Kurmi is traditionally a non-elite tiller caste in the lower Gangetic plain of India, especially southern regions of Awadh, eastern Uttar Pradesh and parts of Bihar and Jharkhand. The Kurmis came to be known for their exceptional work ethic, superior tillage and manuring, and gender-neutral culture, bringing praise from Mughal and British administrators alike.
Patna, the capital of Bihar state, India, is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world and the history of Patna spans at least three millennia. Patna has the distinction of being associated with the two most ancient religions of the world, namely, Buddhism and Jainism. The ancient city of Pataliputra was the capital of the Mauryan, Shunga, and Gupta Empires.
Kushwaha is a community of the Indo-Gangetic Plain that has traditionally been involved in agriculture, including beekeeping. The term has been used to represent different sub-castes of the Kachhis, Kachhvahas, Koeris and Muraos. The Kushwaha had worshipped Shiva and Shakta, but beginning in the 20th century, they claim descent from the Suryavansh (Solar) dynasty via Kusha, one of the twin sons of Rama and Sita. At present, it is a broad community formed by coming together of several caste groups with similar occupational backgrounds and socio-economic status, who, over the time, started inter-marrying among themselves and created all India caste network for caste solidarity. The communities which merged into this caste cluster includes Kachhi, Kachhwaha, Kushwaha, Mali, Marrar, Saini, Sonkar, Murai, Shakya, Maurya, Koeri and Panara.
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.
The politics of Bihar, a state in east India, is dominated by regional political parties. As of 2021, the main political groups are Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Janata Dal (United) (JDU), Indian National Congress (INC), Left Front, Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM). There are also smaller regional parties: Samata Party, Rashtriya Jan Jan Party, Rashtriya Lok Janata Dal, Jan Adhikar Party and Vikassheel Insaan Party, Lok Janshakti Party and Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party. As of 2024, Bihar is currently ruled by NDA. This is after JDU broke away from a Mahagatbandhan coalition and returned to NDA fold.
Legislative Assembly elections were held in February 2000, to elect the 324 members of the Bihar Legislative Assembly. The Rashtriya Janata Dal won the most seats, but a short-lived government was formed by an alliance that included the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Samata Party. The voter turnout in 2000 assembly polls was 62.6%.
The Koeri, also referred to as Kushwaha and more recently self-described as Maurya in several parts of northern India are an Indian non-elite caste, found largely in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, whose traditional occupation was agriculture. According to Arvind Narayan Das they were horticulturists rather than agriculturists. They are also recorded as performing the work of Mahajan in credit market of rural parts of Bihar and Bengal in 1880s. Koeris have attempted Sanskritisation— as part of social resurgence. During the British rule in India, Koeris were described as "agriculturalists" along with Kurmis and other cultivating castes. They are described as a dominant caste in various opinions.
The Paswan, also known as Dusadh, are a Dalit community from eastern India. They are found mainly in the states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand. The Urdu word Paswan means bodyguard or "one who defends". The origin of the word, per the belief of the community, lies in their participation in the battle against Siraj-ud-daulah, the Nawab of Bengal at the behest of British East India Company, after which they were rewarded with the post of Chowkidars and lathi wielding tax collector for the Zamindars. They follow certain rituals such as walking on fire to assert their valour.
Rajputs in Bihar are members of the Rajput community living in the eastern Indian state of Bihar. They traditionally formed part of the feudal elite in Bihari society. Rajputs were pressed with the Zamindari abolition and Bhoodan movement in post-independence India; along with other Forward Castes, they lost their significant position in Bihar's agrarian society, leading to the rise of Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
The Kuer Sena was a caste-based private army operating in the Indian state of Bihar during the 1970s and 1980s. The majority of its members were young men from the Rajputs, and the militia was named after the 19th century anti-colonial revolutionary, Kunwar Singh, who is considered be a community hero by the Rajputs of Bihar.
The Zamindars of Bihar were the autonomous and semi-autonomous rulers and administrators of the subah of Bihar during Mughal rule and later during British rule. They formed the landed aristocracy that lasted until Indian independence in 1947. The zamindars of Bihar were numerous and could be divided into small, medium and large depending on how much land they controlled. Within Bihar, the zamindars had both economic and military power. Each zamindari would have their own standing army which was typically composed of their own clansmen.
The Caste based violence in Bihar has a history of conflict between the Forward Castes, who controlled vast swathes of land, and the Lower Castes who were mostly poor. The Zamindari abolition and communist upsurge in Bihar gave rise to a tug of war between upper and the lower castes. The tussle between the Marxists and the landed proprietors was not divided along caste lines as some of the middle peasant castes were also proprietors. The decade of 1960s witnessed communist upsurge in the Bhojpur region of Bihar led by Jagdish Mahto under the banner of Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation, while the 1990s saw dreaded caste wars. The belligerents were Dalits and poor peasantry of middle peasant castes who were fighting for their rights with the supporters of the status-quo, i.e., upper castes as well as the affluent section of the middle peasant castes. Its first mass leader was Jagdish Mahto, a Koeri teacher who had read Ambedkar before he discovered Marx, and started a paper in the town of Arrah called Harijanistan("dalit land"). Religious sentiments also became the cause of bitter strife. The violence that happened in Bhagalpur is a precedent.
The Lorik Sena was a caste-based private army of Yadav (Ahir) Community with its headquarters in Jaitipur village of the Nalanda district of Bihar. The majority of its members hailed from the Yadav community, who were organised by its founder Baiju Yadav, to launch an armed struggle against Maoists and other communities such as Bhumihars, Rajputs. It was another group after Samajwadi Shoshit Sena which recruited primarily from the Ahir-Yadav community. According to local folktales, Lorik was a legendary hero of the Yadav raiyyats (peasants) who waged a struggle against the tyranny of repressive kings and the feudal lords and held the Yadav dignity intact. These Senas were based primarily on the name of such community figures, either realistic or mythical who were venerated by whole community. While the Rajputs chose the 19th century figure, King Kunwar Singh's name for their private army, the Yadav community found their mythical hero as suitable for the same.
The Backward Caste movement in Bihar can be traced back to the formation of Triveni Sangh, a caste coalition and political party, in the 1930s, which was revived after the introduction of land reforms in the 1950s aimed at removing intermediaries from agrarian society. But, this drive could not succeed in bringing long-lasting changes in the condition of lower strata of society, as they lacked political representation and economic power. The period since land reform included caste conflicts and the class struggle which eventually led to a transfer of absolute political power in the hands of Backward Castes, who had been kept away from it earlier. The class struggle succeeded the struggle of some of the Upper Backward Castes against the sacerdotal authorities for improvement in their ritual status. By the 1990s, the conflict between upper-castes and the lower-castes continued, with nearly 17 massacres taking place during this time period. But with the advent of politics of social justice and the Janata Dal in the 1990s, the lower caste became more active politically.
The Upper Backward Caste is a term used to describe the middle castes in Bihar, whose social and ritual status was not very low and which have traditionally been involved in the agricultural and animal husbandry related activities in the past. They have also been involved in low scale trade to some extent. The Koeri, Kurmi, Yadav, and Bania are categorised as the upper-backwards amongst the Other Backward Class group; while the various other caste groups which constitute the OBC, a group comprising 51% of the population of state of Bihar, have been classified as lower backwards. The upper-backwards, also called upper OBC, represent approximately 20.3% of the population of Bihar. These agricultural caste were the biggest beneficiaries of the land reform drive which was undertaken in the 1950s in the state and they strengthened their economic position by gaining a significant portion of excess land under the ceiling laws, which prohibited the ownership of land above a certain ceiling.
The Luv-Kush equation is a political term used in the context of the politics of Bihar, to denote the alliance of the agricultural Kurmi and the Koeri caste, which was assumed to be approximately 15% of the state's population The alliance of these two caste groups has remained the support base of Nitish Kumar, as against the MY equation of Lalu Prasad Yadav, which constitutes Muslims and the Yadavs. Caste consciousness and the quest for political representation largely drive the politics of Bihar. The political alliance of the Koeri and the Kurmi castes, termed the "Luv-Kush equation" was formed when a massive Kurmi Chetna Rally was organised by members of the Kurmi community in 1994 against the alleged casteist politics of Lalu Yadav, who was blamed by contemporary community leaders for promoting Yadavs in politics and administration.
A dominant caste is one which preponderates numerically over other castes and also wields preponderant economic and political power. A large and powerful caste group can be more easily dominant if its position in the local caste hierarchy is not too low. The concept of dominant caste was introduced in 1959 by sociologist M. N. Srinivas.
Yadavs in Bihar refers to the people of Yadav community of the Indian state of Bihar. They are also known as Ahir, Gope, etc. The Yadavs form nearly 14.26 % of the state's population and are included in the Other Backward Class category in the Bihar state of India.
Dalits in Bihar are a social group composed of many Scheduled Castes, placed at the bottom of the "caste-based social order". The Dalits also include some of the erstwhile untouchable castes, who suffered various forms of oppression in the feudal-agrarian society of Bihar. Some of the Dalit castes have specific cultural practices, which differ from those of orthodox Hinduism.
Yadunandan Prasad Mehta also called Swami Sahastranan Saraswati was an Indian monk, social reformer and chief theoretician of Triveni Sangh movement, based in Shahabad district of Bihar. Mehta worked for plight of migrant labourers in Pegu and founded the first organisation for the Backward Castes of Bihar, which worked for ending begar and voiced support for the political rights of the Backwards. He was also the compiler of literature of Sangh— which served as its mouthpiece and manifesto. Some of the notable works of Mehta included; Aage badhne ke rahein, Gaon Ka Sona and Aage badho. He was also the editor of Triveni Sangh's magazine called Shoshit Pukar.
