Namasudra

Namasudra (also Namassej or Namassut) is an Indian avarna community originally from certain regions of Bengal, India. The community was earlier known as Chandala or Chandal,^[1] a term usually considered as a slur.^[2] They were traditionally engaged in cultivation and as boatmen.^[3] They lived outside the four-tier ritual varna system and thus were outcastes.^[4]

History

Joya Chatterji mentions that "in the 1870s, Chandals of Bakarganj and Faridpur boycotted caste Hindus" when they refused to accept an invitation to dine from a Chandal headman; and henceforth they "battled continuously to improve their ritual position" and later claimed the "more respectable title of 'Namasudra' and Brahmin status".^[5] The attempts by the Namasudras of Bengal to improve the way in which society perceived them received support starting from the late-1930s from the bhadralok (an influential class). The bhadralok, to increase their own power in Bengal, sought to enlarge their political base by bringing the Namasudras into a united Hindu political community.^[5]

Sekhar Bandyopadhyay mentions that the Dalit of Bengal became involved in the Partition related movement, and the "two most important communities, who dominated dalit politics in the province, were the Namasudras and the Rajbanshis".^[1] Bandyopadhyay also mentions that the Namasudras, earlier known as the Chandals, who mostly inhabited the districts of East Bengal, were forced to migrate to West Bengal during the Partition of India in 1947.^[1]

Community association

The Namassej Samaj Andolon is a socio-political organisation that claims to represent the community.^[6]

References

1. Bandyopadhyay, Sekhar (2004). Caste, Culture and Hegemony: Social Dominance in Colonial Bengal. Sage Publications. p. 192. ISBN 978-0-76199-849-5.
2. Viswanath, Rupa (2014). The Pariah Problem: Caste, Religion, and the Social in Modern India. Columbia University Press. p. 268. ISBN 978-0-23116-306-4.
3. Bose, N.K. (1994). The Structure Of Hindu Society (Revised ed.). Orient Longman Limited. pp. 161–162. ISBN 81-250-0855-1.
4. Rees, D. Ben, ed. (2002). Vehicles of Grace and Hope: Welsh Missionaries in India, 1800-1970. William Carey Library. p. 156. ISBN 978-0-87808-505-7.
5. Chatterji, Joya (2002). Bengal Divided: Hindu Communalism and Partition, 1932-1947. Cambridge University Press. pp. 191–194. ISBN 978-0-52152-328-8.
6. "Home page". Namassej (Namasudra) Samaj.

Further reading

• Ray, Niharranjan (1994). History of the Bengali People: Ancient Period. Orient Longman. ISBN 978-0-86311-378-9.
• Bandyopadhyaẏa, Sekhara (1997). Caste, Protest and Identity in Colonial India: the Namasudras of Bengal, 1872-1947. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-7007-0626-6.
• "Research Response: India" (PDF). Refugee Review Tribunal, Australia. 30 August 2007.
• The stranglehold after 1947: By Vohra: , By M. Klass, pp. 43: : by Ross Mullick,JAS vol. 58. no. 1 (Feb 1999) pp. 104–125.: Marichjhapi:ABR : & :
• Ghatak, N. K.; Mukherjee, D. P. (1986). "Baruni : A Folk Festival of Thakurnagar Organised by the Namasudra Community for Onward Movement". Folklore (Calcutta: Indian Folklore Society) 27 (317): 241–247. ISSN 0015-5896.(subscription required)
• Das, S. N. Das, ed. (2003). The Bengalis. The People, Their History And Culture. Cosmo Publication. ISBN 978-81-7755-392-5.
• Sarkar, Sumit (2002). Beyond Nationalist Frames: Postmodernism, Hindu Fundamentalism, History. Indiana University Press. ISBN 9780253342034.
• Bandyopadhyay, Sekhar (1998). "Changing Borders, Shifting Loyalties: Religion, Caste and the Partition of Bengal in 1947" (PDF). Asian Studies Institute Working Paper 2 (Asian Studies Institute, Victoria University of Wellington). ISSN 1174-5991.