Bhumihar - Origin and History - History

History

By the 16th century, Bhumihars known as "karm kandi pandit" controlled vast stretches of territory, particularly in North Bihar. In South Bihar, their most prominent representative was the Tekari family, whose large estate in Gaya dates back to the early 18th century. With the decline of Mughal Empire, in the area of south of Avadh, in the fertile rive-rain rice growing areas of Benares, Gorakhpur, Deoria, Ghazipur, Ballia and Bihar and on the fringes of Bengal, it was the 'military' or Bhumihar Brahmins who strengthened their sway. The distinctive 'caste' identity of Bhumihar Brahman emerged largely through military service, and then confirmed by the forms of continuous 'social spending' which defined a man and his kin as superior and lordly. In 19th century, many of the Bhumihar Brahmins were zamindars. Of the 67000 Hindus in the Bengal Army in 1842, 28000 were identified as Rajputs and 25000 as Brahmins, a category that included Bhumihar Brahmins. The Brahmin presence in the Bengal Army was reduced in the late 19th century because of their perceived primary role as mutineers in the Mutiny of 1857, led by Mangal Pandey. Now, a majority of them are farmers with some big land-holders.

Some Bhumihars had settled in Chandipur, Murshidabad, Bardhaman during late 19th and early 20th centuries where they are at the top of the social hierarchy.

Pandit Jogendra Nath Bhattacharya in his book Hindu Castes and Sects published in 1896, went on to write about the origin of Bhumihar Brahmins of Bihar and Banaras as: "The clue to the exact status of the Bhumihar Brahmans is afforded by their very name. The word literally means a landholder. In the language of the Indian feudal systems, Bhoom is the name given to a kind of tenure similar to the Inams and Jagirs of Mohammedan times. By a Bhoom, according to the Rajputana Gazeteer, an hereditary, non-resumableand inalienable property in soil was inseparably bound up with a revenue-free title. Bhoom was given as a compensation for bloodshedin order to quell a feud, for distinguished services in the field, for protection of a border or for the watch and ward of the village. The meaning of the designation Bhumihar being as stated above, the Bhumihar Brahmans are evidently these Brahmans who held grants of land for secular service. Whoever held a secular fief was Bhumihar. Where a Brahman held such a tenure, he was called a Bhumihar Brahman....Bhumihar Brahmans are sometimes called simply Bhumihars..."

They perform all their religious ceremonies in the same manner as other Brahmins, but as they also practice secular occupations like the Laukik Brahmans of Southern India, they are not entitled to accept religious gifts or to minister to anyone as priest. The usual surnames/titles of the Bhumihar Brahmins are same as those of other Brahmins of Northern India. Being a fighter by caste few of them have Rajputana surnames/titles.. The general editor of the book "People of India (Bihar and Jharkhand)", published by Anthropological Survey of India (ASI), and noted academician-bureaucrat, the late Kumar Suresh Singh, said that the surname Singh, which used to denote connection with power and authority, was used in Bihar by Brahmin zamindars, like the surname "Khan" in Muslims.

Before independence, it was the custom of the Bhumihar Brahmins to stage an elaborate Kālī puja, during which annual payments were made to servants and gifts of cloth were distributed to dependents, both Hindu and Muslim.

M. A. Sherring in his book Hindu Tribes and Castes as Reproduced in Benaras published in 1872, mentions, "Great important distinctions subsist between the various tribes of Brahmins. Some are given to learning, some to agriculture, some to politics and some to trades. The Maharashtra Brahmin is very different being from the Bengali, while the Kanaujia (Kanyakubja Brahmins) differs from both. Only those Brahmins who perform all six duties are reckoned perfectly orthodox. Some perform three of them, namely, the first, third and fifth and omit the other three. Hence Brahmins are divided into two kinds, the Shat-karmas and the tri-karmas or those who perform only three. The Bhumihar Brahmins for instance are tri-karmas, and merely pay heed to three duties. The Bhumihars, of whom many, though not all, belong to the Saryupareen Brahmin division, are a large and influential body in all that province (United Province)."

Bhumihars were referred to as "Military Brahmin" by Francis Buchanan and as "Magadh Brahmin" by William Adam in 1883. William Crooke in his book, Tribes and Castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, has mentioned Bhuinhar as an important tribe of landowners and agriculturists in eastern districts and that they are also known as Babhan, Zamindar Brahman, Grihastha Brahman, or Pachchima or 'western' Brahmans.

Gorakh Rai, a scion of the Brahmin Shahi (Brahmin Shahi dynasty) family, was killed while fighting alongside Prithvi Raj Chauhan against Mohammad Ghauri at Taraori, in 1192 CE. Gorakh Rai’s descendants are among the present day Vaid Caste of Mohyal Brahmins and they still prefix the honorific Raizada (prince) to their names. Another branch of this clan, that first set up residence at a place called Jai Theriya near Lucknow, later moved east and established a state at Bettiah in Bihar. They were known as Jaitheriyas, now a sect of Bhumihar Brahmins.

In 1889, Pradhan Bhumihar Brahman Sabha was established at Patna "to improve moral, social and educational reforms of the community." The social reformation among Bhumihar Brahmins had two streams – one led by Sir Ganesh Dutt, and the other by Swami Sahajanand Saraswati. Bhumihars were officially recognised as Brahmins by the government of British India in 1911 census (second all India census report) of British India.

Harry W. Blair notes that the Bhumihars were

a high-caste community which has at least since the beginning of the 19th century claimed that it was in fact and should be regarded as a Brahman caste. In the early years of the century the Bhumihars organized a caste association, the Bhumihar Brahman Sabha, to press this claim, in particular with the census authorities. The census officials felt themselves besieged by these efforts and tried, valiantly in their own estimation, to thwart them, but not always successfully.

Blair's conclusion from analysis of census data in the Bihar area for 1901–1931 is that Bhumihars had begun to pass themselves off to census enumerators as being Brahman, evidenced by a fall in the number of Bhumihars recorded occurring at the same time as there was a substantial rise in the number of Brahmins. In some areas the change was "quite spectacular". He also notes that of all the various caste associations in this area it was only that of the Bhumihars which had organised with the intent of achieving "the promotion of its members to a different higher caste,"

Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, a Bhumihar himself, wrote extensively on Brahmin society and on the origin of Bhumihars. He stated that the Bhumihars are among the superior Brahmins. Some Bhumihar Brahmins are also known for their secular and unorthodox practices, where some of them are also descendants of Husseini Brahminss. On the social scale, although the Bhumihars are known to be Brahmins, on account of the fact that they were cultivators they were not given the ritual status of Brahmins.

Siyaram Tiwari, the former dean at Visva Bharati University, stated that the Bhumihars are "landed Brahmins who stopped taking alms and performing pujas and rituals", These are Tyagis of Western UP, Zamindar Bengali Brahmins, Niyogi Brahmins of Andhra Pradesh, Nambudiri Brahmin of Kerala, Chitpavans of Maharashtra, Anavil Desais of Gujarat and Mohyals of Punjab. Bhumihars are classified in the Brahmin varna in Hinduism and hence use the designation Bhumihar Brahmin.

Acharya Tarineesh Jha, himself a Maithil Brahmin scholar has attested how from ancient times to modern all great Brahmin scholars like Maithili Manishi Mahamahopadhyay Chitradhar Mishra, Mahamahopadhyay Balkrishna Mishra; Saryupareen Brahmin scholars Mahamahopadhyay Dwivedi, Mahamahopadhyay Shivkumar Shastri, Dr. Hazari Prasad Dwivedi; Kanyakubja Brahmins scholars Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi, Pandit Laxminarayan Dixit Shastri, Pandit Venkatesh Narayan Tiwari and others have mentioned about Bhumihar Brahmins as their fellow Brahmin brothers.

They are also called Ajachak Brahmans, i.e., Brahmans who do not take alms (jachak) in contrast to the ordinary Brahmans who are Jachaks or almstakers but there are still some who traditionally take alms as in Gaya and Hazaribagh. Like fellow Brahmans, they did not use to hold the plough, but employed labourers for the purpose.