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Kayastha (also referred to as Kayasth or Kayeth) is a caste or community of Hindus originating in India. Kayasthas are traditionally considered to be members of the literate scribe caste, who acted as record-keepers, keepers of public accounts, writers and administrators of the state.

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.

In modern times, Kayasthas have attained success in politics, as well as in the arts and various professional fields.

Origins

According to the Hindu scriptures known as the Puranas, Kayasthas are descended from Chitragupta Maharaj, "who was born from the body of Brahma", and is the deity responsible for recording the deeds of humanity, upholding the rule of law, and judging whether human beings go to heaven or hell upon death.

Brahmanical religious texts refer to them as a caste of scribes, recruited in the beginning from the Brahmin, Kshatriya and Vaishya castes, but eventually they formed distinct subcastes in northern and western India. Kayasthas have therefore also been mentioned as a "mixed caste", combining Brahman-Sudra (lower caste) and sometimes Kshatriya as well.

In eastern India, Bengali Kayasthas are believed to have evolved from a class of officials into a caste between the 5th/6th century AD and 11th/12th century AD, its component elements being putative Kshatriyas and mostly Brahmins. According to Tej Ram Sharma, an Indian historian, the Kayasthas of Bengal had not yet developed into a distinct caste during the reign of the Gupta Empire, although the office of the Kayasthas (scribes) had been instituted before the beginning of the period, as evidenced from the contemporary Smritis. Sharma further states:

"Noticing brahmanic names with a large number of modern Bengali Kayastha cognomens in several early epigraphs discovered in Bengal, some scholars have suggested that there is a considerable brahmana element in the present day Kayastha community of Bengal. Originally the professions of Kayastha (scribe) and Vaidya (physician) were not restricted and could be followed by people of different varnas including the brahmanas. So there is every probability that a number of brahmana families were mixed up with members of other varnas in forming the present Kayastha and Vaidya communities of Bengal."

Varna status

The exact varna status of Kayasthas has been a subject of debate. According to multiple accounts, they are a literate and educated class of Kshatriyas, and have been referred to as a twice-born caste "whose claims to Kshatriya status need not be caviled at." Other sources rank Kayasthas higher than Kshatriyas (but below Brahmins). Some Kayasthas have claimed Brahmin status, though this has been challenged by other Brahmin groups.

In Bengal, Kayasthas, alongside Brahmins, are regarded as the "highest Hindu castes" that comprise the "upper layer of Hindu society."

In Maharashtra, the Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu claim Kshatriya status through descent from a Kshatriya king of the Haihaya clan.

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.

During the British Raj, British courts classified Kayasthas as Shudras, based largely upon the theories of Herbert Hope Risley. However, the Kayasthas of Bengal, Bombay and the United Provinces repeatedly challenged this classification, producing a flood of books, pamphlets, family histories and journals to support their position of holding Kshatriya status.

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.

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.

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. They may also have been described as Karanas, since the two groups performed similar functions.

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.

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.

Medieval India

Upon the Muslim conquest of India, Kayasthas mastered Persian, which became the official language of the Mughal courts. Some converted to Islam and formed the Muslim Kayasth community in northern India.

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. He also translated the Bhagavata Purana from Sanskrit into Persian.

In Bengal, Kayasthas served as governors, prime ministers and treasury officials under Mughal rule.

As a result of their exalted status amongst Muslim sultans, many Bengali Kayasthas became zamindars and jagirdars. According to Abu al-Fazl, most of the Hindu zamindars in Bengal were Kayasthas.

Maharaja Pratapaditya, the King of Jessore who declared independence from Mughal rule in the early 17th century, was a Kayastha.

British India

During the British Raj, Kayasthas continued to proliferate in public administration, qualifying for the highest executive and judicial offices open to Indians.

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.

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.

Modern India

The Kayastha are found mostly in central, eastern and northern India, and particularly in Bengal. Today, there are an estimated 800,000 Kayasthas in India. Kayasthas that have risen to prominence since independence include the country's first president, Rajendra Prasad, and its second prime minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri.

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.

Notables

Some noteworthy people of the Kayastha caste of India

• Swami Vivekananda
• Subhas Chandra Bose
• Rajendra Prasad- first President of India
• Lal Bahadur Shastri
• Mahadevi Varma
• Ravi Shankar Prasad
• Sonu Nigam

See also

• Bengali Kayastha
• Muslim Kayasths

References

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3. R. B. Mandal (1981). Frontiers in Migration Analysis. Concept Publishing Company. p. 175. ISBN 978-03-91-02471-7.
4. ^ 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.
5. Sharma, Tej Ram (1978). Personal and Geographical Names in the Gupta Empire. New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company. p. 115.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. M. L. Mathur (1 January 2005). Caste and Educational Development. Kalpaz Publications. pp. 71–. ISBN 978-81-7835-123-0. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
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10. S. N. Sadasivan (October 2000). A social history of India. APH Publishing. pp. 258–. ISBN 978-81-7648-170-0. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
11. 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.
12. Bhattacharya, Jogendra Nath (1896). Hindu Castes and Sects. Calcutta: Thacker, Spink & Co. p. 175. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
13. 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.
14. Kumar Suresh Singh. People of India Uttar Pradesh Volume XLII Part 2. p. 1046.
15. Rowe, William L. (2007) . "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.
16. 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.
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18. Mitra, Sisirkumar (1977). The Early Rulers of Khajurāho. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers. p. 174. ISBN 978-8-120-81997-9. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
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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.

v t e Bengali Hindus
Society	Groups Babu Bangal Bhadralok Ghoti Castes Aguri Bagdi Baidya Baishya Kapali Baishya Saha Barujibi Bauri Brahmin Chunaru Dom Gandhabanik Suvarna Banik Hari Kaibartya Kansabanik Karmakar Kayastha Kulin Maulika Mahishya Malla Namasudra Namassej Avarna Sadgop Shunri Yogi
Religion	Books Bhagavad Gita Chandi Panchali Matuasmritokotha Sects Brahmo Kartabhaja Shaiva Shakta Vaishnava Orders Adi Brahmo Samaj Ananda Marga Bharat Sevashram Sangha Brahmo Conference Organisation Brahmo Samaj Gaudiya Math Gaudiya Mission International Society for Krishna Consciousness Matua Mahasangha Ramakrishna Order Self-Realization Fellowship Sri Aurobindo Ashram Vedanta Society Yogoda Satsanga Society of India Festivals Poila Baisakh Rabindra Jayanti Akshaya Tritiya Buddho Purnima Shashthi Savitri Brata Ambubachi Mela Dhamrai Jagannath Roth Jhulan Purnima Janmashtami Bhadu Ganesh Chaturthi Vishwakarma Puja Durga Puja Lakshmi Puja Diwali Kali Puja Bhai Phonta Shakta Rash Nabanna Jagaddhatri Puja Kalpataru Day Swami Vivekananda's Birthday Makar Sankranti Maghotsab Saraswati Puja Maha Shivaratri Dol Purnima Holi Gajan
Culture	Music Rabindra Sangeet Shyama Sangeet Kirtan Bishnupur gharana Dance Gaudiya Nritya Rabindra Nritya Natya Literature Vaishnava Padavali Mangal-Kavya Panchali Kallol Hungry generation
Folk culture	Folk art Dhokra Sholapith Folk dance Raibenshe Chhau Paika Dhamail Alkap Gombhira Kavigan
Others	Bengali Hindu mythology and culture Bengali Hindu diaspora

• Use dmy dates from April 2011
• Kayastha
• Hindu communities
• Social groups of Uttar Pradesh
• Social groups of Bihar
• Social groups of West Bengal
• Bengali Hindu castes
• Social groups of Madhya Pradesh
• Social groups of Jharkhand
• Social groups of Maharashtra