Jalia Kaibarta

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.[1] 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.[2] Jalia Kaibartas are categorised as a Scheduled Caste[3][4][5] and are the second largest among the 16 SCs in Assam under the name Kaibartta, Jaliya.[6][7] 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.[8]

Kaibarta (Jaliya)

কৈবৰ্ত্ত
Kaibarta fisherman from East Bengal in 1860s
Regions with significant populations
Assam	5,81,559 (c. 2001)
Languages
Assamese • Bengali • Odia
Religion
Hinduism • Buddhism

In 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 Jatakas.[9] They are also claimed to have their own priest.[9]

The first proto-Assamese manuscript, in the form of Caryapādas, was written by a Buddhist priest, known in Tibetan language as Lui-pā, who is identified with Matsyendranātha, a member of the fishermen community of mediaeval Kāmarūpa, which later became Kaibartas.[10][11]

Medieval Oriyan poet and Vaishnav saint Achyutananda Dasa wrote kaibarta Gita which narrates the origin, growth, functions and roles of this community.[12][13][14]