Ajay Kumar at 14:47, 23 July 2023

2023-07-23T14:47:38Z

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{{Short description|Caste in the Indian subcontinent}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2023}}
{{Use Indian English|date=April 2023}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group = Kaibarta (Jaliya)
| native_name = কৈবৰ্ত্ত
| image = File:Kaibartha Caste Eastern Bengal 1860's.jpg
| caption = Kaibarta fisherman from [[East Bengal]] in 1860s
| region1 = [[Assam]]
| pop1 = 5,81,559 ({{circa|2001}})
| langs = [[Assamese language|Assamese]] • [[Bengali language|Bengali]] • [[Odia language|Odia]]
| rels = [[Hinduism]] • [[Buddhism]]
}}
'''Jalia Kaibarta ''' (or '''Jaliya Kaibartta''', or: '''Jāliya Kaibbarta''', possibly also: '''Jalia Kaibartya''') is a community comprising people of low ritual status, fishermen, who later acquired respectable caste identities within the larger Hindu fold, helped by their commercial prosperity and Vaishnavite affiliations, through [[Sanskritisation]].<ref>The census of 1901 interpreted the act of renaming as a ‘‘refusal of those at the bottom of the social scale to acquiesce in the humble positions assigned to them.’’. For Assam’s Dom fisher caste, previously at the lowest end of the ritual hierarchy, this refusal took the form of claims to Aryanist belonging through the new names of Nadiyal and Kaibarta. In colonial Assam the upper echelons of Dom society succeeded for the most part in acquiring new, respectable caste identities within the larger Hindu fold, helped by commercial prosperity and Vaishnavite affliations. {{Cite book|last=Sharma|first=Jayeeta|url=https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/id/b11ba477-73c0-4a92-b158-043a50ef88e5/648153.pdf|title=Empire's Garden: Assam and the Making of India|publisher=Duke University Press|pages=214|language=en}}</ref> They are traditionally engaged in the occupation of fishing and originally belonged to [[Assam]], [[West Bengal]], [[Odisha]] and eastern [[Bihar]] along with [[Bangladesh]], [[Nepal]], [[Bhutan]]. The Kaibartas were initially considered a single tribe divided into two groups, Haliya and Jaliya Kaibarta, where the Haliya Kaibarta are considered to be superior than the latter.<ref>"In Lower Assam the Keots are divided into two main endogamous groups, halova and jalova Keots, or agriculturalists and fishermen, the former being held superior than the latter"{{harvcol|Cantile|1980|p=235}}</ref> Jalia Kaibartas are categorised as a [[Scheduled Caste]]<ref name="atal1981">{{cite book|first=Yogesh |last=Atal|title=Building A Nation (Essays on India)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=er2dWY-Df_cC&pg=PA118|year=1981|publisher=Diamond Pocket Books (P) Ltd. | isbn=978-8-12880-664-3 | page=118}}</ref><ref name="SalagramaNations2006">{{cite book|author1=Venkatesh Salagrama|author2=Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations|title=Trends in Poverty and Livelihoods in Coastal Fishing Communities of Orissa State, India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3m6XG0WippUC&pg=PA80|access-date=18 April 2012|date=30 December 2006|publisher=Food & Agriculture Org.|isbn=978-92-5-105566-3|page=80}}</ref><ref name="Local">{{cite book | last = Chakrabarty | first = Bidyut| year = 1997| title = Local Politics and Indian Nationalism: Midnapur (1919-1944)| publisher = Manohar| location = New Delhi| pages = 62–67}}</ref> and are the second largest among the 16 SCs in Assam under the name ''Kaibartta'', ''Jaliya''.<ref>{{cite book |author=India Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes |title=Report |date=1969 |publisher=Manager, Government of India Press |page=122 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-mpDAAAAYAAJ&q=jalia+kaibarta+assam |access-date=14 January 2020 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Indian Association of Social Science Institutions Quarterly |date=2003 |publisher=Indian Association of Social Science Institutions |pages=104, 111 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bAodAQAAMAAJ&q=keot+assam |access-date=14 January 2020 |language=en}}</ref> Many of the Jalia Kaibarta under the influence of Garamur satradhikar gave up their traditional occupation of fishing and divided themselves into – ''mach mara'' and ''mach na-mara''.<ref>{{harvcol|Cantile|1980|p=17}}</ref>

In [[Brahma Vaivarta Purana|Brahmavaivarta]], a Kaibarta is said to be born to a [[Kshatriya]] father and a [[Vaishya]] mother, while other consider Kaibarta to be a Hinduised word of ''Kevatta'' which refer to a class of fishermens in the Buddhist [[Jataka tales|Jatakas]].{{sfn|Dutta|1985|p=35}} They are also claimed to have their own priest.{{sfn|Dutta|1985|p=35}}

The first [[Abahattha|proto-Assamese]] manuscript, in the form of [[Charyapada|Caryapāda]]s, was written by a [[Buddhist]] priest, known in [[Classical Tibetan|Tibetan language]] as [[Luipa|Lui-pā]], who is identified with [[Matsyendranath|Matsyendranātha]], a member of the fishermen community of mediaeval [[Kamarupa|Kāmarūpa]], which later became Kaibartas.<ref>Dasgupta, Shashibhushan (1946). ''Obscure Religious Cults'', Calcutta University Press, Calcutta, p. 384-385, [https://archive.org/details/obscurereligiouscultsshashibhushandasgupta1946_202003_922_Y Internet Archive copy]; third edition: Firma KLM Private Limited, Calcutta 1960, [https://archive.org/details/obscurereligiouscultsshashibhushandasgupta1960thirdedition_202003_663_P Internet Archive copy]; fifth edition: Firma KLM Private Limited, Calcutta 1995, {{ISBN|81-7102-020-8}}</ref><ref name="books.google.com.au">Ayyappapanicker, K. & Akademi, Sahitya (1997). ''Medieval Indian literature: an anthology, Volume 3''. Sahitya Akademi. {{ISBN|81-260-0365-0}}, {{ISBN|978-81-260-0365-5}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=KYLpvaKJIMEC&dq=Charyapada&pg=PA599] (accessed: Friday 5 March 2010)</ref>

Medieval Oriyan poet and [[Vaishnavism|Vaishnav]] saint [[Achyutananda Dasa]] wrote ''kaibarta Gita'' which narrates the origin, growth, functions and roles of this community.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Orissa (India) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hDo1AQAAIAAJ&q=Kaivarta |title=Orissa State Gazetteer |last2=Behuria |first2=N. C. |date=1990 |publisher=Gazetteers Unit, Department of Revenue, Government of Orissa |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=22 April 2019 |title=The Kaibartas of Odisha |url=https://www.orissapost.com/the-kaibartas-of-odisha/ |access-date=17 November 2022 |website=Odisha News, Odisha Latest news, Odisha Daily - OrissaPOST |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Mukherjee |first=Sujit |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YCJrUfVtZxoC&q=Kaivarta |title=A Dictionary of Indian Literature: Beginnings-1850 |date=1998 |publisher=Orient Blackswan |isbn=978-81-250-1453-9 |pages=4 |language=en}}</ref>

==Notable people==
*[[Bhupen Hazarika]], musician, playback singer, lyricist, poet, actor and filmmaker from [[Assam]], awarded with the [[Dadasaheb Phalke Award]] and the [[Bharat Ratna]]<ref name="Bhupen">{{Cite journal|title=Revolutionary Artist Dr. Bhupen Hazarika: Voicing the Silence of the Subaltern|url=https://ajhss.org/pdfs/Vol2Issue4/6.pdf|journal=Asian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences|pages=9}}</ref>
*[[Jayanta Hazarika]], musician, playback singer from Assam<ref name="Bhupen"/>

==See also==
* [[Mahishya]]
* [[Varendra Rebellion]]
* [[Guha (Ramayana)]]
* [[Kewat]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite book|last=Dutta|first=Shristidhar|title=The Mataks and their Kingdom|publisher=Chugh publication|place=Allahabad|year=1985}}
*{{cite thesis|type=Ph.D.|last=Cantile|first=Audrey|title=CASTE AND SECT IN AN ASSAMESE VILLAGE|publisher=University of London|year=1980}}
{{refend}}

{{Dom people}}
{{Bengali Hindu people}}

[[Category:Indian castes]]
[[Category:Fishing castes]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Odisha]]
[[Category:Scheduled Castes of Assam]]
[[Category:Scheduled Castes of West Bengal]]

Jalia Kaibarta - Revision history

Ajay Kumar at 14:47, 23 July 2023