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The Hindu community in Bengal was divided into only two varnas: Brahmins and Shudras.Hence, although the Bengali Kayasthas and Baidyas had a high social status along with Brahmins, their ritual status was low, according to Edmund Leach, S. N. Mukherjee, [20] though it seems their ritual status is a subject of dispute as per other historians.
In the process, they became evidence of sociocultural negotiations that transpired in late-medieval Bengal. [c] Brihaddharma Purana (Brh. P.; c. 13th century [d]) was the earliest document to chronicle a hierarchy of castes in Bengal [7] [11] [e] and it became the standard text for popular negotiations of caste status. [14]
Bengali Brahmins are the community of Hindu Brahmins, who traditionally reside in the Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent, currently comprising the Indian state of West Bengal and the country of Bangladesh. The Bengali Brahmins, along with Baidyas and Kayasthas, are regarded among the three traditional higher castes of Bengal. [1]
Kulin Kayastha (Bengali: কুলীন কায়স্থ) is a sub-caste of the Bengali Kayastha caste in Bengal region of Indian subcontinent. They are also known as the Kulina Kayasthas. The Kayasthas are regarded in Bengal, along with the Brahmins and Baidyas, as being the "highest Hindu castes".
No mention of the Pods is found in the Bṛhaddharma Upapuraṇa (c. 13th century [a]), which is the earliest known document to chronicle a hierarchy of castes in Bengal. [4] [b] The Brahma Vaivarta Purana, notable for a very late Bengali recension c. 14/15th century, records "Paundrakas" to be the son of a Vaisya father and Sundini mother but it is unknown if the groups are connected. [5]
[32] [54] [55] In 1946, however, a caste association of Mahishyas had pointed out that they were among the "intermediate and depressed" castes of Bengal being systematically deprived of their legitimate claims and shares in service.They urged the British government to help them by granting electorate separate from that of "caste Hindus" and ...
According to the census in 1881, 12.81 per cent of Bengali Hindus belonged to the three upper castes while the rest belonged to the Shudra and Dalit castes, [10] while a 2020 Deccan Herald publication puts the percentage of the upper castes (Brahmins, Kayasthas and Vaidyas) at 15 to 18 per cent of the Hindu population. [11]