Ambashtha or Ambastha is a caste or sub-caste or a community of Hindus in India. According to Hindu scriptures, the term Ambastha refers to the offspring of a Brahmin father and a Vaishya mother, whose traditional occupation was the practice of medicine. [1] [2]
The term Ambastha is now used to describe a particular sub-caste within the Chitraguptavanshi Kayastha community, now found mainly in North-Indian region (Bihar and Jharkhand). [3]
In the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata, a warrior tribe named Ambastha has been mentioned. During Alexander's invasion, they had 60000 infantry, 6000 horsemen and 500 chariots. They have been described as inhabitants of northwestern part of Indian subcontinent (near Lahore), and they were conquered by Nakula and paid tribute to Yudisthira. They fought in the Kurukhetra war (initially for the Pandavas but later for Drona). They took to different professions like priesthood, farming and medicine, and are assumed to have migrated to eastern India later on. [3] [4]
The term Ambastha also get mentioned in Hindu text Manusmriti as the offspring of a union between Brahmin male and Vaishya female. [1]
Ridgeon mentions about the myth related to the origin of the four varnas in the Rigveda, [1] and says that in order to explain "the great number of castes, a theory was developed that unions between men and women of different varnas produced offspring of various castes". [1]
Citing the Hindu text Parasara, Leslie mentions that the Ambastha is supposed to treat the Brahmins only, and hence considered as "a clean caste, definitely below the brahman, but certainly well within the twice-born group". [5] This differentiates the Ambasthas from the average Vaidyas, who were considered "unclean" and were denied the status accorded to the Ambastha. [5]
According to Bindeshwari Prasad Sinha the ancient Ambasthas migrated to Bihar and created a sub-division of the greater Kayastha caste of this region. [6] [3]
In the Brihaddharma Purana the Ambashthas and the Baidyas/Vaidyas were considered as the same caste in its list of 36 castes but another text, the Brahma Vaivarta Purana considered them as two separate sub-castes. Bharatmallik (17th century), the author of the Chandraprabha and Bhattitika has introduced himself as both Vaidya and Ambashtha, which indicates both the castes may have been considered as one in early medieval Bengal. [7]
Kshatriya is one of the four varnas of Hindu society and is associated with the warrior aristocracy. The Sanskrit term kṣatriyaḥ is used in the context of later Vedic society wherein members were organised into four classes: brahmin, kshatriya, vaishya, and shudra.
Brahmin is a varna (caste) within Hindu society. The other three varnas are the Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Shudra. The traditional occupation of Brahmins is that of priesthood at Hindu temples or at socio-religious ceremonies, and the performing of rite of passage rituals, such as solemnising a wedding with hymns and prayers.
Shudra or Shoodra is one of the four varnas of the Hindu caste and social system in ancient India. Some sources translate it into English as a caste, or as a social class. Theoretically, Shudras constituted a class like workers.
Vānaprastha literally meaning 'way of the forest' or 'forest road', is the third stage in the 'Chaturasrama' system of Hinduism. It represents the third of the four ashramas (stages) of human life, the other three being Brahmacharya, Grihastha and Sannyasa.
'Varṇa', in the context of Hinduism, refers to a social class within a hierarchical traditional Hindu society. The ideology is epitomized in texts like Manusmriti, which describes and ranks four varnas, and prescribes their occupations, requirements and duties, or Dharma.
Kayastha denotes a cluster of disparate Indian communities broadly categorised by the regions of the Indian subcontinent in which they were traditionally located—the Chitraguptavanshi Kayasthas of North India, the Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhus of Maharashtra, the Bengali Kayasthas of Bengal and Karanas of Odisha. All of them were traditionally considered "writing castes", who had historically served the ruling powers as administrators, ministers and record-keepers.
The Sena dynasty was a Hindu dynasty during the early medieval period on the Indian subcontinent, that ruled from Bengal through the 11th and 12th centuries. The empire at its peak covered much of the north-eastern region of the Indian subcontinent. The rulers of the Sena Dynasty traced their origin to the south Indian region of Karnataka.
Dvija means "twice-born". The concept is premised on the belief that a person is first born physically and at a later date is born for a second time spiritually, usually when he undergoes the rite of passage that initiates him into a school for Vedic studies. The term also refers to members of the three varnas in the traditional Hindu social system, or social classes — the Brahmins, Kshatriyas (warriors), and Vaishyas — whose samskara of the Upanayana initiation was regarded as a second or spiritual birth.
Srivastava, also spelled variously as Shrivastava, Shrivastav or Srivastav, is a common surname found amongst the Chitraguptavanshi Kayastha community of upper caste Hindus particularly in the Hindi-speaking regions of India. The North Indian Kayasthas were powerful components of the upper-bureaucracy and made highly influential urban elites under Hindu kings.
Bhumihar, also locally called Bhuinhar and Babhan, is a Hindu caste mainly found in Bihar, the Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, the Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh, and Nepal.
Kayastha is a hereditary clan of one of the castes of the Hindu community living in India. According to the Puranas, Kayasthas perform administrative functions. Kayastha has the right to assume the Brahmin varna in the varna system.At present Kayastha is mainly in North India, Srivastava, Senuhar, Sinha, Verma, Swaroop, Chitravanshi, Saxena, Ambasht, Nigam, Mathur, Bhatnagar, Labh, Lal, Basu, Shastri, Kulshrestha, Asthana, Bisaria, Karna, Khare, Surjadhwaj. , Vishwas, Sarkar, Basu, Pardeshi, Bose, Dutt, Chakraborty, Shrestha, Prabhu, Thackeray, Advani, Nag, Gupta, Rakshit, Sen, Bakshi, Munshi, Dutta, Deshmukh, Bachchan, Patnaik, Naidu, Som, Pal, Rao , Reddy, Das, Mohanty, Deshpande, Kashyap, Devgan, Ambani, Rai, Valmiki etc. At present, Kayasthas are successfully present in various professional fields along with politics and art. [3] According to the Vedas, the origin of Kayastha is the great creator Lord Brahma. Lord Brahma had created him from the complete bones of his body [Dhyan Yoga] and that is why his name came to be Kaya + Asthi = Kayastha.the Sinduria are a Hindu caste found in North India. They are also known as Kaithal or Sinduria Bania. According to the mandate of Uttar Pradesh government, Kayastha caste comes under general caste, and Senuhar, Srivastava, Lala, Das, Kathabania are sub-castes of Kayastha caste.
Baishya Kapali is a Bengali Hindu agricultural caste found in the Indian state of West Bengal and in Bangladesh. From the 1960s, a section of the Kapali caste embraced 'Baishya Kapali' as their caste name, which remains a matter of dispute to date. The Kapalis have excelled in cultivating jute and the manufacture of gunny bags. Baishya Kapalis or Kapalis are listed as Other Backward Classes in West Bengal.
Kulin Kayastha is a sub-caste of the Bengali Kayastha caste in Bengal region of Indian subcontinent. They are also known as the Kulina Kayasthas.
Baidya or Vaidya is a Bengali Hindu community located in the Bengal region of Indian subcontinent. A caste (jāti) of Ayurvedic physicians, the Baidyas have long had pre-eminence in society alongside Brahmins and Kayasthas. In the colonial era, the Bhadraloks were drawn primarily, but not exclusively, from these three upper castes, who continue to maintain a collective hegemony in West Bengal.
"Daṇḍa" is the Hindu term for punishment. In ancient India, the ruler generally sanctioned punishments but other legal officials could also play a part. Punishments were handed out in response to criminal activity. In the Hindu law tradition, the counterpart to daṇḍa is prāyaścitta. Whereas daṇḍa was primarily sanctioned by the king, prāyaścitta is taken up by a person at his or her own volition. Daṇḍa provides a way for an offender to correct any violations of dharma he or she may have committed. Daṇḍa functions as the ruler's tool to protect the system of life stages and castes. Daṇḍa is part of vyavahāra, which was also a responsibility afforded to the king.
Bengali Kayastha is a Bengali Hindu caste originated from the Bengal region of Indian subcontinent, and is one of the main subgroups of the Kayastha community. The historical caste occupation of Kayasthas throughout India has been that of scribes, administrators, ministers and record-keepers; the Kayasthas in Bengal, along with Brahmins and Baidyas, are regarded among the three traditional higher castes that comprise the "upper layer of Hindu society". During the British Raj, the Bhadraloks of Bengal were drawn primarily, but not exclusively, from these three castes, who continue to maintain a collective hegemony in West Bengal.
Karan Kayastha is a community of Kayasthas that inhabit Orissa and the Mithila region, a region now divided between India and Nepal.
Ambattar is a Tamil caste found in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and northeastern part of Sri Lanka. Their traditional occupations are physicians, midwives and barbers. Leslie in his comparative study of Asian medical systems explains that Vaidya title is adopted by members of Ambathans in Tamil Nadu, only some of them practice medicines and are more highly esteemed than the others who are barbers.
Chitraguptavanshi Kayastha, also referred to as North-Indian Kayastha, is a subgroup of Hindus of the Kayastha community that are mainly concentrated in the Hindi Belt of North India.
Riddles in Hinduism is an English language book by the Indian social reformer and political leader B. R. Ambedkar, aimed at enlightening the Hindus, and challenging the sanatan view of Hindu civilization circulated by "European scholars and Brahmanic theology". Ambedkar quotes various Hindu texts to criticize the "Brahmanic theology" of Hinduism. He discusses a variety of topics, including the contents, the authority, and the origin of the Hindu texts such as the Vedas; the absurdities, the contradictions, and the changing nature of the Hindu beliefs; and the discriminatory varna and the caste system, among other topics. The title of the book refers to questions ("riddles") that Ambedkar asks at the end of each chapter, encouraging the reader to think for themselves.
But Bihar was not the original homeland of the Ambashthas. The Ambashthas were a famous tribe from Western Punjab and have been mentioned in the Mahabharata.