Beyond politics, the Bihar caste survey is a revolutionary document.
A public document, the first ever after 1931, allowing for people to stand up and be counted.
We go down to the wire, on what each of the numbers unveiled mean.
Who are the people referred to by percentages in the survey?
Today we look at Kevat (937,861 people).
§
The famous Hindi poet and prose writer Nagarjuna referred to the Kevat caste group as ‘the sons of Varun’. This is a caste group whose lives and livelihood are associated with the river. Their occupation is to row boats and catch fish. Traditionally, the members of this caste are known to exhibit bravery.
In Bihar, Jubba Sahni is a popular heroic figure of this caste group that rebelled against the British and the feudal lords in northern areas of united Bihar.
Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty
However, they are not particularly mentioned in the chronicles of history.
At some places they are called mallah, at other places they are called machhuara, or fishermen. They are also nishads and kevat. The members of this group are present in almost every state including Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Bihar, Odisha, Assam, West Bengal and Tripura. Famous ethnologists, Russell and Hira Lal, wrote in their book Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India (1916) that the Kevats were a mixed caste. They highlighted that this caste group had no relation with the Aryans and are, in fact, original natives.
H.H. Risley had also underlined in his book Tribes and Castes of Bengal (1891) that they had blood ties with the tribals.
But now they are known in different states by different names assigned to them recently. For instance, in Chhattisgarh they are known as Nishad, Jalchhatri and Parker. In Assam, they were earlier known as Halwa Keot, but nowadays members of this caste identify themselves as Kevat. In Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, they are known as Mallah, Kevat, Nishad and Machhuara.
According to the recent caste-based census report released by the Bihar government, the population of the Mallah caste group in Bihar is 3,410,093 (2.36085% of the population) and that of Kevat caste group is 937,861 (0.717%), while Kaivart caste population is 265,943 (0.2034%), in addition to the population of Bind caste group which is 1,285,358 (0.9833%).
If we look at the combined population of all these castes, the total is 5,899,255. Even though the Kevat caste group has a sizeable share in Bihar’s population – which is about 130 million, their political participation is negligible. All these caste groups are included in the extremely backward class, and the reality is that they are marginalised not only in politics but in government jobs too. On the other hand, the Rajputs with population 4,510,733 and Bhumihars with population 3,775,885, both of whom have a much smaller population than the total population of the Kevat caste group, have been decisive in the political arena.
The Kevat caste group are ones who helped Ram cross the Saryu river. But this story cannot be believed because in this version they have been described as devotees of Ram. What relation they had with Ram and why they did not find mention anywhere else in the story is not known.
The members of this caste group have primarily depended on water. Since they did not have rights over land, they used water as the source of their livelihood. However, in many places in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha, they are also involved in agriculture. This is because the rivers are unable to sustain them any longer and they are forced to take up other occupations now. For example, in Bengal and Tripura, they make bamboo baskets and also work as labourers in tea gardens.
However, now the process of Brahminising this caste group, which originally had a tribal culture, is almost complete. Most of the people of this caste do not consider themselves tribal any more. At some places they are Scheduled Castes. In Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, they have been linked to Ram while in Tripura they are associated with the Shaivite tradition. In Assam, they have been described as the followers of Vaishnav saint Shankaradev.
In addition, they have their own festivals and rituals. For instance, Vishahari Puja is a famous festival in Bihar and Chaurasa Devi is worshipped. It is believed that this goddess resides on a boat and saves people from drowning.
Translated from Hindi by Naushin Rehman. Read the Hindi original here.
Read earlier parts of the series on the following communities by clicking on their names: Ghasi | Santrash | Madaria | Koeri/Kushwaha | Chaupal | Nai/Hajjaam | Pasi | Rangrez | Chamar | Gorkan | Jutt | Yadav | Kamar | Chik | Bari and Bauri | Dhuniya | Donwar | Sinduria Baniya | Bhathiyara | Dabgar | Kumhar | Amaat | Dhobi | Paswan.
