The Kachhi are a Hindu caste of vegetable cultivators found in the regions of Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh in India.

Myths of origin

The Kachhi caste form a part of a wider community that claims a common descent. This community, known as the Kushwaha, nowadays generally claim descent from Kusha, a son of the mythological Rama, who is considered to be an avatar of Vishnu. This enables their claim to be of the Suryavansh - or Solar - dynasty but it is a myth of origin developed in the twentieth century. Prior to that time, the various branches that form the Kushwaha community - the Mauraos, Kachhis and Koeris - favoured a connection with Shiva and Shakta.[1] Ganga Prasad Gupta claimed in the 1920s that Kushwaha families worshiped Hanuman - described by Pinch as "the embodiment of true devotion to Ram and Sita" - during Kartika, a month in the Hindu lunar calendar.[2]

Present circumstances

In Uttar Pradesh, the vegetable-cultivators Kachhis traditionally cultivate on their comparatively smaller landholdings without aid of the animals.[3]

In 1991, they were designated an Other Backward Class in the Indian system of positive discrimination. This applied to the populations in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.[4]

References

  1. ^ Pinch, William R. (1996). Peasants and monks in British India. University of California Press. pp. 12, 91–92. ISBN 978-0-520-20061-6. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  2. ^ Pinch, William R. (1996). Peasants and monks in British India. University of California Press. p. 98. ISBN 978-0-520-20061-6. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  3. ^ Singh, Charan (1964). India's Poverty and Its Solution. Asia Publishing House. p. 88. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  4. ^ Agrawal, S. P.; Aggarwal, J. C. (1991). Educational and Social Uplift of Backward Classes: At what Cost and How. Concept Publishing. ISBN 9788170223399. Retrieved 7 March 2014.

Further reading