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The Koeri (or Koiry or Koiri) are an Indian caste, found largely in Bihar, whose traditional occupation was as cultivators. An official report of 1941 admired them as being the "most advanced" cultivators in Bihar and said that "Simple in habits, thrifty to a degree and a master in the art of market-gardening, the Koeri is amongst the best of the tillers of the soil to be found anywhere in India."

Campaign for higher varna

Every caste in india traces its ancestry to some epic hero or the lead character of a folk tale which is described by a term called Sanskritisation.Koeris also embarked upon the path of Sanskritisation, which is defined as the attempt of traditionally low categorized castes to rise up the social ladder by various means. These could be either following the lifestyle of higher varna, i.e following vegetarianism, or secluding the womenfolk or through wearing sacred thread also called 'janeyu'.

The sanskritizing trend in castes of northern India, like that of Koeris, was inspired by vaishnavite tradition. This was witnessed by their bid to seek association with avatars of Vishnu. Although, according to records of past they also associated themselves with Shaivism and Shaktism.Commenting on this trend William Pinch wrote:

"The nineteenth century antecedents of the Kushvaha- kshatriya movement reveal distinct cosmological associations with Shiva and his divine consort, Parvati. Kushvaha-kshatriya identity was espoused by agricultural community well known throughout the Gangetic north for an expertise in vegetable and (to an increasingly limited scale after the turn of twentieth century) poppy cultivation. Prominent among them were Kachhi and Murao agriculturalist of central Uttar Pradesh ,Kachhvahas of western Uttar Pradesh and Koiris of Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh."

The "Kushwaha Kshatriya Mahasabha" was formed as the caste association of Koeris and it held its first session in 1922.

Some Kushwaha reformers like Ganga Prasad Gupta who was a resident of Banaras argued that Koeris were descended from Kusha and they served Raja Jayachandra in their military capacity during the period of Muslim consolidation under Shuhabuddin Ghuri. He further argues that after they lost, the fear of prosecution at the hands of Muslims caused "kusvaha kshatriya" to flee into the forest in disarray and discard their sacred thread so as not to appear as erstwhile defender of Hinduism. The British ethnographer H.H Risley in 1890s recorded various legends regarding their origin. According to one of them, Koeri and Kachhi were created by Shiva and Parvati in order to take care of vegetables and their flower garden of banaras. Similarly, Francis Buchanan writing eighty years later records that Koeris of Bihar were followers of "Dashanami Sampradaya" while those of Gorakhpur and Ayodhya looked towards Ramanandi saints for spritual guidance.

According to Christophe Jaffrelot, caste association were formed with the basic objective to unify individual castes. Hence the formation of "All India Kushwaha Kshatriya Mahasabha" was aimed to bring the horticulturist and market gardener communities like Koeri, Kachhi and Murao under one umbrella. The Koeris also attempted to forge into a caste coalition called "Raghav Samaj", backed by kurmis which was named after one of the names of Rama. This was done in a bid to justify the claim of both the communities of having descended from Lava and Kusha respectively. The Mahasabha also petitioned the Simon Commission in 1928 on the question of unity of various subcastes.

The terminology Lav-Kush for the Koeri-Kurmi community later acquired more importance in the sphere of politics than those of culture. Thus, in coming years in Bihar it came to represent the political solidarity of Koeri and Kurmi caste. In the present time, the Koeri community claims ancestry both from Kusha as well as Mauryans. Some of the leading political parties have supported their claims in order to reap the benefits arising out of their demographic strength in the electoral politics particularly in North Indian states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, though no historical evidences exist for the same.

Economy

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. Describing the industrious nature of Koeri people, Susan Bayly wrote:

"By the mid-nineteenth century, influential revenue specialists were reporting that they could tell the caste of a landed man by simply glancing at his crops. In the north, these observers claimed, a field of 'second-rate barley' would belong to a Rajput or Brahman who took pride in shunning the plough and secluding his womenfolk. Such a man was to be blamed for his own decline, fecklessly mortgaging and then selling off his lands to maintain his unproductive dependents. By the same logic, a flourishing field of wheat would belong to a non-twice-born tiller, wheat being a crop requiring skill and enterprise on the part of the cultivator. These, said such commentators as Denzil Ibbetson and E. A. H. Blunt, were the qualities of the non-patrician 'peasant' – the thrifty Jat or canny Kurmi in upper India, .... Similar virtues would be found among the smaller market-gardening populations, these being the people known as Koeris in Hindustan"....

Post land reforms

The middle peasants like Koeris benefitted the most from land reform policies of Indian government. Faced with the land ceiling laws and communist pressure in 1970s, upper caste landlords resorted to selling off their lands. In most of the cases the buyer would be from Koeri, Kurmi or Yadav caste. These peasants worked upon their land with fine skills and thus made their holdings more productive. The upper caste in contrast were unable to do so and they seemed to be satisfied with the price they got for their land. The increased urbanization among forward castes created a category of new landlords in countryside as these three middle castes seldom sold their land, rather they looked upon the opportunity to buy more.

This phenomenon promoted the upward mobility of middle peasant caste, while this mobility in Yadavas was towards both big peasants and landlords; in Koeris, the vertical mobility was exclusively towards landlords. The rise of the caste like Koeri, Kurmi, and Yadav, and fall from the power of forward castes was characterized by growing assertiveness among these middle peasants who now acted as zamindars, whom they once condemned.

Frankel in 1989 observed that 95% of upper caste and 36% of middle peasant castes like Koeri and Yadav belonged to rich peasant cum landlord class. This class was characterized by aversion to manual labour. However, some Koeris and Yadavas who held comparatively less land to provide subsistence to them also worked as agricultural labourers though bulk of agricultural labourers belonged to Dalit castes. According to him the bulk of middle and poor peasantry belonged to caste like Koeris and Yadavas, this class worked in their own fields but considered it below their dignity to work upon the fields of others. However, the transition towards upper edge of social hierarchy was not unabated as in their socio-economic progress, the Koeris just like the other middle level castes in north India were facing double-edged confrontation from the upper caste who were supporters of the status quo as well as from the Dalits and lowest caste who now became assertive for their own rights. All this made the middle castes aggressive.

The tussle with upper caste landlords lead to attraction towards naxalism. This was witnessed in Ekwaari village, Bhojpur district where Master Jagdish Mahto, a koeri teacher, began leading the Maoists and organised the murders of upper caste landlords after he was beaten up by Bhumihars for supporting CPI in 1967 elections. Mahto also set up a paper in Arrah called Harijanistan. After Mahto was killed in 1971, the communist uprising in Bhojpur faded away.

Later, a section of upper strata of Koeris and other middle peasant caste were also seen voicing their support for militant organisation Ranvir Sena. This section had benefitted the most from land reforms and thus became ruthless towards the Dalits.

Distribution

Between 1872 and 1921 the Koeris represented approximately 7% of the population in Saran district, according to tabulated data prepared by Anand Yang. Yang also notes their involvement in tenanted landholdings around the period 1893–1901: the Koeris worked around 9% of the total cultivated area of the district, which was 1% less than the Ahirs, although the latter represented around 5% more of the population.According to Christopher Bayly :

"Eighteenth-century settlement of Kurmi ,Kacchi and Koeri cultivators were also numerous in northern and western Awadh.On the fringes of cultivation, these castes were given special rental rates for bringing areas of jungle under plough.In the first five years , for instance the rent might be only half of what was common for soil of the same type.The revenue benefits to the enterprenur or official who planted the colony were very great".

They are also distributed in Samastipur district of Bihar. In this district Koeri caste is notorious for their criminal affairs and represents most of the total ten legislative assembly seats in this district. In a study conducted in 1991, in villages of Buxar district of southwestern Bihar, Koeris were one of the largest landholding caste. Further, another study conducted in some selected villages of rural Bihar revealed Koeris performing the function of purohit and a significant number of houses were seen availing the service of the purohits of Koeri caste.

Distribution outside India

Outside India Koeris are distributed among Bihari diaspora in Mauritius.Though the island is divided on ethnic and religious grounds, 'Hindu' Mauritians follow a number of original custom and tradition, quite different from those seen in the Indian subcontinent. Some castes in 'Mauritius' in particular are quite unrecognizable from a subcontinental perspective, and may incorporate mutually antagonistic castes from Indian setting into a single group.The title 'Rajput' is primarily of Shudra castes in Mauritius , which was usurped by this group in nineteenth century.The 'vaish' are the largest and most influential caste group on the island , in which Koeris are included.The former Brahmin elites together with former Kshatriya are called 'Babuji' and enjoy prestige conferred by high caste status , though politically they are marginalized.

The Koeris also have significant population residing in terai of Nepal.The 1991 census conducted in Nepal included their population estimates but it was not included in 2001 census.

Martial tradition

The kshatriya reform movement in middle peasant castes which took place during 1890s turned the rural Bihar into an arena of conflict. William Pinch claims that caste like Koeries, Kurmi, and Yadav joined British Indian Army in large numbers. The kshatriyatva or "essence of being kshatriya", was characterized by aggressiveness among these castes, which led to formation of many caste armies resulting in intercaste conflict.

Organisation

In the interwar years, during a period when there was 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, while various other interests of the Koeri community is taken care of by "Kushwaha Kshatriya Mahasabha".

Subdivisions

Communities related to the Koeri in North India include the Maurya, Kushwaha, Mahto, Kachhi, Shakya and Saini.These caste with time came closer and started intermarrying among each others while developing the all India network to strengthen their caste solidarity.

Classification and Culture

The classification of shudras into pure and "impure shudra" was a result of necessity of physical contact upto a certain extent with the producers and sellers of some important items of consumption, without which it was impractical for the elite section to live.Hence,producer caste like Koiri,Gwala,Kurmi and even Kayasthas(a scribe caste) were recognised as "pure shudra".However due to its education Kayastha community was first among them to challange the Shudra status and claimed higher varna.They were followed by rest of these communities.

Some koiris like "Shivcharan Bhagat" were well known for their knowledge of Persian and they also contributed to "Ramanandi Sampradaya" as their disciples later became major contributors to "Ramanandi literature". In the household of cultivator caste like koiris, there was no major segregation of family duty on the basis of gender.Here, both male and female members of family participated in cultivation related operations thus paving the way for egalitarianism and lack of gender related discrimination and seclusion.The view of koiris regarding their women was displayed through their (Jati)Caste pamphlet, where koiri women were described as being loyal to their husbands and containing all the qualities of a true Kshatriya women, who faces the enemy with courage and fights along with her husband rather than being outrightly defeated.

Politics

In the heyday of British Raj, Koeris aligned with Kurmis and Yadavs to form a caste coalition cum political party called Triveni Sangh. The actual date of formation of Triveni Sangh is disputed among the scholars. This caste coalition fared badly against Congress and faced considerable challenge from Congress's backward class federation. Though politically it was not able to leave a significant mark, it remained successful in eradicating the practice of begar.

The period of 1960s witnessed improvement in fortune of backward castes in politics with a significant growth seen in the number of backward caste MLAs in Bihar legislative assembly. In 1970s, with the defining slogan of social justice, Koeris rose to prominence in politics of Bihar under the leadership of Jagdeo Prasad. However this achievement was short lived and their representation was gradually lost to other backward castes after the death of Jagdeo Prasad. This period also witnessed Satish Prasad Singh, a lesser known Koeri leader to become the chief minister of Bihar for merely a week after fall of Mahamaya Prasad Sinha government. He led a coalition of Shoshit Samaj Dal party of Jagdeo Prasad and the Congress.

In 1977, the Karpoori Thakur government of Bihar introduced the affirmative action called quota in government jobs and universities. While the lower backward castes were assigned 12% reservation only 8% was earmarked for landowning castes like Koeri, Kurmi and Yadavs; provided that being a Nai by caste, Thakur was aware of robust economic position and agressiveness of these castes who were many times seen bullying the Harijans and lower backwards castes.

In later years, the Koeris remained in a muted position for a long period in politics or played a secondary role while the Yadav centric politics of laloo yadav flourished in Bihar. However, after the formation of Samta Party(now Janata Dal (United)) by Nitish Kumar, they voted en masse for Samta and its alliance provided the fact that political parties in Bihar are also identified with caste colours and Samta party was considered as the party of Koeri-Kurmi community.

The parting of ways between Koeris and Kurmis and the movement of Koeris away from JD(U) was witnessed after the formation of Rashtriya Lok Samta Party by Upendra Kushwaha, who commanded a huge support among members of Koeri castes. The Bharatiya Janata Party tagged with kushwaha in 2014 elections in hope of getting the support of Koeri caste who earlier voted for Nitish Kumar and Janata Dal (United). However, the quitting of BJP and alliance by Upendra Kushwaha left the Koeri politics in Bihar in dilemma. This rift between Koeris and Kurmis was orchestrated by rise of influential Koeri leaders like Mahendra Singh and Shakuni Chaudhry while Kushwaha remaining the tallest leader of the community in Bihar.

See also

• Bihari Mauritians
• Kushwaha

References

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28. kunnath, George (2018). Rebels From the Mud Houses: Dalits and the Making of the Maoist Revolution ... New york: Taylor and Francis group. p. 209,210. ISBN 978-1-138-09955-5. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
29. Gould, William (2004). Hindu nationalism and the language of politics in late colonial India. Cambridge University Press. p. 31. ISBN 978-0-521-83061-4. Retrieved 4 October 2011.
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34. Political Science Association, Delhi University (1981). Teaching Politics, Volume 6 - Volume 7, Issue 4. Delhi University Political Science Association(Original from the University of Michigan). Retrieved 22 June 2020. In 1969 , Bindeshwar Prasad Mandal , a rich landlord Yadav of Saharsa district in manipulating some M . L . A ' s to defect from U . F . Parties to cause the fall of Mahamaya Ministry , asked Satish Prasad Singh a lesser known Koeri leader to head the ministry for a day to facilitate his nomination in the Council.
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37. Thakur, Baleshwar (2007). City, Society, and Planning: Society. University of Akron. Department of Geography & Planning, Association of American Geographers: Concept Publishing Company. ISBN 8180694607. Retrieved 16 June 2020. While Samta with its leader Nitish is considered to be the party of Koeri-Kurmi, Bihar people's party led by Anand Mohan is perceived to be a party having sympathy and support of Rajputs.
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41. Ramesh, P. R. (15 October 2015). "The Liberation Struggle of Bihar". Open Magazine. Retrieved 30 April 2020. The real migraine for the JD-U led alliance is the emergence of strong leaders within the NDA who command Kushwaha loyalties as effectively as Ashok Mahto once did for the fight against Bhumihars in the past. Rocking the Grand Alliance’s prospects are Kushwaha leaders such as Upendra Kushwaha, Shakuni Chaudhury and Mahendra Singh.

Further reading

• Sanjay Kumar, Christophe Jaffrelot (2012). Rise of the Plebeians?: The Changing Face of the Indian Legislative Assemblies. Routledge. ISBN 1136516611. Retrieved 30 June 2020.

• Social groups of Bihar
• Shudra castes
• Agricultural castes