A BRIEF HISTORY OF AGRIA CASTE

AGRIA CASTE OF WESTRN ORISSA

ORIGIN

According to the traditional folklore, Agrias were Rajputs who lived near Agra. .They were migrated to Orissa and Madhya Pradesh during sixteenth century (in 1550's) unable to bear the torture of Muslim king of Delhi. Viz. SIKANDAR LODHI, ADILSAH ., They had to flee their place. They ,were Somvanshi Rajputs , called AGRIA and haughty in nature . They saluted the King with one hand without bowing their heads. The king decided them to punish for the contumacy and decided to send them to Kandhar war else they had to take Muslim religion or would be beheaded, The king cleverly tried to bow their head before the king. A sword was fixed at the height of a man's neck at the door through which they were to pass to attend summon of the king. The haughty Agrias without bending their head passed through the door and were de-capitated . One Agria stayed back and sent his 'Chamar'(servant) instead with a condition that he would take care of the Chamar’ s family and in every social ritual his generation would remind him. (Now also the Agrias gave water in tarpon and other their customary ritual to the Chamar with their ancestor .)

The Agrias then escaped southeast with some of his community men. It is said that they were 84 family of different sections having 84 gotras or exogamous sections,

Out of these 84 family ( GHAR)

6( SIX) bear the title of Chaudhury ,

60( SIXTY) bear the title of Patel,

18( EIGHTEEN) bear the title of Naik,

. Out of the 84 family , 44 Barga/Gotras made their way to Orissa where Hindu kings were ruling . On way some families settled in the districts of Raigarh and Bilaspur in Madhya Pradesh (Now Chattisgarh state) . During that period the Gajapati king Mukunda Dev was ruling Orissa. .The Agrias went direct to the Gajapati for giving them proper place and livelihood in his kingdom. For selecting their future nature of job, the Gajapati (king of puri) gave them two option to choose.

One sword with silver covering and a wooden stick with golden covering . The senior of Agria of the families had choose the golden covering and found a wooden stick inside .The Gajpati King Mukund Dev decided their future as cultivator and sent them to Patnagarh (now Balangir).The families settled in and around Patnagarh used the title of Sai at present which was given to them by the King of Patnagarh.

The Rajputs used to were a white cotton thread called POITA( called in local language) around their solder and chest like Brahmins. .They surrendered the poita to one of their community man for keeping the secrecy ( the person was called DISANDHI ) .. Presently the disandhi’s families settled in the Raigarh district of Chattisgarh state. There was a condition with the Disandhi that the Disandhi would take care of the holy string and maintain the customary rituals of Rajputs and his family expenditure would be borne by the Agrias communities .

The sword ( Katars) were kept under a Mahua tree ( Mahul – local name of the treewhich bears sweet flower ,used to produce local brew and the seed of the fruits used for extracting Oil ) ..Now also Agrias worship the branch of a Mahua tree at the time of marriages. .

The disandhi wear Poita as per condition and collected food grains and other essentials from the Agrias every year for his family’s livelihood..

The King of Patnagarh ( Now Bolangir dist of Orissa) , where the Agrias settled first, impressed by their industrious nature gave them the zamindari of Laida ( a Village near Jharsuguda ) of Sambalpur state at the time of 4^th King Madhukar Sai.. From Laida, the Agrias started branching out to other places like Sundargarh (earlier GangPur State),Bamanda state and other adjourning areas .

AGRIAS IN WESTERN ORISSA.

It is seen that Agrias settlements are mostly in the border areas of small states like Bamanda ( Deogarh), Sambalpur, Gangpur(Sundargarh) .There title signified from their capability as because the meaning of Naik, Patel and Choudhury are the same , which represents as Mukhia/ Pradhan ( head of a village)or later called Gountia ( The Land owner) . The Agria . settlement consists of Teli ( a caste extract Oil from different oil seeds), Khumbhar ( The caste made earthen pots and other earthen materials), Lohar ( Blck smith), Bramhin, Rawat/ Goud The caste used to give water , helps in cooking preparation etc) ,Kaibarta ( The fisher caste) and other helping families to whom the Agrias settled by giving land. They settled near the hamlets of labour class tribes,whom they utilized for cultivation work.

The Agrias do not admit outsiders into their caste. They do not take cooked food from any caste, and take water only from a Gaur or Rawat or Kolta. They refuse to take water from an Uriya Brahman.( Kuilta in Sambalpuri language)

HISTORY SO COLLECTED ACCOURDING TO THE FOLKKORE

According to Mahabharata. . Bidur ( Born from the Dasi Sudra ),the brother of King Dhrustra and Pandu had two son Bairanu and Puramanu. They were the progenitor of Agria caste and their offspring were called Bidur khayatri. Century by century passed and these Bidur Khayatri were later Called Rajput (Khayatria ) .Accourding to caste they were Khayatria (Worriers by birth) and never bow head to others..

( If any one knows the detail past history, he can send it to Girish kumar Naik , flat No.B-II/45, 16/4, Dover Lane, Kolkata-700029 so that the same can be published in the Net.)

It was said that three types of Sword the Rajputs used to carry with them. From the 3 type of Katar ( Sword)

The Choudhury used the symbol of kuili katar ( Kuili means Cuckoo bird),

The Naiks used Yamadadha Katar ( a sword use by king yama –death) and

The Patels used the symbol of Meghanad Katar ( A arm used by Meghanad the son of Ravan,king of Lanka).

The 44 family of Orissa were divided in different bansa and gotra which is given below for references and would be used in social caste rituals:-

Section Dana( Bansa) Barga( Gotra)

1. CHOUDHURY

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1. Khita

Komandala

2.Kumbha kalash

Narad

3.Nahan

Batushyam

4.Kuthi

Aakraya

5.Hansa

Angira

6.Thela

Kapil

2.NAIK

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1.Leonia

Kumbhaj

2.Kalihari

Bedabyasa

3.Jhijhori

Sagar

4.Sirasanta

Kashyap

5.Sanbira

Yamadar

6.Chita

Sankar

7.Gona

Yamuna

8.Alkara

Gajasekher

9.Sinduria

Yantrika

10.Charpatta

Bhujbal

11.Rajakeshar

Kousik

12.Birihibarag

Maheswar

13.Chandrama

Aahalya

14.Karayat

Gayaghat

15.Bangi

karchuli

16.Gokulkan

Gayadhar

17.Dibara

Jagadhar

18.Kalya

Bedabyasa

3. PATEL

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1.Tihuria

Narmada

2.panoria

Aasail

3.Khandaria

Kasi

4.Geruaa

Gaighat

5.Madhughoghara

Gayapinda

6.Gheesagar

Gayapinda

7.Hatanangar

Batushyam

8.Thusar

Sandilaya

9.Sanahi

Brahma

10.Rout

Mahilaghar

11.Falaha

Deostan

12. Daaans

Kousik

13.Barha

Goutam

14.Nahila

Jagtilli

15.Bhaisha

Barsayel

16.Balaram

Bharadwaj

17.Agnikumar

Ghoghar

18.Aantildag

Niladhar

19.Sonbarsa

Falagar

20.Teksingharia

Jamadagni

MARRIAGE AMONG AGRIAS

Maximum sections of Agria family did not know the proper gotra of their bansa and arrange marriages with Kashyap and Sandilya gotra. Since the caste are limited in a particular areas , it may so happen that due to the common Gean factor the future generation of Agrias are endangered with a disease called sickle cell anemia. So it is always advisable to test the blood of both the bride and groom before marriage.

Among Agrias Marriages were performed by Kanyakubja Bramhins called TIHADI ( Tiwari). Though Slokas are of Sanskrit, the Tihadi used Laria language for expression . Social ceremonies were performed as per customs viz. Dalmalo ( Bringing of Mahua branch as a witness of ancestor, gram Debati pujan ( worshipping the local god by local tribe Priest called Kalo), Jati Baran and feast (same caste with other Bansa called as Jati)), Pitrupuja ( worshipping to ancestor). Now local Bramhins are performing the marriages due to non availability of Tihadi Bramhins.

There was no dowry system in the caste. The brides used to bring ornaments, ,utensils, wooden furnitures and other necessary items which would be necessary for a new couple to start a new life. But now it is seen among Agrias that dowry is common though Agrias are well educated , well placed not in India but all around the globe.

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A request to the educated mass of the agria society, they should go against the dowry system .it is not a boon ,it is a curse to the society.

NATURE AND PERSONAL DECORATION

Due to their inherited quality the man and women of this community are good looking, beautiful, charming, handsome and strong built.

The woman decorates their body with varieties of ornaments of gold and silver. For wearing ornaments the woman pierced their ear and nose. From head to toe the woman were ornamental ( In their language Laria name of some of the ornaments were putki, dol, nathni, guna, jhumka, jhalka, ganthala, bahathi, mali,har, gunchi, kamarbandh ,paijhal, mudi, khadu, paainri, bala, chudi, gajman mali, kanthi mali etc). The woman used to wear saree and anchal( one side of the saree) covers the solder. Married woman did not show their faces to elder male of the family and coved their faces with the anchal of the saree ..

The male members also use some ornaments like Khadu.( A type of Golden /silver Ring around wrist). The male members of the family wear dhoti and used to keep one wide décor towel with them. Some times they used to bind a towel on their head as turban.

MOTHER TONGUE OF AGRIAS

The Agrias had their own language of in-group communication. The language is called LARIA. This is a unique language and only Agrias and Chamars of the area used the same.

The Chamar’s family were dependent on Agrias and they used to help the Agrias by taking the dead bullocks like cows, buffalos, ox for out-skinning and gave leather strings made of raw skins for use in bullock carts and farm cultivating articles. This symbolize that some chamar family were also part of the migrated community and settled near the Agrias settlements keeping their hamlets outskirt of the village as they were treated as lower caste (achut )and not even touch others.

LINGUISTICS ASPECT

Many research had been done about this language and concluded that LARIA, , is now a minority language which has been used by native speakers mainly those are at older stage . the Language came in contact with dominant languages like Sambalpuri and Oriya for more than 400 years and the words of the local language had heavily used in all areas of grammar viz., lexicon, phonology, syntax and morphology. Lexical borrowing has been overwhelming. The average native speaker has retained only 5%-6% of the basic word list. It goes up to a maximum of 15% in the case of the female above 65 years of age. The growing need of new words has resulted in large scale appropriation of the Derivational Morphology of Oriya and Sambalpuri. Laria has adopted the Sambalpuri numeral system, in western Orissa the sambalpuri language is often called adibasi bhasa. The laria has no written alphabet and oriya alphabet are used to write this language if any one wants to .

Tumbhar ghar kene o daki ? = where is your home young lady ?

Daka ur daki ka karathen dekh ta o bhuaasen ? = Daughter-in law go and see,What the boy and girl is doing?

Toian keve assbe? = when will you come ?

Mala bahut dukhathe henta katha ni kahabe = I feel pain don’t, utter such language.

Tor biha thi moiaa assel ni parbar = I cannot attend your marriage

Ja gaidaa ke assaaha = go for bath. and return

Eee thara sab baha bhuaasen dasara mase jamihiian, samlai la buka debo

.= This year every married women of the family will come in the month of Dasara, goat will be sacrificed before goddess( Samlai is the Goddes of Agrias)

While talking in laria, the Agrias used phonic word mixed with the co local language i.e sambalpuri and chattisgadi. .

“ Exract from a research paper on the language LARIA”

Bearing in mind the proposition that languages shift coupled with language loss will eventually result in language death, the case of Laria was evaluated as an exemplification of gradual death. Apart form the linguistic aspects language attrition depends on socio-linguistis and other external factors. The ecological models of Haugen (1992) and Edwards (1992) were employed to test the language against the queries called from the questionnaires provided therein. The conclusion derived from the perlustrastion was that even when most of the ecological factors favoured language shift, the attitude of the Agrias towards their language fostered the persistence of Laria as a medium of in-group communication. In Dressler's proficiency continuum, around 90% of the informants fall into the criteria I & II i.e. "older fluent speakers" and "younger fluent speakers". This also exemplifiers the positive attitude of the majority of the speakers towards their language.”

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LARIA

AGRIA’S MOTHER TONGUE

This Laria language is at the verge of extinction and it is requested to all Agrias, who are now well educated, well placed socially, economically and have higher status should keep the originality of being an Agria at least by speaking the Laria in their community and younger generations are also taught to speak the Laria.

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OTHERS ASPECTS OF AGRIAS

In past Agrias concentrate in cultivations and education is secondary for them. Reading and writing knowledge was enough for them. But now a day due to expansion of family tree and shortage of land for cultivation with other factors viz. labours, ploughing instruments, etc. Maximum Agrias prefers to educate their future generation so that they can survive in the changing pattern of the society. So many Agrias are now well educated & in different profession viz. Scientist, Professor, Doctor, Engineer, Lawyer & Executive and doing jobs in foreign countries also.

Agrias used to read Purans, Visit holy places, Worship Deity , never drink alcohol or country spirit, they never cultivate onion. They cultivate paddy, pulses, oilseed, sugarcane, potato, tomato and all types of vegetables ,even cotton as per soil condition . They were never dependent on others. But days have changed and cash is more valuable than labour and easy to earn. As such the Agria society is in the change trend. Now a days Education is primary and cultivation is secondary.

Agrias used to marry within the caste . Child marriage was a custom. . but the customs has changed and now Agrias are very much liberal in marriage. When a boy or girl marries another caste boy or girl the bride must be of higher or equivalent caste. If the Agria society don’t object then they can mix-up with the Agrias socially.. Even an agria boy or girl marry with other religion boy or girl . The decision for their punishment of such cases would be decided by the Agria Sabha (Gudi)., which is represented by a president and 9 members. The judgment pronounced would be kept in writing and the cash penalty, if any, would be collected and proper account maintained.. The cash would be utilized for exigency help within the Agrias..

Now It is seen that Agrias have no bar of taking water, cooked food from other castes except a few low castes.

CONCLUSION

It is a known factor that the social culture, linguistic aspect, the customary rituals and other natures of Agrias were different from others societies of Orissa . Even in Madhya Pradesh the Agrias are not at par with the Agrias of western Orissa. Now a days marriage among the Agrias of M.P and Orissa are performed that to also limited.

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A book on agria caste printed in the year 1925 by Sri Balunkeswar pande, which was some how collected and given by Sri Prafulla Patel, s/o Basanta Kumar Patel of Badabanga village and digitized by Sujata Patel,daughter of Prasanta Naik of Durlaga village and published in the internet site of agria society ( http://agriasociety.com) briefly describe the history of the caste, this site may please be referred.

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IT IS REQUESTED TO ALL AGRIAS OF WESTERN ORISSA

SAMBALPUR, JHARSUGUDA, SUNDARGARG AND BOLANGIR DIST.

ALSO TO AGRIAS OF CHHATISGARH STATE

RAIGARH, RAIPUR AND BILASPUR DIST.

TO UNITE IN THEIR CULTURAL, SOCIAL AND CUTOMURY ISSUES AND GIVE THIS CASTE A PLACE IN INDIAN SOCIETY. WE ARE PROUD TO BE AN AGRIA.

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REPRODUCED IN ENGLISH FROM DIFFERENT RESEARCH PAPER AND AGRIA SAMAJ HISTORY PAPERS WRITTEN IN ORIYA LANGUAGE

COMPILED BY GIRISH KUMAR NAIK

S/O BIMBADHAR NAIK

VILL/P.O: TALPATIA,

DIST; JHARSUGUDA ,

ORISSA.

*** ANY CORRECTION AND SUGGESTATION IS ALWAYS APPRICIATED.