Bhumihar

Total population
6 % of Bihari population[1] plus significant population in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, and West Bengal
Languages
Hindi, Bhojpuri, Magadhi, Maithili, Angika, Vajjika, Bundeli
Religion
Hinduism
Related ethnic groups
Kanyakubja Brahmins, Jujhautiya Brahmins, Saryupareen Brahmins
Footnotes
Commonly called Babhan

Bhumihar Brahmin or Babhan or Brahmarshis is a Hindu Brahmin community mainly found in the Indian states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bengal, Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh and Nepal.^[2][3]

There is also a significant migrant population of Bhumihars in Mauritius,^[4] Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and others.

History

Some Bhumihar Brahmins believe themselves to be descended from Husseini Brahmins.^[5]Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, who came from a Niyogi Brahmin community who are just like the Bhumihar Brahmins and are called Laukik or Ajachak Brahmins attests in his Hindu View of Life to the fact of "The Rishis of yore were agriculturists and sometimes warriors too".

Political and social movements

Bhumihars are considered a politically volatile community.^[6][7] Sri Krishna Sinha, born into a Bhumihar Brahmin family is considered the architect of modern Bihar.^[8] Barring the war years, Sinha was Chief Minister of Bihar from the time of the first Congress Ministry in 1937 until his death in 1961.^[9] He led Dalit’s entry into the Baidyanath Dham temple (Vaidyanath Temple, Deoghar), reflecting his commitment to the upliftment and social empowerment of dalits.^[1] He was the first Chief Minister in the country to abolish the zamindari system.^[10]

Notable people

Scholars, writers and government agency

• Ram Avatar Sharma- was an Indian Sanskrit scholar and academic, apart from being an indologist and historian Rajendra Prasad, the first President of India and a favourite student of Pandit Sharma
• Rahul Sankrityayan- who is called the Father of Hindi Travel literature,was one of the most widely-traveled scholars of India, spending forty-five years of his life on travels away from his home.He is referred to as the 'Greatest Scholar' (Mahapandit) for his scholarship.He got Sahitya Akademi Award in 1958 and later Padma Bhushan in 1963.
• Nalin Vilochan Sharma-was a professor of Hindi Literature in University of Patna.
• Sahajanand Saraswati-Writer,Freedom Fighter

Freedom fighters

• Sri Krishna Sinha - First Chief Minister of Bihar.
• Mangal Pandey

Administrators

• Sir Ganesh Dutt
• Lalit Mohan Sharma- 24th Chief Justice of India,S/O-L.N. Sinha..
• L.N. Sinha- former Attorney General of India and He was also the Solicitor General of India from 17 July 1972 until 5 April 1977

Monarchs and zamindars

• Vibhuti Narayan Singh,Maharaja of Benaras,Custodian of Kashi Viswanath Temple-Most Important Hindu Shrine in the world.
• Maharaja Sir Harendra Kishore Singh-was the last ruler of Bettiah Raj.
• Tekari Raj Gaya-Bihar

See also

• Kingdom of Kashi- an independent Bhumihar Brahmin state until 1994.
• Royal House of Benares- was the ruling Bhumihar Brahmin family of Benares
• Jujhautiya Brahmins
• Sangli State
• Jhansi
• Iyers

References

Further reading

• Gupta, N. L. (1975). Transition from capitalism to socialism, and other essays. Kalamkar Prakashan. ASIN B0000E7XZP. 
• Guha, Ranajit (2000 (2nd edition)). A Subaltern studies reader, 1986–1995. South Asia Books. ISBN 978-0-19-565230-7.  Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Maitra, R. K. (1959). Indian Studies: past & present. ASIN B0000CRX5I. 
• Sharma, R. S. (2009). Rethinking India's Past. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-569787-2. 
• Ram, Bindeshwar (1998). Land and society in India: agrarian relations in colonial North Bihar. Orient Blackswan. ISBN 978-81-250-0643-5. 
• Diwakar, Ranganath Ramachandra (1959). Bihar through the ages. Orient Longman. 
• Saraswati, Swami Sahajanand (2003). Swami Sahajanand Saraswati Rachnawali in Six volumes 1. Prakashan Sansthan. p. 518, Parishist by Acharya Tarineesh Jha, 515–519). 
• Yang, Anand A. (1999). Bazaar India: Markets, Society, and the Colonial State in Bihar. University of California Press. p. 139. ISBN 978-0-520-21100-1. 
• Bayly, Christopher Alan (2011). Recovering Liberties: Indian Thought in the Age of Liberalism and Empire (Ideas in Context). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-10-760147-5. 
• Bhadra, Gautam (2008). Subaltern Studies: Writings on South Asian History and Society. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-565125-6. 
• Sinha, Gopal Sharan; Ramesh Chandra Sinha (September 1967). "Exploration in Caste Stereotypes". Social Forces (University of North Carolina Press) 46 (1): 42–47. JSTOR 2575319.  Cite uses deprecated parameters (help)
• Alavi, Seema (2007). The Eighteenth Century in India. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-569201-3. 
• Chatterjee, Gautam (2003). Sacred Hindu Symbols. Abhinav Publications. ISBN 978-81-7017-397-7. 
• Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli (2009). The Hindu View of Life. Harper Collins. p. 81. ISBN 978-81-7223-845-2. 
• Brown, Judith Margaret (1972). Gandhi's Rise to Power, Indian Politics 1915–1922: Indian Politics 1915–1922. New Delhi: Cambridge University Press Archive. p. 384. ISBN 978-0-521-09873-1. 
• Nicholas, Ralph W. (2003). Fruits of worship: practical religion in Bengal. Orient Blackswan. ISBN 978-81-8028-006-1. 
• Bayly, Susan (2001). Caste, Society and Politics in India from the Eighteenth Century to the Modern Age. Cambridge University Press. p. 203. ISBN 978-0-521-79842-6. 
• R. G. Tiedemann, Robert A. Bickers (2007). The Boxers, China, and the World. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 63. ISBN 978-0-7425-5395-8. 
• Bayly, C. A. (1988). Rulers, Townsmen and Bazaars: North Indian Society in the Age of British Expansion, 1770–1870. Cambridge University Press. p. 18. ISBN 978-0-521-31054-3. 

• Pandurang Vaman Kane, History of Dharmasastra (P.V. Kane)|History of Dharmasastra, Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute.
• Govind Prasad Upadhyay, Brahmanas in Ancient India: A Study in the Roles of the Brahmana Class from 200 BC to AD 500, Motilal Banarsidass, New Delhi (1979).
• Rajbali Pandey, Hindu Samskaras: Socio-Religious Study of the Hindu Sacraments, Motilal Banarsidass, New Delhi (2006).
• Radha Kumud Mukherjee, Ancient Indian Education: Brahmanical and Buddhist, Motilal Banarsidass, New Delhi (2011).
• M. N. Srinivas, Social Change in Modern India, Orient Longman, Delhi, 1995.