Rajbanshi people

Etymology

The Rajbanshi (literal meaning: of a royal lineage) community gave itself this name after 1891 following a movement to distance itself from an ethnic identity and acquire the higher social status of Kshatriya Hindu varna instead. They tried to establish the Kshatriya identity by linking the community to the Koch dynasty. The Rajbanshis were officially recorded as Koch till the 1901 census. The name Rajbanshi is a 19th century neologism.

Demography

Worldwide, there are an estimated 11-12 million Rajbanshi people. According to 1971 Census figures, 80% of the North Bengal population was once of the Rajbanshi community. As per as last late 2011 census, It has been estimated that it has come down to just mere 30%. The un-checked infiltration along the Indo-Bangladesh border and intrusion of Bengalis caused a lot of demographic change over time. Population of Bengali Muslims, Bihari Muslims and Bangladeshi low-caste Namasudras have increased rapidly in areas like Jalpaiguri, Oodlabari, Gairkata and Jaigaon over the last 50 years, hence causing demographic changes over time.

History

In ancient times, the land which the Rajbanshi inhabit, was called Kamarupa. Its inhabitants spoke Tibeto-Burman languages. There is no mention of 'Rajbanshi' in Persian records, the Ahom Buranjis or the 18th-century Darrang Raja Vamsavali: the genealogical records of the Koch Bihar royal family, although there is mention of the Koch as a distinct social group. From the 17th century the Koch society came under increasing brahminical influence and by the end of the 18th century a greater part of the Koch became amenable to it.

Late 19th century and early 20th century

Starting from 1872 to 1891, in a series of social movements, a section of Koch who were at tribal or semi-tribal form in present North Bengal and Western Assam in an effort to promote themselves up the caste hierarchy tried to dissociate themselves from their ethnic identity by describing themselves as Rajbanshi (of the royal lineage). This attempt of social upliftment was a reaction against the ill treatment and humiliation faced by the community from the caste Hindus who referred to the Koch as mleccha or barbarians. The term Rajbanshi was used to connect the group with Koch royalty who called themselves Shiva-banshi or Rajbanshi under Biswa Singha, the founder of the Koch dynasty and a tribal who was Hinduised and promoted to Kshatriya varna in the early 1500s.

By 1891, the Koch who came to be known as Rajbanshi claimed a new status of Bhanga Kshatriya to proof themselves to be a provincial variety of the Kshatriyas, the movement of Bhanga Kshatriya was undertaken by Harimohan Ray Khajanchi who established the "Rangpur Bratya Kshatriya Jatir Unnati Bidhayani Sabha" for the upward mobility of the community in the Hindu society.

To justify this, the group collected reference from Hindu religious text such as the Kalika Purana, Yogini Tantra etc and created legends that they originally belonged to the kshatriya varna but left their homeland in the fear of annihilation by the brahmin sage Parashurama and took refuge in Paundradesh (currently in Northern bengal and Rangpur division of Bangladesh) and later came to be known as Bhanga Kshatriyas. The story so created was to provide a convincing myth to assert their Kshatriya origin and perform as an ideological base for the movement but this failed to make any wider effect on the community and were denied the Kshatriya status.

In 1910, the Rajbanshi who were classified as the member of the same caste as the Koches claimed a new identity of Rajbanshi Kshatriya, this time under the leadership of Panchanan Barma who established the Kshatriya Samiti in Rangpur, it separated the Rajbanshis from their Koch identity and was also successful in getting the Kshatriya status after getting recognition from different Brahmin pandits of Mithila, Rangpur, Kamrup and Koch Bihar. Following this, the district magistrate gave permission to use surnames like Roy, Ray, Barman, Sinha, Adhikary etc. to replace the older traditional surnames like Sarkar, Ghosh, Das or Mandal and the Kshatriya status was granted in the final report of 1911 census. The movement manifested itself in sankritising tendencies with an assertion of Aryan origin and striving for higher social status by imitating higher caste customs and rituals.

With this lakhs of Rajbanshi took ritual bath in the Karatoya River and adopted the practices of the twice born (Dvija), like the wearing of the sacred thread (Upanayana), adoption of gotra name, shortening in period of 'asauch' from 30 days to 12. They gave up practices that were forbidden in the Hindu religion like the drinking of liquor (Teetotalism) and rearing of pigs. From 1872 to 1911 in an effort to be a part of the higher caste, the Koch went through three distinct social identities in the census, Koch to Rajbanshi (1872), Rajbanshi to Bhanga Kshatriya (1891), Bhanga Kshatriya to Rajbanshi Kshatriya (1911).

Today the Koch-Rajbongshis are found throughout North Bengal, particularly in the Dooars, as well as parts of Lower Assam, northern Bangladesh (Rangpur Division), the Terai of eastern Nepal and Bihar, and Bhutan.

Some writers suggest that the Rajbanshi people constitute from different ethnic groups who underwent Sankritisation to reach the present form and in the process abandoned their original Tibeto-burman tongue to be replaced by the Indo-Aryan languages. There exist Rajbanshi people in South Bengal districts of Midnapur, 24 Paraganas, Hoogly and Nadia who might not belong to the same ethnic stock.

Post-independence (1947–present)

After Partition, the Kshatriya Samithi lost its headquarters at Rangpur and attempted to reestablish itself at Dinhata. However, a variety of new organisations to represent the Rajbanshi were being created. In Assam, the Rajbanshis were classified in a special category of OBC called MOBC. In North Bengal, the various new Rajbanshi organisations began to see the Rajbanshi identity as ethnolinguistic in nature rather than a caste, since the various other communities living in North Bengal and Lower Assam also spoke the Rajbanshi language. This linguistic awareness was heightened in 1953, when the government decided to reorganise the states on linguistic basis. Many of these organisations, such as Siliguri Zonal Rajbanshi Kshatriya Samiti agitated for the merger of Purnia division of Bihar and Goalpara district of Assam into West Bengal since these regions were largely populated by Rajbanshi speakers. This was continued into the 1960s with Rajbanshi activists frequently demanding for their speech to be recognised as separate from Bengali.

Occupation

The Rajbongshis traditionally practice Mixed farming, but due to their numerical dominance in North Bengal there were significant occupational differences among them. Most were agricultural labourers (halua) or sharecroppers (adhiar). These often worked for landed cultivators, called dar-chukanidars. Above them were the chukandiars, who could sub-let their land to dar-chukanidars, and jotedars, who acted as intermediaries between the chukandiars and the zamindars, landowners that got their land from the government in exchange for a fixed amount of revenue. Some Rajbongshis were zamindars or jotedars.

Lifestyle and culture

According to a 2019 research, the Koch Rajbongshi community has an oral tradition of agriculture, dance, music, medical practices, song, the building of house, culture, and language. Ideally the tribe transfer the know-how from one generation to another.

Music forms are integral part of Koch-Rajbongshi culture. The main musical forms of Koch-Rajbongshi culture are Bhawaiyya, Chatka, Chorchunni, Palatia, Lahankari, Tukkhya, Bishohora Pala among many others. Various instruments are used for such performances, string instruments like Dotora, Sarindra and Bena, double-membrane instruments like Tasi, Dhak, Khol, Desi Dhol and Mridanga, gongs and bells like Kansi, Khartal and wind instruments like Sanai, Mukha bansi and Kupa bansi.

Rajbanshi people in Nepal

The 2011 Nepal census classifies the Rajbanshi people within the broader social group of Terai Janajati. At the time of the Nepal census of 2011, 115,242 people (0.4% of the population of Nepal) were Rajbanshi. The frequency of Rajbanshi people by province was as follows:

• Koshi Province (2.5%)
• Bagmati Province (0.0%)
• Gandaki Province (0.0%)
• Lumbini Province (0.0%)
• Madhesh Province (0.0%)
• Sudurpashchim Province (0.0%)
• Karnali Province (0.0%)

The frequency of Rajbanshi people was higher than national average (0.4%) in the following districts:

• Jhapa (9.1%)
• Morang (3.9%)

Notable people

• Panchanan Barma, (1866–1935) Indian social reformer of the Rajbanshi community from West Bengal.
• Upendranath Barman, (1 December 1899 – 7 February 1988) Indian politician from West Bengal.
• Pramathesh Chandra Barua, (24 October 1903 – 29 November 1951) was an Indian actor, director, and screenwriter of Indian films in the pre-independence era, born in Gauripur, Dhubri, Assam.
• Sarat Chandra Singha, (1 January 1914 – 25 December 2005) Former Chief Minister of Assam.
• Ambika Charan Choudhury, (16 August 1930 – 4 December 2011), popularly known as Kamataratna, from Borpara, Bongaigaon, Assam.
• Pratima Barua Pandey, (3 October 1934 – 27 December 2002) was an Indian folk singer from the royal family of Gauripur in Western Assam's Dhubri district.
• Madhab Rajbangshi, (7 July 1954) Indian Politician from Assam.
• Mouni Roy, (28 September 1985) Indian actress from West Bengal.
• Swapna Barman, (29 October 1996) is an Indian heptathlete. She won the gold medal at 2018 Asian Games and placed first in the Heptathlon at the 2017 Asian Athletics Championships.
• Lalit Rajbanshi, (27 February 1999) Nepalese cricketer of Nepal National Cricket Team.
• Tuluram Rajbanshi, Nepalese politician associated with Nepal Communist Party.

Notes

References

References

1. (14 April 2021). "Who are Rajbanshis, caught in Shah-Mamata scrap & why they're key for BJP in Assam, Bengal". ThePrint.
2. "Tribal Development Department, Government of West Bengal".
3. (4 May 2021). "Matuas & Rajbanshis of Bengal both want CAA. So, why did one vote for BJP & not the other?". [[ThePrint]].
4. "West Bengal - Data Highlights: The Scheduled Castes -Census of India 2001".
5. Verma, Ritesh. (3 November 2023). "Bihar Caste Wise Population Share Full List: बिहार में किस जाति की कितनी संख्या, आबादी में कितना प्रतिशत हिस्सेदारी". Hindustan.
6. National Statistics Office. (2021). "National Population and Housing Census 2021, Caste/Ethnicity Report". Government of Nepal.
7. (2021). "Table 1.4 Ethnic Population by Group and Sex". Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.
8. "Members of the Nasya Sheikh (Rajbanshi Muslims) community in north Bengal demand for uplift".
9. "In West Bengal and Bihar, they are known as "Rajbongshi and "Rajbanshi", " in Assam as "Koch," and "Koch-Rajbongshi," and in [[Meghalaya]] mainly as "Koch." {{harvcol. Roy. 2018
10. "The Rajbanshi as a social and cultural group are well-known to historians, sociologists and anthropologists working on northeast India. They are also familiar to those who focus on the issues surrounding minorities and indigenous groups (compare Berlie, 1982; Bessaignet, 1964; Shrestha, 2009; Wilson, 2012). A sizeable population, they are mostly concentrated in the northern parts of West Bengal and western Assam in India, in northwest Bangladesh, and the Jhapa and Morang Districts of Nepal. Although this article focuses primarily on those living in northeast India, and despite variations identified in the anthropological literature, Rajbanshi inhabiting Nepal and Bangladesh (also Bhutan and Tibet) very likely share a common historical consciousness and folklore with theirIndian kin (Das, 2009)."{{harvcol. Wilson. Bashir. 2016
11. An early investigation of Rajbanshi language appears in the Linguistic Survey of India, published by Grierson during the colonial period...Accordingly, Das sees no value (beyond the political) in considering Rajbanshi (or Kamtapuri/Kamata, as it is also called) as a distinct dialect.{{harvcol. Wilson. Bashir. 2016
12. Chaubey, Santosh. (17 March 2021). "The Significance Of Matuas and Rajbanshis in West Bengal Poll Battle, Explained". News18.
13. . (19 October 2020). ["The Kamatapur Autonomous Council Act 2020"](https://legislative.assam.gov.in/sites/default/files/swf_utility_folder/departments/legislative_medhassu_in_oid_3/menu/document/the_kamatapur_autonomous_council_act_2020.pdf). *Legislative Department*.
14. "The Koch of western Meghalaya also claim relationship with those empire-building Koch. On the other hand, Koch is known as a Hindu caste found all over the Brahmaputra Valley (Majumdar 1984: 147), and receives converts to Hinduism from different tribes (Gait 1933: 43)." {{harvcol. Kondakov. 2013
15. "From 1891 a section of the Koches were trying to dissociate themselves from their original ethnic stock by describing themselves as Rajbansis or Vratya Kshatriya (Bhanga Kshatriya) their movement ended with getting Kshatriya status, being known as Rajbansis and also enlisting themselves in the list of Scheduled Caste"{{harvcol. Das. 2004
16. "In fact, the Koches in order to assert their royal lineage used to call themselves Rajbanshis. The term, Rajbanshi was also used as an effective nomenclature to subvert the processes of hierarchical subordination of the community largely by the caste Hindus during the colonial era." {{harvcol. Roy. 2014
17. "(W)hile the asserted identity of the Koch/Rabha complex seemingly shifted a great deal during the colonial period—which is therefore very confusing for observers-some converts formed an assertive ethnic group, the Koch Rajbongshi (“of royal lineage"), that claimed to be linked to the Koch dynasty."{{harv. Ramirez. 2014
18. "The Rajbansi Movement gained new momentum during 1901, because in the census the Rajbansis were not treated as distinct caste separated from the Koches and they had not been given Kshatriya status. The district magistrate denied their demand. The Rajbansis were placed with the Koches in 1901 census."{{harvcol. Das. 2004
19. "But it is interesting to note that neither in the Persian records, nor in the foreign accounts, nor in any of the dynastic epigraphs of the time, the Koches are mentioned as Rajvamsis. Even the Darrang Raj Vamsavali, which is a genealogical account of the Koch royal family, and which was written in the last quarter of the 18th century, does not refer to this term. Instead all these sources call them as Koches and/or Meches."{{harv. Nath. 1989
20. Balachandran, Vappala. (13 February 2021). "The Koch-Rajbongshi Conundrum And The 2021 Elections". Outlook India.
21. Adhikary, Madhab Chandra. (2010). "Socio-Political Movement in Post Colonial North Bengal: A Case Study of the Rajbanshis". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress.
22. (4 May 2016). "Everyone's wooing Rajbanshis in North Bengal". The Times of India.
23. Nandi, Rajib. (24 June 2014). "Spectacles of Ethnographic and Historical Imaginations: Kamatapur Movement and the Rajbanshi Quest to Rediscover their Past and Selves". History and Anthropology.
24. {{harvcol. Wilson. Bashir. 2016
25. "From the seventeenth century onward, however, the Koch society absorbed considerable Brahmanical content. Their claim to kshatriya status emerged as a way of reflecting and extending the new economic status of landed magnates that had arisen in the Koch society during Mughal rule. By the end of the eighteenth century this claim was filtering down the ranks of the Koch society and gaining an increasing acceptability (Ray 2002:50)."{{harvcol. Shin. 2021
26. "So among the mass people, the process of Hinduization was slower than in the folds of the royal family"{{harvcol. Sheikh. 2012
27. "The social movement of the Rajbanshis is a historical fact. During the Census of 1872, the Rajbanshis of Bengal and some part of Assam were trying to dissociate themselves from the tribal Koches and frantically dependent entry in the Census as a distinct caste i.e "Rajbanshi".{{harvcol. Adhikary. 2009
28. "In 1901, many Koches in North Bengal were returned as Rajbanshis. Many of the Rajbanshis have taken sacred thread and were prepared to use force in support of their claim to be returned as Kshatriya. He also writes "No part of the Census in 1891, 1901, 1911 aroused so much excitement as the return of caste which caused a great deal heart burning and in some were returned as kshatriya quarters with threats of disturbance of the peace. The Rajbanshis claimed to be included as Kshatriya, Bratya kshatriya, Barua kshatriya"{{harvcol. Adhikary. 2009
29. "The immigrants with a strong awareness to caste started interacting with indigenous Rajbanshis [Koch] in differential terms. There are numerous instances of humiliation and objectionable identities of the Rajbanshis by the other caste immigrant. Few such instances of racialism interpretation and social suppression are Nagendra Nath Basu in the early twentieth century while writing his World Encyclopedia (Biswakosh) mentioned the Rajbanshis as barbarians or ''mlechha'' and Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyaya in Bango Dar shan moots that the Koch identity."{{harvcol. Adhikary. 2009
30. The Rajbanshis also faced humiliation and objectionable identification by the caste Hindus. Few such instances of racial misinterpretation and social suppression are: Nagendranath Basu in the early twentieth century while writing his Vishwakosh (World Encyclopedia) mentioned the Rajbanshis as barbarians or (Mlechha) and Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay in Bongo Darshan moots that the Koch identity cannot be synonymous with Bengali Hindu identity. The Ranjbanshis were even denied entry into the temple of Jagannath Puri by an Act of the government in the year 1911."{{harvcol. Hazarika. 2009
31. "So among the mass people the process of Hinduization was slower than in the folds of the royal family. With the embracing of Hinduism, they were left with a somewhat despised name 'Koch' and adopted the name Rajbansi, a Kshatriya status which means literally 'of royal race', confined predominantly within the cultivators and the respectable classes"{{harvcol. Sheikh. 2012
32. {{harv. Sheikh. 2012
33. "As both royal families call themselves Sivabangshi, so the mass of the Koches call themselves Rajbanshis as commented with royal families"{{harvcol. Adhikary. 2009
34. "No part of the Census in 1891, 1901, 1911 aroused so much excitement as the return of caste which caused a great deal heart burning and in some were returned as kshatriya quarters with threats of disturbance of the peace. The Rajbanshis claimed to be included as Kshatriya, Bratya kshatriya, Barua kshatriya"{{harvcol. Adhikary. 2009
35. "The Rajbanshis also used the reference of Yoginitantra, Kalika Purana, and Bhramari Tantra to establish their claim as Bratya Kshatriya or Bhanga Kshatriya."{{harvcol. Adhikary. 2009
36. "The Rajbanshis [Koch] claimed that they were originally to the kshatriya varna and left their original homeland and took shelter in a region called Paundradesh corresponding to the districts of Rangpur, Dinajpur, Bogra, and the adjacent areas in fear of annihilation of Parasurama, a Brahman sage. In order to hide their kshatriyas identity they gave up their sacred thread and started living with the local people and gradually came to be known as the Bhanga Kshatriyas or the fallen kshatriyas."{{harvcol. Adhikary. 2009
37. " As both royal families call themselves Sivabangshi, so the mass of the Koches call themselves Rajbanshis as commented with royal families. Some of the Rajbanshis are now trying to prove that they are descendants of the Kshatriyas, who have taken shelter in North Bengal, being pursued by a Brahman hero Parsu Ram who extirpated the kshatriyas from the earth twenty one times. Some of them still call themselves Bhanga Kshatriyas."{{harvcol. Adhikary. 2009
38. "Though there are certain differences in these three accounts, the common thread that binds all of them together is the effort to create a convincing myth to provide their Kshatriya origin."{{harv. Adhikary. 2009
39. "The claim to Kshatriya varna status through reinvention of some mythic tales provided some credibility to the ideological foundation of the Rajbanshi movement"{{harvcol. Roy. 2014
40. {{harvcol. Adhikary. 2009
41. "The Kshatriya samiti also had some other objectives to fulfill. It intended first, to separate the Koch and the Rajbanshi identity emphasizing the superior status of the latter; second, to legitimize the demand to include the Rajbanshis within the Kshatriya caste; third, to inculcate brahmanical values and practices among the Rajbanshis"{{harvcol. Hazarika. 2009
42. "At the initial stage, the Rajbanshis [Koch] caste leaders typically attempted to improve their social standing by altering their customs to resemble the ways of life of 'twice- born'. As a formal work of 'twice born' they started wearing sacred thread and adopted gotra (clan) name. They also reduced the period of mourning and ritual pollution (as ouch) from thirty to twelve days to corresponding with that of the kshatriya."{{harv. Adhikary. 2009
43. " In order to gratify their ritual rank aspiration they began to imitate the values, practices and cultural styles of ‘twice born’ castes that formed a part of Hindu Great tradition. Since 1912, a number of mass thread wearing ceremonies (Milan Kshetra) were organized in different districts by the ‘Kshatriya Samiti’ where lakhs of Rajbanshi's donned the sacred thread as a mark of Kshatriya status."{{harvcol. Hazarika. 2009
44. "In their desire to be recorded as a member of high caste, they passed through at least four distinct social identities from one census to another i.e. from Koch to Rajbanshi (1872 A.D.), from Rajbanshi to Bratya/ Bhanga Kshatriya(1891), from Bratya/Bhanga Kshatriya· to Rajbanshi Kshatriya (1901, 1911, 1921 A.D.) and from Rajbanshi Kshatriya to only Kshatriya."{{harvcol. Adhikary. 2009
45. "Today, the Koch Rajbanshi people are located in North Bengal, Assam (with a major concentration in west Assam), Garo hills of Meghalaya, Purnia, Kishanganj, and Katihar districts of Bihar, Jhapa and Biratnagar districts of Nepal, Rangpur, East Dinajpur districts and some parts of northwest Mymensingh, northern Rajshahi and Bogra districts of Bangladesh and lower parts of Bhutan (Nalini Ranjan Ray 2009)." {{harvcol. Roy. 2014
46. {{harvp. Roy. 2014:"Suniti Kumar Chatterji observed that Rajbanshis were Koch in origin and belonged to the larger Bodo group. They were Hinduised or semi-Hinduised and had discarded their Tibeto-Burman language, adopting northern Bengali sub-language as their tongue."
47. {{harvp. Das. Mukherjee. Bhattacharjee. 1967
48. "The large tract of country called Mechpara in the Gowalparah District no doubt took its name from them, and the proprietor is a Mech; but he and most of his people repudiate this origin and call themselves Rajbangsis"{{harvcol. Mitra. 1953
49. (2011). "Y-chromosome haplogroup diversity in the sub-Himalayan Terai and Duars populations of East India". Journal of Human Genetics.
50. "On the other hand, there are Rajbanshi in Midnapur, 24 Paraganas, Hoogly and Nadia district who may not be of the same stock and do not speak this language"{{harvcol. Adhikary. 2009
51. "Thompson states, "The Rajbanshis are the indigenous people of Northern Bengal and the third Largest Hindu Caste in the province. Their total number has been exaggerated by the fact that a member of fisherman caste in Mymensingh, Nadia and Murshidabad returned themselves as Rajbanshis."{{harvcol. Adhikary. 2009
52. Barman, Rup Kumar. (2015). "Culture of Difference in Ethnic Identity: A new Look on the transition of Caste identity into Cultural identity of the Rajbanshis of Northern Bengal and Lower Assam". The Mirror.
53. Barman, Rup Kumar. "A new Look on the transition of Caste identity into Cultural identity of the Rajbanshis of Northern Bengal and Lower Assam". The Mirror.
54. (2019). "Sustainable Entrepreneurship in North East India". Tsenov Academic Publishing House.
55. Sanyal, Charu Chandra. (1965). "The Rajbansis of North Bengal". The Asiatic Society.
56. [https://nepal.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/Population%20Monograph%20V02.pdf Population Monograph of Nepal, Volume II]
57. "2011 Nepal Census, District Level Detail Report".