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{{Short description|SUBGROUP of Koli Caste}}
{{For|agricultural caste of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar known alternatively as [[Kushwaha]] and [[Maurya (surname)|Maurya]]|Koeri}}
{{pp-extended|small=yes}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2017}}
{{Use Indian English|date=September 2017}}
'''Kori or Koli''' is an Indian [[caste system in India|caste]], who were traditionally fishermen (in coastal areas), weavers (in Northern States) and farmers (especially in Gujarat).

Other names for this caste include
Banodha, Vaish, Koli, Mahour, Mahawar, Anuragi, Kabirpanthi and Julaha.<ref>{{cite book |author=Badri Narayan |title=Women Heroes and Dalit Assertion in North India: Culture, Identity and Politics |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7feHAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA119 |year=2006 |publisher=SAGE |isbn=978-81-321-0280-9 |page=119 |access-date=29 October 2019 |archive-date=12 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230712070226/https://books.google.com/books?id=7feHAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA119 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Kori are classified as a [[Scheduled Caste]] in the states of, [[Haryana]], [[Himachal Pradesh]], [[Madhya Pradesh]],[[Odisha]], [[Punjab]], [[Rajasthan]],
[[Uttar Pradesh]], [[Chhattisgarh]], and [[Uttarakhand]] as well as in the Union Territory of [[Chandigarh]].<ref>{{cite web | title=LIST OF SCHEDULED CASTES | url=https://socialjustice.gov.in/writereaddata/UploadFile/Compendium-2016.pdf |website =socialjustice.gov.in|access-date=10 July 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=State wise / UT wise list of Scheduled Caste (updated)| website=Department of Social Justice and Empowerment | date=7 July 2025 | url=https://socialjustice.gov.in/common/76750 | access-date=10 July 2025}}</ref> In the past the Kori had [[Other Backward Class|OBC]] status in Meerut, Agra, Rohilkhand and its neighbouring cities.{{Citation needed|date=July 2025}}

In Delhi, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Southern States the Kori caste is known as Koli.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chandel |first=M. P. S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ao5tlGH2sFQC&pg=PA49 |title=Democratic Transformation of a Social Class |date=1991-01-01 |publisher=Mittal Publications |isbn=978-81-7099-314-8 |location=[[New Delhi]], [[India]] |pages=49 |language=en}}</ref>

The Kori scheduled caste population in Uttar Pradesh at the [[2011 census of India]] was 2,293,937.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/PCA/SC_ST/PCA-A10/SC-0900-PCA-A-10-ddw.xlsx |title=A-10 Individual Scheduled Caste Primary Census Abstract Data and its Appendix - Uttar Pradesh |publisher=Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India |access-date=2017-02-06 |archive-date=31 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180731072159/http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/PCA/SC_ST/PCA-A10/SC-0900-PCA-A-10-ddw.xlsx |url-status=live }}</ref> The Kori's traditional caste councils, plans and implements welfare activities and also settles disputes. Imposition of cash fine is a form of punishment inflicted by the council.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Chanchreek |first=K. L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nGkaAQAAIAAJ |title=Sant Kabir: life and philosophy |publisher=Shree Publications |year=2007 |isbn=978-81-8329-161-3 |location=New Delhi, India |pages=190 |language=en |access-date=28 May 2023 |archive-date=4 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230604111630/https://books.google.com/books?id=nGkaAQAAIAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Etymology==
The name "Kori" is associated to "kol" which is a tribe mainly in UP, MP and Jharkhand.<ref>{{cite book |title=India's Communities |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g9MVAQAAMAAJ |author=K. S. Singh |year=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-563354-2 |page=1822 |access-date=15 October 2016 |archive-date=14 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230414083901/https://books.google.com/books?id=g9MVAQAAMAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==History==
[[Harold A. Gould|Harold Gould]] noted in his research of the [[jajmani system]] in Uttar Pradesh that by the 1960s, all of the Koris in the villages studied by him had adopted roles as agriculturist, ploughmen, and midwives, because industrialisation had made their traditional occupation as weavers redundant.<ref>{{cite journal |title=A Jajmani System of North India: Its Structure, Magnitude, and Meaning |first=Harold A. |last=Gould |author-link=Harold A. Gould |journal=Ethnology |volume=3 |issue=1 |date=January 1964 |pages=12–41 |doi=10.2307/4617554 |jstor=4617554|doi-access=free }}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Weaving communities of South Asia]]
[[Category:Scheduled Castes of Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:Scheduled Castes of Himachal Pradesh]]
[[Category:Scheduled Castes of Uttarakhand]]
[[Category:Indian castes]]
[[Category:Indian castes by profession]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in India]]

{{India-ethno-stub}}

Kori caste - Revision history

CleanupBot at 05:36, 22 March 2026