Bengali Brahmins
A Bengali Brahmin priest
ReligionsHinduism
LanguagesBengali
Populated statesWest Bengal, India
Related groupsMaithil Brahmin, Utkala Brahmin, Kanyakubja Brahmin

Bengali Brahmins are the community of Hindu Brahmins, who traditionally reside in the Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent, currently comprising the Indian state of West Bengal and the country of Bangladesh.

The Bengali Brahmins, along with Baidyas and Kayasthas, are regarded among the three traditional higher castes of Bengal.[1] In the colonial era, the Bhadraloks of Bengal were primarily, but not exclusively, drawn from these three castes, who continue to maintain a collective hegemony in West Bengal.[2][3][4]

History

For a long period, Bengal was not part of Vedic culture.[5] However, North Bengal was a part of the Aryan acculturation during the Mauryan era, as depicted in the Mahasthan inscription.[6][7] By the end of the 3rd century C.E., the region came under the rule of the Magadha Empire under Samudragupta and remained within this empire until the mid-6th century C.E. According to contemporary historians, Brahmanism was found to have gained prominence in Bengal as early as the fourth century C.E. The later Gupta kings of Magadha promoted the growth of Brahmanism in the region while also showing support for Jainism and Buddhism.[8] Multiple land-grants to Brahmins have been observed since the Gupta Era.[9] The Dhanaidaha copper-plate inscription, dated to 433 C.E., is the earliest of them and records a grantee Brahmin named Varahasvamin [9] The Vaigram edict (447–48) mentions land grants to Brahmans in the Pundravardhana region. The Damodarpur copper inscriptions, discovered in the Dinajpur area of Bengal's Rajshahi division, describe a century of the Gupta period, from 443–44 C.E. to 533–34 C.E., also revealing the presence of the Brahmanical group in Bengal; Sircar, however, finds this interpretation doubtful.[7][10] During the Gupta period, many Brahmins arrived in Bengal from various parts of India.[11] Archaeologists found three copper plate grants in the district of Faridpur in East Bengal, with the first two attributed to Dharmaditya and the last to Gopacandra. Among the recipients of these grants were Brahmins, implying the existence of Brahmins at that time.[10] The 7th-century Nidhanpur copperplate inscription mentions that a marshy land tract adjacent to an existing settlement was given to more than 208 Vaidika Brahmins (Brahmins versed in the Vedas) belonging to 56 gotras and different Vedic schools.[12] After the Hun invasion in the fifth century, Bengal had been ruled by several independent rulers. Most of these independent kings between the middle of the sixth and seventh centuries were Hindu Brahmanists. Shashanka, a king of Gauda at the beginning of the seventh century, notably stood out as being opposed to Buddhism. Evidence indicates Brahmanism's continuous growth in Bengal during the reign of these autonomous kings.[8] During Harshavardhan's reign, Huyen-tsang visited Bengal. His records suggest that certain Bengali Brahmins had become monarchs. The ruler of Samatata, whose reign covered the first part of the 7th century C.E., was a Brahmin.[6] Several Brahmins gradually came from central India beginning in the eighth century, and epigraphs of the time provide numerous examples of Brahmin families coming from various parts of India to settle in Bengal. According to Roy, the migrant Brahmins might mingle with the existing Brahmins of Bengal. The epigraphic evidence indicates that although the Palas were a great patron of Buddhism, they supported and endowed Brahmins too. The land grants made by Palas to Brahmins were carried out with orthodox Hindu rituals as described in the inscriptions of Palas. This evidence shows that even in the period of the Pala dynasty, Brahminic practices prevailed.[8][10] The Varman kings were the rulers of eastern Bengal from 1050 to 1150 C.E., while the Sena kings gained influence in Gauda. Eventually, the Senas became the rulers of all of Bengal. The Sena and Varman kings were followers of Brahmanism and were considered orthodox in their beliefs. Historians believe that these rulers introduced certain aspects of Brahmanism to Bengal, which had a more adaptable society compared to the southern and western parts of India where Brahmanism was more strict.[8]

It is traditionally believed that much later, in the 11th century CE, after the decline of the Pala dynasty, a Hindu king, Adisura brought in five Brahmins from Kanauj, his purpose being to provide education for the Brahmins already in the area whom he thought to be ignorant, and revive traditional orthodox Brahminical Hinduism. As per tradition, these five immigrant Brahmins and their descendants went on to become the Kulin Brahmins.[13] According to Sengupta, multiple accounts of this legend exist, and historians generally consider this to be nothing more than myth or folklore lacking historical authenticity.[14] Identical stories of migration of Orissan Brahmins exist under the legendary king of Yayati Kesari.[15] According to Sayantani Pal, D.C Sircar opines that, the desideration of Bengali Brahmins to gain more prestige by connecting themselves with the Brahmins from the west, 'could have contributed' to the establishment of the system of 'kulinism'.[16]

Referring to the linkages between class and caste in Bengal, Bandyopadhyay mentions that the Brahmins, along with the other two upper castes, refrained from physical labour but controlled land, and as such represented "the three traditional higher castes of Bengal".[1]

Clans

Apart from the common classification as Kulina, Srotriya and Vamsaja, Bengali Brahmins are divided into the following clans or divisions:[17]

Kulin Brahmin

Kulin Brahmins trace their ancestry to five families of Kanyakubja Brahmins who migrated to Bengal.[14][18] In the 11th century CE, after the decline of the Pala dynasty, a Hindu king, Adi Sura, brought in five Brahmins and their five attendants from Kannauj, his purpose being to provide education for the Brahmins already in the area, whom he thought to be ignorant, and to revive traditional orthodox Brahminical Hinduism.[14] These Vedic Brahmins were supposed to have nine gunas (favoured attributes), among which was insistence on same-rank marriages.[19] Multiple accounts of this legend exist; historians generally consider it to be nothing more than myth or folklore, lacking historical authenticity.[14] The tradition continues by saying that these incomers settled and each became the founder of a clan.[20]

The five Brahmin clans, which later became known as Mukherjees, Chatterjees, Banerjees, Gangulys and Bhattacharjees, were each designated as Kulina ("superior") in order to differentiate them from the more established local Brahmins.[20]

Post Partition of India

When the British left India in 1947, carving out separate nations, many Brahmins, whose original homes were in the newly created Islamic Republic of Pakistan, migrated en masse to be within the borders of the newly defined Republic of India, and continued to migrate for several decades thereafter to escape Islamist persecution.[21][22]

Notable people

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b Bandyopadhyay, Sekhar (2004). Caste, Culture, and Hegemony: Social Dominance in Colonial Bengal. Sage Publications. p. 20. ISBN 81-7829-316-1.
  2. ^ Bandyopadhyay, Sekhar (2004). Caste, Culture, and Hegemony: Social Dominance in Colonial Bengal. Sage Publications. p. 25. ISBN 978-0-761-99849-5.
  3. ^ Chakrabarti, Sumit (2017). "Space of Deprivation: The 19th Century Bengali Kerani in the Bhadrolok Milieu of Calcutta". Asian Journal of Social Science. 45 (1/2): 56. doi:10.1163/15685314-04501003. ISSN 1568-4849. JSTOR 44508277.
  4. ^ Ghosh, Parimal (2016). What Happened to the Bhadralok?. Delhi: Primus Books. ISBN 9789384082994.
  5. ^ McDaniel, June (5 August 2004). Offering Flowers, Feeding Skulls: Popular Goddess Worship in West Bengal. Oxford University Press. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-19-534713-5.
  6. ^ a b Niyogi, Puspa (1967). Brahmanic Settlements in Different Subdivisions of Ancient Bengal. Indian Studies: Past & Present. pp. 19, 37–38.
  7. ^ a b SIRCAR, D. C. (1959). STUDIES IN THE SOCIETY AND ADMINISTRATION OF ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL INDIA VOL. 1. FIRMA K. L. MUKHOPADHYAY, CALCUTTA. pp. 1–4, 18–19.
  8. ^ a b c d Sarma, Jyotirmoyee (1980). Caste Dynamics Among the Bengali Hindus. Firma KLM. pp. 6–11. ISBN 978-0-8364-0633-7.
  9. ^ a b Griffiths, Arlo (2018). "Four More Gupta-period Copperplate Grants from Bengal". Pratna Samiksha: A Journal of Archaeology. New Series (9): 15–57.
  10. ^ a b c Ray, Niharranjan (1994). History of the Bengali People: Ancient Period. Orient Longman. pp. 170–172, 191. ISBN 978-0-86311-378-9.
  11. ^ Ghosh, Suniti Kumar (2002). The Tragic Partition of Bengal. Indian Academy of Social Sciences. p. 14.
  12. ^ Shin, Jae-Eun (1 January 2018). Region Formed and Imagined: Reconsidering Temporal, Spatial and Social Context of Kāmarūpa, in Lipokmar Dzuvichu and Manjeet Baruah (eds), Modern Practices in North East India: History, Culture, Representation, London and New York: Routledge, 2018, pp. 23–55.
  13. ^ Hopkins, Thomas J. (1989). "The Social and Religious Background for Transmission of Gaudiya Vaisnavism to the West". In Bromley, David G.; Shinn, Larry D. (eds.). Krishna consciousness in the West. Bucknell University Press. pp. 35–36. ISBN 978-0-8387-5144-2. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
  14. ^ a b c d Sengupta, Nitish K. (2001). History of the Bengali-Speaking People. UBS Publishers' Distributors. p. 25. ISBN 81-7476-355-4.
  15. ^ Witzel 1993, p. 267.
  16. ^ Pal, Sayantani (2016), "Sena Empire", The Encyclopedia of Empire, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, pp. 1–2, doi:10.1002/9781118455074.wbeoe043, ISBN 978-1-118-45507-4, retrieved 5 February 2022
  17. ^ Saha, Sanghamitra (1998). A Handbook of West Bengal, Volume 1. International School of Dravidian Linguistics. pp. 53–54. ISBN 81-8569-224-6.
  18. ^ Khandawalla, Pradip N (2014). Creative Society: Prospects for India. Wide Canvas. p. 117. ISBN 9789325976689.
  19. ^ "Reflections on Kulin Polygamy, p2" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 September 2016. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
  20. ^ a b Hopkins, Thomas J. (1989). "The Social and Religious Background for Transmission of Gaudiya Vaisnavism to the West". In Bromley, David G.; Shinn, Larry D. (eds.). Krishna consciousness in the West. Bucknell University Press. pp. 35–36. ISBN 978-0-8387-5144-2. Archived from the original on 19 July 2023. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
  21. ^ "Pakistan: The Ravaging of Golden Bengal". Time. 2 August 1971.
  22. ^ Das, S. (1990). Communal Violence in Twentieth Century Colonial Bengal: An Analytical Framework. Social Scientist, 18(6/7), 21. doi:10.2307/3517477
  23. ^ Bhattacharya, "Raybaghini o Bhurishrestha Rajkahini"
  24. ^ Bhattacharya, "Raybaghini o Bhurishrestha Rajkahini"
  25. ^ Dutt, Ajanta (6 July 2016). "Book review 'A Nation in Making': Banerjea's nation-A man and his history". The Asian Age. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
  26. ^ Khan, Fatima (8 April 2019). "Bankim Chandra — the man who wrote Vande Mataram, capturing colonial India's imagination". The Print. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
  27. ^ a b "Kishore Kumar birthday: His favourite songs". India Today. 4 August 2011. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  28. ^ "Protocol to keep President Pranab off Puja customs". Hindustan Times. 11 October 2011. Archived from the original on 31 August 2020. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
  29. ^ Littrup, Lisbeth (28 October 2013). Identity In Asian Literature. Routledge. p. 94. ISBN 978-1-136-10426-8.

References

Further reading

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