Kurmi

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Kurmi/Kunbi, which is the name of one of the Jātis (castes) of the Hindus, is an ancient name for several castes and sub-castes of people who call themselves as Kurmi Kshatriya it is a kshatriya name similar to ancient Kurus.

1 Kurmi - origins
2 Kurmis in India and Nepal
3 Etymology and usage
4 As political force
5 Famous Kurmi people
- 5.1 Famous Empires and Dynasties
6 External links
7 References

[edit] Kurmi - origins

In 1894 the Kurmis formed their first association in Lucknow to give teeth to their protest against the British decision to cut their numbers in the police force. Realising it was not enough, the Kurmi Sabha of Awadh included the Patidars, Kapus, Vokkaligas, Reddys, Naidus and Marathas of other states in its fold.

[edit] Kurmis in India and Nepal

Kurmis, as also present in the east as well as southern India. They are relatively prosperous and educated, forward thinking, but conscious and rooted to farming and trading also. Etymologically, the words, Kunbi are generally considered a derivative of the word Kurmi. Kurmis constitute around two-to-three percentage of the total population of India.

[edit] Etymology and usage

Basically, it means "I do", "I am able". "Kuru" in Sanskrit means "do".

"yat na kurmi" sadresam priyam... (Valmiki Ramayana, Book 6, Sarga 1). I am unable" to do a pleasant act... "na kurmi' tvam bhasmam (Valmiki Ramayana, Book 5, Sarga 22) "I am making" you into ashes.

[edit] As political force

The word "Kurmi" and why many of the Vedic people would use this term, reflects the advent and reasons for the advent of religions such as Buddhism and Jainism. The "Kurmi" movement as a national movement was started in the northern and eastern regions relatively recently to offset their tiny numbers.

By 500 BC, many of the traditional Kshatriyas throughout India and Nepal no longer were initiated into Vedas. This fact is attested to by Gautam Buddha who himself in Pali texts calls mantras of the Brahmins a secret, but the Dharma is like the sun which shines on everyone. The level of bitterness between kshatriyas and brahmins is shown in the Buddhist Pali canon, Ambatta Sutta, where Buddha himself is insulted by a brahman as being low born due to wrongly perceived insults that the brahmin received from his clan:

Thus did the young Brahman Ambaññha for the first time charge the Sàkyas with being menials.

`Once, Gotama, I had to go to Kapilavatthu on some business or other of Pokkharasàdi's, and went into the Sàkyas' Congress Hall. [26] Now at that time there were a number of Sàkyas, old and young, seated in the hall on grand seats, making merry and joking together, nudging one another with their fingers; [27] and for a truth, methinks, it was I myself that was the subject of their jokes; and not one of them even offered me a seat. That, Gotama, is neither fitting, nor is it seemly, that the Sàkyas, menials as they are, mere menials, should neither venerate, nor value, nor esteem, nor give gifts to, nor pay honour to Brahman.

Thus did the young Brahman Ambaññha for the second time charge the Sàkyas with being menials. 16. Then the Blessed One thought thus: `This Ambaññha is very set on humbling the Sàkyas with his charge of servile origin in. What if I were to ask him as to his own lineage?' And he said to him:

`And what family do you then, Ambaññha, belong to?'

`I am a Kaõhàyana.

`Yes, but if one were to follow up your ancient name and lineage, Ambaññha, on the father's and the mother's side, it would appear that the Sàkyas were once your masters, and that you are the offspring of one of their slave girls. But the Sàkyas trace their line back to Okkàka the king. [29]

This particular incident points to the fact that the relationship between the Kshatriyas and the Brahmins had become highly strained, with brahmins imagining insults where there were none, and kshatriyas being blamed for these imagined insults. So most Vedic kshatriyas in India were no longer initiated into the Vedas. So while the Brahmins were keeping their Vedas a secret from the kshatriyas, the kshatriyas under Buddha and Mahavira showed they didn't need Vedic scriptures for supreme spiritual self mastery. Many Kshatriyas of the region of India's great Empires in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar as well as the rest of Northern India either adopted the Kshatriya led religions of Buddhism and Jainism, or if they remained Hindu, their lineage was simply not kept up by the Brahmins of the area. In fact, the lineage of the founders of the kingdoms of the Mauryas and Guptas many of whom were heavily Buddhist or Jain in their leanings, are obscure compared to the pre-Buddhistic, pre-Jain Kshatriyas.

The term or usage of the word "Kurmi" as a unified umbrella term for local and national level political purposes, is a relatively new usage for various ancient kshatriya clans and related aggrarians whose lineage became obscure due to either the estranged relationships between the Kshatriyas and Brahmins or their ancestral adoption or major influence of caste neutral religions such as Buddhism and Jainism.

When one says, the "kurmis", it literally means "the I cans" or the "I am ables".