The Kahars are a community of palanquin bearers originating from the Gangatic region. Kahars are present in most parts of India, but are concentrated in North India. They are found mainly in West

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

, in Sarsawa,

Saharanpur Saharanpur is a city and a Municipal corporation (India), municipal corporation in Uttar Pradesh, India. It is also the public administration, administrative headquarters of Saharanpur district. Saharanpur city's name was given after the Sain ...

Farrukhabad Farrukhabad is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is the administrative headquarters of the Farrukhabad tehsil. This city is on the banks of river Ganges is from the national capital Delhi and from the state capital Lucknow. His ...

Kanpur Kanpur (Hindustani language, Hindustani: ), originally named Kanhapur and formerly anglicized as Cawnpore, is the second largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Uttar Pradesh after Lucknow. It was the primary ...

, Muzaffarnagar,

Shahjahanpur Shahjahanpur () is a municipal corporation, town and district headquarters of Shahjahanpur District in Western Uttar Pradesh, India. It is located between Bareilly and Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh. History Shahjahanpur was establi ...

, Sultanpur,

Faizabad Faizabad (Hindustani pronunciation: ɛːzaːbaːd is a city located in Ayodhya district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is situated on the southern bank of the River Saryu about 6.5 km from Ayodhya City, the district headquarter, ...

, Jaunpur and

Ambedkar Nagar district Ambedkar Nagar is one of the 75 districts of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. This district is a part of Ayodhya division in the Awadh region of the state. This district was established on 29 September 1995 by carving out parts of the erst ...

s of Uttar Pradesh and most parts of

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

and

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

. They were engaged to officiate at the various holy occasions which occur along the banks of the

Ganges The Ganges ( ; in India: Ganga, ; in Bangladesh: Padma, ). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international which goes through India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China." is a trans-boundary rive ...

river. In

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

, the Kahars have three sub-divisions, the Budana and Turaha. These sub-divisions consist of clans, the main ones being the Pindwal, Bamnawat, Katariya, Bilawat, Kashyap and Oatasaniya. The origins of most of these sub-divisions are rooted in Rajasthan.

Classification

They are currently classified as Other Backward Class in the state of

Subdivisions

Kahar has been described as a social community rather than a caste. It is formed by coming together of several castes and tribes, who shared the same traditional occupation. The traditional occupation of Kahars has been palanquin bearing, but, they have also worked as water carriers and producers of water chestnut in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. On these occupational grounds, they are divided in eleven sub-clans. These are Bhoi, Dhimar, Dhuriya, Guria, Gond, Kaleni, Kamlethar, Hurka, Machhera, Mahara, Panbhara and Singhariya. In the recent time, Kahar community of Uttar Pradesh has been demanding inclusion into Schedule Caste category from the Other Backward Caste category.

References

{{reflist Social groups of Uttar Pradesh Social groups of Bihar Social groups of Madhya Pradesh Social groups of Rajasthan Fishing castes Other Backward Classes Social groups of Karnataka Social groups of Maharashtra Social groups of West Bengal