Kanyakubja Brahmin

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Kanyakubja Brahmin
Regions with significant populations
Uttar Pradesh • Madhya Pradesh • West Bengal • Chhattisgarh • Jharkhand • Bihar • Assam • Tripura
Languages
Hindi • Kannauji • Awadhi • Bhojpuri • Bengali [1] • other Indo-Aryan languages
Religion
Hinduism
Related ethnic groups
Saraswat Brahmins • Gauda Brahmins • Maithil Brahmins • Bengali Brahmins • Utkala Brahmins

Kanyakubja Brahmins are an endogamous [2] Brahmin community mainly found in northern India. They are classified as one of the Pancha Gauda Brahmin communities. [3]

Contents

Origins

According to André Wink, the Kanyakubja Brahmins emerged as the highest ranking subcaste of Brahmins and are known to have migrated to and colonized many areas outside their homeland in Kannauj. In the process, they created a hierarchy of subdivisions and exceedingly complex rank differentiations that correlated their ritual purity and standing with their position within the emerging sacred landscape of early medieval India inversely to the distance separating them from their homeland. [4]

The majority of the interviewees assert that the designation of the caste originates from the city of Kannauj, emphasizing that this name signifies a geographical association. The etymology of this caste is solely preserved through genealogies, oral traditions, mythical narratives, and proverbial accounts. [5]

Occupation

Some of the Kanyakubja Brahmins were priests, astronomers, astrologers, or teachers, while others chose the career of soldier. They formed the best fighting element in Awadh next only to Rajputs. [6]

Social status

In Uttar Pradesh, they are considered the highest class of Brahmins. [7]

Notable people

References

  1. ↑ Sengupta, Nitish K. (2001). History of the Bengali-Speaking People. UBS Publishers' Distributors. p. 25. ISBN   81-7476-355-4.
  2. ↑ Suhasini Bhatnagar and Suraksha Agrawal (2016). "Surname Endogamy among the Brahmin of India". Current Sociology. 50 (6): 853–861. doi:10.1177/0011392102050006005. S2CID   145181320.
  3. ↑ Upinder Singh (2008). A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India. Pearson Education India. p. 575. ISBN   9788131711200.
  4. ↑ Wink, André (2020). The Making of the Indo-Islamic World C.700–1800 CE. E.J. Brill. p. 42. ISBN   978-1-108-41774-7.
  5. ↑ Khare, R. S. (1960). "The Kānya-Kubja Brahmins and Their Caste Organization". Southwestern Journal of Anthropology. 16 (3): 348–367. doi:10.1086/soutjanth.16.3.3629037. ISSN   0038-4801.
  6. ↑ Singh, Surya Narayan (2003). The Kingdom of Awadh. Mittal Publications. p. 9. ISBN   978-81-7099-908-9.
  7. ↑ Angela S. Burger (2022). Uttar Pradesh : General Background Opposition in a Dominant Party System A Study of the Jan Sangh, the Praja Socialist Party, and the Socialist Party in Uttar Pradesh, India. University of California Press. p. 27. ISBN   9780520365568.
  8. 1 2 Journal of the Society for Study of State Governments. 1972. p. 131.
  9. ↑ Mehrotra, Arvind Krishna (12 December 2006). Last Bungalow: Writings on Allahabad. Penguin Books Limited. p. 197. ISBN   978-93-5214-094-7.
  10. ↑ Singh, N. K (31 May 1996). "Atal Bihari Vajpayee: A private person with strong dislikes and few close friends". India Today. Retrieved 13 October 2023.


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