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The Koeri (or Koiry or Koiri) aka Kushwaha are an Indian caste, found largely in Bihar, whose traditional occupation was as cultivators. They were described in 1896 by Jogendra Nath Bhattacharya as "differing in nothing" from the agricultural Kurmi caste, other than the Kurmi produce agricultural staples, while the Koeri specialise in kitchen gardening." An official report of 1941 admired them as being the "most advanced" cultivators in Bihar and said that they are "Simple in habits, thrifty to a degree and a master in the art of market-gardening.They are one of the pillar of the 'trio' called Triveni Sangh, a coalition of three intermediate castes which was formed in a quest for social justice in the feudal Bihar.

The Koeri is amongst the best of the tillers of the soil to be found anywhere in India." They are aggressive force in India's caste based politics.

Region

They are found primarily in Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, and Punjab.

Surnames and claims of lineage

People of the community use various surnames in different parts of India.In Bihar they are mostly called kushwaha or koeri. In Uttar Pradesh and in Western part of country they use Maurya,Shakya and Saini as surnames. The Shakya here refers to the ancient clan which were present on eastern border of the country which was contiguous to Nepal.The claimants argue that various brahmanical sources considered the local Non Aryan tribes of eastern periphery of the subcontinent as inferior, as they neither paid homage to brahmins nor showed reverence to vedic deities.The Code of Manu also considered them inferior to Indo Aryan people, who entered from northwest to the subcontinent and though the areas in picture are widely inhabited by people of same caste group it is seen as a justification of their claims of belonging to same lineage as that of Gautama Buddha. According to the Ambaṭṭha Sutta, Sakyans are said to be "rough-spoken", "of menial origin" and criticised because "they do not honour, respect, esteem, revere or pay homage to Brahmins."Also they are considered to be of mixed origin, and the non aryan component in them is in majority as per Law of Manu. This bolsters the claims of koeris to trace descent from them, given the fact that koiris are widely present in Nepal and its surrounding region and are known as kushwaha or simply "koeri"(also spelt "koiri")

Similarly, claiming the association with Mauryans also points towards the literary sources like Mudrarakshasa which uses epithets like "vrishla"(meaning,Son of a Shudra) for the Mauryans.The Puranas on the other hand describes that the last Nanda king will be born out of a Shudra women(Mahapadma Nanda),who will terminate all the Kshatriyas and thereafter kings will be of Shudra origin.If this is so there is the possibility of Mauryans being of Shudra origin and hence claims couldn't be outrightly denied.Meanwhile Buddhist Sources also link Gautam Buddha to Ashoka,.The common theme in the Hindu sources is that Chandragupta came from a humble background.Historian Kaushik roy also agrees in his book that Mauryan dynasty was established by a Shudra while succeeding Shunga dynasty was of brahmins. All these factors are used as justification by the claimants. Various political parties have foisted the identity of Koeris to Emperor Ashok provided the fact that no party can form the government without their support in states like Bihar.

Martial tradition

Koeris of Bihar were participants in numerous Peasants' uprisings prior to India's independence.In Champaran during the famous Indigo revolt they were more numerous than any other community. In 1933 they participated in Gandhiji's constructive works to bring into the fold of national movement,people of all castes and class ,the movement was peaceful however friction and near riot like situation occurred between koeris and Muslims on the matter of conversion of a koeri girl to Islam. They share most of their traits with kurmi caste ; both of which are often referred to as twin castes.They are at par with agriculturist communities of other parts of Indian subcontinent like Maratha community of Maharashtra ; who according to researchers born out of Kunbi peasantry of the region. Though primarily agriculturist koeri people are widely represented in Indian army.The Bihar Regiment of Indian army constitutes apart from people of other Bihari communities ; a significant chunk of koeri population. In the Post land reform era when the issue of land ceiling and dilution of landholding in the favour of landless dalits was at peak, in order to thwart the violence of naxalite and for the purpose of saving their holdings koeris along with kurmis formed a militant outfit called Bhumi Sena ,which was active around Nalanda and other strongholds of the caste in Bihar .The Sena was accused of being involved in atrocities against dalits and sometimes upper castes too.

Identification as kshatriya

According to Sociologist M.N srinivasan several communities in India from time to time embarked upon a movement to sanskritize themselves. The attempt to rise higher in social ladder was seen from early medieval period when a large number of tribals from different part of India started using epithets like Rajput in order to trace royal lineage.

It is so with koeris as they tried to assume kshatriya status and sometimes used their dominant position in states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh to link themselves with Iron Age powers like Mauryans.Their claims could neither be denied nor accepted in the absence of historical evidence. They also recognise themselves along with kurmis to the other agriculturist castes like Maratha and Kunbi and thus identifying their connection with medieval india's ruler Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.Their claim however can't be outrightly denied. In 2013, the Haryana government added the Kushwaha, Koeri and Maurya castes to the list of backward classes.

From peasants to landlords

In 1896 the Koeri population was estimated as being nearly 1.75 million. They were very numerous in Bihar, and were found also in the Northwestern Provinces. Between 1872 and 1921 they represented approximately 7% of the population in Saran district, according to tabulated data prepared by Anand Yang. Studies during British raj conducted by Anand Yang in Saran district of Bihar revealed that koeris were among prominent landowners next only to Rajputs and Brahmins.Their holdings as noted was, Rajput(24%),Brahmin(11%) and koeris (9%) nearly equal to Yadavas, while others like bhumihars and Kayasthas operated on comparatively lesser area.

After Indian independence in 1947 the first victory of middle castes like koeri, kurmi and yadav was the abolition of zamindari system and fixing of land ceilings. The upper caste considered themselves as landlords and working in their vast fields was a sort of loss of dignity for them. There was no such orthodoxy amongst peasant castes instead they took pride in their farmer identity . These three dominant backward castes thus gradually enhanced their landholdings and also increased their footprints in other professions at the cost of upper castes.

Economy

In the vicinity of the large towns in northern India, during the time when Bhattacharya was writing, the Koeris raised the fruits and kitchen vegetables required for local consumption. They took part also in rearing tobacco, opium, and other agricultural stuffs requiring more care and skill than the staple crops. They never served in a menial capacity.

The community was at the heart of the Indian opium trade, which had its main base in Bihar and for many years was regulated and exploited by the British East India Company via an agency in Patna. Carl Trocki believes that "Opium cultivators were not free agents" and describes the coercion and financial arrangements that were involved in order to achieve production, which included restricting land to that product even when grain was needed due to famine. Although profitable to the Company, it was often not so for the peasant producer, and

Only one particular caste, the Koeris, managed to carry on the cultivation with some degree of efficiency. They were able to do this because they could employ their wives and children to help out with the tasks of opium production."

Other groups involved in opium production had to hire labour but the Koeris cut costs by utilising that available within their own family.

Post Independence

The landowning koeris benefitted a lot from post independence socialist policies of Indian Government.The traditional occupation of tilling continued besides footholds of the community being seen in other fields.As for example in Nawada and Sheikhpura regions , which are strongholds of the community, one cannot miss the towering Cold storages and agro processing businesses owned by the members of the community.

Organisation

The Koeri Panchayat Hitakarni Samiti, a caste association, was formed in 1927 to look after the socio-economic interests of the community.Around this time, which coincided with a general movement among various castes to seek upliftment of their status, there was also at least one journal being published for the Koeri community, the Kashbala Kshatriya Mitra.

Subdivisions

Communities related to the Koeri in North India include the Maurya, Kushwaha, Mahto and Kachhi. In states like Maharashtra,Punjab and Rajasthan the Mali caste are also considered a subdivision of the same caste group who nowadays have adopted titles like Saini.

Religion

In 1896, during the British Raj period, Bhattacharya noted that "the Kshatriya Yajaka Brahmans of all classes minister to the Koeris as priests.Some of the earliest studies during British Raj revealed that at various places in bengal's rural hinterlands and villages Koeris were functioning as Priests or Mahapurohit.It was observed that numerous Jajman houses hired koeri to perform work of purohit. The Jajmani system was an ancient social institution in rural India which ensured self sufficiency of villages.The system ensured Division of labour where various social group functioned in variety of different way.The occupation of priest in such a system was reserved for brahmins ,while peasant and artisan worked upon the specific functions assigned to them. In such a scenerio priestly functions of a cultivator caste was significant departure from the notion of ritual status of peasants; provided the fact that landowning groups like bhumihars and educationally more advance groups like Kayastha were noted to be Shudras in early censuses of British period. .

Politics

Koeris are active in Politics of Bihar.The decade of 1970-80 saw rise of influential koeri leaders like Jagdeo Prasad who had mass appeal among his fellow castemen as well as among other backward caste and dalits.His rallies used to draw mob of thousands and he was often called as Lenin of Bihar. In 1980s they formed alliance with other backward caste groups, the Yadavs and Kurmis, and successfully replaced the upper castes' dominance in politics. In 2015 Bihar legislative Assembely election regional parties were dominated by these three caste groups, Janata Dal (United) which is ruling party in state favoured Koeri and kurmis in its ticket distribution plan and a total of 35 MLA after the results hailed from koeri-kurmi community making them second most represented caste group after Yadavas.

It is attributed to the political importance of influential OBC caste of Koeris , that Manju Verma was appointed as social justice minister sidelining numerous experienced leaders in 2015. The important ministerial births in state as of now is held by leaders of same caste group. They are also powerful politically in eastern part of Uttar Pradesh and are holding important posts in Uttar Pradesh government. In Bihar though politically strong enough to carve a space in demography based politics for themselves; community till now remained divided with several leaders claiming themselves to be the face of community.

Apart from ruling Janata Dal (United) several other parties are dominated by koeri leaders.Some of them are Rastriya Lok Samta party founded by koeri leader Upendra Kushwaha who remained in news due to his conflict with Chief minister Nitish Kumar over the issue of being real representative of the community as both hail from same twin caste group of koeri-kurmi. The solidarity of koeris with their subcastes in various parts of India was seen during the mass rally which led to formation of new political party by Upendra Kushwaha as the contemporary Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Chhagan Bhujbal who belonged to Mali caste was also present. The overwhelming community support made it possible for leaders like Nitish Kumar to reign in for the period of 15 years in a caste sensitive state like Bihar.

In a Nationwide survey during the tenure of Nitish kumar, a kurmi leader, as chief minister; Bihar was bestowed with the award of Best ruled state.

Election symbol of Rashtriya Lok Samata Party

List of notable people

Politicians

• Keshav Prasad Maurya, Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh

• Upendra Kushwaha, former Union Minister of State (HRD Ministry); President of Rashtriya Lok Samata Party

• Babu Singh Kushwaha, former minister in Uttar Pradesh

• Ramesh Singh Kushwaha, Communist leader and MLA Ziradei (Siwan)

• Chhagan Bhujbal, former Deputy Chief Minister of Maharastra

• Mahabali Singh, MP Karakat
• Baidyanath Prasad Mahto , MP, Valmikinagar and Deputy-Leader of Janata Dal (United) in Lok Sabha
• Satyadev Kushwaha, MLA, Janata Dal (United)
• Raj Kumar Saini, MP from Kurukshetra (Hariyana)
• Bhagvan Singh Kushwaha, former MLA, Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh
• Vikram Singh Saini, MLA in 17th Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh
• Kamlesh Saini, MLA, 17th Legislative Assembly, Uttar Pradesh

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• Roy, Kaushik (2012), Hinduism and the Ethics of Warfare in South Asia: From Antiquity to the Present, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-1-107-01736-8

Citations

• Mookerji, Radha Kumud (1988) , Chandragupta Maurya and his times (4th ed.), Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 81-208-0433-3
• Thapar, Romila (1961), Aśoka and the Decline of the Mauryas, Oxford University Press
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• Jassal, Smita Tewari (2001). Daughters of The Earth. Technical Publications. pp. 51–53. ISBN 978-8-17304-375-8.
• Yang, Anand A. (1989). The limited Raj: agrarian relations in colonial India, Saran District, 1793–1920. University of California Press. p. 45. ISBN 978-0-520-05711-1. Retrieved 4 October 2011.
• Jaffrelot, Christophe (2003). India's silent revolution: the rise of the lower castes in North India. London: C. Hurst & Co. p. 197. ISBN 978-1-85065-670-8.
• Sinha, A. (2011). Nitish Kumar and the Rise of Bihar. Viking. ISBN 978-0-670-08459-3. Retrieved 7 April 2015. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Trocki, Carl A. (1999). Opium, empire and the global political economy: a study of the Asian opium trade, 1750–1950. Routledge. pp. 64–67. ISBN 978-0-415-19918-6. Retrieved 4 October 2011.
• Yang, Anand A. (1989). The limited Raj: agrarian relations in colonial India, Saran District, 1793–1920. University of California Press. p. 45. ISBN 978-0-520-05711-1. Retrieved 4 October 2011.

• Social groups of Bihar
• Shudra castes
• Agricultural castes