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{{Short description|Indian Chitraguptavanshi Kayastha clan}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2019}}
{{Use Indian English|date=April 2019}}
'''Ambashtha''' or '''Ambastha''' is a [[caste]] or sub-caste or a community of [[Hindu]]s in [[India]]. According to Hindu scriptures, the term Ambastha refers to the offspring of a [[Brahmin]] father and a [[Vaishya]] mother, whose traditional occupation was the practice of medicine.<ref name="Ridgeon">{{cite book|last=Ridgeon|first=Lloyd|title=Major World Religions: From Their Origins To The Present|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HFKBAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA45|publisher=RoutledgeCurzon|year=2003|page=45|isbn=978-1-13442-935-6}}</ref><ref name="Manu">{{cite book|author =Manu, Patrick Olivelle |author2=Suman Olivelle|title=Manu's Code of Law|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PnHo02RtONMC&pg=PA208|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2005|page=208|isbn=978-0-19517-146-4}}</ref>

The term Ambastha is now used to describe a particular sub-caste within the [[Chitraguptavanshi Kayastha]] community, now found mainly in [[North India|North-Indian region]] ([[Bihar]] and [[Jharkhand]]).<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MihuAAAAMAAJ|title=The Kāyasthas: a study in the formation and early history of a caste|last=Gupta|first=Chitrarekha|date=1996|publisher=K.P. Bagchi & Co.|isbn=9788170741565|location=|pages=60|language=en|quote=But Bihar was not the original homeland of the Ambashthas. The Ambashthas were a famous tribe from Western Punjab and have been mentioned in the Mahabharata.}}</ref>

==Origin==

=== Hindu Scriptures ===
In the ancient Indian epic [[Mahabharata]], a warrior tribe named Ambastha has been mentioned. During Alexander's invasion, they had 60000 infantry, 6000 horsemen and 500 chariots. They have been described as inhabitants of northwestern part of Indian subcontinent (near Lahore), and they were conquered by Nakula and paid tribute to Yudisthira. They fought in the Kurukhetra war (initially for the Pandavas but later for Drona). They took to different professions like priesthood, farming and medicine, and are assumed to have migrated to eastern India later on.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Sircar |first=Dineschandra |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mh1y1eMgGBMC |title=Studies in the Religious Life of Ancient and Medieval India |date=1971 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ. |isbn=978-81-208-2790-5 |language=en}}</ref>

The term Ambastha also gets mentioned in Hindu text [[Manusmriti]] as the offspring of a union between Brahmin male and Vaishya female.<ref name="Ridgeon" />

== Varna status ==
Ridgeon mentions about the myth related to the origin of the four [[Varna (Hinduism)|varnas]] in the [[Rigveda]],<ref name="Ridgeon" /> and says that in order to explain "the great number of castes, a theory was developed that unions between men and women of different varnas produced offspring of various castes".<ref name="Ridgeon" />

Citing the Hindu text ''Parasara'', Leslie mentions that the Ambastha is supposed to treat the Brahmins only, and hence considered as "a clean caste, definitely below the brahman, but certainly well within the [[Dvija|twice-born]] group".<ref name="Leslie">{{cite book |last=Leslie |first=Charles M. |title=Asian Medical Systems: A Comparative Study |year=1976 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-52003-511-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/asianmedicalsyst00lesl/page/37 37] |url=https://archive.org/details/asianmedicalsyst00lesl|url-access=registration }}</ref> This differentiates the Ambasthas from the average Vaidyas, who were considered "unclean" and were denied the status accorded to the Ambastha.<ref name="Leslie"/>

== Ambashthas of Bihar ==
According to [[Bindeshwari Prasad Sinha]] the ancient Ambasthas migrated to Bihar and created a sub-division of the greater Kayastha caste of this region.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sinha |first=Bindeshwari Prasad |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ryhuAAAAMAAJ |title=Kayasthas in Making of Modern Bihar |date=2003 |publisher=Impression Publication |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0" />

==Early medieval Bengal==
In the ''Brihaddharma Purana'' the Ambashthas and the [[Baidya]]s/Vaidyas were considered as the same caste in its list of 36 castes but another text, the [[Brahma Vaivarta Purana]] considered them as two separate sub-castes. Bharatmallik (17th century), the author of the ''Chandraprabha'' and ''Bhattitika'' has introduced himself as both Vaidya and Ambashtha, which indicates both the castes may have been considered as one in early medieval Bengal.<ref>Roy, Niharranjan (1993). ''Bangalar Itihas:Adiparba'' (in Bengali), Kolkata:Dey's Publishing, {{ISBN|81-7079-270-3}}, pp.227,246-7</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}
* Ambastha Kayastha (The Evolution of a Family and Its Socio-Cultural Dimensions)/K.N. Sahay. New Delhi, Commonwealth, 2001, xxi, 344 p. 42. {{ISBN|81-7169-660-0}}.

[[Category:Kayastha]]
[[Category:Social groups of Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:Social groups of West Bengal]]

Ambashtha - Revision history

NXHLillian at 11:25, 13 November 2025