jogendra Nath (1896). Hindu Castes and Sects. Calcutta: Thacker, Spink & Co. p. 175. Retrieved 2011-10-31.
- ^ Hopkins, Thomas J. (1989). "The Social and Religious Background for Transmission of Gaudiya Vaisnavism to the West". In Bromley, David G.; Shinn, Larry D. (eds.). Krishna consciousness in the West. Bucknell University Press. pp. 35–36. ISBN 978-0-8387-5144-2. Retrieved 2011-10-31.
- ^ Raj Coomar Lall And Ors. vs Bissessur Dyal And Ors. on 4 March, 1884, Calcutta High Court,
- ^ Mishra, Pandey, Girish, Braj Kumar (1996). Sociology and Economics of Casteism in India: A study of Bihar. Pragati Publications. p. 69.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Tulshi Ram v. Behari Lal (1889) I.L.R. 12 All 328
- ^ Sarvadhikari, Sarvadhikari, Raj Kumar, Jyoti Prasad (1922). The Principles of Hindu Law of Inheritance. Law Book Depot. pp. 830–835.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ http://www.indiankanoon.org/doc/1242249/
- ^ Ishwari Prasad And Ors. vs Rai Hari Prasad Lal on 23 February, 1926, Patna High Court
- ^ Sharma, Tej Raj (1978). Personal and Geographical Names in Gupta Inscriptions. Delhi: Concept Publishing Company. pp. 116–117.
- ^ Basu, Bose, Tara Krishna, Basanta Coomar (2005). "Marriage". In Richard Stevenson (ed.). Village Life in Bengal, Hindu Customs in Bengal (2005 ed.). Lincoln, NE: iUniverse. p. 207. ISBN 13:978-0-595-80678-2.
{{cite book}}: Check|isbn=value: invalid character (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Basu, Bose, Tara Krishna, Basanta Coomar (2005). Richard Stevenson (ed.). Village Life in Bengal, Hindu Customs in Bengal (2005 ed.). Lincoln, NE: iUniverse. p. 210.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Tej Raj Sharma, Personal andd Geodraphic Names in the Gupta Inscriptions, Concept Publishing Company, Delhi, 1978 |http://books.google.com/books?id=WcnnB-Lx2MAC%7C
- ^ Hopkins, Thomas J. (1989). "The Social and Religious Background for Transmission of Gaudiya Vaisnavism to the West". In Bromley, David G.; Shinn, Larry D. (eds.). Krishna consciousness in the West. Bucknell University Press. pp. 36, 38. ISBN 978-0-8387-5144-2. Retrieved 2011-10-31.
- ^ Hopkins, Thomas J. (1989). "The Social and Religious Background for Transmission of Gaudiya Vaisnavism to the West". In Bromley, David G.; Shinn, Larry D. (eds.). Krishna consciousness in the West. Bucknell University Press. pp. 39–40. ISBN 978-0-8387-5144-2. Retrieved 2011-10-31.