Kachhi caste

2026-05-08T22:47:21Z

2409:40E4:111D:E979:8000:0:0:0:

{{Short description|Hindu caste}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=September 2018}}
The '''Kachhi''' are lower Hindu [[Caste system in India|caste]] of vegetable cultivators found in the regions of [[Delhi]], [[Madhya Pradesh]], [[Rajasthan]] and [[Uttar Pradesh]] in India.

==Myths of origin==
The Kachhi caste forms part of a wider community that claims a common descent. This community, known as the [[Kushwaha]], nowadays generally claim descent from [[Kusha (Ramayana)|Kusha]], a son of the mythological [[Rama]], who is considered{{By whom|date=September 2025}} to be an [[avatar]] of [[Vishnu]]. This enables their claim to be of the [[Suryavansh]] - or Solar - dynasty but it is a myth of origin developed in the twentieth century. Prior to that time, the various branches that form the Kushwaha community - the Mauraos, Kachhis and [[Koeri]]s - favoured a connection with [[Shiva]] and [[Shakta]].<ref name=Pinch1996pp91-92>{{cite book |title=Peasants and monks in British India |first=William R. |last=Pinch |publisher=University of California Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-520-20061-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uEP-ceGYsnYC |pages=12, 91–92 |accessdate=2012-02-22}}</ref> Ganga Prasad Gupta claimed in the 1920s that Kushwaha families worshiped [[Hanuman]] - described by Pinch as "the embodiment of true devotion to Ram and Sita" - during [[Kartika (month)|Kartika]], a month in the [[Hindu calendar|Hindu lunar calendar]].<ref name=Pinch1996p98>{{cite book |title=Peasants and monks in British India |first=William R. |last=Pinch |publisher=University of California Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-520-20061-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uEP-ceGYsnYC |page=98 |accessdate=2012-02-22}}</ref>

==Present circumstances==
In Uttar Pradesh, the vegetable-cultivators Kachhis traditionally cultivate on their comparatively smaller landholdings without aid of the animals.<ref name="charans">{{cite book|last1=Singh|first1=Charan|title=India's Poverty and Its Solution|date=1964|publisher=Asia Publishing House|page=88|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MUw-AAAAIAAJ&q=Kachhi+caste|accessdate=30 March 2017|language=en}}</ref>

In 1991, they were designated an [[Other Backward Class]] in the Indian system of [[positive discrimination]]. This applied to the populations in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=COcwoYRCYhcC&pg=PA177 |title=Educational and Social Uplift of Backward Classes: At what Cost and How |first1=S. P. |last1=Agrawal |first2=J. C. |last2=Aggarwal |publisher=Concept Publishing |year=1991 |isbn=9788170223399 |accessdate=2014-03-07}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |title=Peasant History of Late Pre-colonial and Colonial India |first=B. B. |last=Chaudhuri |publisher=Pearson Education India |year=2008 |isbn=978-8-13171-688-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ljmIJySEm4UC&pg=PA468 |pages=467–468}}
*{{cite journal |title=The Indian Empire and Peasant Production of Opium in the Nineteenth Century |first=J. F. |last=Richards |journal=Modern Asian Studies |volume=15 |issue=1 |year=1981 |pages=59–82 |jstor=312105 |doi=10.1017/s0026749x00006788}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kachhi (Caste)}}
[[Category:Social groups of Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:Social groups of Rajasthan]]
[[Category:Social groups of Madhya Pradesh]]
[[Category:Agricultural castes]]
[[Category:Social groups of Delhi]]

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Kachhi caste