The Kisan are a tribal group found in
Odisha
Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...
,
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 ...
and
Jharkhand
Jharkhand (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in East India, eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north ...
. They are traditional farmers and a food gathering people. They speak Kisan, a dialect of
Kurukh, as well as
Odia and
Sambalpuri. The tribe mainly lives in northwestern Odisha, in the districts of
Sundergarh
Sundargarh is a town in Sundergarh district of the Indian state of Odisha. As of 2011 census, the municipality had a population of 45,036. Sundargarh is recognized as an industrial district in Odisha. Steel, fertilizer, cement, ferrovanadium, ...
,
Jharsuguda
Jharsuguda (ଝାରସୁଗୁଡ଼ା) is a city and district headquarters of Jharsuguda district of Odisha, India. It is an industrial hub, consisting mainly of metallurgical industries. It is well connected to major cities of India t ...
and
Sambalpur
Sambalpur () is the fifth largest city in the Indian State of Odisha. It is located on the banks of river Mahanadi, with a population of 335,761 (as per 2011 census). Prehistoric settlements have been recorded there. It is the home of the Samb ...
. Other populations live in
Malda district
Malda district, also spelt Maldah or Maldaha (, , often ), is a district in West Bengal, India. The capital of the Bengal Sultanate, Gauda and Pandua, was situated in this district. Mango, jute and silk are the most notable products of this ...
in western West Bengal and
Latehar
Latehar is a town in the Latehar district of Jharkhand, India. It is known for its natural environment, forest, forest products and mineral deposits.
Latehar remained a part of Palamau District as a sub division since 1924. It was elevated fr ...
and
Gumla
Gumla is a city which is the district headquarters in the Gumla subdivision of the Gumla district in the state of Jharkhand, India.
History
Gumla began as a hamlet. A week-long "Cow Fair" (''Gau-Mela'') took place every year, where items in ...
districts of western Jharkhand. They also reside in
Nepal's Jhapa
Jhapa District (; ) is a district of Koshi Province in eastern Nepal named after a Rajbanshi Surjapuri language word "Jhapa", meaning "to cover" (verb). The 2021 Nepal Census, puts the total population of the district at 994,090. The total a ...
district in small number(around 1000).
Culture
Marriage
The Kisan community practise endogamy and exogamy. Most practice monogamy, but bigamy is also accepted. The community practices adult marriage. Marriage within the same ''bansa'' is also forbidden, since they share a bloodline. However, since ''bansa'' is patrillineal, marriage with the maternal uncle's daughter is accepted and common. Widows are allowed to remarry.
The Kisan recognise several forms of marriage common to tribal groups of central and eastern India: marriage by negotiation (arranged marriage), marriage by capture, love marriage, marriage by intrusion, marriage by adoption and marriage by exchange. Of these, marriage by negotiation is the most common, and is known as ''benja''. In this marriage, the father or guardian of the person to be married selects the partner. In these negotiations the village headman is consulted.
The ''benja'' process is as follows. The ''agua'', a mediator who negotiates between the two families, approaches the bride's father to ask for his daughter's hand in marriage for the groom. Then the groom and his family visit the bride's house with gifts of rice, ''
handia'' (rice-beer), and animals. By the taking of the food, the bride's family accepts the groom's proposal. The groom's party prepares their food, celebrates with the bride's family in the evening, and returns to their village. The bride's relatives then visit the groom's village. Next, the two families settle on a bride price, called ''kania muli hessu'' or ''sukha mula''. The price is paid in rice and may be 10 ''khani'', equivalent to 1 quintal of rice, and is paid by the groom's father to the bride's family. One the ''kania mula'' is settled, the date of marriage is fixed with the consent of the ''kalo'', or village priest. Since marriage is time-consuming it can only take place after the harvest, where there is little work to do in the field.
The marriage ceremony is common to tribes of central and eastern India. On the morning of the marriage day, the groom's ''barat'' (wedding procession) arrives at the bride's village with ''handia''. They, along with relatives of the bride, escort her to the groom's village. On the village outskirts, the relatives of the bride and groom stage a mock fight, after which the bride is welcomed into the groom's house. The groom and bride and their parents wear clothes of red, yellow and white: never black. In the evening, the bride and groom and led to a ''pandal'' in the courtyard of the groom's house. Their rice is cooked in a new pot. The ''kalo'' then worships the ''Dharme Belas'', supreme gods. The groom applies vermillion on the bride's forehead and their clothes are tied together, usually by the bride's sister. and the two walk around the ''pandal'' 7 times invoking the ''Dharme Belas''. Afterwards there is celebration, dancing and feasting throughout the night.
A marriage is considered successful when the couple have had a child. Divorce is permitted in cases of adultery, impotency or cruelty, or if the marriage just does not work out. Remarriage of widows, widowers and divorcees is also permitted. A widow can marry her younger brother-in-law while widowers can similarly marry their younger sister-in-laws.
Marriage practices have changed in recent years, with the greater influence of broader Odia culture and modernisation. The bride's father now welcomes the ''barat'' of the groom to his house before accompanying her to the house of the bridegroom. In addition, instead of using a ''palaki'' to carry the bride and groom to the groom's house as was the case in earlier days, a cycle or rickshaw is used now. The members of the ''barat'' are now served ''mahua'' liquor instead of ''handia'', along with meat and rice, at the bride's house. The post-ceremony dances and celebrations were previously done to the sound of ''mandar'' drums, while now loudspeakers are used.
Kisan people in Nepal
The
Central Bureau of Statistics of Nepal classifies the Kisan as a subgroup within the broader social group of
Terai
The Terai or Tarai is a lowland region in parts of southern Nepal and northern India that lies to the south of the outer foothills of the Himalayas, the Sivalik Hills and north of the Indo-Gangetic Plain.
This lowland belt is characterised by ...
Janajati
The Nepalese caste system is the traditional system of social stratification of Nepal. The Nepalese caste system broadly borrows the classical Hindu ''Chaturvarnashram'' model, consisting of four broad social classes or varna: Brahmin, Kshatriya, ...
. At the time of the
2011 Nepal census
Nepal conducted a widespread national census in 2011 by the Nepal Central Bureau of Statistics. Working in cooperation with the 58 municipalities and the 3,915 Village Development Committees at a district level, they recorded data from all the m ...
, 1,739 people (0.0% of the population of Nepal) were Kisan. The frequency of Kisan people by province was as follows:
*
Gandaki Province
Gandaki Province ( ) ), is one of the seven federal provinces established by the current constitution of Nepal which was promulgated on 20 September 2015. Pokhara is the province's capital city. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region in Southw ...
(0.0%)
*
Koshi Province
Koshi Province () is an autonomous Provinces of Nepal, province of Nepal adopted by the Constitution of Nepal on 20 September 2015. It covers an area of , about 17.5% of the country's total area. With the industrial city of Biratnagar as its cap ...
(0.0%)
*
Bagmati Province
Bagmati Province (, ''Bāgmatī pradēśa'') is one of the seven Provinces of Nepal, provinces of Nepal established by the constitution of Nepal. Bagmati is Nepal's second-most populous province and fifth largest province by area. It is bordered ...
(0.0%)
*
Karnali Province
Karnali Province () is one of the seven federal provinces of Nepal formed by the new constitution, which was adopted on 20 September 2015. The total area of the province is , making it the largest province in Nepal with 18.97% of the country's ...
(0.0%)
*
Lumbini Province
Lumbini Province () is a Provinces of Nepal, province in western Nepal. The country's Provinces of Nepal, third largest province in terms of area as well as List of Nepalese provinces by population, population, Lumbini is home to the World Herita ...
(0.0%)
*
Madhesh Province
Madhesh Province () is a Provinces of Nepal, province of Nepal in the Terai region with an area of covering about 6.5% of the country's total area. It has a population of 6,126,288 as per the 2021 Nepal census, making it Nepal's most densely po ...
(0.0%)
*
Sudurpashchim Province
Sudurpashchim Province () is one of the seven Provinces of Nepal, provinces established by the Constitution of Nepal, new constitution of Nepal which was adopted on 20 September 2015. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China to the north, ...
(0.0%)
The frequency of Kisan people was higher than national average (0.0%) in the following districts:
*
Myagdi
Myagdi District ( ), a part of Gandaki Province, is one of the List of districts of Nepal, seventy-seven districts of Nepal. The district, with Beni, Dhawalagiri, Beni as its district headquarters, covers an area of , had a population of 114,447 ...
(0.5%)
*
Jhapa
Jhapa District (; ) is a district of Koshi Province in eastern Nepal named after a Rajbanshi Surjapuri language word "Jhapa", meaning "to cover" (verb). The 2021 Nepal Census, puts the total population of the district at 994,090. The total a ...
(0.1%)
References
{{Ethnic groups in Nepal
Scheduled Tribes of India
Dravidian peoples
Social groups of Odisha
Sundergarh district
Sambalpur district
Mayurbhanj district
Kendujhar district
Scheduled Tribes of Odisha