Kayastha Saga – A Perception

THE KAYASTHA SAGA – A PERCEPTION

(For private circulation through MAB Newsletter.

Not to be reproduced wholly or in part without author’s prior permission.)

                                                                     By Krishna Murari

                                                (President, Mathur Association Bombay)

1.       INTRODUCTION;

     In my article ‘Kayasthas – Khshtryas or Shudras’ (MAB Newsletter dated 2nd January, 2006)  it was bought out as to how the Kayasthas,  previously classed as Shudras, were ultimately declared as Kshtriyas by an order of Calcutta High Court in in the year 1877 AD.

 Since the publication of the said article, I have been gratefully receiving feedback from many interested readers from India and abroad, some of them seeking further information, especially on the following specific points:

1. How in the first place were the Kayasthas taken as Shudras?

2. Is it a fact that they were once officially declared as Shudras by a Court order?  Also, were they classified as Brahmins at some point of time in history?

    Based on the hearsay on the subject I used to gather in the 1940’s during leisurely conversations (those were virtually a sort of micro Kayastha Conferences) between our Biradri buzurgs (who were themselves 75 plus then) I have pieced together the various elements relevant to this topic which I consolidate and put hereinafter in this write up with necessary inputs from modern history. It may be mentioned that this Saga pertains mostly to Kayasthas in the North India, that too to the states of present Bihar, U.P., Delhi to which the much shrunken Mughal Empire was mostly confined in its last days, and which contained a large population of Kayasthas.  History of Kayasthas in Bengal, Maharashtra and South India is very much different as it was differently influenced by local conditions and under various rulers.   

I may add that I do not profess any authority or authenticity, but personally I have no reason not to take the hearsay material forming the structure of my perception in this write up as believable. Absence of evidence is no evidence of absence.   There may be other perceptions on the subject, agreeing, disagreeing or differing from this one. Each one would be entitled to its own value, merits and acceptability.

    As a disclaimer it may be stated that I do not mean to defame, degrade, offend   or blame any sect of the past and present Society mentioned in this write up.

2.       ANTIQUITY;

       It is widely believed since time immemorial that Lord Brahma had created the mankind and that He (or Sage Manu ?) had divided the Hindu Society  amongst four varnas, viz., Brahmin (priests class), Kshtriya   ( rulers and warriors class),  Vaish (agriculturists and traders class) and  Shudra, the service class.   The former three were considered as high varnas (High, higher, highest in the reverse order) and Shudras as a Low varna. The Shudra  however, did not have a ‘High’ or ‘ Low’ , but only  ‘Touchables’ and ‘Untouchables’. Each of four varnas had its own sub castes called Jatees which had their own status of high or low within the varna itself.  Most people acquired their varna and Jatee status by birth to continue their linage.  It was perhaps a stratification of Society as a division of labour, aimed at strictly qualifying the duties and status of people of each varna in day to day life both in times of war and peace.    

     Mythology tells that Chitragupta (the prime ancestor of Kayasthas whose 12 sons formed the group 12 Kayasthas) was also a creation of Brahma.  It is anybody’s guess as to when exactly the Chitragupta legend came into existence. From all  accounts, however  it appears that it must have come in the Puranic era sometime after  the formation of the four aforesaid varnas , as there was  no separate (a fifth)  varana for Kayasthas - Chitragupta’s  progeny.  The seers of the said three high varnas of those days would have considered it safe and less controversial to put a Kayastha (a new found !!) in the Shudra category, though thoughtfully under the ‘Touchables’.  

       This is believed to be the first reason for Chitragupta’s progeny ( Kayastha ) to be assigned to the Shudra class,( essentially  on varna basis) to start with, perhaps in the Puranic era itself.   

   Mythology further tells that Chitragupta, was assigned the job of keeping record of all mankind’s  good and bad deeds. So  in course of time it came to be believed  and taken for granted that a Kayastha was basically and essentially a scribe,  with  reading and writing as his officially designated profession by birth. This work seemingly amounted to a sort of ‘service’ (clearly distinguishable from priesthood, warrior ship and trading), essentially an ancillary and accessory to cater for the ‘read-write’ needs of the three higher varnas.  The high seers therefore once again thought a Kayastha fit only to be taken as ‘service class’ and hence (once again in the absence of a fifth varna) continued a Kayastha to be classed as a Shudra.  All this would have been without any hard feelings on either side as this was the accepted norm of the day.  

  This is believed to be the second reason, (this time decided  essentially on  his  designated profession basis), for a Kayastha to be classed  as a Shudra in the Hindu pantheon , a label which remained  stuck on him for a very long time to come.   

 Time frame:   Keeping aside the mythological Chitrgupta version away for a while, let us be practical and talk about the actual evolution of a Kayastha as he emerged later in the post -Puranic and pre-Muslim era in the Indian history as a physical person in flesh and blood and with an already established concept of his so called professional status of a scribe.  The caste system is believed to have firmly established itself during 1000-200 B.C.  

The earliest mention of the word ‘Kayastha’, to the best of my knowledge, appears in Akbarnama, the biography of Emperor Akbar (1556-1605) written by his courtier, Abu Faizi.

 3. RISE – FALL – RISE:

a)  Rise: Stage-1:

     During all this time mentioned above, while all others were well settled in their respective varnas, a Kayastha as a Shudra was drifting rudderless, trying to get a foot hold in the Society.  Temples disallowed his entry and no Brahman would interact with him for religious rituals. For a long time, burdened by the ups and down in his own conscience to upgrade his ‘touchable Shudra’ status , he was sheepishly oscillating between border lines of his own and other  varnas.  In this process and for most of the time he was an undeserved receiver of all disadvantages of the lowest varna with no privilege of a higher one.  .

It must be mentioned here that despite his designated label of a ‘reader- writer , every  Kayastha  was not born with an appointment letter in his hand to straightaway jump  to a position in his perceived profession. Like many others of different varnas, he too  must have had his share of struggle, taking to other jobs like trading or agriculture for sustenance, though still holding on to his Shudra  varna. 

         As more time passed a Kayastha , with an ever  developing urge to find his bearings in Society , started coming out of its cocoon. Because of his position as clerk and writer to rulers, landlords and merchants he gradually started getting stray whiffs of respectability. Persons of other varnas started realizing that he was not the one assigned to menial and low jobs like the rest of the  Shudras,  and must therefore be somewhat different from the  usual  Shudra.  In course of time by dint of his ability, adaptability and loyalty he began getting closer to his masters, resulting in noticeable increase in his stature in Courts of the rulers, albeit to mild feelings of disapproval of the hard cores amongst the other varnas. However, their earlier stiff attitude towards him gradually started mellowing down.

Brahmins always held the Kshtrya rulers in high esteem as it were these rulers who were funding  the construction and maintenance of temples, including the ‘Dakshinas’ and other grants to the priests. So, in order to keep harmony not only with the rulers but also with their writers, Brahmins in their own interest thought it opportunistically prudent to inject some flexibility in their attitude towards Kayasthas.  Temple priests started turning a blind eye on a Kayastha’s   entry  in a temple. Brahmins of the poorer and alms seeking class started responding to him for religious rituals, Shradhs,  poojas etc.  A Kayastha had now found his feet and was visibly a couple of steps up on Society’s ladder, still to some discomfiture to the higher varnas.

This was thus the first stage when a Kayastha coming out of his old cocoon, could find respectability, albeit a bit cold one, in Society and could raise his head with some dignity.        

b) Rise: Stage – 2

    After the  hearsay of the remote eras mentioned above  comes the nearer period of clearer picture  and better documented Indian history from  later Muslim Sultanate  and  Mughal period, say from the 15th Century AD onwards.

     The Muslim Invasion period (9th-10th Century), Sultanate period (11th-15th Century) and even a good length of Mughal  rule (1526-1857) were marked with wonton destruction of Hindu temples and institutions and mass annihilation and forced conversion of Hindus. The Brahmins were supposed not to undertake any job or be subordinate to anyone other than a Brahmin but to confine themselves to the study of  holy scriptures, conducting religious rituals and as temple priests and sustain on grants or alms (Daan-Dakshnas).  Driven out of destroyed temples, no longer needed in the Muslim dominated Society and facing grave insecurity, many of them migrated to Hindu princely states.  The Kshtriya warriors having no worthwhile place in the Muslim armies were either killed in battles or scurried to the safety and service of smaller Hindu principalities, especially in Rajputana (now Rajasthan).  It is said that many jobless Kshtriyas  took  to business and trading, perhaps forming the ‘Khattri’ caste as known today.

      In my earlier article on Kayasthas (refer para 1 above) it was mentioned that in around year 1500 Sikandar Lodhi had established a school at Agra to impart Arabic and Persian language education to the locals in order to  build a cadre of educated youth needed for running his vast administration.  While many born Kayasthas  joined this School , large number of jobless persons from other varnas , specially the Kshtriyas and  Shudras  also joined it out of sheer necessity. They all choose to be called a Kayastha simply for getting employment and more important,  for the higher price tag now attached to a Kayastha.  The Kshatriyas coming out of the School called themselves as ‘Kshtriya  Kayasthas’  perhaps to differentiate themselves  from the the Shudra-converted  variety and also to indicate their status superiority even over the born Kayasthas.   

The situation vis-à-vis Brahmins were conspicuously different. Many jobless Brahmins too (perhaps at the verge of starvation) with no other alternative resorted to learning Arabic/Persian, forsaking their traditional profession of religious duties to great disapproval of the Brahmin high seers. All such Brahmins were ostracized and excommunicated from the community. Losing their Brahmin varna and no more allowed to be called Brahmins, they did not know where to fit in the Society and how to get amalgamated in the newly emerging  multihued ‘reader-writer’ class comprising of converts from the other three varnas. Following the already formed ‘Khshtriya-Kayastha’ sect, they formed a similar but separate so called Brahmin-converted Kayastha  sect , exclusive for themselves. Though they had adopted the profession of a Kayastha, internally most of them strictly observed Brahminic way of life in rituals, customs, food etc. While many of them at some point of time turned to Non-vegetarianism (traditionally Brahmins from Bengal and Kannauj (U.P.) are known to be non-veg.,), most still remained vegetarian.

Anybody’s wild guess, if this could have a remote connection with  the descendants of the ‘non-veg’ and ‘veg’  Brahmin-converted Kayasthas of the bygone era.         

      This gave birth to a new class  of let us say, ‘Converted Kayasthas’,  the community now having four distinct segments- the original ‘born Kaysthas’,  the new ‘Kshatriya  Kayasthas’, the converted  ‘Shudra Kayasthas’ and the converted ‘Brahmin-Kshatriya Kayastha.’   

     As time passed more and more Kayasthas ,(including the so called converted ones) gradually started getting respectable jobs as clerks, accountants etc., in the public and private sectors of the time. The boundaries of their pre-converted status gradually started fading and all being referred to as Kayastha as a general term.  It was in the Mughal era (1526-1857) that the Kayastha star shone the brightest. By dint of their qualities of head and heart they as a learned class, grew to be trusted as loyal employees in the Mughal  Empire. Many were appointed on high administrative posts and many bestowed with Jagirs and Zamindaris.    

          It will thus be seen that while it was a period of decline and devaluation of the people of the higher  varnas in Social and political  importance and influence (compared to what they had during the Puranic and pre-Muslim period), it was one of significant rise and recognition for the Kayasthas.

    The Social chess board had reversed though, mind you, with the Shudra label still stuck on a Kayastha. However, it must be mentioned that  upto this stage there was no malice or hard feelings between people of the high and low varanas as these ups and down were not taken as intentionally  engineered by one varna against the other but as a  continuation of the already prevalent norms.

    c) Fall- the beginning: We now arrive at a next small but a significant period of Indian history (say 1857-1880), i.e., when the Mughals had gone and British were in the process of settling down.

     During the first five  centuries of Muslim domination (Sultanates: 1150-1526) and even till the later part of the declining Mughals -1857)  Brahmins had stopped getting Government patronage,  grants  and gifts for themselves and for temples, consequently  many resorting  to  other means of livelihood like agriculture and trade, etc., to survive, as mentioned in para (b) above.  After the 1857 mutiny and end of Muslim rul , Brahmins, hitherto in the far background, found the now changed climate conducive to attempt  resurfacing and regaining their lost  exalted positions by trying their luck afresh with the British, the new masters. They presumed that the latter had no inbuilt, preconceived ill will against them. Many Brahmins in the meantime had studied Persian and English to work as scribes as a means of survival, though retaining their varna.

Britishers on their part considered Muslims as their primary foe as it is they with whom they had fought and wrested the Delhi throne.  With this analogy Britishers took the ‘Muslim oppressed’ Brahmins (enemy’s enemy) favourably and with sympathy.   Some amongst the literate, senior Brahmins offered themselves for positions under the British as writers and political advisers. Their trump card was to make the British believe that they (i.e., Brahmins) as the highest class amongst Hindus represented the entire Hindu population of the earlier Mughal ruled India and thus will ensure full cooperation from the country’s Hindus at large for a trouble free consolidation of British Raj in India without any rebellion from the Hindu public, including from the Hindu princely states.  For Britishers with the Rani of Jhansi episode still fresh in mind, it meant a relief against the apprehension of further rebellious unrests, this time from the other princely states and gigantic Hindu population.  The Britishers reacted positively to the offer and Brahmins started viewing bright prospects to emerge for them.    

    In all this meantime the Kayasthas  by and large thought it wise and safe to continue to stick to their job positions of Mughal times (many even without salary, as is known) while the rule was being transferred from the Mughals to the Britishers  who  preferred to keep the already set administrative and revenue  management  least disturbed for that time being. Brahmins had not forgotten that centuries earlier, it were the Kayasthas who, coming up with a steep rise had become the main cause of their (Brahmin’s) degradation and redundancy in the Muslim rule.  The continued presence of Kayasthas on Government jobs now appeared to them as a potential hindrance to their own uplift. Their immediate concern therefore was to somehow get the Kayasthas marginalized by maligning the British mind against them by propagating that the Kayasths were basically Shudras, of the lowest varna and friends of Muslims and thus anti-British. The typical Kayastha life style, food habits, Urdu-Persian language, dress code, etc., all became their supporting evidence against Kayasthas.  Brahmins projected   Kayasthas as of the lowest class, unfit for any Government job. Brahmins in Bengal, it may be mentioned, had already been in contact with and in good books of the East India Company even since earlier. 

   It may be stated here that when the Britishers took power in India through the medium of the East India Company after the battle of Plassey in year 1757, they exploited and perpetuated the caste system as a measure of control and to keep the Society divided.  With the back ground of English Feudal system of Lords, Dukes, Earls etc., lording over the surfs and other low class in England, the Britishers were well tuned to High and Low class in Society.

    It will be noted that so far the ups and downs of people of various varnas over ages were not evilly engineered by any particular varna against the other. This was now for the first time in history that one varna (the Brahmins) came up by a well-planned design against the other (Kayastha) varna in an unhealthy competition.

     This, thus became the beginning of the fall of Kayasthas.  

d) The fall:    In pursuit of their anti-Kayastha drive for their own gain, so is said, the Brahmins prevailed upon the Britishers to consider a Kayastha unfit for any Government job due to his low class status.  Except for those Kayasthas  who  were retained on their earlier Mughal-appointed jobs (including some on respectable positions)  fresh opportunities for the rest  had totally dried up.  It is recorded history that in the year 1860 Britishers segregated Indians by caste, and adopted a policy of granting Government  jobs to persons from upper classes only, perhaps much to the cheer and satisfaction of the Brahmins.  This policy was revoked as late as in year 1920.

The Kayastha star which once shone bright during the Mughal era was now fading away, on the verge of being consigned to a dustbin of Indian History.

Rise: It was the situation of the day perhaps around year 1870 that set the wise amongst the Kayasthas to think of charting a course of action to bring the community out of the dark clouds. It was important to come out of the ‘Shudra’ category to the ‘upper class’ Kshatrya mainly to outwit the Brahmin engineered ban by the British on appointment of lower class people on Government jobs.

     During an earlier  data collection operation (not the 1901-11 ten year census) by the British it is said that many stated their caste as per their birth, many as per their profession while still many as per their converted status, thus confusing even the enumerators.  Many Kayasthas in Bihar and East U.P., had got for themselves a ‘Kshatrya caste’ certificate from local authorities, thus publicly proclaiminsg themselves as Kshtryas. While all such certificates are said to have been declared invalid by a Patna Court order, a lot others even then continued and retained them. Though the Society was strictly caste bound, there were stray instances of marriages of Kayasthas with Kayastha converted Kshatryas and Brahmins with consequent increase in number of Kayasthas, now openly labelling themselves as Kshtryas.   The Brahmins naturally could not digest it.

It is said that somewhere in Bihar two Kayastha landlords had given shelter in their house to two elderly Brahmin widows who had been expelled from their respective houses,  destined  against their will to be consigned to Kashi or Vrindaban.  This enraged the Brahmins who took it as a confrontation from the Kayasthas. This became the last straw for the Brahmins who sensed the Kayasthas, now re-emerging as an upper class, as a challenge to them. Not taking a chance any more, they filed an appeal in the Calcutta High Court in year 1873 to declare, once and for all, the Kayasthas as Shudras.

         The version of the Kayastha Saga of this write up as per my perception ends here.

   e) Rise:  

How the Kayasthas defended themselves in the Calcutta High Court and by its judgement in 1877 got themselves declared as a Kshatriy is another story of the rise of Kayasthas, contained in the article ‘Kayasthas – Kshatryas or Shudras’ mentioned at the beginning of this write up.   

 Krishna Murari

Camp Singapore

November 24, 2014