Endless efforts have been made to Hinduise Paswans who originally belonged to a tribal community.
Nawal Kishor Kumar
Beyond politics, the Bihar caste survey is a revolutionary document.
The Paswans or Dusadhs – named so because of their headstrong nature – are considered untouchable by the ‘upper’ castes and also treated with antipathy by the Other Backward Classes communities. While they do not have any specific enmity with Yadavs, Koeris and Kurmis, but a certain antagonism exists between these groups and the Paswans.
One can come across members of this caste group working as watchmen, or chowkidars, in areas of Bihar, West Bengal, and Eastern Uttar Pradesh.
Paswans have worked as agricultural labourers. Most of the people of this caste group are landless and lack resources.
Like members of the Pasi caste, they also extract toddy from palm trees. The process involves climbing a palm tree and carefully peeling its shoots until toddy oozes out. A fundamental difference between Pasis and Paswans is that the former primarily depend on palm trees for their livelihood while the latter also work with leather, and are hunters.
British ethnographer and historian Herbert Hope Risley has described Paswans as an agrarian caste in his book The Tribes and Castes of Bengal (1891). Bihar was then a part of the Bengal Presidency and according to Risley, Paswans inhabited the areas of Chhotanagpur.
There is some more information about them in the history recorded by the British. For example, when the British came to India and encountered Siraj ud-Daula, the last independent Nawab of Bengal, they sought help from the members of this caste group. The British transformed their status from being ‘untouchable’ to soldiers who exhibited courage. Something similar had happened in 1818 when the British deployed Mahar caste members as soldiers and won the battle of Bhima-Koregaon against the Peshwas. Prior to this change, Paswan used to be the watchmen of Bhumihars and Brahmins. The British recognised their capabilities and with their help, they defeated the Nawab in the Battle of Plassey in 1757. In the battle, soldiers of the Paswan caste had fought for Robert Clive’s army.
Endless efforts have been made to Hinduise Paswans who originally belonged to a tribal community. One proof is offered by Badri Narayan in his book Documenting Dissent published in 2013. According to Narayan, Paswan are a warrior caste and it is believed that they were once one of the 22 branches of ‘Gehlot’ of Rajasthan. Narayan describes them as those who fought against the Mughals and also claims that after being defeated, they fled to the eastern parts of the country.
However, Narayan does not explain why the Rajput rulers of Rajasthan, who were also defeated by the Mughals, did not flee the region. Does he want to claim that the Rajputs compromised with the Mughals while the Paswans preserved their self-respect?
Subhadra Mitra Channa and John P. Mencher in the book Life as a Dalit: Views from the Bottom on the Caste in India (on page 322-323) have referred to Paswans as Kshatriya. They are probably correct since in the past, ‘Kshatriya’ used to mean ‘regional heroes.’
The folk heroes of Paswan caste have also been Hinduised, like the folk hero, Chauharmal. The story of Chauharmal and Reshma bears resemblance to the famous stories of Heer-Ranjha and Romeo-Juliet. This folk tale is orally recited in the areas of Mokama district of Bihar even today. Another such folk hero, Salhesh, who lived in the northern region of Ganga, is known as a kind ruler. But Pandit Pradeep Jha in his book linked him along with the Paswans to the Mahabharata and described them as the descendants of Dushasan.
Today, the people of Paswan caste group are spread mainly across Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal. In Uttar Pradesh, the caste group has a sizeable population especially in the districts of Banaras, Chandauli, Sonbhadra, Mirzapur, Ghazipur, Ballia, Gorakhpur, Deoria, Siddharthnagar, Basti, Bahraich, Sant Kabir Nagar, Mau, Jaunpur, Lucknow, Azamgarh etc. whereas in Bihar, they mostly live in Araria, Arwal, Aurangabad, Banka, Begusarai, Bhabua, Bhagalpur, Bhojpur, Buxar, Darbhanga, East Champaran, Gaya, Gopalganj, Jamui, Jehanabad, Katihar, Khagaria, Kishanganj, Lakhisarai, Munger, Muzaffarpur, Nalanda, Nawada, Patna, Purnia, Rohtas, Saharsa, Samastipur, Saran, Shekhar, Shikhapura, Sitamarhi, Siwan, Supaul, Vaishali, and West Champaran. In Jharkhand, they mostly reside in Ranchi, Lohardaga, Gumla, Simdega, Palamu, West Singhbhum, Seraikela, Kharsawan, East Singhbhum, Dumka, Jamtara, Sahebganj, Pakur, Godda, Hazaribagh, Chatra, Koderma, Giridih, Dhanbad, Bokaro and Deoghar.
In almost every state, they are included in the Scheduled Castes. They are one of those Scheduled Castes who organised and empowered themselves the most after the implementation of the constitution in the country. In Bihar, the Paswan population is 6,943,000 which is 5.311% of the total population. It is a considerable size for a Dalit caste.
The political influence of this population was such that Bhola Paswan Shastri, a member of this caste, became the chief minister of Bihar. Ram Vilas Paswan is another example.
Courtesy : The Wire
Note: This news piece was originally published in thewire.com and used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes exclusively for Human Righ
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