Rajuar

Rajwar or Rajuar (also spelt as Rajuala, Rajuad) is a shifting cultivation community.[5][6] The people of this community mainly live in Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal. In Odisha, they are recognized as a Scheduled Tribe, while in Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal, they are classified as Scheduled Caste.[7] In other states, the community is considered part of the Other Backward Classes (OBC) or general population.[8][9][10][11]

Rajuar
Regions with significant populations
India
Bihar2,85,485[1]
Jharkhand196,320[2]
West Bengal1,12,184[3]
Odisha3,517[4]
Languages
Magahi language
Regional languages (Hindi, Khortha, Kurmali, Bengali, Odia)
Religion
Hinduism
Related ethnic groups
Bhuiya/Bhuyan, Bathuri

Overview

The people living in Odisha are mostly from the Nagbansi group and they live in Mayurbhanj and Baleshwar districts. In 1931 census, their population in Mayurbhanj was 1014 and distributed in Nij Majhalbagh (4), Deuli (34), Asankhali (459) and Khanua (44) of Baripada subdivision; Gartal (6), Khauta (69), Saranda (92) of Bamanghati subdivision; Khunta Karkachia (127), Dukura (142) of Kaptipda subdivision; There was no return from Panchpir subdivision and their literacy rate was 0.39 per cent (only four people).[12] However, the Rajwar were predominantly recorded as 159,698 in total during the 1901 census, with significant numbers in Goya (63,189), Manbhum (32,166), and the Chota Nagpur tributary states (21,686). In contrast, in the Orissa tributary states, their population was only 495.[13] As of the 2011 census, they had a population of 3,517 and a literacy rate of 51.6 per cent in Odisha. Many years ago they lived in Chotanagpur and they were engaged in shifting cultivation. Later, They started to live with different ethnic people in a village when they found settleable land to live in the process of shifting cultivation. Now they have good land and they are also good farmers but some of them are flattened rice sellers.[14][9]

People living in Odisha speak Odia but due to their proximity to Bengali-speaking people, many people use Bengali / Kudmali for daily conversation. The origin of the Rajuar community remains doubtful. While some researchers claim that the Rajuar caste is an offshoot of the Bhuyan, the people of West Bengal claim that the Rajuar caste was formed from a mixture of the Kurmi caste and the Kol caste.[15][16] As the 1931 Mayurbhanj state census noted that;

The Rajuars are a low cultivating caste of Bihar and Chotanagpur, who are probably an offshoot of Bhuinyas. In the Central Provinces, the Bhuinyas hava a sub-caste called Rajuar. The Rajuars of Bengal give a different story, admitting that they are descendants of mixed unions between Kurmis and Kols. In Chotanagpur, the Rajuars, like the land-holding branches of other forest tribes, claim to be an inferior class of the Rajputs.[6]

A note on Rajwar in 1858

Society

The Rajuar is divided into endogamous groups such as Rajbansi, Rajbhar, Bhogta, Lathaur, Nagbansi and Nakchedia. Among those groups, the Nagabansi group is lagging in society. Again those groups are divided into some exogenous clans such as Nageswar (Nag), Kachap (Kachim), Sankhua (Sankh), Champa, Mukut (Mod), Sinha and Kashyapa. The surnames used by the Rajuar people living in Odisha are Behera, Ram, Ray, and Parmanik.[17][14][18]

The festivals celebrated by the people of Rajuar are similar to the festivals celebrated by the people of the region and are based on Hinduism. Dhulia Festival, Jantal Festival, Magha Puja, Bandhna and Karam Festival are considered the main festivals of Rajuar.[9]

References
  1. "A-10 Appendix: District wise scheduled caste population (Appendix), Bihar". Census commission of India. 2011.
  2. "A-10 Appendix: District wise scheduled caste population (Appendix), Jharkhand". Census commission of India. 2011.
  3. "A-10 Appendix: District wise scheduled caste population (Appendix), West Bengal". Census commission of India. 2011.
  4. "A-11 Appendix: District wise scheduled tribe population (Appendix), Odisha". Census commission of India. 2011.
  5. Ota 2016.
  6. Laeequddin, Muhammad (1937). Census of Mayurbhanj State 1931. Vol. I. Calcutta. p. 163. JSTOR saoa.crl.25352830. OCLC 496724918.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  7. BHATTACHARYA, BIRENDRA KUMAR (1985). WEST BENGAL DISTRICT GAZETTERS,PURULIYA. STATE EDITOR,WEST BENGAL DISTRICT GAZETTEERS. pp. 141–142.
  8. Singh, Kumar Suresh (1992). People of India: Odisha (2 pts.). Anthropological Survey of India. p. 1275. ISBN 978-81-7046-294-1.
  9. Ota, A. B.; Kodamasingh, Anjana; Kanhar, Nilamadhaba (2016). Rajuar. Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes Research and Training Institute. ISBN 978-93-80705-52-1.
  10. Division, India Census (1961). India. Office of the Registrar General. p. 1078.
  11. Panda, Nishakar (2006). Policies, Programmes, and Strategies for Tribal Development: A Critical Appraisal. Gyan Publishing House. p. 124. ISBN 978-81-7835-491-0.
  12. Laeequddin, Muhammad (1935). Census of Mayurbhanj State 1931. Vol. II. Calcutta. JSTOR saoa.crl.25352831. OCLC 496724918.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  13. Gait, E. A. (1909). Census of India - 1901, Vol- VIA - The lower probinces of Bengal and their Feudatourie (Part II, The Imperial Tables). Bengal Secretariat Press. p. 253. Archived from the original on 24 Jan 2017. Alt URL
  14. Kumar, Satinder (2000). Encyclopaedia of South-Asian Tribes: The Orakzi - The Rongmeis. Anmol Publications. p. 3062. ISBN 978-81-261-0517-5.
  15. Anthropology of Small Populations. Anthropological Survey of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of Culture, Government of India. 1998. p. 131. ISBN 978-81-85579-46-7.
  16. Singh, Swaran (1994). Bathudi and Sounti Tribes: A Bio-anthropological Profile. Gyan Publishing House. p. 29. ISBN 978-81-212-0466-8.
  17. Singh, Kumar Suresh; India, Anthropological Survey of (2008). People of India. Anthropological Survey of India. p. 808. ISBN 978-81-7046-303-0.
  18. Singh, Kumar Suresh (1998). India's Communities: H - M. Oxford University Press. p. 2964. ISBN 978-0-19-563354-2.

Further reading
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