Koeri
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 the 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.
Bihar's land reform drive of 1950s benefitted the groups like Koeris, and they were able to consolidate their landholdings at the cost of big landlords, whose possession witnessed a liquidation. It is argued that these reforms weren't percolated down to the most vulnerable groups in agrarian society, the Scheduled Castes, but the traditional agrarian relations based on caste did witness some changes. In the backdrop of this change many new landlords of post reform period hailed from groups like Koeris. In post-independence India, Koeris have been classified as Upper Backwards by virtue of being part of the group of four of the OBC communities in Bihar, who acquired land overtime, adopted improved agricultural technology and attained political power to become a class of rising Kulaks in the agricultural society of India. In some of the districts of Bihar, they have also participated in the Naxalite–Maoist insurgency against the feudal order. In parts of northern India, they, besides Yadavs, Jats and Kurmis, are considered as largest politically organised peasant community.
The Koeris are found in Saran district and are also distributed more heterogeneously across Munger, Banka, Khagaria, Samastipur, East Champaran, West Champaran and Bhojpur district. Outside India, the Koeris are distributed among the Bihari diaspora in Mauritius where they were taken as indentured labourers. They also have a significant population residing in Nepal.
In 1977, the government of Bihar introduced an affirmative action of quota in government jobs and universities which has benefitted the backward castes like the Koeris. They are classified as a “Backward caste” or “Other Backwards Caste” under the Indian government's system of positive discrimination.
Sanskritisation
Haruka Yanagisawa, Professor Emeritus of the University of Tokyo mentions in his work that Koeris along with Yadav and Kurmis were classified as upper-middle caste, who were known for their sturdy and hardy nature. Koeris have traditionally been classified as a “shudra“ caste and today Koeris have attempted Sanskritisation—the attempt by traditionally middle and low castes to rise up the social ladder, often by tracing their origins to mythical characters or following the lifestyle of higher varna, such as following vegetarianism, secluding women, or wearing Janeu, the sacred thread. The Sanskritising trend in castes of northern India, including that of the Koeris, was inspired by the vaishnavite tradition, as attested by their bid to seek association with avatars of Vishnu. Author William Pinch wrote:Kushwaha Kshatriya Mahasabha, the caste association of Koeris, held its first session in 1922.
Some Kushwaha reformers like Ganga Prasad Gupta in Banaras argued the Koeris descended from Kusha and that they served Raja Jayachandra in their military capacity during the period of Muslim consolidation under Shuhabuddin Ghuri. He argued further that after defeat, the fear of persecution at the hands of Muslims caused the Kusvaha Kshatriya to flee into the forest in disarray and discard their sacred threads, so as not to appear as erstwhile defenders of Hinduism. The British ethnographer Herbert Hope Risley recorded various Koeri origin myths in the 1890s. According to one of them, Shiva and Parvati created Koeri and Kachhi to take care of vegetables and their flower gardens in Banaras. Writing eighty years later, Francis Buchanan-Hamilton records that Koeris of Bihar were followers of Dashanami Sampradaya while those of Gorakhpur and Ayodhya looked towards Ramanandi saints for spiritual guidance.
According to Christophe Jaffrelot, the caste associations were formed with the basic objective of unifying individual castes. The All India Kushwaha Kshatriya Mahasabha was formed to bring the horticulturist and market gardener communities like the Koeri, the Kachhi and the Murao under one umbrella. The Koeris also attempted to forge a caste coalition called Raghav Samaj, backed by kurmis which was named after one of Rama's names. This was done to justify the communities' claims of descent from Lava and Kusha, respectively. In 1928, the Mahasabha also petitioned the Simon Commission on behalf of various subcastes of the Koeri community to seek recognition as Kshatriya.
The terminology Lav-Kush for the Koeri-Kurmi community became more important in politics than in culture; in Bihar, it came to represent the political solidarity of the Koeri and Kurmi castes.
In context of the communal riots related to cow protectionism, some writers are also of the opinion that low castes groups like Koeri, Ahirs also took to cow protection for asserting higher social status since cow already had symbolic importance in Hinduism. This particular view of cow protection was different from the UP's urban elites.
Economy
The community was at the heart of the Indian opium trade, which had its main base in Bihar. For many years the British East India Company via an agency in Patna regulated and exploited it. Carl Trocki believes that. "Opium cultivators were not free agents" and describes the coercion and financial arrangements that were involved to achieve production, which included restricting land to that product even when the people needed grain because of famine. Although profitable for the company, it was often not so for the peasant producer, and, "Only one particular caste, the Koeris, managed to carry on the cultivation with some degree of efficiency. They were able to do this because they could employ their wives and children to help out with the tasks of opium production."Other groups involved in opium production had to hire labour, but the Koeris cut costs by utilising that available within their own family. Describing the industrious nature of the Koeri people, Susan Bayly wrote:
Colonial ethnographers like Dr. Hunter identified Koiris and Oudhia Kurmis as most respectable of all cultivating castes in some districts of Bihar.
In 1877, there was an attempt by colonial Government of Bengal to prepare an account of Indian society and it culminated into the process of all india social classification of various castes and tribes beginning with the first census of 1871. In 1901, Herbert Hope Risley applied anthropometrical methods to develop a racial taxonomy of Indian society leading to a problematic attempt to classify people of India. The Koeris were classified as "agricultural caste" along with the Kurmis. An official report of 1941 described them as being the "most advanced" cultivators in Bihar and said, "Simple in habits, thrifty to a degree and a master in the art of market-gardening, the Koeri is amongst the best of the tillers of the soil to be found anywhere in India." During the colonial period, in the provinces such as Bengal, although majority of rural population was having a living from the agriculture, only a few of them deserved classification as "agriculturists". The Koeris along with the Kachhis and the Kurmis were not only the major "agricultural caste", but were also reputed as most skilled cultivators. As per the description of William Crooke of the contemporary agrarian society, the Koeris were 'quiet, industrious and well-behaved people'.
In the early 19th century in the Gaya district, Koeris were recorded by Francis Buchanan as a community of "ploughing tribes" consisting primarily of poor and middle peasants. It was however noted that in his survey, Buchanan had neglected an upper crust among them, which had accumulated and hoarded cash and had emerged as moneylenders forwarding Kamiauti advances to acquire dependent labour. Oral testimonies from the colonial period indicates that by the end of 19th century, Koeris in the Gaya district included rich peasants, who had acquired material wealth by improving land relation and extending market relations. This enabled them to forward advances to the dependent labourers in order to bring them under debt bondage and Kamia-Malik relationship. According to author Bindeswar Ram, who studied rural credit market of 1880s in region such as Bengal and Bihar, Koeris worked as Mahajan or moneylenders alongside Bania and Sonar caste in rural areas. Ram mentions that these social groups acted both as prosperous peasant proprietors as well as rural credit market agent by forwarding credit to tenants. By 1885, when the price of land surged, they started increasing their landholdings through purchase. There also witnessed increased transfer of the land of tenants by these social groups, when they mortgaged their land for credit. Ram also mentioned that after 1885, due to increase in registration of land under law and growing prices of land, the bargaining power of these groups, acting as moneylenders increased tremendously.
Malabika Chakrabarti also mentions that better-off peasants of Koeri caste in region of South Bihar supplemented their income from cultivation by working as Mahajan or moneylenders. She also notes that they also involved the local Bhuiya population in bonded labour system by forwarding Kamiauti advances to them. These Koeri Mahajans, according to Chakraborty, were most stringent in terms of their advances to Bhuiya.
In post independence India, Koeris have been classified as upper strata of Backward Castes by virtue of being part of the group of four of the OBC communities in Bihar, who acquired land overtime, adopted improved agricultural technology and attained political power to become a class of rising Kulaks in the agricultural society of India. The diversification in occupation of the Koeri caste in post independence India is shown by studies in select villages of North Bihar. In his paper, called Land and caste relation, Awanish Kumar's study of select villages of West Champaran and Samastipur district of North Bihar revealed that in some of these villages, Koeri and Yadav caste have become dominant over the time, leaving behind old elite groups, such as Bhumihars. Kumar's study found that both these caste compete for political power in these zones and a few Koeri families, who are economically sound, also own the local Primary Agricultural Credit Societies and Public Distribution System. However, intra-caste differentiation in Koeris was also high, as not all Koeri households in villages under study shared the prosperity attained by some of their clan members. The study also presented a differentiated pattern of control over land and resources, as, in some quarters, caste like Koeri and Yadav were dominant, while in others, Bhumihar caste still had control over significant amount of cultivable land.