Khandayat (caste)

Khandayat, also spelled as Khandait, is a cultivating caste,[1][2] as well as a peasant militia [2] or landed militia caste from Odisha, East India.[3][4] Some of them had earlier served as feudal chiefs as well as zamindars apart from being land holders and agriculturalists.[5][6][7][8] Numerically they are the largest caste of the state.[9]

Khandayat
ReligionsHinduism
LanguagesOdia , Bengali
Populated statesOdisha

Etymology

The term Khandayat is believed to have originated from the word "Khanda" meaning sword. Khandayat means swordsman or headman of a Khand.[10][11][12]

History

During the medieval period, this class of peasant warriors or landed militia acquired good amounts of agricultural land and some of them became local zamindars.[13]

Fakir Mohan Senapati, while Quoting Abul Fazal, mentioned Khandayats as a landowning caste that dominated the politics and military of Gajapati Empire.[14]

During British rule, some wealthy people from peasant castes and other communities such as Adivasis, Bhuyans, Chasas, and Agharias started identifying as Khandayats in order to gain status, distance themselves from their original castes/communities, and exploit Zamindar land rights.[15][16]

Currently, the Odia Khandayat caste is recognised by the Government of Odisha among the socially and educationally backward classes (SEBC),[17] though they are not entitled to any reservation benefit provided by the Government of India.[18]

Varna status

Traditionally, they are a peasant militia caste who claim themselves to be of Kshatriya status considering their quasi-martial background, but they were considered by the Brahmins and others to be in the Shudra varna category due to the majority of Khandayats being peasants. Pradhan also attributes this to Brahmin patronage of Rajputs, who also claimed to be of Kshatriya status.[2]

References
  1. Bailey, Frederick George (1970). Politics and Social Change. University of California Press. p. 132.
  2. Pradhan, Prasanta Kumar (1996). "Story of the Peasant Militias or the Khandayats or Orissa: A Socio-Historical Approach". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 57: 752–745 – via JSTOR.
  3. Hayami, Yōko; Tanabe, Akio; Tokita-Tanabe, Yumiko (2003). Gender and Modernity: Perspectives from Asia and the Pacific. Kyoto University Press. p. 68. ISBN 978-4-87698-451-0. land that had been granted to chiefs ( dalabehera ) , sub - chiefs ( dalai ) , and peasant foot - soldiers ( paik ) - primarily of the Khandayat caste.
  4. Pati, Rabindra Nath (2008). Family Planning. APH Publishing. ISBN 978-81-313-0352-8.
  5. Ernst, Waltraud; Pati, Biswamoy (18 October 2007). India's Princely States: People, Princes and Colonialism. Routledge. p. 89. ISBN 978-1-134-11988-2. As highlighted above, most of the chiefs, zamindars, privileged tenure holders were Kshatriyas/Khandayats - this marked them out as rulers.
  6. Bhola, Sudhira Chandra (1990). British Economic Policy in Orissa. Discovery Publishing House. p. 179. ISBN 978-81-7141-075-0.
  7. Samal, J. K. (1990). Economic History of Orissa, 1866-1912. Mittal Publications. pp. Vii. ISBN 978-81-7099-218-9.
  8. Patnaik, Nihar Ranjan (1997). Economic History of Orissa. Indus Publishing. p. 157. ISBN 978-81-7387-075-0. These estates were generally held by Khandayat militia chiefs who earlier served the Gajapati Kings.
  9. Punjab Journal of Politics. Department of Political Science, Guru Nanak Dev University. 1986. p. 88.
  10. Ghosh, G. K. (2000). Legends of Origin of the Castes and Tribes of Eastern India. Firma KLM. ISBN 978-81-7102-046-1.
  11. Pati, Biswamoy (2003). Identity, Hegemony, Resistance: Towards a Social History of Conversions in Orissa, 1800-2000. Three Essays Collective. ISBN 978-81-88789-04-7.
  12. Mohanty, Bidyut (9 November 2021). A Haunting Tragedy: Gender, Caste and Class in the 1866 Famine of Orissa. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-000-50683-9.
  13. Mohanty, Ramesh P.; Biswal, Durgesh Nandini (2007). Culture, Gender and Gender Discrimination: Caste Hindu and Tribal. Mittal Publications. ISBN 978-81-8324-199-1.
  14. Senapati, Fakir Mohan (1 February 2006). Six Acres And A Third: Chaa Mana Atha Guntha. Penguin Books Limited. ISBN 978-93-5118-251-1.
  15. Waltraud Ernst; Biswamoy Pati, eds. (2007). India's Princely States: People, Princes and Colonialism. Routledge. ISBN 9781134119882.
  16. Ernst, Waltraud; Pati, Biswamoy (18 October 2007). India's Princely States: People, Princes and Colonialism. Routledge. p. 89. ISBN 978-1-134-11988-2.
  17. "SEBC List" (PDF).
  18. "The Hindu".

Further reading
  • Ernst, Waltraud; Pati, Biswamoy, eds. (2007). India's Princely States: People, Princes and Colonialism. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-13411-988-2.
  • Pati, Biswamoy (2001). Situating Social History: Orissa, 1800-1997. Orient Blackswan. ISBN 978-8-12502-007-3.
  • Senapati, Fakir Mohan (2005). Six Acres and a Third: The Classic Nineteenth-century Novel about Colonial India. Mishra, Rabi Shankar (trans.). University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-52022-883-2.
  • Roy, Bhaskar (2004). "Khandayats moving into political gear in Orissa". Times of India.
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