Sadgop

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The Sadgop sub-caste is a Bengali Hindu Yadav caste,[1] found in West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand and parts of Bihar state in India.[2] Traditionally they are engaged in dairy-farming and cultivation.[3][4] However, historically Sadgop kings had ruled some parts of Bengal such as Gopbhum, Narajole,[5] Narayangarh and Balarampur.[6] They are one of the fourteen castes belonging to 'Nabasakh' group.[7] They are recognized as a General caste.[8]

Origin of the Caste

The Sadgops are an offshoot of the pastoral Gop or Goala caste who broke away from the main jati before the middle of the sixteenth century. Their switch to agriculture was only 'the starting point of rise to eminence'. Through extending their activities to trade, they established control over the land they had put under the plough. Thus, leaders from the group acquired political power at the local level. Later on the group also ventured into trade and worked as officials of the state and the big jamindars. Members of the new group also made achievements in the fields of religion, and from dissident Gop families came popular saints like Syamananda and the founder of the influential Kartabhaja sect, Aulchand. In the process, they changed their jati affiliation by adding sad (sat, 'clean') to their name, thus becoming Sadgops.[9][10][11][12]

The Sadgops are generally recognized as a purified section of the Goala caste, who are associated, like Krishna from whom they trace descent, with tending cattle and providing milk and milk products. They attained their higher position by adopting agriculture as their caste-related occupation.[13]

History and varna

Sadgops have generally been considered as clean shudras (sat-shudras) in the caste structure of Bengal.[14][15] Like south India social groups of east India usually divided in two grades - Brahmins and Shudras.[16] In the 1910s, Sadgops along with Ahirs, Gops, Gopals, and Goalas began claiming kshatriya status based on claimed descent from the legendary king Yadu. The Yadav-kshatriya movement attracted communities in the Gangetic plain who were associated with a combination of cultivation, cattle-herding, and dairy farming.[17] According to some, Sadgops believe they have descended from Lord Krishna.[18]

Present circumstances

The Sadgop consist of a number of sub-divisions. They are an endogamous group and practice gotra exogamy. The Sadgop are mainly a landholding community, but many Sadgop have settled in Kolkata and other cities of West Bengal. Their own community organization is named as Bangiya Sadgop Samiti.[2]

References

  1. ^ "Global Prayer Digest". Global Prayer Digest. 2020-04-24. Retrieved 2021-02-09.
  2. ^ a b People of India Bihar Volume XVI Part Two edited by S Gopal & Hetukar Jha pages 827 to 831 Seagull Books
  3. ^ Man in Biosphere: A Case Study of Similipal Biosphere Reserve. Anthropological Survey of India. 2013. ISBN 978-81-212-1163-5.
  4. ^ Suraj Bandyopadhyay; A R. Rao; Bikas Kumar Sinha (2011). Models for Social Networks With Statistical Applications. SAGE. pp. 24–. ISBN 978-1-4129-4168-6.
  5. ^ John R. McLane (25 July 2002). Land and Local Kingship in Eighteenth-Century Bengal. Cambridge University Press. pp. 157–. ISBN 978-0-521-52654-8.
  6. ^ Sekhar Bandyopadhyay (1 July 2004). Caste, Culture and Hegemony: Social Dominance in Colonial Bengal. SAGE Publications. pp. 51–. ISBN 978-81-321-0407-0.
  7. ^ Sanyal, Hitesranjan (1981). Social Mobility in Bengal. Papyrus. p. 115.
  8. ^ Pfeffer, Georg; Behera, Deepak Kumar (1997). Contemporary Society: Developmental issues, transition, and change. Concept Publishing Company. ISBN 978-81-7022-642-0.
  9. ^ Sanyal, Hitesranjan (1981). Social Mobility in Bengal. Papyrus.
  10. ^ Heierstad, Geir (2017-01-02). Caste, Entrepreneurship and the Illusions of Tradition: Branding the Potters of Kolkata. Anthem Press. ISBN 978-1-78308-518-7.
  11. ^ Commissioner, India Census (1902). Census of India, 1911. Superintendent Government Prtg.
  12. ^ Singh, Swaran (1994). Bathudi and Sounti Tribes: A Bio-anthropological Profile. Gyan Publishing House. ISBN 978-81-212-0466-8.
  13. ^ Davis, Marvin G. (1983-03-10). Rank and Rivalry: The Politics of Inequality in Rural West Bengal. CUP Archive. ISBN 978-0-521-24657-6.
  14. ^ Sanyal, Hitesranjan (1971). "Continuities of Social Mobility in Traditional and Modern Society in India: Two Case Studies of Caste Mobility in Bengal". The Journal of Asian Studies. 30 (2): 315–339. doi:10.2307/2942917. ISSN 1752-0401. JSTOR 2942917. S2CID 163001574.
  15. ^ Mitra, A. (1953). The Tribes and Castes of West Bengal (Report). Census 1951. Land and Land Revenue Department, Government of West Bengal. p. 21.
  16. ^ SIRCAR, D. C. (1959). STUDIES IN THE SOCIETY AND ADMINISTRATION OF ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL INDIA VOL. 1. FIRMA K. L. MUKHOPADHYAY, CALCUTTA. p. 115.
  17. ^ William R. Pinch (18 June 1996). Peasants and Monks in British India. University of California Press. p. 91. ISBN 978-0-520-91630-2. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
  18. ^ Man in Biosphere: A Case Study of Similipal Biosphere Reserve. Anthropological Survey of India. 2013. ISBN 978-81-212-1163-5.
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