u/BackgroundExam9445

The Marathas had taken considerable power in Bundelkhand and obviously laid pious looks of greed on Varanasi.

However, Peshwa Raghunath Rao's agent Vasudev Dikshit wrote a letter from Varanasi (Banaras) stating that no one before Raja Balwant Singh ruled Varanasi/Banaras as well as him.

He further writes that the Raja (Balwant Singh) has saved this place (Varanasi/Banaras) and that the Marathas should renounce plans of capturing the city.

At its peak, the Bettiah Raj was not only the largest zamindari of Champaran, but the largest zamindari within the entire region under East India Company's control at that time.

The Raj came into power via their capability of controlling and protecting numerous villages as well as their connection with the revenue administration building on local dominance.

(They also had much more lands in places such as Siwan, Saran, Gopalganj, Patna, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, etc.)

These were his observations:

1. Clearly states that it's the ENEMIES of Babhans (a term used before the members of this caste started accrediting the title Bhumihar in honour) who propagated slanderous theories against Babhans.
2. Their Babhan name suggested strongly about their Brahminical origins.
3. Again, Bhumihars shouldn't be confused with Bhuinyas, who are an aboriginal tribe.

There is a certain myth that the "Bhumihars are a low Aryan race of mixed Brahmin Rajput origin who acquired a pseudo respectability by pretending that they are Brahmins"

• However, this theory is outrightly false and has no merit.
• It was published in the Calcutta Review (1883) that, according to the rules of Hindu society, a mixed caste or a group of low Aryan origin would traditionally always hold an inferior status. Therefore, the Bhumihars could not have had such an origin, as they've always enjoyed a very high position among the Hindus and the society in general.
• So them being a low Aryan race of mixed Brahmin Rajput origin who acquired a pseudo respectability by pretending that they are Brahmins is impossible and this false assertion was deemed unreasonable
• **As quoted from the book, "The theory will not stand criticism. The offspring of a Brahmin girl and Rajput father would be of very inferior caste; and, if the Babhuns were of low Aryan origin, as Mr. Magrath thought they were, they could, by no possibility, have attained to that* *high position amongst the Hindus which they now undoubtedly occupy"
• Source - The Calcutta Review, year 1883: Vol 76

Note: This is the eighth post to a series of more debunks regarding myths spread about Bhumihars that are yet to be dismissed (by valid, authentic and trustworthy sources ONLY).

Disproving the myth that the Bhumihars are "formed by an intermixture of Brahmins with some inferior caste"

• The myth stands completely false & as if spoken out of hatred.
•  MA Sherring, the author, states in 1872 that there's no reason given for this erroneous conclusion.
• Source -  Hindu Tribes and Castes, Volume I

Note: This is the seventh post to a series of more debunks regarding myths spread about Bhumihars that are yet to be dismissed (by valid, authentic and trustworthy sources ONLY).

An illogical rumor that is rife is that the Bhumihars were "were tribals promoted as sham Brahmins at a feast organized by King Jarasandha"

• However, it is completely false and illogical.
• William Crooke, the author, regarded the account as an unsubstantiated and unproven story rather than a historical fact.
• Source - The Tribes and Castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, Volume II

Note: This is the sixth post to a series of more debunks regarding myths spread about Bhumihars that are yet to be dismissed (by valid, authentic and trustworthy sources ONLY).

A rumor spread against Bhumihars is that they are 'degraded Brahmins'

• However, it is complete hogwash & baseless.
• H.H. Risley, the author, argued that the sections, or exogamous groups, into which the Babhans (Bhumihars) are divided prove strongly against the theory that they are degraded Brahmins
• According to Risley, these groups are generally the oldest and most enduring elements in the internal organization of a caste or tribe, making the theory of a later "degraded" offshoot, doubtful and unlikely.
• As quoted from the book, “An examination of the sections or exogamous groups into which the Babhans are divided appears, however, to tell strongly against the hypothesis that they are degraded Brahmans. These groups are usually the oldest and most durable element in the internal organization of a caste or tribe.”
• Source -  Census of India, 1901, Volume I

 

Note: This is the fifth post to a series of more debunks regarding myths spread about Bhumihars that are yet to be dismissed (by valid, authentic and trustworthy sources ONLY).

One of the most widely spread rumors against Bhumihars is that they are of mixed Brahman and Rajput blood.

• However, this too, is completely untrue & rubbish
• As noted by the author, the mixed origin allegation against Bhumihars was generally made up by their Brahmin and Rajput neighbors.
• Drockman, the author, stated that no evidence existed to prove the claims made by those Rajput and Brahmins.
• As quoted from the book, “Their Brahman and Rajput neighbours generally insinuate that they are of mixed Brahman and Rajput breed, but there is no evidence in particular to support this view”
• D. L. Drake-Brockman cleared that such views were not backed by evidence and were just made up stories by Brahmins and Rajput against Bhumihars.
• Source - Azamgarh: A Gazetteer by D. L. Drake Brockman

Note: This is the fourth post to a series of more debunks regarding myths spread about Bhumihars that are yet to be dismissed (by valid, authentic and trustworthy sources ONLY).

Another hogwash spread against the Bhumihars is that "They are promoted Aryans" / "They were promoted as Brahmins in King Jarasandha's feast due to shortage of Brahmins"

• However, this is completely balderdash and senseless.
• H.H. Risley argued that Bhumihars are a fine manly race with Aryan features in uniformity, so it's impossible that they could just be low caste men who were promoted as Brahmins by Jarasandha.
• Rejecting the Jarasandha theory, in his ethnographic study Risley wrote that the appearance and demeanor of Bhumihars strongly disproves the belief that they were descended from a group of low-caste men who had been promoted to Brahmin status at a feast organized by Jarasandha.
• He also stated that Jarasandha is a fictional character of Hindu epic, Mahabharata.
• As quoted from the book - The last theory is at once refuted by the appearance and demeanour of the caste. "They are," says Mr. Beames, "a fine manly race, with the delicate Aryan type of feature in full perfection." This type, I may add, is singularly uniform and persistent among the Babhans, which would not be the case if they were descended from a crowd of low-caste men promoted by the exigencies of a particular occasion”
• Source - Census of India, 1901, Volume I

 

Note: This is the third post to a series of more debunks regarding myths spread about Bhumihars that are yet to be dismissed (by valid, authentic and trustworthy sources ONLY).

Another rumor that y'all must have read is that the Bhumihars are a mixed race.|

• However, it is again completely false & baseless.
• William Crooke, a British orientalist himself stated that, “The uniformity of the physical type among them (Bhumihars) disposes of the suggestion that they are a mixed race.”
• Source - Natives of Northern India

Note: This is the second post to a series of more debunks regarding myths spread about Bhumihars that are yet to be dismissed (by valid, authentic and trustworthy sources ONLY).

Nowadays, y'all must have seen this certain screenshot "asserting" Bhumihars as a race of 'bastard Brahmans.'

• However, it is completely false & the screenshot has been cropped, on the pretext of spreading rumors.
• MA Sherring, the author of the book himself has stated that he has not been able to obtain any trustworthy evidences for these baseless assertions.
• As quoted from the book, “Some doubt has been thrown on the purity of their blood as Brahmans. It has been said that they are Kshatriya or Rajpoot Brahmans; or are partly Rajpoots and partly of other castes. I have been unable to obtain any trustworthy evidence for such assertions”
• Source - Hindu Tribes and Castes, Volume I by Edward T. Sherring

Note: This is the first post to a series of more debunks regarding myths spread about Bhumihars that are yet to be dismissed (by valid, authentic and trustworthy sources ONLY).

In December 1955, King Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia visited Varanasi during a historic 17-day tour of India. He was welcomed in a grand ceremonial elephant procession alongside the Kashi Naresh (Maharaja of Banaras), Vibhuti Narayan Singh near the Ganges at Ramnagar Fort.

The Nehru govt took him in a ceremonial procession on an elephant back in Varanasi. He also visited the Indian Military Academy at Khadakvasala and presented a sword made of gold to its commandant.

A viral Social Media rumour surrounding King Saud’s 1955 visit alleges that Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru ordered local Hindu temples to be covered up to avoid offending the Saudi monarch, however Independent fact-checkers and historians have thoroughly investigated these claims and found them to be entirely false and fabricated.

#Bhumihar_Legacy #Babhan_legacy

Source:

Bonded Histories: Genealogies of Labor Servitude in Colonial India	Gyan Prakash

(The source has cited the accounts of Francis Buchanan in Patna and Bihar)

Source:

Bengal District Gazetteers: Monghyr	L. S. S. O’Malley

Brief View of the Caste System of the North Western Provinces and Oudh: together with an examination of the names and figures shown in the Census Report, 1882 published by the Government of the North Western Provinces and Oudh.

Source:

Bihar and Patna in 1811–1812, Vol. II	Francis Buchanan

• Picture 1

1. Source: Deshāvali Vivṛiti (commissioned by a Chauhan Rajput of Patna before 1650 CE)
2. It explains how the Bhumihars established their control over various places of Magadha and subdued the remaining princes under their control.
3. Background - Babu Bhagvat Singh of Nandwa Raj, Barh Mokama

• Picture 2

1. Source - In image
2. It explains how Balwant Singh, the Maharaja of Benares built his domains by shattering the power of surrounding groups.

Name of Caste	Population of caste (percent of total population)	Landholding percentage
Bhumihar	37634 (4.57%)	23%
Rajput	78065 (9.49%)	31%
Brahman	62000 (8.05%)	10%

The Rajputs were 2.07 times more populous than the Bhumihars but held only 1.3 times more the land.

The Brahmins were 1.7 times more populous than the Bhumihars, however the Bhumihars held more than 2.3 times the land as compared to them.

Source - The golden book of India, a genealogical and biographical dictionary of the ruling princes, chiefs, nobles, and other personages, titled or decorated, of the Indian empire by Lethbridge, Roper, (Sir)