Yadav
Regions with significant populations | |
---|---|
Religion | |
Hinduism |
Yadav, Jadam, or Jadav
Historically, the Ahir and Yadav groups had an ambiguous ritual status in caste stratification.
Origins
In mythology
The term Yadav (or sometimes Yadava) has been interpreted to mean a descendant of Yadu, who is a mythological king.[17]
Using "very broad generalisations", Jayant Gadkari says that it is "almost certain" from analysis of the
Lucia Michelutti notes that
At the core of the Yadav community lies a specific folk theory of descent, according to which all Indian pastoral castes are said to descend from the Yadu dynasty (hence the label Yadav) to which Krishna (a cowherder, and supposedly a Kshatriya) belonged. ... [there is] a strong belief amongst them that all Yadavs belong to Krishna's line of descent, the Yadav subdivisions of today being the outcome of a fission of an original and undifferentiated group.[19]
Historians such as P. M. Chandorkar have used epigraphical and similar evidence to argue that Ahirs and Gavlis are representative of the ancient Yadavas and Abhiras mentioned in Sanskrit works.[20]
In practice
There are several communities that coalesce to form the Yadavs. Christophe Jaffrelot has remarked that
The term 'Yadav' covers many castes which initially had different names: Ahir in the Hindi belt, Punjab and Gujarat, Gavli in Maharashtra, Golla in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka etc. Their traditional common function, all over India, was that of herdsmen, cowherds and milksellers.[7]
However, Jaffrelot has also said that most of the modern Yadavs are cultivators, mainly engaged in tilling the land, and less than one third of the population are occupied in raising cattle or the milk business.[21]
According to Lucia Michelutti:
... Yadavs constantly trace their caste predispositions and skills to descent, and in doing so they affirm their distinctiveness as a caste. For them, caste is not just appellation but quality of blood (Yalman 1969: 87, in Gupta 2000: 82). This view is not recent. The Ahirs (today Yadavs) had a lineage view of caste (Fox 1971; Unnithan-Kumar 1997) that was based on a strong ideological model of descent. This descent-based kinship structure was also linked to a specific Kshatriya and their religious tradition centred on Krishna mythology and pastoral warrior hero-god cults.[23]
Yadavs in modern India
Occupational background, location and social status
The Yadavs mostly live in
Lucia Michelutti notes that
Colonial ethnographers left a legacy of hundreds of pages of ethnographic and ethnological details which portray the Ahir/Yadavs as "Kshatriyas", "martial" and "wealthy", or as "Shudras", "cowherders", "milk sellers" and low in status terms. In short there has been no consensus on the nature of the Ahir caste/tribe.[29]
J. S. Alter notes that in North India the majority of the wrestlers are of the Yadav caste. He explains this as being due to their involvement in the milk business and dairy farms, which thus provides easy access to the milk and ghee deemed to be essential to a good diet.[30]
Although the Yadavs have formed a fairly significant proportion of the population in various areas, including 11% of that of Bihar in 1931, their interest in pastoral activities was not traditionally matched by ownership of land and consequently they were not a "dominant caste". Their traditional position, which Jaffrelot describes as "low caste peasants", also militated against any dominant role. Their involvement in pastoralism accounts for a traditional view of Yadavs as being peaceful, while their particular association with cows has a special significance in Hinduism, as do their beliefs regarding Krishna.[27] Against this image, Russell and Lal, writing in 1916, called the Ahir subdivision uncouth, although it is unclear whether their comments were based entirely on proverbial stories, on observation or on both.[31] Tilak Gupta said that this view persisted in modern times in Bihar, where the Yadav were viewed in highly negative terms by other groups.[32] However, Michelutti observed, these very same people acknowledge and coveted their political influence, connections and abilities.[33]
The Yadavs have, however, demonstrated a feature, driven by their more notable members, that shares a similarity with other Indian communities. Mandelbaum has noted that
As the families of a jāti, in sufficient number, accrue a strong power base, and as their leading men become united enough to move together for higher status, they typically step up their efforts to improve their jāti customs. They try to abandon demeaning practices and to adopt purer and more prestigious ways. They usually want to drop the old name for a better one.[25]
In Bihar, the political advancement of Yadavs didn't improve their relative marginalisation in other fields. The spread of education among the community remained less as compared to more advanced
Sanskritisation
By the end of the nineteenth century, some Yadavs had become successful cattle traders and others had been awarded government contracts to care for cattle.
The AYKM was a self-contained unit and did not try to forge links with similar bodies among other caste groups that claimed Kshatriya descent at that time. It had some success, notably in breaking down some of the very strict traditions of endogamy within the community, and it gained some additional momentum as people from rural areas gradually migrated away from their villages to urban centres such as Delhi. Ameliorating the effects of strict endogamy was seen as being conducive to causing the community as a whole to unite, rather than existing as smaller subdivisions within it.[36] Rao has said that the events of this period meant that "the term Yadava refers to both an ethnic category and an ideology".[37]
Of particular significance in the movement for Sanskritisation of the community was the role of the
Jaffrelot has contrasted the motivations of Yadav Sanskritisation with that of the
The process of Sanskritisation often included creating a history. The first such for the Yadavs was written in the late nineteenth century by
Khedekar's history made the claim that Yadavs were descendants of the Abhira tribe and that the modern Yadavs were the same community referred to as dynasties in the
Michelutti prefers the term "yadavisation" to that of "sanskritisation". She argues that the perceived common link to Krishna was used to campaign for the official recognition of the many and varied herding communities of India under the title of Yadav, rather than merely as a means to claim the rank of Kshatriya. Furthermore, that "... social leaders and politicians soon realised that their 'number' and the official proof of their demographic status were important political instruments on the basis of which they could claim a 'reasonable' share of state resources."[19]
All-India Yadav Mahasabha
The
The Yadav belief in their superiority impacted on their campaigning. In 1930, the Yadavs of Bihar joined with the Kurmi and Koeri agriculturalists to enter local elections. They lost badly but in 1934 the three communities formed the Triveni Sangh political party, which allegedly had a million dues-paying members by 1936. However, the organisation was hobbled by competition from the Congress-backed Backward Class Federation, which was formed around the same time, and by co-option of community leaders by the Congress party. The Triveni Sangh suffered badly in the 1937 elections, although it did win in some areas. Aside from an inability to counter the superior organisational ability of the higher castes who opposed it, the unwillingness of the Yadavs to renounce their belief that they were natural leaders and that the Kurmi were somehow inferior was a significant factor in the lack of success. Similar problems beset a later planned caste union, the Raghav Samaj, with the Koeris.[42]
In the post-colonial period, according to Michelutti, it was the process of yadavisation and the concentration on two core aims – increasing the demographic coverage and campaigning for improved protection under the
The campaign demanding that the army of the Raj should recruit Yadavs as officers resurfaced in the 1960s. Well-reported bravery during fighting in the Himalayas in 1962, notably by the 13th Kumaon company of Ahirs, led to a campaign by the AIYM demanding the creation of a specific Yadav regiment.[39]
Post-Independence
Mandelbaum has commented on how the community basks in the reflected glory of those members who achieve success, that "Yadav publications proudly cite not only their mythical progenitors and their historical Rajas, but also contemporaries who have become learned scholars, rich industrialists, and high civil servants." He notes that this trait can also be seen among other caste groups.[44]
The
Classification
The Yadavs are included in the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) category in the Indian states of Bihar,[46] Chhattisgarh,[47] Delhi,[48] Haryana,[49] Jharkhand,[50] Karnataka,[51] Madhya Pradesh,[52] Odisha,[53] Rajasthan,[54] Uttar Pradesh,[55] and West Bengal.[56] In 2001, the Social Justice Committee in Uttar Pradesh reported over-representation of some OBCs, particularly Yadavs, in public offices; it suggested creating sub categories within the OBC category.[57] The outcome of this was that the Yadav/Ahir became the only group listed in Part A of a three-part OBC classification system.[58]
Yadavs in Nepal
The Central Bureau of Statistics of Nepal classifies the Yadav as a subgroup within the broader social group of Madheshi Other Caste.[59] At the time of the 2011 Nepal census, 1,054,458 people (4.0% of the population of Nepal) were Yadav. The frequency of Yadavs by province was as follows:
- Madhesh Province (14.8%)
- Lumbini Province (4.1%)
- Koshi Province (1.3%)
- Bagmati Province (0.2%)
- Gandaki Province (0.0%)
- Karnali Province (0.0%)
- Sudurpashchim Province (0.0%)
The frequency of Yadavs of Nepal was higher than national average (4.0%) in the following districts:[60]
- Siraha (24.4%)
- Dhanusha (17.5%)
- Saptari (15.8%)
- Sarlahi (15.5%)
- Mahottari (15.2%)
- Rautahat (12.2%)
- Bara (10.5%)
- Kapilvastu (10.2%)
- Rupandehi (7.4%)
- Parsa (6.6%)
- Parasi(5.8%)
- Banke (4.7%)
- Sunsari (4.3%)
See also
- List of Yadavs
- Ahir clans
- Yadavs of Nepal
- Yadavs in Bihar
Notes
- ^ From the mid-19th century onward, many British ethnographies attempted to understand India's tribes and castes by attempting to document the differences and to explain them in the prevailing ideologies of the period; the lack of such understanding was felt to be one of the reasons for the Indian rebellion of 1857.[9]
References
- ISBN 978-0-7069-8368-5. Retrieved 17 June 2011.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-521-79842-6. Quote: Ahir: Caste title of North Indian non-elite 'peasant'-pastoralists, known also as Yadav."
- ^ S2CID 144951057Quote: "The Yadavs were traditionally a low-to-middle-ranking cluster of pastoral-peasant castes that have become a significant political force in Uttar Pradesh (and other northern states like Bihar) in the last thirty years."
- ^ ISBN 978-0-520-20061-6. Quote: "Gopis, Goalas, and Ahirs, who would by the early 1900s begin referring to themselves as Yadav kshatriyas, had long sought and attained (after 1898) recruitment as soldiers in the British Indian army, particularly in the Western Gangetic Plain."
- ^ Hutton, John Henry (1969). Caste in India: its nature, function and origins. Oxford University Press. p. 113. Quote: "In a not dissimilar way the various cow-keeping castes of northern India were combining in 1931 to use the common term of Yadava for their various castes, Ahir, Goala, Gopa, etc., and to claim a Rajput origin of extremely doubtful authenticity."
- ^ ISBN 978-1-85065-670-8.
[187] The term "Yadav" covers many castes which initially had different names: Ahir in the Hindi belt, Punjab and Gujarat, Gavli in Maharashtra, Gola in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka etc. Their traditional common function, all over India, was that of herdsman, cowherds and milksellers. [188] In practice, the Yadavs today spend most of their time tilling the land. At the turn of the century in the Central Provinces two-thirds of Ahirs were already cultivators and labourers while less than one third raised cattle and dealt with milk and milk products.
- ISBN 978-0-415-46732-2,
Historically, the Ahir caste/community also had an ambiguous ritual status in the caste hierarchy. Amongst the Ahir/Yadav case we find rajas, zamindars, sepoys, and cowherders who have been conceived and categorised either as warriors and as belonging to the Kshatriya varna, or as lower caste and belonging to the shudra varna. In Ahirwal, members of Ahir seigneurial lineages have come to be known by the title Rajput. (p. 220)
- ^ ISBN 978-81-321-1053-8,
However, while ethnography was thus made central to the process of reconstruction, there remained a good deal of ambiguity regarding distinctions of race, caste and tribe. An investigation into the utility of various 'low caste' levies raised during 1857 was abandoned in 1861 when it emerged that while some officers had raised troops from sweepers and outcastes, others understood the term to refer simply to those regiments raised without Brahmins. This is simply one example of the numerous, wider ambiguities which inflect colonial knowledge in this period and which (amongst other factors) militated against radical change in the aftermath of the rebellion. This ambiguity was reflected in much of the evidence gathered by the Royal Commission, where geographic and regional distinctions overlapped and complicated religious and ethnic identities. Nevertheless, the administrative impulse to know India after 1857 is evident throughout the process of reflection and reconstruction undertaken by the imperial military. However, as the diversity of opinion gathered by the Royal Commission makes clear, while there was general recognition that ethnographic knowledge was key to the business of administering the Native army, there was much less agreement on the precise mechanisms by which such administration could be carried forth and, often, widespread confusion over the most salient aspects of Indian ethnography, culture and tradition. In part, the injunction to know India and its peoples is characteristic of the period.<Footnote 35 (p. 111)>: See, for example, the illustrated taxonomy of Indian ethnographic types prepared by Kaye, Watson, and Meadows Taylor and published as The People of India: A Series of Photographic Illustrations with Descriptive Letterpress, of the Races and Tribes of Hindustan, Originally Prepared under the Authority of the Government of India and Reproduced by the Order of the Secretary of State in Council (London: W. H. Allen, 1868)>
- ^ ISBN 9783447015523. Quote: "The Ahir and allied cowherd castes (whether actually pastoralists or cultivators, as in the Punjab) have recently organized a pan-Indian caste association with political as well as social reformist goals using the epic designation of Yadava (or Jadava) Vanshi Kshatriya, ie the warrior caste descending from the Yadava lineage of the Mahabharata fame."
- ISBN 978-0-231-12786-8. Quote: "In his typology of low caste movements, (M. S. A.) Rao distinguishes five categories. The first is characterised by 'withdrawal and self-organisation'. ... The second one, illustrated by the Yadavs, is based on the claim of 'higher varna status' and fits with Sanskritisation pattern. ..."
- S2CID 146484298Quote: " ... Lord Krishna, a legendary warrior and a Hindu deity, whom some shudra castes, notably the ahir or yadav, claim to be their ancestor." (page 902)
- ISBN 978-0-521-79842-6. Quote: "They had many counterparts elsewhere, most notably in the Gangetic plain where users of titles like Ahir, Jat and Goala turned increasingly towards the cow-cherishing rustic piety associated with the cult of Krishna. With its visions of milkmaids and sylvan raptures, and its cultivation of divine bounty in the form of sweet milky essences, this form of Vishnu worship offered an inviting path to 'caste Hindu' life for many people of martial pastoralist background.42 Footnote 42: "From the later nineteenth century the title Yadav was widely adopted in preference to Goala. ..."
- ISBN 978-0-8014-8344-8. Quote: "Another way to confirm their warrior status was to try to associate themselves with Yadav cowherding caste of the divine cowherd Krishna, calling themselves Yadavs instead of Ahirs. Ahir intelligensia "rewrote" certain historical documents to prove this connection, forming a national Yadav organization that continues to coordinate and promote the mobility drive of the caste. Integral to this movement are retelling of caste history that reflect its martial character; ..."
- ISBN 978-0-231-12786-8. Quote: "Rather, the low caste movements can more pertinently be regrouped in two broader categories: first, the reform movements situating themselves within the Hindu way of life, be they relying on the mechanisms of Sanskritisation or on the bhakti tradition; and second those which are based on an ethnic or western ideology with a strong egalitarian overtone. The Yadav movement—and to a lesser extent the Ezhavas—can be classified in the first group whereas all the other ones belong to the second category. Interestingly none of the latter has a North Indian origin."
- ISBN 978-1317125372. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
- ^ ISBN 9780836421330.
- ISBN 978-81-7154-743-2.
- ^ S2CID 144951057.(subscription required)
- ISBN 978-0-521-02870-7.
- ISBN 978-1-85065-670-8.
- ISBN 978-0-520-01623-1.
- ISBN 0-7619-3324-7.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-85065-670-8. Retrieved 16 August 2011.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-520-01623-1.
- ISBN 978-1-4000-7977-3. Quote: "The Yadavs are one of India's largest 'Other Backward Classes,' a government term that covers most of India's Sudracastes. Yadavs are the traditional cowherd caste of North India and are relatively low down on the traditional pecking order, but not as low as the untouchable Mahars or Chamars."
- ^ ISBN 978-1-85065-670-8.
- S2CID 144951057.(subscription required)
- ^ Michelutti, Lucia (2002). "Sons of Krishna: the politics of Yadav community formation in a North Indian town" (PDF). p. 83. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
- ISBN 978-1-13619-799-4.
- ^ Russell, R. V.; Lal, Raj Bahadur Hira (1916). Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India. Vol. 2. London: Macmillan. p. 37.
- JSTOR 4398537.(subscription required)
- ^ Michelutti. "Wrestling with (body) politics: understanding 'goonda' political styles in North India". Quote:"I saw many high-caste people, who refer to Yadavs as goondas in a disapproving fashion using their 'services'. Their connections, political influence and abilities are thus practically acknowledged. By the end of the fieldwork the same non-Yadav informants who advise me of not going around with politicians asked me to use my 'Yadav contacts' to help them to get their telephone line sorted out, to get a taxi-licence or to speed up a court case.". Retrieved 27 October 2011.
- JSTOR 4398537.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-520-01623-1.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-85065-670-8. Retrieved 16 August 2011.
- ISBN 9780836421330.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-85065-670-8. Retrieved 16 August 2011.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-520-01623-1.
- S2CID 143558861.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-85065-670-8.
- ISBN 978-1-85065-670-8. Retrieved 16 August 2011.
- S2CID 144951057.(subscription required)
- ISBN 978-0-520-01623-1. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
- ^ "Traditional Sadar Festival Celebrated". The Hindu. Hyderabad. 7 November 2010. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
- ^ "CENTRAL LIST OF OBCs FOR THE STATE OF BIHAR" (PDF), National Commission of Backward Classes, Government of India, retrieved 28 October 2011 (Serial Number 104)
- ^ "CENTRAL LIST OF OTHER BACKWARD CLASSES: CHHATISGARH" (PDF), National Commission of Backward Classes, Government of India, retrieved 28 October 2011 (Serial Number 1)
- ^ "CENTRAL LIST OF OTHER BACKWARD CLASSES: DELHI" (PDF), National Commission of Backward Classes, Government of India, retrieved 28 October 2011 (Serial Number 3)
- ^ "CENTRAL LIST OF OTHER BACKWARD CLASSES: HARYANA" (PDF), National Commission of Backward Classes, Government of India, retrieved 28 October 2011 (Serial Number 29)
- ^ "CENTRAL LIST OF OTHER BACKWARD CLASSES: JHARKHAND" (PDF), National Commission of Backward Classes, Government of India, retrieved 28 October 2011 (Serial Number 118)
- ^ "CENTRAL LIST OF OTHER BACKWARD CLASSES: KARNATAKA" (PDF), National Commission of Backward Classes, Government of India, retrieved 28 October 2011 (Serial Number 58)
- ^ "CENTRAL LIST OF OTHER BACKWARD CLASSES: MADHYA PRADESH" (PDF), National Commission of Backward Classes, Government of India, retrieved 28 October 2011 (Serial Number 1)
- ^ "CENTRAL LIST OF OBCs FOR THE STATE OF ORISSA" (PDF), National Commission of Backward Classes, Government of India, retrieved 28 October 2011 (Serial Number 43)
- ^ "CENTRAL LIST OF OBCs FOR THE STATE OF RAJASTHAN" (PDF), National Commission of Backward Classes, Government of India, retrieved 28 October 2011 (Serial Number 1)
- ^ "CENTRAL LIST OF OBCs FOR THE STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH" (PDF), National Commission of Backward Classes, Government of India, retrieved 28 October 2011 (Serial Number 1)
- ^ "CENTRAL LIST OF OBCs FOR THE STATE OF WEST BENGAL" (PDF), National Commission of Backward Classes, Government of India, retrieved 28 October 2011 (Serial Number 3)
- ISBN 9789351501800.
- ISBN 978-81-317-0797-5.
- ^ Population Monograph of Nepal, Volume II [1]
- ^ 2011 Nepal Census, District Level Detail Report