Agriculturist kaibartta (Mahishya) community in Bengal: History, identity, and socioeconomic dynamics

Abstract

This study traces the evolution of Bengal’s agriculturist Kaibartta subgroups (Hele, Halia, Chasi‐Kaibartta, Halik, Das Kaibartta, Parasar Das, etc.) into the unified Mahishya identity during the colonial period. Combining archival and secondary sources, we show that these local names referred to a single agrarian caste which consolidated under the Mahishya label by the 1901 British census [1, 2]. Historically prominent in landholding and uprisings (e.g. the Pala-era Kaibartta revolt of Divya), Mahishyas claimed Kshatriya origins to escape outcaste stigma. By the early 20th century they were Bengal’s largest Hindu caste [3], though internally divided between former cultivators (Chasi/Halik) and fishermen (Jelia). Today most Mahishyas remain small farmers or agricultural labourers [4], with only a minority in government service. The Chasi‐Kaibartta section is officially OBC in Bengal (patriots like Birendra Nath Sasmal opposed downlisting Mahishyas) while the general Mahishya identity arose as a caste‐mobility strategy. Predominant in southern West Bengal, they form a core “sons of the soil” agrarian community with deep ties to land [3, 5].