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Bhumihar

Total population
3 % of Bihari population plus significant population in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, and West Bengal
Languages
Hindi, Bhojpuri, Magadhi, Maithili, Angika, Vajjika, Bundeli
Religion
Hinduism
Related ethnic groups
Kanyakubja Brahmins, Jujhautiya Brahmins, Saryupareen Brahmins
Commonly called Babhan

Bhumihar (sometimes shortened to Bhumihar and also known as Babhan) is a Hindu community mainly found in the Indian states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bengal, Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh and Nepal.

There is also a significant migrant population of Bhumihars in Mauritius, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and others.

Etymology

The word Bhumihar is of relatively recent origin, being derived from bhoomi (land) and first recorded in 1865. It was adopted as part of a process of upward social mobility. The alternate name of Babhan has been described as a "distorted colloquial term".

Origins and migration

As with many castes in India, there are numerous mythical stories regarding the origins of the Bhumihar community, including that they derive from Brahman-Buddhists whose position in Hindu society was lost due to a "fall". The Bhumihars themselves dislike these particular two tales and maintain that, despite some significant differences between themselves and other Brahmin communities, they are in fact more privileged in status than them.

Oral history suggests that the Bhumihars migrated to Bihar before the fifteenth-century CE, during a period when the Cheros and Bhars lost control of the region to incoming communities that included Rajputs and Muslims. From then, and including when the area became a part of the Mughal empire, the Bhumihars in particular were prominent in village and pargana life.

Occupations

A part of the Bhumihar belief that they are more privileged than other Brahmins is based on their perceived kingly roles. In late-nineteenth century British India, Bhumihars were significant landholders in the Saran district of Bihar. Particularly notable among these zamindars was the Hathwa Raj, for which extensive records survive, but there were also many among the caste who had less elevated social standing, being ryots or even agricultural labourers. The lower-status members were not, however, treated as poorly as, say, the Chamars: the expansion in production of indigo at this time was reported by administrators to have caused a land shortage that resulted in increased rents being charged but the Bhumihar ryots suffered to a lesser extent from these than some other communities, presumably because they were favoured. Nirmal Sengupta describes the Bhumihars of Bihar as then comprising some zamindars with "fairly big" estates, such as Ganesh Dutt, and of the rest the majority "constituted the substantial tenantry which, in economic terms, would constitute a section of the upper-middle and rich peasants"; other agriculturalist caste groups in the area, such as the Yadavs and Kurmis, were significantly less diverse in their status.

Some Bhumihars served as soldiers in the Bengal Army, which comprised a greater number of upper caste recruits after the Indian Rebellion of 1857 but had fewer Brahmins from that time because it was believed that they had been significant players in the rebellion. As early as 1842, there had been 28,000 Rajput and 25,000 Brahmin members among the 67,000 Hindus in the force, with Bhumihars being classified as Brahmins.

Political and social movements

The Brahmanic status of the Bhumihars was a matter of debate. They were accepted socially as such but not in ritual terms because they were cultivators. They were not allowed, for example, to perform priestly duties and they had no knowledge of Sanskrit but as they made economic gains it was this recognition that they sought. Like many other aspirational castes, they followed the process of sanskritisation to achieve their ends, forming the Bhumihar Brahmin Mahasabha (BBM) in 1896 as a pressure group. One significant figure in the BBM was the sanyasi (mendicant) Sahajanand Saraswati.

As with the Rajputs, Kayasthas and other high castes of Bihar — and as opposed to the methods used by most lower castes — neither the Mahasabha nor any other formal body exercised power to make and enforce caste rules.

Persistent pressure from the BBM, who glorified the history of the community, led to official recognition of the Bhumihars as "Babhan" in the later Raj censuses. According to historian Ashwani Kumar, the Bhumihar claim to Brahmin status means that today "unlike other upper castes, guard the local caste hierarchy more zealously for they perpetually feel the pressure of being dislocated and discredited in the topsy-turvy world of caste."

Bhumihars are considered a politically volatile community. Sri Krishna Sinha, born into a Bhumihar Brahmin family is considered the architect of modern Bihar. Barring the war years, Sinha was Chief Minister of Bihar from the time of the first Congress Ministry in 1937 until his death in 1961. He led Dalit’s entry into the Baidyanath Dham temple (Vaidyanath Temple, Deoghar), reflecting his commitment to the upliftment and social empowerment of dalits. He was the first Chief Minister in the country to abolish the zamindari system.

See also

• Ranvir Sena
• List of Bhumihar Brahmin states

References

Notes

1. The name of Pradhan Bhumihar Brahman Sabha is also used and appears to refer to the same organisation as the Bhumihar Brahmin Mahasabha.
2. Some sources say that Swami Sahajanand Saraswati was in fact of the Jujhautiya Brahmin community but his involvement in the Bhumihar Brahmin Mahasabha is not doubted.

Citations

1. ^ Arun Kumar (25 January 2005). "Bhumihars rooted to the ground in caste politics". The Times of India. Retrieved 5 April 2008. Cite error: The named reference "Kumar05" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
2. Yang, Anand A. (1989). The Limited Raj: Agrarian Relations in Colonial India, Saran District, 1793-1920. University of California Press. p. 44. ISBN 9780520057111.
3. Nedumpara, Jose J. Political Economy and Class Contradictions: A Study. Anmol. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
4. Thapan, Meenakshi, ed. (2005). Transnational Migration and the Politics of Identity. SAGE. p. 320. ISBN 978-0-7619-3425-7.
5. ^ Kumar, Ashwani (2008). Community Warriors: State, Peasants and Caste Armies in Bihar. Anthem Press. pp. 125–126. ISBN 9781843317098.
6. Sinha, Gopal Sharan; Ramesh Chandra Sinha (September 1967). "Exploration in Caste Stereotypes". Social Forces. 46 (1). University of North Carolina Press: 42–47. doi:10.1093/sf/46.1.42. JSTOR 2575319.
7. Yang, Anand A. (1989). The Limited Raj: Agrarian Relations in Colonial India, Saran District, 1793-1920. University of California Press. p. 57. ISBN 9780520057111.
8. Yang, Anand A. (1989). The Limited Raj: Agrarian Relations in Colonial India, Saran District, 1793-1920. University of California Press. pp. 46, 49–50. ISBN 9780520057111.
9. Sengupta, Nirmal (1982). "Agrarian Movements in Bihar". In Das, Arvind N. (ed.). Agrarian Movements in India: Studies on 20th Century Bihar. Psychology Press. pp. 20, 51. ISBN 9780714632162.
10. Yang, Anand A. (2007). "(A) Subaltern's Boxer(s): An Indian Soldier's Account of China and the World in 1900-1901". In Bickers, Robert A.; Tiedemann, R. G. (eds.). The Boxers, China, and the World. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 51, 63. ISBN 978-0-7425-5395-8.
11. ^ Kumar, Ashwani (2008). Community Warriors: State, Peasants and Caste Armies in Bihar. Anthem Press. p. 126. ISBN 9781843317098.
12. ^ Sengupta, Nirmal (1982). "Agrarian Movements in Bihar". In Das, Arvind N. (ed.). Agrarian Movements in India: Studies on 20th Century Bihar. Psychology Press. p. 51. ISBN 9780714632162.
13. Pandey, Shreedhar Narayan (1975). Education and Social Changes in Bihar, 1900-1921: A Survey of Social History of Bihar from Lord Curzon to Noncooperation Movement. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 171. ISBN 9780842609869.
14. Abhay Singh (6 July 2004). "BJP, Cong eye Bhumihars as Rabri drops ministers". The Times of India. Retrieved 21 March 2008.
15. These days, their poster boys are goons. Asia Africa Intelligence Wire. 16 March 2004
16. Dipak Mishra (29 September 2004). "Parties 'use' Legendary names as caste icons". The Times of India. India. Retrieved 5 April 2008.
17. Walter Hauser (February 1997). "Changing images of caste and politics". Retrieved 8 April 2008.
18. Abhay Singh (6 July 2004). "BJP, Cong eye Bhumihars as Rabri drops ministers". The Times of India. India. Retrieved 21 March 2008.

Further reading

• Gupta, N. L. (1975). Transition from capitalism to socialism, and other essays. Kalamkar Prakashan. ASIN B0000E7XZP.
• Guha, Ranajit (2000). A Subaltern studies reader, 1986–1995 (2nd ed.). South Asia Books. ISBN 978-0-19-565230-7.
• Maitra, R. K. (1959). Indian Studies: past & present. ASIN B0000CRX5I.
• Sharma, R. S. (2009). Rethinking India's Past. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-569787-2.
• Ram, Bindeshwar (1998). Land and society in India: agrarian relations in colonial North Bihar. Orient Blackswan. ISBN 978-81-250-0643-5.
• Diwakar, Ranganath Ramachandra (1959). Bihar through the ages. Orient Longman.
• Saraswati, Swami Sahajanand (2003). Swami Sahajanand Saraswati Rachnawali in Six volumes. Vol. 1. Prakashan Sansthan. p. 518, Parishist by Acharya Tarineesh Jha, 515–519).
• Bayly, Christopher Alan (2011). Recovering Liberties: Indian Thought in the Age of Liberalism and Empire (Ideas in Context). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-10-760147-5.
• Bhadra, Gautam (2008). Subaltern Studies: Writings on South Asian History and Society. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-565125-6.
• Alavi, Seema (2007). The Eighteenth Century in India. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-569201-3.
• Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli (2009). The Hindu View of Life. Harper Collins. p. 81. ISBN 978-81-7223-845-2.
• Bayly, Susan (2001). Caste, Society and Politics in India from the Eighteenth Century to the Modern Age. Cambridge University Press. p. 203. ISBN 978-0-521-79842-6.
• Bayly, C. A. (1988). Rulers, Townsmen and Bazaars: North Indian Society in the Age of British Expansion, 1770–1870. Cambridge University Press. p. 18. ISBN 978-0-521-31054-3.
• Pandurang Vaman Kane, History of Dharmasastra (P.V. Kane)|History of Dharmasastra, Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute.
• Radha Kumud Mukherjee, Ancient Indian Education: Brahmanical and Buddhist, Motilal Banarsidass, New Delhi (2011).
• M. N. Srinivas, Social Change in Modern India, Orient Longman, Delhi, 1995.

• Use dmy dates from March 2013
• Indo-Aryan peoples
• Social groups of Bihar
• Hindu communities
• Brahmin communities of Uttar Pradesh
• Social groups of Madhya Pradesh