Rajputs in Bihar

Rajputs in Bihar are members of the Rajput community living in the eastern Indian state of Bihar. They traditionally formed part of the feudal elite in Bihari society.[1][2][3][4] Rajputs were pressed with the Zamindari abolition and Bhoodan movement in post-independence India; along with other Forward Castes, they lost their significant position in Bihar's agrarian society, leading to the rise of Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

  1. ^ Hira Singh (4 March 2014). Recasting Caste: From the Sacred to the Profane. SAGE Publishing India. p. 4. ISBN 9789351504030. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  2. ^ Henry C. Hart (4 March 2019). Indira Gandhi's India. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-429-72607-1.
  3. ^ Carolyn Brown Heinz (3 June 2013). Peter Berger; Frank Heidemann (eds.). The Modern Anthropology of India: Ethnography, Themes and Theory. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-06118-1. The four dominant high caste groups (the forward castes)-Brahman, Bhumihar, Rajput, Kayastha-together constitute about 12 percent of the population. These are the old elite, from whose numbers came the major zamindars and land owning castes. The so-called Backward castes consisting of about half the population of Bihar, were further classified soon after independence into Upper Backward and Lower Backwards(Blair 1980). The upper backwards - Bania , Yadav, Kurmi and Koiri - constitute about 19 percent of the population, and now include most of the rising Kulak class of successful peasants who have acquired land, adopted improved agricultural technology, and become a powerful force in Bihar politics. This is true, above all, of the Yadavas. The lower backwards are shudra castes such as Barhi, Dhanuk, Kahar, Kumhar, Lohar, Mallah, Teli etc, about 32 percent of the population. The largest components of the scheduled castes(14 percent) are the Dusadh, Chamar, and Musahar, the Dalit groups who are in many parts of the statelocked in struggles for land and living wages and living wages with the rich peasants and landlords of the forward and upper backward castes
  4. ^ Seyed Hossein Zarhani (3 September 2018). Governance and Development in India: A Comparative Study on Andhra Pradesh and Bihar after Liberalization. Routledge. pp. 183, 210. ISBN 978-1-351-25518-9.