Namasudra (Namassej or Namassut) is the name of a Hindu community originally from certain regions of Bengal, India. They were traditionally engaged in cultivation and as boatmen. However, they lived outside the four-tier ritual varna system. They are the major founder clan of the Matua sect of Hinduism.
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At the 1911 Census of India, the community noted themselves as either "Namassut" or "Namassej". In Bengali, sut means son, so Namassut means Namas (name of sage) + Sut, i.e. "son or descendant of Namas". The other name has a similar meaning. Sreej in Bengali means "to generate or to originate". So Namas + Sreej, transformed to Namassreej, spelled Namassej, means "generated or originated from Namas".
The name "Namaswej" most probably first appeared on the Internet around the year 2000. The name was a part of a Declared Revelation called Smritokotha. In Bengali language there are two letters designated by the same symbol in Roman Script given by "b" and "wa or w". If there is a "w" then in the pronunciation, the previous letter becomes double. So according to that spelling, "Namaswej" becomes "Namassej". All the interpretations given by different community members were according to the version written in English or Roman script.
Currently many people of this community, and sometimes people of other communities, also designate "Namasudras" (or "Namassejas") simply as "Nama".
In the 11th century, Bengal was ruled by Ballal Sen, the third ruler of the Sen dynasty. At that time, the Brahmins were the second-most influential community after the king. Ballal Sen tried to implement a set of rules in favour of the king. A majority of Brahmins were not ready to accept these new rules. Eventually the Brahmins divided into two groups, one favouring the king, while the other group revolted against him. The second group fought a war against the king and lost. Ballal Sen punished them by annulling their right to be considered Brahmins. They were instead assigned the caste of shudra. After the defeat, this group of Brahmins left the realms of Ballal Sen and went to the south-east of Bengal. These people were considered as shudra, the lowest of the four Hindu varnas. But as they had originally been Brahmins, they were referred to with the prefix of 'Namashya' (Ben. = 'respectable').
It was an unaccepted community, forced to live in the swamps of the extreme south of current-day Bangladesh, until the emergence of British India. The socio-religious taboos of the Hindu and Muslim caste system, which had devastated their social life completely, also helped them not to be lost into the vast population, as they did not belong to any community.
With the advent of the family of Harichand Thakur, the process of enlightenment began within the community. The family inspired the Namasudras to establish more than 5,000 schools. From 1905 onwards, Sri Guruchand and the missionary Cecil Silas Mead[1] carried forward the mission, and created the path for exodus for this community. The exodus was politically carried forward by Jogendra Nath Mandal. However, this movement lasted only until 1947, when India gained independence as secular India and Pakistan, a theocratic state. The community was torn in two. In one part, the larger section became the lowborn beggar masses and, as refugees, was being made to settle all over India. In another part, they were lowborn of a different religion, later becoming independent as Bangladesh in 1971. That is when this community both greatly suffered and fought courageously. A very small section of this community managed to get higher education.
The Namasudra community, under the leadership of Mahapran Jogendranath Mondal, first organised the mass movement in undivided India (then under the rule of the British Monarchy) to eliminate the bashing based on the Caste system. As a result of that movement, "The Policy of Reservation" was achieved by different outcast population groups. Nowadays, the groups are going to be accepted as a general policy by most political parties for any kind of backwardness found among any population group. The success of an arrangement in general, however, is doubtful.
Sakti Sangama Tantra, a Tantrik work of the 16th century, states that the Namasudras are offspring of Namas. Another work, the Brahma Vaivarta Purana, refers to Kuder or Debal Brahmins. It is believed that they were the outcast Namasudras. Bengali writer Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay noted the Caucasoid characteristics of Candalas, as mentioned in H. Beverly, Census of Bengal, 1872, p.182. Also, C.J. O'Donell in Census of India, 1891, vol III, p.255-257, found nasal-index and cephalic-index traits of Namasudras more close to the indigenous North Indians. Similar observation was made by Dr. N.R. Ray. On the basis of all these findings and of scriptures and social histories of the Sen Dynasty, a Vyavastha was signed by forty Brahmin Pundits from across Bengal in 1901. The document declared that the Namasudras are not Candalas but rather are descendants of true Brahman sages, such as Namasa (from the Kasyapa lineage), and should not be categorised as (nama) sudras either.
Dr. N. R. Ray first expressed his doubt in respect of the position of the Namasudras in social hierarchy. He told of the folklore of origin and of degradation that could possibly resolve the anomaly. Thus goes the tale. Brahman, the Parameshwar, is the Creator God. He begot Marichi. Marichi begot Kashyapa. Kashyapa begot Namas (also known as Lomasa Muni[2]). Namas was married to Sulochana, the daughter of Ruchi, the "spiritual son of Brahman". They begot Kirtiban and Uruban (most probably instead of Kirtyuruban, they together were wrongly mentioned as Ariban in Ssejsantokotha or it may be that in old handwritten manuscript it became simply "uruban → ariban" and the first part "Kirtyu" was omitted due to mistake or erasing due to being preserved in bad condition). They were twin brothers. Santo or Sage- Namas, went into a deep forest for meditation and did not return in 14 years. So Kirtiban and Uruban were "self-dikshatized" or "self-consecrated". They were married to the two daughters of the King Simanta. They begot eight children, and they were married to the children of Asamonjo, the eldest son of the Suryavanshi King Sagar. They are the forefathers of the Namasudra community.
It may be proposed that the name of the community should be "Brahman Kshatriya" because the father was Brahmin by birth, and the mother was a daughter of a king. But this argument is not applicable unless believing in varna or jatived or the caste-system. In monotheism and sannyasbadi Hinduism, as Sri Harichand told them, there is only gotra and the community name (not related to his by-birth profession of caste-based Hinduism). Namassejas née namasudras followed this in the beginning. So the question of being sudra or Brahman-Kshatriya or any varna name should have not arisen. However there is a strong myth that the community may contain a degraded Kshatriya clan.
This is the folklore of the origin of the Namasudras: the story they believe, i.e., the History of The People. Sri Harichand told them only to meditate the Parameshwar and take Him to be the origin of all that exists. He told also that they will be Self-Consecrated. However, his followers could not follow his path strictly (they got mixed up with Vaishnavism and with the path of the Bauls). His "twelve commandments" also show signs of later manipulations by his followers. Yet, his family became iconic. Also, recently from some corner of the community, a discourse, Smritokotha, is declared to be published which the editor foretold to be a complete guide to community-life.
There are differing opinions regarding the number of gotras (clans) which comprise the community. The Bengal Gazetteer and Darjeeling Gazetteer (both published during the British Raj period) listed three such groups, being: Kashyapa, Bhardwaja and Gautama. However, Herbert Risley, writing in 1891, noted four such groups: Kasyapa, Bharadwaja, Lomasa and Sandilya.[3]
The community is mostly Hindu.
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